Chapter 256: Was going to go crazy
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
For the rest of the day, the old Xiao family caused Ge Chunyi to nearly break down.
Eldest Grandson Xiao and the others took turns to either spill tea or soup on Ge Chunyi’s injured leg.
Or they paid people to catch mice and snakes and throw them into Ge Chunyi’s room at night.
They also splashed water on Ge Chunyi’s charcoal.
The next day, his charcoal would not be able to catch fire in the carriage, or it would cause him to choke.
Ge Chunyi asked the Xiao family for charcoal, and they naturally refused to give him any.
So Ge Chunyi could only wrap himself in a quilt and a fur cloak and tremble in the carriage.
The further they went to the northern border, the colder the weather became.
Even the Xiao family members were shivering from the cold when they were roasting the braziers, not to mention Ge Chunyi, who was often unable to do so.
His injured leg hurt badly every day.
He could not help but regret.
If he had known earlier, he would have waited until spring to come to the northern border.
Fortunately, he had brought a doctor with him and often applied medicine on his leg.
Otherwise, he felt that he would have died on the way to the northern border.
His heart was also grateful to his sister and brother-in-law because of this.
He did not know that his good brother-in-law was afraid that he would die midway and could not explain to the emperor and Ge Chunru, so he invited a good doctor for him.
At the same time, Ge Chunyi also hated the people of the Xiao family to the core.
After more than twenty days, they finally arrived at the northern border.
Because of Xiao Yuanshi’s instructions, the process of appointing him as the county deputy was very smooth.
The county magistrate was also very polite to them and even arranged for the Xiao family to stay in a courtyard behind the county office.
However, the Xiao family who had so much money in their hands did not fancy such a small courtyard.
Therefore, they spent money to rent a large courtyard with a few entrances and exits.
Ge Chunyi, on the other hand, took the initiative to suggest that they go live in the courtyard arranged by the county magistrate.
First, he was afraid of the Xiao family on the way here.
He really did not want to continue staying together.
Secondly, he also wanted to make a good impression in front of the county magistrate.
That night, Ge Chunyi asked his servant boys to clean up, and also asked them to carry the few book boxes into the room.
After the servants left, he took out the books from the bookcase and used a dagger to pry open the bottom layer.
He was prepared to take out some silver notes and make connections in the county office.
However, he did not expect to find anything inside after opening it.
His expression changed and he immediately opened the other few boxes.
Similarly, he saw with his own eyes that the silver notes, gold, silver, and jade jewelry that his sister put in had disappeared.
He recalled that night when his sister had someone carry the bookcase over and personally put it in front of him to teach him how to take it out.
Then, it did not move in his room.
The next morning, it was moved into the carriage.
So, it could not have been lost in the general’s residence.
He remembered that his sister had specifically told him not to let the Xiao family know.
Ge Chunyi guessed that the money in the book case must have been discovered and stolen by the Xiao family.
After they set off on the road, they had secretly rummaged through his bag and even deliberately touched his cotton-padded jacket to see if there was any silver money in it.
Ge Chunyi was furious.
That was 30,000 taels of silver.
Therefore, he could not help but bring the servant boy to the courtyard rented by the Xiao family that night.
At this moment, old Xiao’s family was eating boiled mutton.
After getting the money, they were free to eat, drink, and wear better clothings.
Seeing Ge Chunyi enter, the old lady looked at him coldly.
“What are you doing here?”
Ge Chunyi asked with a sullen face, “Did you steal the money in my book case?”
The old lady pretended to be surprised. “What money?”
Ge Chunyi had been by Xiao Yuanshi’s side for a long time and had known how to observe one’s body language.
Therefore, he realized that although the old lady looked surprised, she was actually not surprised at all.
He was even more certain that she had stolen the silver.
“That is the silver that my brother-in-law prepared for me. You’d better hand it over.”
He looked meaningfully at brother Xiao and continued, “Otherwise, in the future, brother-in-law might not bother with you.”
When the old lady heard this, she was furious. “Ptui, a little bastard like you even dared to threaten us.
“What silver? We didn’t see it.
“You said that we took it. Show us the evidence!”
The old lady threw a tantrum. “Without evidence, you’re just splashing dirty water on us. Tomorrow, we’ll find the county magistrate to sue you.”
Ge Chunyi refused to let it go. “You guys won’t admit it, but I’m sure that it was you who took it.”
He said impatiently, “Hurry up and hand it over.”
Without the silver, how could he organize activities in the northern border?
He was going to prepare some generous gifts in a few days to give to his brother-in-law’s good friend in the army.
On the way to the northern border, the Xiao family ate and slept separately from him.
He had already spent several tens of taels of silver out of the three hundred taels of silver he carried with him.
How would there be enough for a gift?
When the old lady saw him like this, her heart was filled with hatred.
Who did this little bastard think he was?
Even if they threw their silver away, they would not pass it to him.
She waved her hand. “My eldest grandson, send this little bastard out. Just looking at him makes me annoyed.”
Ge Chunyi was furious when he heard the old lady constantly calling him “little bastard”.
“Don’t go too far. Don’t think that you can be arrogant just because my brother-in-law isn’t around.
“I’m going to write a letter to tell him how you’ve treated me along the way.”
Because of the infectious disease and Ge Chunyi taking up so many resources, Eldest Son Xiao hated the Ge siblings to the core.
Hearing this, he sneered, “Go on, hurry up and write.
“Do you think that this is still the general’s residence and you can be so arrogant?”
Then, he reached out and grabbed Ge Chunyi’s neck and dragged him out.
Second Grandson Xiao and the others also got up.
Very soon, Ge Chunyi’s miserable screams of being beaten could be heard from outside.
He had brought a servant to help, but there were quite a number of men in the Xiao family.
The old lady even listened to Shi Qingluo’s suggestion and specially asked Xiao Yuanshi for a few personal guards to protect her before she left.
Thus, when the two sides fought, Ge Chunyi was completely defeated.
After being beaten up, he was even thrown out of the courtyard.
After being carried back to the courtyard by his servant boys, he immediately wrote a letter to Ge Chunru to complain, asking someone to send it to the courier station and send it back to the capital.
Who knew that the letter would be intercepted as soon as it arrived at the courier station.
The people who did this were naturally Xiao Yuanshi’s people.
The few servant boys beside Ge Chunyi all seemed to be given by Ge Chunru, but two of them were actually Xiao Yuanshi’s people.
Then, this letter, along with the events that happened along the way to the northern border, was sent back to the capital.
This time, the recipient changed from Ge Chunru to Xiao Yuanshi.
Eldest Grandson Xiao was appointed the next day.
Because he had money, it was easy to get things done.
He mixed well with those from the county office very quickly.
This made Ge Chunyi feel so aggrieved that he was going to go crazy.
He felt that this should have been his, but Eldest Grandson Xiao took his money to build a good relationship with them.
He was simply too shameless.
However, because he had been beaten up twice and continued to be pranked frequently, he learned to be smart and did not mock Eldest Grandson Xiao.
Every day, he hoped that his letter would be sent back to the capital as soon as possible so that his sister would ask his brother-in-law to deal with the old Xiao family.
However, before Xiao Yuanshi could stand up for him, Eldest Grandson Xiao listened to the personal guards’ instigation and colluded with a young master of a merchant in the county.
That person came to report that he had lost his silver.
In the end, Eldest Grandson Xiao brought his men to Ge Chunyi’s courtyard and found it.
Eldest Grandson Xiao took the opportunity to bribe the county magistrate, convicted Ge Chunyi, and sent him to the northern frontier to extract ore.
Ge Chunyi did not want to make a scene, but it was useless.
He was directly taken away by the bailiffs.
Every day, he endured a lot of hardship and was about to completely collapse.
He suffered a lot.
And in the capital, Ge Chunru, who was unaware of all these matters, was thinking of ways to raise more money for his sister’s dowry.