Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 79 Fireworks
Wu Chengjian settled his father in the backyard and walked out.
Ga Liu looked Wu Chengjian up and down and asked, "Where's the silver?"
Wu Chengjian asked, "What silver?"
Galiu said, "Didn't you say you would bring silver into the Supervisor's Mansion tonight?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "You want silver? Fine!" Then he said to Wu Qi, "Go, open the storehouse and take out all the silver." He then said to Ga Liu, "You sealed the storehouse yourself this afternoon. Why don't you go and open it?"
Galau nodded and followed Wu Chengjian to the silver vault. After opening the seal, he found the vault was half empty - after all, the two largest sums of silver from Yihehang had not yet been received.
Wu Chengjian casually pointed at a few of the boxes and said, "Just these few boxes, carry them away." Each box had a seal with the seal of Wu's family's return to the warehouse.
Galiu was stunned for a moment and asked, "What do you mean?"
Wu Chengjian said: "Let's go, what are you waiting for?"
Ga Liu was a little jumpy: "Just these few bites? Where are the others?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "There is nothing else."
He ran over, tore off the seals, and opened the lids of the boxes one by one. As a result, except for the few ordered by Wu Chengjian, the rest were all stones.
Galiu said angrily: "What's going on!"
"It's a little less," Wu Chengjian said with a smile, "but it's still more than 400,000 taels. Let's take it and report it."
Wu Chengjian said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Aren't there two large sums of money left? Those two are the big ones. Cai, Xie and Master Jishan all know the details, right?"
Ga Liu looked at the boxes of stones with an unpleasant expression. He snorted a few times and said, "Even if it's just the money from the groceries, it shouldn't be just this much!"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Anyway, these are all we have now. Do you want to take them or not? Do you want to leave or not?"
Ga Liu said angrily: "Let's go! When we get to the Supervisor's Office, you'll be in trouble!"
They ordered the banner soldiers to surround Wu Chengjian, and this time they were even more rude, pushing and shoving, as they carried the two boxes of silver out of the warehouse. Wu Guoying didn't want to see this scene, so she stayed in the backyard and didn't come out. Cai Qiaozhu and all the family members came to see them off. Several maids cried, and Chunrui burst into tears. Cai Qiaozhu had red eyes but didn't cry , but Xia Qing was not in the crowd.
Wu Chengjian was pushed into a carriage and entered Guangzhou city overnight.
When we were about to enter the city, unusual fireworks suddenly bloomed in the sky in the direction of Baietan.
Galiu said from outside the car: "What the hell! Setting off fireworks at this time?"
An experienced person in the group said: "That doesn't look like an ordinary firecracker. It looks more like some kind of emergency signal."
Wu Chengjian heard the double blast of fireworks from inside the car, smiled and said, "The shape of the fireworks looks like a bow on one side and a turtle on the other side, doesn't it?"
"Turtle? Is that a turtle? That end looks like a bow..." Galiu recalled the scene just now and suddenly asked, "You didn't even see it in the car, how do you know the shape of the fireworks? "
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "The spirit turtle on the left and the divine bow on the right, that is the Xie family's seal."
Ga Liu frowned, not quite sure what was going on. After walking for a while, he heard someone in front of him shout, "We're here!"
Wu Chengjian got off the carriage. It was already dark. Someone was holding a lantern. Cai Shiwen and Xie Yuanli were waiting there.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Thank you two uncles for welcoming me here. I really don't deserve this honor."
Cai Shiwen still had a gloomy face. Xie Yuanli sneered, "My dear nephew, you are so nice. You can still laugh at this time."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Before dinner today, I was still somewhat forcing myself to remain calm, but now..."
Xie Yuanli laughed and said, "Now that we know we will die, a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water, right?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "At this point, I have already won the game. If I don't smile now, when will I smile?"
Xie Yuanli was stunned for a moment, and Cai Shiwen said, "Don't listen to his nonsense. Let's go. Master Jishan has been waiting for a long time."
Xie Yuanli said: "Yes, this kid only knows how to bluff!"
Then a servant from the Supervisor's Office came up and tried to push Wu Chengjian, but Wu Chengjian stopped him and said, "Don't touch me! I can walk by myself."
He looked at Xie Yuanli in surprise and said, "Uncle Xie is still so calm. Didn't you see the fireworks just now?"
Xie Yuanli asked, "Fireworks? What fireworks?" He had been drinking tea in the room and only came out when he heard that Wu Chengjian had arrived.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Ask the manager Galiu."
Xie Yuanli looked at Galiu, who said, "When we were about to enter the city, someone set off fireworks over at Baietan. It looked like a bow and a turtle."
Before he finished speaking, Xie Yuanli's expression changed slightly.
Just then, someone from the concierge called out, "Master Xie, your people are looking for you urgently."
Cai and Xie looked over at the same time, and a servant of the Xie family came running over, panting and saying, "Master! Something happened in the warehouse. Didn't you see the fireworks just now?"
Xie Yuanli shouted, "What happened to the warehouse?"
The man said, "Thieves broke into the warehouse. We saw the fireworks and sent people to help. But we saw people escaping from the warehouse. We realized that the thieves were powerful and had already occupied the warehouse. So we sent people to Nanhai County to report to the authorities while I came to find the master. There should be chaos in Baietan now."
Xie Yuanli said irritably: "The warehouse is heavily guarded. Even if a thief approaches, with the gate closed and guarded, no one can get in easily!"
The visitor said, "There must be a lot of thieves. They not only broke into the warehouse, but also deployed people around it. So the first person sent out by the warehouse to report the incident was stopped. The person we met later was lucky to escape. Although we have someone to invite the Nanhai County officials, I am afraid that they will not be able to suppress the rebellion even if they come!"
Cai and Xie were originally very relaxed tonight, but suddenly they both felt bad. They knew very well how many garrisons there were in Xie's warehouse. It would take at least a hundred strong men to break into the warehouse. Guangzhou was an important military and political base in Lingnan. How could there be a hundred strong men suddenly appearing in Guangzhou without any warning in such a peaceful and prosperous era?
Xie Yuanli's eyebrows jumped, and Cai Shiwen looked at Wu Chengjian.
Wu Chengjian asked, "Why are you looking at me?"
Cai Shiwen said, "It's not you who did this, right?"
"Uncle Cai, what nonsense are you talking about?" Wu Chengjian smiled and changed the subject: "It must be my doing."
Xie Yuanli almost jumped up: "Boy, what are you going to do!"
Wu Chengjian put away his smile and said grimly, "It's not what I want to do, it's what I have already done. Now that the overall situation has been decided, I don't need to waste time talking to you. After tonight, you will all understand."
The actions over in Nanhai County were not slow. A large group of thieves appeared on the ground, which was an extremely serious situation for the local officials.
Before any action could be taken in Guangzhou, they had already sent people. At first, they only sent the quick squad, but later, when they heard that the bandits were powerful, they sent the strong squad.
In the Supervisor's Mansion, Xie Yuanli looked at Wu Chengjian's face and suddenly felt a chill in his heart for no reason.
Cai Shiwen said, "You go to the warehouse and have a look. I will take him to see Master Jishan and ask for help for you."
Xie Yuanli said: "Okay!"
Cai Shiwen said to Galiu again: "Please ask the steward to go and see Master Jishan to see if he can send some officers and soldiers to suppress the rebellion. He has gathered hundreds of people and is charging at them. This kid is going to rebel!"
Galiu said, "I'll go right away." He ran away quickly.
Xie Yuanli also left, and Cai Shiwen looked at Wu Chengjian.
Wu Chengjian said coldly: "You don't have to look at me like that. The moment the fireworks lit up, I had already won. Whether Old Xie went a step earlier or later, it would not affect the game."
Cai Shiwen smiled up to the sky, this smile was just a joke, there was no smile in his laughter: "I thought you were just a spendthrift, but I didn't know you were really stupid. Even if I let your people hijack the batch of tea, what can it do? In this land of the Qing Dynasty, you still can't turn the world upside down!"
Wu Chengjian smiled without saying anything and did not refute. The more he did so, the more unsure Cai Shiwen became, and his smile, which was aimed upwards at the sky, stopped halfway.
The Guangdong Customs Supervisory Office is not small in area. Although the garden buildings in Guangzhou are generally not large in area, the office has pavilions and towers. Wu Chengjian followed Cai Shiwen and was led to the outside of a garden, where the sound of Kunqu opera could be heard.
Cai Shiwen was the head merchant of the Thirteen Hongs, but when he arrived here, he did not dare to go in. He waited outside the garden with his back bent, like a servant, waiting to be summoned.
Wu Chengjian thought, "This matter of forcing donations is of great importance. Jishan knows I'm coming tonight, so how can he still be in the mood to listen to music? Well, if he asks me to come in later, it will be just to show off. He wants me to kneel beside him and answer his questions while I listen to the music, so that he can appear to take this matter as a trivial matter. But if he finds another place to meet me, it won't be to show off, but it will be because someone has come who he must receive."
Then he saw Galiu running out and saying, "I have asked for the master's order. The master has sent people to ask the Guangzhou general to send troops."
Cai Shiwen smiled and said, "Very good, very good. With the imperial army dispatched, there is nothing to be afraid of. Only you, the manager of Galiu, have such a big face that the supervisor can take time out of his busy schedule to sign the order to mobilize troops."
He was known as the Black Cabbage Head and always had a stern face to outsiders, but facing a servant of the Guangdong Customs, he was quite good at flattering him. He smiled and nodded with satisfaction, saying, "Master, you are just enjoying the music. I will take you to another place to wait. You follow me."
Wu Chengjian thought to himself, "It is indeed so."
So he and Cai Shiwen followed Ga Liu again. Cai Shiwen only looked at the ground all the way, not daring to look sideways. Wu Chengjian strolled leisurely, looking around everywhere. A servant next to him shouted, "Do you know the rules? Keep your eyes straight!"
Although the servant was only the lowest-ranking servant in the mansion, any other guarantor would have acknowledged his status if he had come here. However, Wu Chengjian ignored him and remained calm.
The servant was furious, but then he realized that he could do nothing to Wu Chengjian - they could only bully the merchants because they were afraid and jealous, so they would let them humiliate them. Now that Wu Chengjian ignored him, he had no other options. If he went up to fight, and Wu Chengjian fought back, and the two sides started a fight, he would be punished, and it would not be worth it.
Ga Liu also glared at Wu Chengjun before saying to the servant, "Why are you arguing with a dead man?"
Wu Chengjian chuckled and said, "Someone will probably die tonight. I may not survive, but you guys who are in charge of the mansion may also lose a few lives. I don't know who they will be."
Galau was furious, but thinking that the supervisor had not given any orders yet, he did not dare to kill Wu Chengjian right away. Cai Shiwen looked at Wu Chengjian's smile and felt a panic for no reason.
