Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 47: Protecting Nephew
Cai Qiaozhu returned home . Fearing that her father-in-law and uncle might worry, she quietly returned to the right courtyard. She applied some aloe vera cream and was about to go to bed. Suddenly, she heard a noise in the courtyard. Since Wu Chengjun fell ill, she had become more sensitive. She walked out and saw Lian Qiao sobbing and talking to Wu Chengjian. She suddenly became angry and shouted in a low voice, "What are you doing!"
Lian Qiao was startled, and Wu Chengjian waved his hand to ask her to step back. The uncle and sister-in-law approached, and Cai Qiaoju noticed that Wu Chengjian was looking at her forehead, so she quickly turned her head away.
Wu Chengjian still saw the ointment marks on Cai Qiaozhu's forehead under the moonlight. He felt so distressed that he gritted his teeth and finally held back many words. He just said, "Are you giving up now?"
Cai Qiaozhu closed her eyes.
Wu Chengjian said, "Don't worry, sister-in-law. No matter how much you have been wronged tonight, I will definitely get it back for you tenfold or a hundredfold!"
"Why are you still talking about this at this time?" Cai Qiaozhu said, "As long as I can protect my family, the honor and disgrace of a woman like me is nothing!"
"It's useless to stick your face into the ground with those heartless people. You'll just be throwing your dignity to the dogs..." He couldn't help but say a few words, but thinking that if he continued, it would only make his sister-in-law feel worse, so he cut himself off and said, "It's actually my fault. I had some plans in advance, but I didn't tell you. Otherwise, what happened tonight wouldn't have happened."
Cai Qiaozhu exclaimed, pulled Wu Chengjian into the hall, and said, "Third Uncle, tell me quickly, what other plans do you have?"
Wu Chengjian said: "The current situation is irreversible. The line of supervision of Guangdong Customs has been blocked long ago. My sister-in-law should have seen it clearly at Heitoucai tonight."
Cai Qiaozhu's eyes were dim: "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears, I really wouldn't have known that there are people in the world who have no family affection at all."
What disappointed her most tonight was not Cai Shiwen's rejection. If they were really pushed to the limit, the Wu family might not be unable to cut off their personal guarantee, but if that happened, the Wu family would definitely be emotionally confused and guilty. But tonight, no matter how much Cai Qiaozhu begged, Cai Shiwen was just acting and perfunctory the whole time, without any emotional fluctuations, which made Cai Qiaozhu the most heartbroken.
"There are a thousand different types of people." Wu Chengjian said, "My old man values friendship. My sister-in-law has lived in our home for a long time and feels that everyone should have some friendship. But that's not true. There are some people in the world who don't have any blood or heart."
Cai Qiaozhu said: "Let's not talk about them! If I mention them too much, I will feel bad in my heart."
Wu Chengjian said, "The line with Jishan is broken, and the line with the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi seems hopeless. I still have a trump card, but I can't tell you, or it won't work. But this trump card is too dangerous, and it's a life-threatening situation if you really use it. This is a gamble."
"Since you can't say it, then don't say it." Cai Qiaozhu said, "There is no other way now. I will listen to you, Third Uncle. Your brother's life and my life, if Third Uncle needs it, you can gamble with them."
Wu Chengjian said, "Father is old. I think he has already risked his life and is ready to use it to stop the sword and gun at any time. My brother is so sick, it is useless to worry too much. Since I am the head of this family, I have to take some responsibility. But Guang'er, he is still a child. No matter what the situation becomes in the end, we have to protect him."
Hearing her uncle's concerns and plans for his son, Cai Qiaozhu felt a mixture of sadness and joy in her chest and said, "Yes, yes! Third Uncle, what do you think we should do?"
Wu Chengjian said, "We have five large sums of money on hand. The first is the various real estate properties that our family has accumulated over the past few decades. If we really want to value these properties, they are so huge that they are limitless. The tea mountains in my hometown in Fujian that can produce top-grade tea are priceless treasures. Although we do not have the exclusive ownership of the tea mountains, our share is also difficult to value. However, given the current situation, we cannot move these real estate properties. If we move them, people will know that the Wu family is in trouble. Even if we sell them all, they will not sell for even 10% or 20% of the price."
Cai Qiaozhu nodded in agreement.
Wu Chengjian added, "Besides, Jishan is also eyeing our real estate. If they want to raid our house, these real estates will be sold at a low price. The gold and silver obtained from the low sale will go into the treasury, and the real estates that we bought ten times for one will fall into their pockets. And behind Jishan is Heshen. With this great god watching over us, I'm afraid no one in the Qing Dynasty will dare to take over our real estates."
When Cai Qiaozhu heard this, she couldn't help but sigh.
Wu Chengjian went on to say: "As for the second large sum of money, it is the savings at home, but there is not much left now."
Cai Qiaozhu had been in charge of the accounts before Wu Chengjian fell ill, so she naturally knew how much liquid gold and silver there was in the family. If she hadn't been really short of money, she would not have withheld Wu Chengjian's monthly salary last time.
"This third payment is for groceries."
The Wu family's main business is tea, so when they talk among themselves, they refer to other goods as groceries.
Among the businesses of Yihehang, the shipping volume of sundries is the largest, and the relationships involved are the most. Some of them: help some officials and officials to move goods, which is a disguised bribe; bring relatives, friends and heroes; share profits with the relatives and families of the shopkeepers in the bank, as well as old friends. Generally speaking, these sundries are not profitable, and some even have to make a small loss, but on the one hand, they are helpful for the Wu family to build a more majestic frame and increase sales, and on the other hand, they are helpful to lubricate the various internal and external relationships of the Wu family, and their existence is indispensable.
This batch of goods involves the most large and small merchants. Ever since the news of Yihe Bank's bankruptcy spread, some people have come to collect debts.
"The money for the groceries was just deposited into the warehouse not long ago, and the calculation was just completed yesterday. This is the largest amount of money we can use right now." Wu Chengjian said: "Then there is the money for the tea from our family."
Since Wu Chengjun took over the tea mountains in Fujian, he intervened in the production of Fujian tea mountains in order to further improve the quality of tea. He called the high-quality tea produced in the Fujian tea mountains "local tea", and the tea supplied "foreign tea".
If we say that miscellaneous goods have the largest shipment volume and domestic tea has the highest profit, then foreign tea has the largest transaction amount.
"The money for the foreign tea is now in the Pan family. According to the agreement, we can't take it out without Milton's signature. That's needless to say. Then there's the tea from our family... Although Milton wrote to me saying that they had prepared the money a long time ago and could exchange the money and the tea as soon as it arrived, he was just urging me to deliver the tea. There's still no sign of our batch of tea from our family, so for now, we can forget about the money."
Cai Qiaozhu said, "Right now, the only thing we can use is the money for groceries."
"Yes," Wu Chengjian said, "If we want to save Guang'er from the fire pit, we have to use this money."
Cai Qiaozhu said: "Although this amount of money is not small, according to the procedures of previous years, nine out of ten will be returned soon. If it is withheld or used for other purposes, the reputation and foundation of our Yihe Bank will collapse."
Wu Chengjian said, "Lord Chuan Longci has already reported back. There are already many spies around our mansion. Jishan has been keeping a close eye on the money and will not let it flow out. Even if we want to return it to our cooperating merchants, relatives, and officials' families, it is impossible. If Yihehang can hold on to the end, they will all get the money in the end, but if we can't hold on, Jishan should take care of the officials' members. As for our relatives and those cooperating merchants, we can only consider ourselves unlucky."
Cai Qiaozhu said: "What should we do then? "
Wu Chengjian said, "We should protect the Wu family first. If we protect the Wu family, we can naturally protect everyone. However, the order of spending money this year will be slightly adjusted compared to previous years. We will first take out a sum of money to cover Guang'er 's expenses for fleeing overseas, as well as his living expenses for the next ten years overseas, and the property he needs to settle down and start a business after he grows up."
"What?" Cai Qiaozhu was surprised before she finished listening: "Overseas?!"
Although what Wu Chengjian said just now made her most concerned about her son's whereabouts, she had never thought of escaping overseas.
"We can only flee overseas." Wu Chengjian said, "If he is in the Qing Dynasty, no matter where Guang'er is, he will be in danger of being caught once something happens to the Wu family. Even the countryside in Fujian may not be safe. Therefore, we can only send him to Southeast Asia. My idea is to send him to Luzon for resettlement. There are some relatives of our Fujian Wu family, as well as business partners that the old man made in the past. Although the relationship is not close, it is better than nothing. Manila is not far from Guangzhou. If everything goes well, it will only take a few days. If we can settle the matter in Guangzhou, we can take Guang'er back at any time. If we can't settle it... then let Guang'er survive there."
Cai Qiaozhu felt distressed and worried when she thought about sending her son overseas. However, she had no choice but to do so. Although the sea was rough, at least there was someone to pick him up and money to settle him. If he was exiled to the frontier or became a slave to the armored men, he would be in danger of death!
"Uncle San," Cai Qiaozhu said, "Have you arranged everything? Is the contact person suitable?"
Wu Chengjian said, "The ships and escape routes have been arranged. But we still need to find a few more people to accompany us. We need to find someone who speaks a foreign language to accompany us for a year or two so that we can deal with all kinds of unexpected events. We also need a trusted person from the family to protect the child. I prefer Wu Liu from the family. If Liu is willing, let Guang'er recognize him as his godfather."
Wu Erliang's family are hereditary servants. Although their status is low, under such circumstances, if Wu Liu is willing to protect Guang'er and let him go overseas, it would be a favor to the Wu family's young talent. Cai Qiaozhu thinks it is right to recognize him as her godfather.
"Has Uncle San found someone who can speak foreign languages?"
Wu Chengjian pondered and said, "I haven't found the candidate yet. Master Chuan Longci is in charge of domestic affairs and doesn't know such people. The people Charlie knows who can speak foreign languages are all foreigners, so I can't trust them."
"Well, we need to find a Chinese who can speak a foreign language..." Cai Qiaozhu thought for a moment and said, "How about I ask Shopkeeper Hou San?"
"He has a wide network of contacts in this area, so he should know a few reliable ones." Wu Chengjian said, "However, although Shopkeeper Hou San is a veteran in the industry, it is a time of trouble. When my sister-in-law asks him to do something, don't tell her everything. It's better to ask him to do it."
"Don't worry." Cai Qiaozhu said, "I know what to do."
