Miao Chu

Chapter 309 Pill
The man he referred to as "Master Yuanwai" was an elderly man in his sixties.

The old man's skin was fair with a rosy glow, and his face was very plump. At first glance, you couldn't even see any wrinkles, but the wrinkles were actually stretched out by the flesh.

His chin was folded in three layers, his fingers were round and plump, and his expression was kind—this was none other than Master Wu, who had been currying favor with Liao, the head of the brothel, by sending him gold and silver, and who, even though he had to grit his teeth and take all the blame, dared not utter a word of complaint.

Upon hearing the reply, Master Wu did not immediately turn hostile. He appeared quite amiable, but his voice was sinister.

"What do you mean? You mean that after all your efforts and collecting a lot of IOUs, I've wasted both time and money, and in the end, I still haven't gotten my hands on the person?"

The burly man lowered his head, not daring to deny it, but even less daring to admit it. He hurriedly said, "Sir! It's really not my fault—who would have thought that the young lady could come up with eight hundred strings of cash all at once just by setting up a stall and selling breakfast! I had already made arrangements with the familiar constables, so if she couldn't come up with the money, they would put her in shackles, interrogate her that very night, scare her a bit, get her to sign a contract of indenture, and send her back to your mansion right away..."

Who among ordinary small business owners would keep several large baskets of seven or eight hundred strings of copper coins at home?
We're not afraid of thieves breaking in or an insider stealing everything!

Upon hearing this explanation, before Master Wu could even speak, the steward standing behind him immediately began to berate him: "You think the master is so kind-hearted? He'll try to deceive you with anything! That's eight hundred strings of cash, not eight! Do you think her family is some prestigious restaurant in the capital? Even a legitimate purchasing business wouldn't keep that much money at home!"

"How much money can she make in a day? No money spent on purchasing supplies? No debts to pay back? No need to pay shop staff? How can she save so much?"

The burly man hurriedly cried out that he was innocent.

"They said it was collected by the regular customers..." The man repeated what Song Miao had said, "I really did pay close attention. I saw that Liao Qing had tripped and fallen, so I had people watching her every day, especially at the Imperial Academy. Because I knew she was close to those students and the old teachers, I specially arranged for two people to follow her around the food alley every morning, and to inquire about her at noon and in the evening!"

"After guarding for so many days, there's been no other movement. I only know that those students are busy writing menus and choosing dishes for Song's restaurant. I've never heard of them raising money or lending anything! I don't know anything about it..."

Before he could say anything more, Master Wu waved his hand and said, "You don't need to tell me what you've done. I don't have time to listen. I don't keep idle people here—I heard that Qiongzhou is short of a captain to harvest South Sea pearls..."

The burly man turned pale with fright, barely able to catch his breath, his teeth chattering and chattering. He cried out repeatedly, "Master! Master! Give me another chance! One more time, and I promise I'll bring that woman back!"

Master Wu didn't speak, but turned to look at the steward behind him.

The manager, understanding the implication, immediately asked, "How do you plan to do it? This time you said you had it all figured out..."

"I'll go and make trouble for those who do business with her. Whoever supplies her, I'll catch them and slaughter them. Then I'll spread the word that after a while, everyone with eyes will know that her family is not to be trifled with!"

"Besides, doesn't she set up her stall every day? I won't bother those imperial students. I'll just have someone knock down her stall on her way there, and then run away!"

"My subordinates have already inquired and found out what kind of exam the students at the Imperial Academy will be taking in a few days. It seems that the teachers are going to set some questions, so they won't be able to go to Song Ji's place for a few days. We can take advantage of this gap to make it a done deal, and then whoever it is, they won't have anything to say!"

"Didn't that restaurant hire people? Whether it's a long-term or short-term hire, I'll have someone grab them on the way and beat them up. If one beating isn't enough, I'll beat them up twice, until they're too scared to help her!"

"If she overturns the delivery truck a few more times, how will the restaurants explain it to their customers who buy breakfast? If this happens too often, who will dare to buy food from her?"

"She has a man in her shop who's a real nuisance. I've already sent people to cause trouble for her. He should be locked up by now. We'll work together from all sides. She's just a girl with two lumps of flesh on her chest and isn't very shrewd. When she sees trouble everywhere, she'll definitely panic and give in!"

Seeing that the methods had been devised and were somewhat effective, Master Wu nodded, but then added, "Nothing else matters, just don't make too much noise. However, you must not hurt the young lady's face, hands, or feet in the slightest."

"What if there's just a little bump or scratch, just a little, would that be alright?" The man panicked immediately. "The face definitely won't be hurt, not even the skin. It's all about the face. If it's even slightly injured, it'll probably spoil the master's mood—but the hands and feet, after all, are being pushed and shoved, and there's going to be stalls being overturned and carts being thrown down. In the heat of the moment, it's possible for them to accidentally bump or scratch each other..."

The previously unmoved Master Wu suddenly sat up, his eyes widening, and shouted, "Not a single hair on her head can be harmed! Especially her hands! If they're even slightly damaged, your whole family might as well go to Qiongzhou!"

The big man dared not say anything more, and hurriedly pointed to the sky and swore an oath, saying that he would be careful and get things done quickly before leaving the door.

As soon as he stepped out of the yard, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and realized that not only was his turban and back soaked, but even his buttocks were wet, with sweat running down his back, down his waist and buttocks.

He didn't bother to change his clothes, or even find a towel. He just rubbed his hands against his clothes and left and right to wipe away the sweat, and hurriedly walked to the backyard.

As soon as I entered, several people surrounded me from both sides.

If Wang Sanlang, Doctor Lin, and the others were here, they would surely find that the people surrounding them all looked very familiar—they were the group of "passersby" who had given false testimony for that extortionate old man today, claiming to have seen the mule cart hit and send people flying.

Upon seeing the crowd, the burly man immediately perked up and asked, "How did it go? Has the coachman been locked up? Did the yamen go to the restaurant? Did he sign a confession? How much money did he have to pay?"

His questions made the others, who were already embarrassed, even more speechless for a moment.

After a long while, someone finally mustered up the courage to say, "Boss... we're really having bad luck. For some reason, there are several doctors on that carriage this time..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... Wang Sanlang is fine... only that old geezer surnamed Huang was sent to the patrol station and locked up..."

As everyone spoke up, explaining what had happened that day, the man felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead again. Before he knew it, some of the sweat had gotten into his eyes, stinging and burning.

"Hurry up and get that old man out! What are you doing keeping him in there?! Are you all stupid?!"

This time, it was his subordinates who complained.

“Boss! It’s not that we didn’t try—we were only able to come out on our own this time because the patrol was going easy on us out of respect for you. You don’t know, there were just too many idle people following us around…”

"Yeah, boss! That old geezer is really unreliable. He saw through the scam right away. Everyone who was passing by or came specifically to see it was making a fuss, saying he should be severely punished so that others wouldn't follow suit!"

The group of people chattered away, giving the man a headache.

He shouted, "Shut up! Speak one at a time!"

After everyone finished speaking, when he learned that a doctor from Tianyuan Hall was in the car with four apprentices, using that old geezer as a teaching example, and that the old man and two young boys he had found were all in jail, and that they would probably only be released after this storm had passed and they were cleared of trouble, he had a very unreal feeling. How could this be?

Didn't we agree on this?
He claimed to have been swindling for thirty years without ever getting caught—how come it's become thirty-one years when it comes to his own case?
For a moment, the man felt an impulse to throw the old man off to Qiongzhou to collect seashells and dig for South Sea pearls!

"Go! Hurry up and get some good stuff. I'll go patrol the area tomorrow and see if I can get the man released!"

"Boss, I'm afraid that won't work. Today, that official specifically instructed us to send a message back—if they want to release the people, the prefecture has to intervene. Otherwise, they won't dare to act recklessly. If things go wrong, someone will report them to the prefectural government in the capital, and that will be troublesome!"

The big man's face turned even uglier.

Although I know that keeping people in jail is not a good thing, and if things go wrong, I could be dragged down with them, the so-called intervention from the government is just the intervention of the person in charge.

If the person in charge knew, how could Master Wu not know?

I tried two methods in one day, and not only did they not work at all, but they also had the opposite effect. Aren't I just asking for a scolding and a beating?
We need to resolve this matter quickly!
Thinking of this, he disregarded everything else and hurriedly called over the younger ones, explaining his original plan one by one, before adding, "When the time comes, you should call more people, divide the work, and start working separately first thing tomorrow morning..."

As they were explaining, when they got to the words "first thing tomorrow morning," almost everyone's eyes went blank.

"Boss! Can we take a day off tomorrow? I'm so tired today!"

"Yes! I heard from the others that Song's shop was already out and about before dawn, and the delivery people were even earlier. If it were later, I could have stayed up a bit, but this early, I'm afraid they wouldn't even be up yet!"

"Wait any longer! If I wait any longer, I'll go to Qiongzhou to fish for South Sea pearls!"

The man repeated what Master Wu had said in a gruff tone, and finally said, "We can't wait. If we wait too long, she'll be prepared—if this doesn't work out, am I the only one going to Qiongzhou? Do you think you can escape?"

No one spoke for a moment.

When he followed the manager's instructions and directed many people to carry the copper coins to the accounting office to settle the debt, the accountant lifted his eyelids and said, "Originally, you borrowed 810 strings of cash, but now you've only returned 700-odd strings?"

The burly man said urgently, "I spent some money on errands for the master, so naturally there's less left!"

Before he could say anything more, the accountant interrupted, "I don't care about anything else, everyone's doing things for the master—you borrowed so much, you'd better pay it back honestly! Just pay it back however you used it, do you think I need to teach you how to use it??"

***
After this man made his arrangements, Master Wu and the steward in the room were not idle either.

As soon as the man left, Master Wu asked, "How are those restaurants from last time doing?"

The manager replied, "I just looked at the accounts this afternoon and was about to report to the master—it's really not good! Ever since the two floods in spring and summer, houses in the city have been demolished and streets have been rebuilt. Now those restaurants are either crammed into the corners of the streets or the surrounding areas are no longer as lively as before. They are losing money every month, and the losses are getting bigger and bigger!"

"I wanted to find a few decent cooks to help out, but firstly, the wages were too high, and secondly, everyone was unwilling to go because they knew the location was far and remote..."

Master Wu frowned and asked, "Is the loss severe?"

"Business is almost nonexistent, but there are still wages for staff, plus daily purchases and losses..."

Upon hearing this, Master Wu urged, "Find another cook from Song's Kitchen. We can't rely solely on this one."

He added, "Hurry up and get it back. Once I have it, I'll have her pick up those businesses again and run them in our own restaurants and eateries, so we can get them back on track as soon as possible."

"Furthermore, there are many refugees in Chanzhou now. Take advantage of this time to find suitable children, adopt dozens of them as godsons and daughters, have them sign a life-long contract, and then hand them over to the cook to teach. Find a few of your own people to learn as well, and slowly you can make the restaurant business thrive!"

The steward quickly agreed, first praising, "You're absolutely right," before adding, "Sir, what do you think of Lao Tie? He's tall and strong, and..."

Before he could finish speaking, Master Wu shook his head and said, "Find a few smart people and use some effective methods. Otherwise, with all this small-scale fighting, who knows when it will end up? The restaurant will go bankrupt, and we still won't get our hands on the people!"

"You have to start with the food! If there's something wrong with the food, getting her jailed is a piece of cake! Once she's in jail, you can mold her however you want—have someone take a close look? Has she never offended anyone? Has no one disliked her? There are bound to be people she's worked up a bad relationship with, whether they're her competitors, customers, or former employees!"

He paused, then asked, "Have my pills returned?"

"I was just about to tell the master when I received..."

Master Wu was so excited that he immediately stood up, stroked his gray beard, rubbed his hands together, and said, "Quickly, bring it here!"

He urged again, "The pills have all arrived. I've heard they're most effective the first few times. It's time in the next couple of days, we can't delay any longer! Hurry up! If we can produce a son in one go, I, your master, will reward you handsomely!"

"Master is at the peak of his power. With this elixir, he will be like a tiger with wings, and will surely soar to great heights! He will also have a healthy baby boy!"

***
Although she couldn't hear Wu Yuanwai and his group's plans, Song Miao still couldn't rest in Suanzao Lane at night.

They encountered debt collectors at their door, and then Zhang Si Niang and Wang San Lang came to report that the latter had been extorted on the way to send Doctor Lin and others, which was obviously premeditated.

Things always happen suddenly, and who knows what other troubles might follow?
Although it was late, it wasn't yet the dead of night.

After listening to Wang Sanlang recount the whole story in detail, Song Miao dared not be negligent in the slightest.

Business can't stop, but we can't just walk into a pitfall without any precautions.

She said to Zhang Si Niang, "You'll have a hard day today. Once we get through this, I'll give you and San Lang a day off tomorrow. Please come with me to the Xu Family Escort Agency for now."

(End of this chapter)