Chapter 78: Dealing with Meng Chengwei

Previously, when he sent someone to inquire in the capital, the higher-ups only said to summon Meng Chengwei and give him a warning. After all, Meng Chengwei causing trouble in Lin’an was disrespectful to Qi Zhipei.

If Meng Chengwei had a good attitude, they would let him go, requiring only that he leave Lin’an and stop targeting the Ye family. There was no need to imprison him. It wasn’t worth antagonizing the faction behind the Meng family over a small Ye family.

However, if Meng Chengwei remained obstinate and disrespectful to Qi Zhipei, Qi Zhipei wouldn’t let him off easily. He would imprison him for a couple of days until he begged for mercy and offered some benefits before releasing him.

As for whether Meng Chengwei would retaliate against the Ye family after leaving Lin’an, as long as it didn’t cause major trouble or affect the tea trade in Lin’an, Qi Zhipei wouldn’t intervene further.

But things were different now that Lu Guanyi wanted to cooperate with the Ye family.

In the capital, the Lu family and the Qi family were neighbors. Lu Guanyi’s grandfather, the old Marquis Lu, and Qi Zhipei’s father, the old Master Qi, were good friends who often played chess and went on outings together. The two children grew up playing together.

When the old Marquis and his wife were still alive, Lu Guanyi lived with his grandparents and had a good life. To secure Lu Guanyi’s future, the old Marquis even planned for him to befriend the Crown Prince. However, after the old Marquis and his wife passed away, the Marquis of Xuanwu was stationed at the border and didn’t care much for his eldest son. At the age of thirteen or fourteen, Lu Guanyi was oppressed by his stepmother, making his situation difficult.

Fortunately, Lu Guanyi was clever and used the Crown Prince’s influence to counter his stepmother. After coming of age, he began working for the Crown Prince.

Thinking about Lu Guanyi’s competence and maturity, and comparing him to his own foolish son, Qi Zhipei couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile. Being able to leverage Qi Ji’s relationship with Lu Guanyi to connect with the Crown Prince’s faction was beneficial for their own faction. His son was indeed fortunate in his foolishness.

Although the Qi family was not a military noble family, they were a family of civil officials. Usually, Qi Zhipei wouldn’t go out of his way to support Lu Guanyi. However, since Lu Guanyi represented the Crown Prince’s faction in the tea trade in Jiangnan, his status and position were different.

The Crown Prince was the legitimate heir, with good character and ability. Although his mother passed away early and her family’s influence was weak, he had the support of many court officials. The Fourth Prince, a few years younger than the Crown Prince, had just come of age and had not yet taken on any significant responsibilities. Although he had the support of the Empress and her family, the Emperor still seemed to favor the Crown Prince.

Qi Zhipei’s faction, although loyal to the Emperor, was willing to maintain good relations with the Crown Prince.

Consort Min was not favored, but she had been with the Emperor since his days as a prince and had a son. Without the Crown Prince’s faction, Qi Zhipei’s faction wouldn’t have to confront her. But by favoring the Crown Prince, Consort Min’s faction wouldn’t be a concern.

Understanding this, Qi Zhipei stood up and said, “I’ll send someone to arrest Meng Chengwei right away.” He strode out.

Back at the government office, he didn’t immediately send someone out but pondered for a while, then called for Advisor Wu and gave him some instructions.

Advisor Wu was overjoyed and quickly sent his trusted aide to the tea house to discreetly inform the Ye family.

With people coming and going to the tea house, it wasn’t convenient to find Ye Chongming directly. So Advisor Wu took a roundabout approach and first contacted the head manager of the tea house, Song Dequan.

After the incident with Ding Jian, Ye Chongming thoroughly investigated Song Dequan and, finding no connection to Meng Chengwei, continued to trust him.

The news quickly reached Ye Chongming.

Ye Chongming was very excited and wanted to let Ye Yaming see the show. But fearing that Meng Chengwei might act desperately, he restrained himself and quickly made some arrangements.

Since the day Yang Hong caused trouble at Jixiang Lou and was taken away, Meng Chengwei hadn’t been back.

The spring tea for next year in Jiangnan had already been pre-ordered. Although Liu Qilin had made some arrangements with the tea bureau and could get some raw tea, he hadn’t connected with the tea farmers, so the quality wasn’t guaranteed, and the quantity was limited. Meng Chengwei wasn’t interested in that tea.

Although Yang Hong’s attempt to embarrass Ye Chongming had failed, making Meng Chengwei even more disappointed in him, Meng Chengwei wasn’t the type to leave Jiangnan empty-handed.

So Meng Chengwei patiently dealt with Yang Hong.

Meng Chengwei had the same idea as Lu Guanyi. The tea farmers in Jiangnan were already occupied by various tea merchants, so he couldn’t compete there. He planned to expand to other regions to purchase tea. His cooperation with the Yang family involved investing some money and using the Yang family’s tea-making methods to produce high-quality tea for sale.

This was the public plan. Secretly, he also intended to use the Yang family’s connections to smuggle private tea to the border for huge profits.

If things went smoothly, he would continue this operation. If it was discovered, the Yang family would be the scapegoat, and Meng Chengwei would remain unscathed.

For this reason, Meng Chengwei didn’t use his own identity to sign the cooperation contract with Yang Hong but pushed forward a young man named Gu Jie.

Gu Jie was an illegitimate child from a minor noble family, raised by his mother. When he was fourteen, his mother fell seriously ill and sent him to the Gu family before passing away.

The Gu family’s mistress was jealous and pretended to be magnanimous in front of Gu’s father, allowing Gu Jie to return to the family while secretly instructing the servants to mistreat him. As a result, Gu Jie’s life in the Gu family was worse than that of a servant.

Meng Chengwei, always thinking ahead, found Gu Jie to be useful.

At sixteen, Gu Jie could have supported himself; even working as a laborer at the docks would have been better than being mistreated by the Gu family. But the Gu family’s mistress wouldn’t let him go.

When Meng Chengwei offered to support him, preventing Mrs. Gu from mistreating him, and promised to buy him a house and transfer his household registration, Gu Jie was deeply grateful and willing to do anything for him.

This time, Meng Chengwei brought Gu Jie to Lin’an but didn’t keep him by his side. Instead, he arranged for someone to accompany Gu Jie around the city, enjoying good food and entertainment.

When Meng Chengwei called Gu Jie to sign the contract, Gu Jie didn’t ask any questions, signing and stamping as instructed.

Gu Jie understood that there was no such thing as a free lunch. Meng Chengwei treated him well because he needed him to do things he couldn’t do himself. Whether these things were illegal or punishable by death, Gu Jie didn’t care.

Without Meng Chengwei, his life was worse than death. How could he enjoy such good days now? Even a single day of this life was a gain. As for being executed, he even looked forward to it. Seeing the Gu family members executed would bring him joy. He had once thought of ending his life but realized that dying would be too easy on Mrs. Gu and her children.