Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 62 Contract
"Sorry, sorry." Wu Chengjian held a fan and greeted the elders one after another: "There are a bunch of debt collectors blocking the gate. I am later than you uncles again."
Lord Xie glanced at him and said with a smile, "Then how can my nephew escape?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "My nephew used the strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain. He tricked them into going to the back door, and then my nephew came here in a sedan chair in a swagger."
Pan Yiliang Ma and other business owners saw him being so smug because of his little trick. They all thought, "This prodigal son is so heartless. Doesn't he know what the situation of his Wu family is today? He can still laugh."
Ye Dalin also stared at him, thinking: "Could it be that what Third Sister said was right? Does the Wu family really have a backup plan?" He suddenly became conflicted. He had originally thought of abstaining from voting, thinking that with Cai Xie and Pan Yiliang Ma, the bill would be passed even if he abstained. But when he thought of that possibility, he suddenly became frightened and decided not to keep his promise. He had to give the Wu family another push and not let them climb out of the abyss easily!
It is impossible for the things decided by Zhongtang to have no results. Since someone has to die, if the Wu family doesn't die, no one in the upper six families can be at ease! The Ye family is at the bottom of the upper six families, so it is naturally the most dangerous.
"Stop talking nonsense!" Galiu said impatiently, "Start investing."
General Merchant Cai stepped forward and said, "Five days ago, we gathered together and decided to raise funds for the Yongding River flood again. This time, the funds will no longer be divided equally, but will be taken by both families. We all have a sincere heart to serve our country, and we all want to share the worries of our king and father, but after all, there are only two places available. For the sake of fairness, we have to vote for it."
Pan Yiliang and Ma were thinking, who would be the one to share the worries for the emperor and father? Mr. Cai's level of lying was beyond their reach. However, no one dared to deny such political correctness in words, so they all nodded and said, "Yes, yes. Mr. Cai is right."
Among their five families, Liang and Ma originally followed Lu Guanhuan, and Pan Yi followed Cai Xie. However, after the last meeting to protect the merchants, Lu Guanhuan and others gave up the fight with Cai Xie and only wanted to protect themselves. Seeing the general trend, Liang and Ma both turned to Cai Xie and promised privately that they would follow Cai Xie's lead in this matter.
So as soon as Mr. Cai spoke, Pan Yi, Liang and Ma responded one after another.
Xie Yuanli smiled and said, "The general merchant is indeed popular. He is the popular choice among the Thirteen Traders." He also expressed his opinion, and this opinion already represented more than half of the votes among the Thirteen Traders.
Manager Liu smiled slightly and said, "I'm willing to follow the public opinion."
Mr. Cai did not delay any longer and said, "Get the chips!"
The secretary in the corner brought over twenty-two bamboo chips, eleven long and eleven short, and distributed them to the crowd. Many attendants also came in, bringing pens and ink.
Mr. Cai said: "If you invest in a long position, you will get six companies in the next position. If you invest in a short position, you will get five companies in the next position."
This is equivalent to public voting - in fact, in Guangdong, the business atmosphere is very strong, and various private mechanisms for joint ventures are quite mature. In business guilds, experienced people know that voting is better when it comes to voting, and it is better to be anonymous. Otherwise, voters will worry that they will be retaliated against if their opinions differ from those of the powerful, and they will be easily coerced when voting.
But what the government pursues is not fairness and justice. The government just wants to keep an eye on your actions so that voters have no room for free manipulation. Therefore, the voting in the Thirteen Hongs is all open.
Pan Yi, Liang Ma looked at each other and finished writing in one go.
Merchant Yang's hands were shaking so much that he could barely keep his wrist steady.
The secretary came over and asked, "Do you need my help?"
"No need!" Merchant Yang gritted his teeth, held his right wrist with his left hand, and looked over the four merchant owners Pan, Yi, Liang and Ma with a pair of dying eyes.
Pan Yiliang's horse felt a little scared when he was stared at by him. Merchant Yang snorted, wrote two words crookedly, and handed over the bamboo chips.
There was a change in Ye Dalin's eyes. After a while, he finally made up his mind. He wrote a word on the short chip and another word on the long chip.
Lu Guanhuan's face was not looking good either. He had originally opposed this resolution, but he was outnumbered and had no choice but to give in. He drew his fingers twice to indicate that he abstained.
Manager Liu also made two strokes to indicate his abstention.
Wu Chengjian did not look at what others were doing, and wrote one word at a time. When the secretary came to collect the chips, he saw what he had written and was surprised. But then he thought, "He must have given up on himself."
Finally, Cai, Xie and the shopkeeper Liu also finished drawing their names and began to make plans.
Counting the short chips first, the Yang family got seven votes - the three votes from the Pan, Lu and Wu families all abstained. Merchant Yang himself voted for the Yi family, whom he hated the most, but it did not help. He still won the right to undertake the assignment with more than half of the votes.
Although Merchant Yang had guessed the result long ago, there was a difference between guessing and actually facing the verdict. He stood up with a miserable smile, trembling and staggering. He no longer cared about the rules and walked out the door in a daze.
Galau gave a wink, and two soldiers followed Lord Yang outside the door, not missing a step.
Then we started counting the long chips, and the number of votes was unexpected.
There were eleven bamboo chips, and Lu Guanhuan still abstained from voting - everyone saw him casually make two strokes just now, and knew that he abstained from voting twice; Merchant Yang wrote the name of the Cai family as a revenge - this was not surprising to everyone, but the barking of a defeated dog was meaningless; Manager Liu also clearly abstained from voting - but apart from these, the Wu family of Yihehang actually got eight votes!
In other words, in addition to Pan, Lu, and Yang, not only Ye Dalin, but also Wu Chengjian himself wrote about the Wu family?
When the vote-counting officer finally called out, "Wu family of Yihehang, eight chips!", Wu Chengjian stood up leisurely, walked around the meeting room, and said to the guarantors with a smile, "My dear uncles, I am honored. I am honored."
His smile made it seem as if what he got was not a death warrant, but a new license.
Pan Yi, Liang Ma and others looked at each other and couldn't help but wonder, "Is Wu Guoying's son crazy?"
Ye Dalin was relieved to see that there was no accident in the investment, but he was also suspicious of Wu Chengjian's performance.
Wu Chengjian bowed to Ye Dalin again: "Uncle Ye, thank you for your help." He had a smile on his face as he spoke, but for some reason, Ye Dalin felt a chill down his spine.
Cai Shiwen and Xie Yuanli looked at each other , and Cai Shiwen smiled and said, "My dear nephew, congratulations on winning this contract."
This is called a full-scale play, and it makes it sound as if the Wu family has gained a great benefit.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "It is also thanks to the care of General Merchant Cai and the courtesy of all the uncles and aunts."
With two greetings, two bannermen came in from outside the door, one on the left and one on the right, and clamped Wu Chengjian.
Wu Chengjian looked stunned and said to Cai Shiwen, "Uncle Cai, what are you doing?"
Everyone was startled by his question, and then they all felt that it was extremely inappropriate for these two flag soldiers to come in.
If Wu Chengjian was like that merchant Yang, with a look of defeat on his face, the two bannermen would come in and take him away to prevent him from taking risks, and the merchants who guaranteed his safety would at most sigh a few times, but would not stop him. But now the meeting room was full of harmony, and Wu Chengjian had a smug look on his face, as if he had achieved some great honor - well, in Cai Shiwen's words, taking on this apportionment was indeed an honor for the country and the people, and Wu Chengjian did not play by the rules and seemed to have taken the lie seriously.
Seeing Wu Chengjian looking smug and General Cai congratulating him, it was extremely incongruous when two flag soldiers rushed in and were rude to Wu Chengjian.
Theoretically speaking, the Wu family had just promised to donate money to the country, so this moment was indeed a "glory".
Cai Shiwen was helpless and waved his hand, saying, "You guys retreat now."
He couldn't command the flag soldiers. The two flag soldiers just looked at Ga Liu, who said, "Why retreat? Take this kid back now."
Wu Chengjian was waving his folding fan, looking innocent and frowning.
Lu Guanhuan couldn't help himself at this time, and sneered: "What did the Wu family do wrong? Why are they being escorted?"
It's not that Lu Guanhuan likes to stand out for others everywhere, it's really that the rabbit dies and the fox mourns.
Manager Liu also said, "Yes, the Wu family has just undertaken this good thing. They can really serve as a role model for our Thirteen Hongs. How can we treat Agent Wu disrespectfully?"
Galau was stunned, unable to wrap his mind around it for a moment, thinking that this was different from what was said before!
Mr. Cai said, "Galui Manager!"
Galau waved his hand irritably, and the two flag soldiers retreated.
Mr. Cai then asked, "My dear nephew, I don't know when you, the Wu family, will be able to get the money that was contracted."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "We all knew the total amount of money needed last time, but we, Wu and Yang, are going to split it. Is it 50/50, 60/40, or 70/30?"
Mr. Cai said, "The Wu family is big and the Yang family is small. A 50-50 split would be disrespectful to the Wu family, and a 70-30 split is too big of a disparity. How about a 60-40 split?" However, he had already calculated that no matter whether it was a 40-50 split, the Yang family would be bankrupt, and no matter whether it was a 50-60 split, the Wu family would not be able to come up with the cash.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Okay, then our Wu family will acknowledge 60% of it."
Mr. Cai asked, "When will the money be paid?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "It's definitely not possible today. There's not enough money in my bank. I have to wait until Mr. Milton and I settle the bill for the tea. Then it will be enough."
Everyone was thinking, "Didn't your original tea disappear? Did you find it back?"
But even if we get it back, we still have to move the silver into the Supervisory Mansion, and we won't be able to settle accounts with the upstream merchants, and our family will still be in a ruined situation. Why bother?
Mr. Cai asked, "When can we pay the bill?"
Wu Chengjian said: "It will take at least a month at the slowest and at least half a month at the fastest."
Mr. Cai frowned and said, "No, it's too late."
Wu Chengjian was a little embarrassed: "Half a month is too late? Half a month later, in previous years, our Wu family had just started to settle accounts with our partner merchants."
General Manager Cai said: "Disaster relief is like putting out a fire, how can we delay like this?"
Everyone was thinking, "The Yongding River flood was last year , how could such a disaster come about?" However, no one said a word.
Wu Chengjian said: "If that's not possible, I'll try to do it in ten days."
Mr. Cai said: "It's still too late."
Wu Chengjian suddenly said angrily: "Uncle Cai, are you collecting donations or forcing a debt? Our Wu family is donating voluntarily this time, not paying off a debt! Is there any such thing as collecting donations in this world? If this gets out, everyone in Guangzhou will laugh!"
Mr. Cai said: "I will give you five days at most."
"Five days won't do!" Wu Chengjian said, "How about this, after seven days, my father will prepare a birthday gift. My father said that he wants this birthday gift to be grand and glorious. I will help the old man fulfill this wish first, and after the birthday gift is completed, I will escort the silver to the Supervisor's Mansion that night, how do you think?"
Mr. Cai pondered, wondering why Wu Chengjian was delaying time.
Wu Chengjian said, "Mr. Cai! You and I are relatives, but you really want to force my father to not even celebrate his 60th birthday? Even if we take our case to the Governor-General's Office in Guangdong and Guangxi, I'm afraid the Grand Duke who advocates ruling the country with filial piety will not help you."
When General Cai heard him mention the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, he felt a little uneasy.
Although Zhu Gui's trusted advisor publicly released the message to choose Lu and abandon Wu, he will surely not go back on his word now - otherwise, where would be the prestige of the newly appointed Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi?
But if Wu Chengjian's lawsuit was only a five-day or seven-day dispute, and he raised the banner of filial piety and really took the case to the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi, even if Zhu Gui did not specifically protect the Wu family, he would most likely go along with it and disgust Jishan. If Zhu Gui was more careful and used this lawsuit to delay the time, it would not be a problem to delay him for a month or two, but then the important matter with Zhongtang would be delayed.
Cai Shiwen calculated again and again, but he couldn't figure out how Wu Chengjian could turn the tables even if he had seven more days, so he said, "Okay. Then seven days. I hope my nephew will keep his promise. If he doesn't, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain to Master Jishan."
