N-A-A Chapter 187 The Embroidery Shop is in Trouble
Chapter 187 The Embroidery Shop is in Trouble
A smile spread across Li Zhong's face. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a blue cloth bag, and gently pushed it onto the octagonal table, saying crisply and decisively, "Here, this is yours, a full 10 silver dollars!"
Yan Shuo reached for the cloth bag; it felt very light. He opened it and found a few loose silver dollars and a bank draft. He casually placed the bag beside him and asked, "This money, is it Chang Run's?"
"Yes, it's a combination of Chang Run's assets and the money Chen Tiejun confiscated, all put together for you."
Li Zhong leaned back in his chair, his posture casual, and his tone was quite sincere. "Commander Chen needs to distribute the money to many people. Everyone who does the work and those who deliver messages needs to get a share. Your 10 is already the maximum you can get. That should be enough."
Yan Shuo chuckled lightly upon hearing this, waved his hand casually, and moved the cloth bag to the corner of the desk: "Well, I was just asking casually, it doesn't matter how much it costs."
The conversation in the study came to a temporary end. The tense standoff at the dinner table had quietly transformed into an unspoken understanding between the two men after this casual chat about serious matters. The lingering tension in the air had completely dissipated.
In the living room, Wang Xiaohong and Ma Hongxi were still huddled together, chatting in hushed tones. Both of them tactfully refrained from checking what was happening in the study, and occasionally a few low chuckles could be heard.
After a moment of silence, Li Zhong leaned forward slightly, his smile fading and his expression becoming serious. He slowly said, "There's something else. During my trip to Shanghai, I made a special detour to visit the embroidery shop, the Manqing Embroidery Shop that Madam used to run. You should know it, right?"
Yan Shuo raised an eyebrow, a fleeting look of surprise flashing in his eyes, before he nodded knowingly: "I know, I remember it was sold to someone else a few years ago. What, Auntie only sold it on the surface, but is still secretly managing the embroidery shop?"
He knew perfectly well that Li Zhiyao's mother, Shen Manqing, used to run a clothing store called "Manqing Embroidery Shop" in the concession. It mainly sold high-end handmade clothing and accessories such as Suzhou embroidery, Hangzhou embroidery, and brocade. The materials were exquisite and the craftsmanship was superb. It was a well-known shop in the concession back then.
Since the start of the war, Shen Manqing has moved to the rear with Li Zhiyao's father, Li Yanshan, and now resides in Shancheng. The matter of the embroidery shop being sold was something Li Zhiyao mentioned to him unintentionally back then.
Li Zhiyao was simple-minded and naive, and genuinely believed that the embroidery shop had completely changed hands. Over the years, he hadn't paid much attention to what was happening there.
Yan Shuo had long harbored doubts. Li Zhiyao secretly supported several informants on a daily basis. The meager salary from the Military Intelligence Bureau, plus the occasional small amount of funding approved, was simply not enough to support her daily expenses as a rich young lady, let alone secretly support her informants and gather information.
Upon hearing Li Zhong's words, she immediately understood. The rent for the embroidery shop was probably pocket money that Shen Manqing had specially set aside for her daughter, and it was also the source of her confidence in helping her informant.
Li Zhong grinned and nodded emphatically: "Hehe, you guessed right! This embroidery shop is the culmination of Madam's life's work. How could she really give it away? She's just found a middleman to manage it, to keep things under wraps and avoid unnecessary trouble in this chaotic world."
"I knew it," Yan Shuo laughed, his tone teasing. "Yao Yao is a pampered rich girl who spends lavishly every day. Where does she get so much pocket money? It turns out that her aunt is secretly subsidizing her."
"Look at what you're saying," Li Zhong waved his hand and retorted with a smile, "Raising girls with wealth is an old rule in our Li family. Only you have the ability to quietly trick the treasure that Madam and Brother Zhixing cherish. If it were anyone else, Brother Zhixing would have beaten them to death long ago."
Yan Shuo felt a little embarrassed by what was said, scratched his head, and laughed to smooth things over: "Uh, haha, it's all fate, just fate."
After the joke, Li Zhong stopped laughing and got back to the point, his tone becoming serious: "Seriously, the manager of the embroidery shop is now called Su Yueqing, and the shop has been renamed Yueqing Silk and Cloth Shop. Su Yueqing is a widow, from a branch of the Su family in Hangzhou, a true silk family. She and the lady are best friends, you know that kind of relationship? It's the kind where you can sleep in the same bed and chat, sharing your own little things, without any distinction between you and me."
Upon hearing this, Yan Shuo's eyes flashed with understanding, and he nodded with a smile: "I know, this kind of best friend is even closer than a blood sister."
"That's it!" Li Zhong echoed, then frowned. "The reason I'm telling you about the embroidery shop is because something's happened. Su Yueqing has recently been harassed by a thug. He's a small-time gangster with some status, and he has over a hundred thugs under his command. I'm alone in the concession, so I can't openly deal with him, lest I cause even bigger trouble and alert the concession police, which would make things even harder to handle."
He paused, then continued, "Su Yueqing had no other choice but to send a message to Madam. Madam specifically instructed me to ask Yao Yao if we could use her connections at the Shanghai station to help resolve this. After all, Master and the Military Intelligence Bureau have very deep ties, and it's only right that they look out for each other now, right?"
Yan Shuo's face instantly turned cold, a hint of ferocity flashing in his eyes, and his tone was also somewhat unfriendly: "Who is so bold? Are they looking for death? Anyone who dares to touch Auntie and her best friend probably doesn't know how to spell the word 'death'."
"Xiao Jingshan." Li Zhong immediately gave the name, his tone tinged with dissatisfaction. "This guy has over 100 thugs under his command. He used to be under Zhang Yaolin of the Green Gang, but now he's practically independent. He doesn't follow Zhang Yaolin around much anymore. Instead, he's joined Takagi Masao of the Kodama Agency. His relationship with Wu Sibao of the 76th Division is also unclear. It's because of this background that he dares to be so arrogant and domineering."
"The Kodama Organization?" Yan Shuo frowned, his tone tinged with surprise. "The Kodama Organization that Kodama Yoshio spearheaded?"
"Yes, that's his mechanism." Li Zhong nodded emphatically, confirming.
Yan Shuo scoffed, his face full of incomprehension and disdain: "Kodama Yoshio has so many important things to do, why would he bother with a silk shop? He must be out of his mind."
"Hey, it's not that the Kodama organization is bored," Li Zhong waved his hand and quickly explained, "They've got their eyes on the new batch of fabric that the embroidery shop just received. There's a lot of fabric in there, enough to make uniforms for more than 10,000 soldiers. The profit from that is considerable, so naturally they're envious and want to take advantage of the situation to get their hands on it."
"What was Auntie thinking?" Yan Shuo frowned, his tone tinged with helplessness. "Why would she order so much merchandise from the embroidery shop at once? Isn't that obviously making her an easy target and getting herself into trouble?"
"Oh, it's just that Madam wasn't paying attention and her hand slipped, so she accidentally approved too much." Li Zhong said to Yan Shuo with a hint of pleading in his voice, "Yan Shuo, I'm entrusting this matter to you. Help me with it. It's not a big deal, just a small favor for you."