Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 16: The Cai Family Splits
After all, the Cai family and the Wu family are relatives. Although Wu Chengjian refused to meet Cai Shiqun, he could not completely cut off the family connections of some servants. For example, Cai Qiaozhu's personal maid Bitao originally came from Daxing Street. Since Cai's mother was thoughtful, she knew more about the inside story than other families.
Cai Shiqun's mouth twitched: "You mean... this was what Hao Guan wanted?"
Cai's mother said, "It may not be Hao Guan's personal instructions, but I'm afraid he has something to do with it. It's also possible that Hutabu figured out Hao Guan's thoughts and made Galu miserable, which not only vented his anger but also pleased Hao Guan."
For a moment, Cai Shiqun was very frightened.
Although his cousin Cai Shiwen was a general merchant, he was just a dog of Jishan when he was at the peak of his power, and he tried his best to flatter Galau.
How could it be like Wu Chengjian, it seemed as if Hutabu was trying to please Wu Chengjian!
Think about it again, those who had offended Wu Chengjian in the past, big or small, all suffered! Even the general of Huizhou was said to have been dismissed and investigated.
This Hao Guan...how on earth did he get such great power!
"Alang, Aliang, and call the second and third brothers!" Cai Shiqun said, "We will go to Xiguan early tomorrow morning!"
Cai Lang and Cai Liang asked in unison: "What are you going to do in Xiguan? Are you going to look for your sister?"
"No!" Cai Shiqun said, "Bring up your knife and follow me to chop the black cabbage!"
Zhou Yijin sat on a lounge chair on the deck of the Huacha, looking at the moonlight and waiting for tea.
The handsome book boy Wu Xiaojiu was brewing tea next to him. He suddenly smiled and said, "Master, if you weren't really good-looking, you would look like a 70-year-old man."
Zhou Yijin didn't turn his head or look at anyone. He just picked up a fan and hit Wu Jiu on the head.
At this time, the sailor leader Deng Dachang came over and said, "Master, a small boat just approached and brought a letter under the moonlight. It specifically asked to be delivered to Master Zhou."
In the past, Deng Dachang and others only worked for Wu Chengjian for money. The two incidents of capturing the ship thieves and attacking the warehouse two months ago made Zhou Yijin establish prestige in the eyes of the sailors and thugs, so when he received the letter this time, he was willing to deliver it personally.
Zhou Yijin took the envelope and looked at the seal. He stopped drinking the tea he had just brewed and walked back to the cabin. He lit a candle and opened the letter. It was indeed written by Cai Qinghua.
The letter was addressed as "Shidi Yijin", and was still affectionate to Zhou Yijin, but the content was nothing special. Apart from the pleasantries, it was probably about wanting to meet Wu Chengjian. When mentioning Wu Chengjian, he was no longer as casual as before the night of the reversal, and although he was not servile, the wording was already quite polite.
Wu Chengjian successfully turned the tables this time, and became very powerful in Guangzhou for a while. He even removed the position of second-rank general, and even Hutabu had to flatter him. However, a considerable part of this was "false power", a power bubble. When the impact of this incident gradually fades, this bubble will eventually burst.
In Guangdong, the person with the highest authority is still Zhu Gui. Zhou Yijin doesn't think that Wu Chengjian can really be on par with the Manchu and Han officials in Guangzhou just because of the recent false momentum. However, before this power bubble bursts, Wu Chengjian is indeed qualified to have a good talk with Cai Qinghua.
However, based on Zhou Yijin's understanding of his master, he guessed that his master would most likely make some new requests during this meeting.
He thought for a moment, and said to Wu Xiaojiu, "Go, go to the Governor's Mansion again, and give my master some tea."
After the last experience, Wu Xiaojiu was not afraid at this time, and said with a smile: "Okay!"
Wu Chengjian had always thought that Ye Youyu came to plead for the Ye family, but was surprised to hear her say that she came not for the Ye family but only for herself.
He looked at Ye Youyu intently and saw that although she was trying hard to hold back her tears, there was a hint of mist in her eyes, as if she was about to cry. He had been in the Immortal Continent for many years and was accustomed to the world of romance. Few women could escape his eyes. No matter how smart Ye Youyu was, he was confident that he could tell whether the other party was really about to cry or just pretending.
Suddenly, his heart softened a bit, and he said with a smile: "So, I misunderstood you? You didn't come here for the Ye family?"
Ye Youyu pinched the sun ring and whispered, "I'm not doing well at home."
Wu Chengjian knew about this: "Because you are not living well, are you planning to take revenge on your family?"
If this is true, then we can consider fulfilling her wish, or even taking advantage of the situation to deal with the Ye family, but we cannot make close friends with people like this.
"No," Ye Youyu said, "Hao Guan, you are the legitimate son, you have a father, mother and brother above you, you have been pampered since childhood, so it is naturally difficult for you to understand the situation of people like us. You just said that I tricked my father into buying me this and that, you even know this, so you must have some understanding of me... my biological mother."
Wu Chengjian nodded.
Ye Youyu said, "Before I started to understand things, my father had already grown tired of my mother and had a new concubine, so he forgot about my mother. Both my mother and I were thrown into a corner and were assigned to do all kinds of rough work. Those who knew us knew that we were concubines and illegitimate daughters of the Ye family, and those who didn't thought we were just a pair of maids and mother and daughter. However... I would rather we were just a pair of maids and mother and daughter. If that were the case, we would still have a chance to leave this family, but as a concubine, unless I get married or my mother is sold by my father, I will never be able to leave the Ye family in this life."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "It sounds like you had a miserable childhood."
He had been in Shenxianzhou for many years and had heard so many tragic stories about prostitutes that it was difficult for him to be moved.
"No," Ye Youyu said, "In fact, when I was very young, I didn't feel bitter. It's really funny. When I was about five years old, I basically didn't feel unhappy. At that time, my wife didn't care about us. My mother usually protected me and tried her best to make sure I had enough food and clothes. So when she was cleaning the toilet, I played with the toilet lid and the clean toilet. When she was at the stove, I played with the ashes. I didn't feel bitter at that time."
Wu Chengjian was stunned for a moment. When a girl was a child, she could only play with toilets and ashes. Others would find very sad. However, on second thought, when people are very young, they can play with whatever they can get, and they will never feel pain, because they don't even have the concept of "pain" at all.
In Shenxian Island, he often heard prostitutes talk about how miserable their childhood was. He heard it so many times that he naturally knew that these people were not necessarily telling lies, but their intention was mostly to gain sympathy by playing the victim. He was moved the first and second time, but became numb after three or five times. After eight or ten times, he knew what the other person was trying to say and what their purpose was after they said a few words.
This was the first time I heard a young girl talk in such a calm tone about her childhood when she played with ashes and toilets. Her tone was so calm, and she even admitted that she was not miserable at that time.
Ye Youyu poured a cup of tea for Wu Chengjian—Wu Chengjian had already sat down without knowing when—and then continued, "Now that I think about it, my mother must have had a very hard time. But because I was young and didn't understand what hardship was, I wasn't sad, at least I had enough to eat and wasn't freezing or starving. The hardest time was probably after I was five or six years old. I was precocious and a little sensible at that time. When I was probably six years old, my father saw me playing with the toilet lid. He probably thought I was the child of a servant, so he asked me casually. Only then did he know that I was his biological daughter. He got angry on the spot, and from then on, my mother and I moved to a better room with a better bed and pillows. My mother didn't have to do the dirty work anymore, and I wore good clothes—although they were left over from my two sisters, they were much better than what the servants wore. Everyone said that we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but who knew... my suffering finally began."
Wu Chengjian said, "Because Ma has been targeting you."
"That's half of it," Ye Youyu said, "and the other half is that I'm older and more sensible, so when I'm bullied, I start to feel bad, and then I see that my brothers and sisters eat and use better things than me, and I get jealous - in fact, I used to eat worse food, and now I eat better than before, but when I see that my brothers and sisters can eat chicken wings and I can only eat leftovers, I feel unbalanced. I'm being bullied, and I have to eat leftovers, so I'm not willing to accept it. At that time, I didn't really understand what legitimate and illegitimate children were, I just wanted to eat and wear the same things as my brothers and sisters, and not be bullied."
Wu Chengjian listened quietly, with no intention of responding. Ye Youyu's childhood experiences were indeed difficult, but if placed among the countless life experiences in Shenxianzhou, they were not very dramatic and did not seem very attractive.
Ye Youyu continued, "My brothers and sisters bullied me, but they did it behind my father and my wife's back. I thought they were the ones who were hurting me, so one time I saw through the crack in the window that my wife was about to come, so I deliberately said a few words to them. When they saw that I was not docile, they really started to attack me, and my wife happened to come in. I saw them twisting my face and pulling my hair. When my wife came in, they were all surprised and their hands froze. Third brother, what do you think will happen next?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "How can that be? Naturally, there will be no good results. Well, you will not have a good result."
"Yes." Ye Youyu's face did not fluctuate at all, as if she had let it go. "My wife saw my brother and sister fighting with me, but she just glanced at me and walked away, as if she didn't see it at all. But I will remember that look for the rest of my life, even though I was so young at the time. And I knew from that time that my wife would not treat me fairly."
