Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, Yu Yuan returned to Taicang from Liujiagang.

Because Shao Shuyi was not present, Zheng Fan personally distributed the monthly allowances. He personally took Shao Shuyi's share home, and even the gifts for the Laba Festival were distributed in advance.

After paying the driver's fee, Yu Yuan called his nephew and asked them to help move the things into the yard.

After dividing the items in half, Yu Yuan pointed to the left side and said, "This contains nine dou of rice, six liang of salt, two jars of pickled vegetables, two salted fish, one dou of red beans, and a packet of candied fruit. Hmm, I also have forty guan of cash on me. This is for Brother Shao; I'll have to deliver it to him tonight."

"Second Uncle, should we send it to Li Fu's house in Henan?" the eldest nephew asked in a clear voice.

My eldest nephew, Yu Hong, is ten years old this year. He has always been playful and feels uncomfortable if he doesn't get a beating every day, which is a real headache for me.

"How did you know?" Yu Yuan was taken aback and subconsciously looked around.

Yu Hong chuckled and said, "Yesterday I went to the river to watch people catch river clams, and Li Fu's son, Sihai, was there too. He used to love watching this, but now he's distracted, glancing around every now and then, as if looking for strangers."

Yu Yuan was speechless. What they thought was a clever concealment had been discovered by the child.

"Don't talk nonsense." Yu Yuan smacked his nephew on the neck and said, "Go and bring the donkey cart."

"Second Uncle, have you been slapped before?" Yu Hong grimaced and touched his neck. When he saw that Yu Yuan was about to hit him again, he ran away in a flash.

A moment later, he drove a donkey cart from the backyard and laughed loudly, "Second Uncle, let me drive the cart! Look how obedient this donkey is. It's a pity Mother won't let me play with it."

Yu Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Alright, you drive the carriage."

After saying that, he started moving things.

"Second Uncle, do you not know how to drive? I've never seen you drive before." Yu Hong jumped off the carriage, brought his face close to Yu Yuan's, and asked with a grin.

Hey kid! With such a perfect posture, don't blame me!

Yu Yuan slapped his nephew across the neck again, adopting the air of an uncle, and said, "Stop talking nonsense and get to work. Otherwise, I'll test your poetry tonight."

Yu Hong immediately became obedient and started working with his head down.

The uncle and nephew worked quickly and soon loaded all sorts of items onto the donkey cart.

At this moment, Yu Hong got excited, climbed up, cracked his whip, and laughed loudly, "Let's go!"

The carriage rumbled along.

"Wait, I haven't gotten on the bus yet!" Yu Yuan said anxiously, running after him.

"Giddy up! Giddy up! Hurry up, old donkey, run fast!" The nephew laughed loudly, cracking the whip too fast.

Yu Yuan was furious and shouted, "You'll pay tonight!"

The uncle and nephew bickered and teased each other as they traveled south, and soon arrived at the small bridge at the entrance of Dongyidu Village.

Sihai and a few other children were playing in the mud by the roadside, but they were not paying attention. Only after seeing the people on the donkey cart did they lower their heads again and pretend to play.

The donkey cart finally stopped in front of Li Fu's house, very steadily, demonstrating Yu Hong's excellent driving skills.

Yu Yuan instructed his nephew not to wander off, then pushed open the wooden gate and went inside.

Three or four men who did not appear to be benevolent stood in the courtyard, all looking at him.

The leader was a burly man with his arms crossed, his eyes filled with amusement, as if he were examining a chick.

"The Yu family of Dong Erdu, the two sons of Master Yu." Wang Huadu, who was sharpening his axe, stood up and introduced the two: "This is Yang Liu, from the Hejian New Army. Next to him is Wu Heizi, whose family runs a butcher shop in Xi Yidu. Behind them are the Qi brothers, who used to be stationed workers."

Yu Yuan bowed to everyone.

Yang Liu, who was in charge, just grunted in response without returning the greeting.

Wu Heizi returned the greeting with a slight smile, saying, "My son studied under Master Yu, but unfortunately he lacked talent and went home to help his grandfather slaughter pigs."

The Qi brothers didn't say anything either, but when Wang Huadu looked over, they reluctantly cupped their hands in greeting.

Yu Yuan didn't dare look at them for long, and only asked, "Where is Brother Shao?"

"He's stringing the bow inside," Wang Huadu said.

Yu Yuan said "Oh," and then said, "Come help me move these things."

Before Wang Huadu could speak, Yang Liu and the others turned their gazes over.

"Wow, so much food?" He was first surprised and delighted, then turned to the three people who came with him and laughed, "What are you all standing there for? Move the stuff. First come, first served, what you get is yours."

Upon hearing this, Wu Heizi gave an awkward smile and hesitated to move, but the Qi brothers laughed heartily and said, "Come on, someone's treating."

"This belongs to Brother Shao, not to you," Yu Yuan said urgently.

Wang Huadu's face fell, and he looked even more regretful.

Just then, a loud "bang" was heard, the bowstring rang out like thunder, and the arrow shot out of the air, landing heavily on the wooden gate.

"Thud!" The arrow pierced the wood three inches deep, its fletching still trembling.

The Qi brothers hurriedly stopped and turned around to look back.

Shao Shuyi, carrying a bow, stepped out and surveyed the room expressionlessly.

The Qi brothers instinctively avoided his gaze, not daring to meet his eyes.

Wu Heizi looked at him in surprise.

Yang Liu's face, however, was so gloomy it seemed like water could drip from it.

Kong Tieshou stroked the hilt of his sword, half a step behind Shao Shuyi, his gaze deep as he looked at the crowd.

"Yu She, what are you standing there for? Why don't you move the rice to the kitchen?" Shao Shuyi took a few steps outside and said in a deep voice.

"Hey." Yu Yuan realized what was happening and immediately went out the door to help his nephew move things.

Yang Liu looked Shao Shuyi up and down again.

This person clearly looked only fifteen or sixteen years old, but his facial expressions, mannerisms, and the way he looked at people all resembled a middle-aged man who had been through a lot in his life. It was quite strange.

As if sensing Yang Liu's gaze, Shao Shuyi slightly turned his head to look at him and said in a calm tone, "Brother Yang, we haven't even opened for business yet, and you're already eyeing your own people's goods. Isn't that outrageous?"

Yang Liu's face twitched, and after a long while, he said in a muffled voice, "It's a misunderstanding."

Wang Huadu also realized what was happening and rushed to Yang Liu, angrily saying, "Yang Liu, I told you this was a big deal, why don't you put away your petty schemes? What, you're not convinced? It seems all your previous talk was nonsense. Back then when we stole the horse, if I hadn't opened the back door, you would be dead long ago."

Yang Liu finally lowered his arms, which he had been holding, and said, "I told you it was a misunderstanding."

"That would be best." Wang Huadu snorted coldly, stared at him intently, and then continued sharpening his axe.

The courtyard fell silent, save for the clanging of the sword at Shao Shuyi's waist and the footsteps of Yu Yuan and his nephew Yu Hong as they carried grain.

After an unknown amount of time, Yu Yuan, having finished moving the grain, stood on the dirt road outside the courtyard, waved to Shao Shuyi, and said, "Brother Shao, I have something to tell you."

Shao Shuyi grunted in response, then went straight out of the courtyard and asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

"There are two things," Yu Yuan said, glancing at his nephew.

For some reason, Yu Hong, who had been incredibly arrogant just moments before, was now unusually docile. He bowed to Shao Shuyi and Yu Yuan and said, "I... I'm going home for lunch."

Yu Yuan waved for him to leave quickly.

Shao Shuyi smiled at him and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's not hard work, it's not hard work," Yu Hong said repeatedly, then climbed onto the donkey cart and headed towards the west end of the village, intending to make a loop to get home.

After the donkey cart had gone a little further away, Yu Yuan said, "The day before yesterday, I asked Huang about Zhou Ziliang."

"What did she say?"

"Huang seems to be very afraid of you, and he tells you everything he knows. He said that Zhou Ziliang first came to the shop four years ago, and he was with Sun Chuan at the time. He came more than ten times in the past four years, and each time he stayed in the shopkeeper's—uh, Wang Sheng's—room for a long time, as if they were talking about something. Sometimes, when the shop's blueware was transported to the foreign merchants' ocean ships, it was Zhou Ziliang who handled it."

After they finished their business, they seemed to go to the theater and teahouse, but on one or two occasions, Wang Sheng invited them to have dinner at the restaurant.

When Huang was serving the dishes, he overheard Wang Sheng envying Zhou Ziliang and Sun Chuan's "big business." Zhou Ziliang mocked him for "lacking guts," while Wang Sheng joked that he was "getting old"...

After waiting a moment, seeing that Yu Yuan had nothing more to say, Shao Shuyi asked, "Is that all?"

"That's all." Yu Yuan nodded.

"That's enough." Shao Shuyi patted Yu Yuan on the shoulder and sighed, "People really have a hard time staying vigilant for long. Wang Sheng is like that, and Zhou Ziliang, who has a somewhat impatient temperament, is even more so."

"Brother Shao, I think there must be some shady business going on between Zhou Ziliang and Sun Chuan," Yu Yuan said seriously.

"Neither of them can stand the light of day." Shao Shuyi laughed and said, "Zhou Ziliang exploits fish farmers, forcing them to sell their wives and daughters. Can that be done openly? Sun Chuan has held the top position in the Qingqi Trading Company for so many years. How could he do that without some tricks? And are all of those tricks out of the light of day? It's perfectly normal for two scoundrels to get together and do some shady things."

"Brother Shao is right," Yu Yuan said admiringly. "Master Zheng said yesterday that Sun Chuan has been staying home and refusing visitors for the past few days. He has dozens of servants and guards, the exact number of whom is unknown. If we, with only five or six people, rashly attack, we most likely won't win. We'll have to think of other ways."

Shao Shuyi was not surprised after hearing this.

In fact, Wang Huadu and Kong Tie had both scouted the area over the past few days. The Sun family's high walls and compound were indeed difficult to enter. Moreover, they had seen no fewer than four martial arts guards. Their skills were unclear, but they were certainly strong and well-equipped, making them formidable opponents.

Shao Shuyi's original plan was to ambush Sun Chuan while he was out, but the guy didn't even go out, which meant he was prepared.

It's not that we can't wait, since no one can stay indoors for a long time, but how long exactly?

"Is this the idea of ​​the Third Residence or the intention of Master Zheng?" Shao Shuyi asked.

"Three houses."

"I understand." Shao Shuyi nodded.

Zheng Guozhen has a clever plan. He probably can't do anything to Sun Chuan openly, because neither the Maritime Trade Office nor Kunshan Prefecture supports him, unless you can produce irrefutable evidence.

In other words, Zheng Guozhen only handled official matters; the real dirty work had to be done by Shao.

"Hehe." Shao Shuyi chuckled.

That's good. If you want something, you have to give something in return. There's no such thing as getting something for nothing.