Outside Shen Garden

"The Shen family of Yangzhou: Years ago, Shen Ke made his fortune in the salt trade, selling salt under the jurisdiction of the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Commission. By the early years of the Jiajing reign, he'd amassed a fortune of a million taels.

He built Shen Garden, which stretched for ten li. Servants were everywhere, and music filled the gardens from dusk till dawn. Its wealth surpassed that of all Huainan."

The Shen family was now in its fourth generation. Two years ago, family head Shen Wanjun retired to the Hall of Fragrant Evenings, leaving all clan affairs in the hands of his eldest grandson, Shen Wangzong.

But at the end of this year, terrible news arrived from the river:

While escorting a salt shipment to Huguang, Shen Wangzong was caught in a downpour. He and his boat were swept into the rapids.

With Shen Wangzong dead, the entire Shen family was thrown into turmoil.

The Shen clan had three branches:

The first controlled the Huguang salt trade; the second managed Jiangxi; the third sold salt in southern Henan and northern Anhui.

The branches had long been at odds over trading rights and quotas. Now the position of chief merchant was vacant, and Shen Wangzong had no heirs. Who wouldn't want to take his place?

"So many people have come today. What do you think?"

"Hasn't the master already chosen someone in his heart?"

"Oh? Who?" Shen Wanjun slowly lifted his eyes to look at him.

The steward smiled with his head bowed. "She made a mistake years ago, so you sent her back to her hometown in Shanxi to collect bad debts. But in my opinion, if she can come back, the second and third branches won't have a thing to say."

Shen Wanjun fell silent. Candlelight flickered in his deep-set eyes. After a long while, his aged hand struck his knee, and his stern voice rang out:

"Call Shen Yiting back..."

-The battle for succession among the great salt merchant families of Lianghuai

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Theme: A person's greatest predicament is having no choice but to become who they are.