Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 95 We are all just feathers
The Guangzhou prison welcomed a new guest today.
Before the visitors arrived, Qu Xingshu found an excuse to send the jailers away.
Lao Xu knew that another "mysterious guest" who could not be known to others had come. He hated this kind of guest the most.
Last time, I inexplicably drank a glass of wine mixed with knockout drug. Who is Lao Xu? An old guy who has been in the provincial prison for more than ten years and has been a molehill for his whole life, how could he not smell that stuff?
But even though he could smell it, he still had to drink it. Not only did he drink it himself, he also helped several of his men get drunk - but he didn't dare to drink too much. If he drank too much of this stuff, he would have a headache the next day, and it would be harmful to his health in the long run.
So that night, he wasn't actually blinded, but it was still uncomfortable to pretend to be frozen there.
Now, he has to use all kinds of excuses to order his subordinates and himself away.
There was no one in the entire prison, and if anything happened, he would still have to take the blame.
However, Lao Xu would rather take the blame than stay here. He tied up the few remaining prisoners in the cell, gagged them and knocked them unconscious, and then left to "do business".
It was getting dark.
The prison fell silent.
Under the leadership of Cai Qinghua, Guangxing walked into the prison.
There was dead silence in the prison.
"It's right here." Cai Qinghua opened the cell door for him.
It gets dark late in Guangzhou, but it was already dark outside. Not much light could get in through the narrow window, and there was no light in the cell to begin with. The Wu family specially asked someone to bring in a lot of lights and candles, fearing that it would be too dark at night and would be a pity for their business owner. But they only lit two lamps at this time.
The cell was dim, damp, cold and so quiet that it made people feel uncomfortable.
Only a sound like pebbles rolling rhythmically came from the cell.
Guangxing frowned and walked in, and Cai Qinghua closed the door behind him.
Wu Chengjian had his back to the cell door, leaning against the cell pillar, playing with something in his hand, which seemed to be a small ball. When he got closer, he found that it was a glass ball - there were twenty or thirty glass balls scattered in the cell. Wu Chengjian picked up one nearby and flicked it at another one. If he hit it, the two balls would either hit the cell pillar, the wall, or other balls, and then roll everywhere.
Glass balls were very valuable in this era. Each of these twenty or so glass balls was flawlessly round, crystal clear, and each ball had an image hidden in its center. The twenty-four balls contained scenes of twenty-four seasons, reflecting the dim light, making the entire cell colorful and beautiful. However, Wu Chengjian played with such a valuable treasure. The balls rolled on the rough ground and touched the uneven walls, leaving scratches one after another. But the player himself did not care, as if these twenty-four glass balls were just twenty-four stones.
Guangxing didn't expect that when he came to this cell, what he saw was the luxury of the Guangdong Sea Insurance Merchants.
He snorted and stopped just outside the cell.
Wu Chengjian noticed the movement, stopped what he was doing and turned around.
The Wu family originally arranged for someone to come in and help him wash his hair and body every day, but since last night, no one has come. Wu Chengjian was too lazy to move himself, and his hair was a little messy at this time. However, he was lazy and didn't seem to care about his appearance. He raised his head sideways and smiled, "Master Guangxing?"
When he saw this person, Wu Chengjian knew that his "last moment" was coming.
Guangxing said coldly: "Do you recognize me?"
"Liu Quan mentioned this name to me." Wu Chengjian said, "Then Yi Jin came in and I asked him a few questions. He did know a little bit, but not much. I don't know if I recognized the wrong person."
Guangxing sneered and said, "Yes, I am Guangxing, the Gaojia clan of the Bordered Yellow Banner."
"This is Guangzhou, not Beijing." Wu Chengjian said, "Except for the people in Banner City, few ordinary people know what "bordered yellow" and "pure yellow" mean, and even if they do know, they don't care. It's meaningless for me to mention this to you."
Guangxing snorted coldly and said, "It is indeed a barbaric land. As one of the four major merchants of the Thirteen Hongs, you only have this much knowledge."
Wu Chengjian laughed and said, "How dare a mere merchant from Haibin compete with the masters at the foot of the imperial city? But we in Guangzhou are not southern barbarians."
Guangxing said, "Oh? Did I say that you are the southern barbarians and that you are wronged?"
"It's not a grievance, it's not a grievance." Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "I studied in a private school for a few days when I was a child, and I still remember some of the things the teacher taught me. The Southern Barbarians seem to be mentioned in the Book of Rites, right? According to the Zhou Dynasty people, the Southern Barbarians seem to be the area of Hubei today. If you stretch it a little, you can include Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang at most. How can we in Guangdong be the Southern Barbarians? We are the Southern Barbarians - the Southern Barbarians are still to our north. Haha."
Guangxing said: "You are quite self-aware."
"Of course I know." Wu Chengjian said, "We Han barbarians have our family tree and our clan tree. We remember things about ourselves and our ancestors very clearly. Although Guangdong was a barbarian land more than 2,000 years ago, the people living here now are all descendants of Chinese people. For example, our Wu family moved to Fujian during the Tang Dynasty and flourished during the Song Dynasty. During the Yongzheng and Qianlong years, our branch moved to Guangdong and officially settled in Guangzhou, and then we became Guangzhou people. Well, I wonder where Lord Guangxing's ancestors were?"
Guangxing's face suddenly changed: "Bitch, how dare you mock me!" His family was originally a surname of Gao in the Han army flag, and if they counted further, they were actually Han people. But since they were willing to become slaves and change their surnames, they changed their ancestors. They felt honored about this, but they didn't want others to mention it to their faces.
Wu Chengjian said hurriedly, "Master Guangxing is wronged. I just asked in a nice tone. Why do you say I am being sarcastic? Our Wu family has never produced any great figures, but we are humble and dare not forget our ancestors. Master Guangxing's family has produced a great scholar. Why do people say that it is a sarcastic remark when they mention our ancestors?"
Guangxing said word by word: "Wu Chengjian, do you really want to die?"
Wu Chengjian smiled lightly, and those pretended panic expressions disappeared. He said calmly: "Master Guangxing, if you want to kill me, just do it. You have sent all the people in the Guangzhou prison away. My death here now has nothing to do with you. What's more, you are the Minister of Rites, and you should not be in Guangzhou at this time. In this case, it is conceivable that according to the official records, you should be in Beijing now, or you are on leave at home due to illness or something. Since you are not in Guangzhou City, no matter where I, Wu Chengjian, died or how I died, it has nothing to do with you."
Guangxing said: "Since you know this, you still dare to disobey me. Don't you know how to write the word death?"
Wu Chengjian said: "Taishigong said: Death can be as light as a feather or as heavy as Mount Tai..."
Guangxing laughed and said, "Do you think your death will be more important than Mount Tai? Haha!"
Wu Chengjian said: "My death is naturally lighter than a feather."
Guangxing said: "At least you still have some self-awareness..."
Wu Chengjian said, "But Master Guangxing, you are just a feather. We are both feathers, and neither of us is more valuable than the other."
Guangxing was furious. If he had gone to another place, he would have ordered people to beat Wu Chengjian to death. However, there was no third person in the prison at that time. He stretched out his foot and kicked him, but Wu Chengjian dodged by leaning back.
Guangxing missed his kick and wanted to rush into the cell to kick him again, but he felt that he had lost his status.
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Alright, alright, Master Guangxing, don't waste your energy. Let me tell you, I am a well-known bad boy on Xiguan Street. I have been fighting since I was a child, and I have practiced boxing in Foshan. Officially, I dare not do anything to you, but in this dark room, if you dare to come in and kick me, do you think I will lie here obediently and let you kick and hit me? If we really get entangled , you will be the only one who suffers."
He paused, then sneered again: "Since the record says you shouldn't be in Guangzhou, then my death here will certainly have no effect on you. But if you die in Guangzhou for no apparent reason, then it would be a waste of your life. Do you understand?"
When Guangxing heard this, his heart suddenly trembled.
He "should not" be in Guangzhou, so if he died inexplicably in Guangzhou, Gao Jia would not be able to explain to the court. Therefore, his family members not only did not dare to pursue him on a large scale, but instead reported to the outside world that he died of illness at home, so as to avoid causing more trouble.
Guangxing is not a foolish person, but he has recently become very powerful. Wherever he goes everyone praises him, making him feel like a person in a high position, and treats those below him as ants. He doesn't know how powerful Cai Qinghua is in Guangzhou City now, and he dares not even breathe when he sees him? So in his opinion, coming to see a prisoner today is just like coming to see a dead dog. He originally thought that as soon as he arrived, the other party would wag his tail and beg for mercy, but he didn't expect that the other party would be so ruthless!
When he was in Qicheng, he put pressure on Cai Qinghua in many ways, thinking that Cai Qinghua claimed to be very smart but could not even handle a mere merchant. It was not until now that he faced Wu Chengjian directly that he felt that this man was indeed much more troublesome than he had imagined.
Wu Chengjian did not get up either. He leaned against the newly changed bedding, stretched his legs, and said with a scoundrel look: "Master Guangxing, I heard that you are quite favored by Emperor Jiaqing in Beijing. A new noble like you who is in the emperor's favor will naturally be flattered by everyone when you go to the provinces. But those who flatter you either want to get benefits from you or are afraid of being retaliated by you. But don't you think about it, what else do I want now? You can't give me anything. What am I afraid of now? I, Wu Chengjian, have been forced to the point of death by you. Since I am about to die, what else do I have to worry about?"
Guangxing sneered: "Who knows, if you can make me happy, you may not have to die."
"Really?" Wu Chengjian's lazy smile suddenly turned into a sneer: "Are you really as great as you say? You talk as if you are also a chess player. It's a pity that you and I are just chess pieces on this chessboard. So, don't pretend there."
Guangxing said coldly: "Wu Chengjian, you have angered me so many times, are you planning to throw the jar into the ground?"
