Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 61: Second Investment
Wu Chengjian returned to the room, which also seemed very depressing.
Even Xia Qing wasn't in the mood to joke at this time.
Wu Chengjian said with a smile: "What's wrong with you? You all have gloomy faces."
"No, no." Chunrui smiled quickly, but the smile was a little awkward.
"Alright, alright." Wu Chengjian said, "Get me some midnight snacks. I just watched a good show at Ye's house, and now I'm a little hungry."
Chunrui agreed and hurried to the small kitchen to prepare a midnight snack. In the past, she always advised Wu Chengjian not to stay up late or eat too much at night to avoid indigestion. However, for this midnight snack, she tried to use all the expensive things in the house.
Wu Chengjian looked at the five or six full bowls and couldn't help laughing: "What are you doing? Are you going to give me a last-minute snack?"
Chunrui had been holding back, but when she heard the words "last midnight snack", she could no longer hold back and turned away, tears streaming down her face. Qiu Wen hurried forward, took out a handkerchief and handed it to her.
Wu Chengjian looked at her and smiled, "I knew you weren't that tolerant. You're really forcing yourself to endure it."
Xia Qing pouted and said, "Who can be as broad-minded as you? You are so heartless!"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "You are very open-minded. At least you are not as worried as your sister Chunrui."
Xia Qing actually sat down, scooped a few spoonfuls of scallop porridge and swallowed it, saying: "What am I afraid of? Wherever you are in trouble, I will follow you. If they don't let me follow, I will... I will die here. I have figured it out, so I am not worried anymore."
Wu Chengjian hugged her and said, "Silly girl, you are only a few years old, and you are talking about death . I am here, I will not let you suffer any injustice, let alone anything else."
Xia Qing said: "I know you will protect me..."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but shed tears: "I was not born in this family. You rescued me. Before I came into this family, I also had a hard life outside . I know very well how dangerous people outside are. My cousin, seeing that I am good-looking, didn't care that I was only ten years old, and he had the heart to pull off my pants. My own brother sold me for a few hundred dollars. Only here with you can I sleep and eat in peace, without having to worry about making food and clothing, avoiding bad people, or even competing for favor. People outside secretly say that I am your concubine, but only I know in my heart how you treat me - you never asked me to do this or that, always saying that you like to see me smile, as long as you see me smile you are happy, and you just need to be happy - others think you are being slick to me, but only I know that what you said is true. I can't find such a young master outside this courtyard. If you are in trouble, who can I follow if not you? If I can't follow you, what else can I do except die?"
By the end of the conversation, her face was full of tears. Chunrui couldn't stop crying when she heard it, and Qiu Wen also wiped her tears with a handkerchief.
Wu Chengjian's heart softened a little when he heard them cry. He smiled bitterly and said, "Qing'er, you know I like you to laugh, so why are you crying for me now?"
Xia Qing cried, "I...it's not that I don't want to laugh, it's that I can't laugh. Everyone in the house is saying that the Wu family is going to fall, and I have eyes, and I know they are not lying."
Wu Chengjian said: "But hasn't our Wu family fallen today?"
Xia Qing said: "It didn't fall today, what about tomorrow?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Tomorrow, I don't know. But think about it, if it doesn't fall tomorrow, wouldn't you cry tonight?"
Xia Qing looked at his smile and was stunned: "Master...you are still smiling..." And she could see that Wu Chengjian was not forcing a smile, but was joking with her like he usually did.
"Master...will our Wu family really be okay?" Xia Qing said in a daze.
"Of course." Wu Chengjian wiped the tears from her face with his fingers and said with a smile, "Go ahead and make the bed for me. I need to eat well and sleep well tonight. There will be a good show to watch tomorrow morning."
Seeing Wu Chengjian's smile was not forced, Xia Qing suddenly felt relieved and stopped crying. She said obediently, "Okay." And then she went to make the bed and fold the quilt.
Chunrui and Qiu Wen looked at each other. Qiu Wen thought, "Xia Qing looks smart, but she is actually very innocent. She was fooled by the Third Young Master."
Chun Rui thought, "It's good this way. At least... tonight is still peaceful. He can still smile tonight. If I can have one more peaceful night, then I can have one more peaceful night."
Early the next morning, a servant came to invite Wu Chengjian to attend a meeting at 2:15 am.
Wu Chengjian dressed up beautifully again and went to the backyard to pay his respects to Wu Guoying first. Cai Qiaoju was already there.
Wu Chengjian said, "Sister-in-law, you're here early."
Cai Qiaozhu said, "Your brother slept very soundly last night. I feel relieved this morning, so I came over here to pay my respects to the master."
Wu Chengjian said, "That would be the best. Then I won't go to the right courtyard to see my brother today. The maids took too long to help me get dressed just now, so I was a little delayed. Don't miss the lottery."
Cai Qiaozhu was about to ask whether he was confident about today's investment, but finally held back.
Wu Chengjian said goodbye to his father and sister-in-law, and walked to the gate of the yard, where he ran into Wu Chenggou. Wu Chengjian sang a morning song, and Wu Chenggou pulled him aside and said, "Are you going to the Bao Shang meeting place?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Yes, it was booked five days ago, and someone was sent to talk about it early this morning, so I can't refuse."
Wu Chenggou pulled him aside and said, "Third brother, tell me the truth, how confident are you about today's investment?"
Wu Chengjian asked back: "What are you sure of?"
"Don't play dumb!" Wu Chenggou said, "How sure are you?"
"It hasn't been voted on yet, who knows?" Wu Chengjian said, "Second brother, you don't have to worry. Just stay at home and serve well and take good care of your eldest brother and sister-in-law. I will take care of the things outside." After saying that, he withdrew his hand and left.
Wu Chenggou looked at his back and suddenly gritted his teeth. This time he didn't hate the Wu family for going bankrupt, but he hated him for not telling him anything. It was clear that he looked down on him!
When he arrived at the door of his house, before he could even leave, the doorman Wu Dacheng came to say, "Third Master, don't go through the front door. There are a lot of people blocking the way outside!"
It turned out that early in the morning, there were many people waiting on both sides of the gate, all of them were upstream merchants who cooperated with the Wu family. Not only were there people from Guangzhou, but also from nearby prefectures and counties. Dozens of people blocked the gate of the Wu family - they all knew that the second round of investment in business insurance would be held today, and they saw the fate of the Yang family and the fate of the merchants who cooperated with the Yang family, so they all rushed here.
Ever since the news came out, there has been an endless stream of people coming to the Wu residence to collect debts. Wu Chengjian was the only one who refused to see him. Wu Guoying was too embarrassed to see them in the first two days, so he feigned illness and could not go out in the past two days. As a result, all the debt collectors were blocked outside the Wu family's gate.
Although most people knew that it was useless to surround the gate of the Wu family, behind this gate was their countless hard-earned money. If the second round of investment was unfavorable today and something happened to the Wu family, they would also suffer.
Wu Chengjian looked through the small window of the gatehouse and sneered, "Why are they blocking the gate? Can this matter be resolved by blocking me from attending the business protection meeting?"
Wu Dacheng pursed his lips and said, "Who knows. They are just a bunch of troublemakers!" In fact, what he was thinking was, "If it were me, I would also come here to collect debts." But he naturally helped his little master with words.
Wu Chengjian said, "According to the rules of previous years, it's not time to pay the bill yet. I won't see any of these people, but they probably won't listen to me. Wu Qi, what do you say we should do?"
Wu Qi said, "Master, what do you say we should do?"
Wu Chengjian thought for a moment and said, "Let's lure the tiger away from the mountain."
Wu Qi smiled and said, "I understand!"
He went to open the side door and began to arrange the sedan chair openly. Wu Dacheng led people to block the side door. The merchants who came to block the door did not rush over. They all waited outside. They all made up their minds: You have to come out, right? This door is blocked. You can't leave after you come out. You have to get off the sedan chair and talk.
Unexpectedly, Wu Qi was only tidying up the sedan chair in a disjointed manner and it took a long time before he could carry it out.
The merchants were beginning to get suspicious when someone suddenly shouted, "Oh no! The third young master of the Wu family ran out the back door!"
The merchants shouted, "We've been tricked!" They had no time to think. Without even thinking, they all ran to the back door. In fact, they had also sent people to block the back door. Dozens of people rushed to the back door, and those who were blocking the back door asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
A merchant asked, "Where is Wu Chengjian? Where did he go? Why didn't you stop him?"
"No, no one came out."
"Oh no!" the merchants shouted again, "We've been tricked!"
He ran back to the front again, but the sedan that was originally parked there was gone.
The sedan chair was carried to the middle of Shisanhang Street and stopped in front of the business council office.
Wu Chengjian brought Wu Qi along, walked through the corridor and arrived at the meeting room. As the attendants outside the room sang loudly - "The agent of Yihehang, Lord Hao, has arrived" - he walked in.
The meeting room was still arranged exactly the same as last time: six on the left and fifty-one on the right, facing each other, and nine people were still sitting on the eleven chairs. Pan Youjie still didn't come, and it was still the shopkeeper who attended the meeting on his behalf. He was still sitting next to the altar, supervising the meeting on behalf of Jishan, the supervisor of the Guangdong Customs.
The only thing that changed was probably the expressions on everyone's faces. The most obvious one was that of Merchant Yang. His face was covered in a deathly gray color, and he didn't look like a living person at all.
