Chapter 67 He

Can't Afford to Gamble In the afternoon, Jiang Yanyi brought a bamboo basket to Feng's house to catch cats.

Feng Shuo and his staff were discussing matters in the study, so she went directly to his courtyard. The guards at the gate of the courtyard should have been instructed by Feng Shuo, so even if Feng Shuo was not in the courtyard, they still respectfully let Jiang Yanyi in.

Jiang Yanyi put the meat jerky and dried meat she brought on the table in the inner room, and said to the servant standing at the door: "These are for the prince, please tell the prince."

Feng Shuo rarely opened his mouth last night, and it was just to ask for some snacks. How could Jiang Yanyi ignore it? When she came over, she wrapped some meat jerky and dried meat in oil paper.

The servant knew how much Feng Shuo valued Jiang Yanyi, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Miss Jiang. I will tell the prince as soon as he comes back."

Jiang Yanyi was embarrassed by the servant's warm attitude. She nodded and said "thank you", and then went to move the cat's nest to the asparagus fern.

It was very cold. Even with the heating, a thin layer of snow was pressed on the top of the asparagus fern outside the wall. Feng Shuo ordered people to block the top of the cat's nest with partitions, so that no snow would fall. It was

not easy to find food on snowy days. In addition, Jiang Yanyi came to feed the cat every day, so the mother cat did not go out now. She stayed in the cat's nest every day to feed the kittens. When Jiang Yanyi picked up the mother cat, she only meowed twice, without any hostility from before.

The mother cat ate well and had plenty of milk, and the kittens were all fat and round, like little balls of fluff.

There were only four kittens in the cat's nest, and one orange one was hiding somewhere.

She looked around the yard outside but couldn't find it. She also looked in Feng Shuo's room, but still didn't see it.

"Ciba, where are you?"

"Ciba?"

Ciba was the name Jiang Yanyi gave to the fat orange kitten.

She searched all the places where the kittens often played, but still couldn't find Chubby Orange. She couldn't help but worry that Chubby Orange had been playing in the snow for too long and no one had noticed him, and he was finally covered by the snow.

In such a cold weather, he must have frozen to death. The more

Jiang Yanyi thought about it, the more worried she became.

At this moment, the voice of the guard suddenly came from the gate of the courtyard: "Your Majesty."

Jiang Yanyi turned around and saw Feng Shuo striding towards the gate of the courtyard. He was wearing a brocade robe with gold brocade, and his black hair was tied up with a gold-carved Ruyi crown, looking very majestic. Xing Yao was following Feng Shuo, and when he saw Jiang Yanyi in the yard, he waited at the gate of the courtyard.

Feng Shuo saw that Jiang Yanyi was still a little surprised, but when he saw the cat she put in the cage, his eyes suddenly understood: "Are you taking the cat over?"

Jiang Yanyi nodded: "The sausage hanging in the kitchen attracted mice."

She said a little frustrated: "But glutinous rice cake is gone."

Feng Shuo frowned slightly, thought for a while, then he remembered that glutinous rice cake was the orange cat.

He asked, "Have you checked the room?"

"I looked under the desk, under the cabinet, and under the bed."

Feng Shuo didn't know what he remembered, and his expression was a little strange. He said, "Wait a moment."

He went into the room, and Jiang Yanyi followed him in. He found a pair of clean cotton boots from the corner of the bed, and a sleeping little orange cat fell out of one of the boots.

The little orange cat suddenly fell out of the warm boots, rolled in a circle on the ground, and then moved his sleepy eyelids, cried twice in a baby voice, and went back to the boots with his short legs to continue sleeping.

Jiang Yanyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She walked over and picked up the little fat orange cat: "Ciba, you little rascal, I called you for so long and you didn't respond."

The little fat orange cat meowed twice in her hand, as if it was acting coquettishly.

Jiang Yanyi put the kitten into the bamboo basket, and then smiled and said to Feng Shuo: "It turns out that it went into your boot. I was wondering why I couldn't find it."

Feng Shuo always had a cold face, and seemed unwilling to pay attention to these little things. "Annoying little beast."

Jiang Yanyi knew that someone only said this verbally. She had seen him handle government affairs, and the kitten climbed onto the table and lay on the documents he was reading like a scratch.

He picked up the cat, and the next second the fluffy ball ran over on its short legs and continued to lie down.

He stared at the kitten coldly, and the kitten meowed back at him in a baby voice. In the end, he could only helplessly change the document to read.

Jiang Yanyi did not expose him. She picked up the bamboo cage and smiled, "Then I'll go back first."

Feng Shuo nodded, and his eyes looked at her a little deeper than usual.

When Jiang Yanyi walked to the door of the room, he suddenly called her: "Jiang Yanyi."

"Huh?" Jiang Yanyi turned around when she heard the voice.

He always called her by her full name, as if he wanted to distinguish her from thousands of people through this name, with an indescribable feeling in it.

The cold wind blew in the fine snow from the door, blowing the crabapple-colored silk shirt on Jiang Yanyi. There was a smile between her eyebrows that had not yet faded, bright and vivid.

Feng Shuo stood in the shadow of the house, and she stood in the halo of light at the door, one black and one white, like two worlds that never intersect.

Feng Shuo asked: "You said before that you hid many things from me, so what about now?"

Jiang Yanyi was stunned, remembering that she was just a lonely soul from another world, her eyes dimmed: "There is only one thing, about my past, when I think it is time, I will tell you without reservation, okay?"

Feng Shuo pulled the corner of his lips and said, "Okay."

After getting his answer, Jiang Yanyi walked out holding a bamboo basket full of cats, without looking back, just sighing softly.

She knew what Feng Shuo thought of her, but she was not sure how deep his feelings were. The ancients feared ghosts and gods. If she confessed her true identity to him, would he be able to accept it?

Jiang Yanyi felt like a demon in Liao Zhai, but fortunately, if she didn't speak, no one would be able to recognize her identity.

But if she exposed herself on impulse, she couldn't imagine what would be waiting for her, and maybe she would lose everything she had now. Whether it was relatives, lovers, or friends, they would be afraid of her, stay away from her, and even want to burn her to death to prevent future troubles.

Chu Changping was very good to her, but this kindness was not for her, but for his real niece. Jiang Yanyi longed for family affection, but she was also very sober. While she treated the relatives of her original body as her own relatives, she also regarded them as benefactors.

No matter how much her original relatives gave her, she tried her best to give back. This is also the reason why Chu Changping asked her to be a rich lady again, but she still wanted to open her own shop to make money. Blindly enjoying the benefits brought by her original identity would make her feel like a thief begging for money.

If she was more selfish, she could probably deceive Feng Shuo for her whole life and never mention that she was a lonely soul in another world. But she couldn't get over the hurdle in her heart - since she had decided to spend her life together, there should be no deception.

To say or not to say is her attitude towards this relationship, and to accept or not to accept is Feng Shuo's right to choose.

Now is not the time, and she is still hesitating. She needs to think it through and find a suitable opportunity to confess everything to Feng Shuo.

The courtyard that had just been swept in the morning was covered with a layer of snow. Jiang Yanyi's footprints fell on the snow, deep and shallow, spreading into the distance.

She didn't know that Feng Shuo was sitting in the house, staring at her back, his eyes deep and biased.

Xing Yao came in with a pile of lists: "Master, after a night of screening, all the streets and alleys have been checked almost completely, and only the south of the city is still being searched door to door."

There are many poor families in the south of the city, and all kinds of people gather there. There are also many illegal households, so it is quite difficult to find someone.

Feng Shuo narrowed his eyes and asked, "Where did Lu Linyuan start the investigation?"

Xing Yao said, "South of the city."

What a coincidence. In addition to the south of the city, there are several other places in Xizhou where good and bad people are mixed. It took his people a whole night to check other places and lock down the south of the city, but Lu Linyuan started directly from the south of the city.

It is not ruled out that Lu Linyuan relied on intuition to think that the south of the city is more convenient for hiding people, but Feng Shuo had a little doubt in his heart, and if there is any more trouble, that doubt will only be magnified several times.

He said: "Send someone to secretly watch Lu Linyuan and see which street in the south of the city he starts searching from."

Xing Yao received the order and was about to retreat, but Feng Shuo suddenly stopped her: "Find the letter about the daughter of the Jiang family that you checked before."

He had only focused on the part about her and Lu Linyuan before, and had not finished reading the rest.

Although Xing Yao didn't understand why his master wanted to investigate Jiang Yanyi again, he quickly opened the secret compartment of his desk and found the pile of letters that Feng Shuo needed from a pile of neatly organized letters.

He put them on Feng Shuo's desk, but Feng Shuo didn't move. He leaned back in his chair, frowned and said, "Go away."

Xing Yao respectfully left.

Feng Shuo was the only one left in the huge room. He looked at the pile of letters at the corner of the desk with an unfathomable look in his eyes.

Since he had promised Jiang Yanyi that she would tell him when she was willing to, he shouldn't have secretly investigated her past.

But the uneasiness in his heart followed him like a shadow, driving the haze to grow. He was like a gambler who had reached the end of his road, and this was a gamble he absolutely couldn't afford to lose.

Jiang Yanyi brought a litter of cats back to the yard and temporarily set up the cat nest in the woodshed.

The kittens were a little scared when they first arrived at the new place, and they didn't dare to move around.

They huddled beside the mother cat and were particularly well-behaved. Jiang Yanyi made a plate of cat food and brought it over. When the mother cat ate, the kittens gradually became braver. Two kittens were already learning to eat meat soup from the mother cat, but because they didn't master the skills well, they got soup all over their faces. The kittens shook their faces and threw the soup on their faces to their brothers and sisters next to them.

It was cold, so Jiang Yanyi didn't dare to give the kittens a bath, but after the meal, the mother cat licked the kittens' fur patiently, and Jiang Yanyi didn't worry about his old mother anymore.

Now that the kitchen is managed by Chef Yao and Aunt Guo, she has completely unloaded the burden and has become a full-time manager, only responsible for the accounts on the counter.

When the old customers in the store heard that Chef Yao had come to her place, they had tasted the stir-fried dishes made by Chef Yao before, so they couldn't help but ask if Chef Yao's specialties in Lai Fu Restaurant were sold here.

Chef Yao just came today, and Jiang Yanyi didn't have time to prepare these, so she just excused herself by saying that it was still being arranged.

When the work was done in the evening and the people in the store gathered around to eat the mutton hotpot, Jiang Yanyi mentioned this matter.

She had not planned to sell Chef Yao's specialty dishes before, because the restaurant mainly sells various hot pots, and because there are already many people who order dry hot pot every day, and she was afraid that Chef Yao would not be able to handle the side dishes.

But since a customer asked, she thought she should ask Chef Yao for his opinion, after all, those dishes were his own signature dishes, and Jiang Yanyi did not want to waste his talent.

Chef Yao was a straightforward person. When Jiang Yanyi said that, he said, "How can a chef not cook when a customer specifically orders something? Manager Jiang, you pay me such a high salary, so I, Yao, must do my best to perform!"

Jiang Yanyi said, "I was worried that you wouldn't be able to handle the stove. Now that you have to cook, I'll find you an assistant chef to help you."

Chef Yao waved his hands repeatedly, "This is nothing. Manager, don't look down on me, Yao! You might as well keep the money you pay for the assistant chef to buy some good wine for the store."

Since Chef Yao said so, Jiang Yanyi didn't insist anymore.

The menu was decided that night. Chef Yao told her the ingredients and seasonings, and Jiang Yanyi wrote them down one by one, and asked Yang Xiu and Bing Shao to buy the ingredients when they came the next morning. She had all the seasonings in her kitchen, so there was no need to buy them.

Chef Yao did make another request: "Boss, can we get a few more knives? Apart from other things, we must have a boning knife, a boning knife, and a saw."

Jiang Yanyi was embarrassed because her store mainly sold pots and she was not very particular about the cutting methods of various ingredients, so she was more casual about the knife equipment. A slicing knife and a chopping knife were enough for her.

As soon as Chef Yao brought it up, Jiang Yanyi said repeatedly, "Buy it, buy it tomorrow."

Chef Yao said, "Don't think I'm annoying you, boss, for saying one more thing. The knives sold on the market are not as good as the ones you find a blacksmith to make. Luo the blacksmith in the west of the city has the best craftsmanship in Xizhou City. If you trust me, you can ask Luo to make a few knives."

Luo the blacksmith in the west of the city? Isn't he the blacksmith who made the stove for me?

Jiang Yanyi had a good impression of the blacksmith and said, "Master Yao, don't say that. I don't have enough experience in this area and I still need your advice. I will go to the west of the city to find Luo the blacksmith tomorrow."

The meal was over like this. When Yang Xiu and the others went back, Jiang Yanyi gave them the meat jerky that he had made last night and asked them to take it to Chu Changping.

The old scholar was on their way. Since it snowed, Jiang Yanyi was afraid that the old scholar would have an accident while walking alone, so he always asked them to accompany the old scholar for a while, and it was the same tonight.

Yang Xiu and Bing Shao waited until the old scholar entered the courtyard before turning around and walking back.

The area south of the city was full of soldiers searching every house today. Yang Xiu and Bing Shao were questioned several times by the soldiers along the way.

Not long after they walked out of the old scholar's house, another group of soldiers stopped them, asked about their identities, and wanted to see if they had any injuries. The two still cooperated. Although they now live with Chu Changping's other bodyguards, some secret missions must not be disclosed to the outside world. This is the rule, so the two did not know what they were investigating in the south of the city.

After putting on his clothes, he only looked back at the group of soldiers and muttered a few words.

It was also when he turned around that Bing Shao found that the lights in the old scholar's house were still on.

This was a bit abnormal.

It was not the first time that he and Yang Xiu sent the old scholar home. Because the old scholar was poor in the past few years, he couldn't even afford to buy lamp oil, so he was used to working in the dark at home. Later, he went to work in Jiang Yanyi's store. Even if he had money, he still never turned on the lights at night.

Although Bing Shao was taciturn, he was a thoughtful person. He immediately said, "The old scholar never lights a lamp. Did something happen?"