Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 82: Turnaround
Wu Chengjian didn't know how long he had been waiting, and finally heard footsteps. He raised his head slightly, first saw the legs of several maids, and then heard the sound of tea bowls and plates being placed on the table, probably someone was arranging tea and snacks.
After a while, a few followers came in, and then a pair of official boots came from behind, and they heard a shout: "Master! You are here!"
Wu Chengjian lowered his head, and at the same time he heard the dull thud of Jishan sitting down, followed by the sound of a tea bowl colliding, presumably drinking tea. Then there was the sound of a tea bowl hitting the table, and he knew that Jishan was being impatient, and sure enough he heard Jishan coldly say, "What's going on!"
This question was asked to Cai Shiwen.
Cai Shiwen crawled two steps closer, raised his head slightly, and dared only see the ninth button, and said: "My lord, some trouble just happened. It was also my fault. I was deceived by the prodigal's previous attitude. I didn't expect that he was unwilling to die and would create some troubles before death. But don't worry, my lord, these things are like mosquitoes buzzing in the night. Although they make us annoyed for a while, they can't change the overall situation after all."
Ji Shan snorted, turned his head and looked at Wu Chengjian, as if he was looking at an ant, and said coldly: "You said before that you would bring silver to the Supervisory Mansion tonight, where is the silver now?"
Galiu said, "Master, this bitch is too unruly. I don't know what tricks he used to empty half of his silver vault. Now there are only 420,000 taels of silver left. I was very angry about this, but I didn't beat him up because of your advice. Master, what do you think we should do with this bitch?"
Ji Shan stared at Wu Chengjian coldly and said indifferently: "Wu Chengjian, what do you say?"
Wu Chengjian raised his head and saw Jishan's ninth button. He raised his head again and saw Jishan's eighth button...
Galiu shouted: "How dare you! Put your head down!"
Unexpectedly, Wu Chengjian did not listen to him and continued to lift his head up, the seventh, the sixth... Finally, he lifted his entire head up and finally saw Jishan's face.
With a bald head, rat-tail braids and a rat-like beard, he looks really ugly.
Jishan's expression also changed a little. How dare this bastard offend him like this!
He jumped up and slapped Wu Chengjian hard, causing bleeding at the corner of his mouth. Wu Chengjian wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his fingers, and did not fight back. He just changed his sitting position, kneeling on the ground with his calves touching the ground, and his buttocks sitting on his calves and heels - this is the ancient ritual of the Han people.
As soon as the posture changed, an atmosphere of equality arose between him and Jishan. He turned his head and glanced at Galiu, and for a moment he could not bring himself to slap Galiu for the second time.
Cai Shiwen knelt in front of Wu Chengjian's left, and when he saw Wu Chengjian's posture, he trembled all over, not knowing whether it was excitement or fear. He could not imagine how this prodigal son could be so bold! If it were him, even if he knew he was going to die in the next moment, he would not dare to do so under the pressure of the Manchus!
Jishan's eyes seemed to be emitting fire, and he almost ordered his men to drag Wu Chengjian away and beat him to death.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Master Jishan, please allow me to report. I am not just carrying away the money from the sale of groceries. I am not afraid to say that although I have spent a lot of that money recently, I still have a lot of money left in our warehouse. If Master Jishan is interested, you can send someone to clean it up and take inventory."
Jishan gave a look and a servant nearby went out.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Why worry? The little money left over from the grocery payment is irrelevant to the overall situation. Our Wu family's real estate, land, tea plantations, ships, shops, and debts are what Master Jishan should be more concerned about. These are the bulk of our Wu family's wealth."
Ji Shan sneered, "I don't think you can take these things away! Even if you smuggle the house deeds and land deeds out, no one in the Qing Dynasty dares to take them!"
"Mr. Jishan is right." Wu Chengjian said, "So I mortgaged all these things to the East India Company. During the birthday celebration, I gave them all to Mr. Milton to take away. There were also some more valuable antique jewelry, which were also placed in those big boxes and taken away."
Jishan was stunned for a moment, then his eyes suddenly widened and he stared at Wu Chengjian with anger and disbelief. If he just stared at Wu Chengjian like a tiger or wolf staring at a fat sheep at its mouth, then this time he looked at Wu Chengjian like staring at a dog he thought was tamed, but who knew that under the dog's skin was an undamaged wolf cub!
He suddenly yelled, "Han dog, what did you say! What did you say!"
"What I mean is..." Wu Chengjian smiled softly, "Yihehang has no money, and the Wu family has no money either. Not a penny... Oh! No, if we scrape the land and add the remaining silver, there should be hundreds of thousands left."
Jishan stared at Wu Chengjian, almost speechless.
Wu Chengjun then explained with "good intentions": "When the British came to pay their respects during the day, Milton and his men brought twelve boxes, four of which were filled with gold and silver and opened in public, and the remaining eight were filled with bricks when they came, but when they left, they took away almost all of the Wu family's valuables. If it weren't for this, how could the East India Company's people have such a smooth life? These Westerners are not interested in anything without benefits."
With a snap, the tea bowl that Jishan had picked up flew over and hit Wu Chengjian on the head. If it were Mr. Cai, he would not have dared to dodge, but Wu Chengjian raised his hand to block it. Unexpectedly, Jishan's hand was so strong that the tea bowl broke, and the fragments flew diagonally, scratching a small cut on Wu Chengjian's face.
Wu Chengjian wiped it lightly and looked at the bloodstain with a lazy expression, not taking it seriously.
Ji Shan finally squeezed out four words: "How dare you, kid!"
"There's nothing I dare not do." Wu Chengjian said with a smile, "My family is about to be destroyed, so what is there to be afraid of?"
Ji Shan said angrily: "Boy! Do you know that I will crush your Wu family to death, just like crushing a nest of ants!"
“Of course, of course.” Wu Chengjian bowed, but there was no awe in that bow. The body movement was more like sarcasm: “The Thirteen Lines are thirteen nests of ants. Oh no, there are only ten nests left now. In a few days, there should be only nine nests left.”
He still looked indifferent: "But, Master Supervisor, what good will it be after you trample my family to death? Can you collect the money you should collect? Can you get the things you should do done? Can you use the corpses of my family to deal with the explanation to the Lord?"
With each of his first three sentences, Jishan's eyelids twitched. When he asked the fourth rhetorical question, Jishan's eyes widened: "Boy! What do you know?"
"Not much, not much." Wu Chengjian bowed without any awe again: "I just know that Grand Prefect Zhu is also waiting for my family to be ruined. If I can confiscate my family and send the money to the north to make up for the deficit, then this matter will be over. In Guangzhou, only two nests of ants died and two families in the Thirteen Hongs were missing. If there is a need, I will send two more pieces of paper to make up for it. Anyway, there are many people waiting for this piece of paper."
As he spoke, he put on a sincere fake smile: "But I am worried about the Supervisor! If my house is raided but the money is not taken, how can I make up for the deficit? How can I explain the instructions of the Hezhongtang? If you want to kill me, it would be like killing an ant, but if the Hezhongtang wants to kill you, it would be like killing a dog."
Jishan sneered: "Are you threatening me?"
Wu Chengjian laughed and said, "I dare not, I dare not." But there was no trace of "dare not" on his face.
Jishan sneered, "How dare you threaten me! You've never died before! It's a pity that you made a wrong calculation!"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "The supervisor probably thought that although the Wu family's real estate was temporarily lost, they still had two other large sums of money in their hands, which was probably enough to make up for it. In other words, the officials in Guangdong would not be able to embezzle. If it was still not enough, he would let the Cai, Xie, and Ye families cut some more meat to make up for it - it was their fault for not being able to do their job well!"
Jishan felt annoyed by what he said - that's exactly what he thought in his heart!
"What a pity..." Wu Chengjian said, "Why, haven't the Pan family members arrived yet?"
Jishan said: "What Pan family?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "I used my family's real estate as collateral for the East India Company, so Milton has already given me half of the withdrawal voucher. In the evening, my people went to the Pan family and took away the money for the tea from my family."
This time, not only Jishan, but even Cai Shiwen couldn't help it anymore and turned around to look at Wu Chengjian as if they saw an evil ghost!
Ga Liu shuddered and said, "Slave...slave will go to the Pan family and ask."
Before he even left the house, a servant came running in and reported, "Master, someone from the Pan family said that in the evening, someone from the Wu family of Yihe Bank took the voucher to Pan Garden to withdraw money. The Pan family's official confirmed that the voucher was correct and has already given the money to the other party according to the original agreement."
With a loud crash, the coffee table next to Jishan was completely knocked over by him, the cups and plates were broken, and the snacks were scattered all over the floor.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Then the Wu family's money is only left in the last batch, which is the tea leaves of our own tea. If the Wu family goes bankrupt, according to the old rules of the Thirteen Hongs, General Merchant Cai can come forward and designate a new guarantor to trade with the East India Company. After that, the Xie family can come forward and transport our batch of tea to trade with Milton, and probably they can get the silver out. But... Master Jishan, you'd better send someone to ask about the situation at the Baietan warehouse."
Jishan then remembered the order that Cai Shiwen had asked for to mobilize troops, and his chest felt even tighter. He shouted to Galiu, "Go to Baietan and see what's going on!"
Galau was so frightened that he trembled again and ran out in a hurry. Before he ran out of the mansion, he met the people sent by Brigadier General Shu and Xie Yuanli, and quickly led them over.
Shu's deputy bowed and told him about the situation at the Xie family warehouse in Baietan. He asked, "Shu, please tell Master Jishan whether the people in the warehouse were sent by the master. Is the tea in the warehouse really related to He Zhongtang? What should we do next ?"
After all, this was in front of the Manchu generals. Jishan barely suppressed the anger in his chest and said with a cold face: "We'll talk about this later." He then asked someone to take Shu's deputy away and serve him well.
After the Manchu general left, Jishan stared at Wu Chengjian with bloodshot eyes.
"You little dog!" Ji Shan gnashed his teeth and said, "Do you think that by giving away the house deeds, the land deeds, the gold and silver, and burning the tea leaves, you can make me, the master, bow to you? You are wrong! Even if I have to sacrifice my future, I will cut you into pieces! And your family, all of them, into pieces!"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Master, you can't do it. You can't kill my whole family."
Yoshiyama sneered.
"Master, you don't believe it?" Wu Chengjian said with a smile, "My father is old, my brother is seriously ill, and my sister-in-law has decided to live and die with my Wu family. We are ready to die at any time. But I have already sent my nephew away."
"What?!"
Wu Chengjian said, "Among the twelve large boxes of Mr. Milton, one of them contained my personal maid Xia Qing and our Wu family's eldest son Guang'er. They were escorted to the seaside by Vice General Wang and put on the ship. Now we don't know where they are. Our Wu family has successors, and the money has been shipped away. In the future, as long as Guang'er has some prospects, the family will be revived in no time. My father, my sister-in-law and I have nothing to worry about. But you, my master..."
He paused and said, "Master Jishan, it seems that you still don't see the situation clearly."
Jishan was so angry that he said, "What tricks do you have? Show them all."
"These are not tricks, they are all real moves." Wu Chengjian smiled, spread his hands, and said: "If it were only these actions of mine, it would only make things very difficult for the master. As long as the master is willing to harden his heart and fight to the point of losing eight hundred lives, you can indeed cut me into pieces and vent your hatred - what a pity..."
Jishan shouted angrily: "What a pity!"
Wu Chengjian's tone suddenly became grim, and he said coldly: "It's a pity that now in Guangzhou, except for me, no one else can come up with enough silver to help He Zhongtang make up for the deficit in a short period of time!"
Jishan's anger could not stop the horror of this news. He was stunned for the umpteenth time that night: "What did you say?"
Wu Chengjian said coldly: "I said that now in Guangzhou, except for me, no one else can come up with such a large amount of cash. Even if you confiscate the Cai family, the Xie family, and the Ye family, if I don't buy their properties, no one can come up with so much money in a short time!"
Jishan seemed to be unconvinced and didn't understand.
Wu Chengjian said: "If you don't believe it, just ask Cai Shiwen."
Jishan turned his head and looked at Cai Shiwen. Cai Shiwen seemed to be having the hiccups, shaking uncontrollably. Seeing this reaction, Jishan guessed that what Wu Chengjian said was probably true.
"What's going on?"
Although Cai Shiwen did not dare to look up at Jishan, he could tell how angry Jishan was from his tone. His teeth were chattering and chattering. He, who was very eloquent in the business insurance meeting, could not utter a complete sentence.
