118, being followed
118, being followed
It was raining that day, so there were fewer vendors setting up stalls on the street, and even fewer pedestrians. The occasional cars and horses passing by were very quick.
Looking at the empty street, there were more people selling things than buying things. Their stall usually did a lot of business at this time of year, but today there were not many customers eating. Xie Liuniang felt a little worried. When she came back from clearing the two sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table, she whispered to their boss, "There are so few people on the street when it rains. I don't know when this rain will stop."
"Yeah, I'm afraid the rain won't stop for a while." Liu Sanniang was also a little worried, but there was nothing she could do at this time. She could only comfort the guys and said, "Let's try our best to sell today's things. At worst, we can sell them a little later today." As long as they can be sold out, it doesn't matter if they sell some.
After saying this, Liu Sanniang looked up at the still gloomy sky and knew that the rain would not stop for a while.
Her husband had gone to the pancake shop to discuss something with Lu Qingfeng and was not at their stall at the moment. Liu Sanniang said to Xie Liuniang, who was standing beside her, "You two stay here to watch the stall. I'll go see if Boss Chen is out today and talk to him about the meat he'll be selling over the next few days." Seeing that business was struggling, she planned to go to the butcher and vegetable vendors and ask them to take less meat and vegetables over the next few days.
Otherwise, if they can’t sell all the meat and vegetables, they will suffer even greater losses.
"Okay, go ahead. We are here." Xie Liuniang said.
Liu Sanniang nodded and walked out with an umbrella.
At the pancake shop, Lu Youtian was telling Lu Qingfeng about a minor friction between his eldest son and a classmate, who had someone come to their stall to cause trouble.
"The stall is a small matter. You've been here for more than a day or two, and everyone knows that your food is clean and delicious. The soldiers at the city gate often come to eat here. If there's anything, we can send someone over to call them, and they'll come and take care of it." Lu Qingfeng wasn't too worried about the stall's business. He was more worried that his adopted son would get into trouble if he provoked such a jealous person.
"As for Ming Fei, tell him to be careful when he goes out in the future."
"We won't be leaving the city today, so why don't we go to the pawnshop and buy a few more people? We can pick two to work with Mingfei in the future. He's a scholar, and he'll need servants to run errands when he goes out. Why not buy some and train them for a few years so they know how to do things when they go out with Mingfei?"
"Oh, that's true." Lu Youtian had no idea of buying two servants to follow his eldest son, but after Lu Qingfeng said that, he felt it made sense.
After the two of them agreed, they prepared to go out to the brokerage firm to buy someone.
Lu Youtian asked Lu Qingfeng to wait for him in the store for a while while he went to talk to his wife. However, when he came out, he didn't see his wife there. When he asked, he found out that his wife had gone to see Mr. Chen, the pork seller.
He waited at the stall for a while before his wife came back. The couple then found a place where there were not many people around to talk.
"Oh, that's true. Then you can go and take a look first. Pick two strong men to follow Mingfei." Liu Sanniang took out the silver she had on her and gave it to her husband, saying softly, "Take this silver. If it's not enough, come back and tell me. We have some more silver at home."
But Lu Youtian knew that the money in the family was reserved for buying vegetables, buying ducklings, and preparing for the eldest son's studies and spending money. Unless it was absolutely necessary, they would never touch the little money in the family.
"That's enough, that's enough. If it's not enough, I'll borrow some from Qingfeng." Lu Youtian said.
"I'm afraid they don't have enough money, so let's just buy two this time. We can buy a few more next month when we have more money."
"Okay, that's fine."
After the couple finished talking, Lu Youtian went to the pancake shop to find Lu Qingfeng, while Liu Sanniang returned to the stall to continue selling things.
***
Lu Mingfei had been studying at home that day and didn't know what was happening outside. Naturally, he didn't know that his father and adoptive father had gone to the pawnshop to buy people.
When his father and mother didn't come back at noon, he knew that business at the stall might be slow. Since the stall hadn't sold out yet and his father and mother couldn't come back soon, he and Zhang Qi prepared lunch and ate it with his brothers.
Then he asked Zhang Qi to look after the children at home, and he went out holding an oil-paper umbrella.
The rain stopped just around noon, but the sky was still gloomy.
Afraid of rain on the road, he brought an umbrella with him.
Halfway through the journey, Lu Mingfei noticed footsteps following him from behind. He suddenly became alert, but he did not look back immediately. Instead, he maintained his normal pace and walked towards the teahouse in front.
Seeing the owner of the teahouse standing at the door looking up at the sky, he smiled and greeted him, "Uncle Zhuang, are you open for business today too?"
"How can I not do business? Would you like to come to my place and have a cup of tea?" The owner of the tea shop knew that the young man who often passed by their store was a child who lived nearby. The child's parents set up a stall on South Street to sell braised meat, and he quite liked the Lu family's braised food.
The most important thing is that Lu’s braised food is clean and cheap. Buying half a pound is enough for a meal with wine.
"Okay, my father just ran out of tea, so he asked me to buy some."
"Come on, come on, I'll make two pots for you to try first. If you like it, buy it later."
At Boss Zhuang's invitation, Lu Mingfei walked into the store. After entering the store, he whispered to the other party, "Uncle, it seems like someone is following me. Can you help me see if it's someone?"
"Okay, go sit inside first. I'll make you some tea and see what you like." Upon hearing this, Boss Zhuang winked at the young man and asked him to go inside. He glanced outside casually, then led the young man to sit at the tea table inside. He then whispered to the young man, "There are two people following you."
"Who have you offended recently?"
"I offended a villain." Lu Mingfei already knew who had sent those two people outside.
Cai Renjun had someone come to their stall yesterday to cause trouble, and now he has someone following him. "Uncle, did you see clearly just now? What did those two people look like?"
"One is tall and the other is short. They don't look like people who live near us." Boss Zhuang took the small kettle off the charcoal stove, opened the lid, and then took out a bag of tea leaves from the drawer. He put a handful of tea leaves into the teapot and then poured water into it.
After pouring out the first wash and pouring the second, Boss Zhuang poured the tea into two small cups. He pushed one of the cups in front of the young man and said, "If you're not in a hurry to leave, have a couple more cups of tea here. I'll have one of the waiters take you back later."
"Uncle Zhuang, do you have a back door here?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"Yes, I have."
"Uncle Zhuang, please ask a servant to check the back door. If there is no one guarding the back door, I will go through the back door and you won't need to ask the servant to take me back."
"Okay." When the two sat down to drink tea, Boss Zhuang did not ask the young man how he got into trouble, because even if he asked, he would not want to help, so it was better not to ask.
Lu Mingfei knew that they were not related, and that the teahouse owner's willingness to let him take shelter there was already very kind. However, he was a little worried that those people would find their home. They only had a few children at home, and it would be bad if the children were ignorant and opened the door to strangers.
It seems that he will have to find a way to solve this troublesome situation for Cai Renjun!
After Boss Zhuang asked his waiter to check at the back door and made sure that no one was blocking him from behind, Lu Mingfei finished the tea in the cup, stood up, thanked and said goodbye to Boss Zhuang, and left through the back door of the teahouse.
After coming out of the back door of the teahouse, he deliberately looked around. After not seeing the two people that the boss mentioned, he left quickly.
He was afraid that the two men would find their home, so he took a detour and went straight home.
***
“Knock knock—”
"Who is it?"
"It's me, open the door."
Zhang Qi inside heard his elder brother's voice outside, so he came over and opened the door.
After the door opened, Lu Mingfei entered the yard and closed the door behind him. He made a gesture to Zhang Qi to keep quiet, then pulled Zhang Qi to the door and looked out through the crack. After making sure that no one had followed him back outside, he pulled Zhang Qi away.
"What's the matter, brother? Why did you come back so soon?" Zhang Qi asked in a low voice after entering the house.
"Someone was following me outside just now. You guys are at home recently. Unless someone from our family calls you to open the door, you must not open the door to anyone you don't know. Do you understand?" Lu Mingfei reminded Zhang Qi.
When Zhang Qi heard that his eldest brother was being followed, he asked worriedly, "Brother, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, don't worry." Lu Mingfei said.
Zhang Qi saw that their eldest brother didn't seem to be in trouble, so he felt relieved and asked, "Is it those people from yesterday?" He also knew that someone had gone to their stall to cause trouble yesterday, so he thought it was those people from yesterday.
"It shouldn't be. I wonder if those two from yesterday have come out of the dungeon yet. The two today should be different people." At this point, Lu Mingfei's eyes narrowed slightly, and he was already thinking of a way to deal with Cai Renjun. He wanted to stop that petty guy from thinking that everyone else was a pushover and that he would cause trouble for them again and again!
It really pushed him to the limit...
Cai Renjun, right? You wait for me! Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support. If you want to know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading.
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