Chapter 97 Attempt to Steal a Chicken Backfires
The leader of Black Tiger Stronghold, Hei San, is a tall, burly man with a fierce-looking face. He also has an ugly scar on his face, running from his left cheek to his right cheek, making him look like someone not to be trifled with.
Hei San immediately led his 30-odd men to the backyard, scaled the wall, entered the shop, and opened the locked door.
Zhang San came in from outside and whispered, "Boss, let's check if the bags contain grain. If they do, let's load them onto the cart quickly. I'm worried that people will come later. There's so much grain in the shop; it's impossible for no one to watch it."
Hei San nodded, turned around and untied a bag. Inside were white rice, shimmering softly in the moonlight. "Good rice! We've made a fortune this time. Brothers, hurry up and load it onto the truck."
In the blink of an eye, all the grain that Liu Ye had left in the shop was loaded onto the cart by Hei San and his brothers. Zhang San didn't see Li Si and was a little puzzled. "That bastard, has he gone to the brothel again?" He locked the shop door again and climbed over the wall from the backyard.
As soon as Li Si left, Liu Ye quickly crawled out from under the counter, tiptoed to open the shop door, and quietly followed the carriage to the back gate of Shunfeng Grain Store, where she hid in the shadows, waiting for her chance to strike.
The back door of Shunfeng Grain Store opened from the inside, and Li Fugui and Manager Li walked out. When Li Fugui saw the grain on the cart, he grinned from ear to ear. He was overjoyed. He hadn't expected that the little girl would actually have grain. It was like a godsend. "Brother, you've worked hard. After this batch of grain is sold, I'll give you half."
Hei San clasped his hands together, grinning lewdly, and said, "Brother Li is so righteous, then I'll be waiting. I'll go enjoy myself at the brothel first, no need for you to see me off."
Li Fugui smiled and nodded, saying, "Go ahead, put all the expenses on my tab."
Hei San turned and left with two of his men. Li Fugui whispered a few words to Manager Li before also getting into his carriage and going home.
Manager Li pointed to the courtyard, and Hei San's men quickly moved grain into the courtyard. Liu Ye watched them move the grain into the courtyard until they closed the gate and left, at which point she emerged from the shadows.
"Hmph, her grain isn't so easy to take!" With a leap, she jumped onto the back wall of the Shunfeng Grain Store like a nimble cat, and then silently jumped into the yard, successfully finding the warehouse where the grain was stored. The warehouse door was locked, but she waved her hand at the crack in the door and put all the grain in the warehouse into her spatial storage.
She glanced through the crack in the door again, threw Li Si into the warehouse, and then quickly left to return to the shop.
Back at the shop, Liu Ye locked the door and flashed into her spatial dimension. The first thing she saw was the grain she'd taken out; every single bag was back. Tomorrow, Li Fugui would definitely have to put on a show for her again. "Hmph! This young lady's acting isn't bad either!"
Liu Ye came to the apple tree, lay down casually on the ground, smelled the fragrance of apples, and gradually fell asleep. She was only awakened by a knock on the door. It seemed that Li Fugui had come. She quickly slipped out of the space and saw that it was already daylight outside the window.
She steadied herself, pretended to be startled, and suddenly opened the door. Sure enough, outside was Li Fugui with Manager Li, followed by Zhang San. A dozen or so carriages were parked not far away, and they were quite well-equipped.
Li Fugui said with a smile, "Miss Liuye, I've come to collect grain. Have you prepared your grain?"
Liu Ye shook her head, looking dejected, and said tearfully, "Uncle Fugui, all the grain my young master sent is gone! I just went home... and the grain is gone! Not a single grain is left! Waaah, how am I going to explain this to my young master? It's the first time he's asked me to do something, and I've messed it up! Waaah, my young master will kill me when I get back! Waaah, waaah!"
Li Fugui's eyes darted around, wanting to know who the young master Liu Ye was talking about was: "Oh dear, this is really unfortunate. I wonder who your young master is, where he's from? Maybe I know him. I'll go and put in a good word for you."
Liu Ye shook her head sadly, her face covered in tears and snot. "My young master is from the capital. He's a member of the royal family. I can't tell Uncle Fugui. Waaah, it's all my fault. Uncle Fugui, I'm so sorry. I promised to sell you grain, but it's gone. Waaah, I'm such a useless person. Waaah, Uncle Fugui, you should go. I'm going to find a crooked tree to hang myself. A useless person like me should just die so that good people can have a place to rest. Waaah, waaah..."
Upon hearing that Liu Ye's master was a member of the imperial family, Li Fugui's heart trembled with fear. Oh no! Had he gotten himself into trouble? He had actually robbed the imperial family's grain! Calm down, calm down. Yesterday's matter went quite smoothly. Neither Liu Ye nor the young master behind her should have guessed it was him. It seems that the grain cannot be sold for the time being; we'll have to wait a few days before buying it again.
He pulled a money pouch from his pocket and stuffed it into Liu Ye's arms with a pained expression: "Take this money. As the old saying goes, it's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death. You don't need to blame yourself too much. Uncle Fugui doesn't blame you, and I'm sure your young master won't blame you either. After all, no one expected such a thing to happen... I still have some things to do at the shop, so I'll be leaving first. Don't do anything foolish. If you have any difficulties, come to me."
Liu Ye nodded softly, sobbing, "Waaah, Uncle Fugui, take care..."
After Li Fugui and his men had gone far away, Liu Ye wiped the snot and tears from her face, closed the shop door, opened the money bag Li Fugui had given her, and saw that there was quite a lot of silver inside. She reached out and counted it; there was probably more than 100 taels. "Hmph, that old bastard still gave me a lot."
Although she didn't sell any grain and almost got scammed, it wasn't all for nothing; she managed to earn at most 100 taels of silver...
Liu Ye put the silver pouch into her spatial storage, locked the door, and returned to the village. When she got home, she found that the stove was out and the house was as cold as an icebox. She quickly lit the stove and made a pot of hot water, and the house warmed up in no time.
After leaving Liuye Shop, Li Fugui arrived at Shunfeng Grain Shop. He and Manager Li went to the grain warehouse to see the grain he had acquired without spending a single tael of silver. However, when Manager Li unlocked the warehouse door, he found Li Si's corpse and an empty warehouse without even a single bag of grain inside. The master and servant were dumbfounded.
Li Fugui shoved the bewildered shopkeeper aside and yelled, "Ah! Where's my grain? Shopkeeper Li, what's going on? Where did the grain go?!"
Manager Li, recovering from his shock, rushed over to check Li Si's breathing: "Master, Li Si is dead! What... what happened? The grain was clearly stored in the warehouse yesterday, and I locked the door myself. There were always people in front of us. How could the grain... how could the grain be gone? And Li Si was killed! Were we being targeted? Could it be Hei San? He double-crossed us, and Li Si discovered it, so he killed him? Master, that's very possible. Otherwise, no one would know there was grain in our warehouse, and it could have been stolen without anyone noticing!"
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