77 Chapter 77
◎No matter what he did, his sister-in-law would accept him◎
On New Year's Eve, all the escorts from Wuwei Escort Agency came to have a family reunion dinner, and several tables were set up in the martial arts hall.
Cheng Mu was ill and couldn't go, so Nanny Zhu brought her some peach soup, which was meant to drive away evil spirits. Cheng Mu drank two sips.
Wu Zhi was slightly injured, so Wu Tao used this as an excuse to not let him come and had someone guard the gate of Qingyuan Courtyard.
As the son of the head of the family and a captain returning from the battlefield, Mu Yun was often approached by people to toast and chat. The room was packed. After three rounds of drinks, Wu Tao left. Every year, she set aside time to commemorate the deceased and stay up all night alone.
The escorts received their wages, and after eating and drinking their fill, they went home. Wu Tao asked the river manager to take care of the rest.
As more and more escorts left, the excitement gradually faded away, and Mu Yun also got a little tipsy.
At this moment, the bodyguards led by Wu Zhi came into the hall and surrounded the table where Mu Yun was sitting. The whole room suddenly became quiet.
Wu Zhi came in from outside and sneered in dissatisfaction, "The Wuwei Escort Agency is well-known in Yanbei, but that's all thanks to the big boss. The current young boss is not a good person. We have come from far away, but we haven't been given any banquets or drinks at the end of the year. This is how you treat your companions!"
Wu Tao specially prepared a table for the people from Ruzhou in Qingyuan Courtyard, but Wu Zhi was not happy with the meal and could not get over it. He tried to persuade several escorts, first by provoking their anger with words of neglect, and then by threatening them that if they did not regard him as the boss, he could still fire them. He also said that anyone who showed support for him today would be rewarded.
He finally managed to win over the escorts, subdue the servants in front of the yard, and rushed to the martial arts hall.
Mu Yun remained calm and ignored him. He Guanshi shouted, "What do you want to do? Make trouble in front of the boss?"
Wu Zhi's escort was startled awake by the shouting and hurriedly said with a smile, "Master Zhi is upset and wants to talk to Master Yun. Please don't blame us, Manager He. We are only following orders and will not bully the weak with our numbers."
The escorts at the banquet had heard about the conflict and knew that the attackers were up to no good. The escorts were strong and had some kung fu skills. Since their profession always valued peace, they all came to mediate.
Mu Yun had punched Wu Zhi so hard that his nose was crooked and his eyes were swollen. Now he was determined to get back at him. "The sixth-rank lieutenant appointed by the emperor is a coward! Do you dare to fight me? Let us be witnesses."
The escorts came to persuade him again, saying that today was a day of peace and harmony and not to fight or bleed.
This hit Wu Zhi's sore spot. Why didn't Mu Yun choose a day to beat him? He had to get revenge today. He wanted to take revenge this year. If he waited until tomorrow, it would be a whole year.
"Since you want to see who has the best martial arts skills, well, please ask all the bodyguards to be witnesses." Mu Yun finally spoke. Manager He felt that things were going to get out of hand, so he quickly winked at the servant on the side, and the servant left.
Mu Yun: "If you don't use your gun or sword, you might get hurt. It could be disabling at best or fatal at worst."
Yes, yes, the escorts nodded.
"How about a literary duel in your own home?"
"How about a literary duel?" Wu Zhi didn't know what he meant. Writing poetry?
Mu Yun asked a bodyguard to bring him a pen and paper from the table by the wall. His eyes flashed sharply, "Sign a life and death agreement before the competition. Do you dare?"
The escorts were shocked. Wu Zhi was secretly delighted. Mu Yun had hit the nail on the head. He was small but had great ambition. He could take the other person's life. What a great temptation!
"Compete with all your strength, don't worry about injuries, rely on your ability, don't worry about life or death."
"Good. You have guts." Mu Yun quickly wrote the document and pressed Wu Zhi's fingerprint. Wu Zhi bit his fingertip and pressed the bloody seal, and Mu Yun also pressed it.
"No! No!" Manager He was anxious.
Two of Wu Zhi's bodyguards held him down, while four carried a table to clear the area. The bodyguards who were in a hurry did not leave either.
The servant sent away by the river manager ran away with smoke in his nose and reported the matter of the martial arts hall to Wu Tao.
"It never ends." Wu Tao was annoyed, but he had to go and take care of it.
At first, the two of them fought back and forth, and the escorts cheered. But in a blink of an eye, the situation reversed, and when Wu Tao arrived, the escorts were shocked.
In the martial arts hall, the only sounds were Wu Zhi's earth-shaking wails and the fierce roars of He Guanjia.
"Go get a doctor!"
Wu Zhi was carried back to Qingyuan Courtyard, and Wu Tao got very angry.
Mu Yun held the life and death certificate in his hand, looking calm.
This is destined to be an uneasy New Year's Eve.
Cheng Mu heard what happened at the reunion dinner and also knew the conclusion of the doctor's diagnosis. She tried not to sleep, but she couldn't hold on any longer in the second half of the night and dozed off. When she woke up again, Mu Yun had not returned yet.
At ten minutes past five in the morning, Cheng Mu got dressed, put on her cloak, and went to pay New Year's greetings to Wu Tao.
"Madam Cheng, it's still early," Nanny Zhu advised. "You're still sick, and even if you don't go, the headmaster won't say anything."
"Thanks to the boss, I'm much better now. It's only right that I get up early to pay New Year's greetings."
Mu Yun was too harsh, and it might be difficult for the boss to pass this test. Cheng Mu was anxious to find out the situation.
Nanny Zhu held a lantern to lead the way, while Cheng Mu wrapped her cloak tightly around her.
After walking for a quarter of an hour, Nanny Zhu said they had arrived.
The lights in Wu Tao's yard were still on, and the lanterns under the eaves were swaying in the morning breeze. When he entered the house, a gust of hot air hit him in the face, mixed with the fragrance of plum blossoms.
After warming it for a while, Nanny Zhu took the cloak that Cheng Mei had taken off.
The nanny in Wu Tao's room whispered in her ear that Madam Cheng was here.
Wu Tao was dozing off at the table in the living room. He looked tired and it was obvious that he had been sitting there all night.
After exchanging greetings and wishing a happy new year, Cheng Mu brought up what happened last night. She hoped Wu Tao would show leniency to Mu Yun and that she would compensate him, whether with gifts or money. She had already prepared two ginseng sticks.
"Madam Cheng, you don't need to take the lead in this matter."
Last night, Wu Tao got angry and took Mu Yun to his father's tablet to reflect on his mistakes. Mu Yun refused to accept, so Wu Tao stood at the door and said stubbornly, "You are not Aibi. Defeat me and step off me!"
She stayed outside all night, forcing Mu Yun to reflect on his mistakes in front of his father's tablet.
"Even though he has made great progress, if he becomes cunning and ruthless, scheming against everyone, it will be a waste of his father's hard work."
Wu Tao knew that Mu Yun was doing this on purpose, waiting for Wu Zhi to fall into his trap. Being too clever was bound to lead to mistakes, and this was what hurt her most, as she could have found a more gentle solution.
People who run escort agencies are most afraid of getting into fights with others.
Wu Tao's face was gloomy as he stared at the pot of acacia plum on the table, with a deep wrinkle between his brows.
"The boss is worried, but he would only be like this if he truly wants Mu Yun to be well. Why don't you let me scold him? He might listen to me more."
Wu Tao closed his eyes and said, "You can take him away."
With Wu Tao's approval, the nanny opened the door to one side, revealing a tablet in the inner room. Cheng Mu assumed the Wu family had another ancestral hall, but she didn't expect it to be right next to her. Wu Tao's placement of her late husband's tablet in the inner room showed her deep love for him.
Mu Yun was sitting on the cushion in the inner room.
He knew when Cheng Mu came, and he listened attentively as Cheng Mu pleaded for him.
No matter what he did, his sister-in-law would accept him.
When he thought that there was such a place in the world, his heart felt warm.
The sky was getting brighter and brighter, and many people would come to pay New Year's greetings soon. The head of the escort agency still had a lot of things to do. "You don't need to show up to take care of the escort agency's guests these days." Wu Tao asked Cheng Mu to take Mu Yun back to the courtyard, and asked him to take the acacia plums on the table away.
Not long after Mu Yun's mother died, his father went out and found a acacia plum tree on a cliff. He planned to transplant it in front of his mother's grave, but he accidentally fell off the cliff and died.
His father died suddenly and without any signs. Wu Tao suspected that someone was seeking revenge, but after investigating, she found no clues.
This year, all the acacia trees planted in front of the grave were frozen to death. Wu Tao transplanted branches, but only this one survived.
She gave the Acacia plum to Mu Yun, which meant that she no longer cared about it and was afraid that she could not fulfill her late husband's last wish.
They walked in silence all the way back to their yard.
Cheng Mu asked Mu Yun to catch up on some sleep first and consoled him, "Brothers quarreling with each other will make the head of either family angry. Besides, you've hurt her uncle and nephew. You don't have to take her harsh words to heart."
Mu Yun didn't care what Wu Tao thought: "Wu Zhi should be thankful that he is her nephew, otherwise he would have died countless times."
Cheng Mu frowned, "Let's talk after you've rested."
When he first met Mu Yun, he stole one of her gold hairpins, exchanged it for ten taels of silver, and spent nine cents.
He hired someone to invite Wu Zhi and his lackeys to tea, and put a knockout drug in the tea. At that time, Wu Zhi was small and weak, so he could only use the effect of the drug to hold him back, and took the opportunity to break Wu Zhi's legs with a few clubs.
In order to escape better, he had no choice but to disguise himself as a girl. While wandering on the street, he was dragged back to Cheng Mi by Zhou Mao by accident.
Now he no longer needs to use any tricks or schemes to break Wu Zhi's leg; he can do it with his bare hands.
The person who provoked was Wu Zhi. With so many witnesses, he was just going with the flow. Wu Zhi's broken leg was his own fault. The life and death agreement he signed is here, so who can he blame?
Cheng Mu also thought Wu Zhi was hateful and that a broken leg was not a big deal. What she cared about were Mu Yun and Wu Tao.
Although Wu Tao did not show any preference for him, everyone has their own personality. Wu Tao is in charge of a huge family business and has the same temper as men. After hearing her words, she was afraid that Mu Yun's temper would go astray. He has always been strict, so she thought more deeply.
However, both of these people are hot-tempered and will only respond to soft words and not harsh ones. If she wants to mend their relationship, she will have to mediate.
In the past few days, Wu Tao was busy with the affairs of the escort agency, and Mu Yun went out frequently, saying that he was going to find the escort Liang who had accompanied his father at that time, the doctor Yan who had treated his father, and Hei Shan who had opened a tea shop at the foot of the mountain.
He was more eager than before and seemed to want a result immediately.
Cheng Mu's pulse was checked twice and the medicine she took was changed twice. Now she is basically recovered.
When the acacia that Wu Tao gave her bloomed, it had formed capsules after artificial pollination. When she shook it gently, she could hear the sound of the seeds.
Cheng Xi crushed the fruit shells and put the collected seeds into the space to plant.
The acacia plum that Mu Yun's father exchanged his life for was used to commemorate Mu Yun's mother. Why did Wu Tao keep growing it?
There are many seeds that she has selected and bred during this period in the space. Cheng Mu thought of Huang Nian'an, who said he would come to visit the patient but never came. She had something important to tell him, so she asked Wu Tao to take the letter to him.
As soon as the letter was sent out, Lord Huang came to visit soon, and Wu Tao arranged a warm room for them to discuss the matter.
He asked about her condition, and she asked about the disaster situation and general affairs inside and outside the city. With concern, Cheng Mu told Lord Huang about her guess.
"Little Ice Age?" Huang Nian'an had never encountered this term before. "What does it mean?"
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