Chapter 389: Debt Collection
Chapter 389: Chapter 389: Debt Collection
Swayed by his sophistry, the Gu Family members felt his reasoning made sense. It really was like that. They were just ordinary commoners now; if Gu Baijiang returned to power as a noble, he definitely wouldn’t take them seriously. Therefore, they had to catch him off guard and blow the matter up, forcing Gu Baijiang to take care of the family so he couldn’t shake them off again.
"Since it’s like this, everything I said before still counts. Hurry back and prepare your things. Those who have been selected, go pack your bags immediately," Gu Baimu said, deciding to take a gamble. By sending Gu Kaichen and the others back with great fanfare, he would like to see how Gu Baijiang could find excuses to reject them.
That brat Gu Kaichen was a real scoundrel, and everyone knew it. When the gambling house thugs had come to collect his debts earlier, they had all just stood by and watched without offering help, terrified of being entangled with him. Now, the Gu Family only had a few bare walls left. If the debt collectors came back, they would likely end up tracking down the clan. It was a good thing for Gu Kaichen to leave at this time. With this favor of escorting him back, they didn’t believe Gu Baijiang wouldn’t treat the clan well.
He wasn’t the type to suffer losses in silence like Uncle Gu. He immediately called over the few young men who were going along and gave them thorough instructions. If Gu Baijiang dared to renege on his previous promises, they would make sure to spread the word throughout the capital.
They managed to scrape together a little over twenty taels of silver. A few households flat out refused, claiming they had nothing. Gu Baimu noted down all these people in a ledger, deciding to marginalize them when it came to distributing benefits in the future.
Seeing only twenty-something taels of silver, Gu Kaichen felt deeply contemptuous, wondering what such a meager amount could possibly accomplish. These destitute fools—it probably wouldn’t even cover a carriage. But right now, he just wanted to get out of Tian Village as quickly as possible. He couldn’t care about that much and started urging everyone to depart overnight.
In the county town.
When Gu Kaiyuan received the news, his gloomy mood finally began to clear. Since they dared to cause trouble while he was away from the Gu Mansion, they ought to bear his wrath. Nanny Pang only having them beaten up was merely a slap on the wrist. The best method was to let the Gu Family reunite. Now that Gu Kaichen had a gambling addiction, who knew how much chaos he would stir up after returning to the capital?
This time, just as Bai Suihe had said, he would let them exhaust themselves internally and slowly tear each other apart. Sometimes, slicing meat with a dull knife was the only way to truly relieve one’s hatred. For this, he even specifically slipped a bribe to the government officials guarding the gates, putting in a few good words for the Gu Family so they would be allowed to enter the city overnight and rent a carriage.
It wasn’t that he was overly kind-hearted. He actually would have preferred to let the gambling house bleed Gu Kaichen dry once more, but the problem was that Gu Kaichen had nothing left to take. If he really let the gambling house make a move, and they struck too heavily, wouldn’t that just be doing a favor for Gu Kaiping?
Thinking of this, Gu Kaiyuan couldn’t help but chuckle. It seemed he would be a successful merchant in the future—weighing the pros and cons and maximizing benefits. Wasn’t he already getting the hang of it?
Gu Kaichen and his group traveled through the night. After exiting the city and getting onto the official road, the couple finally heaved a long sigh of relief. "I’m never coming back to this wretched place again," Gu Kaichen said.
A clan cousin beside them quickly chimed in, "Uncle Baijiang is capable and will definitely lead us all to a better life. There’s truly no need to ever return to this wretched place."
Gu Kaichen thoroughly enjoyed this flattery. Ever since being exiled, he felt he had been living worse than a dog, but now he had finally stood back up. That bastard Gu Kaiyuan just wait; they would settle their scores later. And that gambling house—it clearly clashed with his fortune. He had won little and lost much there. Once he returned to the capital, he would see how he could turn the tide.
Xu Yulan yawned, curled up alone in the corner. They had only paid for two days to rent this carriage, and after that, they would have to travel on foot. The whole point was to avoid being caught by the debt collectors. Even so, the meager silver they had left probably wouldn’t be enough to cover their food along the way, let alone a stay at an inn.
***
Freshly dressed, Bai Suihe took her two servant girls and prepared to attend a banquet at the Qian Mansion. Rumor had it that Boss Qian had received another shipment of seafood and invited a few familiar households over for a tasting.
The two residences weren’t far apart, so Bai Suihe couldn’t be bothered to have a carriage prepared. Carrying her gifts, she was about to stroll over at a leisurely pace. However, the moment she stepped out of the front gate, several burly men surrounded her.
"Mrs. Gu," Fang Dayong greeted her. He had memorized all the key figures currently in the county town. "Good morning to you."
Bai Suihe glanced at the sun already hanging high in the sky. "You’re quite early yourselves." The sun was almost directly overhead; how was she supposed to interpret this ’morning’?
She had no impression of these men and assumed they were from yet another family trying to curry favor. After returning the greeting, she turned to leave, but the men moved to block her path.
"Don’t be in such a hurry to leave, Mrs. Gu. We came here today looking for someone," Fang Dayong said.
"Do we know each other?" Bai Suihe asked.
"We don’t, but we both know Gu Kaichen. He owes our gambling house a sum of money. We agreed that he would pay it back today, but half the day has already passed. We went to the village and couldn’t find him, but someone told me that his brother lives here..."
No matter how you looked at it, a debt within the family could certainly be borne by them. As for why one brother lived in the city while the other lived in the village, what did that have to do with the gambling house?
"So you’re here to collect a debt," Bai Suihe said. "Unfortunately, you’re a step too late. I heard Gu Kaichen has already traveled through the night to head to the capital. If you spur your horses on right now, you might still catch up to him."
"We don’t care where he ran off to right now. That has nothing to do with us. But you must help pay off his debt!" Fang Dayong was furious. Yesterday, when he went out to collect the debt, a momentary lapse in attention allowed Gu Kaichen to escape. As a result, when he went to block him in the village early this morning, the place was empty.
He had asked the villagers, but everyone claimed ignorance. Only later did he remember Gu Kaichen once mentioning that the new Gu Mansion in the county town belonged to his third brother. After all, they were prominent figures in this county town, so it wouldn’t have been appropriate to come collecting debts at the crack of dawn. He had waited until the sun was high in the sky before coming over. However, seeing Third Madam Gu’s attitude, it was clear she didn’t want to acknowledge this relative.
In Fang Dayong’s hands, there was no such thing as a bad debt. He simply ordered his brothers to surround these women. A little scare, and they would obediently hand over the silver.
Zisu and the other servant girl hurriedly shielded their madam behind them. They didn’t notice the excited gleam in Bai Suihe’s eyes as she slipped her hand into her sleeve.
It was truly a rare opportunity. She hadn’t been able to test her new medicine these past few days, yet she never expected so many ready-made test subjects to deliver themselves to her doorstep.
"You are highway robbers! Be careful, or I will report you to the government officials," Bai Suihe said, quietly stepping back a few paces to distance herself from the two servant girls blocking the front.
Seeing her movements, Fang Dayong curled his lips in disdain. These rich people were the most afraid of dying. He hadn’t even done anything yet, and she was already thinking of running. There was no way he would let her escape. Today, he had to complete his mission.
Just as he was about to step forward to block her, he noticed that the two brothers surrounding Bai Suihe suddenly clutched their stomachs and doubled over to the ground...