The abandoned wife of the noble family, she is Black Heart Lotus

Chapter 213 Take action to rectify
On the way south, Gu Deyin saw too many human tragedies, and the scenes were heart-wrenching. She could only urge Zhong Shiming to leave as soon as possible.

Fortunately, there were officers and soldiers accompanying her all the way to protect her, and she was safe. When she arrived in Lingnan, it was already spring, which happened to be the planting season.

Zhong Shiming served as the imperial envoy to supervise the planting of grain. Officials from various places had to cooperate and various preferential policies were introduced one after another.

Gu Deyin is a big businessman, and the Gu family's foundation here is a bit weak, but she has strong financial resources and signed a grain purchase contract in advance to mobilize the enthusiasm of landowners big and small to grow staple grains.

Sure enough, as soon as they saw a large-scale sale, many people even enthusiastically reclaimed the wasteland. Not to mention that the wasteland did not have to pay taxes for three years. For them, it was a big deal to make an extra fortune.

At this time, the drought in the north has not become a hot topic in the south. This place has always been separated from the hinterland of the Central Plains. However, as the drought deepens, sooner or later, businessmen will come here to raise food and stock up to prepare to make a fortune, which is most indispensable in disaster years. It's this group of people.

So she acted first, and her contract was endorsed by the government, so she was not afraid of anyone breaking the contract and not fulfilling it.

She took the first step, and the big merchants who tried to drive up food prices later had no choice but to stare blankly.

The most prosperous thing in the south is maritime trade. The Gu family also has its own business here, and it also makes profits from transactions with overseas merchants.

After Gu Deyin arrived, she had the most contacts with Nanyang merchants. It was said that the climate there was very suitable for growing rice, so she proposed not to trade with real gold and silver, but to use grain instead.

As for them not being good at growing rice, that's easy. Just send someone over to give them guidance. After all, rice will be used for next season's transactions.

Some people are interested in this method of trading, while others are scornful of it.

Gu Deyin didn't care about this. People with foresight naturally knew that food was much more valuable than gold, silver and jewelry. What's more, she also provided technical guidance, so overseas businessmen with large tracts of land were most interested.

She was busy with this all year long, and at the end of the year, during the cold winter, the drought in the north finally broke out in full force.

She was not used to the cold and humid climate in the south. After rubbing her hands, she picked up the letter written by Xiao Mingzhang, saying that the court had begun disaster relief because adequate preparations had been made and the relief arrangements were being carried out in an orderly manner. initially under control.

After putting down Xiao Mingzhang's letter, she read the letter from her sworn brother Bo Qingya.

He was still staying in the south of the Yangtze River, where there was plenty of food and rice. Because of his advance arrangements, food prices were very stable. Moreover, the Gu Family Trading Company responded most actively to the court's disaster relief, and it won a lot of good reputation.

Gu Jianghuai is the coordinator in Beijing. Nowadays, he is called a good person whenever he goes out. He feels that it is too high-profile, so he has reduced the number of trips out, but a soup kitchen tent has been set up in the suburbs of Beijing.

With the Gu family taking the lead, many big businessmen could not coerce themselves and let the Gu family be the only one to be beautiful. They opened their granaries one after another to cooperate with the court's move.

While everyone in the Shang Dynasty was focused on overcoming the difficulties together, only Uncle Gu and his wife were angry about giving away large amounts of food.

Uncle Gu rushed to Gu Jianghuai and asked, "Brother, have you forgotten that you are a businessman when others call you a good person? How much money was donated? Have you calculated it?" Our Gu family's money didn't come from strong winds..."

Gu Jianghuai didn't even raise his head and interrupted him directly, "If you are here to talk nonsense to me, then get out of here and don't waste my time."

His two sons and daughters were both busy outside, and he didn't have time to listen to the second son's nonsense.

Second Uncle Gu saw that he had been completely ignored. He angrily took out the letters written by several clan elders and placed them in front of Gu Jianghuai.

"Brother, the clan does not agree with your behavior. You should stop immediately, otherwise the clan will send people north to investigate this matter..."

The money of the Gu family business does not belong to Gu Jianghuai alone, but to everyone in the Gu family. He, Gu Jianghuai, cannot be so selfish.

The pride on Uncle Gu's face suddenly panicked when he saw his brother's cold eyes.

But thinking that he was not wrong, he straightened his back instantly and looked at Gu Jianghuai.

"If the clan doesn't agree, let them come north to ask me. It just so happens that I have something I want to show the clan."

He took out the irrefutable evidence that Uncle Gu Er had colluded with King Yu and placed it on the table. At this time, he looked at the pale second son mockingly.

"I don't need to say more about these. You already know what they are. The crime that King Yu was convicted of at the beginning was rebellion. Once you put this evidence on the table, the whole Gu family will be implicated by you. Do you think the clan will be affected if they see this?" Spare you?"

Uncle Gu's face was dripping with cold sweat. He rushed forward to get the evidence and destroy it, but his hand was held down by his brother.

"You think I only caught this evidence? Second brother, second brother, you have been clever but not very wise since you were a child. You have always been unwilling to let me be the head of the family, but you really can't afford the position of the head of the family... "

"I don't accept it. You were born earlier than me..."

Uncle Gu roared loudly, his face twisted with hatred.

Gu Jianghuai sighed, his daughter was right, sooner or later someone like the second brother would sell the Gu family again, and it would be useless to keep him.

This time he was no longer soft-hearted, but called out his guards and tied up Uncle Gu.

"Transport it back to the Jiangnan family and let the clan handle it."

With his handwritten letter, the clan would not dare to neglect it and would naturally report it to the Duke for processing.

Uncle Gu struggled but to no avail. He knew that he was not far from being finished. When Aunt Gu saw her husband being imprisoned, she made a fuss in dissatisfaction at first. Then when she saw the evidence, she was speechless. For a moment, she was at a loss.

Not daring to face her cold-faced eldest brother, her limp body was helped back by the maid.

Looking at her youngest daughter Gu Lijiao who was coming towards her, she held her daughter's hand and said, "Pack up your things and let's go back to our home in Jiangnan."

This capital city cannot wait any longer.

Gu Lijiao looked stunned, "Mom, why do you have to go back in a hurry? Where is sister? Should we inform her?"

My elder sister Gu Lirong eloped with her cousin Kang Shenglian. When her parents found her, my elder sister was very pregnant. She couldn't even agree to the marriage. Later, I had to negotiate with the Kang family and make up for the three letters and six betrothals. Only then did Gu Lirong become Kang Shenglian's wife.

Perhaps because he was still taking scientific examinations in the capital, Kang Shenglian restrained himself and did not kill Gu Lirong. The two of them lived well. They gave birth to a son with their first child and recently became pregnant with their second child.

Second Aunt Gu couldn't care less about her eldest daughter at the moment. Anyway, getting married was just water thrown away, and she couldn't care so much.

"There's no need to send someone to notify her. Find your brother and we'll go back."

Gu Lijiao didn't ask any more questions, and directly sent someone to look for someone in the place where her brother Gu Deping often hung out. Unexpectedly, bad news came back. Gu Deping was competing for the oiran's wife, but he accidentally beat to death a high-ranking official's son. He was killed by others on the spot. Seize and twist him and send him to the government.

When Aunt Gu heard the news, her face turned pale and she fainted immediately.

When she woke up, several hours had passed. She did not dare to delay and ran directly to her eldest brother Gu Jianghuai, begging him to rescue her son.

However, Gu Jianghuai was not in the house at this time. She was anxious to ask the servants waiting around him, but no one dared to reveal the whereabouts of the head of the family.

Aunt Gu had no choice but to wait at the door of Gu Jianghuai's yard. Never for a moment did she feel that time was so long.

Gu Jianghuai already knew about Gu Deping's accidental murder. When he came back and saw his sister-in-law Kang begging him to save her life, he only said coldly, "Deping's fault today is all your fault. Do you know who he killed?"

After Aunt Gu heard that her son had killed a relative of the emperor, she suddenly became dizzy.

But when she thought of the relationship between Gu Deyin and Xiao Mingzhang, her eyes lit up again, and she hurriedly said, "You can ask the regent to come forward to save people. Uncle, as long as my brother Ping is rescued, we will return to Jiangnan immediately and never enter Beijing." …”

As long as she could save her son's life, she would never fight for this family business again.

Gu Jianghuai looked at her like an idiot, "For the sake of your idiot son, you have to make my daughter a dwarf in front of the person you like. Then your idiot son should die."

After saying that, he walked away indifferently.

In his opinion, if Gu Deping, his nephew, does not die this time, he will die in the same thing next time, so this person is not worth saving as a favor.

When Aunt Gu saw how heartless her eldest brother was, she couldn't help but curse behind him, "Gu Jianghuai, you are such a ruthless bastard who doesn't care about family ties. No wonder you died without a son, so you don't want to see our second wife have a son. You are taking advantage of this opportunity." revenge……"

Seeing that she scolded her so harshly, Butler Gu ruthlessly stuffed her mouth with a rag and dragged her away.

Aunt Gu couldn't afford to fall ill, her husband was taken back to Jiangnan to be dealt with, and her son was executed. She felt that her life was hopeless, and she died soon after.

Gu Jianghuai directly sent someone to take the coffin back to Jiangnan.

As for Gu Lirong and other juniors, he was afraid that it would be unsafe due to the displacement of victims, so they stayed in the house for the time being. Anyway, they would not be short of food.

After the disaster is over, Gu Lijiao and a few other girls will be found a good marriage, and the boy will be sent back to Jiangnan to study, and that will be settled.

When Gu Deyin received the letter from his father, it was already the hot summer of the coming year.

She didn't expect that her father would deal with Uncle Gu's family so cleanly. She was very satisfied with the result. As for the children left by Uncle Gu, she was not afraid of their revenge in the future. In the face of absolute strength, they could not make any waves.

What's more, she had already promoted the concubine who was at odds with Uncle Gu and his wife. With this person suppressing the daughter of the second house, she would not have to worry about revenge, and she would also gain a tolerant reputation in the clan, which was very good.

Just as she remembered, the drought lasted for three years, and she was always busy with one thing.

When the drought slowed down, floods came as expected, and disaster relief efforts were further intensified.

At this time, she had already rushed to the city where the disaster was most serious with a large amount of medicinal materials and doctors.

The weather here is hot and the plague is rampant. Both local officials and the people at the bottom are panicked.

The arrival of the imperial envoys Gu Deyin and Zhong Shiming injected a backbone into the city.

Because Gu Deyin had food and medicine, Zhong Shiming would consult her opinions when formulating policies.

"The city is closed to prevent the epidemic from spreading. Except for supplies, no one is allowed to come in and out at will."