Zhang Tieyuan plopped down on the bed-stove beside his son.
After a long period of silence, he said, “All of you blame me.”
He said to himself, filled with guilt and hatred, “How would I know that she’d be able to turn everything around at that final game? All I did was for the family’s sake!”
Seeing how their father was somewhat regretting everything, Zhang Tieyuan’s son, daughter-in-law and daughter could not say anything more. Zhang Tiezhu sighed, “It’s pointless now. You’ve lost. We now have nothing.”
Zhang Caixia cast her eyes downward and said, somewhat resolutely, “If all of you are willing, we can each cut one hand off in exchange for the land and the house.”
“Yes,” Zhang Tieyuan agreed.
Zhang Tiezhu rolled his eyes upon hearing him. “If you’re serious about it, why don’t you cut your hand off first to set an example for us?”
Zhang Tieyuan: “…”
He was scolded terribly by his son this time around, but could say nothing in response. He could only bear with it silently because it was his fault that his family had lost everything; they would not have sunk to this level if he hadn’t been so addicted to gambling.
…
After Qi Qingyao ordered Jiang Yeqian to get everything sorted within a month, Jiang Yeqian asked her about how many workers they should hire. The layout plans she gave him were not for an ordinary house; there were many extremely delicate traps hidden inside.
“I don’t care how you do it or how many people you hire. I gave you our budget and I’ll only check the end result, so you can just return the excess money to me then,” Qi Qingyao said imperiously.
Jiang Yeqian was speechless. ‘It seems that the workers I hired from the town won’t be able to handle the jobs assigned to them.’
Those traps had to be installed by someone skilled. He had to look for professionals.
After Jiang Yeqian left, Qi Qingyao asked Si Jin to follow Jiang Yeqian at all times. While Jiang Yeqian was in charge of the entire construction process, Si Jin would in turn be in charge of monitoring Jiang Yeqian; to see if Jiang Yeqian would go out without informing anyone, or if he would spend the money on liquor or other things. Si Jin was serious about his mission and followed Jiang Yeqian diligently without letting his guard down.
Jiang Yeqian looked at Si Jin, who was following him persistently, and knew that he would not be able to task Zhao Xin to do this for him.
He could only return to the contractor he found before. He told him some of the requirements and allowed the contractor to have a peek at the layout plans.
“Do you have more professional workers with you?” Jiang Yeqian asked.
The contractor was a considerably old man. His eyes shone with intelligence. He repeatedly looked over the plans that Jiang Yeqian had brought over. “Sir, these plans…”
“Are they too complicated to accomplish?” Jiang Yeqian asked.
“No, I’m just curious…” The old man massaged his forehead. It had been a long time since he encountered a design that was this complicated, including the traps and all. “I took on some smaller projects in Beiliang before I retired. I’m very experienced with this. Are the layout plans you’re holding designed by the Master of Architecture Li Qinglian?”
He had had the fortune to look at some of the layout plans done by the Master of Architecture Li Qinglian. They were similar to this one, right down to the labels at the side and the handwriting.
Jiang Yeqian quietly thought, ‘The Master of Architecture Li Qinglian, huh?’ Outwardly, he nodded casually, “Sure.”
The old man was curious. “Where did you get this?”
“That is none of your business.”Jiang Yeqian took the plans from the old man’s hands.
The old man still wanted to take a few more looks at the plan, but Jiang Yeqian sternly refused.