Volume 3: The Richest Man in the World Chapter 37: Husband and Wife Talk
Ye Youyu listened to the noises of these people gradually moving away, walked to Wu Chengjian, and cried, "I know you respect your sister-in-law, but if you do this, how can I manage this family in the future? Who in this family will listen to me?"
Wu Chengjian said, "Do you still think that I am trying to make you suffer just to show my respect for my sister-in-law?" He snorted, stopped taking his nap, and got up and left.
Ye Youyu stood there in a daze, biting her lips, feeling annoyed, but not knowing where she had gone wrong. She even felt that she was not wrong. She knew that Wu Chengjian respected his sister-in-law, but how could such tolerance end?
Wu Chengjian left angrily. According to his previous temper, he would run away and ignore the affairs of the family, find a quiet place for himself, and free his mind to think about things at a higher level.
However, before getting on the boat, he suddenly remembered Zhou Yijin's words, and remembered his judgment that Ye Youyu was "argumentative but not reconcilable". He thought about the fact that he was no longer the third young master of the Wu family, but the head of the family - although he had been the head for two or three years, before Wu Guoying's death, it was the old man who really maintained the harmony of the family - and thought about how good Ye Youyu was to him, he took two deep breaths, suppressed his temper, and walked back.
Seeing him come back, Ye Youyu felt relieved. She knew Wu Chengjian's temper. If it were the past, he would not come back for three to five days.
Wu Chengjian dismissed the servants and stood up without sitting down, saying, "You need to use your own people to manage your family, that's fine. Everyone has to do this, whether in the business or at home. I did the same thing in Yihehang and Shisanhang . I didn't have my confidants in Yihehang, so I couldn't control Yihehang. If I didn't have my own people in Shisanhang, I wouldn't be able to fight against Qi Guan and his men."
"In that case, why do you..."
"But things outside are the same as things at home, but they are also different." Wu Chengjian interrupted her: "Above you is the family, just as above the family is the country. If everyone only cares about their own family and doesn't care about the life and death of the country, the country will be divided internally. If you don't consider the whole big family and only care about your own convenience, the family will have rifts."
Ye Youyu said, "When did I only care about myself? I have always respected my sister-in-law."
Wu Chengjian said: "If that's the case, why did these people come to Ritianju after hearing the call from the eldest sister-in-law? What did you do when they came to Ritianju first?"
"this……"
"My sister-in-law will be suspicious of me, and Lirongyuan will be resentful of Ritianju. This will not happen overnight. One day's evil will have a hundred days' cause. You said you always respect your sister-in-law, but respecting her on the surface and truly respecting her are two different things. Respecting her on the surface is for others to see, but the person involved knows whether he really respects her or not."
Wu Chengjian paused and said, "This group of people came to Ritian Residence twice in half an hour. No matter how they smiled or said, they didn't take my sister-in-law seriously. If you were my sister-in-law, would you not be angry? Would you not be suspicious? I closed my eyes to this matter at the beginning. If you handle it properly, do you still need me to open my eyes to handle these inner house matters for you?"
Ye Youyu was speechless for a moment.
"My sister-in-law suddenly wants to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys today. Can't I see what she is going to do? But because I see it, even if she wants to sideline you, I will accept it, because I can't let this family become two families from today!"
Wu Chengjian took a deep breath and said, "Guang'er's pursuit of an official position was caused by my sister-in-law, but this is the result. This family had problems after my father passed away, and this is the cause. And here, you also did something wrong. Flies don't bite seamless eggs. I know very well who is behind this matter, and I also know why they are doing it. They just want to see the Wu family split from now on and Yihe Bank fall apart. But the more this happens, the more I can't let them succeed."
When Ye Youyu heard this, he was startled and asked, "Why, this matter involves outsiders? Is there an outsider who wants to use this to mess with our Wu family?"
In fact, she was still resistant and even disagreed when Wu Chengjian asked her to continue to tolerate Cai Qiaozhu, but when she heard that an outsider was intervening, her mood immediately changed. Ye Youyu inherited Ye Dalin's competitive personality. It was okay for uncles and sisters-in-law to be angry behind closed doors, but if an outsider wanted to interfere, it was unacceptable!
Wu Chengjian briefly mentioned Wei Laoshi and said, "I haven't told you what's going on here. You may know a little bit about it, but you may not know the details."
Ye Youyu went through all the details and understood the cause and effect of everything. He sighed and said, "Since you knew from the beginning that there was an outsider trying to mess with us, why didn't you tell your sister-in-law?"
Wu Chengjian said: "Since my sister-in-law has doubted me, if a few empty words can be effective, then there will be fewer disputes in this world."
Ye Youyu was silent.
This conflict, in the final analysis, is about the division of interests between the two houses. Once interests are involved, we can only look at people's actions, not just their words. Not to mention empty words, even swearing and cursing are pale and powerless in the face of actual actions.
"So what are you going to do now?" Ye Youyu asked.
"When Guang'er said something he didn't think should be said, my sister-in-law slapped him right away." Wu Chengjian said, "This slap was the chance for our Wu family to continue to exist."
Wu Chengjian left only after he had expressed his heart to Ye Youyu.
He took a boat and went to Manqian Penglai, but it was empty. He then went to Huachahao, but it was still empty. He wanted to go to the charity cemetery, but he was afraid that Cai Qiaozhu might do something else and the charity cemetery was too far away and he would not be able to make it in time, so he went to Yihehang.
Although he had told his wife the truth and had a plan for how things would develop, he couldn't help feeling bad when he thought about falling out with Cai Qiaozhu.
This matter involved many complicated matters from the inside out. He already had some vague ideas, but he just couldn't make up his mind yet.
The news about Ritianju had spread throughout the Wu Garden. The people below saw the situation and knew that Haoguan would not disobey his sister-in-law. Wu Dacheng quickly sorted out the relatives of the five managers, settled their accounts and drove them away. The garden suddenly became much emptier.
Ou Jiafu of Yihe Bank heard the rumors from Wu Liu and screened the people. He was in a dilemma and pointed out three of them and said, "Forget about the others, but these three are all third-class shopkeepers. If they are opened for a while, it will hinder the business of the bank. How about you tell the eldest young lady?"
Wu Liu said: "Jiafu, the eldest young lady is very angry about this matter, you should not offend her at this time."
Ou Jiafu pulled Wu Liu aside and whispered, "Ah Liu, this is a matter of the bank after all, so please don't expand the family affairs to the bank."
This remark somewhat implied that Cai Qiaozhu was putting personal interests above public ones. If he was not a very trusted person of the Wu family and he and Wu Liu had known each other since childhood, he would not have been able to say this.
Although Wu Liu was dissatisfied, he did not argue with him. He returned to Wujiayuan and told Cai Qiaozhuo about the matter.
Cai Qiaozhu pondered for a moment and said, "Please ask Manager Liu, Manager Yao, and Jiafu to come to the bank. I will go there now."
If Wu Chengjian didn't take a nap every day, he would be exhausted at night. It was almost evening, and he had just laid down in his bed for a while, but before he could fall asleep, he heard a commotion outside. Wu Qi came over and told him, "Jiafu is here to see you. He has something to ask."
Wu Chengjian asked irritably, "What's the matter?"
The resting place in the bank was a small compartment. Ou Jiafu was already outside the door. Upon hearing this, he stepped in and told Cai Qiaozhu's request, his refusal, and Cai Qiaozhu's sudden intention to call together several shopkeepers. He then said, "Hao Guan, starting from the old boss, and then to the young master, family affairs have never involved the bank."
Wu Chengjian said impatiently: "Go and listen to what the sister-in-law has to say first, and then talk about it. The sister-in-law is not a person without sense of propriety."
Ou Jiafu had no choice but to go to the meeting room in front and wait. Shopkeeper Yao Si was already there. When he saw him come in, he asked, "Jiafu, the eldest young lady suddenly called us here. What's the matter? Do you know?"
Although he was a "surrendered general", he was a pragmatic person just like Ou Jiafu, so they were quite similar.
Ou Jiafu thought for a moment and said, "I can't say for sure. Let's wait and see."
Soon, the shopkeeper Liu also came. He was getting old and was only in the business for three days every ten days. This time he came specially to ask about something, and then Cai Qiaozhu came.
Manager Liu followed Wu Guoying to conquer the world, Ou Jiafu was brought up by Wu Chengjun, and Manager Yao Si is related to Cai Qiaozhu. They have been visiting each other during the holidays in the past two years, so the four of them are not unfamiliar with each other.
Cai Qiaozhu first greeted the shopkeeper Liu and said, "I am sorry to have troubled you today because of some family matters. Your niece-in-law is sorry for coming here first."
Manager Liu said, "Don't be polite. I'm not really old. I'll just take these few steps for a stroll."
The four of them sat down, and Cai Qiaozhu said, "Ah Liu, tell me what happened today."
Wu Liu briefly recounted how several family members had been cunning and delayed, and pretended to obey but actually disobeyed.
Shopkeeper Yao Si knew that what he was going to talk about today involved Wu Jiayuan's family affairs, and he felt a headache for a moment. No wonder Ou Jiafu refused to speak just now.
Since he joined Yihehang, he has always been impartial. However, in terms of his background, he is related to Cai Shiqun after all, and he was introduced to Yihehang by Cai Shiqun, so he is naturally tied to Cai Qiaozhu. In the past, the two families lived in peace and the uncle and sister-in-law lived in harmony, so he was able to get along with both sides. Now that the two families are on the verge of becoming enemies, this trouble is about to come to him - although he is related to Cai Qiaozhu, he is absolutely unwilling to go against Wu Chengjian.
Cai Qiaozhu said to the shopkeeper Liu: "These people's cunning and bullying are just family matters. Family matters have never been involved with the affairs of the bank. But for the sake of the family tradition, if I punish those people, their relatives and friends may be resentful. If people with resentment are still in the bank, it is hard to guarantee that there will be no problems. So this matter involves the bank. Uncle Liu, how do you think we should deal with it?"
Manager Liu pondered for a moment and said, "The old boss made the rule that the affairs of the family and the industry should be separated. But if the assistants are in a suspicious position, they must be kept away from suspicion. This is also to protect the reputation of the assistants in the Thirteen Hongs. After all, Xiguan is such a big business, the assistants will not fight against each other, but if the reputation is lost, it will be a disaster for three generations. Those servants bullied their master, which shows that they have bad natures. It is too much to punish their relatives and friends in the industry just because of this. However, it is not appropriate to ignore it, or only punish A and B, but let C and D go."
Ou Jiafu interrupted and said, "It's okay for the other guys, but three important shopkeepers are implicated. I don't think it's appropriate to touch them easily." As he spoke, he mentioned the names of the three shopkeepers.
Manager Liu knew all about the people in the business. He knew why Ou Jiafu wanted to protect them. After thinking for a while, he said, "How about this. The three implicated managers will be taken care of by me, Jiafu, and Xiaoyao. We will talk to them one by one. If they are found to have similar personalities to the servants in the garden, or if they are resentful about this matter, then I'm sorry, we will have to double their wages and ask them to resign. If they are implicated but are actually innocent, then we three will protect them. What do you think, Madam?"
The three of them are experienced shopkeepers with long experience in the business world and insight into people's hearts. When they examine a subordinate one-on-one, it is not easy for the subordinate to hide his intentions.
Cai Qiaozhu said, "Okay, Uncle Liu's handling of the matter is very appropriate for your niece-in-law."
