Volume 3: The Richest Man in the World Chapter 13: Old Connection
Cai Qinghua was slightly surprised and asked, "Which nobleman has passed away?"
The old driver said, "That's the Wu family holding a funeral. The previous business owner of the Wu family, the boss of Yihe and Xinghaoguan, is gone."
Cai Qinghua had been so preoccupied with the handover affairs of the Governor's Office that he had forgotten to pay attention to the Thirteen Hongs. He only remembered now and said, "Oh, it's Wu Chengjun."
But you can see the white color spreading from the edge of the city to the official road, and then from the official road to the land and water. Weddings are lively and joyful, while funerals are solemn. Although this mournful white color is silent, it spreads another atmosphere throughout the land. This pomp and circumstance is no more than that of the grand funerals of princes and nobles.
Cai Qinghua leaned against the shaft of the carriage, and suddenly remembered that when he first came to Guangzhou, he also happened to catch up with the grand event of Wu Chengjian competing for the beauty in Shenxianzhou. He didn't expect that after working in Guangzhou for more than ten months in vain, when he was about to leave, he saw the scene of the Wu family mourning half of the city.
"Forget it!" Cai Qinghua murmured, "The loneliness of the gentle and the arrogant have always been like this since ancient times! Why should I feel sad about it?"
He asked the driver to hurry on, and after walking only a mile or two, someone suddenly came over and shouted , "Wait!"
Instead, a dozen men hurried over, stood in front of the carriage and stopped it.
The old driver was a little surprised, but he dared not disobey.
Cai Qinghua stuck his head out and shouted, "Who are you? Why are you stopping my carriage?"
The leader of the men shouted, "The higher-ups have told you not to leave!"
Cai Qinghua said angrily: "What do you mean by superior? Who are you?"
The old driver suddenly recognized them, and was shocked and terrified, and shouted: "They... seem to be members of the Hongmen."
Cai Qinghua's heart trembled, and he couldn't help but grab the edge of the car. He had seven clever plans, but he was not very brave. He had the support of the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office before, but now his support was gone. Although he tried to stay calm, he couldn't help but feel a little weak.
Then the leading man shouted, "Yes, it was Officer Hao who sent a message asking us to keep Master Cai for a while."
Cai Qinghua angrily said, "Wu Chengjian is so bold! He dares to stop me on the official road! Is he going to rebel?"
The man said, "I don't know what Hao Guan is going to do, but you can't leave yet."
Cai Qinghua had no one available. The servant in the carriage was already trembling with fear. The coachman, who was hired temporarily, was even more frightened and shrank to one side.
The burning of the Thirteen Hongs was big news throughout the Guangdong Customs. Before the fire, everyone in the West Gate knew that a legal advisor from the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office led people to search the merchant's warehouse. Even this coachman had heard that the legal advisor had a close relationship with the all-powerful Hao official of the Yihe Bank.
Cai Qinghua smiled coldly and said: "Well, I'll wait here. I'll see if Wu Chengjian really dares to kill me!" He was very angry and said so, but he was not very sure in his heart.
Before the burning of the Thirteen Hongs, everyone in Guangzhou felt that with the new emperor ascending the throne, Heshen, the second emperor, would be in trouble. So everyone was waiting for Zhu Gui to gain power and influence in Guangzhou. They all guessed that Zhu Gui was going to make a move on the Prime Minister in the city. However, they felt that with the emperor's support, Zhu Gui would be fine even if he did something extraordinary.
Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Heshen was as stable as a rock in Beijing, but Zhu Gui fell inexplicably!
This shocked the whole of Guangdong. Zhu Gui was demoted and Ji Qing took over. This was just a change of governor for Guangdong, but this change made people in the world see clearly who really ruled this land! Everyone said that the young emperor was not as good as the second emperor. The world was still ruled by the emperor emeritus and the prime minister!
The He Party is so rampant! Cai Qinghua muttered to himself, thinking that even when the situation was so dangerous, Wu Chengjian was unwilling to betray Heshen, which showed that he was Heshen's iron lackey!
If Wu Chengjian wanted to take revenge, with Zhou Yijin's mediation, Wu Chengjian might not do anything to him, but if Heshen or Liu Quan issued a death order, Wu Chengjian might not dare to disobey. If Heshen fell ill, Zhu Gui would definitely be fine, but if he, a low-ranking and low-ranking advisor, really died here, Heshen might be able to cover it.
The Wu family made a big deal about Wu Chengjian's funeral. Only Ye Youyu was there to recuperate after giving birth. Wu Guoying ordered that a few maids, old women and wet nurses be left in the left courtyard to serve her. People from both sides were not allowed to come and go to avoid conflicts.
Ye Youyu was in the room, listening to the occasional mourning music and crying coming in from outside, feeling irritated and hurt. She had never had the chance to bring up the unfinished words she had left on the day her child was born.
She had been holding it in for months before she could muster up the courage to bow to Wu Chengjian. But she was interrupted before she could finish her words, and the reason for the interruption was so irrefutable.
"His boss has passed away, and he must be very upset now."
Ye Youyu told himself this.
But there are some things that are hard to say once the opportunity is missed . Moreover, Ye Youyu didn't think she did anything wrong. She had thought carefully about seizing the boat. Under the circumstances at the time, she felt that what she did was the best choice. Afterwards, she sent Dongxue to secretly meet with Tan Sanniang to apologize and ask her to return to Huachahao, but she was rejected twice.
Isn't it enough that I have done this? Do I have to go to the charity cemetery with a big belly to invite her? Even if I am willing, the old man of the Wu family will not agree.
That's it, he still has to be angry with himself, for only a few months of his life.
That was it. After giving birth to the child, Ye Youyu lowered her head and was willing to give in to Wu Chengjian and say nice things to him. But in the end, she still couldn't finish the two sentences.
Is this... really God's will...
"Third Young Madam, Master Gu is here to see you." Dongxue suddenly came in, interrupting Ye Youyu's thoughts.
"Master Gu?" Ye Youyu was stunned for a moment before he suddenly remembered who it was: "Is it Old Gu?"
"Uh, yes." Dongxue said. In fact, she didn't know who Lao Gu was, but it was Wu Dacheng who brought Lao Gu here. When Wu Dacheng led him into the yard, he whispered a few words to Dongxue, letting the dowry girl know that the person who came here had a high status in the Wu family.
"Oh, this... please come in." Ye Youyu knew what kind of person Lao Gu was - he was Wu Guoying's right-hand man, the most capable person of the previous generation of the Wu family, and he was the only one who could ignore Wu Guoying's ban and enter the yard. But what was he doing here?
Dongxue was about to go and invite him, but Ye Youyu called out again, "Wait, please... (she thought about how to address herself) Uncle Gu, please wait outside for a while, and have someone come in to decorate the room first."
Ye Youyu was in confinement after giving birth, and usually only female relatives and maids came into this room. When female relatives and maids came in, they could just sit by the bed and talk, so there were no arrangements for receiving guests. No matter how much Old Gu was a family member, he was still an outsider, and he couldn't do this when he came in.
At that moment, two maids came in and decorated the room a little before inviting Old Gu in. The two of them sat across from each other in a green gauze cabinet. After Old Gu said hello and Dongxue served tea, Ye Youyu asked Dongxue to serve outside.
Ye Youyu then said, "Uncle Gu's visit today surprised my niece-in-law. I didn't make any preparations and neglected my uncle."
This was actually a secret question about Lao Gu's purpose of coming.
Old Gu smiled and said, "Don't be nervous, Third Young Madam. I have nothing to do. I just came to see you. The fire in Thirteenth Lane was set thanks to Third Young Madam. There are not many people in Thirteenth Lane who can force Mr. Ye to be like that, not to mention that you are his daughter. After this incident, Old Ye will no longer be tied to our Wu family. When the fire started, I was thinking: Third Young Madam is really an amazing woman, so I have always wanted to come and see you. But because of some old reasons, I usually don't enter the Wu family, so I have never had the chance. Today, I happened to encounter the matter of the eldest master, so I came here by the way, nothing else."
Ye Youyu said "oh" and felt relieved.
Old Gu was a straightforward person. When he said he just came to meet her, he really just came to meet her. In fact, he and Ye Youyu didn't have much in common, so naturally they had nothing to talk about. He was not the kind of person who would make small talk, so he took another sip of tea and stood up to say goodbye.
Ye Youyu suddenly remembered something and called out, "Uncle Gu, please stay."
"Hmm?" Old Gu had already stood up, but he still sat down.
Ye Youyu stopped Lao Gu because she suddenly remembered that before the fire at the Thirteen Hongs, Zhou Yijin had said to her inexplicably, "If you have a chance in the future, you can ask Lao Gu about some things before you get married." She had thought about that sentence many times in her mind, but she couldn't figure out what it meant. She had never had the chance to meet this elder of the Wu family before, but now that she had met him, she wanted to ask, but she didn't know how to start.
Old Gu heard no sound from behind the green gauze cabinet for a long time, but the Third Young Lady inside was not someone who would do anything without a purpose, so he remained calm.
After thinking for a long time, Ye Youyu finally spoke: "There is something I want to ask Uncle Gu, but...it's just that the matter came a little out of nowhere, and I don't know how to start for a while."
Old Gu smiled and said, "Third Young Madam, you don't know my temper. The Wu family treats me as an outsider. I watched Haoguan grow up. No matter what you want to ask, just tell me directly. Even if there is something that offends me, I won't blame you for not knowing. I won't take it to heart."
"Then I'll be frank." Ye Youyu said, "When Hao Guan was still in the Guangzhou prison, I was discussing something with Brother Yi Jin, and he suddenly said something that didn't make any sense. I kept it in mind, but I never had the chance to meet Uncle Gu."
"What?"
"Yi Jin told me at the time that if there was a chance, I should ask Uncle Gu about something that happened before I got married . But I had never met Uncle Gu before I got married, so I didn't know what it was."
After hearing this, Lao Gu laughed and said, "So that's it. Yes, it is indeed related to the Third Young Lady."
Ye Youyu's heart tightened, fearing that Lao Gu would reveal some terrible secret.
But Old Gu smiled and said, "It was the Third Young Master who asked me to ask Ye Zhong to secretly look after the Third Young Master's wife."
Ye Youyu's heart felt like it was hit by a huge rock, and he asked in a trembling voice: "When...when did this happen?"
Old Gu said, "You need Old Ye to take care of you. It's naturally before the marriage, probably when the two families are discussing the betrothal gifts and dowry."
