After Zhang Xiaohu finished eating, Zhang Hui finally spoke up, "Brother, Yingying wants to ask you about the missing children..."
Zhang Xiaohu understood immediately, "Actually, I overheard a few brothers in the gang talking about this by chance..."
In the capital, the Qingyun Gang was at best a third-rate gang.
Large gangs have their own branches and businesses, while small gangs do not.
But small gangs also have their own set of survival rules.
They can pick up small businesses that the big gangs don't want and take them on.
It can also help some large families with things they find inconvenient to do.
The matter of the missing children is related to the business they handled.
"Two months ago, the gang suddenly received a task from a wealthy family. They asked us to find several children with the character 'An' tattooed on their necks. Once we found the children, we were to send them to a manor in the northern suburbs of the city, where someone would take care of them."
Liu Yingying quickly pressed on, "And then, did you find those children?"
Zhang Xiaohu nodded and then shook his head, leaving the two puzzled.
Zhang Hui grew impatient; "Brother, stop keeping me in suspense and tell me already!"
Zhang Xiaohu's expression suddenly turned serious; "The last two brothers did find the two children, but they were already gone."
The child is gone, and the trail ends here.
Liu Yingying seemed to have thought of something else, "Brother Xiaohu, have you been to that manor?"
Zhang Xiaohu shook his head; "No, but I heard from the brothers in the gang that the estate belongs to the Yong'an Marquis's mansion."
The Yong'an Marquis's Residence.
Now all the clues point to the Marquis's residence...
Numerous children have gone missing in Ningzhou County, and all the clues leading to their final whereabouts point to the capital.
It just so happens that Prefect Lin is the son of a concubine in the Marquis's household and also an official in Ningzhou Prefecture. If he colluded with the people in the capital to cover up the transportation of those children... that makes perfect sense!
"Brother Xiaohu, I'd like to ask you for a favor." Liu Yingying got up and took a money bag from the counter, placing it in front of Zhang Xiaohu.
Both of them looked at her in surprise; "This...?"
Liu Yingying: "I would like to ask your Qingyun Gang to keep an eye on the movements of the Yong'an Marquis's Mansion during this period."
Zhang Xiaohu glanced at the amount of silver and scratched the back of his head somewhat embarrassedly; "Sister Liu, this is just for keeping an eye on people, it doesn't need to be this much silver, you've given too much!"
Liu Yingying smiled and said, "Then consider it a small token of my appreciation for my first time interacting with you brothers."
"Alright then, I'll keep you as a friend!"
Zhang Xiaohu generously accepted the bag of silver, a full fifty taels!
For the next few days, Liu Yingying received no news that Lord Shen had been escorted to the capital.
She then devoted all her energy to the snack shop.
The barbecue business was far more booming than she had anticipated; the ingredients were in short supply every day.
Correspondingly, there were not enough staff to work in the shop, so Zhang Hui called two more sisters from their courtyard.
Now, besides Liu Yingying, Xue Ye, Xiao Xue, Zhang Hui, and Wan Niangzi, there are a total of seven people in the shop.
Even with so many people, they still have to work very late every day.
Liu Yingying took a moment to glance at the street outside. Night was falling, but there were still long queues in front of the shops.
Zhang Hui walked over carrying an empty wooden basin, her expression a mix of joy and worry. "Sister Liu, this can't go on. There are just too many customers. Our shop is only so big, and we can only supply a limited amount of ingredients each day."
“Some customers even came from the west and south of the city, but by the time it was their turn to queue, our store had almost no ingredients left. I thought it wouldn’t be good to let them leave empty-handed.”
"Sis, you need to think of a solution quickly!"
Liu Yingying knew that Zhang Hui and her man used to work in a restaurant, so they had some experience in dealing with this kind of situation.
At least her analysis was correct.
"We've just opened, and many people are just here to try something new. Once the new shoe store opens, the customer traffic will definitely decrease significantly."
"So, let's wait and see!"
Although Liu Yingying had never run a business in her previous life, her family had many successful businessmen.
She knew that the current booming business was actually somewhat of a bubble.
It takes time for the customer base to settle and eventually stabilize at a relatively large number.
She had no intention of staying in the capital for long. Besides wanting to help Zhang Hui and the others, she opened the snack shop simply because she was bored.
Moreover, she is not the type to sit around and live off her savings.
Having lived in the capital for so long, she spends a lot every day and is not used to seeing the money in her pocket only decrease and not increase.
After the shop closed for the night, Xue Ye helped carry several large buckets of copper coins and dumped them all onto the table.
"Alright, let's each take a bunch, one hundred coins for one string of coins, then go back to sleep!" This was the last task Liu Yingying assigned to everyone today.
Looking at the astonishing amount of copper coins on the table, Zhang Hui and Madam Wan felt as if they were dreaming.
Madam Wan even pinched her thigh, making her wince in pain.
"Wow, I've never seen so much money in my life!"
Liu Yingying remained calm, "It's nothing, you'll get used to it eventually."
Zhang Hui gave Wan Niangzi a wink, "I told you before, Sister Liu is no ordinary woman; she's incredibly capable at everything she does!"
In fact, ever since Xijiu Mountain, Liu Yingying has become the woman Zhang Hui admires the most!
It took several people a full half hour to count all the copper coins in the pile.
Liu Yingying counted the strings she had strung together; there were nine strings in total. Xue Ye had eight strings, Xiao Xue and Li Niangzi each had ten strings, and Zhang Hui and Wan Niangzi each had ten strings.
Today's total revenue is 28 strings and 36 cash.
"My goodness, it's only the first day and we've already made so much money!" Li Niangzi and the others' eyes were shining.
How much silver would that add up to in a month!
Liu Yingying listened to their conversation, smiled faintly, and then took four ropes, strung twenty coins on each, and gave them to Zhang Hui and the other three.
"Here's your wages for today, take them!"
"My God, Sister Liu, why are you giving so much?" Zhang Hui and the others were all shocked.
Even if prices are high in the capital, there's no reason why the wages for ordinary laborers should rise to twenty coins a day.
Liu Yingying smiled and said, "Everyone has worked hard today, this is what you deserve." Then, as if remembering something, she added.
"Next, I'll explain our wage ratio to you."
"During the first ten days of business, there were many customers and everyone worked hard, so the daily wage was twenty coins. After ten days, when the customer base stabilized, I will pay everyone their wages monthly."
"Our base salary is one guan (a unit of currency), and if the daily sales exceed two taels of silver, each person will receive an additional five wen (another unit of currency) as commission. Does anyone have any objections to this salary ratio?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
