Translator: Guy Gone Bad
Wu Ruo and Wu Qianqqing came to the hall and heard laughter in the room. But when they walked into the hall, the laughter immediately stopped and it became kind of awkward. But soon it went back to normal as if the laughter never existed.“There you are, Qianqing.” Wu Qianjing laughed, “it"s such a surprise to see you here, Ruo.”
Wu Ruo greeted his grandfather and uncles and smiled, “I am here to visit my great-grandfather.”
He then said to his grandfather Wu Xuanran, “I am planning to visit you after great-grandfather. Never expected you are also here.”
“It"s good that you have the heart.” Wu Xuanran said calmly.
Wu Qianqing frowned as his own father was indifferent to his son, “I a.s.sumed that grandfather only wants to see me.”
Wu Qianbin smiled, “I also thought grandfather only wanted to see me alone before I got here. To my surprise, he wants to see us all. It"s about New Year. I am guessing that he wants to know how the business has being going on in the South Yard during these yras. I was told that the other three courtyards have already reported their business operation.”
Wu Qianqing nodded.
Wu Qianbin exchanged an eye contact with his other brothers and said no more.
Soon Wu Bufang came to the hall and said after he sat down, “I remember that South Yard is taking care of the city"s security this year. Is it correct?”
“Yes.” Wu Xuanran answered.
Wu Bufang"s face sunk, “What happened when the drama building was smashed into pieces a few days ago? Have you found out who did it?”
The first thing came into Wu Ruo"s mind was Hei Xuanyi.
Wu Xuanran and his other four brothers looked extremely embarra.s.sed.
Wu Xuanran said, “The shopkeeper and pa.s.sers-by said it was some ghosts who did it. Our people got it investigated and found no trace of ghosts at all.”
“Don"t you feel shameful to say that?” Wu Bufang was outraged, “The ghosts sneaked into the town and you didn"t even notice it. Do you think the fellow citizens will entrust their lives in our hands, our Wu family? Do you think they will still pay for our protection? Do you have any idea that it is a major source of our income?”
Wu Xuanran, Wu Qianjing and others even dared not make a sound.
Wu Bufang took a deep breath and said, “You have three months to find out about the group of troublemaking ghosts. And you need to pay for rebuilding the drama building.”
No one dared to object.
Wu Bufang"s anger was reduced, “Now tell me your business operation in the past year.”
Wu Qianjing handed the account book of the South Courtyard to Wu Bufang and reported the yearly business. Then he added, “Grandpa, after New Year, a few kids are going to take examinations and go out for training. But they need materials to make magical weapons. We can"t gather these materials in such a short time. Therefore, I am thinking whether they can borrow some from those who don"t need materials for now. When they get back from training, they can return the same materials to them. What do you think?”
They were actually coming after those materials among his gifts. Wu Ruo looked downwards to hide the coldness in his eyes. They only knew to say some nice words. When they said they would return the same materials, would they really do so? Did they mean that they wouldn"t have to return if they could not find the same materials?
Or did they get so shameless because they were pretty sure that he wouldn"t insist them returning the materials?
Wu Bufang smiled, “The other courtyards also mentioned it before. If everyone agrees, it would be fine by me. But I have to make it very clear that you have to return materials once you are asked to. Otherwise, you wouldn"t be any longer one of our family members. Get it?”
“Sure.” Wu Qianjing promised, “Grandpa, I promise you that it won"t happen ever again.”
Wu Bufang asked the others, “Do you all agree with him?”
Wu Xuanran, Wu Qiantong, Wu Qianbin and Wu Qianli nodded.
Wu Bufang asked Wu Qianqing who didn"t nod nor said he agreed, “Qianqing, you don"t agree?”
When Wu Qianqing frowned a bit and was figuring an answer, Wu Bufang asked Wu Ruo instead, “Ruo, what do you think of your uncle"s idea?”