Volume 3: The Richest Man in the World Chapter 42: Summons from Shuntian Prefecture
Liu Quan's face changed drastically, and he pointed at Wu Chengjian. He wanted to curse, but the words were on the tip of his tongue but he dared not utter them. He wanted to speak, but many words were stuck in his throat and he dared not utter them. He was a slave who had been tamed in Beijing, and he would not dare to utter any taboo words even if he came to Guangzhou, 5,000 miles away.
He glared at me, but in the end he just snorted coldly and said, "Okay, if you want to go to a dead end, you can do it yourself!"
He was about to leave, but when he did, he realized he had no sleeves - it was too hot in Guangzhou, and no one would wear clothes with sleeves by now.
Liu Quan was embarrassed for a moment, and simply kicked over the table, and was about to leave Zhenhai Tower, when Wu Chengjian suddenly shouted, "Wait!"
Liu Quan turned around and said coldly: "Why, do you have anything else to say? It's too late for you to kowtow now."
Wu Chengjian asked, "What do you plan to do about the British forcing Macau?"
After hearing this, Liu Quan suddenly felt a little strange: "You are about to die, and you still want to care about these things that have nothing to do with you?"
"The life and death of the Wu family is private, and the British forcing Australia is public," Wu Chengjian said, "It is useless to tell people like you that a gentleman should not sacrifice public interests for private interests. Anyway, this matter has nothing to do with the success or failure of my Wu family. Please tell me: What exactly is He Zhongtang planning?"
Liu Quan glanced at Wu Chengjian as if he was a fool: "You are a good businessman, but you actually talk like a poor scholar. Haha, no wonder you are so stupid and want to get yourself killed!" After saying that, he left.
Looking at Liu Quan's angry back as he left, Wu Qi walked out from the corner. Although he didn't hear what the two said, he saw how Liu Quan kicked the table, and his voice was filled with fear: "Hao Guan, this time... you've really offended someone."
"It's not that I want to offend him." Wu Chengjian said, "It's that they have already left me no chance to live. If that's the case, then it doesn't matter whether I offend him or not."
When the master and servant walked down the Zhenhai Tower, they saw two yamen runners guarding the stairs. Behind them was a man with dishevelled hair and a hunched back. The leading runner had a pair of cross-eyed eyes. He looked at Wu Chengjian with ill intent and asked in Beijing dialect, "Are you Wu Chengjian?"
Wu Qi thought: "This is bad, are they going to arrest someone now?"
Wu Chengjian asked, "I wonder which government office you two are on duty at?"
The officer said, "We are officials from Shuntian Prefecture."
Wu Qi was very surprised: "Why did the Shuntianfu officials come to Guangzhou?"
Although Wu Chengjian had similar questions, he seemed to have anticipated them. He did not dwell on the question, but asked directly, "I wonder what the two envoys are doing in Guangzhou?"
The officer asked, "Do you know Zhou Yijin?"
Wu Qi was secretly startled. When he looked at Wu Chengjian, he heard him say, "I recognize him."
The officer said, "He committed a crime in the capital and has been scheduled to be executed in the autumn..."
When Wu Chengjian heard this, although he didn't understand the expression on his face, the muscles at the corners of his eyes couldn't help but twitch.
Then the officer continued, "Someone brought you out, saying that you can prove Zhou's innocence. The prefect is very observant, and in order to avoid an unjust imprisonment, he sent us to Shuntian Prefecture to find you."
When Wu Qi heard this, he gave Wu Chengjian a look, indicating that he must not agree to it. That was a dangerous place and he couldn't go there!
Wu Chengjian seemed not to see it, so he asked, "What did Zhou Yijin do wrong?"
The officer said, "You will know when you go there."
Wu Chengjian asked again: "Who dragged me into this? It shouldn't be Yi Jin, right?"
Another officer laughed, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: "I have brought the person who implicated you. Come, boy, recognize him too, don't make a mistake." As he spoke, he pushed the hunched man behind him and pulled the rag out of his mouth.
The man started crying: "Hao Guan, Hao Guan, save me...save Master Zhou..."
Wu Qi was surprised: "Xiao Jiu... is that you, Xiao Jiu?"
Wu Xiaojiu, a beautiful boy with red lips and white teeth, has now been tortured beyond recognition. He sobbed and said, "They, they..."
The leading bailiff shouted, "Stop talking nonsense and identify the person! Is this the Wu Chengjian you mentioned?"
Wu Xiaojiu looked at Wu Chengjian and didn't dare to speak for a moment.
Wu Chengjian said: "Just tell me directly."
Wu Xiaojiu then nodded: "Yes, this is Hao Guan, um, that is Wu Chengjian."
"That's right." The bailiff said, "Mr. Wu, you can go back with us."
Wu Chengjian hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are those two officers trying to detain me?"
The bailiff said, "This is not an arrest, it means the prefect has summoned you for questioning."
When officials in charge of criminal cases handle cases, in addition to detaining offenders, they will also summon relevant people for questioning. However, generally they only question the people under their jurisdiction. Sometimes, the case involves other counties or prefectures, so the procedures become a bit complicated. As for Shuntian Prefecture handling a case, it is unheard of that they would summon people from Guangzhou Prefecture thousands of miles away.
Wu Chengjian guessed that this matter must be related to Liu Quan's arrangement - these two people had been waiting here for a long time. Since he did not yield to Liu Quan in Zhenhai Tower, these two people would definitely show up when he came downstairs.
However, he didn't have the energy to ask about these details at the moment, and just said, "Mr. Wu is from Guangzhou Prefecture. Your prefecture governor has summoned me across prefectures. Should I go through an official document in Nanhai County, Guangzhou Prefecture? Have the two officers sent the official document?"
"This..." The officer was speechless for a moment. This matter had a powerful backer, so it didn't matter if many links were messed up, so they really forgot about this part.
The officer behind him shouted, "Are you going or not? If not, just let us know. We will go back and report to the master and close the case of the cripple."
Wu Chengjian's eyebrows twitched and he asked, "Cripple?" and looked at Wu Xiaojiu.
Wu Xiaojiu cried, "They...they broke Master Zhou's legs..."
Wu Chengjian's body shook slightly, and Wu Qi quickly supported him.
Wu Chengjian steadied his body and breath, then said to the two officers, "Don't worry , I will go to Shuntian Prefecture..."
Wu Qi was shocked, and he held Wu Chengjian's hand and pressed it several times secretly.
Wu Chengjian added, "But the necessary procedures still need to be followed. I will have someone take the two officers to the Guangzhou government office and the Nanhai county government office to take the official documents. It will probably take some time to take the documents. During this time, the Wu family will cover the accommodation of the two officers in Guangzhou."
He then said to Wu Qi, "According to the rules, treat the guests well. Each officer will be allocated 100 taels of silver per day to serve them well."
The two yamen runners were originally very impatient, but when they heard "100 taels per person per day", their faces immediately changed. They had heard that the old Cantonese were rich before they came, but they never thought they were so rich! Their prefecture magistrate only received a little over 100 taels of silver per month, but this guarantor in front of them was paid 100 taels a day, more than 20 times more than their prefecture magistrate! With such benefits, it would be no problem for them to live in Guangzhou for years, not to mention a few days!
Wu Chengjian asked, "Two officers, is this arrangement acceptable?" He had been to the north, so the last sentence he said had a Beijing accent.
The yellow-toothed officer hurriedly said, "Hit, hit!"
The cross-eyed officer hesitated for a moment before nodding: "Okay! But don't delay it too long." In fact, he also wanted to stay longer. One hundred taels a day!
But this time, there was a big shot behind the scenes watching over this matter. Although he didn't fully understand what was going on, he knew that it was impossible for them to take advantage of this indefinitely.
Wu Chengjian glanced at Wu Qi, and Wu Qi waved and called a servant to take the two officials to settle down.
After the two officers left, Tietou Junba came out from the darkness. Wu Qi said angrily, "They are so cruel! How dare they treat Master Zhou like this."
Wu Chengjian's expression darkened, and he said to Tietou Junba, "I still have some things to deal with in Guangzhou, so I can't go to the capital right away. But Yijin...his injury can't wait."
Tietou Junba said, "I will go to the capital right now."
Wu Chengjian said, "No, you can't leave. Do you have anyone you can trust and who can get the job done?"
Tietou Junba thought for a moment and said, "How about Zhang Wu?"
"Zhang Wu?" Wu Chengjian asked, "The Zhang Wu who is the only one in Foshan who spreads his hands?"
Tietou Junba was originally a gangster and a well-known figure in Foshan's martial arts world, so he knew many capable martial arts masters.
"yes."
"I think I heard Mr. Liu San talk about this guy. Are you friends with him? What kind of person is he? Can he go to Beijing?"
Tietou Junba said, "When he first fell into trouble and came to Guangdong, I gave him three bowls of rice. This man will never give up. He has traveled a lot and has seen a lot. He once went to the capital in his early years and knows a lot of people from all walks of life."
"How long can the friendship between ninth-rate people last? After so many years, it is no longer reliable ." Wu Chengjian said: "But he has the ability to get to know ninth-rate people, so this can be done. Besides, we also have a secret point in the capital. As long as he can meet Yi Jin, everything will be easy."
"Okay, I'll go find him then."
Wu Chengjian added: "If he agrees, let him go find the two officers first, give them some money, and ask them to show me a way to see Yi Jin. Heshen detained Yi Jin to make me fall into his trap, but he doesn't necessarily want to kill Yi Jin. This time, I don't ask for anything else, just to treat Yi Jin's injury before I arrive - at least stabilize the injury first. Don't save money where it is necessary."
Tie Tou Jun Ba said: "There is no master who doesn't suffer from fractures. Tan Shou Wu is an expert in this field. If Master Zhou only has a broken bone, he can handle it."
Wu Chengjian said: "If it is a minor injury, then there is no problem. But it has been delayed for so long, who knows what condition Yi Jin is in now. If Tan Shouwu can handle it, then let him handle it. If the injury is serious... In short, if it can be solved with money, then use money to solve it. Right now, the thing we have the most is money!"
Tietou Junba nodded and left.
Wu Chengjian supported Wu Qi, who was struggling to even stand. He was silent for a long time, and said with a sob in his throat: "I didn't expect... Yi Jin would be the first to suffer! It's all my fault. He is already in Guangzhou, and I haven't been able to protect him..."
Wu Qi advised, "Hao Guan, don't think too much. On the day Master Zhou disappeared, everyone in Manqian Penglai said that he left on his own. This... no one could have expected it. You can't be blamed."
Wu Chengjian just shook his head and said, "Go find someone to go to those two yamen runners secretly, spend some money, pick up Xiaojiu, take him to the Huachao, and treat his illness and recuperate him. I have something to ask him later."
Wu Qi agreed.
Wu Chengjian was about to leave, but suddenly stopped and said to Wu Qi: "Don't mention Yi Jin and Shuntian Prefecture's affairs after you go home!"
