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

Gu Xingyang tried to take the bowl away, but Gu Kaiyuan reflexively moved it aside. "This is cold. Is the baby thirsty? I'll have someone pour you some water."

Bai Suihe smiled and said, "Gu Xingyang is becoming more and more childlike. Don't mind her. I already gave her some before adding ice. Her stomach is still relatively weak, so she can only have a small taste."

Why did you rush back at this time? In this sweltering heat, didn't you even find a shady spot?

"It's alright, there's been shade along the way, it's just this stretch of road leading into the county town that's a bit sunny," Gu Kaiyuan explained, as Lin Hua and the others had already brought their things in.

"At this time, it's inconvenient to carry fresh seafood, so I bought some dried goods. You can send them to a few familiar places later." Many people know that Gu Kaiyuan is going out. He said he's going to several nearby cities to reorganize his businesses. He always brings back some gifts for others when he comes back. That's how you build relationships.

They receive something every few days now.

Bai Suihe instructed Fuling to take care of it; these were all her strengths.

With so many people serving them, they couldn't say certain things, so they waited until they finished eating and returned to the inner room before Gu Kaiyuan started talking about the gains from this trip.

“I went there to complete the formalities and found a new buyer. I’ll find a way to transfer it to the newly appointed magistrate in a while,” Gu Kaiyuan said, knowing what she wanted to know.

"Is that person reliable?" Bai Suihe was worried that the tail hadn't been completely cleaned up.

"Don't worry, his identity and background are all normal, and he was transferred from Master Gu."

Gu Kaiyuan knows a lot of people from all walks of life, so dealing with things like this is quite convenient for him. He can even fake someone like Master Gu.

Even if the family of that beheaded magistrate is powerful, can they really confront the Duke's mansion?

"By the way, you just said you were transferring it to the new magistrate? Why not to Gu Kaiping?" Bai Suihe had felt something was off before, but now it finally clicked!
"There's no other way. I thought about transferring it directly to Gu Kaiping before, but I still felt it wasn't appropriate."

And so, by sheer coincidence, the house ended up being passed around between the two brothers.

Anyway, the new magistrate is also one of the Third Prince's men; they're birds of a feather. Those people are guilty, so they'll either not dare to investigate further, or they'll overthink it. I suspect it'll be the second; they'll probably suspect the new magistrate found something, and that the valuables were taken by the Third Prince's faction.”

It's impossible to hide such valuables without making various preparations. Now that the situation has mostly calmed down, it's time to retrieve the treasure.

“This was my own decision,” Gu Kaiyuan said, his voice tinged with apprehension. “It’s not that I want to protect the Gu family, but I’m afraid of being implicated by him again.”

If those people get carried away and start suspecting us, or if they suspect he's hiding the treasure with us, then the blame will be concentrated on the new magistrate instead of us.

Bai Suihe said, "You're not wrong to think that way. Although it's a pity we can't take this opportunity to deal with Gu Kaiping, there's always another time."

Gu Kaiyuan's approach was flawless, and in fact, it was even more meticulous than their previous plan.

In any case, the Gu family and the Third Prince are bound together. As long as the Third Prince is in trouble, the Gu family will have nothing to fear.

"How is Gu Kaiping now?"

Bai Suihe was a little curious. Gu Kaiping was rather mediocre, so the Third Prince arranged for him to do an unimportant job here, which was quite simple. It was unlikely that he would make a mistake.

"He did a pretty good job," Gu Kaiyuan thought for a moment and gave a more objective answer. "That magistrate surnamed He is quite capable. After taking over, he started to implement sweeping reforms and governed the entire county quite well. He also has strong discipline over his subordinates, requiring them to do certain things every day. Gu Kaiping no longer has the right to be arrogant and can only do as he is told."

After all, he had studied for so many years and served as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy for so many years, so he could handle a small clerical job.

No word has leaked out yet; this is probably just a facade. It won't be long before the Third Prince's true purpose in sending them is revealed.

"Have you noticed anything unusual?"

Bai Suihe knew that Gu Kaiyuan wouldn't say that last sentence without a reason.

"After stabilizing the county, He Guangtian started frequently contacting those merchants. I wonder what he's up to."

"The situation that Chen Dafu and the others have finally managed to stabilize will probably fall into chaos again soon," Bai Suihe said worriedly. "This place will then become a battleground for several princes, and we need to speed up our plans."

Gu Kaiyuan patted her hand reassuringly, "It's not that tense. His Majesty is in good health right now. Anyway, he lived longer than me in his previous life, so things won't get chaotic for the time being."

As he spoke, he pointed to the county government office, "And there's Magistrate Xu here. He'll be here for the next few years. I haven't seen any of those powerful families come over; they all have to behave themselves."

Don't underestimate Xu Zitian just because he doesn't hold a high official position. He has a mentor who can get to the top. If the mentor just reveals something in a letter, it'll be enough to cause them a lot of trouble.

As long as the princes aren't fools, leaving some of their own people here wouldn't be a problem. But if they want to stir up trouble, they'll probably have to get rid of Xu Zitian first.

Last time, Rong Ruiyuan didn't believe in superstitions and made a huge fool of himself. It's said that after returning to Beijing, he was reprimanded several times because of this incident.

He even took back the little bit of power that the emperor had just given him.

"Then what you said before..."

Gu Kaiyuan chuckled, “Having learned from the previous experience, Rong Ruiyuan will definitely not dare to act recklessly this time. Gu Baijiang gave him so much money; he only needs to be willing to spend a portion to acquire a large business.”

He Guangtian's second mission in Lingnan is likely to acquire more land at extremely favorable prices.

"Buying land at this time?" Bai Suihe had a hard time explaining. They had already reaped the benefits of the first wave of favorable timing and location.

The prices offered by the other major families that arrived later were also reasonable, with a slight increase.

However, if you try to buy now, any smart person who understands the situation will not let go of their assets, since these are their livelihood.

In this way, the price has almost reached its peak.

Bai Suihe thought of the films and television shows she had seen in her later years, and realized that people's hearts are complex. "I'm afraid this is part of their strategy to win people's hearts. Now that all the major families and many famous wealthy merchants have come, and since the emperor is far away here, it will be easier for Rong Ruiyuan to establish a relationship with them."

However, these are just our speculations; we don't know what Rong Ruiyuan is really thinking. (End of Chapter)