She was worried that Mr. Cui San would be too eager for quick success and bring about trouble.
Fortunately, not long after she said this, two days later, Mr. Cui San finally came back.
Princess Fenyang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but glared at her brother in reproach: "You are really something, you didn't even tell me where you were going, I was so anxious that I didn't know what to do."
"I'm not a child anymore." Mr. Cui couldn't help laughing. "Why do you make me sound like I'm just hanging out? Don't worry, I'm just doing some serious work."
Without waiting for Princess Fenyang to interrogate him, Third Master Cui sat down and, without avoiding Mr. Cui's meaning, concluded succinctly: "I went to look for the fourth son's wife."
Princess Fenyang stopped holding the teacup, turned her head to look at Mr. Cui San and asked suspiciously, "Why did you go to see her?"
The fourth son of the Cui family is the fourth in this generation. He passed the imperial examination at an early age, but never took the exam again. Because he was in poor health and was extremely smart, the clan let him manage the coal business. The fourth son of the Cui family did not disappoint them and managed all the relationships in an orderly manner. Later, he started to dig iron ore and sold it at sea at a high price by taking advantage of his family's shipping business. Since then, the Cui family has grown rapidly and became the richest man in the area.
The fourth son of the Cui family is a genius in business, but family affairs are a mess. He and his wife are almost like enemies, and they quarrel every few days. Finally, Mrs. Cui simply returned to her parents' home in the capital under the pretext of taking care of the sick. It has been more than half a year now.
When Fourth Madam Cui returned to the capital, Princess Fenyang specially invited her to her home as a guest because she was Cui Yuandao's daughter-in-law.
When she heard that it was Mr. Cui San who went to look for the woman, she couldn't help but feel strange. After all, it was common knowledge among the clan that Mrs. Cui Si and Mr. Cui Si were not on good terms. What was the point in looking for her
Mr. Cui Sanye smiled slyly and sinisterly: "If you ask me, you are still a woman after all. You just can't be ruthless and don't use your brain. Since the fourth son's wife doesn't get along with the fourth son, why can't she be our friend?"
Princess Fenyang rubbed her brows and said, "She is just a daughter of a Hanlin scholar... What role can she play?"
She was just the daughter of a noble Hanlin family. Although almost all the cabinet members of the Great Zhou came from the Hanlin Academy, there were many people who came out of the Hanlin Academy, but only a few of them finally reached the top. Most of them still lived their lives in mediocrity. At least Mrs. Cui Si's father was the latter.
"Of course it works!" Master Cui San snorted, "I've already talked to her, just wait and see. The old man wants to get rid of us and climb up the social ladder, Xiao Heng is naturally eager for that, but I have to mess this up."
If you want to follow Xiao Heng, there is no way.
Princess Fenyang looked at him doubtfully, but seeing his confident expression, she didn't want to ask him any more questions, so she just talked about the business at hand: "Mr. Bai sent a reply, saying that we can meet at Juhai Manor tonight."
Cui Sanye said, "Oh!" and immediately became interested: "Great! I thought he would never see me. In that case, I will go and get ready so that I can meet the guests later."
Princess Fenyang nodded, and when she saw Third Master Cui get up and leave, she turned to look at Mr. Cui with some worry: "Third Brother has always been a man who does things to the extreme. I'm worried that he will cause a big mess."
"Princess, you don't have to worry too much." Mr. Cui said honestly, "In my opinion, although the Third Master is a little impatient, he is not a person who doesn't plan. He has calculated everything very clearly, so Princess, you don't have to worry about him causing trouble."
Princess Fenyang smiled and said nothing more.
In the blink of an eye, it was evening. Princess Fenyang was a widow, and there were actually many taboos when she went out. However, her status was somewhat special. In addition, she did not have any ceremonial procession when she went out, but pretended to be the housekeeper's wife and went out through the side door. Therefore, she was not conspicuous. Soon, she and Mr. Cui San arrived at Juhai Manor one after another.
Mr. Bai had already arrived. He was very polite when he saw them. He stood up and bowed. He greeted Princess Fenyang first, and then looked at Mr. Cui and said hello: "I have heard of your name for a long time. Now I finally meet you. It is really an honor."
"Sir, you are embarrassing me." Mr. Cui San came with a smile: "Speaking of which, your name is well-known. Who doesn't know Mr. Bai Qi, who is feared by everyone on the sea? Don't you think so?"
The atmosphere was tense for a moment.
Master Bai Qi was the leader of the pirates. When he was at the height of his fame, even the government officials were terrified at the mention of him.
Princess Fenyang was taken aback and couldn't help but look at Mr. Cui. Both of them looked shocked.
They knew that Mr. Bai's identity was not simple, and they also knew that Mr. Bai had close ties with the southeast, but they could never have imagined that Mr. Bai was actually the famous Mr. Bai Qi.
That was Bai Qiye! Rumor has it that he occupied several islands overseas and led a group of pirates who had surrendered to him to rob ships at sea. Later, when the imperial court banned sea voyages, he simply led his people to serve as the vanguard for the Japanese, leading them to harass the coast.
To this day, people in Guangdong can't help but grit their teeth when they mention Bai Qiye - he would do anything to achieve his goals, and the most outrageous thing he did was that he once threw a mother's child to death in front of her, in order to force the mother to fawn on the Japanese.
Even Princess Fenyang, knowing the true identity of Master Bai Qi, still felt extremely disgusted.
Mr. Bai Qi looked normal, as if the secret of his identity mentioned by Mr. Cui San was just a trivial matter. He was in the mood to take a sip of tea and taste it with a smile: "Well, this Mingqian Longjing is really good. Come and try it. It's quite interesting."
Third Master Cui also smiled, raised his cup and took a sip, then shook his head slowly: "It is indeed quite interesting. Seventh Master, you are a man who has seen the world. If you say something is good, then it must be good."
Master Bai Qi put down the tea in his hand and looked at Master Cui San carefully: "Master Cui San is really well-informed. I wonder what Master Cui wants to do now that he knows my identity?"
"Look at what you said." Master Cui San smiled and poured him tea. He looked at him without changing his expression and said, "Since I am here, it naturally shows my sincerity. Now that Lord Xu is gone from the court, no matter how capable you are, and no matter how capable the Southeast is, you must be in trouble, right? What can I mean? Of course, it means that we should work together and plan for great things."
If you want to cooperate with others, you must have enough bargaining chips.
Mr. Cui Sanye never fights a battle he is not sure of winning.