Liang Zhuzi knew he was coerced, and his heart felt somewhat relieved.
Seeing Village Chief Liang being taken away, Village Chief Sun was extremely annoyed. He had originally planned to use the frail and elderly Village Chief Liang as part of a ruse, but unexpectedly, Liang Zhuzi exposed it on the spot.
However, Village Chief Sun didnât want to give up halfway and decided to change tactics.
He softened his tone, earnestly saying, "Gu Family young lady, Elder Gu, we really have no other choice. The nearby villages are all poor, only you can help us. Please, for the sake of our fellow villagers, help us out and sell us the tofu and spices from April 26th onwards."
Then he promised, "Rest assured, we will not undercut your prices. Whatever price you sell to others, we will match. We definitely wonât let you suffer a loss!"
Definitely not let them suffer a loss?
Gu Jinli laughed, "Village Chief Sun, how about this, come back on April 26th, then, whatever amount of tofu and spices you want, go and discuss directly with County Captain Jiang."
Village Chief Sunâs face turned cold, the act nearly faltered, "Little girl, what do you mean?"
Gu Jinli smiled and said, "It means that until County Captain Jiang agrees, Guâs Workshop will not sell tofu and spices to you."
Village Chief Sun was irate, this damn girl actually used County Captain Jiang to pressure him, "Young lady, County Captain Jiang is an official, itâs not suitable for him to get involved in such business, right?"
This is clearly bullying using power!
"If Village Chief Sun can involve himself in the tofu and spices business by virtue of his position, why canât County Captain Jiang?" Gu Jinli bluntly exposed the fact that Village Chief Sun was abusing his authority to oppress them.
Then, turning to the people behind Village Chief Sun, she said, "The same goes for you. If you want to buy tofu and spices, go speak to County Captain Jiang yourself! If you come to our workshop to cause trouble again, weâll report you to the authorities for arrest, donât think youâre great just because you are village chiefs!"
From the moment Liang Zhuzi recognized Village Chief Liang, Gu Jinli knew that the people who followed Village Chief Sun must be village chiefs from various villages. Village Chief Sun brought them in hopes of uniting the nearby villages to force Guâs Workshop to compromise.
Unfortunately, she, Gu Jinli, wonât fall for that!
Third Grandpa had been silent all along, but now he stepped forward and said, "Old man knows what you all are up to. We came here fleeing famine, weâve seen it all. If the local villagers treat us well, we will reciprocate; if the local villagers want to unite against us, we are not afraid."
Hearing this, the faces of the accompanying village chiefs tightened; not only does Guâs Workshop have a strong backing, but they also are tough to coerce.
Village Chief Sun was shaking with anger, but knew he could not force the issue. If he did, his fate would be worse than the Lu Family.
The Lu Family still had County Magistrate Zou, but his Sun Family had no such influential connections.
Village Chief Sun was capable of bending or standing as needed. After being openly humiliated by Gu Jinli, he did not completely fall out with them but instead smiled and said, "In that case, I will take my leave for now, and weâll talk again after April 26."
He paused and then sighed, "Today, it was my rashness. I apologize to you all here."
Then, pointing to Village Chief Liang nearby, he said, "Brother Liangâs family is indeed not that poor, but the villagers of Lianghe Village are very poor, his earlier words werenât entirely lies."
Gu Jinli frowned upon hearing this, had Village Chief Sun gone mad? Why did his attitude change so quickly?
Something abnormal is a monster; Village Chief Sun must still have other plans.
After saying this, Village Chief Sun turned to the village chiefs who had followed him to Guâs Workshop and said, "Fellow brothers, today it was my incompetence that couldnât get tofu and spices for your villages; I ask for your forgiveness."
These village chiefs saw Village Chief Sun apologizing to them, all scared out of their wits... What happened to Village Chief Sun? Apologizing to them in public?
After Village Chief Sun finished speaking, he bowed again to the people of Guâs Workshop, then said to several village chiefs, "Letâs all go back."
But he didnât call for Village Chief Liang, instead he said, "Brother Liang, if the young people from your village come to Guâs Workshop to pick up the goods, feel free to stay and help, no need to leave with us."
Village Chief Liang was shocked, had he completely offended Village Chief Sun to death?
Village Chief Liang had a gloomy face and remained silent.
Village Chief Sun soon left with several village chiefs.
The village chiefs felt uneasy and discontented, and after walking a distance, the man in a blue cloth shirt asked, "Village Chief, are we just going to let this go?"
A village chief said, "Guâs Workshop has County Captain Jiang as their backer, they are not afraid of offending the people from nearby villages, what can we do?"
They dared to come today because they felt, even if the people from Guâs Workshop had big political backing, they still had to live in the rural villages; they surely wouldnât dare to completely alienate the local folks.
But what they didnât expect was that the people from Guâs Workshop werenât afraid at all, and made it clear to them that they were not afraid of the villages banding together to confront them.
Village Chief Sun said, "Why the rush? Thereâs plenty of time in the future, are we still afraid we canât deal with Guâs Workshop?"
Upon hearing this, the village chiefsâ eyes lit up and asked, "Village Chief Sun, do you have any ideas? Hurry and share with us."
Village Chief Sun smiled and said, "Nothing just now, but ideas, when you think about it, there always are."
In fact, Village Chief Sun had already thought of a later move, just didnât want to tell these people for fear theyâd act before him.
He had looked into the Qin, Gu, and Luotian families, knowing that they had quite a few unmarried boys and girls.
And what Village Chief Sun was eyeing were the girls from the families Qin, Gu, and Luotian. He had two grandsons who were educated, considering his familyâs status, it should be easy to take a girl from these families as a granddaughter-in-law.
After all, for a peasant girl, marrying into the family of a village chief could be seen as fortune smiling upon her ancestors.
...
In Guâs Workshop, Gu Daya asked Third Grandpa worriedly, "Uncle, I think Village Chief Sun wonât let this go easily, what if he comes again next time?"
Third Grandpa said, "Donât worry, we have County Captain Jiang protecting us, a village chief canât stir up any big trouble."
Gu Dashan also said, "Daya, donât worry, if Village Chief Sun comes again, weâll just go ask County Captain Jiang."
Gu Dashan has also learned to leverage others. Even though the village chiefâs position is much higher than theirs, County Captain Jiang has a real official status and is involved in the soybean oil business with their family, why worry about Village Chief Sun?
After the incidents with the Lu, Qi, and Li families, Gu Dashan had also become seasoned; now facing Village Chief Sun, he was no longer panicked.
Seeing them so composed, Gu Daya knew they were truly unafraid of Village Chief Sun and thus, she set her mind at ease.
Liang Zhuzi led Village Chief Liang into Guâs Workshop, and they hesitantly started, "Elder Gu, Brother Gu, niece Xiao Yu, about todayâs matter, we are sorry, our village chief messed up."
Village Chief Liang followed behind Liang Zhuzi, his old face flushed red as he bowed to Third Grandpa, "Gu Family Brothers, itâs my fault, please donât make it tough for Zhuzi and the others."