Chapter Thirteen Don't Lie to Me

  The Western-style building stands tall, with iron windows open on all sides, surrounded by a green cloud of fine grass and dotted with small flowers of various colors, elegant and secluded.

  Sitting under the cool umbrella in a Western-style wooden chair, Wu Jianzhang felt awkward. He was about to meet Tong Qincheng, so he dressed up formally, wearing his official uniform and boots, and even burned incense beforehand to show respect.

  However, for this prince's brother, a noble and aristocratic person, Wu Jianzhang admired him deeply. He never thought that the imperial envoy would set up his headquarters in the concession area. It was not long ago that he was driven out of the concession area under the name of "neutrality".

  He immediately set up two temporary tax collection offices on boats in Lujiazui, but was later driven to the Suzhou River. Since the French first announced that French merchants were exempt from taxation when entering and leaving, the British and Americans immediately followed suit, abolishing the consular tax collection system, and British and American merchants also freely entered and left Shanghai ports, with no more taxes to be collected.

  Wu Jianzhang didn't mention the anxiety in his heart, and having dealt with foreigners more often, he was deeply aware of their arrogance and difficulty to get along with. A few days ago, he received an urgent report from Beijing, appointing Prince Zheng's son, Jingxiang, to handle Shanghai customs affairs. He knew little about this young nobleman, only that he was the only son of Prince Zheng and had just been promoted to First-Class General of the Imperial Guard.

  I was worried in my heart, the imperial court sent such a young and inexperienced prince to deal with foreigners, wouldn't it be a mess? If things go wrong, he is an iron-hatted hereditary prince, all the blame will fall on me, isn't this unjust?

  For the past two days, Wu Jianzhang had been feeling unspirited and was thinking of how to get rid of his responsibilities. However, he did not expect that the imperial envoy would take the initiative and, upon arriving in Shanghai, broke through the foreigners' ban and openly set up his headquarters in the concession area.

  Wu Jianzhang is really something, and I thought to myself, it seems that foreigners also pick on the weak, why don't they expel Prince Gong and his brothers from the concession?

  When Gong Zichen met with the adults, he talked about the important things that happened after the Small Sword Society occupied Shanghai. He also mentioned the attitude of the consuls of three countries towards our imperial court. For example, the Americans were the most reasonable, and when the customs were gone, they took the lead in implementing consulate taxation, actively helping our dynasty to collect taxes from American businessmen. The British were second, while the French were the most arrogant, with French businessmen leading the way in resisting taxes, causing the British and Americans to follow suit.

  Ye Zhaoting quietly listened, occasionally taking a sip of tea, but in her heart she couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder. Often interacting with foreigners, one naturally opens their eyes to the world. This Wu Jianzhang is indeed somewhat talented, unfortunately, nowadays dealing with foreigners too much is extremely dangerous for one's official career. Isn't this Daotai gentleman precisely the one who was accused of being "in cahoots with barbarians" and stripped of his position a few years later during the Sino-British-French War?

  However, he was originally a businessman and had also been a purchasing agent, and even sold opium. Moreover, although for various reasons, it can be said that he sold out the interests of the customs, and being dismissed and punished is not unjust.

  "Governor Tao, your words aren't entirely true, are they?" Ye Zhao gently put down his teacup.

  Wu Jianzhang was taken aback and hastily said, "Young Master, what are you saying? I wouldn't dare deceive you." It took Wu Jianzhang a lot of thought to decide how to address the imperial envoy. As someone who was lower in rank and also a member of the royal family, he couldn't just use familiar terms like "brother" or "sir". Calling him "General" or "Sir" seemed insufficiently respectful, while "Prince" or "Young Master" would be inappropriate given the imperial envoy's relatively low rank. After some thought, Wu Jianzhang decided to address him as "Young Master", which conveyed respect and good wishes for his future promotion to a higher title, such as Duke, which was likely imminent given that he was the only son of a prince. Adding the honorific "young" wouldn't make it seem too fawning.

  Suddenly hearing the two words "deceive", Wu Jianzhang's head was like a thunderclap, deceiving the imperial envoy, if things go wrong, it would be equivalent to deceiving the emperor.

  Ye Zhaowu smiled slightly and said: "Governor Dao was once captured by bandits, why didn't you report it?"

  Wu Jianzhang was stunned again, but no one knew about this matter. However, while escaping, he encountered bandits and was locked up for less than half a day before sneaking away, mainly because none of the little bandits recognized him.

  "Wu Jianzhang stuttered and couldn't get the words out, suddenly he knelt down and kowtowed: "Young Master, Young Master please understand, I was trapped for a moment, but no one in the rebel army recognized me. I escaped on my own, absolutely not colluding with the rebels! To save my life, I handed over the official seal to the rebels! Young Master, you must understand!"

  Ye Zhaowas taken aback, not expecting a casual remark to provoke such a strong reaction from Wu Jianzhang. Originally, Ye Zhao hadn't seen any mention of Wu Jianzhang being captured in the official reports, so he had casually asked about it. After all, in his past life, Wu Jianzhang had been captured by the Small Knife Society and held for seven or eight days, nearly losing his life before being rescued by a foreign merchant.

  After escaping from danger, he was even more vigorous in advocating for the extermination of the Small Swords Society. The reason for this was that he was worried that his experience as a captive would affect his career advancement.

  Was he hiding the fact that he was captured in this life? But how could he explain himself after not being seen for seven or eight days? Ye Zhao looked at Wu Jianzhang, who was trembling on the ground, and frowned: "You're too bold!"

  Wu Jianzhang repeatedly kowtowed, his face covered in tears and snot: "Young Master, your humble servant was captured by the enemy for only a short while, and no one among them recognized me. After I narrowly escaped, to avoid being held responsible, I hid the truth and didn't report it. Young Master, please understand!"

  What's the situation with the tea? Ye Zhaoyang's heart slightly stirred, looking at Wu Jianzhang's expression didn't seem to be lying, besides if he was really captured by Xiaodao for seven or eight days, he wouldn't be able to hide it from people and wouldn't dare to hide it either.

  Why? His activities in the capital city shouldn't have affected Shanghai, right? However, Ye Zhaowu gradually came to understand that in this life, there are countless choices that can affect one's fate. Just like Wu Jianzhang, when he escaped from the government office and encountered a fork in the road, turning left might be one kind of fate, while turning right would be another.

  Ye Zhaomo was deep in thought, but Wu Jianzhang was worried, really didn't know what the young master was thinking, how many calculations did he have? Kneeling on the ground, not daring to move.

  "Get up." Ye Zhaosuddenly smiled, he was shocked to find that he had inadvertently grasped the handle that could firmly control this Daotai gentleman, and it was indeed an unintentional gain.

  "I dare not, I dare not." Wu Jianzhang didn't even dare to move.

  "Get up when you're called! Let's talk about the foreign merchant instead!" Ye Zhaohad a warm smile and gently put down his teacup.

  Wu Jianzhang slowly lifted his head, but in his heart he was at a loss, really didn't know what this little ancestor wanted to do.