(First, a correction: The other day I wrote it was Yi Liu, but yesterday it became Yi Si. That was my mistake, haha, thanks to friends for the reminder.)

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Hearing the Ming family's bid, Fan Xian frowned slightly. He seemed surprised by the speed and sophistication of their response, but inside, he remained calm. This was expected; the Ming family wasn't a pig waiting to be slaughtered. Although the situation was sudden, the astute Ming Qingda would certainly have a well-thought-out plan.

Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng perked up upon hearing the news. Their noble buttocks, which had been seated for so long, finally shifted forward as they listened to the sounds from the courtyard with anticipation.

Only Xue Qing remained unperturbed, sipping his fine tea.

This was already the fifth item. It wasn't originally one of the Ming family's primary targets, but they chose to bid now to stand out in the otherwise silent scene, subtly suppressing the arrogance of Xia Xifei and his group in Room Yi Si. More importantly, they were using a near-shameless tactic to stall for time and slow the process.

This round of bidding was exceptionally dull and uninteresting, far from the intense face-off between Xia Xifei and the Xiong family of Lingnan in the first round, and not even close to the previous rounds.

The Ming family's bid was extremely low, showing no sincerity. However, Ming Qingda didn't care about that. He watched his son and the family's shopkeepers dawdle, a smile on his face.

One round of bidding took several quarters of an hour. The Ming family calculated accounts like a novice, bid prices like a shy maiden, and passed the leather bags like a toothless old woman.

They stalled however they could. From the owner to the accountant, they coordinated perfectly, making everyone wait impatiently, yet unable to find any fault. The official in charge of announcing bids from the Transportation Department had already begun to yawn on the stone steps; the fifth item was still not finalized.

Xia Xifei's price remained well above the Ming family's, but until three rounds of bidding were completed, no one could move on to the next stage.

The Jiangnan merchants around began to chat and drink tea. These old foxes had seen through the old master Ming's plan, knowing that only the fifth item would likely be opened today.

The sun in the sky slowly but surely moved westward. The Ming family's speech and actions were slow and drawn-out. A small bird landed in the courtyard, curiously watching the yawning, chatting people around, seemingly not understanding why everything in this courtyard was moving in slow motion.

The Ming family wasn't in a hurry.

The Jiangnan merchants weren't in a hurry.

Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng weren't in a hurry.

Jiangnan Governor Xue Qing was even less in a hurry.

It was unknown if the thugs in Room Yi Si would go crazy with this slow-boiling strategy. However, Fan Xian, despite the subtle glances from others, hid the impatience in his eyebrows, remained calm, and admired the Ming family's sophisticated and shameless tactics.

The sun gradually sank towards the western mountains, casting the shadow of the inner treasury courtyard gate long like a girl's skirt. The little bird that couldn't even find a single blade of grass on the stone steps looked around, cooed with resentment, and flew away.

A gong sounded, signaling the successful end of the inner treasury bidding, but firecrackers didn't explode, because the third bid for the fifth item had just ended. Xia Xifei once again "struggled" to defeat the Ming family, winning the Northern glass sales rights. At this time, the first day of the inner treasury's New Year opening bidding was forced to end.

The merchants in the courtyard breathed a sigh of relief, stretched, and wiped away cold sweat with lingering fear. Fortunately, the Ming family had acted at the end of the day, forcibly dragging out the time. Otherwise, given the momentum of Room Yi Si at the beginning, who knew how many drops of soup would be left from the sixteen lucrative items of the inner treasury.

Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng exchanged a look and smiled with satisfaction. Xia Xifei's move had indeed surprised them. Fortunately, they had managed to drag him down, so that he was left without momentum. The Ming family would surely arrange things properly for tomorrow tonight.

Fan Xian sat in his chair, raised his head, looked over the high wall of the mansion, and squinted at a touch of red in the sky, but could no longer see the setting sun.

The clearing and sealing of the venue began. The merchants didn't need to take out the silver notes and tools they brought in. This was for convenience and safety. Tonight, Jiangnan Road, the Supervisory Council, the Transportation Department, and Suzhou Prefecture would jointly guard this inner treasury mansion tightly, making it arguably the safest place in the world.

Soldiers began to paste seals on the rooms under the corridors and outside the flower hall. The merchants had already come out and were standing in the courtyard chatting in groups of three or five. When they saw Master Ming and Young Master Ming emerge from Room Jia Yi, everyone quickly went over to greet them respectfully. The voices were low, but the focus of discussion was naturally the thug in Room Yi Si.

Xia Xifei, with a sullen face, led his men and stood against the wall closest to the inner treasury mansion gate, in a dark area.

While discussing, the crowd looked at that dark spot and the group of people there. Remembering the methods of those thugs earlier, they felt even more apprehensive.

At this moment, the four major officials from the main hall also came down.

"Greetings, Eunuch Huang." "Greetings, Lord Xue." "Lord Fan, you must leave us some scraps!"

The merchants swarmed forward, surrounding the four officials, greeting, complaining, and generally making a lot of noise. Fan Xian couldn't help but laugh, looking at Xiong Bailing of the Lingnan Xiong family, whose face was somewhat annoyed. He comforted him, then teased, "There are still eleven items; what's the rush?"

The family representatives groaned inwardly, thinking that the Ming family was determined to get the eight bundled items among the remaining eleven. Where would they get their share?

Fan Xian sighed, "There are too few individual items, and some people will inevitably miss out. This is the court's rule; I can't do anything about it."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately thought of Fan Xian's initial proposal. Hearing him mention the word "rules," their eyes lit up. Xiong Bailing suddenly chuckled and said in a low voice, "These rules... aren't they set by people?"

Those merchants who hadn't won any benefits today inevitably developed a certain hunger for tomorrow's items.

Ming Qingda, who had been watching coldly from outside the crowd, frowned. He knew that the Imperial Envoy was secretly enticing those merchants to compete with the Ming family for shares. He sneered inwardly, but smiled faintly on his face, glancing almost imperceptibly at Eunuch Huang.

Eunuch Huang understood and interjected with a smile, "Everyone, this is what I think too."

Everyone was inexplicably delighted, thinking that even the representative from the palace agreed with the suggestion of dividing the items further, so this matter seemed promising. Unexpectedly, Eunuch Huang continued with a sigh, "It's just a pity that the court's rules are here, and no one dares to act rashly... This matter can only wait until I return to the capital and speak to the Empress Dowager and His Majesty on your behalf. I dare say next year will definitely be better than this year."

Everyone was stunned, their faces full of embarrassment, cursing the eunuch in their hearts for only talking nonsense.

During this time, while Fan Xian was talking to everyone, his mind was actually focused on the Ming family's side. He found that even after suddenly encountering today's changes, the old master Ming's mind was still clear, his emotions didn't seem to be affected, and his judgment was still extremely quick and accurate, which made him a little worried.

If he wanted to force the Ming family to lose their minds, it seemed... he had to add more chips.

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The sealing of the treasury was finally completed, and the defenses were in place. The gate of the inner treasury mansion was slowly opened for the second time that day. The fresh air from the street poured into the courtyard, invigorating everyone, and they decided to go back tonight to discuss things properly and come back tomorrow to compete for the items. Now that it had come to this, regardless of the Ming family or the Fan family, they had to grab a few deals.

By this time, the major merchants had gleaned from Fan Xian's few words the meaning of a certain power in the court, which was to target the Ming family, enticing them with benefits and guiding them with momentum. The merchants began to salivate at the Ming family, whom they had never dared to confront directly. The leaders of several major families, headed by the Xiong family of Lingnan and the Sun family of Quanzhou, exchanged glances and smiled strangely, deciding to dine together at Jiangnan Ju that evening amidst laughter.

While secretly discussing how to snatch the Ming family's items, everyone paid attention to the movements of the Ming family's master. They found that Master Ming was talking to the Imperial Envoy, the old and the young smiling and being extremely friendly. Officials and merchants were actually extremely hypocritical professions, so they naturally knew how to do this kind of superficial work, and everyone wasn't surprised.

Just as they were about to leave, they saw the Imperial Envoy gently beckon, calling over Xia Xifei and his group who had been staying in the shadows.

The merchants stopped their steps towards the gate, curiously watching this scene unfold.

Fan Xian looked at Xia Xifei with a calm expression and a faint smile, his hands in his sleeves, gesturing a sign that only they two understood. He said, "Mr. Xia, you've really been in the spotlight today."

Xia Xifei smiled and bowed to the surrounding crowd, "It's all thanks to the humility of the bosses."

No matter how much the merchants resented him, they knew that the other party was an underworld figure, so it was best not to offend him to his face. Moreover, they could see clearly that this person was a confidant of the Imperial Envoy Fan. So, they echoed a few words on the surface, saying that Mr. Xia had remained silent for ten years, but when he finally spoke, he astonished everyone, and so on.

Ming Qingda narrowed his eyes, looking at this suddenly emerging enemy in front of him. He suddenly asked, "Manager Xia, why are you suddenly interested in doing business?"

The scene fell silent.

Xia Xifei lowered his head, and after a long while, slowly raised his head to look at the master of the Ming family of this generation, his smile not a smile. "Although I, Xia, have been in the *jianghu* for a long time, my family has been in business for generations. In my generation, I must inherit my late father's legacy."

"Oh?" Ming Qingda's wrinkles deepened, and he asked wearily, "So, Manager Xia is also from a family of merchants. I wonder where they traded? Perhaps your father and I had some dealings back then."

The merchants all looked curiously at this scene. After listening to this conversation, they were also very curious about what Xia Xifei's family originally did.

Xia Xifei quietly looked at Ming Qingda's face, which often appeared in his nightmares. He felt an emotion that he couldn't describe. After a moment, his lips twitched slightly, and he quietly said, "Of course, there was a relationship. My father is your father. Wouldn't Master Ming recognize him?"

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The crowd was a little confused by this sentence. Xiong Bailing began to dig his ears subconsciously. Ming Qingda paused slightly, looked at Xia Xifei in front of him, and didn't speak.

Although Xia Xifei didn't know why the Imperial Envoy wanted him to reveal his identity in advance, standing in front of the Ming family again was his strongest wish in recent years. Today, his dream came true, making him feel extremely excited.

But on the surface, he remained calm, only his right hand, hanging by his side and hidden in his sleeve, trembled slightly. He looked at Ming Qingda, speaking clearly and calmly, but also with a faint chill:

"Elder brother, it's been more than ten years. Don't you recognize Little Seven?"

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Xia Xifei was the seventh young master of the Ming family! He was the legendary Ming family's seventh young master who should have inherited the Ming family's business but mysteriously disappeared!

The merchants looked at Xia Xifei in disbelief, as if they saw a fierce ghost crawling out of hell, a monster that shouldn't exist in this world. How could this be possible? Although no one dared to discuss it, everyone could guess that the Ming family's old matriarch and the Ming master in front of them had killed the Ming seventh young master. How was he still alive, and had even become the big boss of the Jiangnan Water Camp?

Ming Qingda stared blankly at Xia Xifei in front of him, staring at that face for a long time. Suddenly, his body began to tremble. He finally saw a familiar shadow on that face, the naive and ignorant little brother from back then, the thin body that he had whipped, that face full of resentment and the joy of revenge!

"Father!"

Ming Lanshi was also extremely shocked and frightened at this time, looking at Xia Xifei like an idiot, the legendary little uncle. He found that his father's body was already swaying and quickly supported him.

In Ming Lanshi's view, this inner treasury mansion today was like a haunted house, and he couldn't stay here for long. Supporting his father, who seemed to have aged a lot in an instant, he led the family members towards the outside of the inner treasury courtyard.

The merchants were still staring at Xia Xifei in shock, whispering about something.

When the Ming family reached the gate, to everyone's surprise, the Ming family's master, Ming Qingda, suddenly broke free from his son's support and straightened his body forcefully, turning around.

The Ming family's master's face was a little pale, but he used his strong self-control to regain temporary calm. He looked at Xia Xifei in the courtyard and said calmly, "Manager Xia is joking. My poor seventh brother unfortunately passed away more than ten years ago. Please don't tell such jokes to provoke my old heart."

The merchants were silent, knowing clearly that fortunately, the Ming family's master stood still and said this, otherwise, if they had shown a weakness amidst the shock, allowing this news to spread without the Ming family's rebuttal, the situation would become even more difficult to control.

Fan Xian tilted his head slightly, looked at the old and tired Ming family's master on the stone steps, and sighed in his heart: "What a pity, I admire him."