Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 34 Let Qi Guan sit for two years
Pan Haigen's face turned from sunny to cloudy, and Ye Dalin also looked a little embarrassed, but Pan Youjie clapped his hands and said, "Okay! If a high-ranking official is promoted, then I agree. As long as the position of the general merchant does not escape the control of our three families, it will be fine."
Ye Dalin said hurriedly, "No, no, Xingchengxing has too many things to do recently, and I'm busy arranging a wedding for my daughter, so I really can't get away."
Wu Chengjian said, "If my father-in-law doesn't want to do it either..." He turned to Pan Youjie and said with a grin, "Qiguan, then you can only do it reluctantly."
This time, Pan Youjie did not refuse at all. He opened his folding fan, closed it, clapped his left palm, and said, "I've been free recently, so I can take this seat."
Wu Chengjian asked, "So what should we do?"
Pan Youjie smiled and said, "Let's do it this way."
They both laughed, Ye Dalin followed suit, and Pan Haigen immediately joined in.
The laughter filled the Baiyun Building.
The stunning tea maid brought another round of tea, and Pan Youjie said, "Chengjian, when you get married this time, do you want your brother to give you a gift?" Speaking of private matters, he changed the address again.
Wu Chengjian said with a smile: "How can you ask for gifts yourself?"
Pan Youjie smiled and said, "The subordinates will prepare the usual things. If you have something in mind and it is something that I can do, why bother being polite to me?"
Wu Chengjian thought for a moment and said, "My family is about to move. Everything else is OK, except for a troupe. I've been jealous of your Kunqu Opera troupe for a long time."
Pan Haigen snorted inwardly after hearing this, thinking that Pan Youjie had spent countless amounts of money to build that Kunqu Opera troupe - the troupe's instructors were famous, all the actors were handsome boys from Jiangnan, and they were raised and taught at home for three or four years, which must have cost more than ten thousand gold! Not to mention the effort he put into it - and yet you took it away with just one word, you're really bold.
Unexpectedly, Pan Youjie laughed and said, "That's nothing! If I knew you liked it, I would have asked someone to send it to you a long time ago."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "If Brother Youjie had given it to us before, our Wu family's Xiguan house would be too small to have room to put it. It's only now that we are moving to a new home that we have more space to use it. But no matter what, thank you Brother Youjie."
They both raised their tea and laughed.
If someone doesn't know, they might think that someone is discussing some elegant matters in Baiyun Tower. Only those who know the details can understand, after careful consideration, that the three parties have already made several transactions in the conversation just now.
After seeing Wu Chengjian and Ye Dalin off, Pan Haigen came back and said indignantly, "Qiguan, do you really want to give the Kunqu Opera troupe to the Wu family? That's the result of your hard work over the past few years."
Pan Youjie waved his hand to let the young tea girls go down, and then said: "I thought Hao Guan was young and full of energy, and he would try to compete with me this time. I didn't expect him to stop at the right time. This character is even more extraordinary. Not bad, not bad."
As for the Kunqu opera troupe worth more than ten thousand gold coins, it seemed not even worth mentioning it again.
Pan Haigen stopped talking.
Over there, Wu Chengjian and Ye Dalin reached the foot of the mountain and were about to part ways when they reached a fork in the road. Ye Dalin suddenly asked, "Hao Guan, do you really have no idea about the position of the general merchant?"
Wu Chengjian smiled lightly and was about to speak when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a gleam in Ye Dalin's eyes. He felt a chill in his heart and changed his words temporarily, "Let Qi Guan take this position for two years before we talk about it."
Ye Dalin then smiled and said, "That's right."
After asking this question, Ye Dalin left in the sedan chair.
Wu Chengjian looked at the sedan chair going away, and his heart suddenly sank for no reason - he knew that he had been burdened with another burden without realizing it.
Who is Ye Dalin? He was the one who refused to be the right-hand man of Yuehai Jin'ao Pan Zhenchen. He has such ambition, but now he is forced to be a vassal of the Wu family. If the Wu family does not even have the ambition to take the position of the general merchant, why should he follow?
So Ye Dalin's question just now, which was as light as a feather, but weighed more than a thousand pounds, actually forced Wu Chengjian to change his words against his will.
Thinking of this, Wu Chengjian couldn't help but whisper to himself: "Now I finally understand what it means to be in the underworld and have no choice."
Wu Qi said: "Hao Guan, what did you say?"
Wu Chengjian said calmly: "Nothing."
He didn't like riding in a sedan chair, so he changed to a horse and rode back to Xiguan. He came to the backyard to see Wu Guoying, only to see Wu Chenggou acting like a clown in the yard, making Wu Guoying laugh. Wu Chengjian saw his father so happy and thought it was right to let the second son come back.
Wu Guoying knew that Wu Chengjian was going to see Pan Youjie, so when he saw him coming, he found an excuse to send Wu Chenggou away, leaving only Wu Chengjian, and asked, "How was the talk?"
Wu Chengjian said: "Qi Guan wants to be the general merchant."
Wu Guoying nodded: "It's about time. Hei Caitou has been scheming for the past two years, but his family is not strong enough to lead the heroes. No matter how much he schemes, it will be in vain." He asked again: "Hao Guan, what do you think?"
Wu Chengjian said: "I agree."
Wu Guoying nodded again: "Okay. Even if the Wu and Ye families join forces, we can only compete with the Pan family at most. Besides, you are still a little young. What did Old Ye say?"
Wu Chengjian said: "What can he say? Just laugh along."
"That's impossible." Wu Guoying said, "At least after we get down the mountain, he will ask you what you think, right?"
This is really someone I have been dealing with for a lifetime, and I know the other person's every move very well.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Father, you are really a wise old man. Well, that's what he asked me."
"What do you say?"
Wu Chengjian said, "I say, let Qi Guan take this position for two years first."
Wu Guoying's eyes narrowed all of a sudden, and the joy was leaking out from every wrinkle on his face. It was ten times stronger than when Wu Chenggou played the clown to amuse him just now.
After Wu Chengjian successfully turned the tables that night, he was no longer worried about his youngest son's abilities and skills. However, he still had one concern: he understood Wu Chengjian's impatience with business matters.
Wu Chengjian is not like Ye Dalin, who regards business career as the greatest pleasure in life. Although Wu Chengjian has talent in this area, he sometimes regards his career as a burden. If Wu Chengjun had not suddenly fallen ill, this youngest son would probably have really prepared to be a playboy for the rest of his life.
But when Wu Chengjian answered Ye Dalin like this today, Wu Guoying knew that he had completely entered the role of Haoguan.
"Okay, okay." Wu Guoying reached out and held her son's hand, and said twice: "Okay, okay."
After Pan Youjie returned to Panjiayuan, he asked the entire Kunqu opera troupe to pack up their luggage that same day, along with dozens of boxes of costumes and seven or eight large carts of troupe items.
This put the Wu family in a difficult position - how could the Xiguan mansion accommodate all these things?
Wu Guoying made the decision on the spot: "Move our family to Henan now."
Wu Chengjian said: "The nursing home has not been completed yet."
Yiyangtang is the home prepared for Wu Guoying to live out her retirement, while the one where Wu Chengjun and Cai Qiaozhu live is called Liyongyuan.
Wu Guoying said, "Let the troupe go first, and you move your official duties over as well. I'll stay here for now. Chengjun can't move around either. As for where you want to live, you can live there."
Wu Chengjian thought about it and said, "I'll still live here, and let Yijin pick a courtyard to live in first."
"Yes, yes." Wu Guoying said, "We should have asked Master Zhou to come to our house a long time ago. It's just that this place is small. It would be great if he could choose a courtyard in Henan." He now spoke with respect to Zhou Yijin even in his daily tone.
After thinking for a while, Wu Guoying said, "Hold your wedding there as well. It will be a lively day, but Chengjun should not disturb you too much."
Wu Chengjian also thought so. His brother's health was more important than anything else. Weddings were different from birthdays. Firecrackers were indispensable. It would be very noisy, especially for a person like Wu Chengjian. The sound of firecrackers would be almost as loud as gunfire.
He immediately went to prepare and told Zhou Yijin first. Zhou Yijin smiled and said, "Do I have a share in this new home?"
Wu Chengjian said, "Except Yiyangtang and Lirongyuan, you can take any courtyard you want. Even Ritianju is fine." As he spoke, he spread out the layout map of the entire Wujiayuan.
Zhou Yijin said, "I don't want it. Your garden's name sounds weird to me." He asked for a small island outside the southwest corner of Wu Garden, tapped it on the map, and said, "Let's choose this place. We'll change the name and move the troupe there. During this time, I'll play Kunqu Opera and won't be lonely."
Wu Chengjian said: "Here? This is the territory of Ye Family Garden."
Zhou Yijin smiled and said , "Hasn't it all become Wujiayuan now?"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "That's right. But this way we are very far away."
Zhou Yijin said: "You are about to get married, it is better for us to keep some distance."
Wu Chengjian hooked his shoulder and put his arm around his back, saying with a smile, "What you said is a bit ambiguous. If someone doesn't know, they might think we are having an affair."
Zhou Yijin elbowed him and said, "I'm just afraid that you'll bother me."
Wu Chengjian wanted to name the island Peach Blossom Island. Zhou Yijin asked whether there were peach blossoms on the island. Wu Chengjian said that they would grow peach blossoms if they were planted. Zhou Yijin refused and changed the name to "Manqian Penglai".
Not to mention the Wu family, after the Ye family heard the Wu family's plan, Ye Dalin didn't mind much, he just sent his daughter across the Pearl River.
Ma said, "Instead of carrying the sedan chair out from here, why don't we go to Henan and live there for a few days, and then carry the sedan chair out from Yejiayuan when the time comes."
Ye Dalin said: "That piece of land has been allocated to the Wu family."
Speaking of that piece of land, Ma felt so distressed. Many of the pavilions and terraces there were carefully designed by her. She never expected that such a beautiful villa would become someone else's without being lived in for a day. However, the matter was done and it would not change anything if she threw a tantrum at this time. She just said, "That piece of land is a dowry, a dowry, a dowry. It's still ours until my daughter gets married."
In fact, she still had some unspeakable thoughts in her mind. She was unwilling to give the built garden to the Wu family without having lived in it for a single day. She might as well live there for a few days - living there for a few days would be living there too, and the time would come for her to just sell the old house. She would feel much better thinking this way.
Ye Dalin thought about it and it made sense. He had been troubled recently and wanted to live in a different environment for a few days, so he sent someone to negotiate with . Cai Qiaozhu came to discuss it with her father-in-law, and Wu Guoying said, "Okay, that's good."
The matter was settled, and the Ye family immediately started cleaning and preparing for the whole family to live there, and it would be used as the place where Ye Youyu would get married on the wedding day.
