Chapter 87

After Auntie Shui reported the situation about Zhou Chong, Xie Lingyun appeared calm on the surface, but in reality, her heart was in turmoil. The incident at the North Harbor Teahouse had already revealed Zhou Chong's talent in business, but she never expected that in just a few days, Zhou Chong would be preparing to reform the smuggling model that had been passed down for over a hundred years. If he succeeded, the days of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce dominating Shuangyu Harbor would not be far off.

"Alright, I understand. Auntie Shui, you can go now!" Xie Lingyun waved her hand weakly.

However, Auntie Shui did not leave immediately. Instead, she said, "Miss, the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce has not yet developed. This is the best time for us to suppress them. If we have the opportunity, we should directly eliminate Zhou Chong..."

"Enough!" Auntie Shui's words were cut off by Xie Lingyun's stern voice, "Auntie Shui, I know you often help my father handle difficult matters and are highly regarded by him. But now the chamber is under my leadership. I am different from my father. I will solve the problems the chamber faces in my own way. I don't need others to teach me!"

Auntie Shui, who had never seen the usually gentle Xie Lingyun so angry, was frightened and lowered her head, remaining silent.

After scolding Auntie Shui, Xie Lingyun quickly calmed down. She realized that her tone had been too harsh and added, "Auntie Shui, I was a bit upset just now, so my tone was a bit heavy. I hope you won't take it to heart!"

"I dare not, Miss. My life belongs to the Xie family, and I should always think of the Xie family. Please reconsider, Miss!" Although Auntie Shui was afraid of Xie Lingyun's anger, she did not change her mind and continued to advise her.

Xie Lingyun knew that Auntie Shui was an old servant of her father, with a mind as stubborn as anyone else's. Therefore, she did not get angry again but nodded faintly and said, "Alright, I understand. Auntie Shui, you can go now. Let me have some time alone!"

Seeing that her young mistress still did not give her a clear answer, Auntie Shui wanted to say more, but seeing Xie Lingyun's expression, which clearly showed she did not want to hear more, she sighed and quietly left the room, gently closing the door behind her.

After Auntie Shui left, Xie Lingyun suddenly felt weak all over, as if she had lost all her strength. After a while, she propped her right arm on the table, her delicate hand supporting her cheek, and gazed out the window. Her beautiful eyes were unfocused, clearly lost in thought.

Initially, Xie Lingyun had told Zhou Chong about the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce and promised to help him regain control of it in exchange for the soap-making formula. However, her promise to Zhou Chong was not just for the formula; she had deeper plans. After Zhou Hai's incident, the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce was leaderless, and the organization had split into three factions. Despite this, the chamber still controlled one-third of the North Harbor's revenue, along with shipyards and familiar shipwrights, all of which were invaluable assets. Therefore, almost every powerful chamber in Shuangyu Harbor was eyeing the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce with greed.

Some people were bold and shameless, like the Jeolla, Sakai, and Ise Chambers, who directly threatened Auntie San and Uncle Tu, hoping to take over the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce's profits. Other major chambers, although not taking direct action, were not immune to the temptation and were secretly preparing.

In this situation, Xie Lingyun told Zhou Chong about the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce and promised to help him take it over, but her intentions were not pure. She had her own plans. In Xie Lingyun's view, no matter how talented Zhou Chong was, he was still just a scholar. Even with the Xie family's help, he would not be able to lead a severely weakened Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, especially with other forces in North Harbor also eyeing the chamber. Under such internal and external pressures, Zhou Chong would have to turn to the Xie family for help again. In this situation, Xie Lingyun could use some means to gradually marginalize Zhou Chong and the old members like Auntie San, eventually taking over the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce without much effort.

Xie Lingyun's plan to take over the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce through Zhou Chong was almost flawless. To achieve this, she deliberately got close to Zhou Chong, leading many to misunderstand their relationship. This made Zhou Chong and his people less wary of her, and they would think of her first when in trouble. For example, when Zhou Chong first took over the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, Auntie San suggested borrowing money from Xie Lingyun, showing how perfect Xie Lingyun's plan was.

However, Xie Lingyun had miscalculated one point. After Zhou Chong arrived in Shuangyu Harbor, his actions were far from those of a scholar who only knew classical literature. When they joined forces to eliminate the Jeolla Chamber, Zhou Chong personally killed several people to establish his authority, which already made Xie Lingyun uneasy.

What happened next shocked Xie Lingyun even more. Zhou Chong quickly stabilized the chamber's morale and reformed some of its operations. The reform of the North Harbor Teahouse had already demonstrated his business acumen, and now he was dividing the chamber's shares, raising a large amount of capital, and tying people like He Xian to the chamber's interests, showing his decisiveness and shrewdness.

What shocked Xie Lingyun the most was that Zhou Chong was even reforming the traditional smuggling model. If he succeeded, the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce would surely see a significant increase in business and become the dominant force in Shuangyu Harbor.

Seeing Zhou Chong's series of actions, Xie Lingyun realized that her plan to take over the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce through him had completely failed. She had even inadvertently created a formidable rival. It was not an exaggeration to say that once the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce grew again, it could even吞并他们谢家也不是没有可能。

想到这些，单手支着香腮的谢灵芸也不禁轻轻的叹了口气。走私这个行业本来就混乱无比，他们谢家能够走到现在，并且成为双屿港四大商会之一，以前也不知搞垮了多少竞争对手，而且用到的手段有明有暗，甚至有些根本见不得人。这些她虽然没有经历过，但是也听水婶那些老人谈起过。

周重与南洋商会的崛起，已经严重威胁到谢家商会的利益，对于这种情况，谢家以前也遇到过不止一次，本着防患于未然的想法，谢家都会将这种威胁扼杀在摇篮之中。另外周重表现出来的商业才华也是谢家十分顾忌的原因之一，所以水婶才会向谢灵芸建议早做处理，甚至用一些非常的手段除掉周重，免得夜长梦多。

但也许是身为一个年轻少女的缘故，谢灵芸的性格还不像她父亲和水婶他们那么狠辣，若是通过正常手段打压周重和南洋商会的话，她或许会毫不犹豫的去做，但是现在周重和南洋商会已经很难用正常的手段去打压，最好的办法就是把周重这个核心人物给除去，这让谢灵芸心中本能的有些排斥。

其实连谢灵芸自己都没有发现，通过这段时间的相处，她刻意与周重保持一种表面上的亲密关系，再加上周重这段时间的惊人表现，已经让她无数次的感到惊讶，这让她对周重也产生一种很复杂的感情。当然这种感情还谈不上什么男女之情，只是一种很朦胧的好奇与心动，所以在听到水婶建议对周重动手时，她才会反应那么激烈。

就在谢灵芸为周重和南洋商会的事苦恼时，周重却丝毫没有察觉谢家对自己的警惕，甚至他也一直不知道，原来谢灵芸帮自己竟然是想通过他接管整个南洋商会，毕竟无论是前世还是现在，他都不是一个阴谋家，更没有谢灵芸那样的城府，自然对这些事情一无所知，甚至他对谢灵芸还报着一种感激，虽然对方的城府让他很不喜欢，但却不失为一个很好的生意伙伴。

说起来马上就要过年了，商会股份的事已经办成，就等何显他们把银子送来了。商会经过三娘和驼叔、孙通三人的调整，已经慢慢的走上正轨，只要银子一到，他们立刻就会开始招人造船，让商会尽快的恢复实力。而且周重离开家的时间也不短了，若是再不回去的话，恐怕王姨娘和镯儿她们都该怀疑了。

所以在接下来的几天，周重将商会里的事情安排一下，其中三娘除了主管商会的财务外，周重也让她派人去大明国内招收一些造船的工匠，商会里需要的船只虽然大多是从大明国内的造船厂建造的，但是周重觉得走私需要的船只数量巨大，没必要把钱都送给别人，自己商会最好也要有一座上规模的造船厂。

驼叔那里并没有什么要交待的，无非就是对北港茶楼的改革要继续推行下去，最好能把茶楼的面积扩大一些，毕竟随着北港交易量的上升，北港茶楼中的客人也增加了数倍，茶楼里实在显得有些拥挤了。

最后也是最为关键的却是孙通那里，周重交给他一个重要的任务，那就是招人和培训船工，毕竟日后光是有船还不行，必须有相应的船工去驾驶船只。当然培训一个合格的船工并不是件容易的事，而且现在马上就要过年了，所以他交待的这些事也不会马上就去做，现在只是让他们做个准备罢了。

交待完商会里的事情，周重终于可以放心的回家过年了，相信等到过完年回来，何显他们的银子也应该能送到了，再加上三娘他们准备完毕，到时就是他大干一场的时候了！

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It was not an exaggeration to say that once the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce grew again, it could even吞并他们谢家也不是没有可能。

Thinking about this, Xie Lingyun, propping her cheek with one hand, couldn't help but sigh softly. The smuggling industry was inherently chaotic, and the Xie family had become one of the four major chambers in Shuangyu Harbor by bringing down countless competitors, using both overt and covert means, some of which were completely unsavory. Although she had not experienced these herself, she had heard the old servants like Auntie Shui talk about them.

Zhou Chong and the rise of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce had seriously threatened the interests of the Xie family's chamber. The Xie family had encountered such situations more than once in the past and, to prevent potential threats, would always eliminate them at the earliest stage. Zhou Chong's business acumen was also a significant concern for the Xie family, which was why Auntie Shui had suggested taking early action, even using extreme measures to eliminate Zhou Chong to avoid further complications.

However, perhaps because she was a young girl, Xie Lingyun's character was not as ruthless as her father's or Auntie Shui's. If she could suppress Zhou Chong and the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce through normal means, she might have done so without hesitation. But now, Zhou Chong and the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce were too powerful to be suppressed by normal means. The best way was to remove Zhou Chong, the core figure, which made Xie Lingyun instinctively reluctant.

In fact, even Xie Lingyun herself had not realized that through their interactions, she had deliberately maintained a superficially close relationship with Zhou Chong. His astonishing performance over the past period had surprised her countless times, leading her to develop a complex feeling towards him. This feeling was not romantic, but rather a vague curiosity and excitement. This was why she reacted so strongly when Auntie Shui suggested taking action against Zhou Chong.

While Xie Lingyun was troubled by the issues with Zhou Chong and the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, Zhou Chong was completely unaware of the Xie family's vigilance. He did not know that Xie Lingyun had helped him to take over the entire Nanyang Chamber of Commerce. Whether in his past life or now, he was not a schemer and did not have Xie Lingyun's level of cunning. He was naturally unaware of these matters and even felt grateful to Xie Lingyun, despite disliking her cunning, as she was still a good business partner.

The New Year was approaching, and the matter of the chamber's shares had been settled, waiting only for He Xian to deliver the silver. After adjustments by Auntie San, Uncle Tu, and Sun Tong, the chamber was gradually getting back on track. Once the silver arrived, they would immediately start recruiting and building ships to quickly restore the chamber's strength. Zhou Chong had been away from home for quite some time, and if he did not return soon, his concubine Lady Wang and his daughter Zuo'er might start to suspect something.

In the next few days, Zhou Chong arranged the chamber's affairs. Auntie San, in addition to managing the chamber's finances, was also tasked with recruiting shipwrights from the Ming Dynasty. Although most of the chamber's ships were built in the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Chong believed that the number of ships needed for smuggling was so large that it was unnecessary to pay others. The chamber should have its own large-scale shipyard.

There was nothing much to instruct Uncle Tu, except to continue the reforms at the North Harbor Teahouse and consider expanding its area. With the increase in transactions at North Harbor, the number of guests at the teahouse had multiplied, making it quite crowded.

The most critical task was given to Sun Tong, who was responsible for recruiting and training shipwrights. In the future, having ships alone would not be enough; they would need qualified shipwrights to operate them. Training a qualified shipwright was not easy, and with the New Year approaching, these tasks would not be carried out immediately. For now, they were just to prepare.

After arranging the chamber's affairs, Zhou Chong could finally return home for the New Year with peace of mind. He believed that by the time he returned after the New Year, He Xian's silver would have arrived, and with Auntie San and the others prepared, it would be time for him to make a big move!