Chapter 1397: Rushing Back

Chapter 1397: Chapter 1397: Rushing Back

Gu Jin’an said, "It was taught by Master Ouyang."

Actually, Xiao Yu had mentioned it to him before Master Ouyang did, but he thought that women being too powerful wasn’t good, so he just said it was taught by Master Ouyang.

He added, "It’s a pity, the trail is considered broken."

Young Master Dou smiled, "Don’t worry, the trail won’t break. Douzi will contact Uncle Ruan’s people, who will buy the Bai Family as servants and essentially imprison them. We’ll keep them for a few years. My old man refuses to believe we won’t find out who their master is after a few years."

Gu Jin’an naturally agreed, since it was Young Master Dou’s people doing it, saving him from any trouble.

Brother Cheng had recently been following Gu Jin’an and Young Master Dou closely, and they spoke without reservation around him. He said, "Also keep an eye on the Tong’an Bai Mansion, which is Old Man Bai’s main family."

"Second Sister said that some noble families would send their loyal servants out of the mansion, let these servants pretend to be wealthy masters. If there’s anything shady, they instruct these old slaves-turned-masters to find loyal servants to do the dirty work. So even if the servants fail, at most you can trace it to the old slaves-turned-masters, not to the real master."

Young Master Dou was shocked and cursed his mother, "Your Second Sister really is a demon to think of something like this."

Brother Cheng got angry, "My Second Sister is a capable person, she’s not a demon, you can’t call her that!"

Young Master Dou directly ignored Brother Cheng’s words and immediately wrote a letter, summoned a Shadow Guard, "Quickly send this to Douzi, tell him to keep monitoring the Tong’an Bai Mansion, even for several years if needed!"

Douzi had only investigated the Tong’an Bai Mansion, saying they were fine, but if Bai Mansion was old slaves sent by the real master behind them, that’d be a different story.

This suspicion was correct.

The Tong’an Bai Mansion belonged to Ah Ji.

"Yes." A Dou Family Shadow Guard took the letter and quickly rode off.

Young Master Dou looked at Gu Jin’an, seeing him frown and deep in thought, said, "You don’t need to worry about this, as Young Master Dou, I’ll handle it all. You just manage the Gu Family properly and aim to be among the top three in the Imperial Examination."

The Young Marquis had given him the task of taking care of the Gu Family, so he did everything himself, not letting Gu Jin’an worry.

Gu Jin’an was silent for a moment, then said, "I don’t want to care, but this is getting stranger. The Bai Family is likely targeting my family."

Young Master Dou mocked him, "Come on, do you think your family is some noble family, royalty or nobility? Everyone’s coming for your family? It’s likely they’re coming for me. I have many enemies, do big business, and have seen these schemes often."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "It could also be a test by Junior Minister Ming for you and me, since he doesn’t want useless people, only those with real skills."

Young Master Dou’s words made sense, but he didn’t know there was also a Lu Family behind the Gu Family.

Gu Jin’an suspected people from the Lu Family were causing trouble, so he worried.

But things related to the Lu Family were hard to tell Young Master Dou, so he decided to hold off, let the Dou Family’s Shadow Guard monitor Bai Mansion and the Bai Family, and speak up when things became clearer.

"Dou Meng, hurry up, the brothers need to rush home for Eldest Miss Gu’s wedding and mustn’t be late." Young Master Dou lay down, covered with a quilt, and instructed Dou Meng, while telling the Gu Family Brothers, "Just finish the account books and set them aside, don’t disturb my sleep."

Brother Cheng was angry, "How can you be so lazy? These are the Dou Family’s accounts, using us brothers to do the calculations, aren’t you afraid we’ll undercount them?"

Young Master Dou said, "Ha, just account books. Even if you count wrong, the Dou Family’s Silver won’t be less. Hurry up, don’t disturb me."

After speaking, he pulled the quilt over his head, hiding in bed and sleeping.

Young Master Dou had helped the Gu Family a lot this time. Without his rowdy behavior and the Shadow Guards’ assistance, things wouldn’t have gone this smoothly, so helping him with the account books was necessary.

"Big brother taught you to look at accounts, start with this stack." Gu Jin’an calmly pointed at a pile of account books on the low table.

Brother Cheng was nearly in tears, "Big brother, this is too much, I’m still a kid."

Gu Jin’an gave him a look, "When I was your age, I was already hunting for food in the mountains, working for neighboring villages for food, and chopping wood at home. Now you’re just looking at account books, what’s too much?"

He added, "Would you rather look at account books or memorize the Great Chu Criminal Law?"

Memorizing the Great Chu Criminal Law? That’s a lot of words!

Brother Cheng’s face twitched, he begrudgingly flipped open the account books and started calculating.

Gu Jin’an smiled, patted his head, and took two warm cakes from the nearby iron box for him, "Eat."

"Thanks, big brother." Brother Cheng was delighted, smiled with squinted eyes, and ate the cake while calculating.

...

On December 9th, it was Brother Cheng’s ninth birthday, and also the wedding day of Gu Jinxiu and Luo Wu.

The Qin, Gu, and Luotian families had been busy since the sixth, with banquets for the villagers on the eighth, and before dawn on the ninth, several families prepared to send off Gu Jinxiu for her wedding.

According to tradition, marrying off two daughters in the same year isn’t ideal, but after discussing with Gu Dashan, Mrs. Cui decided not to change the wedding date and send Gu Jinxiu off on December 9th.

First, the invitations had already been sent.

Second, Gu Jinxiu and Luo Wu’s marriage had faced many twists and turns, and seeing Great Chu becoming increasingly chaotic, Mrs. Cui feared further delays would cause more problems, so she resolved to marry off two in one year!

The Luo Family had no objections, hoping Gu Jinxiu would marry quickly.

But Good Brother An and Brother Cheng hadn’t returned yet, which worried everyone.

Third Grandma woke up early and went to the gatekeeper to ask Xiao Tuan, "Did Good Brother An and the others return?"

"Replying to Third Grandma, they haven’t returned yet." Xiao Tuan didn’t dare sleep much all night, afraid of sleeping too deeply and not hearing if Good Brother An and the others knocked.

He added, "Third Grandma, the eldest young master had already sent a message back, saying they’ll definitely return today, personally to send the eldest miss off, don’t worry, ma’am."

How could Third Grandma not worry, "They say they’ll return, but it’s getting colder. If ice and snow delay them on the road, what if they can’t make it back?"

Ah, Sister Xiu’s wedding is really not smooth. Finally getting to the marriage day, but Good Brother An and Brother Cheng aren’t home.

Good Brother An is the family’s eldest son, the head of the family. If he’s not there when Sister Xiu marries, they’ll be laughed at.

And Brother Ming, Brother Xing, all of them aren’t here, truly worrying.

Xiao Tuan and Da Tuan lived in the gatekeeper’s room, initially asleep, but awakened now, spoke, "Third Grandma, it’s cold, you should return inside, don’t catch a cold."

Xiao Tuan came out to support Third Grandma, guiding her home, "Eldest young master said he’d return, that means he will, don’t worry, ma’am."

"Sigh." Third Grandma sighed and followed Xiao Tuan back inside.

But just as they crossed half the yard, they heard the sound of a carriage galloping.