Jackie Chan's Son-in-Law

Chapter 9 Short-sighted
Chen Qing was pulled along by Master Gu. At first, he struggled a little, but Master Gu was very determined and insisted on pulling him into the Gu family compound. Chen Qing hesitated for a moment, but still followed Master Gu into the Gu family compound.

Not long after they left, they ran into the Gu brothers, Gu Shouzhuo and Gu Shouyi.

When the two men saw Master Gu, they were both taken aback. Then, when they saw Master Gu holding Chen Qing's hand, they exchanged a glance and then looked at Chen Qing with a hint of disdain in their eyes.

I thought she was someone with backbone, but it turns out she went to complain!

They thought this in their hearts, but they couldn't show it on their faces. They both bowed their heads to Master Gu and said, "Third Uncle."

Master Gu did not respond to their words, but only gave them a cold look, then turned to the constables behind him and said, "Brothers, this is the man who hired someone to beat my son-in-law."

“Those hooligans have been caught. Brothers, take this man to the county government office for a confrontation, and everything will be clear.”

As the richest man in Deqing County, Master Gu was a local tyrant, and all the successive county officials had an "extremely good" relationship with him.

This excellent relationship wasn't because Master Gu was adept at social maneuvering, but rather because imperial power didn't extend to the countryside. If a county magistrate wanted to govern his area well, he had to cultivate good relationships with the local gentry and wealthy families.

Especially wealthy households like Master Gu, who were practically the county government's "money bag," relied heavily on donations from these wealthy households for any levies imposed by the higher authorities or any other expenses incurred by the county.

In addition, Master Gu was very good at dealing with people, and after hearing this, the constables patted their chests and stepped forward to the Gu brothers.

At this moment, the Gu brothers noticed the constables in black uniforms. They were both taken aback and then looked up at their master.

Gu Shouzhou took a deep breath and quietly moved to the side, distancing himself from Gu Shouyi.

Gu Shouyi looked up at his master, his voice trembling, "Third Uncle..."

Several constables glanced at him, and the leader turned to look at Master Gu, smiling as he said, "Master Gu, which one would you like to take?"

Master Gu looked at Gu Shouyi and said expressionlessly, "It's him."

"After taking it, I hope the authorities will handle it impartially."

Several constables quickly stepped forward and swiftly bound Gu Shouyi, holding him tightly. The head constable waved his hand, signaling two subordinates to take the man away.

The two constables immediately escorted the man away. Gu Shouyi turned to look at Master Gu, his voice trembling noticeably: "Third Uncle!"

Master Gu's face darkened, and he completely ignored him.

He then looked at Chen Qing and gritted his teeth, saying, "You scoundrel, surnamed Chen!"

"You despicable person!"

From his perspective, he had endured his grievances early in the morning to apologize to Chen Qing, only to be beaten up by Chen Qing. Then, Chen Qing made an excuse to slip away and went to his third uncle to complain about him.

He naturally felt wronged.

Chen Qing, with his hands behind his back, merely glanced at him, then looked at Gu Shouzhuo, who was hiding in the corner. Gu Shouzhuo was also somewhat flustered at this moment, his eyes darting around, not daring to look in their direction.

Seeing that the man had been taken away, Master Gu took out a small piece of gold from his sleeve, estimating that it could be exchanged for four or five taels of silver. He handed the silver to the head constable of the county government with a warm smile: "Thank you for making this trip, brothers. Take this and treat yourselves to some tea."

The foreman didn't stand on ceremony. He took the money, tucked it into his sleeve, bowed, and said with a smile, "Then, on behalf of the brothers, thank you very much."

"polite."

After exchanging pleasantries, the foreman turned and left.

Seeing that the constables had all left, Gu Shouzhou finally steeled himself and walked up to Master Gu. He bowed his head and spoke in a much softer voice.

"Uncle Three."

Old Master Gu glanced at his own nephew, finally losing his temper, and said coldly, "What exactly do you want?"

Gu Shouzhou knelt down with a thud, cold sweat pouring down his face. He kowtowed and said, "Third Uncle, I came today to accompany Shouyi to apologize to Young Master Chen, but some misunderstandings arose, which led to the argument. This matter has nothing to do with me..."

He smiled wryly and said, "My nephew just wanted to settle things peacefully..."

Master Gu closed his eyes and it took him a long time to recover. He looked at Gu Shouzhou kneeling on the ground and could only grunt in the end: "If you and your brothers still have any conscience and still recognize me as their uncle, then they can live a more peaceful life from now on."

"If I see you again, I'll ruin Pan'er's marriage."

Master Gu said coldly, "I'm not going to argue with you anymore. Sell all the shops immediately, close down the businesses, and we'll go our separate ways!"

After saying that, he turned to look at Chen Qing.

At this moment, Young Master Chen was watching the play with great interest. When he saw Master Gu looking at him, he came back to his senses, coughed, and his expression returned to normal.

Master Gu sighed silently: "Nephew, shall we have a talk?"

"it is good."

Chen Qing said with a smile, "I would also like to have a chat with my uncle."

Master Gu nodded, walked up to Chen Qing, and was about to take the bundle off his back when Young Master Chen subtly dodged him and said with a smile, "Uncle, where shall we talk?"

Master Gu frowned slightly, about to speak, when he suddenly saw Xiaoyue peeking out from behind a pillar not far away. He beckoned to Xiaoyue: "Girl, come here."

Xiaoyue hurried over and bowed, saying, "Master."

Master Gu grunted and said, "Nephew Chen and I are going to the main hall for tea. Please take his baggage back to his room."

Xiaoyue quickly responded and stepped forward to take Chen Qing's bundle. Chen Qing smiled at Master Gu and said, "Uncle, this isn't heavy. I can take it to the main hall to talk to you." Master Gu looked at Chen Qing and sighed, "Nephew, we had a good agreement a few days ago."

"No matter what happened, let's talk first, shall we?"

Chen Qing hesitated for a moment before taking off the bundle and handing it to Xiaoyue. He said with a smile, "I have some treasures in here. If you lose them, I'll make you pay for them."

Xiaoyue stuck out her tongue: "With Master here, this servant is not afraid."

With that, she took Chen Qing's bundle, turned around, and ran off at a brisk pace, never looking back.

Chen Qing was led by Master Gu to the main hall to sit down. After sitting down, Master Gu personally poured him a cup of tea and said, "Nephew, the reason why the Gu family is in this situation is because I have been too lenient over the years."

He shook his head and sighed, "I never imagined that people's desires would be so insatiable."

Chen Qing remained calm and said with a smile, "It's only human nature."

Mr. Gu shook his head: "Do you remember what I told you about the Gu family's businesses?"

Chen Qing thought for a moment and replied, "Medicinal herbs, grain, and cloth."

"Ah."

Mr. Gu sat down and said, "In the past few years, my daughter has grown up, and I have also thought about these things in the family. Last year, I told my three nephews that if their sister gets married in the future, she will be married into the family."

"The family business should be divided up."

"The medicinal herb business is my main business, and I will continue to run it. As for the grain and cloth businesses, I can transfer them directly to them, and they will be used as the Gu family's business from now on."

At this point, Master Gu sighed and said, "The grain and cloth business originally belonged to me. They are my own nephews, and I have been raising them as half sons. I was planning to give them away."

"Unexpectedly, trouble still arises."

Chen Qing put down his teacup, thought for a moment, and asked, "Then it seems that the herbal medicine shop is still offering large portions."

"Ah."

Master Gu lowered his head and sipped his tea: "Sixty or seventy percent complete."

Upon hearing this, Chen Qing smiled but did not reply.

He took another sip of tea and said, "Uncle seemed to be particularly polite to those county yamen runners?"

Master Gu said, "We have no choice but to be polite. Sometimes we have to be even more polite to them than to the county magistrate. If we offend these people, the trouble will be endless."

Chen Qing's eyes darted around, and he said with a smile, "Logically speaking, Uncle, with such a large business, there's no need to be so polite."

He looked at Master Gu, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Uncle's friends in officialdom?"

In this era, it's difficult to grow a business into a large one, but it's not so difficult to grow an exceptionally large one that is too big to fail.

You absolutely need a powerful backer.

Otherwise, even if you make a lot of money, you won't be able to keep it.

Master Gu must have had it too, or rather... he definitely had it before, but now he may not.

Upon hearing this, Master Gu's expression changed slightly. He looked at Chen Qing and asked, "Did Brother Zhaoming tell you this?"

Chen Qing shook his head: "I guessed it myself."

Mr. Gu put down his teacup and after a long while said quietly, "I have a sworn brother who got into a lawsuit a few years ago."

"He is still locked up in the Ministry of Justice prison."

Upon hearing this, Chen Qing suddenly understood.

This "sworn brother" should be Master Gu's former backer.

He thought for a moment: "So my uncle found my father?"

Master Gu shook his head: "Your father and I knew each other before."

Young Master Chen's mind raced, and he understood: "It's through my uncle's sworn brother..."

"Yes, I met Brother Zhaoming through him."

At this point, Master Gu looked at Chen Qing, shook his head and sighed, "It's always the sons of officials like my nephew who see things so clearly."

"Unlike my nephews."

"Short-sighted."

Master Gu lowered his head, sipped his tea, and shook his head with a sigh.

"They simply can't tell the situation apart."

(End of this chapter)