Chapter Fifty-Four Su Tong

  "What to do? What to do? You ask me, I ask who to go? It's strange, how did my cousin know about this matter? Didn't she go to the capital? This just happened a day ago, how could she have known already? The Su family textile business is all under her control, if not for the fact that she's a daughter, what would I have to do with the Su family?" When Su Lun heard these words, he didn't dare to speak out of turn, but thinking of Su Tong, he involuntarily shrunk his neck.

  Su Tong, 19 years old, the eldest daughter of the Su family, whose family controls nearly half of Songjiang's textile machinery production and supply. Her aunt is the second daughter of Wang Zheng, a master of Western studies in the late Ming dynasty. She has been clever and sharp since childhood, with her own opinions and excellent writing skills, making her one of the most outstanding women of her generation in Su-Song-Hang. Since childhood, she did not bind her feet, and her personality is strong-willed and unyielding. No one can control her. Due to Wang Zheng's influence, she has a good understanding of mechanical studies. At 16 years old, she began to show her business talent, and after three years, the entire Su family was firmly under her control.

  Su Tong had just finished her work in the capital and was on her way back, but before she even reached Songjiang Prefecture, someone below said they received a flying letter. After reading its contents, she silently cursed Su Lun for being unreasonable and quickly ordered someone to go back and deliver a message.

  After getting off the boat, on her way back home, she carefully asked informed people and finally understood the ins and outs of this matter. Her heart was filled with curiosity about a young man named Zhang Lei.

  When Su Tong appeared at the gate of the house, Su Lun was in the yard. Seeing her, he exclaimed in surprise: "Sister, how did you come back?"

  "How dare you say that! If I hadn't finished my business ahead of time and returned, perhaps this Songjiang Prefecture would have been turned upside down by you!" Su Tong said angrily.

  Su Lun completely lost his usual arrogant demeanor, and smiled apologetically: "Elder sister, what are you talking about? How could the peaceful Songjiang Prefecture possibly turn upside down? Did you hear some rumors or something? The rebels haven't even arrived yet."

  In the fifth year of Chongzhen, on the second day of the first month, the rebel general Kong Youde approached the city of Dengzhou. Zhang Kedai requested to attack him, but the Governor Sun Yuanhua refused. On the next day, he finally sent troops to join forces with the rebels and was defeated. At that time, Geng Zhongming led the central army under Yuanhua, harboring treacherous intentions. In the middle of the night, Youde's army arrived at the city, and Zhongming and others lit fires as a signal for internal response, leading the enemy to enter through the east gate, and the city was breached. On the fourth day, Zhang Kedai handed over his seal and returned to his post, wrote a farewell letter to his mother, killed his concubine Chen Shi, and hanged himself to death. The rebel general Kong Youde killed almost all of the officials, gentry, and civilians. He captured Governor Sun Yuanhua, Supervising Censor Wang Zheng, Prefect Wu Weicheng, Vice-Prefect Gao Mingjie, and County Magistrate Qin Shiyin of Penglai, among others.

  "You know what I'm talking about, I've already investigated on my way back, how many times have I told you that business competition must be fair in order to win the market? Look at all the good things you've done!" Su Tong said angrily. This Su Lun was clever since he was a child, but it seemed like he never used his cleverness for good. Since he was the only child in the family, he was naturally spoiled and loved excessively. Sometimes when Su Tong scolded him severely, the older generation would come out to protect him, and now that he's grown up, no one can control him anymore.

  Su Lun was taken aback, then said indifferently: "You also believe in rumors from outside, I haven't even spoken yet."

  "There's no smoke without fire, it's impossible for everyone to suddenly target you alone, right? Among so many people in Songjiang Prefecture, why did they all gang up on you? Speak up, confess honestly and I'll help you cover it up. If the higher-ups find out, you're done for." As the only male member of the group, everyone still hoped he would learn from his mistakes, so despite his terrible behavior, Su Tong stood by him.

  Whenever this is mentioned, Su Lun gets annoyed. Relying on being slightly older than herself, she always interferes in everything, and as a woman, at the age of almost twenty, she still hasn't gotten married...

  After muttering to himself for a while, Su Lun finally told Zhang Lei about his past from start to finish, glossing over the unpleasant parts.

  "It's actually like this...... Are you sure you didn't lie? The people outside aren't saying it that way." Su Tong said in confusion.

  "My sister, are you going to listen to me or those outsiders?"

  After some thought, although Su Lun was a bit stubborn, he was after all his own brother. Su Tong nodded and said: "If it's really like that, then it's good. Now you quickly go and get that Guo Yu to return the wood to its owner. I estimate that this rumor outside will also disappear. I guess it must be Zhang Lei's idea."

  "Alas, who says it isn't him? I also suspected it was him, but the fact is there's no evidence. Otherwise..."

  Su Lun hadn't finished speaking when Su Tong's eyes widened and he said lightly, "Or what? Can it be that you still want to continue causing trouble for others? It's not easy to get in good with the government, if you overdo it, the government will be the first to let you off, at that time see how you'll handle it."

  "Alright." Su Leng shrank his neck and then gloomily ordered Chen Yufei to take the money and leave.

  Guo Yu's workplace was filled with Xu Feng's wood, Chen Yufei crawled into the yard through the gap in the woodpile and found Guo Yu.

  He didn't even have time to speak, and Guo Yu opened his mouth to complain: "You're here... how long does he want to put this wood in my place? Go ask him."

  Chen Yufei handed over a silver ticket worth one hundred and two, apologetically saying: "Lord Guo, please calm down, I came this time just to tell you about this matter. Just now, our family's eldest miss has returned."

  "Oh? Has she come back? Well, she's more reliable than your young master when it comes to getting things done. I heard that the Su family is managed by this woman, so she must know about this matter too. What did she say?" Guo Yu asked while putting away the silver ticket.

  Regarding Guo Yu's remarks about Su Lun being extremely unreliable, Chen Yufei expressed strong agreement and then said: "Our big sister means to send this wooden thing back, and then the rumors outside will probably be extinguished."

  "Hey, so direct? So her meaning is that your Su family and Zhang Lei have made up?" Guo Yu raised an eyebrow and asked.

  Chen Yufei smiled bitterly and said: "Guo sir, you're wrong about this. Based on my understanding of the young master, once the miss leaves, he will definitely make a comeback."

  "I'd rather hope you ladies don't go out," said Guo Yu.

  Then he ordered Zhang Lei to take all the wood back.

  Xu Feng was eating dinner when someone suddenly ran over and told him to go to Guo Yu's place, he got a fright and didn't have the heart to finish his half bowl of rice, so he quickly went to find Zhang Lei.

  "This is a good thing, what are you afraid of?" Zhang Lei said with a smile after Xu Feng explained his intention.

  "Really?" Xu Feng asked skeptically.

  Zhang Lei said: "Can't be fake, right? I suppose that guy with the surname Su couldn't take it anymore and called in Guo Yusu."

  Xu Feng gave a thumbs up and said, "That's still Old Zhang's good plan."

  Zhang Lei smiled and said: "Alright, alright, hurry up and get someone to bring the wood back. It'll be curfew soon when it gets dark."

  "That's it." Xu Feng got a definite message from Zhang Lei and was overjoyed, quickly calling everyone who could be called over.

  Arriving at Guo Yu's place, several yamen runners were noisily drawing circles. Guo Yu hastily walked over and took out a few 10-tael silver notes, placing them on the table, saying: "Tonight, will you gentlemen be keeping watch?"

  Ordinary yamen runners don't have much income, they are not considered to be on the payroll, and their entire salary is paid by Guo Yu, their superior. They play a miserable role. At first glance, each of them suddenly gets 10 taels of silver, and they are instantly delighted. The leader says to Xu Feng: "Boss Xu really knows how to treat people, Governor Guo is inside, you can go in."

  "Thanks, thanks, in the future, the security here will still rely on a few of you." Xu Feng went to find Guo Yu, who had just finished eating.

  Seeing Xu Feng, Guo Yu said: "You're here. This thing has been checked, no problem, you can take it back."

  "Alright, alright, thanks for your hard work, Lord Guo." Xu Feng was not Zhang Lei, and when faced with power, he became humble and cautious.

  It was already the next afternoon when the person below came to Su Tong's place to report.

  "Miss, it's true that no one is talking outside. Everyone seems to have suddenly fallen silent, how eerie!" said personal maid Xiao Ru.

  Su Tong had just gotten out of bed and was in front of the mirror getting ready, after hearing Xiao Ru's words, she seemed not to be surprised at all, saying: "As expected, it's indeed this Zhang Lei's doing. Poor silly brother, always messing around like this, from this matter alone, he is no match for Zhang Lei."

  "Young master is just being vigorous and arrogant, maybe after a few years he will grow up." Xiao Ru said while helping Su Tong comb her hair.

  Su Tong didn't think so, she said: "Do you think he's still young? When I was his age, I was already doing business outside. Look at this family, it's only been a few days since he took over and it's become such a mess. Last night I went to investigate, the rumors outside are 80-90% true. What do you call this kind of maturity?"

  "Oh, what they said outside is actually true? If Master finds out, Young Master will be in trouble." Little Ru said with a hint of surprise.

  Su Tong sighed and said, "Alas, he's been spoiled rotten. Now I can still talk to him for a couple of sentences, but who knows what the future holds? He's no good at business and doesn't study either. In the end, I'll have to get married, and with such a big Su family, how will he be able to take care of it?"

  "Hey, miss, don't think about these things anymore. The masters aren't in a hurry, are they? Don't frown, it's not pretty." said Xiaoru.

  Su Tong sighed again and said, "Okay okay, I'm afraid even if I think about it, no one will listen. I just need to take care of my own affairs. By the way, come with me to the warehouse later, I'll check the accounts at home while I was away."

  As for Su Lun, after getting up in the morning, he had a delicious breakfast behind the maid's back, took a bath, and only called Chen Yu Fei into the study afterwards.

  "Is there any movement outside?"

  Chen Yufei smiled and said: "Indeed, no one outside is discussing the young master anymore. The eldest miss is a capable person, she has been back for some time now, it should be peaceful here."

  "So you're saying I'm incapable? That I've made things unstable here?" Su Lun said with a stiff smile.