Chapter 176 1/3

When Shen Zhilan and Mrs. Shen were reading, Qian Fugui left the inn.

After sitting on the boat for so many days, Qian Fugui felt like he was falling apart… If it weren’t for worrying about things and feeling hungry, he would probably have stayed in bed all day.

Because he wanted to visit the Shen family, he didn’t go to the restaurant. Seeing a shop called “Juéwèizhāi” crowded with people nearby, he asked his attendant to buy some for him.

He smelled the enticing aroma. Whatever the shop was selling, it must be delicious!

The servant went to queue up, and soon brought back some food for Qian Fugui: “Master, it’s a shop selling braised foods, so I picked some for you.”

Qian Fugui glanced at the bamboo basket given by the shop, containing a chicken, a duck, and some vegetarian chicken jerky, among others, emitting a particularly fragrant smell.

He had eaten plenty of braised foods before, but never anything this fragrant! Qian Fugui tore off a chicken leg and took a bite, feeling amazed.

The flavor of this braised food was simply outstanding!

However, eating only vegetables could become boring… Qian Fugui asked someone to buy two steamed buns for him while he walked towards the Shen family.

Qian Fugui, with his extraordinary appearance and distinguished bearing, made people think he was either a scholar from a wealthy family or an official.

So seeing him carrying a chicken leg and a steamed bun… people around couldn’t help but stare.

Ignoring the curious gazes, Qian Fugui continued eating.

Eating a meal on the road was nothing to him, and he didn’t care about his image at all.

When he first joined King Yanjun, in order to do business well, he had suffered a lot. There was a time when he had to sleep rough and it was difficult even to have a hot meal, let alone being treated respectfully by others all day.

Qian Fugui’s men had already found out where the Shen family lived. Qian Fugui followed the servant and felt that the streets of Jiangnan were a bit narrow.

There were a bunch of people sitting at the gate of a house up ahead, blocking the road.

Qian Fugui glanced at the house and saw the word “Qin Residence” written on it. Looking at those people…

Today was the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, nearing the end of the year. The Qin family probably owed money, and now there were people here to collect debts.

Qian Fugui’s guess was correct. These people were here to collect debts, hired by Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop.

Jin Xiaoye asked Jin Xiaoshu to find people to collect debts, and Jin Xiaoshu hired ten strong men from Miaoqian Village, plus Jin Sangshu and a boatman from his shipping business… a total of twelve people, blocking the door of the Qin family.

Jin Xiaoshu didn’t come himself this time. Normally, he would come personally for such matters, but Fang Jinniang was about to give birth, and he didn’t want to leave home much during this time.

Collecting debts might take several days, so he wouldn’t come.

This time, he asked Jin Sangshu and the boatman to lead.

The boatman’s name was Zhou Jinsong, a quick-witted man who always managed to get things done properly. Jin Sangshu was also reliable, being one of their own people. Jin Xiaoshu felt reassured to let them handle it together.

Just as they arrived at the Qin family’s door, they were eating steamed buns. When they saw someone passing by, they shouted at the Qin family’s gate, “Master Qin, please pay us back! We won’t have money for the New Year!”

After the passerby left, they continued eating their buns.

They shouted like this to show off, unless Master Qin lost all his face, sooner or later he wouldn’t be able to stand it.

While eating, they discussed their plan: “When someone from the Qin family comes out later, we’ll follow them and keep asking them for the money!”

The boss instructed them not to cause trouble, to avoid being arrested by the yamen.

They didn’t dare to cause trouble… So they were good, just asking for the money nicely!

Just as they were talking, the person who went out to inquire about the news came back and said to Zhou Jinsong and Jin Sangshu, “Brother Zhou, Brother Jin, I found out that this house has a back door!”

Zhou Jinsong immediately said, “Let’s send five people to guard the back door. Remember, if anyone passes by, ask the Qin family for money. If someone from the Qin family comes out, follow them immediately and keep asking for the money!”

Everyone nodded.

Qian Fugui arrived at this moment. Seeing this, Zhou Jinsong led the group to

shout, “Master Qin, please pay us back! We won’t have money for the New Year!”

Qian Fugui couldn’t understand the local dialect very well, but he found it amusing. Luckily, this time he brought someone who knew the local dialect, so he asked that person, “What are they saying?”

The person explained in Mandarin.

Qian Fugui couldn’t help but smile and asked the person to go up and inquire, asking Zhou Jinsong’s group which shop they were from.

Hearing someone asking, Zhou Jinsong immediately said, “We are from Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop in Chongcheng County. Master Qin owes us money for the goods, and we are here to collect the debt.”

“So it’s from Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop!” Qian Fugui was quite interested in this embroidery workshop.

However, he was in a hurry to go to the Shen family, so he didn’t chat much.

There wasn’t much to talk about with the people who came to help collect debts from Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop.

Seeing Qian Fugui leave, Zhou Jinsong said to the people around him, “This gentleman doesn’t look like a local. He might be an official from the provincial capital!”

“Why?” A curious villager from the front of the temple asked.

Zhou Jinsong said, “Look at his bearing! And now that it’s almost New Year, if he were here for business, he would have left long ago. But he’s still here… He might be from the government and can’t leave.”

Although they had never seen Miaoqian, Miaoqian’s people had seen many more things, so they enthusiastically talked about various things from the provincial capital.

They liked this job of collecting debts very much.

Jin Xiaoshu said that they would be paid one hundred wen for every day they guarded here, and they would be provided with food… If they guarded for several days, they could earn several hundred wen!

This job wasn’t tiring at all, just needed to shout a few times.

They ate very well, for example, now they were eating big meat buns.

On the other side, Qian Fugui filled his stomach with braised food and steamed buns, and the rest was eaten by his men.

After eating, they had already arrived at the Shen family… Qian Fugui handed over his business card.

Shen Zhilan was reading, and sighed when she heard that Qian Fugui had come.

She didn’t want to go out to see people, but eventually she tidied up and went out.

Qian Fugui had been trying to test Shen Zhilan’s reaction all along, wanting to inquire about Dusan People, but unfortunately he didn’t find out anything. Now… he decided to get straight to the point.

In the past, he wouldn’t have revealed his relationship with Li Zhao, but because of Dusan People, Li Zhao had now become a well-known good official!

Shen Zhilan asked, “Qian, please go ahead.”

Qian Fugui said, “Mr. Shen, I won’t hide it from you. I’m good friends with Li Zhao, the county magistrate of Yu County. When he was framed by King Jin’s men and his family was exterminated, I couldn’t bear it…”