Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 15 Father, Daughter, Sister and Brother
As they were talking, Wu Erliang had already welcomed the Cai family father and son in. In the past, Cai Qiaozhu would have gone to the gate to greet them, but this time she hugged Guang'er, turned her face away, and deliberately avoided looking at her father and brothers.
Cai Shiqun also saw his daughter first. Seeing her appearance, he felt angry, annoyed, ashamed and uneasy, but he still composed himself and came to meet Wu Guoying first.
After the two relatives greeted each other, they sat down and the servants served them tea. Wu Guoying said a few words to Cai Shiqun, who tried to ask for help , but Wu Guoying did not respond and only talked about the daily life of relatives, revealing his fatigue.
Cai Shiqun knew what it meant, but he had finally entered the Wu family's door tonight, and he couldn't just return empty-handed. He wanted to delay, but then he heard Cai Qiaozhu say, "Master, you got up in the middle of the night for Guang'er. It's windy and cold now, it's not good for your health, you need to rest."
This exposed the truth. Cai Shiqun was furious, but he still had to get up and say goodbye. Wu Guoying stood up to see him off and said, "My sick body can't do well. Please forgive me, my relatives."
Cai Shiqun hurriedly said that it was okay, and Wu Guoying said, "Sister-in-law, please see my in-laws off."
Cai Qiaozhu then stood up and sent her father and brother out of the backyard. Cai Shiqun said, "Daughter, now that we are here, let's go meet Chengjun."
It would have been fine if Wu Chengjun was not mentioned. As soon as he was mentioned, Cai Qiaozhu was filled with hatred: "Chengjun was harmed by the Cai family like this! Father, do you want to go and see how he is tortured?"
Although the "Cai family" here refers to Cai Shiwen, you can't write two Cai characters with one stroke, let alone cousins who have close business cooperation and interests related to each other? Cai Shiqun's face was hot, and his son Cai Lang shouted: "Sister, how can you talk to father like this! Is this what we want my brother-in-law to be like?"
Cai Shiqun saw that his daughter's face was getting even uglier, and he quickly shouted, "Shut up!"
He took a step closer to Cai Qiaozhu and said, "My daughter, Cai Shiwen is Cai Shiwen. We are... we... the Huizhou incident. We didn't know it was... that old dog Cai Shiwen who did it! If I knew, I would have brought your brothers and rushed over with knives to fight him to the death! How dare that old jerk harm my son-in-law like this!"
If this was said in the past, Cai Qiaozhu would have believed it. But now, after experiencing the loss of tea in Huizhou and her husband falling ill, and the hungry dragon coming out of its cave and being shared food by the beasts, Cai Qiaozhu has some reservations.
"Father, you know now," Cai Qiaozhu said, "your son-in-law is still lying in bed and we don't know whether he is alive or dead! You can grab a knife now and take Alang and the others to fight Hei Caitou to the death."
Cai Shiqun was blocked by her and couldn't say a word. Cai Qiaozhu said, "My daughter still has to go take care of Chengjun. Father, please go slowly!"
Having said that, he went back.
Cai Shiqun returned to Daxing Street with his son, somewhat dejected. Cai Qiaozhu was his most beloved daughter. He treated her like a treasure before she got married, and also cherished her after she married into the Wu family. Unexpectedly, after such a storm, the gap between father and daughter was so great!
He was so angry and annoyed that he smashed a lot of things as soon as he got home. Cai Lang was standing by and didn't dare to try to persuade him.
Seeing this, Cai's mother asked, "What's going on?"
Cai Lang then whispered about his experience at the Wu family.
"What else is there to say!" Cai Shiqun said angrily, "They say girls are extroverts! They are extroverts! It's true! After getting married for so many years, her heart has been attached to the Wu family. She doesn't even think about who are her parents who gave birth to her and raised her!"
Cai's mother, however, was more on her daughter's side, and said, "Actually, this can't be blamed on Qiaozhu. We didn't know that the scheme was set up by Hei Caitou before, but now we know... I heard that Chengjun is still lying in bed, just trying to get by. This is revenge for the murder of her husband. It's only natural that Qiaozhu blames us a little."
Cai Lang said, "Mother, why are you speaking up for my sister? You didn't see how much my sister treated us today. We traveled thousands of miles to Macau and escorted Guang'er back to the Wu family. My father-in-law was quite polite and invited my father to have a cup of tea, but my sister was too much! She didn't even see me out at the door. How can there be any father-daughter, sister-brother relationship? People who don't know would think she was adopted by our family."
"What do you know?" Cai's mother said, "Your sister is like this, it means we still have feelings for each other."
Cai Lang said: "Mother, what are you talking about?"
"What do you know!" Cai's mother said again, "As the saying goes, the deeper the love, the deeper the hatred. The one who was harmed by Hei Caitou's scheme was your sister's husband, wasn't it your in-laws' son? But how could your in-laws be so polite to invite your father for tea, but your sister wouldn't even see him out the door? Because your in-laws don't care about our Cai family anymore, but they care about their reputation, so they act politely. But your sister didn't even want to see him out the door - this is rude, and she is acting on impulse. She can act on impulse because she is still warm to us and the hatred has not subsided, so she behaves rudely. But the more this happens, the more it shows that Qiao girl still cares about you two."
Cai Shiqun's anger subsided a little, and he asked, "Is that really the case?"
Cai's mother said, "Qiaozhu was born from my belly. No one knows a daughter better than her mother. How could I be wrong? The most important thing right now is to make Qiaozhu calm down. As long as she calms down, with her as an insider in the Wu family, nothing will happen to our family."
Cai Lang said, "Mother, how do you think we can help my sister calm down?"
Cai's mother thought for a moment and said, "Tomorrow you and your sons should take your kitchen knives and go to Hei Caitou's house to chop him up!"
Both Cai's father and son were shocked.
Cai Lang said, "Mother, what are you talking about?"
Cai's mother said, "We should pick up the knife to chop Hei Caitou. Wasn't it your father who said so? Your sister is right. If we really care about our son-in-law's life and value him more than our cousin, then we should pick up the knife and fight with him if we know that Hei Caitou set up this trap. We don't really want to chop Hei Caitou to death, but at least we want to let the Wu family know that we are on their side in this matter. And let your sister know that we are worried about our son-in-law. Although it is a little late to pick up the knife to chop him now, it is not too late to mend the fold after the sheep have been lost."
Cai Lang said: "This... Even if it's not a real chopping, if it really comes to the point of chopping, wouldn't that offend Uncle Wen's family?"
Upon hearing this, Cai's mother sneered, "Why, you two are still thinking about making peace with the Wu family and not offending Hei Caitou? There is no such good thing in the world! In this murderous game of forced donation, the Wu and Cai families are already at loggerheads. If something happens to the son-in-law, it will be a life-and-death feud. Didn't you see Mr. Wu's attitude? You sent Guang'er back and treated him with all the courtesy and politeness, but when your father wanted to say more, did he say a word? The attitude of the Wu family is very clear: we either stand on the side of the Wu family or the side of the Cai family, there is no third way."
"Mother!" Cai Lang said , "You know that our family's business is dependent on Uncle Wen's business. If we really offend the Cai family, we will be out of business next year."
Cai's mother sneered, "Speaking of climbing up the ladder, since you can climb up the ladder with Hei Caitou, you can also climb up the ladder with the Wu family. Even if you lose your cousin, don't you still have your son-in-law? It's true that Hei Caitou is now a general merchant, but if you look at the market trend outside, the Wu family is suppressing the Cai family. With Hao Guan's methods, the Xie family can be torn into pieces overnight. Who knows, the Cai family may also fall overnight. When that time comes, it will be too late for us to abandon the dark and join the light."
At this moment, Cai Shiqun's sixteen or seventeen-year-old youngest son ran in with a giggle. Cai Shiqun was feeling annoyed and couldn't help but yell, "What are you doing! You have no rules!"
The good-for-nothing younger son Cai Liang said, "Dad, you don't know, but something funny happened at the clinic just now."
Cai Shiqun said angrily: "It's already this late, and you're still in the mood to have fun."
Cai Liang curled his lips, and Cai Lang asked, "What's the fun thing?"
Cai Liang said: "A Manchu broke his hand and was sent to a clinic to have it fixed overnight. However, the doctor was old and blurry-eyed. Not only did he fail to fix it properly, he also connected the tendons and bones incorrectly. Now his whole hand is twisted into the shape of a crab leg. It's really funny."
Cai Lang was a little surprised: "That doctor must have been beaten to death by the Manchus."
"This is the most bizarre thing," Cai Liang said. "Even though he was twisted like this, the Manchus who carried him here didn't find it strange. They said it was OK, that's all. Then they carried him back. Along the way, they were shouting and yelling, and everyone along the way was so excited that they lit lanterns and watched the fun. Don't you think it was fun?"
Cai's mother suddenly asked, "Whose family is that Manchu man from? Have you asked?"
The Bannermen in Guangzhou did not live scattered around, but gathered in Banner City within Guangzhou city - a city within a city, which was usually off-limits to Han people.
Cai Liang said, "No need to ask. I know that Manchu. He is from the Guangdong Customs Supervisor's Office. His name is Ga Liu. I also know the Manchu who took him to get treatment. His name is Hutabu."
"What!" Cai Shiqun was so shocked that he almost jumped up.
Medium-sized merchants like Cai Shiqun depended on the big merchants in the Thirteen Hongs for their survival, while Galau and Hutabu were both agents sent by Jishan to manage the Thirteen Hongs. They were both high above people like Cai Shiqun.
More than a month ago, Jishan's family was in turmoil again. The ninth concubine, who had just gained power, was disliked by Jishan as "a disaster star" and fell out of favor overnight. As the saying goes, a new emperor chooses new ministers. Galau, who depended on the ninth concubine, was also removed. Jishan favored the new eleventh concubine and called back Hutabu, who had been demoted to clean toilets, to replace Galau. This was a big event for the Thirteenth Hong.
Now he heard that it was Galau who broke his hand, and that Hutabu sent him to the clinic, and the treatment made the broken hand even worse. Cai Shiqun guessed that there must be something fishy going on.
Cai's mother suddenly said, "I heard that this Ga Liu had beaten Hao Guan... Also, do you remember that day when he sent Guang Er back home, he ran into Qiao Zhu. I heard that the scene was not very good. Our Qiao Zhu was almost touched by his pig's paw."
