Chapter 223
"It's you," Mei'er said, "What a coincidence! I was just thinking of buying some meat before looking for you, but I didn't expect to meet you here."
"Looking for me? What do you want from me? But what's wrong with the spices?"
Tian Bajiao hoped that Mei'er wanted to talk to her, but they were not that close.
Mei'er sighed and said, "The spices were very good, but I fell on my way back yesterday, and the fruits on the cart were scattered all over the floor. I was busy picking up the fruits and didn't notice the spices. When I came to my senses, the spices were gone, and a lot of the fruits had been stolen, so I wanted to buy some more."
"In that case, let's go together later. This is really terrible."
Tian Bajiao said.
Mrs. Li San also said, "Who says it's not? I don't know which shameless thief is responsible. Something was stolen from my shop the day before yesterday. It was a huge pig's trotter. It was gone in the blink of an eye. I'm afraid there must be a thief in town. Bajiao is reminding your boss Shen to be careful too. I think that thief is quite powerful."
Tian Bajiao was surprised and said, "There is such a thing. I will tell my boss when I get home."
"Do remember that many people at the market have lost things."
Madam Li San reminded again and again.
Tian Bajiao couldn't help but become a little serious, fearing that someone from the underworld had arrived.
He also asked: "What did the thief steal?"
Mrs. Li San said, "There's everything. Fruits, vegetables, pork buns, mostly food, but also some valuable cloth and jewelry. I guess they just steal whatever they see."
"This thief is really not picky." Tian Bajiao always likes to steal valuable things. He only buys these things when he has money. If he steals everything, it will be too obvious.
But after hearing what Mrs. Li San said, she realized that this thief was indeed very powerful and had not been caught yet. She really had to be careful.
Tian Bajiao bought two cleanly shaved bones and some vegetables before returning home with Mei'er. Unexpectedly, a crowd of people gathered in front of the store, almost blocking the street. Tian Bajiao finally squeezed in and asked, "What's going on? I'm a clerk at Dingxiangfang. Let me in."
Someone with good sense immediately made way and said to her, "You're a shop assistant, so go in quickly. Your shop has been robbed. Boss Shen's head is broken and he's crying. He just had a fight with Madam Liu next door and is threatening to report the crime to the police."
This statement was both clear and vague.
Tian Bajiao didn't ask any more questions. She finally squeezed in, but was almost turned away. Madam Wang was in a hurry to close the door and almost slammed it on her face.
Fortunately, Tian Bajiao acted quickly, grabbed the door panel, squeezed in, and pulled Mei'er in with him.
"Madam Wang, what happened? I heard those people say there was a thief in the shop."
"A thief broke in," Wang Niang had a lot to say, but she held it back and looked at Mei'er and said, "Who is this?"
"She's a customer buying spices. Wait, I'll get them for you first," Tian Bajiao said, pulling Mei'er towards the counter and asking, "Are the spices in the store safe?"
"Ah? Ah! Probably not," Wang Niang was shocked by Tian Bajiao's spirit of business. After a moment's reaction, she said, "If it was really the spices that were stolen, that would be fine."
"What was stolen? Silver?"
"Oh, I guess so. I'll go see Niao'er first. I won't talk to you anymore. Come back as soon as you're done."
Madam Wang hurried to the backyard.
Mei'er said a little embarrassedly: "Actually, it will be the same if I come back another day."
"Since we're already here, why wait until another day?" Tian Bajiao had already packed it for her. "Come back when you're done. There are too many people at the front door, so go through the back door."
"Okay, okay," Mei'er paid the money, still worried about her, "Now that something like this has happened, please stop worrying about me and go see your boss."
"It's okay. There's no need to rush. Besides, since we've been robbed, we should focus on business."
Tian Bajiao thought, no matter what was lost, it would be difficult to find it back in a short time, so business must be carried out as normal. After seeing Mei'er off, she went to Boss Shen's house.
She was hugging Lady Wang and crying. Her head was wrapped in a thick white cloth and bleeding. It looked like she was seriously injured.
Looking at Madam Wang, she also had tears in her eyes, and she kept shedding tears. Only when she saw Tian Bajiao come in did the two of them wipe their tears away.
Tian Bajiao asked, "What on earth is going on?"
"Don't mention it," Lady Wang said, wiping her tears. "Not long after you left, a thief broke into the courtyard and stole Niao'er's family incense recipe. Niao'er went to the back to get something and ran into the thief. The two of them argued, and Niao'er hit her head on the stone table and passed out. When she woke up, the thief had already fled, and the incense recipe was gone."
The family incense recipe is of course important. Tian Bajiao asked:
"Then why did you get into an argument with the neighbors? Did they take it?"
"It shouldn't be them," Boss Shen sobbed. "I was too impatient. Thinking about the arguments I had with Liu Suniang in the past, I thought it was them. After a few arguments, I decided it couldn't be possible. They have good spices in their shop, and they naturally have good recipes for mixing spices. Their business is better than ours, so they wouldn't want to steal from me. I'm afraid it must be someone else."
This is really not like her...
Tian Bajiao said, "I just went to the Hu family butcher shop and heard from Mrs. Li San and Mei'er that many people at the market had lost things, and they had also been robbed. Maybe there was a thief in the town, and maybe our things were also stolen by that thief."
"Woo...why am I so unlucky!" Boss Shen cried even harder.
Tian Bajiao: "Besides the incense recipe, did the thief steal anything else?"
"That's all." Boss Shen choked.
Tian Bajiao was just breathing a sigh of relief when she heard her say, "The dozens of taels of silver that were placed with the Xiang Fang are gone too!"
She burst into tears.
Tian Bajiao: "Then let's report it to the police immediately. I'll go."
"No need, I've already asked someone to go," Madam Wang waved her hand. "Go boil some water and make a pot of tea."
They seemed to have something to say.
Tian Bajiao nodded and said, "Okay."
He went out, but did not go to the kitchen. Instead, he hid by the door and eavesdropped.
They were not careful enough and just said it.
Lady Wang comforted her, saying, "Don't cry! Being safe is better than anything else. If you hadn't been through this calamity, you might not have come back."
"You don't know, it's not that I can't come back, it's that I can't get out..."
They were talking to each other, and Tian Bajiao found it unbelievable. He really suspected that she had injured her brain and gone crazy.
What is this all about?
From what they said, there was indeed a fake Boss Shen, but this fake Boss Shen was not impersonating her in disguise.
Instead, he went straight to her...
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