Then they talked about Young Master Dou: "That little bastard Dou Ke is too arrogant. If the two young masters don’t mind, perhaps you could teach Dou Ke a lesson, and let him learn that lowly merchants should live their days kneeling before the royal family!"

The Third Young Master Ying was a clever one, and upon hearing this, he said, "The Dou family indeed tends to ruin things. Brother Qin, you have excellent skills and experience. This kind of lesson for the lowly merchants, I leave it to you."

Zongzheng Qin was rather impulsive, and upon hearing this, indeed took the bait: "Sure, Brother Ying, rest assured, I must give Dou Ke that scumbag a big lesson!"

The Dou family being arrogant towards merchants is one thing, but daring to even disrespect them, they’re asking for death!

Elder Shen Si, upon hearing this, was pleased and laughed heartily: "Then Shen will wait for the good news from the Fifth Young Master."

They aimed their attack at Young Master Dou, as for Gu Jin’an, who was that? In their eyes, just a mud-legged, worthless Scholar serving Master Ouyang, not worth their attention.

Elder Shen Si, Third Young Master Ying, and Zongzheng Qin, after discussing, continued preparing the affair of opening the new bank.

Master Ouyang was also not idle, having the Shadow Guards of the Ouyang family ride fast horses to deliver letters and the contract of Dou Ou Bank to Elder Ouyang Hong.

After sending the letter, Master Ouyang continued to stay in the prefecture, not leaving in haste.

The magistrates of various prefectures requested to see him, but the answer remained helpless, leaving them regretfully... they had to leave, they couldn’t ignore their own territories, if they returned late, even the government office might be breached by others.

Only Magistrate Xie of Hushan Prefecture left with a smile on his face, although only Bagu County had a new bank, he heard that the Dou Ou Bank in Tianfu County lent silver to farmers in four nearby counties.

Four counties, that’s over half of the prefecture’s farmers who borrowed silver. If the Dou Ou Bank in Bagu County could also allow farmers in four nearby counties to borrow silver, the crisis for Hushan Prefecture would be greatly relieved!

Magistrate Xie thought of these, and couldn’t help but smile.

The steward asked upon seeing this, "Why does the master laugh?"

Magistrate Xie fanned his fan, and said, "Look at the expressions on the faces of the two in Yuyang Prefecture and Baishan Prefecture, then look at our Hushan Prefecture, if I can’t laugh out loud, then I don’t know what’s good for me."

Cannot let down the good intentions of Master Ouyang and Young Master Dou.

The steward hastily advised, "Master, take it easy, although we at Hushan Prefecture gained the advantage, the crisis can only be half-resolved, but the other prefectures are in dire straits, if the masters know you laughed because of this, they may resent you, saying you enjoy their misfortunes."

It’s not good for your future career.

Magistrate Xie indeed enjoyed their misfortune, but upon hearing this, nodded and said, "Hmm, the steward is right, I am also quite concerned for the other prefectures."

After speaking such false words, he ordered the steward, "Send fast horses to inform the County Magistrate of Bagu County, let him immediately come to the government office, I have matters to instruct him."

Then thought again and said, "Have Squad Leader Xu directly bring people to Bagu County, and bring the County Magistrate of Bagu County to the government office."

He must keep a tight grip on Bagu County, there’s so much silver, he must use it carefully, can’t let the County Magistrate of Bagu County waste even a single cent!

"Yes." The steward went to see Squad Leader Xu immediately, letting Squad Leader Xu lead half of the accompanying government officials straight to Bagu County, to send the County Magistrate of Bagu County to the prefecture.

The County Magistrate of Bagu County, ever since seeing Manager Dou, was both delighted and frightened, delighted that Dou Ou Bank would open a new bank in their Bagu County, frightened that Chief Commander Liu would hear the news and lead the group of deserters to rob the silver.

He was caught between fire and ice, then saw Squad Leader Xu, and upon hearing Squad Leader Xu’s words, cussed the ancestors of Magistrate Xie’s eighteen generations.

Darn, the surname Xie really knows how to work these things, wanting to take away the silver from Dou Ou Bank in Bagu County, to distribute it to other counties.

Bah, no way, he must guard the silver of Dou Ou Bank, let the farmers of Bagu County borrow silver first!

If Bagu County goes into chaos, his official hat will be at risk, as for whether other counties go into chaos or not, it’s none of his concern.

But officials of higher rank can oppress those below, he as a County Magistrate couldn’t resist the magistrate, could only follow Squad Leader Xu and others to the prefecture.

However, before leaving, Manager Dou said to him: "Since Dou Ou Bank is open in Bagu County, the silver will first be lent to farmers in Bagu County, only when every farmer in Bagu County has borrowed silver will it be lent to those of other counties, the bank in Tianfu County also operates this way."

The County Magistrate of Bagu County, upon hearing this, finally felt at ease.

...

These days, Young Master Dou is also caught between dire straits, very puzzled: "Could it be that this Young Master has been targeted by the god of misfortune recently? Why do I keep encountering unlucky things?"

These unlucky matters are actually two traps, one related to silver, the other related to women.

The silver one is not worth mentioning, he is sensitive to business matters, knows it’s a trap at first glance, and even played the other party.

As for the women’s issue, it’s rather challenging to talk about.

He is a normal man, in his prime youth, needing women is normal, and staying in the prefecture for these days with nothing to do, he thought about such affairs.

But Dou Meng doesn’t handle these matters as well as Dou Zhi, although he found a great beauty, that beauty wasn’t clean, when a doctor was invited to check, it was discovered she had venereal disease.

The affairs of the Old Gu Family are quite popular, the storytellers love to tell them, Young Master Dou also listened, thus knowing about the venereal disease infection of Gu Chengxian and the others.

The mouth of the storytellers is quite fearsome, they grossly exaggerated the horrors of venereal disease, Young Master Dou hence dreaded venereal disease a lot, and upon hearing the beauty had venereal disease, he was scared to the verge of having trauma, scolding Dou Meng: "What kind of people did you find? Bringing such a person to the separate yard, you should have checked her background clearly first, then checked her body thoroughly, ensured no illness before bringing her here. Checking after bringing her? Are you trying to kill this Young Master?!"

Dou Meng did this for the first time, originally thought it was quite simple, Dou Zhi used to handle it very aptly, and never made any mistakes, how did he know his first time would encounter an error.

"Please calm down, Master, that person has been dealt with, rest assured, you will be alright."

"Shut up, you will be the one to have trouble!" Young Master Dou was furious, said: "Have a doctor disinfect the room the woman has been in, then sell the separate yard, it can’t be kept."

He certainly dared not rest in that separate yard again, must sell it, then buy another one.

"Yes, subordinate will handle it immediately." Dou Meng too felt keeping the separate yard was inappropriate, thus went to handle the matter as ordered.

Gu Jin’an, upon hearing this matter, went to Young Master Dou: "The things you encountered these days are not simple, likely you’re being targeted, you should be careful."

The Shen Family, Ying Family, Zongzheng Family are no pushovers, daring to deal with Young Master Dou, a son of an Imperial Merchant.