Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 40: Not an Accidental Encounter
The environment of Yihexing was not good. Zhou Yijin did not want to spend the night here, so he had to go back to Manqian Penglai overnight. He was crossing the river by boat when he saw a two-story boat floating in the middle of the river. The wind blew over and a few lines of opera were heard. It was "The Story of the Purple Hairpin". Zhou Yijin listened carefully and heard a few obvious Xinhui accents. He thought to himself, "It's the young man that Lu Guanhuan gave to Master."
The boat he was on was a little close to the building ship, but if he pretended not to know, he could go around it. However, Zhou Yijin thought about it and decided to drive the boat over. After introducing his name, the handsome servant came down from the boat - it turned out to be Cai Qinghua's personal servant - the servant smiled at Zhou Yijin and went to greet him.
Cai Qinghua saw him and smiled, "It's Yi Jin, what a coincidence. Our two masters have a deep connection, and we can meet here."
Zhou Yijin stepped forward and said with a smile: "The little gift I gave you last time was thrown away by Master. I thought Master was mad at me."
Cai Qinghua laughed and said, "I can be mad at anyone but you." Waving his hand, the young man stopped singing and went downstairs. The handsome waiter came forward to pour the wine and also went downstairs.
Zhou Yijin asked: "Master, is there anything important you want to teach me?"
"You have already left your master, how can I teach you a lesson?" Cai Qinghua said, "You must cling to Wu Chengjian, what can I do? However, as a master and a disciple, I still have to say one last thing to you: since you have made up your mind to follow Wu Chengjian, I should persuade him not to go down this path to the end."
Zhou Yijin said: "The Wu family has no intention of disrespecting Governor Zhu, just as Yijin has no intention of being disrespectful to Master."
Cai Qinghua sneered, "This kind of ambiguous means can only deceive new officials. If he doesn't give in on the really important things, then he is Heshen's side. Yijin, I'm going to say this today: if he still doesn't turn from darkness to light, the enemy and us will be clearly distinguished in the future - then don't blame me for using unscrupulous means!"
Zhou Yijin said: "No matter how Master treats me, I will only treat Master with my original intention. No matter how the Governor treats the Wu family, the Wu family will only treat the overall situation with their original intention."
Cai Qinghua sneered: "What original intention, what overall situation!"
Zhou Yijin said: "Didn't Chengjian make it very clear when we met before the reversal night? The Wu family only intends to be a pure businessman and does not want to get stuck in the quagmire of officialdom."
Cai Qinghua smiled up at the sky: "He clung to Heshen's thighs, raised money for Heshen, and did things for Heshen. In return, Heshen has asked his subordinates to help Wu Chengjian get a top hat and a flower feather. Can such behavior be called not involving officialdom? Can such a person still be called a pure businessman?"
Zhou Yijin sighed and said, "There are some things that he cannot help himself."
"What a bullshit about being forced to do something!" Cai Qinghua said, "You just don't want to let go of the bone in your mouth. Forget it, why am I still talking to you about this! Go away, I don't want to see you again in the future."
He rang the bell and his trusted servant came up. Zhou Yijin had no choice but to go downstairs and return to his boat. The two boats gradually passed each other and opera could be heard from the boat again.
Zhou Yijin thought to himself, "The Xinhui accent in this young man's voice just now is more obvious than the first time I heard it. Originally, the Xinhui accent was inserted into the song by the teacher to please Lu Guanhuan. Last time, after the guidance of Hao Guan, according to common sense, it should have been removed. However, not only was it not removed, but it was even more obvious. This is unreasonable."
So he guessed: "This was not an accidental encounter. The master deliberately led me there. But what was his purpose in leading me there?"
Then he thought again: "I came out of Manqian Penglai and was called here by Hao Guan temporarily. Master wanted to ambush me here, unless he calculated that I would pass by here, but how could he calculate that I would pass by here? Could it be that he has planted people to monitor Yi Hexing, or to monitor Hao Guan, or to monitor me?"
Thinking of this, he went a step further: "Even if Master predicted that I would pass by here, why did his people happen to be here? The building ship, the actors... This scene is not something that happened in a hurry... They were here early in the morning, or they came here because of something."
Popular goods... Cai Xie... Cai Qinghua...
One shadow after another flashed through Zhou Yijin's mind.
At this time, the boat had reached the south bank of the Pearl River and was about to turn into a river. Zhou Yijin stopped the boat and ordered people to get a lamp, paper and pen. He wrote a note, sealed it, and gave it to Wu Xiaojiu, saying, "Take a small boat back to Yihehang and hand it to Haoguan in person. If Haoguan is asleep, ask him to get up and take the letter. If anything goes wrong on the way, you can swallow the note."
Wu Xiaojiu replied yes and quickly took a small boat back to Yihehang. Wu Chengjian had already fallen asleep. Wu Qi tried to stop him, but Wu Xiaojiu said, "Master said that even if Haoguan is asleep, he must be woken up to receive the letter."
Zhou Yijin was the only one in the entire family who could make decisions for Wu Chengjian on official matters. Wu Qi had no choice but to wake Wu Chengjian up. Wu Chengjian had been slept restlessly and was in a bad mood. He took the note irritably, opened it, and it was like a basin of cold water poured over him, which woke him up all of a sudden.
Zhou Yijin's note was written in classical Chinese. If translated into plain language, it means:
Cai Shiwen may have already joined my master.
My master may already know the inside story of Honghuo.
It is estimated that there will be a conspiracy against the red goods next.
careful!
After receiving Zhou Yijin's warning, Wu Chengjian immediately took precautions in many aspects.
Dan Sanniang also heard the news from Zhou Yijin. Since she had important things to do, she didn't care about the project of the charity cemetery and hurried back to Huachahao.
In the past few days, the news of Wu Chengjian's boat entering the charity cemetery has spread throughout Shenxianzhou. I don't know how many prostitutes secretly envy Wu Chengjian's infatuation, how many courtesans admire Tan Sanniang's methods, and how many brothels openly or secretly teach their daughters to learn from him in the future: "Look, look! This is the ability of a top brothel owner. Even if the principal wife is about to be brought in, what does it matter? The groom's heart is still firmly in his hands."
Even Mother Wang came to visit Huachahao and praised her: "My dear daughter, you are still very resourceful!"
Dan Sanniang didn't want to argue anything. Since everyone thought it was like this, firstly, no one would believe her if she went to refute the rumor, and secondly, going with the flow would actually help Wu Chengjian's cause, so she simply remained silent.
For several days in a row, Tan Sanniang invited several courtesans to join her brothel. Just by treating them to a few meals, she further consolidated her position in the Fairy Island. Rumors and gossip came in an endless stream. If the merchants missed a word or two in the ears of the sisters, Tan Sanniang would know it. Even if she didn't say anything important , at least she could tell who she had met, how long they had met, and how the girls were happy or angry. The girls in the brothel who were good at observing words and expressions could also see many clues.
However, after many days, the situation did not change at all. There was no movement from either Cai Shiwen or the Guangdong-Guangxi Governor's Office.
Wu Chengjian's wedding date is getting closer and closer.
Yingyang Garden.
Ye Haocai walked out the door proudly.
She just came here specially and "leaked" to Ye Youyu the story of Wu Chengjian's boat entering the charity cemetery, whether intentionally or unintentionally. She also "kindly" analyzed it for her for a long time and asked her to "be careful and attentive" after she got married.
When she stepped out of the door, she thought of Ye Youyu's expressionless face, and thought to herself: "You're still holding it in, you're still holding it in, I'll suffocate you to death!"
In Yingyang Garden, the maids and servants were busy coming and going - today the Ye family was going to move to Henan Island to stay temporarily until the Wu-Ye marriage was over - only Dongxue held a cup of tea, walked under the kapok tree, came to Ye Youyu, and whispered: "Miss, don't pay attention to what the second lady said, she did it on purpose."
Ye Youyu didn't take the tea. She raised her head, looked at the bare branches above her head, and murmured, "Why did you marry me? Why?"
She knew very well why Ye Haocai said these words, and she was not troubled by it. However, in the past few days, she was not happy about getting married, because she could not understand why Wu Chengjian wanted to marry her.
"Miss, don't think about it." Dongxue said: "No matter what, it's a good thing for you to marry Haoguan and become his wife."
Ye Youyu's heart trembled, and she thought to herself, "That's right! If I can marry him as his principal wife instead of a concubine, I will have the opportunity to do more things, and I will have a much greater chance of getting my mother out... Why am I still dreaming of getting his true heart? I'm too greedy!"
She put aside her worries, suppressed her girlish sadness, and focused her mind on planning for the future.
But even though I thought this, my heart was still in a mess.
On this day, the Ye family moved to Henan Island for a temporary stay. Although not everyone went, there were dozens of family members, big and small, with many people and things. It was impossible for Ye Dalin to take charge of such trivial matters personally, so Ma arranged them all - she took care of the number of female family members accompanying her, and the sedan chair, boat, and route for the trip were arranged by the eldest son Ye Haoye.
Only Dongxue was brought with her from Yingyang Garden. The rest of the maids and servants were not allowed to accompany her. The servants such as Changzi were also kept. According to Ma, "So many people were arranged for the third young lady in the beginning, just to show off temporarily. Now that things have been settled, it is natural to return to normal. Which young lady in our Ye family has such a grand occasion? Not even her eldest sister."
Therefore, only Xu, Ye Youyu and Dongxue, who was going to be the dowry, were allowed to go with them from Yingyang Garden.
Although Xu was cowardly, she was not stupid. Otherwise, how could Ye Youyu's intelligence come out of thin air? In addition, after so many years, she had a deep understanding of the temperament of Ma, the mistress of the house, and immediately said to her daughter, "Youyu, I'm afraid that the madam may have some plans. You have to be careful."
Ye Youyu also felt that something was fishy, but she had no one and no power. Ma was the head of the family after all. As long as she found a reason, she could suppress Ye Youyu and make her unable to turn over. Ye Youyu had no way to resist her arrangement. After thinking for a while, she said to Xu: "Mother, when you get on the boat, you should pretend to be sick and try to live separately in Henan."
Xu nodded and agreed.
The family boarded the boat. Ye Haoye deliberately arranged a beautiful but unstable boat for Ye Youyu and her daughter, and secretly instructed the boatman to make the boat rock violently. Not long after getting on the water, Xu vomited violently - now she didn't have to pretend to be sick. Even Ye Youyu fainted.
The walking route was also strange. Instead of crossing the Pearl River from the narrower section, they walked along the Baietan Lake, where the water was open. According to Ye Haoye, "Aniang and her sisters didn't have many opportunities to walk on this stretch of water, so this was a good opportunity for them to see the beautiful scenery in this area."
So the moving ships not only passed through Shenxianzhou, but also passed near Huachahao.
