Becoming a Saint by Touching Corpses

In the Zhan Mansion, the most senior steward, Mr. He, his hair white and over seventy years old, had watched the Zhan Family Master grow up.

Everyone in the family had immense respect for him.

And he was famously meticulous in his work.

As soon as Zhan Weicong transported the goods to the warehouse, Steward He personally led people to inspect them.

Upon opening a wooden box, the first layer was neatly arranged with seven or eight high-quality specimens of Polygonum multiflorum.

But after turning over the dried straw stalk that served as a divider, below were carrots about the same size as the Polygonum multiflorum!

Each wooden box had seven or eight such compartments.

Except for the first layer, which contained the genuine article, the rest were filled with carrots.

Steward He only looked through two boxes before his face turned pale, and he was trembling and unsteady on his feet.

And when Zhan Weicong heard his exclamation,

he felt a chilling sensation rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

"How, how could this be?"

He came disbelievingly to the first box and randomly pulled out a piece, which turned out to be a carrot.

But, this carrot was covered in a lot of mud, making its appearance somewhat unclear.

Harboring a fluke hope, Zhan Weicong broke several and sniffed them, only to be shocked, realizing they could never be Polygonum multiflorum.

He threw them to the ground one by one in anger.

Continuing to the second and the third boxes, the situation was the same.

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" Zhan Weicong's eyes were bloodshot, completely unable to believe it all.

He only felt his mind buzzing, utterly flustered.

'Finished, all finished!'

To acquire this batch of astonishingly good Polygonum multiflorum and seize the whole Wangjiang County market,

the Zhan Family not only invested all its remaining funds but also borrowed three hundred thousand taels from the Xu Family!

And the decision was made by his father, after being urged and assured by Zhan Weicong.

"Youn... young master. Who did you delegate to inspect the goods?" Steward He, finally catching his breath and supported by a servant, managed to ask.

"Inspection? Yes, it was Yeng, the guardian, who inspected them!" Zhan Weicong suddenly awakened and shouted, "Where is he, where is he?"

A moment later, many servants ran back wailing to report, "Young Master, Yeng, the guardian, has escaped!"

"What?!" Zhan Weicong cried out in shock and anger, his scalp tingling.

He vaguely realized that he had been caught in a scheme.

In the main hall of the Zhan family.

'Bang!'

An exquisite pale blue glazed vase was shattered on the floor in pieces by the furious Zhan Family Master.

"Useless! Dumb as a pig! How did you inspect the goods?"

Zhan Weicong stood silently with his head down, his face flushed, not saying a word.

"Father, the urgent matter at hand is to send people to find that Young Master Long and capture Yeng, the guardian!" Zhan Weida stood by, hurriedly suggesting.

He harbored no schadenfreude.

After all, the prosperity and decline of the Zhan Family were his as well.

The Zhan Family Master was about to say something when,

outside, a frantic servant ran in: "Master, Master, something terrible has happened!"

"The Xu Family sent people over to collect the debt, saying we owe them three hundred thousand taels of silver, and they want it back today!"

Hearing this, Zhan Weida was shocked, his mouth agape.

Zhan Weicong suddenly lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot and full of rage, like a trapped beast.

And the Zhan Family Master staggered uncontrollably.

"It's a premeditated plot, a deliberate scheme!" Zhan Family Master's face was ashen, "The Xu Family orchestrated this; our Zhan family is in grave danger this time!"

"Master, Master, something worse happened!" Accountant Hu also ran over anxiously, "Those damn herbal farmers, we don't know who instigated them, but they want us to settle the credit from the beginning of the year immediately, or they'll report to the City Lord's Mansion!"

Hearing this, the Zhan Family Master froze, and his face instantly turned red as blood.

"Master! People are causing trouble at two of our pharmacies in the West and Central City.

They claim the medicine we sold has killed someone!"

'Puff!'

Enraged, the Zhan Family Master spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed backward.

"Father!"

Zhan Weida, worthy of being a martial artist, with a swift movement, crossed over ten steps and caught the swaying Zhan Family Master.

"Quickly, send our best to the money shop outside the city. They are sure to go there to exchange the silver notes for cash." The Zhan Family Master, his eyes regaining clarity, hastily issued the first order.

"Right!" Zhan Weicong's eyes lit up, "If they haven't exchanged it yet, we can notify the money shop to seal the silver notes, prohibiting redemption!"

In this era, large silver notes resemble the checks of Lou Yi's later generations to some extent.

If a problem is found, the money shop can initially seal the notes.

"I'll go find someone right away!" Zhan Weicong couldn't wait and ran out, afraid his second brother would snatch the task from him.

"Tell the people from the Xu Family that the agreed date hasn't arrived, and they should come back in half a year." The Zhan Family Master issued a second order to the accountant.

"As for those causing trouble, drive them away with clubs."

"And send out people to search for that Young Master Long and Yeng, the guardian, meticulously!"

The Zhan Family Master made decisions orderly, fully displaying the demeanor of a big family clan leader, which reassured Zhan Weida.

"I suspect that ten to one, the silver notes have already been exchanged. Second brother, come with me to borrow money from your uncle.

If we can't get through this crisis, you should go hide in Yang City; I have some arrangements there." The Zhan Family Master's face looked bleak, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

Zhan Weida gritted his teeth silently.

...

Outside the city, at the entrance of Zhao's Money Shop, Zhan Weicong led dozens of Zhan family guards and servants, hurriedly on horseback.

However, the people at the money shop told him.

Half an hour ago, someone had already exchanged and taken away the silver.

Driving Zhan Weicong mad with fury, there was a full eight hundred thousand taels of silver!

Besides fifty thousand taels belonging to the Zhan family, there were also three hundred thousand taels borrowed from the Xu family.

"Young Master, they transported so much silver, definitely not daring to go through the city. They could only head towards the Red Forest and finally take the waterway to ship it out," an elder in the team analyzed.

"Right!" Zhan Weicong's eyes brightened.

He ordered people to inspect the tire marks, and indeed, they followed them to where the Red Forest was located.

The so-called Red Forest was a dense forest full of maple trees, occupying tens of square miles of land.

And behind the Red Forest, there was a small river connecting many streams.

"We will send people to guard by the riverbank; they won't have time to transport the silver away and can only hide it in this forest!"

"Yes, everyone works a little harder, the sooner we find the silver, the sooner we can go home!" Zhan Weicong said, promising his subordinates, "Whoever is the first to find the silver, I'll reward him with five thousand taels!"

Five thousand taels of silver, equivalent to five hundred years of savings for an ordinary family, without spending a penny.

With such a promise made, everyone under him was stirred, and they all rushed into the Red Forest.

Zhan Weicong, brimming with confidence, felt certain he could find the eighty thousand taels in cash, recover the losses, and restore his own reputation.

But the Red Forest covered an extensive area, and its terrain was particularly complex, hiding numerous small hills and caves.

One hour, two hours, three hours passed…

The Zhan family had nearly dispatched all its servants into the Red Forest to search for the silver taels, yet they still couldn't locate the target.

And their forcible blockade of the Red Forest upset many who relied on it for a living, prompting some to report to the City Lord's Mansion.

Meanwhile,

the news of the Zhan family being deceived out of eighty thousand taels of silver spread like wildfire in Tai City Main City, causing a massive uproar.

'The Zhan family is finished!'

Upon hearing this news, many people's first reaction was just that.

...