Chapter 45 Catching a Turtle in a Jar

No sooner had Liu Zhixia left than the black market underwent a dramatic change.

A group of armed men rushed in like tigers descending a mountain, and the noisy market instantly fell silent!

"Something's wrong! People are coming!"

Seeing that things were going badly, the vendors turned and ran, only to find in despair that all the exits were blocked!

Catching a turtle in a jar!

In the blink of an eye, everyone was pinned to the ground.

Old Liu, pinned to the ground, struggled and roared, "Who are you? What right do you have to interfere in this area?"

The commanding officer didn't even glance at him, and directly ordered Shen Yi beside him: "Take them all away and interrogate them carefully!"

"yes!"

Old Liu finally saw Shen Yi clearly, and his eyes widened in fury: "So it was you, the undercover agent!"

He suddenly broke free from his restraints with a burst of strength, drew a dagger from his waist, and stabbed at Shen Yi with lightning speed!

Shen Yi dodged to the side, but Lao Liu turned around and pointed his blade directly at his unsuspecting superior!

Shen Yi lunged forward and shielded his superior with his body!

With a "thud," the dagger pierced the chest, making a crisp metallic sound.

"Shen Yi!" the officer roared, his face ashen. "Quickly! Take him down!"

The soldiers swarmed forward and pinned Lao Liu down.

"Are you alright? Quickly, call a stretcher!"

Shen Yi clutched his chest and pulled out the pickle jar that Liu Zhixia had given him: "It's okay, this will protect me."

Shen Yi's expression also turned somewhat unpleasant.

I was planning to sneak it back, but now I've been exposed...

"You little rascal..." The officer let out a long sigh, both amused and annoyed, "Why are you carrying a pickle jar on your person?"

Shen Yi coughed awkwardly, "I was pretending to be a customer asking about prices inside, and I got into an argument with someone. They had to pay me back with a bottle."

The officer looked around warily: "Where are they?"

Shen Yi's heart sank, and he explained, "It was just a young girl, not that person. It seems she left because she wasn't feeling well."

"She's lucky," the officer joked, glancing at the pickled vegetables in his hand. "Since this saved your life, you can keep it and eat it yourself; you don't need to hand it over!"

Shen Yi shouted happily, "Yes!"

He glanced down at the jar of pickled vegetables in his hand, a smile playing on his lips, and quickly stuffed it back into his trench coat pocket.

In the cafeteria, Shen Yi took out the jar of life-saving pickled vegetables, opened it, took a bite, and paused slightly: "It's actually quite delicious."

Comrade Xu Zhigang brought over the food and slapped him on the shoulder: "Well done, Xiao Shen! I heard you took a knife for the officer? You're getting braver and braver!"

Shen Yi ate his rice without looking up: "I didn't think that much at the time."

Xu Zhigang chuckled: "I heard the officers and commanders praising you! I think the position of regimental commander is definitely yours this time!"

"Don't talk nonsense." Shen Yi glared at him.

"How can you say that's nonsense?" Xu Zhigang put his arm around his shoulder and lowered his voice. "You and Lao Jiang were fighting. This time, he let an important target escape and made a huge mess! Although you didn't catch the person, you saved your superior! That's a greater contribution than anything else!"

Shen Yi didn't respond and continued eating in silence.

At this moment, Lu Kai also came over with the food, beaming: "Good news, my matter is settled!"

"Great job, Kai-ge!" Xu Zhigang immediately cheered, then pointed at Shen Yi, "Once you've made your decision, you can't be like Xiao Shen Guang and treat us to pickled vegetables!"

As he spoke, he reached out with his chopsticks to pick it up.

"Snap!" Shen Yi swiftly slammed the lid back on the jar and clutched it to his chest. "Mine."

Xu Zhigang was stunned: "Hey! You little rascal, your brother can't even afford a bite of pickled vegetables now?"

Lu Kai reluctantly put away his chopsticks, which he was about to use to pick up some pickled vegetables, and tried to smooth things over with a smile: "Alright, I'm getting promoted to battalion commander, so I'll definitely treat you! I'll take leave to go back to the village in a couple of days, and you guys can come back with me?"

"We can eat Comrade Liu's cooking again?" Xu Zhigang's eyes lit up instantly.

Lu Kai laughed and said, "Come to my house for dinner! Of course, you can also invite Xia to celebrate with us."

Shen Yi, who had been silent all along, raised his head and nodded: "Okay, I'll go back with you."

...

After resting for a day, Liu Zhixia and Liu Xiangyang went into the city again.

Before they even got close to the site of the black market, a figure suddenly grabbed them.

It's Gangzi!

He grabbed Liu Xiangyang's arm excitedly, lowered his voice, and his face was full of relief at surviving the ordeal: "My saviors! You are truly my saviors! Quick, let's find a place to talk!"

Before he could finish speaking, several men dressed as soldiers approached, their sharp eyes demanding, "What are you doing here?"

Liu Xiangyang calmly replied, "I came to the city to visit relatives."

The soldier scrutinized them for a moment, then waved his hand: "Don't loiter around here, stay away!"

At the state-run restaurant, Gangzi generously ordered a large table of dishes.

Once the waiter left, he approached, his voice filled with lingering fear and admiration: "Miss Xia, you're amazing! We had barely left yesterday when a large group of soldiers stormed in! The black market was wiped out in one fell swoop; not a single one escaped, they were all sent in!"

Liu Zhixia frowned slightly, not surprised at all: "Just as I thought. So, where else can we do business?"

“It’s difficult,” Gangzi shook his head, “but,” he changed the subject, looking at Liu Zhixia with burning eyes, “if you have any more medicinal herbs, I’ll take them all!”

Liu Zhixia nodded: "Sure. How can we contact you?"

Gangzi immediately gave the address of a tailor shop: "Just give the goods to the owner there. I'll hold the money there in advance. As long as it's a product you deliver, I'll accept it all!"

He now admires Liu Zhixia immensely; not only are her products excellent, but she is also incredibly insightful!

Liu Zhixia's medicinal herb business has stabilized, but Liu Xiangyang is starting to worry.

With the source of income from pickled vegetables gone, what will happen to my son's school fees?

As soon as the dishes were served, Liu Xiangyang's worries were dispelled by the aroma of the wine. He and Gangzi clinked glasses and chatted enthusiastically.

Liu Zhixia, on the other hand, buried herself in her rice.

She chose Gangzi without hesitation because she had a good impression of him in her past life. He was honest, never cheated the villagers, and had a kind heart. In this life, she knew that Gangzi's wife was still seriously ill in bed, and he was doing business in medicinal herbs to pay for her treatment.

Such a person is trustworthy.

After finishing the meal, Gangzi clasped his hands in a fist and bow again: "Comrade Xia, from now on, I'm entrusting all matters concerning medicinal herbs to you!"

"Don't worry, there are still some in the mountains, I'll go get them."

"Alright! I'll be waiting!"

After parting ways with Gangzi, Liu Xiangyang was deflated again: "The black market is gone, what are we going to do about this pickled vegetable business?"

Liu Zhixia remained calm: "Brother, don't worry. Good wine needs no bush. As long as our products are good, we won't have trouble selling them. Even if they don't sell, we can just keep them for ourselves. It's not a loss."

The two were preparing to return to the village when they reached the crossroads and saw Liu Weidong and Zhou Juan waiting anxiously.

"Big brother! Third sister!"

"Second Brother! Second Sister-in-law!"

"You've finally arrived! We were so worried!" Zhou Juan ran over, her face still showing signs of fear. "We heard the black market was shut down, and we were afraid you wouldn't know, so we came to wait for you! We didn't expect you to be here already!"

Liu Xiangyang smiled smugly: "Third Sister had already foreseen that something bad was going to happen. We ran away yesterday, and we're just here today to gather information."

"Let's go talk to them over there first!"

When Liu Zhixia arrived at the lumber mill dormitory, she immediately noticed that the two jars of pickled vegetables that had been delivered last time were empty.

Zhou Juan noticed her gaze and immediately beamed with joy. She took her hand and said, "Third Sister! Your pickled vegetables are so delicious! All the workers in our factory say that they have energy to work after eating them! Our leaders also praised them highly after tasting them. Now, we have a big business deal we'd like to discuss with you!"