Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 32: Sun-Tian Residence Meeting
It had only been a few days, and Ye Youyu's chest injury had not yet healed. She had also heard how Ma slandered her in front of Ye Dalin. When Ye Dalin pressed her, she was not willing to suggest agreeing to the Wu family's proposal, but she was unwilling to veto it. However, she could not shirk her responsibilities like Ye Zhong and Feng Dazhang. After a moment's hesitation, she asked, "Father, if we don't agree to this condition, what will the Wu family do?"
Ye Dalin's heart sank and his brows twitched.
The conditions on this marriage list are indeed unfavorable to the Ye family. He doesn't want to return to the old situation of living under someone else's roof and being a vassal, but does he have a better choice now? As Ye Youyu asked, if he doesn't agree to this condition, what will the Wu family do?
If it was Wu Guoying, Ye Dalin could still hope that this old friend would be soft-hearted, but Wu Chengjian... judging from his various cruel methods, how could he be soft-hearted! So if he didn't agree, then there would be no choice but to go to war. At the moment, he would definitely die if he fought against the Wu family alone. His only hope was to join the Pan family, but the Pan family was not a pushover. At that time, the conditions offered by Pan Youjie might be even more demanding than those offered by Wu Chengjian.
Therefore, the current choice is no longer whether the Ye family will be better off than it is now after agreeing, but what the consequences will be if not agreeing.
Thinking of this, Ye Dalin finally made up his mind and cursed: "Wu Chengjian, you loser! You don't even know how Wu Guoying was born!"
After the Ye family made the decision, the feud between the two families seemed to have come to an end. The people of the Ye family were at peace, and the morale of the Wu family was high. Wu Guoying was very happy and asked Cai Qiaozhu to arrange the wedding quickly: "Our Wu family needs a happy event to cheer us up."
Wu Chengjian convened a meeting of the new chief managers of the Wu family on this matter. This time it was not held in the accounting office, but everyone was brought to Henan Island.
During the Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou city was all located on the north bank of the Pearl River. The area on the south bank of the Pearl River, which was called "Henan" by Guangzhou people, was bordered by the extremely wide Pearl River to the north, Baietan northwest, two waterways of the Pearl River entering the sea to the east and west, and the sea to the south. It was surrounded by water on all sides, so some Guangzhou people at that time also called this area Henan Island.
Today this place is considered a suburb. Although it is not as prosperous as Guangzhou city and Xiguan area, it cannot be called desolate, especially along the river, where many neighborhood shops have developed. Near Haizhuang Temple, the Pan family enclosed a large piece of land and built the huge Panjiayuan. The Wu and Ye families also followed suit and enclosed land here. The two places happen to be adjacent to Panjiayuan, but are both half the size of Panjiayuan.
At that time, Guangzhou was densely covered with waterways, and Henan Island was full of rivers and streams. You could go almost anywhere by boat. Wu Chengjian, with several big shopkeepers, pointed out on the boat and said, "The Ye family has exchanged this piece of land for us. The two pieces of land together are almost the same as Panjiayuan. I plan to connect the two gardens, and after completion, I will move my family from Xiguan to here."
Ou Jiafu was overjoyed and said, "If that's the case, that would be fantastic!"
All the major merchants in the Thirteen Hongs live in Xiguan, and only the Pan family stands out from the crowd on Henan Island. If the Wu family also moves here, it will implicitly become a situation of two heroes competing against each other.
Although Wu Chengjian did not point this out, the shopkeepers who came with him all started to imagine it and were all secretly excited.
Xiguan has been developed for decades, and land has become very valuable. Once land becomes valuable, it is not easy for merchants to expand their homes. Therefore, the Wu and Ye families have had other plans from the beginning. In fact, they have already built in Henan. The two pieces of land are not barren, but have many houses, surrounded by two earth walls. Now, as long as the earth wall in the middle is knocked down, it will be a large garden comparable to Panjiayuan.
There were three other boats following behind the boat Wu Chengjian was on. The boat Chuan Longciye and Tietou Junba were on was half a boat space behind, so they could also hear what Wu Chengjian said. Chuan Longciye pointed excitedly and told Tietou Junba how to change this place and how to level that place. After a while, he said, "The northern part has been almost completed. We can move in in another six months. We can take our time with the southern part."
Cantonese gardens are extremely sophisticated. A house can be built in a year or two, but if you really want to carve it out with great detail, even several years would be too short.
After Master Chuan Longci said a lot, he said, "Brother Jun, what do you think?"
Ironhead Army Scar said: "Yeah."
Several small boats followed the waterway and landed at a small pier smelling of flowers and plants. A rather grand courtyard appeared before them. Wu Chengjian led everyone inside. Inside the courtyard was a Western-style garden scene, except that the flowers in the flower beds had not yet been planted.
Wu Chengjian said that he planned to plant various kinds of roses in this flower garden and lavender outside the yard.
"My father likes the old-fashioned style, and he prepared a lot of pear wood and sandalwood furniture, so his yard can only be decorated in that style. My eldest brother doesn't know how to live and doesn't care about trivial matters in life, but my eldest sister-in-law likes simplicity and elegance, so we made it look like a Jiangnan garden. I thought that not every yard can be the same, so this yard is decorated in a European style."
He took everyone around. Although Britain was strong at that time, it was still barbaric in terms of garden art. France was better, but its peak period was far from coming. The construction of the Palace of Versailles had not yet begun. Therefore, Wu Chengjian's garden was mainly Italian in style. However, only the space for the sculptures in the courtyard was reserved, and the walls in the hall were still empty. Wu Chengjian said, "I asked Mr. Milton to help me reserve some sculptures. There are some newly made by famous Italian artists, and there are also two good works by deceased masters, one by Michelangelo and one by Raphael. They are all in the warehouse. When the garden is ready, we will see how to arrange them. There was also a Leonardo da Vinci, but I found out it was fake after arriving on the shore. I smashed it on the spot and asked someone to find another one. As for the murals, I plan to go directly to Europe to pull the painters over and start painting next year."
These shopkeepers have lived in Guangzhou for a long time and are well-informed, but most of them have never heard of things like Michelin Wolf and Chicken Basket, Spicy Fat Ears, or Dafenqi. In short, they just exclaimed in admiration.
As for the rooms further inside, Wu Chengjian did not take anyone to look around. There was a small island surrounded by water behind the garden. Wu Chengjian pointed and said, "I originally wanted to build an ancient castle there, but Yijin said it might be taboo, so forget it. I'll turn it into a whole lawn. When I have kids, I'll take them to play Cuju there."
Wu Chengjian walked around inside and outside and came out again, smiling and saying, "How do you think of my garden?"
Everyone said, "It's very elegant and unique."
Only the shopkeeper Yao who came with us smiled and said, "Very good, the courtyard has a very Florence-like flavor, but with a different flavor."
Florence is the old translation of Florence. When Wu Chengjian heard it, he knew that the manager Yao had much better knowledge about overseas than others.
They had been wandering around for so long, but they had only visited Wu Chengjian's own garden. The gardens prepared for Wu Guoying, Wu Chengjun and Cai Qiaozhu were all still some distance away. In addition to the three gardens, there was a large area of public buildings in front, such as the ancestral hall, the calculation room, and the meeting hall. The public and private areas were separated by several gardens, bamboo forests, small islands for listening to operas, peninsulas for fishing, mulberry ponds for raising geese, and small lakes for raising fish. The whole area was connected in a circle - and this did not include the land of the Ye family.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "I like this place too. My elder brother and his wife's place is more elegant. My father needs to live in peace in his old age. Here, I can be quiet if I want or lively if I want. I've even thought of a name for it. From now on, this place will be called Ritianju. What do you think?"
The Sun and the Sky, Hao, was exactly his business name. Everyone praised him, "What a good name, what a good name."
The Ritian Residence, which had not yet been registered, already had maids and servants. Wu Qi had arranged a tea party in the courtyard according to Wu Chengjian's instructions. Wu Qi led the shopkeepers to take their seats one by one. Everyone was startled and knew that this tea party had a special meaning. Even the seating arrangement was arranged. I'm afraid it wouldn't be so casual.
Sure enough, this time Wu Chengjian had adjusted the seating arrangement: he sat in the middle facing north, the first chair on his left was occupied by Shopkeeper Liu, the first chair on his right was occupied by Ou Jiafu, the second chair on his left was occupied by Shopkeeper Dai, the second chair on his right was occupied by Shopkeeper Yao, the third chair on his left was occupied by Shopkeeper Wu, and the third chair on his right was occupied by Shopkeeper Xu.
This seating arrangement was later spread, which led to changes in the behind-the-scenes names of the six shopkeepers at Yihe Bank: Shopkeeper Liu the Great, Shopkeeper Ou the Second, Shopkeeper Dai the Third, Shopkeeper Yao the Fourth, Shopkeeper Wu the Fifth, and Shopkeeper Xu the Sixth.
Among them: Manager Liu and Ou Jiafu still take charge of the overall situation, but Manager Liu is older and more steady but lacks energy, so he is in charge of decision-making and direction; Ou Jiafu has less experience but is in the prime of life, so he is in charge of execution; Manager Dai Er and Manager Wu Wu are mainly responsible for domestic affairs, Manager Yao Si and Manager Xu Liu are in charge of foreign affairs, and the two sides are in opposition.
This kind of adjustment is very sensitive, but with Wu Chengjian's current prestige, none of the six shopkeepers are dissatisfied: Ou Jiafu is naturally grateful for Wu Chengjian's promotion; Shopkeeper Dai San sees that Wu Chengjian has no intention of punishing him, and now this arrangement is obviously to let bygones be bygones, so he is trembling with fear and preparing to make meritorious contributions - Wu Chenggou has no hope anyway, and he has cut off his retreat; Shopkeeper Yao Si was surprised that Wu Chengjian would give him such a position after meeting his predecessor, and Cai Qiaozhuo's close gestures during this period also made him feel that coming to the Wu family was indeed the right move, and as a newly surrendered general, he must strive to build meritorious services.
Everyone sat down, Chunrui brought tea, everyone took a sip, and then heard Wu Chengjian say with a smile: "Today I brought everyone here, in addition to seeing this new garden, I also want to discuss the Ye family's dowry, haha."
None of the big shopkeepers were not well-informed. Everyone had heard about this matter a long time ago. Thinking that this was the first time the six big shopkeepers gathered to discuss something so favorable, the entire Ritianju was filled with ambitious vigor.
However, when Wu Qi handed down the two lists, except for Manager Liu and Ou Jiafu who already knew the situation, the other four managers were still shocked after reading them.
