Chapter 137 Don't come here!
Jiangning is thousands of miles away from Wudu, and it would take seven or eight days to go back and forth with Zhou Ji's footsteps, not to mention looking for opportunities to kill people without leaving any human traces, so the delay would take about ten and a half months. Return to Jiangning.
After learning that Lu Hongti was related to the Secret Investigation Division and that Qin Yuyuan was standing behind him, Zhou Ji gave up on asking her to take care of the Su family. Instead, before leaving, he left something for Su Tan'er for self-defense, while he himself He brought some soft clothes and an umbrella, and quietly left Jiangning in the name of visiting relatives.
However, on the second day after he left, a piece of news from the north detonated the entire Jiangning City.
"Yingguo defeated Liang's defenders, Liang's capital fell, and it was a foregone conclusion that it was swallowed by Yasukuni"
In a promenade by the Xiushui River, before Qin Yuyuan picked up the sunspot, he saw this middle-aged man with a chubby figure and a smile on his face from time to time standing up suddenly.
The usual smile on the face of the past is gone.
Kang Xian wiped the declining white chess pieces on the table, and paced back and forth, "There is still no final decision on the matter of Sui Feng, and now the situation in the north is undergoing major changes, how can Mr. Qin still sit still?"
Qin Yuyuan stroked his beard, picked up the scattered chess pieces in an orderly manner, then set them up again, thought for a moment, and said to Heizi: "Everything has a beginning and an end, accompany me to finish this game."
Kang Xian looked at the chess game that was replayed by Qin Yuyuan, and couldn't help being a little dumbfounded. He returned to his seat resentfully, picked up the chess pieces and gestured for several positions, and finally had to abandon the chess pieces and surrendered, "Old Qin is very good at chess, I lost this game. "
As soon as the words fell, Kang Xian suddenly realized Qin Yuyuan's words, and suddenly raised his head and said, "Mr. Qin is leaving?"
"It's not a surprise. Li Xiang should have arrived in Jiangning soon." Qin Yuyuan looked calm, but Kang Xian could see in his eyes a flame that had been dormant for more than ten years and was ignited again. "The dispute between Liang and Jing has already shaken the national systems of the two countries. We have been planning for more than ten years and waited for today. The Northern Expedition is related to the fate of the country. No matter what, this battle must be fought!"
"It's just about He Yuanchang." Kang Xian frowned slightly, and couldn't help but said, "This man's palace is very deep, and he has been in the court for many years. Even His Majesty asks for opinions on everything. Can Lao Qin be sure of returning to the court? "
Qin Yuyuan thought of the news that Lu Hongti reported to him two days ago that a suspected "grand master" was planning to go to Wudu to assassinate He Yuanchang, his eyes were slightly solemn, he shook his head, nodded again, and did not answer Kang Xian directly. Worry.
At the same time, Song Xian, who was originally devastated by rumors in the city, let out a long sigh of relief.
Previously, rumors unfavorable to him were circulating all over the city, and some literati and scholars even claimed to jointly write a letter to sue him to the court.
Now, with the news of the fall of the capital of Liang Guoguo to Jiangning, it almost ignited public opinion. For a while, the streets and alleys, restaurants and tea shops were talking about it, but he was relieved.
In Song Xian's view, or in the view of all the cloth merchants in Jiangning, since Liang Guo has fallen, Jingguo will definitely increase the annual levy. At that time, the annual cloth levy will only be much more than before, or even doubled.
Seeing that the matter of the New Year's cloth is a foregone conclusion.
For a while, the price of silk soared, and when Su Taner realized it, all the silk in the city had been eaten by the Wu family, and even the Jiangbei silk she ordered Xi Junyu to order was cut off by the Wu family, at a premium of more than five times buy at sky-high prices.
In just two days, the huge city of Jiangning, more than a dozen cloth shops, ended up in a predicament with nothing to use.
However, the Wu family who is "betting on the right treasure" is singing and dancing at the moment, and Wu Chenghou's face has finally swept away the haze that has been going on for a long time. After sending away Song Duwei, the depression between his brows finally eased a little, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth .
"Master~! Master~! Young Master, he has woken up."
Turning around and seeing a servant running from the backyard, the corners of Wu Chenghou's raised mouth collapsed again, and he lifted his clothes and walked quickly towards Wu Qihao's wing. There was a crackling sound, Wu Chenghou's heart tightened, he hurriedly opened the door, and saw a haggard figure lying on the bed, constantly smashing the dishes beside the bed.
Because the windows around the room were covered by black cloth, it looked eerie. At this moment, Wu Qihao was wearing a long gown. The clothes that were fit and slim before now seemed to be supported by a bamboo pole, looking empty. Kongluoluo, the arms exposed from the cuffs were covered with various abscesses, mixed with the smell of medicine in the house, sachets, and all kinds of strange smells.
As if sensing someone opening the door, Wu Qihao turned his head to look ferociously. After seeing Wu Chenghou's figure, his divergent eyes gradually returned. Those deeply sunken eyeballs showed signs of failure. Those who stare straight at it are horrified. "Father, why are you here?"
In the past few months, Wu Qihao has sometimes been in a coma and sometimes awake. Wu Chenghou searched for famous doctors everywhere, but he failed to find out the root cause. He didn't even know whether it was poisoning or illness.
As the coma got longer and longer, his body became weaker and weaker, and the original plan to retaliate against Zhou Ji and Su Tan'er was delayed again and again. Until the last time he woke up, his whole body was so painful that he couldn't move. , but now there is no expression of pain.
Wu Chenghou had a bad premonition in his heart, and he hurried forward and said, "Qihao, are you okay? How do you feel now?"
"It's okay? Why are you okay?" Wu Qihao plucked a handful of hair from his extremely sparse head, raised it in front of Wu Chenghou, then lifted his sleeves, exposing the abscess on his arm, and said ferociously , "Is this okay? Or is this okay?"
After finishing the two sentences, Wu Qihao's vision went dark and he fell on the bed again, panting heavily, "Father, if you want to avenge me, you must avenge me! This is all Zhou Ji and Su Tan'er's fault, If it weren't for them, how could I have ended up in this situation, I want them to die! I want them to die!"
Wu Chenghou also suspected the Su family at first, but no matter whether it was the famous doctors invited from various places or the investigation he secretly sent, it showed that since the Su family's wedding banquet that day, neither Zhou Ji nor Su Tan'er had any contact with Wu Qihao. , and Wu Qihao himself did not encounter any strange things.
The only abnormality was that the wedding banquet was humiliated and left, and she accidentally had a nosebleed.
This alone is not enough to prove that Wu Qihao was murdered by the Su family.
But seeing that Wu Qihao, who hadn't breathed in much, was on his deathbed, Wu Chenghou, who was deeply saddened in his heart, couldn't care less about the so-called 'evidence'.
Regardless of whether it was poisoning or illness, Wu Qihao only started doing this after being rejected by Su Tan'er in public.
Even though there was no proof of the relationship between them, Wu Chenghou, who had nowhere to vent his depression, still took his resentment on Su Tan'er.
Leaving Wu Qihao's room, Wu Chenghou thought of the Sujia cloth shop who was looking for silk everywhere recently, and a gloomy look flashed in his eyes.
"Come here, secretly invite the shopkeeper of Su's cloth shop, and tell me that the old man has something important to talk about."
the other side.
The relationship between the second room of the Su family and Wood City became more and more harmonious. Not only did Su Tan'er's big house be squeezed out of the supply list for the yearly cloth, but he also suppressed it openly and secretly, trying to rely on this Captain Wu to seize the palm of the Su family.
Su Tan'er still remembered that Zhou Ji had repeatedly emphasized before leaving that the New Year's Cloth would be canceled this year, so she should not fight for it.
Now that Su Zhongkan and Wood City are fighting together, even if she wants to fight, she has nothing to do.
As a cloth business, raw silk is the lifeblood. Without raw silk, it will be more than old cloth, and even the daily operation of her shop will become a big problem.
On this day, Xi Junyu came again and said in a deep voice, "Master, the silk merchants we are familiar with have all given orders to the Wu family. These are the last few silk merchants in the city."
"I, Su Family Buxing, signed a contract with them, aren't they afraid of breaking the contract?" Su Tan'er frowned, dissatisfied.
Xi Junyu smiled wryly, "I only found out after repeated inquiries that the Wu family offered to buy at three times the price, and they are willing to help them pay liquidated damages."
"It's really rich and powerful!" Su Tan'er sneered, but felt helpless.
The Wu family has always been the largest cloth merchant in Jiangning. In terms of background, it is indeed not comparable to their Su family.
"Now that the silk stock in the cloth shop has run out, and there is no way to purchase new raw silk, what should I do?" Su Tan'er paced back and forth in the room, vaguely remembering a special kind of silk that he had introduced when chatting with Zhou Ji. fabric.
There is no need to raise silkworms, and it is not hemp, but a material drawn from oil.
Su Tan’er thought it was a joke before, but after hearing it, but now looking back, he couldn’t help regretting it, and thought that after Zhou Ji came back, he must ask him for information and study it carefully.
Noticing that Su Tan'er was in a daze, Xi Junyu concealed the gloom in his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "I got in touch with an old friend. He has always had a lot of ways, and he said that he has a private source of goods in Dongshi. It’s the last way to buy silk.”
Su Tan'er looked happy, and hurriedly said, "It doesn't matter if the price is high, don't let us cook without rice."
Xi Junyu nodded slightly and said, "Then I will take you there first, and I can count the goods today."
Conscious that the opportunity is rare, Su Tan'er had no time to think about it, so she got up and let Xi Junyu lead the way. Since Zhou Ji went north alone without any entourage, Geng Nuyuan stayed in Buxing for the time being.
Based on Xi Junyu's original intention, it would be better for Su Tan'er to go to see the 'silk merchant' alone with him, but now that there is an extra Geng nursing home, this makes him feel a little tricky.
The three of them got into the carriage and drove all the way towards Dongshi. After leaving the city gate, the carriage went further and further away, and finally turned into a slightly remote village. Geng Nuyuan helped Su Tan'er out of the carriage and looked around. , faintly felt something was wrong.
This small stockade is not only located in a remote location, but the surrounding area is also extremely barren. A two-storey warehouse is located directly in front, with the doors and windows closed, and two people dressed as servants are guarding the door.
If Su Tan'er used to be, she would definitely be able to find something strange, but now she still has "silk, silk" in her heart, and she just thinks that the weirdness in front of her is just a "black market" style, and she doesn't think too much about it.
Geng Nuyuan subconsciously stepped forward and took two steps closer. When the three of them walked to the door, a servant bowed and saluted, "Master Xi."
Xi Junyu smiled and said: "I have contacted before, the Su family cloth shop came to see the silk."
"I know, I know, the boss has explained it in advance." The servant smiled and opened the door for the three of them. Su Tan'er looked at the room full of silk and her eyes lit up. , I felt pushed by someone, and then the door slammed shut, and the exclamation of Geng Nuyuan came from outside the room.
"Xi Junyu! You white-eyed wolf! Shameless villain!"
"Miss~!"
Knowing that there were fights outside the house, Su Tan'er just realized that he had been tricked.
In today's Jiangning City, the silk has been controlled by the Wu family, so there are no 'old friends', 'black market' or 'coincidentally'.
Su Tan'er suddenly heard the sound of crutches hitting the ground at the top of the stairs. Su Tan'er turned his head to look, and saw a figure who was so haggard as to be like a mummified corpse and was supported by two servants of the Wu family to walk down.
The skinny and skinny face was extremely haggard, and one could vaguely see the shadow of a person.
Su Tan'er was surprised: "Wu Qihao?"
Having not seen each other for half a year, she had vaguely heard that Mr. Wu was seriously ill, but she never imagined that the arrogant and domineering Wu Qihao would turn into this inhuman and ghost-like appearance.
Hearing the roar from the Geng Nursing Academy from time to time, Su Tan'er shattered all the pity that hadn't yet appeared in her heart, and said in a deep voice, "Master Wu, do you know what you are doing?"
"Of course I know." Wu Qihao gritted his teeth and said, "I know even more that you guys made me like this!"
"It's okay, I know that Zhou Ji went to the north to visit relatives, I can wait for him, and I can take revenge on him when he comes back." Wu Qihao's face glowed sickly red, "But before that, I also want to be on your body first. Charge some interest!"
Su Tan'er looked at the servant who was gearing up to walk towards her, and his heart tightened. He subconsciously pulled out a silver-gray metal tube from his waist and pointed it at the other's chest.
Since the use of gunpowder in this world is still in the enlightenment stage, neither Wu Qihao nor his two subordinates knew what Su Tan'er was holding.
The servant walking towards Su Tan'er sneered in his heart, and even wanted to **** the cylinder from Su Tan'er.
Seeing a big hand grabbing at herself, Su Tan'er forced herself to calm down, recalled the essentials Zhou Ji told her to use, pulled the safety, and pulled the trigger hard.
Bang~!
For a moment, the huge roar shook the small building slightly, mixed with the smoke of gunpowder, a cluster of blood splashed from the servant's chest, Su Tan'er raised her arm suddenly, with her physique, she should have been taken by the desert. The eagle's recoil caused him to fall.
But at the same time as she fired the gun, a slight warm current gushed out of her body, which dissipated the shock for her so as not to hurt herself.
Su Tan'er could feel that although this warm current was weak, its essence was exactly the same as the warm current that flowed into her body when Zhou Ji was recuperating her from the cold several times.
Perhaps it was because of Zhou Ji's breathing rhythm subconsciously during the past six months, these internal forces that originally remained in her body and should have disappeared naturally gradually merged into her body during the daily breath adjustment, even for her She blocked the recoil of the Desert Eagle.
Turning his head to look, Wu Qihao was already limp on the ground at this moment, his eyes were full of horror and fear.
(To a password. Qu Xiaotan has traveled again.)
(end of this chapter)