Jackie Chan's Son-in-Law

Chapter 12 Moral Kidnapping
Chen Qing frowned and remained silent for a long time.

Master Gu, on the contrary, looked at him calmly.

After an awkward silence, Master Gu finally spoke with a smile: "Originally, I was going to tell you these things a few months later, or before your wedding."

"But my dear nephew, you are too clever."

Master Gu said quietly, "Just by watching me talk to those constables, you've already guessed quite a bit, and besides..."

He paused, then said, "In addition, it seems that my nephew is planning to leave the Gu family."

"Therefore, I will make things clear to you directly today."

Chen Qing lowered his head and drank his tea, without replying.

He came to the Gu family to seek refuge. Whether or not to take in a son-in-law was very important to people of that era, but he himself did not particularly value it.

However, the events that have occurred at the Gu family in the past few days have made him realize that the Gu family is a troublesome matter for him, so he is indeed planning to run away.

We can't just change our minds and stay because Master Gu said, "My daughter is as beautiful as a fairy."

In fact, after fighting with Gu Shouyi, Chen Qing had been thinking about how to gracefully annul the marriage and then go on to live his own life.

Chen Qing thought he had hidden his little schemes very well, that no one should be able to see through them, but he never expected...

It couldn't hide anything from the richest man in Deqing right in front of him.

Chen Qing gave a wry smile: "My uncle has drawn a perfectly round pie in the sky."

"This is not just empty promises."

Master Gu said solemnly, "I only have one daughter. Everything I do now is only to ensure that my daughter has a worry-free life. If it is really for the purpose of continuing the family line..."

He chuckled self-deprecatingly: "Leaving aside my nephews, at my age, I can still hope to have children if I take a few concubines."

When Mr. Gu was young, he did not have a good life. He and his first wife depended on each other for survival and had a very deep affection for each other. So much so that after his first wife passed away, he never remarried or took a concubine.

Now, his daughter Gu Pan is one of the few things he still cherishes in this world.

Chen Qing lowered his head to drink his tea, then shook his head and said, "To this day, I haven't even met Miss Gu yet. It's too early for you to say such things, Uncle."

"I'm afraid you'll run away if I don't tell you."

Master Gu looked at him and said, "Although we haven't known each other for long, I've already seen that you are a man of your own mind, my dear nephew."

"Otherwise, if you don't leave the Chen family on your own initiative, Madam Chen of the Chen family probably won't be able to get rid of you."

Chen Qing sighed: "Uncle really overestimates me. If my father had even a little bit of involvement in family affairs, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to leave the Chen family."

He glanced at Master Gu and said quietly, "Uncle, let's discuss everything after I meet Miss Gu, shall we?"

Master Gu readily nodded and said with a smile, "Alright."

"Once my nephew has recovered from his injuries, I will arrange for you to meet immediately."

He remarked with emotion, "My dear nephew's arrival at the Gu family, though by a twist of fate, may well be a destiny ordained by heaven."

Chen Qing nodded, then looked at Master Gu and whispered, "Uncle is going to the capital and doesn't plan to come back?"

"Of course I'll come back if I can."

After a moment of silence, Mr. Gu continued, "Since I've already told you, I'll say a little more."

He sighed and said, "My sworn brother has been framed and imprisoned, most likely because he angered the emperor. The struggles in the court are extremely dangerous. If I can rescue him on this trip, that would be great. If not, I will do my best to bring his children out of the capital."

He said firmly, "At the very least, we cannot allow the men in his family to flow into the border army, and the women to flow into the brothels."

Chen Qing frowned: "Several years have passed, and things are still not settled?"

"No."

Master Gu said quietly, "It's very complicated. I'll explain it to you in detail if I can come back in the future."

"During this time, I have been asking people to prepare my identity."

Master Gu lowered his head and drank his tea: "If I get caught up in it too, I won't drag Pan'er or my nephew down with me."

Chen Qing shook his head and sighed, "Uncle really has profound thoughts."

Master Gu put down his teacup, narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly lost in thought. After a while, he looked at Chen Qing and said with a smile, "In this short time, I have already laid it all out with you, my nephew. What exactly happened to the Chen family? Could you tell me?" Chen Qing thought for a moment before speaking, "After my mother passed away, my health has been poor for the past few years. Half a year ago, I was seriously ill and almost died."

"I was thinking that I might as well leave home and feel more at ease."

Master Gu shook his head and said, "That's probably just your overthinking, my dear nephew. Even if that young mistress of the Chen family were bold, she wouldn't dare..."

Chen Qing said with a smile, "My father is not in Huzhou Prefecture, and my health is not good. If I were to die one day under mysterious circumstances, who could say for sure?"

Mr. Gu frowned.

After a while, he finally spoke, saying, "My family's business is quite large. Nephew, manage it well. If you can find a benefactor to help you in the future, you may be able to return to the Chen family and hold your head high."

Chen Qing said with a smile, "If I really wanted to achieve something great, I wouldn't need to use my uncle's money. But don't worry, Uncle."

Young Master Chen said calmly, "My nephew has a good memory; he'll have opportunities in the future."

"I must go back to Huzhou Prefecture and get to the bottom of this."

…………

At noon, Master Gu took Chen Qing to have lunch at Anrentang. In the afternoon, Master Gu had to go inspect the medicinal herbs, so he did not take Chen Qing with him. Instead, he left Chen Qing in Anrenfang to learn how to run a medicinal herb business from Manager Lu.

Although Manager Lu addressed Master Gu as "Master" repeatedly, he was actually Master Gu's apprentice, having learned about medicine identification, procurement, and business management from a young age.

This person belongs to the direct line, and in some ways is more trustworthy than those nephews. Otherwise, Master Gu would not have let Manager Lu manage the Gu family business all this time.

Manager Lu was well aware that this young man was likely to become the future owner, so he was very enthusiastic towards Chen Qing, constantly introducing him to the medicinal herbs in Anrentang and introducing him to several elderly gentlemen who worked there.

At this time, pharmacies were divided into two types.

One type is a specialized medicine shop that supplies clinics and private individuals. The other type is like Anrentang, which has doctors on duty who can provide on-the-spot diagnosis and prescription.

Mr. Gu himself was a pretty good doctor when he was young; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to start from scratch and build such a family business.

In fact, the reason Mr. Gu met that "sworn brother" when he was young was because he cured the man's illness.

Of course, nowadays, Anrentang's main business is still the wholesale of medicinal herbs. The position of a resident doctor is just a side job and is no longer its main business.

After spending about an hour in Anrentang, Chen Qing felt it was rather boring. He found Lu Qing and said with a smile, "Manager Lu, I have some things to attend to, so I'll head back first. If there's anything I don't understand, I'll come back and ask you for guidance."

Lu Qing quickly responded and personally escorted Chen Qing to the entrance of Anrentang. The two walked out of the pharmacy one after the other. Manager Lu was stunned and looked up at the front.

Not far in front of the two, an elderly woman and a young woman, along with three children, appeared to have been waiting for a long time.

The older women were around fifty years old, while the younger ones were in their twenties.

Upon seeing Chen Qing, the two men, without saying a word, immediately led their three children and hurried over. Then, without another word, they knelt down in front of Chen Qing, grabbing his trouser legs with their four hands and wailing and crying.

"Young Master Chen, Young Master Chen..."

The old woman cried bitterly, "Please, young master, spare my son! He was severely beaten by the constables at the county office..."

"He's not going to make it..."

The young woman also kept crying, wiping away her tears as she said, "Master Chen, my husband went to the government compound to apologize to you in person, how did he end up in the yamen? How did he end up in the yamen..."

"He has elderly parents and young children to support; his whole family depends on him for survival. Please, have mercy and do me a favor!"

She was crying bitterly when she turned around and looked at the three children. Her voice rose again: "Why aren't you coming over here to kowtow to Master Chen and beg him to release your father!"

The three children, unaware of all this, gathered around upon hearing this, knelt before Chen Qing, wiped away their tears, and kept calling him Master Chen.

The children's tears were mostly brought on by the fear caused by the two adults.

These women and children cried out loudly, which quickly attracted a crowd of onlookers who began pointing and whispering about Chen Qing.

Chen Qing frowned, about to speak, when Manager Lu leaned closer and whispered in his ear.

"Mr. Chen."

Manager Lu looked around and saw several members of the Gu family watching. He coughed and whispered a reminder.

"It was Gu Shouyi's elderly mother, wife, and children."

(End of this chapter)