Jackie Chan's Son-in-Law

Chapter 27 Things are changing

"Manager Lu."

A woman in her thirties stood at the entrance of Anrentang, staring wide-eyed at Manager Lu, who was busy calculating accounts with his abacus. Her face was filled with astonishment.

What do you mean by "someone else is doing my job"?

She looked at the shopkeeper, Lu Qing, and spoke louder, but her voice clearly trembled.

Lu Qing stopped using his abacus, but didn't reply immediately. Instead, he picked up a pen and wrote down the calculated numbers on a piece of paper. Then he looked up at the woman and shook his head, saying, "Ninth Sister, so many of you went to cause trouble and were detained by the authorities. I have a batch of medicinal herbs that I need to deliver the day after tomorrow. How can I handle them without hiring people?"

This woman, known as "Ninth Sister," was naturally a member of the Gu family, but she belonged to the same generation as Master Gu. Her husband was the ninth among his peers and was a good-for-nothing who only knew how to drink and would beat his wife and children when the mood struck him.

Over the years, most of the family's income has come from his wife's work at Anrentang.

Although it was this Ninth Sister who worked to support the family, her husband felt that it was because of his surname, Gu, that she was able to get a job at Anrentang, and therefore he did not appreciate her kindness.

Even Ninth Sister herself felt the same way.

The couple thought this way, and their lives were generally going well.

A few days ago, the couple went with Gu Shouzhou to cause trouble at the Gu family compound. They were later detained by the yamen for a few days. Today, she was finally able to return to work. However, upon returning to Anrentang, she was told that someone had already taken her place.

For a moment, Ninth Sister felt dizzy.

"Manager Lu..."

She forced a smile: "A murder has occurred in this family, and the child is so young. How can we, as family members, not care?"

"We've been watched by the authorities these past few days. It's not like we deliberately didn't come. How could three days be enough to take away my job?"

Manager Lu and this Ninth Lady were old acquaintances. Upon hearing this, he shook his head and said calmly, "This matter was decided by the young master himself. Most of the new people recruited in the past few days were also recruited by the young master himself."

“Even though I’m the manager here, it’s not easy for me to kick out the people the employer hires.”

Manager Lu lowered his head and continued calculating the accounts: "If you have any opinions, you might as well go and find the young master and see how he will arrange it."

"Young Master?"

The Ninth Lady froze on the spot: "Is it the Seventh Lady?"

The Gu family has few male heirs in this generation. Master Gu has two older brothers, who have a total of three sons, but have eight or nine daughters. Gu Pan is the seventh among them.

The cousins ​​were ranked according to their birth order, so the Gu family often referred to Gu Pan as "Seventh Sister".

Upon hearing this, Manager Lu simply said, "Going to find Miss will be the same for you."

After much pleading and cajoling, Manager Lu still refused to budge. At her wit's end, she went from street to street, relaying messages to other members of the Gu family who lived in Deqing County.

The word spread quickly, and by noon, nearly twenty members of the Gu family had gathered together. They all looked worried and discussed the matter for a long time, but they couldn't come up with a solution. In the end, they could only look to Jiu Niangzi's husband.

Although her husband didn't do much work, he was, after all, a cousin of the same generation as Master Gu, and he still held considerable influence among the Gu family members in Deqing County.

Gu Jiu used to be just a lazybones in Gu Family Village. But thanks to the care of Master Gu, he has managed to settle down in the city. Sometimes when he walks around the streets, some busybodies will call him "Master Jiu".

Over time, some good things naturally come out.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Gu Jiu stood up and coughed, "The work in the shop was arranged by Third Brother. Since Third Brother isn't in Deqing, no one can kick everyone out of the shop."

"We don't need to think about this too much. I'll take the lead, and we'll go to the compound together to find Seventh Girl and ask her for clarification."

Gu Jiu patted his chest and said, "We're all family, there's nothing we can't overcome."

After he finished speaking, someone in the crowd sighed: "That day, Shouzhuo said that Shouyi's son had been murdered, and he led us to cause trouble in the compound. Nobody thought much about it that day, and we all went without hesitation."

"I remembered it today."

The man shook his head and sighed: "The man everyone was surrounding that day was Seventh Miss's future husband."

The speaker was a man in his twenties or thirties. He was one of Master Gu's cousins ​​and originally worked as a warehouse keeper at Anrentang.

He looked at Gu Jiu and sighed, "Uncle Jiu, we did something wrong, so it's understandable that people are angry with us. You can leave now, but I have no face to go back."

After saying that, he stood up, sighed, and turned to leave. Gu Jiu, his face dark, said, "I was just asking about the situation that day; I didn't try to frame him!"

With that, he stood up and said, "Let's go to the compound together and ask Seventh Girl for clarification."

The old man, nicknamed "Master Gu," blushed and was somewhat embarrassed: "If they really can't tolerate us anymore, when Third Brother comes back one day, we'll all go and kowtow to him, and then go back to our hometown to farm!"

After saying that, he led a dozen or twenty people to the Gu family compound in a great hurry. These people were either members of the Gu family or female relatives of the Gu family. They were quickly invited into the main hall of the Gu family.

Some people were sitting in the main hall, while others were too afraid to sit down and simply stood there. The group waited for quite a while until Gu Jiu finished his second pot of tea and couldn't help but shout. Finally, Gu Pan, dressed in a sky-blue dress, arrived in the main hall accompanied by her maid.

After she entered the main hall, she looked around before finally fixing her gaze on Gu Jiu, who was sitting with his legs crossed. Miss Gu frowned slightly at first, then quickly relaxed, bowed her head slightly, and said, "Uncle Jiu."

Although Gu Jiu had spoken with great confidence earlier, upon seeing Gu Pan, he quickly stood up, hurriedly wiped his hands, and forced a smile: "Seventh Miss has finally arrived."

Gu Pan sat down in the main seat and said softly, "Someone from the county government came and asked me some questions, which is why I was delayed."

After saying that, she looked at everyone and asked, "Is everyone at the yamen alright?"

Before anyone could answer, Gu Jiu quickly said with a smile, "It's all over now. We were all unaware of it; we were all implicated by Shou Zhuo."

As he spoke, he sighed, "However, some family members haven't been released yet, and I don't know what the county government's procedures are. It's a pity that my third brother isn't in Deqing, otherwise none of this would have happened."

Miss Gu looked at him and frowned: "Even if my father is in Deqing, he can't erase this murder case. Besides, it's a matter of life and death, so this matter shouldn't be erased."

Gu Jiu nodded repeatedly, smiling obsequiously, "Yes, Seventh Miss is right."

He was filled with righteous indignation: "Those who do such things are worse than animals, they don't even spare a five-year-old child."

Miss Gu remained frowning and did not speak.

Gu Jiu braced himself and said, "Seventh Miss, we've come to see you today because there's something we'd like to ask you."

He cleared his throat and said, "We were all detained by the government for several days without our consent. We were worried about the work in the shop and afraid that it would delay the business."

“This morning, your Ninth Aunt and many others planned to go to Anrentang to pick up the work they had missed. But when they got to the shop, Manager Lu said that he had already hired other people.”

He looked at Gu Pan and said with a wry smile, "We members of this clan have been working in the shop for several years, some for over ten years. Why can't we go after only three days?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Pan's gaze sharpened.

"Uncle Jiu also knows that it could take anywhere from a few years to more than ten years."

She looked at the crowd, her eyes reddening: "My father's kindness over the past ten years, is this all you've done to deserve this—coming to your door to bully me?"

Upon hearing this, everyone panicked. Gu Jiu quickly waved her hand and said with a wry smile, "What are you talking about, Seventh Miss?"

"We all respect you, Seventh Miss, and have never offended you in the slightest."

Gu Pan turned to the side, wiped away her tears, and it took her a while to calm down. She looked at everyone and spoke slowly.

"Before my father passed away, he entrusted the shop to Young Master Chen. I don't know the details of the shop. What can I do for you?"

Gu Pan gritted her teeth slightly, her tone firm: "Let's go find Young Master Chen."

Everyone was stunned by these words.

Just a few days ago they were threatening to kill Chen Qing, are they now... going to come to him and beg for mercy?

Only Gu Jiu, forcing herself to speak, asked, "Is Young Master Chen in the courtyard now?"

Gu Pan turned around and looked at Xiao Yue behind her.

Xiaoyue shook her head.

"Young Master went out early this morning, saying he was going to..."

She thought for a moment before continuing.

"Going to exercise."

(End of this chapter)