Fan Mei'er's grandfather was fortunate; he made a fortune from speculating in silk and spices, but by the time it got to Fan Mei'er's father's generation, they lost everything in a previous gilded speculation disaster.
By the time it was Fan Mei'er and his brother's generation, although they still bore the noble title, they were left with nothing but a few silk clothes, the ancestral home, and a small pharmacist's shop.
These possessions would certainly ensure a lifetime of comfort for any other family, but for the Fan Mei'er brothers, whose estate was already bankrupt and left with only a title, losing even that title would make them noble in name only.
But to make a living, Fan Mei'er had no choice but to become the shady hand of the merchant tycoons he despised, specializing in debt collection from those nobles who owed money, amassing quite a bit of savings over the years.
This time, however, Fan Mei'er decided to go all in and invest all his savings in buying sugar.
