Carrying the little lucky star, leading the villain on the road to exile

Chapter 358. Blueprints
Although Bai Suihe did not study this major at the time, design is a versatile skill, and he had practiced with ship design drawings and visited shipyards.

She saw a model of the treasure ship used by Zheng He on his voyages to the Western Ocean. After the visit, she even drew a copy of the blueprint and asked her teacher for advice. Her teacher pointed out some of the unreasonable parts, and she still remembers it vividly.

(The truth is, the blueprints and documents for the treasure ship have long been destroyed, supposedly by Emperor Qianlong. This is all made up by the author, but hopefully these treasures can regain their glory.)
Those treasure ships could accompany Koxinga on seven voyages to the Western Ocean, so this mere coastal waters would be easy to handle.

Moreover, if possible, Bai Suihe dared not ask for anything else, but this time the gold and silver mine on a certain island must be renamed.

When she picked up the brush and put it down again, although she had made some progress in practicing calligraphy these days, the limp brush tip was really not suitable for drawing blueprints. So she asked Gu Kaiyuan to go to the kitchen to get a few pieces of charcoal and whittle a few charcoal sticks with a knife, which would be enough to make do.

Gu Kaiyuan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Bai Suihe getting busy with other things; the previous incident was finally over.

Little did he know that Bai Suihe, who was drawing blueprints, looked up with a sly smile after he left, and then silently went back to her work.

☆

The news came faster than expected. On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhou Gang was happy to receive the letter, but when he saw its contents, he fainted.

His wife and children, of course, also saw the letter, and they didn't even bother to try to save him.

When he woke up on the cold ground, he saw his wife and child there, embracing each other and crying.

He turned his head with difficulty, wanting to tell himself that it was all just a dream, but the letters scattered around him told him that it was all real.

He was abandoned by his family, and that damned stepmother was trying to kill him. Did she think that by kicking him out, her two bastard children could become the eldest grandson?

No, she shouldn't even think about it. Zhou Gang felt that all the shame of his life was contained in this moment.

He used to be the only one who disliked his two younger brothers; when did they get the chance to kick him out of the house?

Even if the family split up before, he is still the eldest grandson of the Zhou family, and they cannot make the decisions for this family.

"Pack your things, I'm going back to the capital." When Zhou Gang left the Gu family, he had originally planned to go back as well. His main purpose was to contact Gu Baijiang and find out where the money was.

Who knew that Gu Baijiang would be so unethical, leaving so suddenly on the first day of the Lunar New Year? By the time he received the news and rushed to the village entrance, he hadn't even seen a trace of him.

He was still waiting for news from the eldest prince, but now he was unwilling to wait any longer.

Madam Zhou also came to her senses from her grief. Yes, they were going back to the capital to reclaim everything that belonged to them. Even if it meant exterminating the clan, it would be them eliminating their stepmother's branch.

The family packed up their belongings and loaded them all onto the oxcart. They had bought a lot of things on their way here, and the oxcart was so full that they didn't even have a place to sit.

Zhou Gang, “...take down some unnecessary things.”

Just as Madam Zhou was about to make a move, she suddenly stopped and looked at Zhou Gang with a troubled expression. "Master, are we just going back like this?"

"If we don't go back this way, how else can we go back? Are you waiting for them to come and pick you up?" Zhou Gang was in a bad mood and his tone was very sharp.

"Is this journey so arduous, and it's just our family traveling alone?"

These days, Zhou Gang has only been keeping an eye on Gu Baijiang and knows nothing about the purpose of Rong Ruiyuan's visit to the town. Of course, he is unaware that this road is now even more peaceful than the one to the capital.

"What should we do then? Why don't you wait for me at home while I go to town to see if there are any escort agencies returning to the capital?"

She said this aloud, but her heart was filled with desolation. It was just after the New Year; even if there were escort agencies, they wouldn't be setting out at this time. Madam Zhou couldn't hold back her tears again and began to back down. "The clan leader and the others have already made this decision. What can we change if we go back?"

Zhou Gang gritted his teeth, "Even if we can't change anything, we still have to go back."

I'll ask the First Prince to intervene. I refuse to believe they can disobey his orders.

These words were like a lifeline to the rest of the Zhou family; yes, they too had powerful backers.

Zhou Gang didn't delay and ran towards the city. It wasn't that he didn't want to use the oxcart, but it was already crammed with things, and by the time they unloaded them, it would be dark.

There are no secrets in the village, let alone the Zhou family moving in and out, filling their car to the brim.

Thinking of Gu Baijiang and Chen Dafu, who had already left, everyone was saying that Zhou Gang should also return to Beijing.

Those in the village who are more shrewd are already keeping a close eye on it.

Although Zhou Gang's house wasn't very nice, the whole family was leaving and couldn't possibly take everything with them. If they could get the land first, even if they didn't want the house later, the things inside would be worth it.

As for Chen Dafu's house, the villagers went inside and felt it was unlucky. It was too empty. They saw a few scattered grains of rice in the kitchen, but no one bothered to pick them up. They wanted to leave something for the rats to look for.

But Zhou Gang's family was different. They were wealthy and loaded only light items onto the truck; none of the large furniture pieces were loaded.

Zhou Gang returned to the village in the dark, his face extremely pale.

He went to find the contact person and discovered that the people the eldest prince had left there had also left, leaving him only a letter instructing him to continue keeping an eye on the rest of the Gu family.

The Gu family members left behind here, how could anyone else know anything? Otherwise, they wouldn't have been abandoned here by Gu Baijiang.

As for Xu Shuanghong, he had long felt that she was unreliable. Since she had become family with Gu Baijiang, she was no longer trustworthy.

But this time it wasn't a complete loss. He also heard some news that Rong Ruiyuan had cleared out all the bandits along the way, and there were even soldiers patrolling the route. Returning to the capital at this time would be no problem at all.

As for the task left to him by the eldest prince, none of that matters. If he can't resolve this matter, no matter how many promises the eldest prince makes to him, it will all be empty talk.

"Rest tonight, we'll set off early tomorrow morning." Zhou Gang left these words and went back to his room to lie down. He needed to think carefully about how to handle things after returning to Beijing.

☆

Gu Kaiyuan put the information out of his mind after hearing it; all he could see were the blueprints in front of him.

Having led troops, fought battles, and sailed the seas, I naturally know the value of these blueprints.

"Madam, are you really going to give this to me?"

Gu Kaiyuan was well aware of the value of the blueprints in Bai Suihe's hands; once the ship was built, there were many things he could do.

Bai Suihe said, "It's all in your hands, but shipbuilding is very expensive, and our meager resources seem a bit insufficient."

(End of this chapter)