From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 785

Mingde Street, Western-style shops, despite the simple name, are the most popular shops in Fuzhou Prefecture in recent years.

Especially the glass and leather products sold there, the products are beautiful, of excellent quality, and the price is not particularly expensive.

Officials, businessmen, and scholars, as long as they have a little money at home, will buy a few pieces to use.

Even if they are not used, they are conspicuous and beautiful just on display.

Moreover, their business model is also novel. They have invited girls with good looks to help customers introduce products. It can be said that they are very thoughtful and are favored by many customers.

"Kang Youzhi's sister, 14 years old, came here to work two months ago to make a living for her family."

"In coastal areas, people are more open-minded. Unmarried women also come out to work. Although it is rare, it is not uncommon."

"Due to the blockade of exports, many families have difficulty making a living. After the foreigners came, many women tried every means to earn some money to supplement their family expenses."

Guan Lu said while running.

Zhou Yuan said, "Let's talk about the key point."

Guan Lu said, "Kang Youzhi's sister is called Kang Xing'er. She disappeared half a month ago. After reporting to the authorities, the authorities couldn't find her."

"The foreigner's shop said that Kang Xing'er had not worked here for a long time and they didn't know about it."

"But the Kang family insisted that Kang Xing'er was harmed by the owner of the Western shop."

"But the problem is that this cannot be confirmed, because the government has no right to investigate. This is someone else's territory."

Hearing this last sentence, Zhou Yuan was furious.

Guan Lu continued, "After Kang Youzhi returned home, he heard the news of his sister's disappearance. He was full of blood and rushed directly into the Western Trade Store to ask for an explanation. Now an hour has passed and there is no movement."

Zhou Yuan said, "Didn't our people go in?"

Guan Lu smiled bitterly and shook his head, "To be honest, I don't dare to go in. Breaking the treaty is a big deal. If the matter gets out of hand, McPherson's warships will come and fire at the people along the coast, and it will be even more difficult for us to deal with it."

Finally, we arrived at the Western Trade Store. The door was full of people, but most of them were not civilians, but constables and soldiers.

The civilians did not dare to get too close, but just watched from afar.

For them, this may not be a rare thing.

"Stop!"

Seeing Zhou Yuan and Guan Lu walking in, the leading constable immediately said: "What are you doing! What are you going to do by rushing in so aggressively?"

Guan Lu said: "We are looking for someone."

The head constable frowned and said: "Look for someone somewhere else, don't come here. This is a Western shop, the territory of foreigners. You are not qualified to enter."

"Fuck you!"

Zhou Yuan slapped him directly and shouted: "Try to say it again!"

The slap was not light. The head constable's teeth were knocked out and his nose was bleeding.

He shouted: "Rebellion! This unruly citizen is rebelling! Come on! Catch him!"

A group of constables approached Zhou Yuan, but it was obvious that they could not get close. Guan Lu just gave a look, and a large number of his men stopped the constables.

Seeing this scene, the head constable was also confused. With so many people, he must not be easy to mess with. His attitude changed again.

"Hey, sir! It was my fault just now! Please forgive me for bumping into you!"

He didn't care about his nose bleeding, and nodded and said, "I also received a report that someone was causing trouble here, so I came to take a look."

Zhou Yuan was even more annoyed when he saw him like this, and kicked him away directly.

In any case, saving people is important.

He strode forward, but saw two Portuguese standing at the door of the Western shop, chattering something, puffing his beard and glaring at others with a very arrogant attitude.

Zhou Yuan shouted, "Make way! Call your boss out!"

The two Portuguese continued to chatter in bird language, and Zhou Yuan couldn't understand it at all. Thinking that Kang Youzhi was very dangerous, he didn't care so much and just rushed in.

But the next moment, the two Portuguese took out two straight mother-and-child flintlock guns from their arms.

Then, they fell backwards, wailing, with two broken peanuts embedded in their foreheads.

Li Yu'an's face was very ugly. She was not afraid of being attacked by masters, but she was afraid of guns. The existence of this thing made it difficult for her to protect Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan kicked the gun in his hand away and rushed in directly.

Guan Lu was afraid of something happening, so he followed with his men. He searched the shop first, but found nothing.

Then he rushed into the backyard and heard laughter.

He kicked open the gate and saw five or six Portuguese people standing there with red wine, toasting each other, laughing and talking about something.

And in the yardOn the tree, there were two people hanging, both naked, covered in blood, with their limbs bent in strange positions, obviously they had suffered great torture before they died.

This horrifying scene made Zhou Yuan tremble and his eyes turned red.

"Huh? Who let you in?"

A tall and young Portuguese man immediately shouted: "Who let you in! Get out!"

"We can't let them go! They saw it!"

The other people exclaimed and rushed directly towards Zhou Yuan.

But the next moment, they saw dozens of thugs behind Zhou Yuan and stopped for a moment.

"Who are you? Why did you break into our territory!"

The young Portuguese man was dressed in luxurious clothes, western-style clothes, and a round hat. He said angrily: "You are invading our private territory! We have the right to deal with you!"

As he spoke, his hand had already reached into his waist.

Zhou Yuan clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, saying, "Sister Virgin, will there be any danger?"

"No, after all, they haven't really pulled out their guns yet. In this case, they won't be faster than me."

After she finished speaking, her figure disappeared from the spot.

The next moment, a strong wind blew in the yard, and a terrible palm force swept forward. Five or six Portuguese were immediately blown to the ground, their blood surging all over their bodies, struggling to stand up.

But Li Yu'an had turned into a residual image. In less than two breaths, she had numb their acupoints, and they were all shaking as if they had no strength.

Zhou Yuan said, "Guan Lu! Take people to disarm!"

Guan Lu did not hesitate at this moment, and hurriedly said, "Ten people go out and block the gate. No one is allowed to come in."

"Others, follow me, disarm these pigs and tie them up."

Zhou Yuan did not look at this chaotic scene, but looked at the two bodies hanging on the tree.

He stared at Kang Youzhi's young face, his heart ached, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Guan Lu, put the brother and sister down and cover them up."

Guan Lu didn't say anything, just did it.

Zhou Yuan looked under the tree, the bloody clothes were obviously what Kang Youzhi wore today, and now they were torn.

He soon noticed that there was a thin book under the clothes.

Zhou Yuan walked over slowly, picked up the book, and wiped the blood on it.

This is a copy of "The Great Learning", which is very old and seems to have been with Kang Youzhi for many years.

Zhou Yuan subconsciously opened it and saw the first sentence of the first chapter.

"The way of the Great Learning is to manifest the bright virtue, to be close to the people, and to stop at the highest good."

Then there was a piece of paper underneath, an old piece of paper.

It said: "On April 14, the eighth year of Zhaojing, I borrowed 400 coins from Brother Yi."

Zhou Yuan continued to flip back.

Chapter 3 of The Great Learning: "Tang's inscription on the pan says: 'If you are new every day, you will be new every day, and you will be new every day.'"

There is still a note, the handwriting is beautiful, but not without style.

"On September 2, the eighth year of Zhaojing, I borrowed 100 coins from Brother Zhang."

Continue to turn.

Chapter 6 of The Great Learning: "The so-called knowledge is to investigate things, which means that if you want to know, you should investigate the things and explore their principles."

The note reads: "On June 14, the ninth year of Zhaojing, I borrowed 200 coins from Brother Yuan."

Chapter 7 of The Great Learning: "The so-called sincerity of intention is not to deceive oneself. If you hate bad smells and love beautiful things, this is called self-humility. Therefore, a gentleman must be careful when he is alone."

There are two notes on this page.

One: "On the 24th day of the twelfth month of the ninth year of Zhaojing, I borrowed 50 coins from Brother Yi."

Two: "Mother, I miss you."

"The Great Learning" Chapter 10: "When one family is benevolent, the whole country will be benevolent; when one family is courteous, the whole country will be courteous; when one person is greedy and violent, the whole country will be in chaos."

This note is very long.

"Today, there are three good things. One is that the Central Plains has been recovered and the people have been saved; the second is that I have turned fourteen and my teacher has given me two taels of silver and ten books; the third is that my sister has received a letter and I learned that my parents are in good health."

"The Great Learning" Chapter 11: "The so-called peace in the world lies in governing the country. When the ruler respects the elderly, the people will be filial, when the ruler respects the elders, the people will be fraternal, and when the ruler cares for the orphans, the people will not betray. This is why a gentleman has the way of righteousness."

The last note is mixed here, and it looks like it should have been written recently.

"Mother, father, sister, I am finally going home. I dare not say bitterness in the letter, for fear that mother will worry, nor do I dare mention longing, for fear that longing will surge and I can't suppress it. But I am on my way back, I will finally see you, this time I come back, I will not leave, I will stay in the navy, protect you, protect my home."

Zhou Yuan trembled with his hands and slowly closed the heavy "University".