Volume 3: The Richest Man in the World Chapter 73: Emperor Qianlong's Death
Cai Qiaozhu was very puzzled and asked Ye Youyu, "Ye, Cai and other relatives and friends invited you, but you refused. Why... are you willing to go there?"
Ye Youyu said, "Although the charity cemetery is not under the name of our Wu family, Hao Guan has invested a lot in it. Every brick and tile is made with the Wu family's money. Living there is not considered living under someone else's roof. Besides, the charity cemetery was originally a place to take in the distressed. It is reasonable ."
Cai Qiaozhu said: "It's just... that's so embarrassing."
Ye Youyu whispered: "The more embarrassing... maybe the better."
Since she had made such a decision, Cai Qiaozhu agreed with her, and the whole family rushed to the charity cemetery. When they arrived outside the cemetery, Tan Sanniang did not come to greet them. Instead, the old mother with a military scar on her head came to greet them with a cane.
Bihe supported Tietou Junba's mother and said, "The girl was chanting in the Buddhist temple, praying for blessings and disaster relief for the Wu family. Unexpectedly, you all came."
Cai Qiaozhu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it would be better if she wasn't there to avoid any embarrassment for Yu.
Ye Youyu was quite grateful in her heart, thinking: "She really took my feelings into consideration. With such a good person, it's no wonder that her husband cares about her. With such a sophisticated understanding of the world, it's no wonder that she is able to surpass all the beauties and often become the leader of the Immortal Continent."
The charity cemetery had already cleared out five or six rooms. It was already late at night, so Bihe didn't say much. She arranged for people to move in, saying, "These rooms are all new and no one has lived in them yet. They are clean, but small and cramped. Please don't mind, grandmas."
Ye Youyu said hurriedly, "Miss Bihe, you are too polite. We are poor and homeless people. We are thankful to have a roof over our heads. How dare we be picky?"
Those who were willing to go out with Cai Qiaozhu and Ye Youyu were all willing to endure hardships. Even Xia Qing, who was usually spoiled, endured it at this time. The baby Miss Wu didn't understand the world yet, so she was happy to have milk. But the two young masters couldn't stand it. Guang'er just had a gloomy face, and Yao'er started crying on the spot - these rooms in the charity cemetery were not as good as the servants' rooms in Ritianju, so the children refused to live in them at all costs, crying and making a fuss: "I don't want to live in these pig pens, I don't want to live in these pig pens!"
The residents of the nearby charity cemetery felt embarrassed after hearing this, and they all wanted to see whether and how the adults in the Wu family would discipline the child.
Ye Youyu didn't hit him or scold him, but just said to everyone: "Ignore him, he will stop crying when he is tired." Seeing Cai Qiaozhu's doting and compassionate expression, he said hurriedly: "Sister-in-law, don't be soft-hearted. Children are prone to problems when they are raised in luxury. Now is the perfect time to cure these bad habits and let them know a little about the hardships of life. Besides, this little bit of hardship is nothing." He also said to Bihe: "The child is ignorant and made a fool of himself."
Cai Qiaozhu thought about it and decided to stop herself from trying to comfort her nephew. Seeing that Yaoer had not gotten any help, Guanger also stopped talking. Yaoer cried for a long time but no one paid attention to him, so he had to stop crying.
Ye Youyu had lived a hard life with Xu since she was a child. Although she had just finished her confinement, she was able to help clean up some of the household belongings. Cai Qiaozhu, on the other hand, had never done housework her entire life. Cai Shiqun had raised his daughter in luxury when they were living in Daxing Street, and after she married into the Wu family, she didn't have to do any housework at all. This made her kind-hearted, but it also made it easy for her to fail to detect the evil in people's hearts.
After Bihe helped the Wu family sisters-in-law make all the arrangements, she came to see Tan Sanniang and briefly explained the whole story. Finally, she asked, "Miss, why did you invite them to live in the village?"
Tan Sanniang sighed, "I don't know whether they are really in trouble or just pretending to be. This time, I was just trying to show my true feelings, but I didn't expect them to agree to come. This means the two grandmas don't look down on us, so we should treat them with all our heart."
As she spoke, she bowed to the Bodhisattva and Mazu again.
Bi He looked at Tan Sanniang's increasingly pious face and thought to herself, "Girl, this... means you really don't care about those entanglements anymore."
In the first two years of coming to the charity cemetery, Bihe was always angry for her daughter, but after living here for a long time, she gradually calmed down. In the past two years, she watched those once glorious courtesans become so miserable that they had to be taken in by the charity cemetery to avoid being displaced, and she felt that Sanniang's choice might be right. Especially last month, when Yu Lian'er went crazy and was sent here, the scene touched her deeply - this was a courtesan whose rise she saw with her own eyes, and then her fall - in just two or three years, she experienced all the ups and downs of the world.
"Maybe it was once lively and glorious, but it ended up like this. What's the point of being lively and glorious for a while? A hundred years of peace and quiet, perhaps... is the real blessing."
Within seven or eight days, the Wu family raised another three million and handed it over to the Guangdong Customs. The Guangdong Customs had received instructions in advance and opened a special transfer account, which was then reported to Beijing at an expedited rate of 600 miles.
When Eroli got the news, he was secretly surprised, thinking that Wu Chengjian was really quite resourceful! As for the fact that the Wu family did not live with relatives but lived in the charity cemetery, Eroli thought it was quite deliberate. However, considering the two million in hand, he did not point it out. He turned around and reported to Emperor Jiaqing, saying that Wu Chengjian sold his house and boats, raised more than 900,000 taels, and borrowed tens of thousands of taels from others, a total of one million taels, which was now sealed at the Guangdong Customs and could be shipped up at any time.
When Emperor Jiaqing thought about having an extra million yuan at his disposal, he felt very happy. Then he thought about how Wu Chengjian had sold his house for him, and he couldn't help but sigh and asked, "If he even sold his house, where would his family live?"
Er Luoli said, "The Wu family still has an old house, which is occupied by his second brother who was born out of wedlock. The two sisters-in-law of the Wu family originally wanted to live in the old house, but the second brother was so domineering that he refused to let his sister-in-law, aunt and nephew move in. Now the whole family lives in a charity house near Nansha."
Emperor Jiaqing was moved and angry at the same time: "How fickle people are! Wu Chengjian's brother is not a good person!" As the emperor, he could not possibly stand up for Wu Chengjian - the matter was too small, so he said: "Well, after Heshen falls, I will reward him with a good job. Let him return home in glory one day."
Oroli was startled, and at this moment, the sound of hurried footsteps in the snow came from outside the door!
Emperor Jiaqing frowned slightly, and a eunuch outside the door asked, "What's going on?"
Then there was a cry outside the door, followed by a sharp voice shouting: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! The Emperor… has passed away!"
Emperor Jiaqing's face revealed an uncontrollable look of shock, as if he was neither happy nor shocked, but he quickly controlled his expression and howled loudly, crying, "Emperor Father! No, Emperor Father!" He had already rushed towards Qianlong's bedroom.
"It's Chinese New Year and it's snowing. The good thing about the north is that the four seasons are distinct, unlike Guangzhou, where there is almost no winter. At least I've never seen snow in Guangzhou since I was a child. But the weather is too dry." Wu Chengjian applied some lip balm on his chapped lips and said to Zhou Yijin in an unaccustomed way, "These northern lip balms are made with enough ingredients, but they are too fishy."
"It's good to have something to apply." Zhou Yijin touched his knee under the thick velvet. This was his first winter after the injury, and the doctor told him to take good care of it, otherwise it would be easy to get sick in the future. "Think about it, a few months ago, you were still fighting with dogs for food. I never thought that I would spend the New Year here this year."
At this time, a sedan stopped at the back door of the Guangdong Guild Hall, and a servant with a dignified appearance walked in and saluted the two men: "Official Hao, Master Zhou. My master wants to see you."
The other party came in directly and treated the entrance of the Guangdong Guild Hall as if it were non-existent.
Zhou Yijin smiled slightly and said, "I wonder which distinguished person it is?"
The man smiled and said, "Anyway, it's not He Zhongtang. He Zhongtang can't care about you right now."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "Then I have to know which noble person's blessing I am going to get."
The man said, "Officer Hao, the fact that I can get in here already proves the problem. Please don't delay any longer. My master doesn't have much patience."
Wu Chengjian and Zhou Yijin looked at each other, and Zhou Yijin looked at the visitor again before saying, "Go ahead."
Wu Chengjian followed the visitor out the back door and got on the sedan. The windows of the sedan were sealed shut, so Wu Chengjian couldn't open the door. He just let the visitor walk quickly on the snow. It took a long time for him to stop, and then he walked again. It was estimated that he entered some door.
Wu Chengjian calculated the direction and distance after he got on the sedan, but the sedan kept turning around and around, and he really couldn't figure it out, so he just ignored it and closed his eyes to rest. He did this until the sedan stopped completely, and the man outside said, "Officer Hao, please come in."
Wu Chengjian stepped out of the sedan chair and saw a rather elegant garden with pavilions and terraces, all covered with snow. The heroic servant led Wu Chengjian through the corridor and opened the door: "Officer Hao, please come in."
Now that he was here, there was no point in showing weakness. Wu Chengjian shook off the snowflakes on his cloak and stepped into the room.
The door curtain blocked the cold air, and although it was snowing heavily outside, it was warm as spring inside the house. Wu Chengjian felt that the heat from the floor could be transmitted through the soles of his shoes, so he guessed that the floor heating was used directly. In Beijing, there were not many people who could do this.
When he walked to the inner room, he saw two young eunuchs standing at the door. Wu Chengjian thought to himself, "Eunuch guarding the door... This is not what the emperor said, at least he is a prince."
The two young eunuchs motioned Wu Chengjian to come in. Wu Chengjian stepped in. It was very dark outside, but the room was as bright as day.
A familiar figure heard the footsteps, turned around, and it was a person who looked familiar.
The man was facing away from the light, so his appearance was not clear at the time, but Wu Chengjian still managed to identify him and asked, "Old Prince?"
The "old prince" smiled and said, "Did you recognize it?"
