Chapter 93 Tracking
The next day, just as Sheng An arrived at the main kitchen, Shu Qi walked in with a beaming smile:
"Master, a customer surnamed Li has made a reservation for lunch tomorrow at noon. He has paid a deposit of thirty taels of silver."
Sheng An took the order and saw that there were sixteen dishes in total, for a total of fifteen people.
The ingredients needed for these dishes are not particularly hard to find; they can all be purchased at the nearby market.
Sheng An handed the list to Bao Lan, feeling quite pleased.
Seeing that Shuqi hadn't left and seemed to have something to say, Sheng An asked with a smile, "Is it about Cao Xingwang?"
Shuqi nodded embarrassedly: "I went to the Cao family last night. Their house was ransacked by Boss Chen himself. They have to sell the house they live in now to pay back Boss Chen."
Cao Xingwang was a cunning and scheming man. He embezzled five thousand taels of silver from Zuixianlou, spent a large sum on buying a house, and used the rest for eating, drinking, gambling, and keeping beautiful concubines.
Chen Peisheng led his men to demand money, but only managed to get a little over two hundred taels. Even if they sold the house, they would still be unable to recover two thousand taels of silver.
Out of consideration for his wife and in-laws, Chen Peisheng did not report the matter to the authorities, but the two thousand taels of silver were charged to Cao Xingwang.
Cao Xingwang's reputation is already tarnished; no boss would be so magnanimous as to hire him as their manager. He's a lost cause.
With a debt of two thousand taels of silver weighing on him, Cao Xingwang would never be able to turn his life around without a stroke of incredible luck.
Sheng An was surprised by Chen Peisheng's actions: "That Chen guy is decisive. I thought he would at most scold Cao Xingwang and then kick him out of Zuixianlou."
Shuqi guessed, "Perhaps Boss Chen has long been dissatisfied with the Cao family, but he has kept quiet about it because of the relationship between the two families. This time, he has seized a great opportunity."
Sheng An suddenly realized: "So, I actually did him a huge favor!"
Getting rid of such a big scourge as Cao Xingwang from Zuixianlou, and incidentally making an example of him to teach the older generation a lesson, is a win-win situation.
Shuqi continued, "The man surnamed Cao is very dissatisfied and wants to force his parents to plead with the Chen family. However, his parents have been taken to the Chen family and are unlikely to take care of him anymore."
Shuqi thought Chen Peisheng was very kind. Even after such a thing happened, he still put aside his past grievances and took care of his parents-in-law in their old age. It would be good enough if anyone else didn't sue their brother-in-law and send him to jail.
Sheng An shook his head: "People might not appreciate what he's doing."
Cao Xingwang is dishonest; he embezzles as much as five hundred taels of silver from Zuixianlou every year. It's impossible that the two elders of the Cao family didn't know this.
As a result, they comfortably enjoyed everything their son had embezzled, until the truth came out and they had to accept reality, and then they comfortably relied on their son-in-law to support them in their old age.
Neither side nor side mattered to him; Sheng An only instructed Shu Qi: "Have Shu Mo guard the gate and be careful that Cao guy doesn't break in and cause trouble."
Shuqi quickly replied, "Yes."
No guests came to Shengyuan for lunch today, so Sheng An calmly made roast chicken. After lunch, he even went upstairs for a nap.
While she was fast asleep, Liu Huazhi, who had been carefully dressed up, appeared in a small town called Yunxian Town, thirty miles away from Huai Shu Village.
With her slender figure and graceful movements, Liu Huazhi attracted the attention of many passersby as she walked the streets of the town.
She had known for a long time what kind of women men liked, and she had always been proud of inheriting her mother's alluring figure and looks. Now that she was being watched, she felt extremely proud.
Liu Huazhi was not good at hiding her feelings, and a hint of pride was revealed on her face.
A street urchin, seeing this, approached Liu Huazhi with a grin, and his lewd hand reached for her high breasts:
"My little beauty, I've seen you coming to town a lot lately. Did you come here specifically to see me?"
Liu Huazhi never expected to encounter a hooligan. She quickly stepped back to avoid the groping hand and angrily cursed the scoundrel: "You wretched thing, how dare you take advantage of me!"
Upon hearing this, the hooligan's face immediately darkened, and he raised his hand to slap Liu Huazhi: "You filthy bitch, you dress up like this just to seduce men, I'll teach you a lesson for your hypocrisy!"
"ah--"
Liu Huazhi was knocked to the ground, covering her swollen face with terror as she watched the hooligan slowly approach: "You, you stay away! Help, help me—"
Hearing the woman's cries for help, passersby all looked over. Several wanted to step forward, but were immediately frightened back by the hooligan's sinister gaze.
Two men, one tall and one short, were crouching in a corner not far away. They clearly saw what had happened to Liu Huazhi.
The shorter guy nudged the taller guy next to him: "Ah Shui, should we go over there?"
Ah Shui was puzzled: "Why go there? That man told us to follow this woman, but he didn't say we were to protect her."
The shorter man poked his head irritably: "You're all about height, not intelligence. That person told us to follow her, so she must be very important to us. Are we just going to stand by and watch her get bullied?"
Ah Shui scratched his head: "Ah Tu means that guy has taken a liking to this woman and wants to be with her?"
A-Tu rolled his eyes at him: "I didn't say that!"
Seeing that he wouldn't admit it, Ah Shui didn't dare to say anything and continued to stare at the man and woman in front of her.
Seeing the man grabbing the woman's hair and groping her, as if he wanted to press his whole body against her, Ah Shui tugged at Ah Tu's sleeve: "So tell me, should we save her or not?"
After a moment's thought, Atu gritted his teeth and said, "Save them first!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ah Shui dashed off like an arrow released from a bow.
Upon seeing this, Atu spat out a curse and immediately chased after them.
Despite his small stature, Atu was incredibly fast. In just a few breaths, he overtook Atshui and knocked the hooligan who was taking advantage of Liu Huazhi to the ground.
The tall guy pounced on him and stomped the scoundrel who was trying to get up.
A-Tu stepped forward and stomped on the hooligan's stomach: "A grown man like you, bullying a woman, you're a disgrace to all men!"
Ah Shui chimed in, "Yes, it's a disgrace to us men."
The hooligan rolled his eyes in pain, his face filled with terror: "Brothers, I was blinded by greed! Please, brothers, spare me!"
Upon hearing this, Atu slapped the hooligan four times: "You slapped that girl twice, so I'll retaliate a couple more times for her. If you dare to do something like this again, I won't let you off the hook!"
After saying that, he told Ah Shui to release Erliuzi.
As soon as he was free, the scoundrel clutched his stomach and ran off in a flash, not daring to look back.
Atu spat at his retreating figure, then turned to look at Liu Huazhi sitting on the ground: "Little girl, are you alright?"
Liu Huazhi was still in shock, her face pale and her body trembling.
A-Tu's eyes darted around, and his tone became even more cautious: "Little girl, don't be afraid. The bad guys have been driven away by us brothers. Where is your home? We brothers will escort you back."
After his words of comfort, Liu Huazhi finally calmed down.
Seeing that Atu and Ashui were dressed in shabby clothes and had ordinary appearances, Liu Huazhi didn't even want to say thank you.
Worried that the scoundrel might come back, she said pitifully, "My fiancé is a student at the academy. I'm here to see him. Could you please take me to the academy gate?"
Upon hearing this, Atu readily agreed, "Alright, we brothers will take you there right away."
Liu Huazhi reluctantly thanked her, got up, and led the way.
Atu pulled Atui along, showing some curiosity about the fiancé she mentioned.
I wonder if that man knows this woman has a fiancé. If he doesn't know and still takes a liking to her, then things will get interesting.
A-Tu thought to himself, a lewd smile creeping across his face.
The school wasn't far; we arrived in a short walk.
Liu Huazhi didn't want any third person present, which might interfere with her intimacy with her "fiancé," so she said to Atu and Ashui, "I've arrived. Thank you both, brothers."
Atu wasn't stupid, and immediately replied, "Then we're leaving."
After saying that, he grabbed Ah Shui and left.
Liu Huazhi breathed a sigh of relief and looked eagerly at the tightly closed school gate.
She didn't notice the two people hiding around the corner of the alley, peeking out and looking in her direction.
They waited until noon before the school gates finally opened, and a group of students of varying ages filed out. Among them, a student with delicate features and an upright posture stood out.
Liu Huazhi's eyes lit up, and she immediately opened her arms and rushed over: "Brother Xu~"
The way he called out "Brother Xu" was so poignant that it drew the attention of the surrounding students, who all looked at him with mocking eyes.
Xu Huaining's expression stiffened slightly as he stepped aside to avoid Liu Huazhi's advances: "Miss Liu, please have some self-respect."
Seeing his coldness, Liu Huazhi was secretly delighted. She raised her head slightly, her eyes brimming with tears, revealing her swollen cheeks: "Brother Xu, my mother wouldn't let me come, and she slapped me for it."
Ah Shui, standing at the corner, was dumbfounded.
It was clearly a second-rate fight, so how did it become my fight here?
This woman is such a good actress!
A-Tu, unfazed, offered A-Shui advice with the air of someone who had been through it all:
"This kind of woman is too clever for her own good. If a fool like you runs into her, you should stay far away from her, or you'll end up being taken advantage of and counting money for her."
Ah Shui nodded vigorously: "I won't find a wife like that!"
A-Tu scoffed and slapped him on the head: "You're so young and already thinking about getting a wife, what a loser!"
Ah Shui just smiled and remained silent; he was certain he would get married eventually.
Suddenly, Atu blurted out, "Holy shit!"
Ah Shui was startled and was about to ask what was going on when Ah Tu turned his face to the side and pointed to the school gate: "Look, doesn't that kid look just like that person?"
Ah Shui quickly looked over and was immediately stunned to see Xu Huaining's face.
It looks just like it, so much like it.
A-Tu slapped his forehead: "Coincidentally, this person also has the surname Xu. He's probably his brother. We need to hurry back!"
Ah Shui asked naively, "Aren't you going to follow me anymore?"
Atu rolled his eyes at him: "Go back and explain the situation first, and see what that person has to say."
Ah Shui nodded.
The two did not leave immediately, but listened intently to the conversation between Xu Huaining and Liu Huazhi.
It wasn't until Xu Huaining took Liu Huazhi to a nearby noodle shop for a meal, and after they finished eating, they parted ways and went home separately, that A Tu and A Shui left Yunxian Town and returned to Qingzhou City.
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