Two days later.
The night was deep.
Su Hua had just finished brewing a jar of monkey wine in her spatial dimension when she heard two people outside speaking in hushed tones.
"Has Danfeng returned?"
As soon as the voice fell, the door was pushed open from the outside, and Danfeng walked in, cupping his hands and saying, "Miss, I have been staking out the restaurant for two days and three nights and finally found out that the thief who stole the hot pot ingredients is not a rat at all, but a person, and a famous habitual thief in the martial arts world, known as the Master Thief!"
"A master thief?" Su Hua couldn't help but feel surprised.
"There are even different levels of theft now?"
Danfeng nodded. "He's called a master thief, but he's actually just a habitual thief who's skilled in all sorts of tricks and has pretty good agility."
The hot pot base that was stolen earlier was all made by this man using a specially made small bamboo stick. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he had stolen both packets of hot pot base completely.
Su Hua's brow twitched upon hearing this. Su Erhu had shown her the gnawed oil paper package, and the marks on it were exactly the same as the rat tooth marks she had seen before.
And each time they would steal two or three packages.
If we hadn't known the habits of rats and had Danfeng guard them, the rats would probably have stolen and eaten it.
Qingdai, who was standing to the side, was stunned. "This master thief always steals valuable items, so why would he take a fancy to hot pot base? He can't possibly be stealing it to cook hot pot, can he?"
Besides, stealing two or three packets at a time is just pointless and a waste of time!
“Of course it wasn’t for cooking hot pot.” Danfeng shook his head mysteriously. “This master thief is incredibly skilled in light-footed techniques. After stealing the hot pot base, he used his light-footed techniques to go directly to Tangshan Prefecture without stopping for a moment along the way.”
They finally settled in the eastern part of Tangshan Prefecture.
We met with a masked woman; although neither of us had seen her before, the girl should have.
Su Hua's heart stirred. She had seen her before, and she was a woman who lived in the east of Tangshan Prefecture.
"Is Danfeng referring to Liu Yuxian of the Liu family?"
She only spent one day in Tangshan Prefecture, and the only people she met from Tangshan Prefecture besides Uncle Zhou were Liu Lin and Liu Yuxian from the Liu family.
Danfeng nodded. "You guessed pretty much right, young lady. The person who met with the master thief was Liu Yuxian's maid, Huayi."
Moreover, this person in painted clothes seemed afraid of being discovered by the master thief. Not only did they remain masked the entire time, but after obtaining the hot pot base, they didn't immediately go home. Instead, they wandered around the markets and alleys in the east of the city before taking a detour back to the Liu residence.
Su Hua was startled upon hearing the voice.
What is Liu Yuxian planning by going to such lengths to hire a master thief to steal hot pot ingredients?
During this period, she had no contact with her. Logically speaking, she shouldn't have gone to so much trouble to mess with her, unless... it was because of the grudge she had made on the gambling stone street. She couldn't get revenge on Zichen, so she turned her attention to herself.
Seeing that the girl remained silent for a long time, Danfeng couldn't help but say, "The locks in the restaurant's main kitchen are all made of cold iron. Therefore, the master thief can only sneak two or three packets when the waiters aren't paying attention these days."
But secretly, he had a lock-picking tool custom-made at the blacksmith's shop, which would be completed in the next couple of days.
Once this lock pick is made, the next step will probably be to empty out our restaurant's large kitchen.
"In my humble opinion, since we already know that it's this master thief and the Liu family who are behind this, why don't we wait and see, and call in a few government officials? When they make their next move, we can arrest them directly. What do you think, young lady?"
Su Hua snapped out of her daze, shook her head, and smiled. "Not good."
"Not good? Why?" Danfeng was completely stunned.
Actually, if the girl hadn't stopped her from making any moves, she would have wanted to give the master thief a good beating right then and there. She had used her light-footed skills all the way from Qingshui County to Tangshan Prefecture, and the tips of her shoes were practically sparking.
Qingdai was also somewhat surprised, "Miss, have you thought of a good solution?"
Su Hua smiled slightly, "Liu Yuxian made Hua Yi act with her face covered because she had thought that even if the theft of the hot pot by the god was exposed, it would not implicate her."
Catching the master thief won't do much good; at most, he'll spend a year or two in jail.
Moreover, Liu Yuxian is the type to not act until she sees a tangible benefit; if this plan fails, she'll surely resort to other dirty tricks.
Danfeng pursed her lips. "In your opinion, what should we do now?"
Su Hua smiled slyly, "Since Liu Yuxian wants this hot pot base so much, then I will grant her wish."
"Huh?" Danfeng and Qingdai were both taken aback.
Su Hua beckoned, "For this matter, I need you to go to town and buy some things to help me. Come closer..."
After listening, the two of them took a while to come to their senses, and then, without prior agreement, they both gave the girl a thumbs up.
She silently shed another tear of sympathy for Liu Yuxian.
Su Hua stared at the crackling candlelight, her almond-shaped eyes slightly darkening. She didn't know why Liu Yuxian suddenly wanted to take action against the restaurant, but she could roughly estimate Liu Yuxian's next move.
However, whether Liu Yuxian can accept the offer is another matter entirely, even if she is willing to give it.
The next day, after lunch.
Su Dalang, Su Erlang, and several other boys from the village were playing in the river downstream, enjoying the cool air, when they saw a loach rushing towards the end of the village.
Erlang quickly called out to him, "Brother Mudfish, what's wrong with you?"
Mudskipper slammed on the brakes, panting, "Big Brother! Second Brother! Quick! Come with me to see what's going on!"
Su Erlang's face lit up with joy, but he quickly glanced back at the courtyard and said in a very low voice, "If we have to go to Cangwu Town to listen to storytelling again, we dare not go again."
"What are we going to Cangwu Town for!" Mudfish wiped the sweat from his forehead. "This time, the excitement won't even take us outside Shanghe Village. It'll be right here at our village chief's house. I heard the person coming is some kind of Princess Zhu, and she's incredibly beautiful."
"Princess Pig?" Su Erlang's expression was strange. "How beautiful can a princess who looks like a pig be?"
Mudfish scratched his head. "Well, I don't know either. I just heard it from the villagers. I figured you two were at the end of the village and probably didn't know about this, so I immediately called you two over. If you don't go, I'll go by myself."
Upon hearing this, the boys by the water forgot all about cooling off and playing in the water, and quickly got out of the water.
Su Erlang, equally intrigued, abruptly stopped. "Brother Mudfish, wait a moment. We need to take the clams, fish, and shrimp we caught home first..."
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