Chapter 336: Great Trouble

Chu Chuyan's grave expression startled Zu An. "What's wrong?"

"Come with me to the meeting hall first," Chu Chuyan said, pulling his hand as she headed towards the mansion. "I'll explain on the way."

"My father has been detained by Sang Hong in Riyang City," Chu Chuyan explained as they walked.

Zu An was shocked. "How is that possible? Your father is a distinguished Duke with profound cultivation. How dare Sang Hong detain him, and how could he even hold him?"

"He naturally has a plausible reason," Chu Chuyan explained. "Ultimately, the problem stems from the previous batch of salt permits."

After her explanation, Zu An finally understood the whole story.

It turned out that when Wang Yuanlong was captured last time, he couldn't withstand Chen Xuan's methods and confessed the route and exact time for the Wang family's salt permit transportation.

Coincidentally, they were scheduled to arrive in Mingyue City on those exact days.

Chen Xuan decisively sent people to intercept that batch of salt permits.

The Wang family had already suffered heavy losses from a previous raid by foreign tribes on their border encampment, and this batch of salt permits was something they had painstakingly pieced together.

They simply couldn't obtain another such batch of salt permits in a short period.

Meanwhile, the Chu family's salt business, with its huge shipping volume, happened to need this exact batch of salt permits from the Wang family.

In desperation, the Wang family head personally sought out Chu Zhongtian. Chu Zhongtian, moved by compassion and considering the Chu family's own circumstances, decided to appropriate the salt permits from the Salt Transport Commissioner's office for the next few years.

The plan was to slowly replenish these permits once the Wang and Chu families recovered, all without anyone knowing.

Unfortunately, things went awry. Sang Hong conducted a surprise inspection of a recent large shipment of salt from the Chu family, found their salt permits to be incorrect, and used this as a pretext to make a big deal of it, subsequently detaining Chu Zhongtian.

Zu An couldn't help but exclaim, "It seems Sang Hong had already prepared for this. This whole incident might be a conspiracy he set up."

Chu Chuyan sighed. "We were still too careless."

Zu An was puzzled. "By the way, I heard the Salt Transport Commissioner's office is full of your people. How could Sang Hong have found out?"

Chu Chuyan shook her head. "That's the strangest part. Most likely, Sang Hong bribed or turned some people in the Salt Transport Commissioner's office."

Zu An held her slightly cool hand. "Wife, I'll always be by your side and help the Chu family overcome this difficulty."

"Thank you," Chu Chuyan managed a faint smile. At this point, she didn't believe he could do much, but hearing his words brought a glimmer of warmth to her cold, troubled heart.

"That Chen Xuan, even after death, he still manages to be disgusting," Zu An couldn't help but grumble. This whole affair stemmed from Chen Xuan intercepting those salt permits; otherwise, none of this trouble would have arisen.

Just then, the two arrived at the meeting hall.

"Sister-in-law, you must give us an explanation for this!" Before they even entered, Chu Yuepo's furious roar could be heard from inside.

Zu An found it strange. Chu Yuepo, from the Third Branch, had always been a jovial, smiling fat man, a typical "smiling tiger." He had never seen him so enraged.

"Exactly," Chu Tiesheng's sneering voice chimed in. "We were kept completely in the dark about this from beginning to end, and now we're left to clean up this mess. Sister-in-law, you really went too far."

Upon entering, they saw Chu Tiesheng and Chu Yuepo confronting Qin Wanru. Qin Wanru's face was ashen, but she was indeed in the wrong and couldn't retort effectively.

Chu Chuyan quickly walked in. "Second Uncle, Third Uncle, the priority now is to solve the problem, not to assign blame."

"That sounds nice," Chu Tiesheng snorted. "You hid it from us beforehand, and now that there's trouble, you remember us?"

Chu Chuyan's delicate brows furrowed slightly as she explained, "The reason we kept it from everyone before was mainly because of its great importance and the need for secrecy."

"Secrecy, secrecy, yet it still got leaked," Chu Yuepo said. "Now, since only you knew, who exactly leaked the secret?"

He then looked at Chu Chuyan and Qin Wanru, his implication clear: one of them had leaked the secret.

Qin Wanru and Chu Chuyan's faces turned pale with anger, but for a moment, they didn't know how to refute.

At this point, Zu An stepped forward, blocking their way. "You two grown men really have the nerve to come here and bully these two defenseless women."

Qin Wanru: "???"

Chu Chuyan: "???"

Qin Wanru's Rage +666!

Chu Chuyan's Rage +233!

Zu An felt puzzled. He thought, "I was clearly speaking up for them, so why are they getting angry?"

But he immediately realized his mistake and chuckled awkwardly, "Not 'defenseless women,' just a slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue."

If Chu Zhongtian had heard that, even with his good temper, he would probably have bristled with anger.

The expressions of the two women softened slightly.

At this, Chu Tiesheng snorted coldly, "What right do you, a mere live-in son-in-law, have to speak here!"

Zu An didn't get angry. "I'm just speaking up for my wife; I can't stand to see you so aggressive. Besides, I'm considered a member of the main branch, while you are merely from the side branches. If you can speak, why can't I?"

"This is outrageous!" Chu Tiesheng immediately bristled, and even Chu Yuepo glared furiously. The fact that they were from side branches had always been a sore point for them.

Chu Tiesheng's Rage +886!

Chu Yuepo's Rage +668!

"Enough, enough!" Qin Wanru finally spoke. "What's the point of all this bickering?"

Chu Tiesheng snorted. "It's not that we want to argue, but that everything is always held in the hands of your main branch. My third brother and I nominally control the salt and iron, but everyone knows we're just puppets."

Chu Yuepo echoed, "Exactly. If this matter had been discussed with us in advance, such a huge mistake would never have occurred."

Zu An said, "Anyone can make sarcastic remarks after the fact. Father-in-law took this risk for the greater good of the Chu family. The Chu family has been operating at a deficit recently, so naturally, every bit saved helps."

Although Chu Chuyan hadn't explicitly stated it, he could largely guess the underlying reasons.

Qin Wanru's expression softened slightly. Normally, she disliked Zu An's sharp tongue, but now that he was speaking on her behalf, the very trait she used to dislike suddenly seemed endearing.

Having a man stand in front to shield one from wind and rain truly brings peace of mind.

Qin Wanru couldn't help but think of Chu Zhongtian, wondering when he would safely return.

"Save, save, save, and now not only have we saved nothing, but the Chu family has been completely dragged into this! Sixteen million taels! Where is the Chu family going to get that kind of money now?" Chu Tiesheng fumed.

Chu Tiesheng's Rage +358!

"Sixteen million taels?" Zu An was startled. How could it be so much?

He had been thinking that he had quite a bit of money in his pocket and could help his wife overcome this difficulty, but now he realized the money he had wasn't even enough for a fraction of the total.

"To prevent salt merchants from arbitrarily dumping salt on the market, the imperial court sets an annual quota for salt permits," Chu Chuyan explained, pausing with a strained expression. "If the quota is exceeded, permits for future years must be withdrawn in advance. Besides the 1.5 taels of silver per permit, an additional 2.1 taels must be paid as an advance fee. Furthermore, to prevent under-the-table dealings by salt merchants, the court explicitly stipulates that concealing and failing to pay the advance fee will result in multiple times the original fine."

"More than half of this sixteen million taels is made up of fines," Chu Tiesheng interjected. "Such a huge sum — unless we completely dismantle and sell off the Chu family, there's no way we can produce that much money!"