Chapter 71

  Li Datou arrived at Su's residence and waited outside the main house for a while before Li came out of the house.

  "Little sister, things are getting a bit messy, business is booming on the other side."

  "That old broken-down house, how long has it been abandoned? Once it fell into her hands, business started to look up. Is she the reincarnation of Tao Zhu Gong?" Li Shi had just fed Su Si Hai his medicine and was still holding the medicine bowl.

  "It's really about the same, it didn't take long to revive. Now if you want to eat there, you have to book a table far in advance. But they'd rather queue up across the street than come to Sihai Lou for a meal."

  Li's delicate eyebrows furrowed, this matter was truly beyond her expectation. Originally, she wanted to marry her off to Heishi City, not only to let her leave the Su family but also to open up a trade route from the Su family to Heishi City. Who would have thought that halfway there, she was robbed by mountain bandits? Now, giving her a wine shop on the verge of bankruptcy, she thought it could be used to drive her out of Heishi City, but unexpectedly, she actually saved the wine shop.

  It's really like a dog skin plaster, can't get rid of it no matter what.

  "Sister, you have to think of a way, if it goes on like this, Four Seas Building will be the first to close down."

  "You're really useless, you can't even help the wine shop business thrive, but you also won't make it worse, will you?" Li's eyebrows furrowed and she spat out three words: "Find Du Mao!"

  The two words "Du Mao" seemed to have an inexplicable magic, Li Datou suddenly woke up and said: "Second sister, have you thought it through? That Du Mao... is easy to invite but hard to send away, do we really want to get entangled with him?"

  "A professional does professional things, no matter how Du Mao is, it's just about asking for money, give him the money."

  Li Datou finally mustered up the courage, he took 100 taels of silver from Li's place and wrapped it in a bundle. After leaving Su's residence, he walked east along the alley until he reached the river, then headed north... He walked for about seven or eight miles before seeing a large pagoda tree in front of him.

  Behind the big locust tree was a gray wall courtyard. Li Datou walked in and stopped for a moment before mustering up the courage to knock on the door ring.

  "What's the point!"

  A big head poked out from the door, a bald and dark face, with eyes as big as bronze bells.

  "Looking... looking for Master Du."

  He looked around with his big head, and finally put his eyes on Li Datou: "Come in."

  Li Da Tou walked into the yard with the blue cloth bundle wrapped in his arms. In the yard, a row of weapon racks, stone mills and stone locks were arranged, seven or eight big men sat under the sun, everyone was bare-armed, exercising the equipment in the yard.

  "Old scar, in two days a brother from Youzhou will come over, you take care of him."

  "What do you do?"

  "We've just hijacked a shipment on the water and plan to lay low here for a while. We have quite a few things in hand..."

  As soon as Li Datou walked in, the conversation came to an abrupt halt, and almost everyone's eyes fell on Li Datou. Li Datou's body suddenly shrunk a few inches, the bright sunshine in the sky, but out of nowhere, a chilliness surged forth.

  In the courtyard, there is a pagoda tree, casting a patch of shade. Under the shade sits a man in white robes. He wears long robes and sips clear tea, in stark contrast to the burly men in the courtyard who are stripped to the waist.

  A movement and a stillness, but this motionless quiet can suppress the noisy disturbance.

  Only when his gaze fell on Li Datou did he have a feeling of being stared at by a tiger.

  This man is Du Mao, styled Wencai, nicknamed Lazy Big Worm. It's said that his arms have the strength of a thousand pounds and he once killed an old tiger in the mountains with his bare fists.

  Li Datou slowly moved step by step in front of his opponent and placed the package in his hand on the stone table.

  "Master Du, I need your help with something..."

  Du Mou patted his hand and estimated the number, then waved his hand to give it to the big man with scars on his face: "Scarface, help him get things done."

  "Alright, sir, you just watch!"

  ……

  This afternoon, two people appeared at the mouth of the lake's bottom gate.

  "It's here."

  "Business is pretty good."

  "Go and take a look."

  The two of them entered the gate, past noon, and business was surprisingly good. The two of them waited for a long time before it was their turn.

  This is an earth-built stove, with wood chips filled underneath and a flue to vent the smoke. As such, there was no way to arrange seating on the second floor, only about thirty seats were available on the first floor.

  "Scar Brother, business is so good here, and the dishes are really as delicious as what's been said outside." asked the man with a green snake tattoo on his face.

  "Hah, we brothers have traveled far and wide, had dragon liver and phoenix marrow, what haven't we eaten? It's delicious, but how much better can it be?"

  "There's no hurry, let's brothers have a taste first, then do things."

  Su Ying is feeding pigeons in the backyard, she calls Xiao Die to go to the frog's nest, and has raised a few carrier pigeons for Cheng Da Lei, so that three carrier pigeons can travel between the two places.

  This book is for convenience when there's something important to contact, but Chenda Lei sends three letters a day, and if it's not enough, he'll ask again. Can you eat? Did you sleep? Did you take a bath? Do you have to ask about these things every day? Now Su Qing feels that until now, she still hasn't figured out Chenda Lei's routine.

  In the hall, Dabao and Qing She ate with gusto, sweating profusely.

  The sliced meat is rolling in the red soup, the Sichuan peppercorns are rolling to one side, and the chopsticks are descending from the sky, chasing after the pellets at the bottom of the pot.

  "Scar, spare me this time."

  "Hi, elders first."

  "Waiter, add another serving of meat."

  Having eaten and drunk their fill, the two of them lay down on the bench, belching, and gazed at each other, as if they had both remembered something.

  "Wow, mouse!"

  The knife scar suddenly let out a loud shout, and with a wave of his large sleeve over the pot, a dead mouse was thrown into the pot, rolling around at the bottom.

  A loud commotion erupted, and the remaining guests in the wine house all shouted out in surprise. As they looked over, seeing the dead mouse with its teeth exposed in the pot, they all made faces of disgust and nausea.

  Liao Jia and Liao Yi, two brothers outside the door, came over first.

  Liao Jia looked at the two people with flushed faces, then glanced at the pot of boiling rats, a cold smile appearing on his lips.

  "Brother, this play is really old-fashioned. It's only at the end that you find out it's a mouse, and your eyesight is really poor."

  "Yes, brother's eyesight has been poor since childhood, and this mouse has eaten half of it."

  Liao Jia was stunned, and the mouse in the pot was indeed intact.

  Just then, the scar-faced man suddenly pulled out a short knife from his body and picked up the mouse from the pot. He glared at Liao Jia with a menacing gaze, slowly put the mouse in his mouth, and chewed it up, skin and bones together.

  Everyone who saw this scene was shocked and turned pale, the acid in their stomachs surged up, they almost fled from the wine building, and halfway through, they could still hear the sound of vomiting.

  Liao Jia's expression didn't change as he stared at the scar, until he bit halfway through it and then spat out the dead mouse.

  "Oh, so you're... a gangster!"

  "Alright, alright." Scar scratched his teeth with a short knife and then cupped his hands in greeting: "This brother is..."

  Liao Jia clasped his fists with both hands, his energy sank into his dantian, and he spat out two words.

  "Go with..."