Chapter One: Perplexity

  "Hurry up! Hurry up! Put on your clothes quickly and leave through the back door. You go first, I'll come find you in two days!" Gao Laogen hastily looked for his own clothes, awkwardly putting them on.

  In the midst of panic, he accidentally put the woman's undergarment on his head. The woman saw his flustered appearance and quickly grabbed the undergarment, asking in a daze: "What's wrong with you? Are you scared to death? This is my clothes, if you wear it out, wouldn't that be ridiculous?"

  "Gaolao Gen, how can you still flirt with her at this time?! Grabbing the woman's clothes and throwing them to her, he urged: "My aunt! Don't cause more trouble for me, this time it's even worse than the sky falling! People from Shaoxing Prefecture have arrived, hurry up and put on your clothes and go back, if they find out I kept you here, they'll kill me! Hurry up, don't dawdle!"

  The woman only understood why Gao Lao Gen was so flustered when she heard this, and she too got a fright. She quickly followed Gao Lao Gen to get dressed, then was sent out the back door by him and slipped away.

  Gao Lao Gen took a deep breath, then forced himself to calm down, coughed, and walked towards the front yard.

  "Hold on! I'm talking to you, Li Er! Who did you say just came from Shaoxing?" Old Gao suddenly remembered that he hadn't paid attention to who the gatekeeper Li Er said had arrived, and now hurriedly called out to him to ask.

  "Hurry up, Manager! He said he's the Third Young Master of the Gao family! And he brought a lot of people with him. What's strange is that most of them are kids around 12 or 13 years old. They're probably waiting anxiously up front by now. His underling has a sharp tongue!" Li Er replied hastily while urging Old Man Gao to hurry up.

  "Slow down! You said the person you brought is Third Master? Is it really Third Master?" Old Gao didn't speed up his pace, but instead stopped in his tracks.

  "Yes! That Third Master looks like he's also around 13 or 14 years old, but his stature is not small at all, and he seems to have quite a bit of presence! I'm telling you about the high-ranking officials, hurry up! They've already been waiting for no short amount of time!" Li Er hurriedly urged Gao Lao Gen along.

  "Haha! A group of swindlers actually came today! You go and quickly call out all the people from our house, follow me to the front yard, bring your tools, today we'll catch a group of swindlers. In a moment, listen to my orders, I say make a move, you guys just go up and fight! After catching them, send them to the officials, I'll give each of you an extra month's salary! I really want to see who is so daring, actually cheating right under my nose, almost scared me to death! Quick, go call people, I'm waiting here, don't alarm those guys!" Old Gao suddenly relaxed and burst out laughing, instructing Li Er.

  Li Er was a bit stunned, had this old man gone crazy from playing with women? How could he be so sure that these people were swindlers without even seeing them? And yet he still wanted to go and call for someone, and then go out to open the door? So he carefully emphasized: "I'm talking about official business, you're not uncomfortable, are you? Those people earlier showed their waist cards, I've already taken a look, they really are our Gao family's waist cards. And they also brought a letter, saying it was a letter from Master Lao in Shaoxing to you!"

  Gao Lao Gen heard this and thought for a moment, his face revealing a hint of disdain. He waved his hand and said: "I'm telling you, they're swindlers! Master would never send Third Young Master back to take charge of the old mansion! That waist plate must be something they specially prepared. Honestly, Gao family's Third Young Master is an idiot! Would Master send an idiot back to manage things? If they're not swindlers, what are they? Quickly go and call someone! Later, listen to my orders, lock them up and beat them severely! As long as you don't beat them to death, catch them and send them to the officials. You'll get a reward!"

  "Ah? So the Third Young Master is an idiot! I said how could the high-ranking officials be scammers all of a sudden?! Now that I think about it, I seem to recall hearing about this from the old butler before. How did I not remember?! The high-ranking officials are indeed formidable! I'll go call someone right now and have them beat those people up fiercely. They even dared to scold me just now!" Li Er also remembered this matter at this time, so he immediately replied, still managing to find the time to flatter Old Gao's behind.

  Gao Huaiyuan didn't enter the front hall, but instead stood with his hands behind his back, observing the situation in front of him. The more he looked, the angrier he became. This was a good courtyard, yet it was filled with withered branches and dead leaves everywhere, and many places were covered in dust. It seemed that no one had swept here for a long time. The person in charge here was too sloppy. It seemed that in the future, he would have to thoroughly tidy up this place.

  The result was that everyone who had been watching had left, and after waiting for half a day, the legs of those young men were numb. They didn't see anyone come out to receive them, so they were just left standing in the front yard, which made things a bit awkward!

  It stands to reason that when the people here hear that someone from Shaoxing has arrived, they should come out quickly to greet them and arrange for their accommodation. At the very least, they should prepare wine and food to welcome them and show some hospitality. Is it reasonable to just throw them into the front yard and ignore them? The person in charge here is being a bit too arrogant!

  Li Tong drove the mule cart into the yard and waited for the person in charge to come out and receive them, so that they could unload the things on the cart and have a good rest. As a result, he waited until his neck was stretched long, but still didn't see anyone coming out. He muttered and scolded: "The people in this old house won't be kicked stupid by donkeys, will they? They actually dare to leave us hanging here! I think their buttocks are going to be beaten with a board this time! Not even a bit of discipline! Hmph!"

  Everyone stood in the front yard for a while, and then they heard a flurry of footsteps coming from behind. Judging by the sound, there were quite a few people approaching. Gao Huaiyuan thought to himself that this was probably because the little servant had informed the person in charge, who was afraid of being slow to react, so he went to call all the servants together to expose him. His anger subsided slightly, and he turned around to look towards the corridor where the footsteps were coming from.

  Gao Lao Gen led all the servants here, each holding a stick or a broom, even the cook held a long rolling pin, and the two old women also carried washing clubs, rushing to the front yard with a loud noise.

  From a distance, he saw the people standing in the front yard and quickly hid the stick in his hand behind his back. He also called on others to put away their things first, and then looked intently at Gao Huaiyuan and his party in the front yard.

  This made him even more certain of his conjecture, because he saw that there were over a dozen people standing in the courtyard, among whom only two were adults, and the rest were a group of half-grown children. A tall and sturdy teenager wearing a green jacket, who appeared to be their leader, was frowning and staring in his direction, so he became even more convinced that this group of people were absolutely a bunch of swindlers.

  Gao Lao Gen mentally measured the strength of both sides and found that his side was slightly outnumbered, but he wasn't afraid. After all, they had seven old men and two adult women, while the other side only had two adults, with the rest being half-grown children who were empty-handed. On their side, everyone had a tool in hand, so they should have an absolute advantage in dealing with them.

  Then Gao Lao Gen grasped the short stick in his hand tightly, and instructed Li Er and others who were following behind him in a low voice: "After we go over there later, you first go and close the courtyard gate for me, block them, can't let one of them run away. Others will act together later, knock down one and catch one, did everyone hear?"

  Everyone nodded in agreement and tightened their grip on their tools, following Gao Lao Gen as he walked towards Gao Huai Yuan and the others.

  Gao Huaiyuan sized up the middle-aged man who was leading the way, noticing that he was relatively thin, with a goatee beard, and wearing clothes that were not those of a servant. Even a butler wouldn't wear a long shirt like this, yet this guy had on a strange, ill-fitting long shirt, with his hands behind his back, as if hiding something.

  Then he went to measure the other house slaves, and saw that they were all wearing high-ranking servant clothes, but each of them had their hands behind their backs. Was this some kind of etiquette? Or did they have something to give him, wanting to surprise him?

  But then he felt that something was not quite right, because these servants came over with expressions that didn't show a hint of joy or flattery, but instead had tight faces and looked like they were suffering from great grievances, as if he wasn't their young master, but rather a debtor who owed them a lot of back wages!

  "Which one of you is the manager here? Come out and answer me! Is this how you treat your subordinates? You actually made our young master wait for so long! I see that none of you have any discipline at all!" Li Tong saw someone coming, his anger bursting forth, he walked forward and shouted at Gao Laogen and his group.

  Gao Lao Gen walked while secretly slowing down his pace, allowing others to overtake him so that he could fall behind. That way, when the time came to take action, he wouldn't have to be at the forefront.

  Li Er also took a short stick and quickly walked towards the gate, following Gao Laogen's orders, first closing the gate.

  Gao Lao Gen looked at Li Er, who had already closed the big gate, and a sly smile appeared on his face. He walked up to Li Tong and suddenly pulled out a stick from behind him, raised it high and shouted: "Take down these damned scammers! Beat them!"

  The servants in the old house heard this and shouted together, holding out their sticks and wooden clubs, yelling as they rushed towards Gao Huaiyuan and his group.

  Gao Huaiyuan was suddenly confused by the scene in front of him! What kind of play is this?

  I suddenly found myself a bit silly, having uploaded for so many days and yet I didn't even ask for a few red tickets for myself! It's really embarrassing! So I couldn't help but jump out and shout loudly, if brothers think that Hanfeng's writing is still worthy of your attention, then please leave a precious red ticket for me! It's also a way to give me some encouragement, right? Hanfeng thanks all the gods! Please, please!