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

Chapter 367, Section 367: Ideas
Fan Meilin didn't want to sit idly by and wait for death. "Mother, this can't go on. I think Gu Kaichen will go gambling again. This time he emptied the family's savings, but he won't be so lucky next time."

She also felt a sense of crisis. "The debt collector just now specifically mentioned that he still had ten taels of silver left. Gu Kaichen will definitely come to us again. I'm afraid that next time he comes, my sister and I will be the first to suffer."

Xu Shuanghong said, "You two sisters pack your things, we're leaving tonight."

"Should we leave on our own?" Fan Meilin hesitated, thinking of the hardships they had endured on their way here. "To the capital?"

“Yes, we’ll go to the capital,” Xu Shuanghong said decisively. “We’re already in this situation, we have no other choice. The only way out is to follow Gu Baijiang.”

The Fan sisters had long wanted to leave this impoverished and remote place; it was the hardest place they had ever suffered in their lives.

Without a second thought, he nodded immediately, "Let's leave tonight."

As for travel expenses, the two sisters were not worried at all. What they had just taken was only superficial. They still had enough money to go to the capital.

All three were eager to leave and cooperated fully. Even Gu Kaichen and his wife, who were just a wall away, were unaware that the room next door was already empty...

☆

Bai Suihe was very curious about what happened next, so she sent people back to the village to find out what was going on. The Gu family even used up their last bit of savings.

“I’ll have someone keep an eye on him from now on,” Gu Kaiyuan said after hearing the report from his subordinate.

He wasn't afraid that Gu Kaichen would cause trouble, but rather that Gu Kaichen might resort to desperate measures.

"If he continues to gamble like this, he'll inevitably end up losing his arms and legs." Bai Suihe didn't sympathize with Gu Kaichen, but felt sorry for Xu Yulan and her son.

Xu Yulan's schemes were at most underhanded, but she wasn't an utterly wicked person.

Gu Anwei is a bit clever and knows how to change his tune depending on the situation, but it seems that in Bai Suihe's memory, when Gu Kaiyuan was targeting the eldest son's family, this kid secretly helped them a few times.

Gu Kaiyuan said, "I'd rather do it myself than let someone else break my limbs."

Gu Kaiyuan pursed his lips. Gu Kaichen's antics were unlikely to cause any harm to the capital; in fact, they might even bring about his own demise, thus clearing obstacles for the eldest branch of the family.

"Let's wait and see," Bai Suihe said, not wanting Gu Kaiyuan to dirty her hands. "He doesn't have much money right now, and the gambling den won't give him much credit. If the gambling den deals with him later, we can just cover the travel expenses and send him to the capital."

Bai Suihe is still happy to do such good deeds, and it's best to let them fight it out themselves and not let them harm others.

As the couple were talking, Zhou Youjin, who had come to the city to buy things, arrived at their residence, bringing with him the latest news from the village.

Knowing that Xu Shuanghong and her daughter had disappeared this morning, and that they might have gone to Beijing to find Gu Baijiang, Gu Kaiyuan and Bai Suihe both fell silent.

It seems they're not the only ones who're afraid of trouble; someone else got there first.

"He's quite clever," Gu Kaiyuan couldn't help but praise. "What are Gu Kaichen and the others saying now?"

"Second Master Gu is cursing people in the village, saying that Xu Shuanghong and her daughter are not virtuous women and have eloped with some other man."

There were some other very harsh words, but Zhou Youjin didn't say them again, lest he offend the ears of his two masters.

"Keep an eye on things over there too. How's the village doing now?"

"Manager Zhuang and Manager Huang have already hired villagers to start working. They're clearing the thorns on the mountain so we can plant the fruit trees as soon as they arrive," Zhou Youjin said respectfully. "This time, we also harvested another batch of vegetables in the backyard, and the two managers had them delivered over."

Gu Kaiyuan has handed over the matters in Tiancun to Zhuang Datou and the others to handle, but they send someone over every day or two to report and bring them fresh vegetables. Since they got that greenhouse, their winter hasn't been cold, and while other people's vegetables haven't even ripened yet, they have a constant supply of fresh produce.

Gu Kaiyuan had Zhou Youjin take the things he had prepared back with him, and then he and Bai Suihe looked at each other in bewilderment.

"They're really bold," Bai Suihe couldn't help but praise. "Do you think they're still in the county town today after they left yesterday?"

Gu Kaiyuan shook his head, "They probably won't come to Zhang County."

Bai Suihe thought about it and realized that they were in Zhang County and didn't like Xu Shuanghong and her daughter that much. She was afraid that they would stop them and send them back to Tian Village.

Since they're already planning to run away, they'll definitely take these things into account, and it's more likely they'll run to one of the nearby towns.

"If they go to the capital, there will be quite a show to watch." Bai Suihe was really curious about what Gu Baijiang would do after returning to the capital.
Little did she know that what Gu Kaiyuan took with her was only a part of it. Gu Baijiang was cunning and had left himself a way out, but that's another story.

Taking advantage of the current panic, Gu Kaiyuan bought some more shops and was wondering whether to rent them out or do something with them.

Bai Suihe also looked at the land deeds and house deeds. Among them were two shops. Gu Kaiyuan still planned to go back to his old business and open a bookstore and a tavern.

Bai Suihe knew the profits were considerable, so she didn't stop them, but she took two of the shops.

"What does Madam want to do?" Granny Pang asked curiously.

The Bai family is involved in all kinds of businesses, but they only train the male members of the Bai family to do business. Someone like Bai Suihe, at most, will look at the account books and learn the art of managing people.

"I want to open a fabric shop and a clothing store," Bai Suihe said. She wasn't confident about other things, but she was very confident about the clothing store. She could draw design sketches, and with thousands of years of cultural heritage, she had a certain aesthetic sense.

As for opening a restaurant?

Besides the lack of recipes, it's also difficult to find a highly skilled chef.

Chili peppers haven't appeared in this time and space yet, and many dishes lose their soul without them.

As for growing chili peppers now, Gu Kaiyuan and Bai Suihe both said it wasn't the right time; they would only grow them themselves occasionally when they had a craving.

Although the taste was less than satisfactory, it was still better than nothing.

"A cloth shop and a clothing store?" Granny Pang now understood why Bai Suihe had chosen two adjacent shops.

"Yes, I want to combine these two shops so that customers will have more choices when they come in."

As for the source of goods, she stockpiled a lot of goods when she left the capital, and also moved a large portion of the warehouse from the Third Prince's mansion. She dared not use the precious items for the time being, but the cotton cloth and other ordinary fabrics used in the mansion were all unmarked.

In a small county like this, it would probably take two or three years to sell them all.

As for the better fabrics, Bai Suihe could easily go for haute couture, designing a few sets to display as the store's prized possessions.

She certainly wouldn't have dared to imagine this before, after all, this place is relatively remote, and there's not much prospect in opening a shop like this.

But in the future, this will become a vital passage between Lingnan and the capital, and that will be different.

(End of this chapter)