The morning of their departure.
The weather was excellent. The clear blue sky was dotted with soft, fluffy white clouds, and an occasional breeze blew past, cool and refreshing.
Su Ning was in a good mood as well. Aside from completely crushing Young Master Kong's schemes, another purpose of this trip to Nanjing was to make contact with the government there and get to know the upper-class figures.
Surviving and thriving in the Republican era was no easy feat.
Living an arrogant, domineering life while spending money like water was even harder.
She had already established her foundation in Beiping, gaining a certain sense of security and power. It was time to step out of the beginner's village and explore a new map, rather than staying in her own little corner forever.
Otherwise, how long would it take to spend all her money?
For this trip, Su Ning brought along quite a few people, even bringing her family's metaphysical insurance, Half-Immortal Su. For the sake of comfort, she simply booked the entire first-class carriage, and even that wasn't enough.
The rest of the people had to sit in the second-class carriage.
Even so, this was enough to make her subordinates deeply grateful. Train tickets were very expensive at this time; even the cheapest third-class ticket would cost an ordinary person a month's salary!
Many of them were taking a train for the very first time.
"I'm riding on my eldest niece's coattails again."
On this side, Half-Immortal Su showed absolutely no signs of the awkwardness typical of a first-time train rider. He followed behind Su Ning with his head held high, his chin practically pointing at the sky, and said loudly:
"I wonder what the first-class carriage looks like. I heard there's even a place to sleep inside, just like living at home..."
"It definitely can't compare to home."
Thinking of the bumpy journey ahead, Su Ning frowned slightly. "I still have to wrong you, Uncle, by making you take this trip with me. We'll be on the road for at least two days."
"What's wrong with that?"
Half-Immortal Su widened his eyes. "Those bastards, believing rumors instead of the truth. I might not be able to help with much, but I can always be of use in matters like this—I am your uncle, how could I not know your background, my eldest niece?"
"Just wait and see me debate those scholars."
Saying that, he patted his chest... inside was the Su family genealogy book.
Speaking of this, there was a little interlude.
Half-Immortal Su had discovered that the genealogy book actually didn't include his dearest, most pitiful, and most successful younger cousin!
How could this be tolerated?
He immediately scolded the old patriarch of the Su family, questioning how he could be the patriarch and make such a mistake. He scolded the old man until his face was flushed and his head was spinning, leading his thoughts completely astray so that he didn't even realize that this person might not have existed at all.
He racked his brains to apologize and explain.
Actually, the patriarch couldn't be blamed for not thinking of it. It wasn't that one was added to the genealogy book right after birth; usually, they were recorded collectively during a revision period every five or ten years.
So it was very normal to miss a record.
Half-Immortal Su stared as the man added the names of his cousin Su Huaishan and his eldest niece Su Ning. As for the position of Su Huaishan's wife, it was left blank.
The patriarch was tactful enough not to ask a single question.
The ink on the paper hadn't even dried yet.
Half-Immortal Su blew on it and stuffed it into his arms. Before leaving, he didn't forget to issue a few meaningful threats—he knew exactly what kind of dog-like virtues the Su family had. It wasn't guaranteed that there wouldn't be a few rebellious ones who wanted to sell out his eldest niece to strike it rich!
"They won't..."
The Su family patriarch's voice grew softer and softer under Half-Immortal Su's cold sneer. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said:
"I promise to keep an eye on these little brats. Whoever dares to cause trouble, I'll break their legs first and throw them out to be beggars. If anything goes wrong, I won't be the patriarch anymore; I'll let you or Su Ning take over."
"Cut it out, who cares about being the patriarch."
Half-Immortal Su was disdainful.
A thankless job with no benefits, where he still had to put in the effort to pull up that group of clansmen—he'd be a fool to do it. As for his eldest niece, she would look down on it even more.
"Wait, you're not thinking of making a mistake on purpose just to dump this patriarch position onto my eldest niece, are you?"
"How could I?"
The Su family patriarch hurriedly denied it.
But in his heart, he felt it was a pity.
How come he didn't think of this layer just now... Sigh, even if he thought of it, he couldn't do it. Compared to the benefits Su Ning and a certain clansman might get, he still knew which was more important.
Su Ning didn't know about this.
Hearing this, a smile bloomed on her indifferent face. "Then I'll wait for Uncle to show off his great power."
The first-class and second-class carriages of the train were quite far apart. When Su Ning boarded the train, she faintly heard the sound of a foreigner speaking non-standard Chinese.
She couldn't be bothered to turn around.
She didn't need to think about it; at this time, on this train, it should be that Charles who was helping the guy surnamed Kong, right?
Speaking of this.
Su Ning also remembered something. Lin Sen found out that someone was investigating the Su family, or to be exact, the Su family from decades ago. He stepped in and scrambled their direction... Very easily, because the people behind it obviously had no power in Beiping, and their initial information contained many errors.
Tracing it upwards, who would have thought it would lead to Young Master Kong.
This was really strange.
Su Ning thought to herself.
It wasn't until she heard Charles's voice just now that it felt like scattered pearls had finally been strung together by a single thread... Although there were still many missing pieces, it was enough.
"Eldest niece, what's wrong?"
Why did she suddenly stop walking forward? As Half-Immortal Su spoke, he caught a glimpse of Young Master Kong and the others not far away from the corner of his eye. He immediately spat a few times in disgust:
"I didn't check the almanac before going out, to actually run into this group of shameless debt collectors. Hmph, eldest niece, don't worry. I looked closely, and every one of them has a dark fate palace and blackish-blue brows... There's actually a couple in there whose marriage palace is entangled with a peach blossom curse?"
Towards the end, his voice sounded a bit puzzled.
What kind of fate was this?
They were clearly a destined married couple, so how could they be involved in a conflicting peach blossom curse...
Su Ning turned her head and took a glance.
Sure enough.
—Guan Jixing, Mu Wan.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. If she remembered correctly, Mu Wan hadn't even finished her one-month postpartum confinement yet. As expected of the female lead... She was truly strong enough.
............
Su Ning's group was huge in number.
Naturally, Young Master Kong and the others noticed them too, and so they started discussing. First was Young Master Kong, who sneered with high spirits: "Going to confess her crimes and still not forgetting to put on such a grand display, she really doesn't know life from death."
To think she didn't even understand the principle of keeping a low profile.
The wealthier she appeared, the more those people would want to carve a piece of meat off her!
"That's right, Su Ning just acts like a nouveau riche, only knowing how to blindly flaunt her wealth, as if people don't know she has money. Little does she know, this actually makes her look inferior."
Guan Jixing shook his head with great demeanor.
Unfortunately, the injuries on his face hadn't fully healed yet. They had faded from black and blue to patches of sallow yellow, which really couldn't be considered good-looking. Even so, there was still someone who admired him—
For instance, Mu Wan.
She didn't speak, but she constantly expressed her worship for her lover with her eyes. A blush rose on her pale face, and Guan Jixing also felt this affection, gazing back at her deeply.
The two gazed at each other for a long time.
Everyone else: ...
