The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#254 - Change of life

Avarice flashed in Jiang Yuanmao's eyes, but after a moment, he shook his head and said, "That won't do. Cui Zhenghe is a member of my Qian Yuan Chamber of Commerce. As its head, how can I disregard his business for my own selfish gain? Don't mention the garden again. Madam Gu should take care of herself."

"Then what exactly does Head Jiang want in order to return that batch of goods to Gu?" Gu Caiwei asked, frowning.

Before Jiang Yuanmao could speak, a man not far away, about eight feet tall with a face full of橫肉 (henrou, excess flesh), suddenly slammed the table and stood up, shouting angrily, "Where did this girl come from? No manners at all! Whether you have a disagreement with Head Jiang or not, couldn't you have waited for another time? Why did you have to pick this moment to spoil everyone's mood?!"

His voice was loud, and when he spoke, the tea in the teacups rippled, and dust from the roof beams fell down. Many of the guests sitting next to him were startled.

However, Gu Caiwei was not intimidated by his imposing manner and stood tall, saying, "Gu also wanted to wait for another time, but when I went to Head Jiang's residence this morning to pay a visit, I was turned away at the door."

"This afternoon, I went to Head Jiang's shops, and even though I clearly heard a roadside vendor say that Head Jiang had just gone inside a quarter of an hour ago, when I asked, the shop assistants told me that Head Jiang was not there."

Gu Caiwei spread her hands. "Gu would not have wanted to spoil everyone's enjoyment tonight if I had any other choice."

However, her explanation only confirmed the fact that she was there to cause trouble.

As a result, the gazes of the guests became even more unfriendly. On the other hand, Jiang Yuanmao, as the person involved, suddenly closed his mouth and watched coldly from the sidelines.

Gu Caiwei also vaguely realized Jiang Yuanmao's true purpose in deliberately avoiding her before, but allowing her to enter the restaurant tonight, which was obviously determined to escalate the conflict between the two of them into a contradiction between her and the Qian Yuan Chamber of Commerce.

Then, he could further use the power of the entire chamber of commerce to suppress her.

The next time, it might not be as simple as withholding a batch of goods, but to completely ruin her business and even drive her out of the capital.

Don't doubt it, the Qian Yuan Chamber of Commerce does have this power. Even if the coal merchants led by Cui Zhenghe are not her opponents, doing business is never just a matter of one industry.

For example, her coal business needs wood, transportation, shops, and charcoal kilns, as well as hiring various personnel. Trouble can arise if any of these areas are blocked.

Coincidentally, many of the merchants and officials in the restaurant today can directly or indirectly affect her business, such as the Yuan surname timber merchant sitting at the table to her right. The two of them are actually acquaintances, and the other party has been supplying her charcoal kilns.

It's just that the Yuan surname timber merchant knows about the conflict between Jiang Yuanmao and her, and tonight he had no choice but to sit at another table, pretending not to know her. However, this will not affect the two people's business in the future, because no one will go against money.

But if the Qian Yuan Chamber of Commerce is determined to sanction Gu Caiwei, then the Yuan surname timber merchant will have to endure the loss and not supply Gu Caiwei.

Fortunately, even if Jiang Yuanmao is the head of the chamber of commerce, it is not so easy to use the power of the entire chamber of commerce to deal with one person. However, if Gu Caiwei does not handle the situation well tonight, it is very likely that she will offend the public, and then Jiang Yuanmao will have an excuse to deal with her.

The current situation requires Gu Caiwei to deal with it cautiously, but she has not yet thought of the next step.

Unexpectedly, there was a new disruptor at the birthday banquet in the next moment. A black cat with a white line on its body suddenly jumped down from the roof beam and bit Jiang Yuanmao's arm.

Jiang Yuanmao was caught off guard and was bitten by the black cat, but he didn't cry out in pain. Instead, he endured the pain and stretched out his other hand to pinch the back of the black cat's neck.

Unexpectedly, the black cat did not linger after taking a bite, and turned to rush towards Gu Caiwei.

Then, without any regard for her beauty, it also bit Gu Caiwei's finger, drawing a little red blood, and then ran towards the window.

However, there are many martial arts practitioners among the people who came to congratulate Jiang Yuanmao on his birthday tonight.

They reacted quickly. Although they were unable to prevent Jiang Yuanmao from being bitten because of the sudden incident, they stood up and blocked the black cat's escape route. By the time the strangely-looking black cat bit Gu Caiwei again, it had already been surrounded by those martial arts practitioners.

Lu Jing looked down at the cat, and the black cat was also looking at him. Then, it stretched out a paw, dipped some tea in Lu Jing's teacup, and drew a crooked shape on the table. Lu Jing could only guess that the thing should be a coral tree.

Then the black cat pointed to Gu Caiwei.

Lu Jing was also shocked. This is... life exchange?

Does this guy still have this kind of method hidden? If Lu Jing didn't understand wrong, the black cat just absorbed the coral tree-shaped luck from Jiang Yuanmao's body first, and then quickly spat it onto Gu Caiwei's body.

Lu Jing knew before that this guy could hunt luck and spit out the luck in his stomach to others, but the latter seemed to have no way to choose independently.

Anyway, when Lu Jing was in the black cat's body in the dream, he had no way to decide which life in his stomach to spit out. This was purely a random event, a bit like rolling dice.

But Lu Jing didn't expect the black cat to hide a trick. It seemed that it didn't swallow the coral tree into its stomach just now, but held it in its mouth, and then quickly spat it to Gu Caiwei.

In this way, in the future, he can also use this trick to exchange for a better luck for himself?

Lu Jing couldn't help but feel a little excited when he thought of this possibility. He doesn't need any very good life, just something that makes money faster. The coral tree just now seemed to be very good.

Jiang Yuanmao can become the head of the first chamber of commerce in Kyoto. In addition to his own strength, his luck must not be too bad.

However, since the black cat has already spat it to Gu Caiwei, Lu Jing is not good at taking away someone else's love.

Speaking of which, why is this guy suddenly so generous this time? He is still hungry, but he gave the food that reached his mouth to Gu Caiwei?

Thinking of this, Lu Jing couldn't help but be a little distracted, so he didn't bother to answer Jiang Yuanmao's question.

The latter's face became more and more ugly. In addition, Lu Jing had no discernment at all, and sitting at the same table with Gu Caiwei made Jiang Yuanmao's impression of him not very good.

Seeing that he ignored his question, Jiang Yuanmao sneered, "This friend has a lot of style."