xymnovel Chapter 52 Gloom
Chapter 52 Gloom
The servant wandered through a maze of twists and turns, eventually disappearing into a small alley.
Two familiar faces stood at the gate of a house, shivering in the cold wind and muttering curses.
"Is Da She here?" the servant asked softly.
By the moonlight, the two men recognized each other and lowered their guard. One of them cursed, "Wang Wu, you're really lucky. You still have food and drink. We, on the other hand, can only eavesdrop here."
Wang Wu couldn't help but laugh.
The room was lit up, and faint cries of a woman could be heard, mournful yet igniting a burning desire within one.
He couldn't help but curse.
"Let's listen together." The two men looked at him with schadenfreude.
Wang Wu had no choice.
At this moment, Zhou She couldn't tolerate anyone interrupting his enjoyment. He had finally escaped the life of a poor fisherman, and even managed to swindle some money by taking advantage of the powerful, so he really didn't want to go back to that dilapidated home.
So he could only tuck his sleeves in, gently stamp his feet to ward off the chill, and chat with the other two.
"What was the name of your relative when you went to the sand quarry in Songjiang Prefecture last time?" someone asked.
"Gu Sanjian?" Wang Wu asked.
"Yes, it's him. Who is he to you?"
"He's my cousin," Wang Wu said, "but he's much older than me. Why?"
"Let me ask," the man said with a smirk. Suddenly, as if somewhat unwilling, he asked, "Wang Wu, if we go to Songjiang in the twelfth lunar month, should we stop near the Xiashachang (lower sand quarry)? Why don't we try to get some salt? We can smuggle it onto the boat; no one will check, and Zhou She won't blame us. It won't make us rich, but it'll be a small supplement, enough for us to live on for a long time."
The other person nodded secretly, his gaze burning with fervor.
Wang Wu fell silent.
He had traveled to Shanghai three times with the Zhou family's fleet, each time stopping near the Xiashachang area. The reason was simple: it was an endless expanse of dense reeds, so dense that even locals could easily get lost, let alone outsiders.
The Xiasha Saltworks was a huge salt field, divided into eight salt-making areas. The records showed that there were more than 15,000 salt workers, and the annual salt production was 45,000 yin (one yin is 400 jin). Wang Wu's cousin, Gu Sanjian, was a salt worker in the fourth salt-making area. He lived near the outermost reed marshes and was usually responsible for guarding the firewood storage warehouse, which was mainly made of reeds.
Gu Sanjian's father was named Gu Shouwu, and he was also a salt worker whose job was to boil salt.
The salt farmers in the salt fields actually had very low incomes and lived a hard life. As the saying goes, poverty breeds resourcefulness, and when you have no money, you have to find a way. It was commonplace for them to intercept salt and sell it to salt dealers; it just depended on whether you dared to buy it.
"I—" Wang Wu looked at the two of them, hesitating, "I'm not sure I can go."
The two exchanged a glance, knowing that Wang Wu had chickened out. They cursed him under their breath as a useless piece of trash, but there was nothing they could do.
The room fell silent.
A moment later, the room fell silent. The three of them straightened up immediately, their expressions hardening, and waited quietly.
After a while, the door opened, and Zhou She, wearing only a thin coat, cursed, "Wang Wu, do you want to die? Why did you have to come now of all times to spoil my fun?"
"Da She, I—" Wang Wu said anxiously.
"Come in." Zhou She snorted coldly and returned to the hall.
Wang Wu responded and ran into the house with his head down, not daring to look around too much. He simply reported what he had observed in the Chen family's winery.
"Barbarians? Where are the barbarians from?" Zhou She's eyes narrowed, and he asked subconsciously.
Wang Wu was speechless. How could he know?
Zhou She waved his hand, dismissing him, while secretly pondering.
The non-Han people who settled in Liujiagang all had names and surnames; a simple investigation would reveal this.
He has a relative who is an official in Zhenjiang Road. Last year, when they had a drink together during the Spring Festival, he mentioned that there were only a dozen or so Uyghur households, a few dozen Hui households, and a dozen or so Yeliken households in Zhenjiang Road. These were all countable and could not be many. In addition, there were more than 500 Uyghur, Hui, and Yeliken slaves in Zhenjiang Road, and more than 400 Mongol slaves.
There should be more non-locals in Liujiagang than in Zhenjiang Road, but those who settled there for a long time usually bought land and houses, and were mostly listed in the government register, so it was not difficult to find them.
But he also considered another possibility: that the foreigners who came into contact with Zheng Fan and Shao Shuyi were newcomers who had not yet been registered, which was intriguing.
Thinking about this, he suddenly felt a little smug.
Sun Chuan, you encouraged me to go after the Zheng family while you watched from the sidelines. If the Zheng family starts undermining you, will you still be able to sit still? Didn't you rise to prominence more than twenty years ago by undermining others?
Haha, that's interesting.
Zhou She couldn't help but laugh out loud, but at the same time he was a little wary. Was Shao Shuyi involved in this? It was hard to say.
Thinking of this, he snorted.
Shao Shuyi is too much of a troublemaker, using any means necessary to climb the ranks, which he dislikes very much.
Are you so eager to be sunk to the bottom of the Loujiang River? You dare to do anything and offend anyone. If you don't die, who will?
******
Zhou Ziliang waited in Liujiagang for several days, until the 20th of the eleventh lunar month, before he finally met Sun Chuan.
At that time, he was having tea with his three sons and chatting about interesting things. When he saw Zhou Ziliang coming, he coughed lightly and waved for his three sons to leave.
As the three were leaving, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the eldest and second sons playfully pushed their younger brother, almost causing him to fall.
The three sons were so angry that their faces turned red, but they didn't dare to say anything. They just walked in another direction with their heads down, as if they were going to complain to their mother.
"It's late November, Zhou She, why aren't you staying home? What are you doing here?" Sun Chuan asked with a smile.
Zhou Ziliang laughed loudly and said, "Master Sun, disaster is imminent."
Sun Chuan shook his head and chuckled. This spoiled brat believed everything he heard; let's see what tricks he's up to first.
Seeing that Sun Chuan remained unmoved, Zhou Ziliang was slightly disappointed, but he still told him what he knew.
After listening, Sun Chuan's smile froze slightly.
He slowly got up, tightened his fur coat to hide his protruding belly, then put his hands behind his back and looked at the plants in the yard.
It was already deep winter, and all the plants and trees had withered, just like the current situation.
Sun Chuan stared at it for a long time, then cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to Zhou Ziliang and said, "Thank you for the reminder, Zhou She. However—"
Zhou Ziliang also stood up and looked at Sun Chuan.
"I've weathered twenty years of ups and downs," Sun Chuan smiled and said, "Do you think I'd be defeated by a cheap coffin in my old age?"
Zhou Ziliang chuckled to himself.
He had heard his late father talk about Sun Chuan, saying that the man was quite ruthless when he was young.
Around the same age as Shao Shuyi, he came from Zhenjiang to Liujiagang to make his way in the world. He first helped out in his uncle's shop, and then started his own business. With his ruthlessness and cunning, he slowly climbed up the ranks.
His father's words were vague, but Zhou Ziliang felt that it was probably not that simple.
Some brokers, unable to collect enough taxes, were abandoned by the Maritime Trade Office and became impoverished.
Some brokers initially enjoyed close, intimate relationships with foreign merchants and overseas traders, but later gradually drifted apart from them.
Some brokers died mysteriously, and their associates scattered when the tree fell.
There must be a reason why Sun Chuan has gone from being largely ignored to being well-known in Liujiagang over the past twenty years.
Today, another ruthless young man has arrived in Liujiagang.
"Never mind, I'll go ask the Maritime Trade Office tomorrow." Sun Chuan turned around and said with a smile, "Even if the Zheng family got involved, so what? It's just—"
He scratched his hands in the cold wind and said, "Just a little bit of wind and frost."
"I admire you, I admire you," Zhou Ziliang praised.
Sun Chuan sat back down in his chair, toying with the porcelain cup, and asked with a smile, "The goods from Taizhou will arrive in Songjiang on the fifteenth of the twelfth lunar month. By then, the navy will have become lax and won't be patrolling much anymore. Will it be the same old place?"
"The usual place, shall we?" Zhou Ziliang nodded and said, "No one cares there, and we can go ashore at night."
Sun Chuan hummed in agreement and said nothing more.
"What kind of goods are they?" Zhou Ziliang asked curiously.
Sun Chuan glanced at him and said slowly, "It won't hurt to tell you. Korean blue and white ware, bronze ware, Korean ginseng, Korean pine nuts, Silla lacquer, paper, hawk meat, dried seafood, and other such items."
Zhou Ziliang instantly understood that this was a robbery of a Goryeo merchant ship, but he didn't know where it happened. It was most likely in the waters off Wenzhou. The Great Yuan Dynasty only had three Maritime Trade Offices: Qingyuan, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou, but Wenzhou had a branch Maritime Trade Office (under the jurisdiction of Qingyuan).
"Not worth much," he said, clicking his tongue.
"Goryeo celadon ware has a certain artistry in inlay, whitewashing, carving, printing, and painting, and it's very popular," Sun Chuan shook his head and said, "Silla lacquer dries faster than Chinese lacquer, and it's beautiful and glossy. Nowadays, which furniture maker doesn't use Silla yellow lacquer as the final layer? Korean nobles love to eat pine nuts. Their bronze ware is also quite good, and it has many admirers..."
"Fine, fine, I'm ignorant," Zhou Ziliang said helplessly.
Sun Chuan stopped talking and just fiddled with the cup lid.
Zhou Ziliang sat there for a while, then, finding it rather pointless, said goodbye and left.
Once his figure disappeared, Sun Chuan's face immediately turned gloomy.
He had previously chosen to remain silent to avoid a direct conflict with the Zheng family, but they hadn't expected him to press on so relentlessly, showing them no respect whatsoever.
And that Shao Shuyi, he's really annoying.
Sun Chuan was 70% certain that this matter was inextricably linked to him, because if the Zheng family wanted to make contact with the foreigners, they would have done so long ago, why wait until now?
Why can't you just be a quiet seafarer and live a peaceful life? Why do you want to climb up the social ladder?
You're overestimating yourself!