Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 11 Initial Layout
As expected, Wu Chenggou learned some things about the accounting office from the shopkeeper Dai Er. He went back to Cai Qiaozhu and sighed, scolding the third brother for not knowing the importance of the matter and not making any progress. Cai Qiaozhu played a very important role in the Wu family. She had been the head of the inner house for five or six years since the death of old lady Wu. She was born in the Cai merchant family and was good at business and finance. Therefore, in recent years, Wu Chengjun also let her manage the accounts of the family business. It can be said that Cai Qiaozhu not only manages the household, but also manages the accounts.
But she and Wu Chengjun had a deep love for each other. When her husband fell ill, she was completely focused on Wu Chengjun. How could she spare any time to manage the household accounts? All she thought about was how to take care of her husband's health, how to get good medicine and doctors, and she even secretly prayed to the gods and Buddhas. Unexpectedly, Wu Chenggou came over suddenly that day. After listening to his conversation, Cai Qiaozhu was surprised and said, "Your eldest brother always said that although the third uncle was playful, he was a very responsible person. He wouldn't do such a fool, would he?"
Wu Chenggou said: "Sister-in-law, if you don't believe it, just ask someone who knows the answer."
Cai Qiaozhu thought to herself, "Chengjun is always good at judging people, and Second Uncle and Third Uncle have never gotten along, so maybe Second Uncle is deliberately doing something." Her heart actually leaned towards Wu Chengjian, so she said, "Okay, I'll ask someone later."
But Cai Qiaozhu was not a hard-hearted person and was easily influenced by others. As soon as Wu Chenggou left, she thought again: "But if Third Uncle is really doing this, I shouldn't just sit there and do nothing." Think about it, the old man is sick and her husband can't get up. As the saying goes, the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother, so she can't just ignore this matter.
She asked Lian Qiao, the head maid, to ask Hou San, the shopkeeper, for help. She thought that her second uncle might lie to her, but Hou San, the shopkeeper, would definitely tell her the truth.
Shopkeeper Hou San came from the Cai family. Although he should have no connection with the Cai family after becoming the owner, he still had a natural close relationship with Cai Qiaozhu, so he came as soon as he was invited.
The eldest young lady is the one who has the say and makes decisions in the Wu family, and Wu Chengjian didn't order not to tell the eldest sister-in-law, so when Cai Qiaozhu asked, shopkeeper Hou San told everything.
When Cai Qiaozhu heard this, she was angry and anxious, so she asked Lian Qiao to invite the third young master over immediately.
Lian Qiao arrived at Wu Chengjian's room and asked where Xia Qing and Qiu Yue were. Lian Qiao asked, "Where is Sister Chun Rui?"
Xia Qing pointed and said, "She's crying in the room. I don't know why."
Lian Qiao entered the room and saw Chun Rui wiping her tears. She stepped forward and whispered, "Oh, Sister Chun Rui, who offended you?"
Chunrui had never received a harsh word from Wu Chengjian since she followed him. Today, she advised the Third Young Master with good intentions, but received such a harsh blow. She felt very aggrieved, but did not understand where she had gone wrong. She had no one to talk to and no one to ask, so she could only lock herself in the room and cry alone.
Seeing that it was Lian Qiao, Xia Qing remained silent and said, "Don't ask. We've been asking her for a long time, but she won't say anything."
Lian Qiao said, "No matter what happened, my sister is in a bad mood. I shouldn't disturb her at this time, but the eldest young lady has something urgent to ask the third young master. We servants have a hard time, so I have to ask sister Chunrui to calm down and give me some advice."
When Chunrui heard this, she quickly said, "I'll go right away."
Lian Qiao said, "The eldest young lady invited the third young master, what's the point of you going?"
Chun Rui said, "The Third Young Master is not here, but I can't just use this sentence to get back and forth. Wouldn't that be like trying to put off the First Young Madam?"
She quickly wiped away her tears and went to Cai Qiaozhu's room with Lian Qiao.
Chunrui's original name was Ruizhu. After Cai Qiaozhu came into the family, a maid gossiped that Qiaozhu and Ruizhu sounded like sisters. Chunrui felt embarrassed and changed her name to Chunrui to avoid taboos.
She is almost the same age as Cai Qiaozhu, but their life experiences have been very different since they were reborn. One became the eldest lady of the Wu family, with a noble status and dressed in gold and jade, while the other was a very old maid, for whom even becoming a concubine was just a dream. However, no matter what she thought in her mind, Chunrui could still control herself. Even if the Third Young Master said something about her, she still wanted only the best for him wholeheartedly, so she had to come in person to prevent others from passing on the message incorrectly and making the eldest lady angry with the Third Young Master.
"Uncle San is out?"
"yes."
"Where did you go?"
"It seems he went to Shamian." Chunrui said, "He left after the meeting at the accounting office. He seemed to be in a hurry."
What she said was not a lie, because to board the Huachai, one usually had to board the ship from Shamian. When Cai Qiaozhu heard this, she thought that Wu Chengjian had gone to a foreign company, which must be business, and since he was doing business, she should not disturb him.
She was about to let it go and let Chunrui go, but suddenly she became suspicious. After all, she had been the head of the household for several years, and she knew all the thoughts, tactics, and verbal skills of the servants. So she stopped Chunrui and asked, "Did the Third Young Master tell you where you were going before you left?"
This question could not be avoided, and Chunrui could not lie. Her heart skipped a beat, so she could only say, "I told you."
Cai Qiaozhu asked: "Where?"
Chun Rui knew that she couldn't hide it today, so she whispered, "Hua Cha Hao..."
When Cai Qiaozhu heard this, her willow-leaf eyebrows almost stood up, and she said angrily: "At this time of year, he still goes to spend money?!"
Chun Rui knelt down hurriedly and said, "Madam, the Third Young Master is definitely not such a heartless person. During the crisis yesterday, the Third Young Master was hard and cold in front of others, but in the master's side room, I saw him crying to the wall with my own eyes. He was really worried about the eldest young master, but the family couldn't be without a capable person, so he handled all the things with a cold face. But the things that happened in the past two days were really many and complicated. Madam, think carefully, the Third Young Master is a playful person. Suddenly asking him to be the head of the family is probably because he can't bear the heavy workload for the time being, and he just wants to hide for half a day, not to drink and have fun at this time of year."
Cai Qiaozhu recalled what happened yesterday. As expected, she vaguely remembered that Wu Chengjian seemed to have tears on his face when he came out of the old man's room. In her heart, Third Uncle was indeed a playful and mischievous brother. Her heart softened and she said, "Forget it, forget it. I know he is not heartless, so I won't be angry with him. But if his behavior gets out now, he will be accused of being unfilial and disrespectful. Send someone to tell him to come back quickly and don't spend the night on the boat."
Wu Chengjian boarded the Huacha, stretched himself lazily , looked at Zhou Yijin, and said with a smile, "It's still more comfortable here."
Zhou Yijin's lips curled up slightly, as if he was smiling.
At this time, the entire deck was cleared, leaving only Zhou Yijin, Wu Qi and three hangers-on.
Zhou Yijin said, "This incident always feels a little weird. But I don't know where the weirdness lies." He did n't know much about the internal operation of Yihe Bank, so he asked, "The batch of tea that was lost in Huizhou was very heavy and big?"
"The tea leaves are not that heavy. It only weighs a little when weighed. It is not big either . It can definitely be loaded on a foreign ship," said Wu Chengjian.
Zhou Yijin frowned with his eyebrows embroidered on, "Isn't this too heavy or too big?"
Wu Chengjian said, "The quantity is less than 20% of all the tea we export, but the total value accounts for about 40% to 50% of our tea exports, and the profit accounts for 60%. And if other goods are missing, it's not a big deal, but if this batch of tea is missing, the English will have an excuse to refuse to accept all our tea and force us to double the advance payment."
Zhou Yijin and the three hangers-on were all shocked. Quick-talking Wu Qi said, "Then our Wu family will have to pay a huge loss, right?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "If we can just compensate Ciye to the English, that would be easy."
Ci Ye laughed awkwardly for a moment, but when everyone saw that the Third Young Master was still in the mood to joke, they actually relaxed a little.
Zhou Yijin said: "Chengjian, do you have a plan to deal with it?"
"No." Wu Chengjian spread his hands: "I don't even know who the enemy is, how can I come up with a countermeasure?"
Zhou Yijin asked: "Enemy?"
Wu Chengjian said, "This batch of tea is so important to my family, my eldest brother would be extremely cautious. He had connections with both the black and white parties along the way, but something went wrong. It's easy to imagine that the people who stole the tea were not simple. If it was a large number of bandits who robbed it, or if the ship capsized during the sea transportation, then we would be unlucky. But like now, it was lost inexplicably and no one knows where it ended up. This must have been someone's deliberate plan."
Tietou Junba asked, "If that's the case, why didn't Third Master let me take people to Huizhou ?"
"It's useless for you to go." Wu Chengjian said, "My eldest brother is such a smart man. He went there in person and investigated until he vomited blood but still couldn't find anything. What's the point of you going there? Besides, my father has already sent Old Gu. Old Gu is also a smart man. If there are any clues, he will definitely find them for him. But if even he can't find any clues, then even if we go together it will be useless. We must find another way. Master Ci, Charlie."
Both Chuan Longci and Short Legs Charlie stood up. Wu Chengjian said, "Find a few reliable people and go to Huizhou, Foshan, Dongguan, and Macau to buy rare things. I want to make birthday gifts for my father. Buy rare things openly, and secretly find out if there are any large quantities of good tea for sale in these places recently."
"That's right." Zhou Yijin nodded after hearing this: "The bandits have robbed the tea, so they have to sell it. It would be too conspicuous to ship it all out at once. It's better to ship it out separately."
Wu Chengjian said: "If we hear such news, then the bandits have already broken up the goods and shipped them out in small quantities. That would be troublesome, as we won't be able to recover the goods."
Master Chuan Longci asked, "What if there is no such news?"
Wu Chengjian chuckled and said, "Of course that would be... even more troublesome!"
He called Tietou Junba over and asked, "Have you and Cai Jiaquan's feud settled down recently?"
Tietou Junba said, "The Wu family is having problems right now, please don't worry about my little trouble."
"How can I not worry?" Wu Chengjian said, "Forget about it in the past, but now I'm the head of the family, and I have more money in my hands. Of course I have to help you. Go to Sanniang later and take out all the money I deposited with her. Take as much as you can. If it's not enough, ask Wu Qi to go back to Chunrui to settle the account. After you get the money, go to Foshan to recruit people. Hire as many people as you can. After I finish celebrating my father's birthday, I will come to support you and take people to destroy the Cai Family Boxing arena."
Tietou Junba was so moved that he clenched his fists, making crackling sounds, but he still said, "Third Young Master, if it weren't for you, I, Junba, would have been exiled to Xinjiang long ago. Now that I can still take care of my mother, I am already a great favor. Third Young Master, don't worry about the old things between me and Cai Jiaquan."
"Alright, alright, don't be so touched." Wu Chengjian waved his hand. "I asked you to gather the troops. On the surface, it's to deal with Cai Jiaquan, but secretly it's to arrange the troops first. If we find the people who robbed the tea, can they still hand over the tea obediently? We have to fight. The people you recruit are our soldiers. So after you gather the people, you have to open the night porridge place frequently and train them well."
Tietou Junba was stunned for a moment, then he reacted: "I see, okay, I'll do it right away."
