Chapter 46: Trouble
Jiang Yu leaned back in his wheelchair, his expression natural. "Smell of blood? I accidentally fell on the way back. Maybe the wound has ruptured."
That being said, there was actually something unexpected happening during the process of obtaining intelligence, and he had to get away with it in exchange for being injured.
He had dealt with it briefly before returning, but he didn't expect the bloody smell was still so strong.
"Do you want me to help you re-apply medicine and bandage the wound?" Rong Zhen saw that he was tired and asked kindly.
Jiang Yu shook his head. "It's just a minor injury. It's not necessary."
Since that was the case, Rong Zhen didn't mention it anymore and changed the subject, "No wonder the little catfish breathed on you just now. It must have smelled the blood on you."
"Little Cat?" Jiang Yu turned the wheelchair and walked out without her help.
Rongzhen: "Little Cat is the cat from before. It seems very familiar with this place. I thought it was one of yours."
Jiang Yu paused in pushing the wheelchair.
You know what, it's really possible that it was raised in the mansion, but the one who raised it was Jiang Yu, not him, Jiang Yu, so it would breathe out when it saw him.
Jiang Yu was thinking carelessly. When he got downstairs, Aunt Pang had already prepared dinner for them and was waiting for them to come down and eat.
Before the meal began, Auntie Pang specifically told Jiang Yu, "Master, Young Mistress has been concerned about you these past two days. Once you're done with your work outside, you should stay home for a few more days."
"Yes, I'm done with my work outside, so I'll stay at home with her for the next two days." Jiang Yu said as he picked up a dish of scrambled eggs with cucumber for Rong Zhen, praising Lao Yu for his exceptional cooking skills tonight, especially the fact that this dish was very refreshing, and asked Rong Zhen to eat more.
After hearing this, Aunt Pang's ears moved, she respectfully retreated, and went to the kitchen to find Lao Yu.
Rongzhen spent most of the day dealing with documents and felt exhausted both physically and mentally. Using her brain was more tiring than doing heavy work. After eating, she washed up and went back to her room to rest.
The light in Jiang Yu's room was on until very late, and the door was left a crack and not closed tightly.
When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, Old Yu, who had received a notification from Aunt Pang at dinner time, went upstairs quietly.
The door to Jiang Yu's room was then closed tightly. Old Yu walked up to Jiang Yu with his hands down, bowed, and asked, "Master, what do you need me to do?"
"Take a look at this first." Jiang Yu handed him the thing he had exchanged for his injury today without saying a word.
It was a stack of papers covered with garbled symbols, containing the contents of telegrams recently sent by Fuso's top brass to various places including Yamashiro. It had been confirmed by insiders that they were related to the matter they were investigating.
They set up a trap for this and tried every possible means to finally get it, but they didn't expect that the telegram sent by the other party was not only encrypted, but also used a new code.
Lao Yu was a veteran in this field, no worse than those intelligence professionals in Japan.
Jiang Yu handed the thing to him as soon as possible, just wanting him to see if he could successfully decipher it.
Lao Yu took the paper and flipped through it skillfully. "It's a bit difficult. I need some time. I can't guarantee that I can successfully decipher the result in the end, so..."
Therefore, the most important thing is to find the decoding book, so that you can be sure of success by taking two approaches at the same time.
Jiang Yu frowned slightly when he heard this. He had stayed there for a while just to find the decoding book, and was discovered and returned injured.
Unfortunately, even though he was injured, he still didn't find what he wanted.
The code book and the intelligence are not in the same place at all. If they want to get them, they have to make further plans.
However, after this incident, several major Fuso agencies will definitely impose martial law and be more vigilant against them. They may even implement the conspiracy against China in advance.
Jiang Yu thought for a moment and said to Lao Yu, "Take tomorrow off. Don't worry about anything else for now. Just focus on decoding."
"Yes." Lao Yu resigned and took sick leave the next day.
Rongzhen woke up early and noticed that the breakfast tasted different. After asking, she found out that Lao Yu had caught a cold after getting up at night.
The meal was cooked by Aunt Pang. Her cooking skills were not as good as Lao Yu’s, but it was not bad either.
Later, A Cui went to visit Lao Yu on her behalf. When she came back, she said that Lao Yu had a fever and was mumbling something, but she couldn't hear what he was saying clearly.
Rong Zhen was worried about something happening, so she went to Jiang Yu, who was resting at home, to discuss the matter: "Old Yu has a high fever and is almost delirious. Should we take him to the hospital?"
Jiang Yu said that Lao Yu did not believe in those foreign doctors, so he had asked someone to get him some antipyretic medicine. He would wait and see if it worked after he drank it, and if it didn't work, he would send him there by force.
When Rongzhen went downstairs again, there was indeed a bitter smell of medicine in the air, which made her run to Xiaomeilin to breathe fresh air.
After the last incident, the little cat had become familiar with her. It would often appear from nowhere and rub against her legs, meowing at her. Its attitude was much better than that towards Jiang Yu.
Rongzhen was so overjoyed by such different treatment that she decided to adopt it.
A Cui was even happier than her. She excitedly found some cotton and scraps of cloth, saying she wanted to sew a vest for the little cat to help her through the winter.
Just when the two people and the cat were having fun, Dazhu came over with a look of difficulty on his face and reported to Rongzhen: "Miss, the tofu shop has run into some trouble."
Rongzhen stroked the fur of the little cat, wondering, "What's the trouble?"
Before leaving, the shop owner finally sold the chili sauce recipe, but he sold it to the rival of the restaurant that bullied him.
After Rongzhen took over the shop, in order to ensure stability and to test Dazhu's ability, he did not make any major changes to the store's business. He still used the previous business model. Now it has been open for business for three days. There shouldn't be any problems.
Dazhu scratched his head and recounted the troubles he had faced in the past three days of opening. "Everything else is fine, except that there are always people asking for protection money, and the patrolmen have to pay tribute every time they pass by."
With the idea of making money through harmony and avoiding disasters through loss, he gave it to them honestly at first, thinking that it would at least last for ten days or half a month. However, he didn't know that both parties were greedy. They came alternately in the morning and afternoon, asking for money every day. The money earned from the shop was not enough to cover their demands, and if he didn't give them, it would hinder their business.
It can be said that although the store sold some goods and made some profit in the first three days of opening, it lost more money overall.
Ah Cui suddenly realized, "No wonder the shop owner ran away so quickly. It turns out he wasn't just bullied by the restaurant, but also scared of being blackmailed."
They were not informed of this situation when they bought the shop. To think that the guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes was so cunning as to deceive them, how hateful!
Rongzhen sighed, there is indeed no such thing as a free lunch in this world. She was too anxious at the time and thought it was a rare opportunity, but it turned out to be a trap.
Dazhu grumbled indignantly, "How can it be cheap? It's 1,800 yuan. It's obvious that the previous store owner was dishonest."
He has been very honest and kind in managing the shop these days. He uses very good ingredients to make soy milk and tofu, and gives generous portions when selling them. Gradually, he won the favor of some customers, and the business started to pick up. But who knew that he would be taken advantage of and ripped off. Isn't that infuriating?
He was too embarrassed to tell the young lady, but this was not something he could handle.
"Next time they come, don't give them anything. I'll see if I can contact their superiors directly." Rongzhen thought that instead of being fleeced by these small fry every day, it would be better to contact the people above them who really have the final say, pay them a sum of money every month and be done with it.
Dazhu: "Okay, I'll listen to you, miss."
Ah Cui asked Rong Zhen with a worried look on her face, "Miss, how do we find the leaders of those people? Will they be willing?"
Rongzhen asked Dazhu to go back to the shop first, and find an opportunity to invite the shop owners of both shops for a drink in the evening, and ask them how they solved this kind of problem.
"If they can do business normally, they must have connections. We can also send some tributes to them."
No one would refuse money that comes to their doorstep. The tofu shop is just a small business. Rong Zhen doesn't believe that after she has established connections, those people will still hold on to her. It's not like they have any deep hatred against her.
Dazhu made a note of the arrangements and hurried to do it.
Ah Cui couldn't help but sigh: "The big cities are just beautiful, but there's more filth in the interior than in my hometown."
"There's nothing we can do about it. We can't change the environment now, so we can only adapt ourselves to it." Rong Zhen didn't want to spend more money, but if she wanted to make a lot of money, she had to pay some small amounts, just to get rid of the little money.
Ah Cui murmured: "It will change, one day it will!"
Rongzhen didn't hear it, her attention was diverted by the little cat that suddenly meowed.
The little guy was just staying in her arms obediently and letting her pet him, but now his hair has suddenly stood up and he is breathing in one direction like a furry ball, looking very fierce.
Rongzhen felt that it looked very familiar and looked in the direction.
Jiang Yu came out from behind the largest plum tree, followed by a fat aunt who helped push his wheelchair.
No one knew when these two came here, and whether they heard the conversation they just had.
Rongzhen thought about it and said nothing wrong. She relaxed and raised the cat's paw to greet the little cat. "You guys came out to get some fresh air too?"
"A bit of fresh air to refresh your mind?" Jiang Yu showed a clear smile on his face. "The herbal smell in the building is a bit too strong. Aunt Pang, tell Shi Tou to be careful when you boil the medicine next time. Don't make the house so fumes that it's uninhabitable."
Rongzhen said with a smile that this was not what she meant.
Jiang Yu waved his hand, and seeing that the little cat was still baring its teeth and claws at him aggressively, he glanced at it secretly.
The little kitten had a strong sense of crisis and could not do anything to fawn, so he slipped away again with his tail between his legs.
Auntie Pang then tactfully pulled Ah Cui away, stopping at the other side of the yard. With a smile on her face, she asked, "Ah Cui, I just heard you guys talking about something like, 'There's trouble with the shop,' what's going on?"
A Cui looked hesitant, not knowing whether she should tell her.
Aunt Pang said that if something really happened to the young mistress, their young master was not made of clay and could not allow himself to be bullied.
Ah Cui then told the whole story, saying that the young lady used all her dowry money to buy a new shop, hoping that she and her son-in-law would have some income so that they could live a good life in the future. However, not only was she cheated by the previous owner, but she was also deliberately fleeced just a few days after the shop opened. It was really too much.
After learning about this, Auntie Pang comforted her, "I understand this matter. You should follow the arrangements of the young mistress first. I will tell the young master that the young mistress will not suffer any loss."
She turned around and asked the person who had been asked to keep an eye on Rongzhen's shop, and confirmed that it was true. She quickly reported the situation to Jiang Yu.
Jiang Yu and Rong Zhen came back from admiring the red plum blossoms and were silent for a long time after hearing the news.
"You tell those two sides... Never mind. We can't let them act too independently; it'll easily cause unnecessary trouble. Have them cooperate with that Dazhu to deliver the so-called filial piety. He should give as much as others give. Just follow the crowd and stay out of the way."
In the evening, Dazhu went out to treat people to a drink and did not come back. When the housekeeper found out, he kept nagging about it.
Rongzhen sent A Cui to comfort the old man, and spent the time before bedtime to polish the original owner's manuscript. Just as he was about to turn off the lights and go to sleep, there was a sudden knock on the door.
She subconsciously glanced out the window. There were no servants on the second floor at this hour, so who could have knocked on the door...
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