Chapter 1 Dandy
"Young Master Yihe's ship has arrived!"
"Ah? That loser? Then go get some money!"
The sound of gongs and drums outside woke Wu Chengjian up.
The personal servant - well, this guy who grew up with Wu Chengjian is actually past the age of "servant" - Wu Qi stepped forward and said, "Third Master, we are almost at the Immortal Continent."
Wu Chengjian woke up and pushed the cabin window open a little.
The originally peaceful and orderly Baietan was now abuzz with people and boats. The sky had already darkened. Wherever Wu Chengjian's carved boat went, the boats on the water lit up. From a distance, it looked as if all the fishing boats and pleasure boats in Baietan were making way for Wu Chengjian's boat.
"Third Young Master, do you want to spend money?" someone asked from the direction of the cabin door. That was one of the "four hangers-on" under Wu Chengjian, also known as Chuanlong Ciye. "Chuanlong" means a hole in a wallet, pocket, rice jar, etc. in Cantonese. If a person is called "Chuanlong Ciye", it means that this person not only knows how to spend money, but also knows how to squander. However, every time he squanders, Wu Chengjian feels proud, so Wu Wanku cannot do without him.
"Damn." Wu Chengjian, who was still sleepy, said while yawning.
Then , Master Chuan Longci began to scatter money from the bow of the boat - no matter whether it was a fishing boat or a pleasure boat, if the lights of any boat were on, he would scatter a handful of copper coins over. The carved boats moved along with lights on and the jingling of copper coins. Every time a handful of copper coins was scattered, someone would say "Good job, Third Young Master".
Cheers echoed throughout the waterway.
Wu Chengjian was listening with his eyes squinted in the cabin. Although he knew that all these support was bought with money, he was not short of money anyway. He could buy cheers along the way with a few baskets of copper coins. It felt great.
Although the Wu family's money was not blown by the wind, it was beaten by the waves - how much money can the wind blow? Only by relying on Emperor Qianlong's national policy of "all provinces are closed to the sea, leaving only Guangzhou as the first port for trade", and then obtaining the only dozen or so special licenses for Chinese and foreign trade in the world - the so-called "Thirteen Hong Licenses " - and then undertaking one-tenth of China's foreign trade, can one be called truly rich enough to rival a country!
Compared with the mountains of gold and silver that the Wu family earns every year, this little bit of copper money, as the Cantonese say, is "soggy and broken.""!
It was the late Qianlong period. Thousands of boats gathered on Baietan Lake in Guangzhou, but they were not merchant ships or warships, but hundreds of pleasure boats. Among the countless pleasure boats, there was a particularly huge one-body boat, which was made up of more than 50 large ships nailed together. It looked like a castle on the water. Such a huge one-body boat could not go far on the river, let alone go out to sea. However, the deck was as stable as land, and there were three floors on it. This was the famous water flower fortress in Baietan Lake, which the locals called "Shenxianzhou".
There are many ships heading to Shenxian Island tonight, and there are long queues at the three docks.
But when Wu Chengjian's carved boat approached Shenxianzhou, it did not queue up. Shenxianzhou specially opened the fourth pier for it, but no one made a fuss or was dissatisfied. Only when Chuan Longci poured out the remaining half basket of copper coins like water, did the boatmen watching the pier cheer collectively: "Good job, Third Young Master!"
Seeing that the carved boat was about to hit Shenxian Island, a strong man at the stern swung the rudder suddenly, and the whole boat swung sideways. The man at the helm stretched out a foot and stepped on Shenxian Island, pressing down the two-story carved boat and bringing it steadily to the dock. The man jumped over and kicked a wooden board about ten feet long and four or five feet wide to build a temporary bridge.
Wu Qi said: "Tietou's skills have improved again."
Wu Chengjian hummed and nodded with satisfaction.
The sturdy man at the helm was as strong as an iron tower. He was nicknamed Iron Head Military Scar and was one of the "four hangers-on" under him. He was originally a Hung Gar coach in Foshan. He got into trouble a few years ago and Wu Chengjian happened to meet him. He spent a large sum of money to save this hero, and Iron Head Military Scar has followed him ever since.
Being a playboy in the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou, it was inevitable that he would pretend to be cool and make others jealous. Tietou Junba was known for having "strength of a thousand pounds in his arms", although it was a bit exaggerated, but as long as he was present, Wu Chengjian never lost a fight with others.
As soon as the boat docked, Wu Qi came out of the cabin. His nickname "Quick-tongued Wu Qi" was not for nothing. His voice was sharp and loud like a suona: "The Third Young Master is here, girls, come and greet him."
All the cabins on the three floors of the entire Shenxian Island were lit up at once, and countless water ladies and beauties shouted in unison in each cabin: "We are waiting to welcome the Third Young Master."
A dozen or so girls had already come out quickly to greet them, and a few of them jumped over the carved boat. Then a dwarf with a high nose and deep eyes came out of the cabin door, laughing and making gestures to those girls, making them all scream and unable to dodge.
Several girls spat in the foreigner's face and cursed: "You damn foreigner, why did you come out to scare people?"
This foreigner was one of Wu Chengjian's "four hangers-on". He was an Englishman, known as Short-legged Charlie. Although the Chinese at that time had not yet developed the fine tradition of worshipping foreigners and fawning on foreigners, it was not only convenient to have a foreign hanger-on in the Thirteen Factories, but it also brought honor. People from far and near would say, "The Third Young Master Yihe even has foreigners under his command!"
Yes, in Guangzhou dialect, people have always called Westerners "guilao" since ancient times.
Wu Chengjian looked through the half-open door and laughed. He nudged the person on the recliner next to him with his elbow and said, "Yi Jin, we're here."
The person who was pushed was the leader of the "four hangers-on" under Wu Chengjian, named Zhou Yijin, who was the same age as Wu Chengjian.
Three years ago, the two men hit it off when they met in Beijing. At that time, Zhou Yijin was almost implicated in a literary inquisition and was almost thrown into prison. It was Wu Chengjian who spent a lot of money to get him out. After that, Zhou Yijin followed Wu Chengjian back to Guangdong.
Zhou Yijin was not asleep, he just closed his eyes to rest. He patted the recliner, stood up and walked out. Although he was on the swaying boat, his behavior was very elegant, but his expression was always so cold. The clothes he wore were the finest Cantonese satin, and his hat was simple in style, but it was inlaid with a piece of jade worth a thousand gold. However, even such a beautiful jade could not cover up the beauty under the hat.
Not to mention his background as a "Shaoxing lawyer" or his cunning mind, just based on this face, Yihe Sanshao felt that the money he spent three years ago was worth it.
When Zhou Yijin walked out of the cabin door, all the girls outside fell silent for a moment, staring at him, their breathing quickened, and they were speechless - Young Master Wu's money and Master Zhou's face, these were the "twin peaks" of Baietan!
Zhou Yijin ignored the eyes focused on him on the entire deck, turned his body to the side, bent slightly and gracefully, and made a gesture of invitation to the cabin. Only then did Wu Chengjian walk out of the cabin door and make a brilliant appearance at the invitation of this peerless handsome man.
This shining is not just a description, it is truly shining.
Because suddenly more than a dozen torches were lit around, and mirrors were used to reflect light over, so the light was bright, allowing people around to see clearly: Wu Chengjian was a real playboy, about twenty years old, above medium build, with a slightly dark complexion. Although his facial features were regular, he was not very handsome in terms of appearance. However, he had countless real gold and silver as a background. When he came out, his eyes were squinted, and those were two cold lights that seemed to see through the world, which made others uncomfortable - but Wu Chengjian himself obviously didn't care whether others were happy or not.
Before I knew it, twenty-four years have passed since I came into this world.
After he understood his situation, Wu Chengjian decided to do only two things in his life:
First, enjoy the extravagant life that God has given you;
Second, ensure the external conditions for living a luxurious life.
When the girls saw Zhou Yijin, they were just secretly attracted to her, but when they saw Wu Chengjian, their eyes almost turned into heart shapes!
In this world, the only thing more handsome than a handsome man is, of course, money!
Before the walking humanoid gold ingot Wu came out, those girls were all rushing to the cabin door, but when they saw him, they didn't dare to approach him. Four girls dressed as maids came down from downstairs. Although they were maids, their clothes and jewelry were more exquisite than those girls. They didn't even look at the dozen girls, but bowed to Wu Chengjian and said, "The third young master has arrived, and the Immortal Island is honored."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Reward!"
This time, copper coins were not used. Someone brought out a tray of silver ingots, and Master Chuan Longci threw the silver ingots out. The four maids knelt down again, moved to the left and right, and made way. As their skirts fluttered, the silver that fell beside them disappeared. The money was taken without making a sound. If people saw them doing it, then the reputation of their masters, the first-class beauties of Shenxianzhou, would be tarnished.
When Wu Chengjian saw that he was about to go upstairs, the girls on both sides couldn't help but shout out, "Third Young Master!"
That voice was so mournful.
Wu Chengjian smiled, glanced at Wu Qi, and Wu Qi shouted, "The Third Young Master said to light the lamps for the girls who are coming to greet the boat!"
A turtle slave started to sing: "Light the lamp!"
The third floor of the dozen or so cabins were lit up, and three baby fist-sized lanterns were hung outside each cabin. This was the custom of Shenxianzhou. Guests hung lanterns for the prostitutes. One lantern represented ten taels of silver, which was also the night's companionship fee for the third-class prostitutes of Shenxianzhou (basic companionship fee, not including additional tips).
More than thirty lanterns were hung up, and the dozen orioles and swallows that came out to greet the boat thanked them in unison:Third Master!" Then they returned to their cabins happily.
This Fairyland has its own hierarchy and rules. The status of the third-class flower maids is even lower than that of the maids of the first-class flower maids. Wu Chengjian is the first-class guest, and it is not their turn to serve him. However, they still came up, probably for these lanterns.
There are three floors on Shenxianzhou, with decks covered with foreign felt and bead curtains made of agate. Each floor is piled with seafood delicacies and filled with beautiful women. There are local and foreign opera troupes mixed in, Cantonese and Kunqu operas converge in the wind, and music and singing accompany the evening tide. It is truly a peaceful scene of bliss and various customs on earth.
Wu Chengjian, accompanied by Zhou Yijin, walked up a special staircase to the third floor. Suddenly, he heard someone calling him in the sea breeze, so he asked Zhou Yijin, "Yijin, is someone calling you?"
"Hmm? Is there?"
Zhou Yijin was naturally cold-hearted. After the incident, he became even more cold-hearted, except for Wu Chengjian.I am indifferent to everyone and everything else.
What's more, he doesn't have many friends in Guangzhou.
"Maybe I heard it wrong."
