Juhai Manor fell completely silent. Everyone was cautious and nervous. Even the prostitutes in the building did not dare to laugh or yell freely anymore. Aunt Bai clutched the cup in her hand in fear. She jumped in shock when she heard a muffled creaking sound coming from outside.
When Lai's mother saw her like this when she entered the room, she couldn't help but shook her head: "Are you so scared? I see that you have lost at least ten pounds in the past month, and your clothes look empty."
Seeing that it was Lai Mama, Aunt Bai finally let go of her worries. She looked at the candlelight in front of her with a pale face and shuddered fiercely: "You make it sound so easy, how can I not worry? Who is that? That's Shen Hai's daughter! When we were at the Xu family, you knew how those people worshipped her like a bodhisattva. I was blind and didn't recognize this little ancestor. Who would have thought that this little ancestor would be brought here by one of our own?! I really didn't recognize her..."
Seeing how frightened she was, Lai's mother felt a little sorry for her and hurried to comfort her: "Don't worry too much, isn't everything okay now? Maybe we can get away with it, and it's none of our business. Looking at what Master Qi is doing, it's clear that he wants to distance himself from this matter and doesn't want people to know what happened here. If that's the case, it's naturally impossible for him to use you as a scapegoat, otherwise he won't be able to get away with it either, right?"
The two of them have been working together since they entered the mansion, and have been together for decades now. Their relationship is no different from that of real sisters. Mother Lai also comforted her sincerely, fearing that she would think too much.
But Aunt Bai couldn't really let it go as she said. She smiled bitterly, feeling quite self-pitying. "It's not that simple. It's not a kitten or a puppy that was lost. Shen Yaoniang was like a princess when she was in the Xu family. No one could go against her will. Even Lord Xu always responded to her requests. The sisters at home all gave in to her. Why is it so? Don't we know it? People have said that she is the youngest in the family. Why didn't Shen Hai take her out to sea? It was because he wanted her to be a lady of an official family and not have to drift on the sea. Shen Hai valued this daughter so much that everyone regarded her as the apple of his eye. Now that the eye has been in trouble, how could Shen Hai not investigate it?"
Once Shen Hai gets to the bottom of the matter, the Xu family and even the entire southeast area will be in chaos.
If the fire in the city gate happens, everyone in the pond will be affected, and she might be in trouble soon.
Mother Lai didn't know what to say and just sighed deeply.
Mrs. Bai became even more pessimistic and sad. Her heart sank to the bottom of the valley. She couldn't help crying out: "I am so unlucky. How could I encounter such a thing?"
As I was crying, there was a knock on the door.
Mrs. Bai's crying stopped abruptly. Mother Lai glanced at her, walked quickly to the door and opened it. After a while, Mother Lai closed the door and turned to look at Mrs. Bai with a serious expression. She pursed her lips and said, "Seventh Master left. He said he went to Quanzhou."
Why are you going to Quanzhou for no reason
Aunt Bai stopped crying and looked at Mother Lai nervously: "Going to Quanzhou at this time?"
Mother Lai was also full of doubts, but seeing Aunt Bai's expression, she sighed softly, "Forget it. Master Qi was so frightened in front of you. Now that he's gone, you can stop worrying. Don't worry about anything. Just relax and rest for a few days."
Otherwise, I would really be dying.
Aunt Bai felt a sharp pain on her forehead and always felt that things were not that simple. But there was nothing she could do now and she could only smile bitterly and nod.
Mr. Bai Qi was so anxious that his mouth was full of blisters. Even drinking water was painful for him. He didn't have time to think about Aunt Bai's problem. The batch of goods from Quanzhou was of vital importance to them. Now that something went wrong, they must be going crazy with anxiety.
When he hurried to Quanzhou, it was already seven days later. Upon hearing the news, the people who had been waiting to pick him up at the dock came up to him and asked him to go to the villa to rest first.
Master Bai Qi, however, had no intention of thinking about it at all. He immediately raised his hand to interrupt him: "Stop talking nonsense. What happened? Tell me exactly how much was burned."
The people below all knew his temper, so they didn't dare to say anything more and led Master Bai Qi to the boat.
Seeing the burned ships, Master Bai Qi's eyes became gloomy and he was filled with tremendous anger.
The cost of these ships and these goods is more than one million taels of silver. If they are sold, the profit can be at least three times or even more.
But now, all the efforts have gone down the drain.
He clenched his fists tightly, resisted the urge to explode in anger, turned around and coldly asked the captain who had already knelt on the ground: "What are you doing? Don't you know how deadly these things are? How did the news leak out?!"
Where these ships are parked, what is on them, and how many people are guarding them are all secrets.
If someone hadn't leaked the information, no matter how powerful the Japanese were, they would not have been able to avoid the supervision and burn so many ships silently, and burn the useful goods so accurately.
The captain of the ship was already so scared that he was about to wet his pants. When he heard Master Bai Qi's question, he immediately burst into tears and sweat: "Master Qi, we really haven't leaked the news. Who can contact people who go out to sea without their lives and property relying on these things? How dare we?! Besides..."
He bravely looked up at Master Bai Qi: "Besides, Master Qi, it's not just our people who know these secrets. If nothing happened to our people, could it be..."
His meaning was already very clear.
It's not their own fault, but the problem lies with the people who are responsible for escorting them at sea. In the past, if these goods were to go out to sea, they had to say hello to the pirates at sea. With their help, these ships could go to their destination smoothly.
If they leaked the news, it would explain why it was the Japanese who came to burn the ships.
Those pirates already had a lot of Japanese people as their captives.
Master Bai Qi immediately looked at the captain with a gleam of lightning in his eyes: "Are you saying that it was someone sent by Shen Hai to do this?"
He was in a very bad mood. He had thought about it countless times in his mind before coming. It must be said that the captain's guess was also his guess.
But if it was really Shen Hai who did it, then things would be really bad----for no reason, how could Shen Hai cut off his own financial resources? Unless Shen Hai already knew about Shen Yaoniang's affairs, this was declaring war on Dongnan and completely breaking off relations with Dongnan.
If this is true, then things will be in real trouble.
He closed his eyes: "What do the authorities say?"