Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 55: Tanka
The uncle and his wife talked about it, and Cai Qiaozhu asked about the whereabouts of the third shopkeeper. Wu Chengjian said, "Old Gu invited him to have tea and ask about the whereabouts of the batch of tea from our family."
When Cai Qiaozhu heard that Shopkeeper Hou San was taken away by Lao Gu, she understood instantly. She nodded and then shook her head. She nodded because she thought that since the spy was caught, there would be hope of finding the batch of family tea through him. But she shook her head because given the current situation, she was afraid that even if the batch of family tea was found, the Wu family would not be able to survive this disaster.
Cai Qiaozhu's words just now actually had another purpose, that is, she heard Wu Liu say that day that Wu Chengjian was "confident" about this disaster, so she tried to ask him some questions, but she didn't expect that she didn't get a single word out of him.
Wu Chengjian had just come out of the right courtyard when Wu Erliang came to block his way. This time it was the old man who came to invite him.
Wu Chengjian had no choice but to follow his uncle to the backyard. Wu Guoying did not ask him about the affairs of the shopkeeper Hou San, but only asked, "What are your plans for Guang'er's affairs?"
Wu Chengjian knew that the old man had seen through everything when he heard it, so he said honestly: "There are other arrangements. We are still going to Luzon. Dad, you still need to prepare the letters to the relatives there."
Wu Guoying didn't ask for details, but just said: "This whole thing...how sure are you, Haoguan?"
Wu Chengjian thought for a moment and said, "If you want to turn the tables, you will have to risk your life."
Wu Guoying said, "Don't gamble anymore. Take Guang'er with you and go too. With your scheming, I believe you can make a name for yourself even if you go overseas."
"No!" Wu Chengjian said, "This Yihe Bank is the result of many years of hard work by my father and my elder brother. I can't bear to give it up like this. Besides, what will you do if Guang'er and I are gone, father? Your body can't stand the wind and waves, let alone my elder brother. I have to give it a try no matter what."
Businessmen from Fujian have a deep gambling nature in their bones. Even if there is little hope, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, they will give it a try. This is something that has penetrated into their bones. Wu Guoying knew that words of persuasion were useless, so he stopped talking and waved his hand: "Go. Go."
Wu Chengjian returned to the left courtyard and asked Wu Qi to close the courtyard, leaving only three maids in the house. After Wu Qi drove everyone away, he came back and saw that the atmosphere in the house was not right - Xia Qing was holding the family rules in her hand.
Wu Qi shouted, "Hey, Third Master, what are you doing?"
Wu Chengjian pointed at Wu Qi and said, "Hit me!"
Xia Qing smiled and said, "Yes, sir!" She picked up the family rules and started beating Wu Qi right on the head and face, making him run around the house with his head in his hands.
Xia Qing only had so much strength that even if she hit him with all her strength, it would only hurt but not hurt. However, Wu Qi still howled like a ghost, shouting, "Master, my master, what did I do wrong? Even if you want to kill me, I won't blame you, but you have to let me know what's going on."
Wu Chengjian cursed, "You're asking me what I did wrong? I'm going to beat you up for being so outspoken."
Wu Qi complained: "Why am I so outspoken? Hey, sister Xia Qing, please be gentler, be gentler. Beating is love and scolding is care. If you don't want to marry me, don't love me so hard... Ouch, ouch! Why are you loving me harder!"
Seeing Wu Qi's forehead was broken and his eyebrows were bruised, Wu Chengjian said, "That's enough, Qing'er."
As a result, Xia Qing hit her twice more, and Chun Rui went over to hold her back before she stopped.
Wu Qi stepped forward with a sad face and said, "My young master, why did you hit me?"
Wu Chengjian cursed, "Sister-in-law has become suspicious of me. I guess you leaked something to Ah Liu, and Ah Liu told Sister-in-law."
Wu Qi's eyes rolled around: "No, definitely not!"
Wu Chengjian sneered: "The fact that you rolled your eyes like that means there must be something, and there must be more than one. Xia Qing, hit me again!"
Wu Qi rolled to Wu Chengjian's feet, hugged Wu Chengjian's thighs, and used all the laziness he learned in the romantic world: "Master, please forgive me, I don't dare to do it again, I don't dare to do it again."
Xia Qing was afraid that the family rules would affect the Third Young Master, so she hit him on the thigh a few times.
Wu Chengjian said, "I knew it. This family is like a sieve, with leaks everywhere." He then said to Chunrui, "Look, even Xiaoqi leaked my affairs."
Chunrui quickly pleaded for Wu Qi: "Even if Brother Qi really let something slip, it was not intentional. Besides, Brother Liu is not an outsider."
Wu Chengjian said, "If he really wanted to leak the secret, it wouldn't be Xia Qing who would use family rules. Humph, I know Wu Liu is his brother, and he trusts Wu Liu, just like I trust my brother. But who doesn't have one or two people they trust the most in this house? I didn't tell you some things before, not because I don't trust you, but because all secrets, once they are out, will spread from one person to another, from two to three, and from three to five. That's how many leaks happen."
Wu Qi said, "I'm very tight-lipped to others, and besides, it's not my own fault. But my brother looks honest, but he's the worm in my stomach. I can't fool him or hide anything from him. What can I do?"
Wu Chengjian kicked him hard and said, "Okay, I don't want you anymore. Go serve in the Zuoyuan and let your brother come with me. I'll be missing an honest man by my side."
Wu Qi started to cry again: "No, no, Master! You can't leave me!"
Wu Chengjian said he wanted to change people, but that was just talk. Wu Qi had been with him since they were wearing open-crotch pants. The two of them had spent more time together than their brother Wu Chengjun. How could they really change people when they were so closely related? Today, Wu Qi was beaten behind closed doors, but the two most important words were actually said to Chunrui.
In the days that followed, Wu Chengjian suddenly became quiet. He never left the house, and he even stopped going to Huachahao and Shenxianzhou. He stayed in the left courtyard all day, doing happy things with Xia Qing to have some fun.
At Baietan, Tan Sanniang hadn't seen Wu Chengjian for days. Although she knew that this was a time of trouble, she still felt lonely. Suddenly she remembered, "My curtain-closing banquet has been postponed again and again because of many things going on recently. Although he said that he must be present at my curtain-closing banquet, how could he still be in the mood now? The second meeting to protect merchants is about to start. If something happens by then, he will definitely be in no mood. It's better to hide it from him and just hold the banquet."
She still had some personal money, so she planned to take some out and buy some fruits, wine, and dishes. The seafood would be supplied by the boatmen.
When Yihehang was at its peak, there were many people running errands for Huachahao, but recently there have been a series of accidents, and before Wu Chengjian even opened his mouth to chase them away, some people under him were already feeling uneasy.
Zhou Yijin was a man of sharp eyes and ears. Although he often stayed alone in the cabin for most of the day, he was decisive when something really happened. To prevent the spread of this kind of atmosphere, he first cleaned up the Hua Cha Hao and sent away all the servants who had any complaints or suspicions. Only four servants, four maids, two footmen, two nannies, and six sailors were left. These people had either received favors from Wu, Zhou, and Dan, or were loyal and kind-hearted, or were very dependent on Wu Chengjian. Zhou Yijin expected that they should be able to overcome the difficulties together with the Wu family.
However, the Hua Cha was too big. A large ship that could carry hundreds of people was suddenly left with only twenty people, and the entire ship immediately looked empty.
Tan Sanniang only saw a deserted scene, but Zhou Yijin thought: "Among those who were sent away, there must be some who harbor resentment. They know the true situation of Huachahao. If the second meeting to protect merchants is not favorable to the Wu family, these people may have evil intentions and may collude with villains to attack."
If Iron-headed Junsha were here, it would not be a problem for him to call for dozens of guards at once. Short-legged Charlie could also quickly recruit many sailors. But Junsha was not here now, and it was not appropriate for Charlie to recruit sailors at this time. Zhou Yijin pondered for a moment and suddenly thought, "You can't guard against thieves after all. Instead of doing this, I might as well be a thief myself." So he made a plan and wrote two letters and asked people to send them out.
Over there, Tan Sanniang had already prepared a banquet for the closing ceremony. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it. In the past, her banquet would have filled the entire ship of Hua Cha. Now, she was only going to set up eight banquet tables on the deck, just to fulfill her wish.
Even so, there were not enough people on the boat, so they asked Zhou Yijin for advice. Zhou Yijin said, "Please invite some people from the Tanka village to come on board. This will make the Huachai more lively."
This was exactly what Tanka Sanniang wanted, so she sent someone to the Tanka village to invite someone.
The Tanka villages in this area had received favors from Wu Chengjian and were all close to Tanka Sanniang, so dozens of boats came as soon as the call was made. Sanniang's cousin Weng Xiong brought one or two hundred people, ready to take turns boarding the boats to be picked by Tanka Sanniang.
Tan Sanniang said, "We are not going to sail this big ship to fight, why do we need so many people?"
"If we really want to fight, we won't have enough of these people." Weng Xiong said, "Anyway, just pick them. I'll take the rest."
Tanka Sanniang was of low status in the eyes of officials and businessmen, but in Tanka Village, her image was great and touching - she sold herself to join the flower trade for her family, and then asked Wu Sanshao to pay a large sum of money to save the entire Tanka Village that was hit by the disaster. This was a selfless act of a bodhisattva. Not to mention that in the past few years, she has provided relief to the nearby Tanka families - almost responding to every request - so many Tanka families are willing to work for her.
Tanka Sanniang looked at the Tanka brothers and sisters who had already boarded the boat and was unsure about what to do. She came to Zhou Yijin for help, but Zhou Yijin was not polite. He picked out twenty or so nimble young men to stay on the boat to clean, a dozen strong men to do the rough work, a dozen with good understanding to help the sailors operate the boat, and ten Tanka girls to be arranged by Tanka Sanniang.
Tan Sanniang wanted to arrange accommodation for these people, but Weng Xiong said, "How can they live on a big boat? Don't make it dirty here."
The boat people were used to being bullied by the people on the land, and not only did they not dare to resist, but they developed a sense of inferiority. According to Weng Xiong's idea, they used a dozen small fishing boats to hang around Huachahao, and let these people work on the boats during the day and go back to the small fishing boats to sleep at night.
Tan Sanniang said, "How can that be possible? That would be too rude."
The forty or so people who were chosen all felt that there was nothing wrong with doing so.
Weng Xiong said, "Then let's just leave it at that."
Zhou Yijin called Weng Xiong to the side and said to him, "In two or three days, some thugs will board the ship to steal and rob, and maybe even kill and burn people."
Weng Xiong was surprised: "What! Who is so bold?"
Zhou Yijin did not answer but asked: "Are there any strong and brave people in your village who dare to fight against the thieves?"
Weng Xiong said: "We, the Tanka village, dare not resist the French, dare not resist the Han, and dare not offend the bannermen. But if the bandits bully us, we will fight to the death."
Zhou Yijin said, "I will make some arrangements on the ship in the next two days. I need you to send about 80 to 100 more people. Can you spare them?"
Weng Xiong said, "No problem! There are more than a dozen boat villages nearby, and they have all received favors from the Third Young Master and the Third Lady. If I give them a call, let alone a hundred people, three or four hundred people will be no problem."
Zhou Yijin said, "Don't make it too big, keep it secret. There is a small sandbar that has just emerged from the water about two miles away from the Huacha. You can secretly select people and gather these hundreds of people starting from the night after tomorrow. Sail to the vicinity of the sandbar and explain the reason when you get there. If the Huacha doesn't raise a signal, you don't have to come over. If you see a signal, send a boat to help immediately. I will tell you in detail what to do later."
Weng Xiong agreed to all of them, but he was a rare person among the Tanka people, who was bold and careful. He suddenly asked, "Master Zhou, how did you know that there would be thieves coming? And when did you know they would come?"
Zhou Yijin did not answer, but just smiled gently. This smile was like a rising red sun at the junction of the river and the sea, indescribably bright and beautiful. Weng Xiong felt his face getting hot for no reason and dared not ask any more questions.
——
In a blink of an eye, the next day will be the second meeting for the investment and financing of the business. At the Wu residence in Xiguan, I wonder how many people will be unable to sleep tonight.
In the left courtyard, Chunrui was worried but didn't dare to speak. Fortunately, Wu Chengjian looked indifferent, which made the maids in the room feel more at ease.
After dinner, Wu Guoying suddenly called him over and said, " Come on, follow me to the Ye family."
