Chapter 2480: The Second Meeting

Gao Chongjiu had many friends and was the most well-informed. Before long, he helped Li Ziyu find a house.

"It was originally the property of a master in the Ming State. Because he was implicated in the Witchcraft Case, it was confiscated as rebel property. The current owner is the City Assets Company." Saying this, he took out the blueprint.

The residence was a three-courtyard compound, suitable in size, well-built, and equipped with basic furniture. The surrounding environment wasn't bad either. Li Ziyu, however, still shook his head: "Brother Jiu, how can one hundred yuan get this house? It would cost at least three to five hundred yuan!"

"Although you can't buy it, you can lease it. For a term of seven years, exactly one hundred yuan. Plus three yuan stamp tax."

Li Ziyu told his uncle the news. His uncle took his aunt to see it personally and felt quite satisfied, so they went to the City Assets Company to sign the contract and leased the house.

Having leased the house, Zhang Shizhong busied himself with moving. Li Ziyu simply sent Ah Gui to handle it—since he couldn't help much with the investigation anyway. After busy work for more than a week, the Zhang family moved into their new home, and Ah Gui was also busy enough to be thrown off his feet. On this day, Uncle hosted a housewarming banquet. Li Ziyu went to drink and said some auspicious words. Meanwhile, Huang He also came to bid farewell.

"Bidding farewell? Where are you planning to go? Do you have a livelihood?" Professional sensitivity prompted Li Ziyu to ask.

"This lowly one has found a job in Lingao." Huang He took out an 'Employment Notice.' It was issued by the Lingao Jiangnan Leather Company. "I will go to Lingao to report for duty in a few days."

"Leather factory?" Li Ziyu didn't know much about this trade. "You know how to tan leather?"

"This lowly one doesn't know how to tan leather, but back in Tianjin, I also did business in leather, so I count as an insider."

"That's good. With a stable job, live a good life in Lingao!"

"Many thanks, Officer!"

Huang He said a few more auspicious words and bowed his leave. Li Ziyu didn't take it to heart; after all, he couldn't even finish the matters at hand. Immigrants from the north like Huang He were like carp crossing the river, countless in number.

While Li Ziyu and Gao Chongjiu were busy investigating the case, outside the East Gate of Guangzhou, waiters were busy in a tea house. Although this place was neither a bustling downtown block nor a dock port, the geographical location of this tea house was still quite superior—two roads entering the city converged at the entrance of the tea house, forming a not-too-wide T-intersection here. Opposite the intersection was the Songluo Tea House, where the young waiter Hu Qi brewed tea and poured water every day.

To the west of the tea house was a stone bridge. Walking less than a li across the bridge, one could see the Yongtai Temple. Passing Yongtai Temple and heading west were the Great and Small East Gates. Don't look down on this inconspicuous Songluo Tea House; it was the only decent resting place in this area. Passersby would come in for a cup of tea when tired; people going on long journeys would gather here to bid farewell to relatives and friends seeing them off.

Songluo Tea House had two courtyards. The first was right by the roadside, an open three-sided courtyard. The small courtyard behind was a miscellaneous yard for boiling water, stacking firewood, and housing the waiters. If merchants couldn't enter the city in the evening and didn't mind the simplicity, they could stay here until dawn to enter the city.

Yesterday, someone had already greeted the tea house shopkeeper: "Our master wants to meet guests here today! Keep all your main rooms; don't let idlers in. Our master wants to entertain distinguished guests!" They left a deposit before leaving.

So early this morning, the young waiter was dragged out of his warm quilt by the shopkeeper to make fire, boil water, prepare tea... Having finally found a gap, he was called to buy tea snacks.

To buy tea snacks, one had to go to the Great World. Hu Qi was also happy to steal half a day of leisure to go play at the Great World, so he immediately took the money and set off.

The shopkeeper watched the sun slowly drift past the treetops. Tea guests in the east and west halls came and went, went and came; several waves of people had already passed. However, the "distinguished guest" mentioned by the steward had not appeared.

It wasn't until near noon, when Hu Qi came back carrying walnut crisp cakes, that two sedan bearers were seen walking from afar carrying a blue bamboo cloth sedan chair. Sitting on the open cool sedan chair was a slightly portly official master, dressed as a scholar. Two people dressed as servants of a large household, wearing new blue cloth short jackets and blue soft hats, followed unhurriedly behind the sedan bearers.

While Hu Qi was still dazed, the shopkeeper had already run a few steps forward to welcome him from a distance: "Master, you have arrived!"

Sccond Master Hao watched the steward step forward to negotiate with the shopkeeper, then waved his hand to signal the bearers to lower the sedan chair. Hands behind his back, he slowly paced squarely toward this riverside tea house.

Beside the official road, a cloth banner bore a large character "Tea," and above the main entrance hung a plaque reading "Songluo Tea House." This tea house had a long history. When he was a child accompanying his mother to offer incense at Yongtai Temple, his mother had brought him here. The shopkeeper back then was the grandfather of the current shopkeeper.

Looking back at the past, it was a story of more than forty years ago. At that time, the world was at peace, and the people were content. There were neither Eastern Barbarians nor Southern Baldies, and merchants' sons like him lived happy and carefree lives.

He never imagined he would one day witness a "change of dynasty" with his own eyes—of course, the Bald Thieves hadn't proclaimed themselves emperors yet, nor had they fought their way into the capital, but it was obvious that the sky had "changed" in Guangdong.

He looked at this Songluo Tea House, which was now following the trend and learning the "Australian style," inlaying expensive glass windows. Many potted flowers were displayed in the open courtyard—many varieties brought by the Australians. The weather in Guangzhou turned warm in February, (lunar calendar), and various flowers bloomed in competition, vying in beauty.

"Second Master! Everything is ready inside," Hao Ping whispered.

Second Master Hao instructed in a low voice: "You go tell Hao An to wait by the roadside." With that, he stepped up the stairs and entered the spacious and bright main hall. There were more than twenty sets of tables and chairs in the main hall, tidied up cleanly; on the L-shaped counter, a dozen transparent "Australian-style" glass tea boxes were stacked, allowing one to see the new tea leaves of this year at a glance. Usually, this place was always full of passing merchants and tourists on outings, very lively. Today, because he booked the place, it seemed empty.

There was a side room on each the east and west sides of the main hall. The west side room was the accounting room, while the east side room was a private room. Second Master Hao said he booked the place, but in fact, the tea guests coming could only fill this one side room.

The shopkeeper personally led the way, guiding him into the side room. This side room wasn't big, but it was more than enough to seat a dozen people. Facing south was a small skywell with a decades-old magnolia tree planted in it. Because of this skywell, although the side room had walls on three sides, the light was very sufficient.

Here, one could find quiet amidst noise; it was a good place for concealed conversation. Even more ideal than Yongtai Temple.

The side room was clean with nothing else inside, only a tea table and a long table stocked with paper and inkstones placed in the middle. The table was already set with eight colors of fine porcelain dried and fresh fruit snacks.

"Heard you have special Australian tea snacks here? Remember to prepare them," Hao Ping instructed.

The shopkeeper piled smiles all over his face, "Yes, yes, yes! Instructed the waiter to go into the city to buy them early this morning!" Saying this, he went out to prepare, only to see Hu Qi still carrying packages of tea snacks, peeking and looking around there. He went straight up and gave him a slap, cursing, "Where the hell did you go?! Took half a day to buy snacks! Hurry up and plate them!"

It was common for apprentices to get slapped. Hu Qi covered his face and went into the counter, taking plates to start plating the various tea snacks bought from Zhang's Shop. Filled a big platter full. Carefully carried it over.

Hu Qi served the tea snacks and returned to the counter, only to be ordered around within a few minutes—fetching things one moment, washing and scrubbing the next, then called to get boiling water. Busy running in circles.

And Second Master Hao's guests arrived one after another. Every guest was guided by the Hao family servants to the side room. Hu Qi had worked in the tea house for more than two years and had figured out a bit of the skill of observing people's expressions.

The group of guests invited by Master Hao was really quite rare. Although they were all dressed decently, looking at their appearance and demeanor, most were rough people. When pouring tea and water for them, it was obvious: one smelled of coal smoke all over, another had calluses all over his hands; another had grime and dirt in his fingernails... These people didn't look like decent folks at a glance.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Second Master Hao gave a signal with his eyes. Hao Ping drove the waiters and shopkeeper out and instructed: "Don't come in unless called." With that, he guarded the door of the side room himself.

Second Master Hao first lifted his tea cup and exchanged a few polite words. Then he entered the main topic.

The people who came were mostly participants of the "Yongtai Temple Meeting." A few were too old to come and were replaced by younger nephews or sons. There was one person attending for the first time. This person, surnamed He, was a figure from the jagged rivers and lakes. He was active outside Guangzhou city years ago, doing business without capital. Later, he accumulated some family property and engaged in other activities. He was an old acquaintance of Second Master Hao and a business partner.

"...At present, the Bald Thieves' silver coins and banknotes circulate widely in the market. Our previous idea of taking advantage of the Bald Thieves' unstable footing to rush produce a batch of fake silver money and fake banknotes to fish for silver and disrupt the market seems unworkable now! Banknotes are okay to talk about; although the appearance is poor, they can still fool country bumpkins. Those silver cakes are really impossible to make..."

Boss He was also a good fellow who had wandered the jianghu; he had done plenty of illegal things in earlier years. Most of the various counterfeit coins concocted by Second Master Hao were distributed through his channels. Now hearing Second Master Hao's words, it sounded like boosting the Bald Thieves' morale and extinguishing their own prestige. Most importantly, he had taken a huge risk in this matter, yet none of the promised promotion and wealth had been obtained, so he was already unhappy. He choked on a mouthful of tea, coughing loudly, "Cough! I say, Hao Renyuan, you were considered a resounding tough guy in the jianghu back then. How is it that after not seeing you for a few years, you've become so timid? Isn't it just printing fake money and casting fake coins? Did you think you were printing real money, complaining it doesn't look like it? Did you think you were in charge of the Coinage Bureau for the Bald Thieves!" Boss He looked at the few strangers with extraordinary bearings present, and swallowed the rest of his words.

(End of Chapter)