“Fallen ill?” Li Zhao stroked his white beard. “At a time like this?”0

Half the city had been waiting to meet the new governor-general.0

“He should’ve crossed into Xia Province yesterday. With this delay, who knows when he’ll reach Dunyu?” Shu Qian said. “Nian Zanli sent small raiding parties around the front lines, going as far as fifty kilometers into Xia Province to loot and plunder. Several of my family’s and the Zhan Family’s shops were taken. The losses we suffered are massive. I believe the Zhan Family is ready to pull out. Although you warned them, they’ve still been secretly liquidating assets these past few days.”0

Old Master Li sighed. “When it rains, it pours; when a girl wants to marry, she marries. If they no longer have faith in Dunyu, let them go.”1

Shu Qian cursed the old fox in his heart. The Li Family had warned the Zhan Family to no effect, then drove the purchase price down so low it nearly punched through the cellar floor. And because the Li Family was the most domineering local snake in Dunyu, who dared set a higher price once they had already named one?0

If the Zhan Family sold at such a pittance, it would be like carving out their own flesh and gouging out their eyes. Seventy percent of what they had built over decades...0