"You went to Yizheng this time to clean up the Lu family, probably." Wen Zhong walked through the front yard of the dye house, passed Chu Zi to the backyard, and sat down on the stone bench.
"Shopkeeper Wen understands." Guo Chuzi continued to talk about his plan, "I want to use the name of the burial place to contact the major merchants in Yizheng, and stay there permanently to show my determination to live in the family.
Naturally, the Lu family was frightened after hearing this and did not dare to compete with me."
"It seems that Brother Guo wants to make the Lu family crumble and kill them all," Wen Zhong said.
Guo Chuzi smiled and said: "Shopkeeper Wen is still wrong about what I mean. My dear brother, just imagine, one of the Lu family and the Guo family run a dye shop and the other a pawn shop. They are not in the same business. Why have they become so tense in the past few years?"
Wen Zhong thought for a moment and replied: "In order to win the patronage of the government, I need to find a backing for myself."
"That's it. Not only do we want to do business, we also want to seize power in the officialdom, so we can only save one of the two."
"But you insist on letting both of them exist." Wen Zhong gradually understood his intention.
Guo Chuzi laughed loudly: "That's right! The master certainly doesn't want my family to become the dominant one, and if he wants to make Guo, Lu will fight with each other. The Lu family can neither prosper nor perish."
Guo Chuzi hired a Feng Shui master and looked around the city and outside with Lu Zhengfu, and finally selected a vacant piece of land in the city as the place to bury his son.
Everyone immediately calculated the funeral expenses, and all the thirty-three taels of silver went out through Chuzi.
"You might as well stay here for a few more days and take a rest." Seeing his expressionless face, Lu Zhengfu was glad that he didn't cause trouble here.
"It doesn't have to be like this. I have to go back to Jiangdu to take care of the dyeing workshop. I take care of it!"
Seeing Chu Zi turn around and walking halfway, Mr. Lu was about to get on the sedan. Suddenly he turned back and said to him: "Uncle, my foolish nephew cashed the silver note in order to buy a burial place. The remaining money is
, it’s useless for me to take them with me, why not give them all to you, so as not to express my condolences.”
"Why bother..."
Lu Zhengfu held the handle of the sedan chair and hurriedly stretched out his arms to stop him. Unexpectedly, it was difficult to refuse such kindness, so he planned to accept it.
Guo Chuzi took something out of his trousers and was stunned for a moment. For a moment, tears and runny nose came down, and he cried bitterly.
Mr. Lu was so panicked that he asked anxiously: "Why is Guo Yuanwai suddenly sad?"
After hearing this, Guo Chuzi took out the rotten khaki paper in his hand. The handwriting was blurry and unrecognizable, like old paper that had been dug out of a wastebasket.
He paused and sobbed: "You don't know something. My uncle passed away the day before yesterday, and I am his nephew. I can't fulfill my filial piety all my life. I feel so guilty. Now I want to build a monument and a shrine for my uncle. I hate that Jiangdu has left the Jiji land idle.
Young man, it is so remote outside the city that we have been delayed until today. I wanted to find a place to bury my uncle in Yizheng, but my uncle’s soul couldn’t rest in peace, so I couldn’t help crying.”
Lu Zhengfu remained silent, and the servant behind him curled his lips at him.
"I'm so sorry for my rudeness," Guo Chuzi sighed, taking out a few ingots of silver, "Uncle, take yours and take your leave."
He staggered for three steps, but Lu Zhengfu remained unmoved. After passing Chuzi, he slowed down and kept his ears pricked up.
The servants winked, but Lu Zhengfu shook his head helplessly and quickly stopped him: "Excuse me, why don't you discuss this matter with me?"
Guo Chuzi said "Okay" secretly, hid his joy and hurried back: "I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to help you with this matter."
"Master Guo traveled thousands of miles to pay for me, and I feel bad about it. I can take this opportunity to build an ancestral hall in Yizheng to make up for the kindness I owe to my colleagues. I will pay for it." Lu Zhengfu was full of anger, and when he spoke, he raised his eyebrows
His cheeks were twitching endlessly.
"My foolish nephew is not willing to build a temple in Yizheng, I'm afraid it will steal your limelight; but the matter is so important that I dare not refuse it lightly. When I return to Jiangdu in the future, I will repay the money in full, and I will not wrong my uncle.
Flowers come one cent at a time." Guo Chuzi bowed deeply.
Lu Zhengfu did not expect that the owner of the dye house would be so cunning, and it seemed that this strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing out the wilderness was unstoppable. The ancestral hall was built with great fanfare, and now it was useless to hide it from anyone. In view of the current situation, Mr. Lu ordered it to be opened.
The pawn shop allowed the situation to develop badly. Now that he was the weaker party, he had to give face to the family, so he only burned incense and prayed to Buddha, praying to play family to leave some way out for the Lu family.
Seeing the situation, the local small businessmen turned against each other one after another, making Yizheng feel like a gust of wind blew away the original prosperity of the Lu family.
Guo Chuzi was very prosperous at this time, but at the same time he could not forget a key figure, that is Chen Tongpao. He sent a letter to Wenzhong's gambling house, telling him to arrange for Chen's promotion to the county magistrate.
This is not because they are good at making opinions, but according to the news from the family, the prefect has already begun to discuss this matter, and Wen Zhong's work is to enable Chen Tongpao to take a step forward and reach a higher position.
He has a wide network of contacts in the Jiangdu area, so it is not a problem to send people to please some high-ranking officials, but after all, his identity does not allow him to travel around openly, so he needs someone to pass the message on his behalf.
Generally speaking, he often borrowed Chu Zi's identity, but not today. The person negotiating was a high-ranking official, a person with authority, who must have a grudge against businessmen's direct participation in politics.
"Check who pays the most money in our gambling house." Wen Zhong squinted slightly and ordered the shopkeeper.
The account books turned over with a crackle.
But some squires, for example, have the power to influence the officialdom. It is also hateful to him that in Yangzhou, there are outstanding people, but the squires in Jiangdu, the capital, are all crooked things. There is not a single Jinshi master in the village, and the most outstanding one is
It belongs to the great gentry, but it is just for raising people and relying on the abundant land.
"It was found out that he is the son of Feng Dashen."
"Oh?" Wen Zhong showed a smile from the corner of his mouth, "It's exactly what I wanted. I wonder how I called this Mr. Feng?"
"The casino will open tomorrow morning, I wonder if he will come."
"Don't worry, he is the son of a country squire. If he comes to gamble, he will most likely not be involved in the property and just idle around." Wen Zhong turned his head and said, "There are many men coming to gamble, so be careful."
"I understand, little one!"
"Let's go. Remember, don't scare people when the time comes." Wenzhong said in a joking tone.
Mr. Feng was helped up the stairs by the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper said good things all the way, and his tongue was dry, but he kept saying: "Young Master, we, the shopkeeper, have been waiting for you day and night. We just want to thank you in person.
My kindness... You have been here several times, wouldn't the big shopkeeper be respectful?... Feng Dashen has such a face, how dare a small gambling house not give it..." and so on, he brought it into the house.
This time Wen Zhong withdrew the bluffing men on his left and right, washed his hands, wiped his face, put on a good appearance, and bent down to salute Mr. Feng.