Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 34: Countermeasure
In a mansion in Xiguan, Ye Dalin was thinking with his eyes closed, and the two jade galls in his palms kept turning. Suddenly, he heard some unusual movement, and he threw the jade gall over angrily. A scream was heard, and a servant was hit on the head and bleeding.
Ye Dalin didn't even look at it and closed his eyes again.
The boy didn't even dare to cry, and he crawled away. The whole family suddenly became silent, and no one dared to disturb him anymore.
Until someone came running in from outside, he stood outside the door, wanting to come in but not daring to.
Although Ye Dalin closed his eyes, his ears were still sensitive to all changes. He suddenly opened his eyes and asked, "What's wrong?"
The visitor rushed in and whispered a few words in Ye Dalin's ear.
Ye Dalin's pupils shrank. After a moment, he snorted coldly, "Did the Wu family send someone to invite Master Cai? Very good, very good!"
He seemed to remember something, and murmured in the direction of the Wu family mansion: "Old Wu, since you have your own plans, I don't have to be polite."
Ye Dalin suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Change your clothes and go out with me through the back door. Tell my wife to keep a close eye on the door. If anyone dares to reveal my whereabouts, I'll beat him to death on the spot with a stick!"
In another mansion in Xiguan, Lu Guanhuan heard that Master Cai had accepted the invitation from the third young master of Yihexing, and the sedan chair went straight to the pier, obviously heading to Shenxianzhou.
Lu Guanhuan felt annoyed.
Ever since Changlin was transferred, he knew he had to find a new backer. Although the disciples and old officials left by Changlin could help him temporarily, they could not protect him forever. He did not hesitate to offend the Governor of Guangdong and the Supervisor of Guangdong Customs twice in a row to accomplish those two difficult tasks for the new Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi. This was his token of loyalty.
Mr. Cai has also met with me twice, but there has been no definite answer so far. Even tonight, at such a sensitive time, I still went to accept the invitation from Yihexing with great fanfare.
"Is it that Master Cai feels that he has not shown enough loyalty, or is it that the Governor-General has other plans for the situation in Guangdong and Guangxi?"
No matter how prudent and thoughtful he is, he cannot avoid falling into the trap once he is in the situation. The more he thinks about it, the more he feels that the minds of the higher-ups are mysterious and unpredictable.
"Did I still have some reservations in my words when we met last time?" Lu Guanhuan kept looking for various details of the two meetings with Cai Qinghua: "If we meet again next time, I can't hold back anymore. I must show my loyalty... I just don't know if there will be another chance!"
Just when he was getting impatient, a letter suddenly arrived. Lu Guanhuan opened it quickly. There were only a few words in the letter, but it made him feel relieved. He was so happy that he wanted to jump for joy. He hurriedly ordered: "Let's go, prepare the sedan chair! No, prepare the carriage, prepare the carriage."
The lights of Shenxian Island were lit up before the sun set, and when night fell, the lights made the nearby water surface colorful.
Today's Baietan is just an ordinary night scene. After all, it is not the day of the courtesan competition when Cai Qinghua first came here, nor is it the carnival night after the autumn harvest when money is spent. However, the boats are still coming to Shenxianzhou one after another.
Baietan was originally quite peaceful and orderly, but with the arrival of a carved boat, people and boats began to move around. Seeing the Wu stamp on the lantern of the carved boat, boats on the water gave way. Wherever the carved boat went, other boats gave way and turned on their lights to illuminate the waterway for the carved boat.
The lights were on all the way, and each time a light came on, there was a shout from inside the cabin, but this time it was not the Cantonese "Wu Gai (thank you) San Shao" or "San Shao, good job", but a Beijing accent that I learned on the spot: "Cai Ye Ji Xiang."
Some newbies looked curious, and one said, "This is the Third Young Master Yihe welcoming guests. I wonder where this important person came from that deserves such a big show."
The carved boat approached Shenxianzhou, and there was no need to queue up. It went directly to the dock dedicated to Shenxianzhou. A middle-aged man dressed as a Confucian scholar came out, followed by a handsome servant.
Then a thin young man walked out of the second-floor window and called out from a high place, his voice as sharp and loud as a suona: "Master Cai is here, girls, come and greet him."
All the cabins on the three floors of the Shenxian Island were lit up at once. Countless water ladies and beauties shouted in unison in their awkward Beijing dialect, "We are waiting to welcome Master Cai."
The handsome servant following the scholar exclaimed in amazement: "What a grand display!"
Twenty-four orioles and swallows had already lined up in two rows and came out to greet the middle-aged scholar. The scholar smiled and walked along the path naturally formed between the twenty-four orioles and swallows and went straight to the hall.
In the hall of Shenxianzhou, on the third floor, the four little beauties Chun Yuanzhi, Xia Lujun, Qiu Binju and Dong Wangmei all opened the pearl curtains. Except for Tan Sanniang who had already closed the curtains, the three most courtesans showed up to welcome the guests. However, Shen Xiaoying was a little impatient, Ginkgo's face was calm, and only Qiu Ling had a charming smile on her face. The pearl curtains were opened, and Wu Chengjian also stood by the railing to greet them.
On the stage in the middle of the hall, a Kunqu opera troupe has already set up the stage for "Dream of the Peony Pavilion" and is waiting to start singing.
In the hall and on the private seats, the guests knew that Young Master Yihe was going to invite distinguished guests, and they all looked towards the door curiously. A fat merchant said to the thin merchant next to him: "There are dozens of bosses behind Shenxianzhou, who usually fight and sabotage each other. Now this grand style can only be arranged by Young Master Yihe."
The thin merchant said, "I don't know what kind of immortal this is."
Then I heard the fast-talking Wu Qi from the second floor singing: "Master Cai from Zhejiang has arrived——"
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, a middle-aged scholar walked in with a servant.
Zhou Yijin, who had been waiting in the hall, went to greet him with Chuan Longci. When he saw the visitor's appearance clearly, he was stunned - how could this be Cai Qinghua?
The middle-aged scholar was actually another retainer in the Governor's Mansion. He smiled and stepped aside.
The handsome young man stepped forward and said, "Greetings to Master Zhou."
Zhou Yijin recognized him as Cai Qinghua's personal servant, frowned and said, "Where is Master Cai?" In public, he avoided talking about the master-disciple relationship.
The servant said, "My master was about to go out when the governor came to order him to bring a guarantor named Lu Guanhuan to see him. My master stayed to wait for Lu Guanhuan. He remembered the invitation tonight and asked me to come here to thank the Third Young Master and Master Zhou and apologize for breaking the appointment. I will find a time to make amends to Master Zhou in the future."
He had taken medicine to delay his voice change, so although his voice was not very loud, it was clear and audible. The hall was quiet at the moment, and people on the third floor could hear it clearly.
Shen Xiaoying let out a sigh, turned around and disappeared.
Ginkgo smiled and sat down to watch the show.
Only Qiu Ling still kept smiling.
Zhou Yijin's face was as black as if it was covered with ink. The handsome servant bowed and said, "Now that the polite words have been said, there is no need to pretend anymore." So he left with the guest of the Governor's Mansion.
On the third floor, the pearl curtain was lowered, hiding Wu Chengjian's figure.
Zhou Yijin ran back to Chun Yuanzhi, a rare look of anger appearing on his handsome face.
Although the journey was short, he had already received enough gloating and mocking looks.
On the stage, the Kunqu Opera troupe hastily ended the show and left as if they were escaping. In the hall, countless guests were talking about it.
In the private seats, some people laughed wildly, and there were even words like "It seems that the Wu family has come to an end" floating in the wind.
After entering the room, Zhou Yijin groaned and sat down: "Master, this move is too much! Too much!"
He was well-mannered, but Cai Qinghua's move was too much. It was not just embarrassing for Wu Chengjian. People always followed the wind and did what they wanted. Under the current situation, Cai Qinghua's move almost pushed the Wu family, who were on the edge of the cliff, into the abyss in public.
This was a major matter that concerned the life and death of the entire Wu family. Wu Chengjian had done Zhou Yijin a favor, so when Zhou Yijin thought of the worst possible outcome, he became anxious.
Wu Chengjian had calmed down by now. He sat at the table, looking up, as if thinking about something.
Soon, Wu Qi and Ci Ye also came in. Their faces were also very bad. In the blink of an eye, they all felt unwelcome for the first time in Shenxian Island. Even some of the most humble turtle slaves rolled their eyes and sneered at them behind their backs - this kind of thing would have been impossible to happen before.
Wu Qi and Ci Ye asked in unison: "Third Young Master?"
Wu Chengjian came back to his senses and said, "Our lives will be difficult in the next few days."
Wu Qi said: "This Master Cai is too much! He could have just not come, but he had to do this."
Wu Chengjian laughed and said, "Didn't we just trick him last time? Are we only allowed to use his power but not allow him to lose face with us? This is called reciprocity." He actually smiled, but the smile was a little stiff.
Wu Qi was a little surprised: "My young master, you can still laugh. Do you know how people outside look at us now? Just now when I walked all the way here, I felt that they looked at me like a drowned dog."
Zhou Yijin also shook his head: "Different, different. Although we made a small plan last time, it was just a joke. It was a small benefit to me and no harm to him. But this time... Master has gone too far!"
Wu Chengjian said: "Although the degree of damage is different, the counterattack also depends on the position of each other. If a cat teases a tiger, the tiger will slap the cat to death with a backhand paw. The Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office is the tiger, and we are the cat."
Zhou Yijin saw that Wu Chengjian was speaking rationally and knew that he had indeed adjusted his mindset. He admired his open-mindedness and also knew that he had regained his composure.
"Then should we fight back against him again?" Wu Qi asked.
"Let's stop here!" Wu Chengjian said to Zhou Yijin, "This time, my little calculation last time has been exchanged, and Master Cai and I are even. Yijin, I hope that this incident will not affect the friendship between you and Master Cai as a master and disciple."
Zhou Yijin hesitated for a moment before nodding reluctantly. He knew that this was a small matter that had started a fight. If both sides were unwilling to let it go, the entanglement would be out of control, which would only be more harmful to Wu Chengjian. So he asked, "Third Young Master, do you have any other ideas?"
"We can only act according to the previous plan." Wu Chengjian said: "It's a life-or-death situation!"
