Chapter 62: Wu Baichuan 3/3

Li Qingzhi thought it was better for Jin Xiaoye to explore on her own.

Seeing Jin Xiaoye worried, Li Qingzhi said, “Boss Wu should be fine… How about this, when the Chamber of Commerce selects a new chairman in a few days, I’ll help you ask him.” In this era, helping fellow villagers was particularly common, and merchants from the same place often cooperated in business.

The businessmen in Chongcheng County had established a Chamber of Commerce together.

This association is relatively loose, with minimal constraints on the merchants, and the position of chairman is usually held by a merchant with influence in Chongcheng County.

The current chairman of the association is a good friend of Sun Juren and has a close relationship with Zhang Yunquan.

So not only is there collusion between officials and businessmen, but also involvement with the underworld!

Due to his close relationship with Zhang Yunquan, he was significantly affected after Zhang Yunquan got into trouble, and other businessmen in the association didn’t want him to continue as chairman.

Zhu Qian is currently rallying local businessmen to strive for the position of the new chairman. If he succeeds, he stands to gain immense benefits!

And County Magistrate Gou will spare no effort to support Zhu Qian. If Zhu Qian becomes chairman of the association, it will be much easier for the county magistrate to solicit donations from these businessmen.

Therefore, the County Magistrate will participate in the election for the new chairman of the association.

The County Magistrate also plans to bring up the issue of building the dock at the meeting… He specifically sent someone to invite Li Qingzhi to go together.

“Alright,” Jin Xiaoye agreed, somewhat eager, “The association… I wonder if I have a chance to join.”

“You definitely have a chance,” Li Qingzhi smiled. Jin Xiaoye was intelligent, capable, and proactive. When she set her mind to something, she would surely succeed.

“Why do you have so much confidence in me?” Jin Xiaoye asked puzzled.

Li Qingzhi replied earnestly, “You’re so capable, how could I not have confidence in you?”

Li Qingzhi’s sincere expression while speaking made Jin Xiaoye lean in and kiss him lightly, “You speak so nicely!”

Li Qingzhi hugged Jin Xiaoye and kissed her neck softly, “Xiaoye…” His voice was hoarse, and at that moment, he truly wanted to do something.

However, Jin Xiaoye took control and hugged him back, restraining his actions, “Don’t overthink it. It takes a hundred days to recover from tendon and bone injuries, and it’s only been two months since you injured your arm!”

Li Qingzhi said, “…My arm really has healed.”

“Let’s take it slow… how about this, after Mr. Wu’s goods are all taken away, you can do whatever you want.” Jin Xiaoye suggested.

While sleeping with Li Qingzhi every day, Jin Xiaoye also had her own thoughts.

Actually, if it weren’t for Li Qingzhi’s injured arm, Jin Xiaoye felt that they would have done something together long ago.

But… even a child under ten years old could break Li Qingzhi’s arm, and Jin Xiaoye really didn’t dare to let him overexert himself.

During this time, Jin Xiaoye increasingly realized that while Li Qingzhi’s mind was very sharp, his body… why couldn’t Li Qingzhi gain weight?

“Xiaoye, you said it yourself!” Li Qingzhi’s eyes lit up.

The agreed time for Shopkeeper Wu to pick up the goods was the end of this month, which was still over ten days away. Jin Xiaoye had already prepared the goods.

In three days, there would be the election for the chairman of the association. Since Wu Baichuan hadn’t left Chongcheng County, he would definitely attend. Li Qingzhi wanted to talk to him and urge him to pick up the goods quickly.

He had never had a partner in his past life, and now that he finally had a wife, he couldn’t make a move. It was quite difficult!

As for Jin Xiaoye worrying about his health… his body was really fine. The reason he hadn’t gained weight was mainly due to the consumption of energy from his abilities and mental labor.

Jin Xiaoye was uneasy because Wu Baichuan hadn’t come to inspect the goods. In fact, Wu Baichuan didn’t come because he felt embarrassed.

The rules of the Chongcheng County Association were not many, but they required businessmen to be trustworthy, especially not to deceive fellow villagers. Anyone who did such things would be scorned by other businessmen in Chongcheng County.

Wu Baichuan was able to expand his business because of his good reputation.

But now, he was going to deceive a young woman…

Another point was… Wu Baichuan had traveled extensively and had sharp eyes. He felt that what Hong Hui intended to do wasn’t just breaking a contract.

If he only broke the contract, it would indeed affect Jin Xiaoye, but not significantly. However, if something happened to the goods after Jin Xiaoye had prepared everything, like a fire, that would be a major blow to her.

As for why Hong Hui didn’t use this method directly and instead came to him first… Hong Hui had been quite polite when they first met. It seemed he didn’t want him to pursue this matter.

If Hong Hui didn’t say anything and something happened to the goods Jin Xiaoye had, he would definitely think it was directed at him and would send people to investigate.

Jin Xiaoye was really unlucky to have caught Hong Hui’s attention, but there was nothing he could do about it.

A lot had happened in Chongcheng County recently, and he was quite afraid, afraid that he would be implicated.

The former chairman of the association was very bad, and even condoned Zhang Yunquan’s extortion… Wu Baichuan had already decided to stand by Zhu Qian’s side and establish a good relationship with County Magistrate Gou.

With these thoughts in mind, Wu Baichuan began to think about what gift to give to County Magistrate Gou. These literati liked calligraphy, paintings, and ancient books, so he needed to figure out how to obtain some.

There were quite a few people like Wu Baichuan who thought this way. If County Magistrate Gou knew about their intentions, he would definitely want to stop them.

He was a vulgar person who didn’t particularly like calligraphy and paintings, but preferred real money…

The day before the election for the chairman of the association, Li Qingzhi went to the county seat.

He planned to visit Li Xiucai and ask for his guidance. Although County Magistrate Gou was willing to advise him, he was very busy, so it was better not to disturb him.

Moreover, knowledgeable people might not necessarily be good at teaching others, something Li Qingzhi had realized in his past life.

For example, the girl in their class who wrote exceptionally well in compositions… She could naturally write well without ever researching writing techniques. When others asked her for tips on writing good compositions, she couldn’t really explain it.

Although County Magistrate Gou was only a Jinshi, in every imperial examination of Daqi, only two to three hundred people were accepted, and the imperial examination was held every three years!

Compared to him, someone like Li Xiucai, with teaching experience, was better at instructing others.

Because recently, Li Laogen had been going to the county seat to drink tea every day, when Li Qingzhi went out, he took the three children with him.

They hadn’t eaten yet and planned to eat noodles together at a noodle shop.

Li Laogen had been saying how delicious noodles were every day at home, making Li Damao and Li Ermao crave them.

Last time Li Qingzhi treated everyone to noodles, they had shredded pork noodles, but this time he splurged a bit and treated them to more expensive noodles.

Jin Xiaoshu ordered pork liver noodles for six cents, Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye ordered grass carp noodles for seven cents, and the three children ordered mixed seafood noodles for seven cents.

The noodles were cooked on the spot, so they had to wait for a while. As they were waiting, they saw a middle-aged man coming in from outside and saying to the shopkeeper, “Give me a bowl of eel and kidney noodles.”

The so-called eel and kidney noodles had eel and pig kidneys as toppings, both of which were expensive, so a bowl of noodles cost eighteen wen.

The middle-aged man ordered the noodles and was looking for a place to sit when he saw Jin Xiaoye.

Jin Xiaoye smiled at him, “Shopkeeper Wu, are you here for noodles too?”

Wu Baichuan: “…”