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The next day, Su Boyong fell down as expected.

Su Boyong was assassinated and the Su family was slandered. He was full of resentment and had no place to vent it. Naturally, he strongly supported the plan to fish out the mastermind behind the incident.

In order to make the performance more realistic, he lay in bed pretending to be sick, and did not even tell his two concubines the truth.

After all, someone in the Su family must have been bribed, including the maids, servants, and even the housekeeper and the shopkeeper. We cannot expect everyone to be loyal and resist the temptation of money.

Then, he had to pretend to be more realistic and let everyone know that he was really sick and had no energy to take care of the affairs of the first house.

On the other hand, facing the rumors circulating in the city that the Su family was disregarding human life and forcing the family to be broken up, these rumors must be quelled as soon as possible.

Chen Er has already confessed that the Su family was indeed slandered, so there is no need to spend a lot of time going to Ezhou to investigate the truth. Otherwise, by the time the truth is found out, the rumors may become true, and it will be too late to clarify.

For this purpose, Old Master Su personally took Chen Er and his confession to the government office, and after some arrangements, the government office did not give him face and stood up to clarify the truth.

However, as the saying goes, it takes only one mouth to spread a rumor, but it takes a lot of effort to refute it.

The rumor has spread and its influence has been formed. Even though the government has clarified it, this impression cannot be cleared in a short time.

The Su family was somewhat shrouded in a shadow.

……

Since Su Boyong was ill and unable to manage the affairs of the family, the power of the first house naturally fell into the hands of Su Tan'er. However, although Su Tan'er was in charge of part of the first house's property in the past, Su Boyong was actually in charge behind the scenes.

Now she has taken over all the industries of the eldest house and the core power of the Su family. After all, she is a girl less than 20 years old. For a while, she was indeed a little flustered and unable to take care of the consequences.

However, this is exactly what the plan requires, letting people know that Su Tan'er will not be able to control the first house for the time being, and taking care of one thing at a time, so that the people behind the scenes can jump in with confidence.

For this reason, in the next few days, although Su Tan'er stabilized the first house, she still had to struggle to maintain the situation, looking overwhelmed.

At this time, rumors spread that the current predicament of the Su family was caused by Su Tan'er's insistence on competing for the imperial merchant in order to take charge of the Su family.

The Su family has been in chaos during this period. Su Boyong was assassinated, the Su family's reputation was slandered, and they were even ridiculed outside. They felt so angry that they had no place to vent.

At this time, a message suddenly came out, saying that all this was caused by Su Tan'er's competition for the imperial merchant. If she didn't get involved in the affairs of the imperial merchant, no one would target the Su family and the current situation would not have occurred.

How can I bear it!

The next day, Li Mu accompanied Su Tan'er to visit Su Boyong and discuss plans. As soon as he reached the door, he heard Su Tan'er's two concubines crying and talking inside.

The two of them cried and complained about Su Tan'er, complaining about her competitiveness and complaining about things related to the imperial merchants.

"I've already said it before... Why should a girl be so competitive..."

"As for the assassination, I don't know if it's related to the second and third wives. They knew that Tan'er wanted to compete for the imperial merchant, so maybe they were scared... If it really happened, they would have nothing..."

"Maybe it's not the second or third house, but now people outside are saying that the current situation of the Su family is caused by Tan'er wanting to take charge of the Su family and insisting on competing for the imperial merchant. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many things going on."

……

Li Mu looked at Su Tan'er who looked a little lonely. In the past few days, many rumors against Su Tan'er suddenly emerged in the Su family.

Not only that, these rumors spread very quickly. Within a few days, the entire Su family and its subordinate stores were talking about it, which made Su Tan'er inevitably depressed.

Li Mu patted her hands and said with a smile: "Tan'er, you won't be sad because of these rumors, right? This proves that the mastermind has taken the bait... and even taken action. These rumors are spread deliberately to confuse your mentality and make you have less energy to take care of the affairs of the first house."

Su Tan'er was silent for a moment, then smiled calmly: "My husband is right. The people behind the scenes spread these rumors, which means they have taken the bait. However, these rumors spread so quickly in our Su family. I'm afraid there is a traitor in the family."

Li Mu smiled and said, "Not only is there a traitor, but there is more than one, and their positions are not low."

Su Tan'er said, "Husband, what should we do next?"

Li Mu said, "Then let's do as they wish. Pretend to be overwhelmed by the rumors and be in a state of panic. Then, we will operate the Imperial Merchant with great fanfare, and make it look like we are making a desperate attempt to take down the Imperial Merchant to stabilize the Su family. We also need to take out the cloth and show it appropriately, especially within the Su family, so that everyone knows that with this bright yellow cloth, it is a sure thing to take down the Imperial Merchant."

"The people behind the scenes can't resist the temptation. They are also afraid that the Su family will get the Royal Merchant, so they have to take action."

Su Tan'er nodded: "Yes, I'll listen to my husband."

In the next few days, Su Tan'er changed her usual low-key attitude and convened a meeting of all the shopkeepers and managers under the first house. The affairs of the Imperial Merchants were finally put on the table. For the first time, Su Tan'er expressed in front of everyone that she would go all out to run the Imperial Merchants.

"Some things were supposed to be kept secret, but now, they can no longer be kept secret. Everyone knows that the first house is competing for the imperial merchant, and they think there is little hope, so they are making a fuss. So today, I will reveal something to you. We have the most suitable cloth for the royal family."

As he said this, he winked at Juan'er, and the little maid standing beside him quickly turned around and moved a box to the table.

Su Tan'er glanced at everyone and said, "Please keep what you see next a secret and don't tell anyone. You are all senior members of the store and should understand this better than me."

As he spoke, he slowly opened the long box, and a piece of bright yellow silk appeared in front of everyone. Everyone's eyes lit up, as it was the first time for everyone to see such a bright and beautiful bright yellow color.

Su Tan'er cut off a few small pieces from it and showed them to everyone one by one.

"It took three years and countless money to research the dye for this cloth."

"Fireproof...washable...sun-resistant...fading-resistant...we made the finished product more than a month ago. We wanted to keep a low profile, but no one was interested and thought it was a pipe dream to compete with the Royal Merchant. So we had to bring it out in advance."

"This color is not suitable for the common people, but it is very popular with the royal family. If you use it to compete for the imperial merchant, you can at least have some confidence."

Seeing the new cloth, the shopkeepers and managers talked about it. However, everyone was really confident. With this bright yellow cloth, they really had some confidence in competing for the imperial merchant.

In the next few days, some shopkeepers of the first house frequently visited the officials of the Weaving Bureau, showing their determination to win the imperial merchant position.

The complaints within the Su family about Su Tan'er's competition for the Imperial Merchant suddenly stopped after she showed her cloth. Only the second and third houses were worried that after Su Tan'er won the Imperial Merchant, it would be a foregone conclusion that she would be in charge of the Su family. Some of them were unwilling to accept this, but they only dared to complain in private.

However, these shopkeepers under the first house were indeed professional. With their participation in the promotion, in a short period of time, the news that the Su family had prepared for the imperial merchant for several years and had developed new cloth had spread throughout the weaving industry in Jiangning.

Combined with the fact that Su Boyong was stabbed a few days ago and the various rumors about the Su family, most people in the cloth shops now know about it. The Su family, at least the woman Su Tan'er, is ready to fully show their edge in the matter of the imperial merchant, and make a desperate attempt. If she wins, she will perfectly solve the imperial merchant matter with several years of preparation, and there will be no doubt that she will be the head of the Su family's eldest house, and even officially establish her position as the next head of the family as a woman. If she loses, Su Boyong's only daughter will be rich and noble for life.

Time passed slowly, the disaster eased, many victims outside the city returned home, and the closed gates of Jiangning were opened again.

The whole Jiangning seemed to be full of life again, and the depressing atmosphere was swept away.

Finally, in late August, the Jiangning Weaving Conference, which was also a conference to compete for the title of imperial merchant, was held at the Lvyi Tower on the Qinhuai River.

Li Mu, Su Tan'er, Su Zhongkan, Su Yunfang, together with several members of the first, second and third houses, and the main stewards, went together in seven or eight carriages.

At the same time, cloth merchants in Jiangning, including the Xue family, the Wu family, the Chen family, the Lu family... and some officials from the Weaving Bureau, all rushed to Lvyi Tower at the same time.

Today's conference is definitely a big event for the Jiangning weaving industry.

The most important of these is tonight's Imperial Merchant Competition Conference, where the Wu family, the largest cloth shop in Jiangning, the Xue family, the Su family... are all the focus.

Some people even smelled the gunpowder and were waiting for the show to begin.

When they arrived at Lvyi Tower, Li Mu smiled, exchanged a glance with Su Tan'er, and got off the carriage. It was really a nice day.

After entering the building, everyone exchanged greetings and sat down one after another.

The Lvyi Building had a spacious space. The first floor was occupied by small businesses, while the second floor was allocated to large businesses. The Su family members sat at a large round table on the second floor, and the other major cloth shops were also each allocated a round table to sit at.

As a result, the Su family, Xue family, and Wu family were located at the three ends of the venue, clearly separated. Others whispered and paid attention to the situation of the Su, Xue, and Wu families.

On the Su family side, a shopkeeper went to visit the surroundings, and when he came back, he stroked his beard and said with a smile on his face: "Looking at the atmosphere today, my Su family will have no problem taking over the Royal Merchant. The efforts over the past month have not been in vain..."

"Miss Tan'er was foresighted and started working on it several years ago. With the fabric, we are invincible."

Li Mu smiled slightly: "Are you so confident?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Who told me that our cloth is the best? I have already inquired about it. The Lu family also has a new cloth called smoked tea silk. It is good, but it is not suitable for the royal family. The Xue family has a signature purple washed cloth that has always been loved by the rich and the price is relatively high, but there should be no new products recently. Although the Wu family is the best weaving family and has strong strength, their most outstanding feature is the weaving. With Luo Shenzhen, they are always better than others in terms of cloth weaving. But compared with my Su family's Jin Xijin, even if their weaving is better, it is probably not very meaningful..."

"Among the royal merchants tonight, the one with the greatest advantage is our Su family."

Li Mu nodded, gently, and said no more.

At this time, an official from the Weaving Bureau came over, and Shopkeeper Liao hurriedly went to greet him. The two of them exchanged a few polite words. Shopkeeper Liao returned to the table and whispered, "The Weaving Bureau notified us that our Su Mansion is the most powerful this time, and Lord Dong is also optimistic about us, so he arranged for our Su family to be the last to appear."

When several shopkeepers heard that it was the finale, their faces lit up with joy.

"Our Su family is the last to appear. It seems that the Royal Merchant is here to stay."

"That's right. In previous years, the best fabrics were used as the finale. Some of them are still being supplied to the royal family... This year, my Su family's fabrics were the finale, and the result speaks for itself."

Seeing that everyone was so happy, Li Mu and Su Tan'er looked at each other and smiled softly. They were sure that the person behind the scenes had already made a move, or had taken the bait.

Then the conference officially began. This kind of thing is always boring. Lord Dong went on stage and gave a speech first. In fact, the main point remains the same. These words are said every year. As for the real situation of the Jiangning weaving industry, many people present here probably understand it much better than Lord Dong.

Soon the speech ended and the meeting got to the point, which was also the most important moment of the conference: the election for the imperial merchant.

The first to come on stage is the Qi family.

"Today, please appreciate the snow-patterned yarn that my Qi family has recently woven. This yarn is light, thin, flexible, and almost transparent. The natural patterns on it are as white as snow. We use a special loom to control the number of silk threads and carefully weave it..."

After talking for a while, the shopkeeper of Qi family took out a piece of gauze and spread it out in the middle of the place.

Many weavers and officials also came over to comment and discuss the situation, taking a close look at the quality of the gauze, and those who were interested discussed cooperation on the spot.

Of course, tonight's gathering is not just about competing for the title of Royal Merchant. Those who are confident in their own products will also show off their products and express their intentions to discuss cooperation.

After the Qi family, another medium-sized cloth shop came on stage. This one didn’t bring out any new fabrics, but just promoted its own fabrics. Then the next one…

After visiting more than a dozen stores, some small and medium-sized businesses that had something to sell had already displayed their wares.

Then the Xue family came on stage. Xue Yanchao smiled, walked forward holding a wooden box, and showed a new purple and noble cloth. The atmosphere at the scene was a little stagnant. Many people were looking at the reaction of the Su family, and even the Xue family members were looking at the Su family.

Li Mu and others smiled without any expression.

Everyone was whispering.

"The Su family didn't respond. It seems that the cloth they prepared is better than that of the Xue family."

"The Su family has been preparing for several years. They made such a big fuss some time ago, so they must have made all the preparations."

"According to past experience, the Wu family should have been the last one to win... This year, it's the Su family's turn. It seems that the Imperial Merchant will undoubtedly belong to the Su family."

There was a lot of discussion at the scene. After the Xue family's presentation, the next family was allowed to perform as usual. Wu Chenghou stood up from his seat with a smile and walked forward with a brocade box. When he opened it, he found a bright yellow brocade inside.

The bright yellow color instantly attracted everyone's attention.

When it comes to high-end silk, what could be more suitable for royalty than bright yellow?

Xue Yan watched for a while and couldn't help but sigh: "The Wu family is really... a biting dog doesn't bark... now they have brought out their trump card..."

Halfway through, he suddenly felt something was wrong and looked at his trusted shopkeeper next to him: "This... is not right! I remember the news you bribed the steward of the Su Mansion a few days ago. They spent three years researching and came up with this bright yellow dye! This is their biggest confidence in competing for the imperial merchant. How did the Wu family..."

Without waiting for the shopkeeper to speak, Xue Yan sighed, "The Wu family is indeed vicious and ruthless!"

(End of this chapter)