Chapter 414 The next target is Xiling

Bai Mansion, study.

Bai Kui sat in an armchair behind the desk.

The walls are filled with books, specially arranged on precious yellow pear wood bookshelves.

The inkstone, pen holder, ink box and other items in the study are all valuable.

It makes the old father's smile seem even less valuable.

"Butler, bring up the young master's favorite tea and desserts!" Bai Kui ordered, leaning forward slightly with his elbows on the desk. "Son, did you enjoy your trip to Yuzhou? Tell me about what's going on there?"

Bai Yu sat across from the desk, half of his body leaning against it with one hand supporting his chin. He was in a lazy mood after returning home. "How could I hide what I did outside from you? Do I need to tell you again?"

"Tsk! How can what I heard from others be the same as what my son said in person? Come on, tell me and make dad happy!"

"After the flood, the government did nothing, and grain merchants manipulated rice prices, leaving only the poor people to suffer. I used hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to set up a scheme, tricking Yuzhou grain merchants into transferring grain from other places on a large scale. Grain merchants have been doing this business for years, even decades, and no one has better channels and capabilities for transferring grain than them. This not only temporarily alleviates the people's urgent needs, but also centralizes grain from all over Yuzhou, paving the way for disaster relief. Once Wei Li arrives, we can close the net with force. I used Wangque Tower to send a message to Changjing, and Wei Li arrived earlier than the government expected, not giving them time to eliminate evidence and clear the traces of their crimes. The result was naturally logical."

Because of the timely disaster relief, the final calculated losses from the flood in Yuzhou were extremely small.

After the young man finished speaking, Bai Kui's expression became strange, a little disbelieving, "Son, did you take the wrong medicine? How come you're a different person after going out? If I asked you to say this in the past, you would at most roll your eyes at me!"

Bai Yu glanced at the white hair that had sprouted from the man's temples at some point, and rolled his eyes at him as he wished. "Do you feel a sense of familiarity now?"

"That's not necessary. How much did you earn?"

"Three hundred thousand, scraped out from Wei Li's teeth."

"Next time, spend twice as much! And earn twice as much!"

"There must be so many fools who are just as stupid, old man, don't be too greedy."

Bai Kui was used to being teased by his son, but he was not affected at all and smiled with his white teeth dazzling.

His son is his son!

Smart! Awesome! Very likable!

He invested more than 900,000 yuan and got back 30% profit. He didn't spend a penny and earned a good reputation, making the local people grateful. The father can't catch up with the son, hahaha!

Those unlucky people in Yuzhou deserved their loss. The people suffered, their food and money were all taken out of their pockets, they were scolded and scared... Who made them meet Bai Kui's son?

"Butler, bring another pot of good wine!"

The old butler happily served tea, wine, and snacks, his face beaming with a smile that stretched to every inch. "Master, your room has been spotlessly clean. I've changed the bedding and lit the heater. Master, you've been so tired from the journey. After you have your tea, take a rest! I've also asked the kitchen to prepare hot water for your bath!"

"No hurry." Bai Yu pinched a piece of date cake and stuffed it into the old housekeeper's mouth. He stood up and walked to the other side of the study. There was a huge sand table, which was still the same as when he left.

The small flag is still planted at the Dongpu position.

"Old man, I met a strange man on the Shu Road this time. He's from Yunqin, his name is Mo Liren. He looked at me rather strangely." Bai Yu suddenly spoke, taking the small flag from Dongpu's position and flipping it casually between his fingers. "Yunqin is affiliated with Xiling. I suspect he acted under Xiling's orders this time."

Bai Kui smiled and poured a glass of wine, sipped it with narrowed eyes, "Dad doesn't know about these things. Dad is just a businessman. As long as I can make money, it's fine. Those things about countries give Dad a headache when he hears them."

From behind, his son's voice drifted over, "Dongpu has been taken down, and signs of chaos are emerging in the various kingdoms... Let's go to Xiling."

"Puff--" Bai Kui spit out a mouthful of wine, turned his head with his eyes wide open, and watched with his own eyes as his son inserted the small flag into Xiling's head.

Bai Kui's hands were shaking, and the wine in the glass kept spilling out.

"Dad, why are you suddenly frightened?" The young man turned around, his peach blossom eyes curved, and his smile had a frightening taste.

Bai Kui immediately put on a serious expression, "Nonsense! Your father has seen a lot of storms and waves, so how could we be scared? It's just that the taste of this wine is not right, it's unbearable. Butler, change it for me, a stronger one!"

The old housekeeper, “…”

This is the only kind of strong liquor in the mansion. Apart from this, the rest are sweet wine.

The head of the family is so angry that he is confused, right?

The flag was hoisted, and the teasing of his father was almost over. Bai Yu patted his butt and walked away leisurely. "I'm going to take a bath, and then go to Wangque Tower to see my godfather. Butler, collect the old man's wine and replace it with tea. Don't let him drink too much at his age."

Bai Kui had a gloomy face.

The son suddenly became filial.

But he was not very happy.

Who is old?

After his son left, Bai Kui took three or two steps to the sand table, carefully took down the flag on Xiling's head and put it back in the position of Dongpu.

After a moment of silence, he planted the flag back into Xiling and let out a very low sigh.

…

Lantern Festival.

The three forces gathered in Tubei Village to join in the fun and celebrate the festival with the bearded man.

They squeezed into the main hall of the Su family, roasting by the fire and eating rice cakes brought back from Yuzhou. Except for Bai Xiaofeng, the other two leaders bit the cakes with ferocious looks on their faces.

"Brother Su, is this the New Year's specialty of your hometown? It's as hard as stone, which is especially challenging for teeth!" Bai Kui bit off a corner of the rice cake that was half the size of his palm with all his strength and felt his teeth shaking a little.

The bearded man had already gnawed two, his teeth aching. "It's really hard. It's strange that I can't stop eating it."

Old Man Su was happy. "Rice cakes here are just like this. They're hard, but the more you chew them, the more delicious they become. If you add some sesame seeds and oil residue, hey! It's even more delicious!"

Old Lady Su sat beside her, knitting slippers. She pricked her hair with the embroidery needle twice and smiled, "Rice cakes are only made once a year, during the New Year. If they're soft and chewy, the kids will eat them all in a few days. But if we make them harder like this, and give one to a kid, he'll chew it for half a day. It'll satisfy his cravings and keep him eating for a long time. It's like saving good stuff."

Su Da had something to say, "When we were kids, we couldn't chew this thing. We had to find a stone to break it into small pieces and then put them in our mouths to eat slowly. It really broke our teeth when we bit it that way!"

Su Er took a rice cake from the basket beside him, placed it on the tongs, and toasted it near the brazier. "If you're worried about breaking your teeth, there's another way to eat it. Put the rice cake on the fire and toast it. It will soften a lot when it's warm. But when I was a kid, my parents wouldn't let me eat it like this because they were afraid I'd eat it too fast, hahaha!"

Looking at the rice cakes, I naturally think of my hometown which I left more than ten years ago.

and relatives who stayed in their hometown.

Liu Yuelan and He Daxiang didn't say anything. They both lowered their heads to warm themselves by the fire, and the tips of their noses were a little red.

How could I not miss home?

After listening to Tianbao and the others talk about the situation of the two families, the two women felt overwhelmed by guilt.