Chapter One: Perplexity

  "Aren't you going to tell me? Fine, Captain Xing is right here, you can tell him first! I also have evidence written by Old Gao himself, which clearly states how you all colluded and cheated us out of our good land! Anyone with eyes can see whether it's good land or bad land! And everyone else here can vouch for me! Now I'm going to sue you for colluding with the Gao family's manager and cheating us out of rent! Let's see who wins in court, you or me!" High Huaru said calmly, leaning back in his chair and sneering at them.

  These guys were immediately stunned, and Xing Captains and others also followed with a cold laugh. The iron chains in their hands shook loudly as they walked towards these people, saying sarcastically: "Now High Official wants to sue you for cheating on rent, or else follow us back to the county government office!"

  They immediately wet their pants and cried out: "We dare not! We were wrong! How would we dare to tell on you, Master! We'll do as you say!"

  "Do you know fear now? It's a case of 'declining wine but being forced to drink the penalty wine'! You're really asking for it! I'm telling you, others might say some things, but you can't be so arrogant today! And don't say I'm not loyal, I'm giving you two options now: one is to pack up and leave, the other is to follow Officer Xing and his men to eat prison food! You choose yourself!" Gao Hua Yuan had made up his mind to drive this troublemaker away.

  Looking at the tiger-eyed Xing Captains and other officials, his face suddenly turned pale. What High Hua Yuan said was right, if this lawsuit were to be fought, he would have no chance of winning. Not to mention the power of the High family, just one thing - colluding with the High family's slaves and cheating on rent - would be enough for him! He wanted to play tricks, but looking at Xing Captain's malicious gaze, he swallowed his saliva back into his stomach, glared fiercely at High Hua Yuan, and then suppressed his anger, bowing his head and saying: "Thank you, young master, for your generosity. I'll leave now!"

  Xing caught a glimpse of Gao Huaiyuan, and Gao Huaiyuan shook his head. Only then did he say: "Xiao Er, don't think that I don't know what kind of person you are. Honestly, get out of here! If I hear again that you're causing trouble for Magistrate Gao, see if I won't break your dog legs! Leave behind your lease and get out of here quickly!"

  Xiao Er sullenly pulled out the lease from his bosom and handed it over to Gao Huaiyuan, then turned around and left the Gao residence. Li Tong immediately arranged for a servant to follow him, in case he tried to sabotage the crops in the fields out of spite. Meanwhile, Qin Xiong saw that Xiao Er was helpless, with Captain Xing's men keeping watch, his expired land deed was useless, so he too hung his head in defeat and slunk away from the Gao estate, naturally with someone following him to take over his land.

  "How many of you still have opinions? If so, just say it, and I won't mind! I'll also give you a chance to choose. You several are not too bad, can continue to rent the land you currently have, but the rent will be paid according to the good fields. Those who want to stay, now hand over your previous rental agreement and sign a new one. Those who don't want to continue renting can leave immediately! As for others, whoever is dissatisfied with the rent, I have all the numbers here, and we'll replace them with new agreements. Everyone remembers, as long as I, Gao Mou, am still here, I will give everyone fairness. You cultivate good fields, and I won't treat you unfairly either!" Gao Hua Yuan said, tapping his hand on the table to emphasize his words to the tenant farmers in front of him.

  The tenants in the house mostly responded with a burst of cheers, and as for those who were dissatisfied, although they didn't like it, there was nothing they could do. The three young masters of the Gao family had clearly shown that they were not to be trifled with, and their previous tactics would no longer work!

  Soon, everyone changed to a new lease, happy or not, they went back to start preparing for the harvest. Qin Xiong and Diao Er left a large amount of grain behind and slipped away with their bedding. The grain on these plots was originally going to be harvested by hired laborers arranged by Gao Huaiyuan, but those tenant farmers who benefited from this refused to agree, putting down their own work in the fields, and rushed into these two plots to help Gao Huaiyuan harvest together.

  Looking at these tenants who are full of joy, Gao Huaiyuan felt a bit sentimental. Ordinary people are like this, as long as you treat them a little better, they will sincerely repay you. Their demands are really not high, just wanting to eat their fill and have a slightly stable livelihood is enough to satisfy them!

  The handling of this matter allowed Gao Huaiyuan to quickly establish a strong and upright image in this generation. Most tenants were grateful to him, and even those who were not happy did not dare to make trouble. The rent collection went exceptionally smoothly, and the total amount collected was even 20% higher than before, excluding the grain from the two large plots of land that Qin Xiong and Xie Er had reclaimed. As for the sale of rice, Gao Huaiyuan didn't need to worry about it, as the rice merchants came to collect it on time, and the price was very reasonable this year. Calculating all this, the total harvest was nearly 50% higher than what they had handed over to the Shaoxing estate last year, making Gao Huaiyuan extremely pleased.

  However, he didn't foolishly hand everything over to his father Gao Jian. Instead, he only handed in half more than last year and wrote a letter briefly describing the situation with the old mansion, avoiding some things. He sent someone to deliver it to Shaoxing Prefecture. Of course, the rest was unceremoniously pocketed by him, but he didn't completely swallow all the money himself. He gave generous rewards to the servants in the prefecture, making them so happy that they felt the benefits firsthand and became even more obedient to Gao Hua Yuan.

  In this matter, Xue Yan looked at Gao Huaiyuan with new eyes and thoroughly surrendered to him. In his opinion, although this matter was not too big, it highlighted Gao Huaiyuan's conscience. Who says that rich family children are all unscrupulous? On Gao Huaiyuan's body, he didn't see any signs of being a spoiled brat. This matter also highlighted Gao Huaiyuan's meticulous thinking, making thorough preparations in advance, without leaving any room for error, giving those guys no chance to counterattack, and defeating them with one blow. They could only surrender and be captured, handled very decisively. It was hard to imagine that a young man had done this, so Xue Yan stayed even more resolutely, wanting to see what this exceptional third son of the Gao family would do next.

  However, Xue Yan soon felt a bit dissatisfied again. This was because Gao Huaiyuan, after handling the tenant rent issue, did not do anything serious afterwards, but instead spent his days running around in Daye County town, looking around everywhere, seemingly finding everything fresh and new. He would occasionally chat with some merchants, saying things that made no sense, making it impossible to understand what he was thinking or wanting to do. Xue Yan reminded him twice, but Gao Huaiyuan had a profound expression, saying something about conducting market research to see if they could make some money from business deals, leaving Xue Yan perplexed.

  Xue Yan thought to herself, "Now that you've taken over the Gao family's old mansion and so many fields, driven out Old Man Gao, and reclaimed a large piece of land, shouldn't your income be quite substantial by now? Why are you still fixated on making money? Is making money really that important?"

  Xue Yan didn't know what Gao Huaiyuan was thinking, but Gao Huaiyuan had his reasons for doing this. Although he currently had a relatively comfortable financial situation, with only about ten young men, it was far from achieving his goal. If he continued to take in orphans, his financial resources would be somewhat insufficient. He wasn't arrogant enough to think that he could become an invincible general who could defeat thousands of enemies alone. Although he currently had some martial arts skills, if he really went onto the battlefield, how many enemies could one person hold off?

  To have great power, people are still the most critical issue. However, supporting a large group of people is not something to be taken lightly, it requires a huge amount of money! At present, this small amount of money can barely support dozens of people, and in the future, arming them will require even more money, so he must make a fortune quickly, time is really running out!

  So he wandered around everywhere, wanting to find a way to get rich.

  After he had thought for a while, although he also came up with many ways to make money, but after careful consideration, he sadly found that many things are easy to think of, but difficult to do.

  According to his ideas, in the late Southern Song Dynasty, there were too many businesses that could be done. He could make glass, soap, perfume, toothpaste... But if he really wanted to do it, would it be possible just by saying so?

  If purely from a military perspective, he can now easily manufacture gunpowder and hire people to cast some super-era cannons. However, these things are simple to make but are purely consumable goods that can only be secretly made and stored. Wanting to use them to get rich is probably absolutely impossible! Using it himself is fine, but selling it to others? Probably not long after, it would again fall into the hands of the Mongols and be used to slaughter Han people! It can only be kept as a last resort, to be used when the time comes. Moreover, doing this not only doesn't make money, but also requires more financial support, so it's not something to consider now.

  He was the son of an entrepreneur, with many industries in his hands. He originally wanted to let Huang Tuo take over the family business after he grew up, but Huang Tuo insisted on becoming a narcotics detective. His father tried every means to persuade him, but it was all in vain. In the end, he died a heroic death. Every time he thinks about this, he feels very guilty towards his parents and wonders how heartbroken they must be now! After his sacrifice, the Huang family can also be said to have no successors, and all of his father's hopes were shattered along with him.

  Thinking of his parents from the previous life, Gao Haiyan's mood became even more depressed. He silently prayed in his heart, hoping that the two elderly people could recover from their grief as soon as possible and not blame him for his unfilial behavior. However, he did not regret his original decision. For those drug dealers, if given the chance now, he would still choose to be a narcotics officer, catch them all, and send them to the execution ground!