Aoyama

Chapter 368 Sizhu
The officials from Shuntian Prefecture arrived, originally to arrest the group from Meihua Ferry, but now they had no way to proceed.

Chen Bin, looking disheveled, led his men away from Plum Blossom Ferry. The gang leader bowed to everyone around him, saying, "I apologize for disturbing you all. Plum Blossom Ferry will cover all your food and drinks today."

The spectators cheered.

On the third floor of Hongmei Tower, only Chen Ji and Chen Yue remained, sitting opposite each other, along with a singing girl playing the pipa not far away.

cool.

Manager Chen Yue looked at Chen Ji raising his wine glass to him. He hesitated for a long time before finally picking up his own glass.

But he didn't drink it; instead, he gently poured it onto the wooden floor of the Red Plum Pavilion.

Chen Ji asked with a smile, "What is the head manager doing?"

Chen Yue placed the empty wine glass on the table and sighed softly, "Let me toast myself in advance, otherwise there won't be any wine to drink when I get to the underworld."

Chen Ji poured him another glass of wine: "Does the head manager regret it?"

Chen Yue stared at the wine glass for a long time, then smiled nonchalantly: "What do I have to regret?"

Chen Ji remained silent.

Chen Yue rested his hands on his knees, turned his head with a dazed look, and gazed at the moon outside the Red Plum Tower: "If I hadn't left my hometown and come to the capital back then, how would I have known that there were such prosperous places in this world, how would I have known that there were so many beautiful women in this world? I've enjoyed all the blessings I could, and I've committed all the sins I could, so there's nothing to regret."

At this point, he suddenly changed the subject: "Master, do you know how I became the head manager?"

Chen Ji shook his head: "I haven't investigated it."

Chen Yue chuckled self-deprecatingly: "That's right, other people wouldn't care about these old, trivial matters. When I was a junior apprentice, I didn't even have a monthly salary. Every day, I would eat after the other shop assistants and the foremen had finished eating. Sometimes I would get food, sometimes I wouldn't. In the seventh year of the Jianing era, a blizzard in the capital collapsed the salt warehouse. Seeing that the snowmelt was about to seep into the salt stacks, I held up the cracked wooden beams by myself, using myself as a pillar, and bought the salt shop three hours."

"By the time they rescued the salt, I was frozen stiff and lay in bed for three days before I was able to survive. The head manager at the time, Chen Hui, praised me for my merit in rescuing the salt and promoted me to warehouse supervisor."

"In the thirteenth year of the Jia Ning era, the Chen family salt shop had a feud with the canal gang, who prevented our salt shop's cargo ships from passing through. The head manager led his men to argue with them, but they were detained after a disagreement. At that time, the canal gang was at the height of its power because of its merit in supporting the emperor. They hung the head manager's assistants from the mast and froze them to death. No one in the salt shop dared to speak out."

"I went to the Canal Gang alone and knelt there for a day and a night. The gang leader, moved by my loyalty, released the head manager, Chen Hui. The following year, the head manager promoted me to second manager, which can be considered a great favor to me."

Chen Ji asked curiously, "Then how did you become the head manager?"

Chen Yue laughed heartily: "In the twentieth year of Jia Ning, I obtained evidence that the head manager had embezzled public funds. The head manager, Chen Hui, was beaten to death by the Second Master, and I became the new head manager. Master, you can call me a lack of wisdom or a despicable villain, but looking back on my thirty years, I have not been entirely useless. I have lost today, but I have also won before."

Chen Ji glanced at the wine glass in front of Chen Yue: "Now that you've finished speaking, let's have a drink before you go."

Chen Yue picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp: "Master, the private account book is buried under the stove in my house. It contains evidence of all the managers of the salt shop embezzling public funds and taking a cut of private salt profits."

Chen Ji asked in confusion, "Why give it to me?"

Chen Yue stood up, cradling his large, obese belly in his hands: "For the past twelve years, I've been on guard against those people stepping on me to get ahead, day and night. I haven't had a single good night's sleep. Now that I'm leaving, boss, you absolutely mustn't let them have an easy time."

He walked toward the stairs, and as he passed the pipa-playing singer, he suddenly stopped.

Chen Yue took off a string of Buddhist coins from his wrist and handed it to the other person, saying in a low voice, "This is 1,800 taels of silver. Take it and leave the capital."

The singer took the item in a daze: "What is this...?"

Chen Yue smiled and said, "A nobody like me came to the capital with nothing but my life. I came with nothing and I don't need to take anything with me when I leave."

He turned to look at Chen Ji: "Master, this capital city is a dogfighting arena. Every day, there are losers who come and losers who leave. Today it's me, but next time it might be you."

After saying that, he turned around and went downstairs, slowly walking out of Meihua Ferry and heading east along Baishun Hutong.

Upon reaching the entrance of the alley, Chen Yue felt somewhat lost, unsure of where to go.

At this moment, a carriage stopped in front of him, and the official who always accompanied Chen Lizhi calmly said, "Get in the carriage, Manager Chen. Second Master is waiting for you by the Altar of Mountains and Rivers."

Chen Yue chuckled self-deprecatingly, glanced back at the brightly lit Baishun Hutong behind him, and then laboriously climbed onto the carriage: "Let's go, those who go first can pick a good place."

……

……

late at night.

The song ends and everyone disperses.

Chen Ji sat in the Plum Blossom Pavilion, lost in thought. A member of the Gelaohui sat opposite him, slowly stuffing tobacco into his mouth and sighing, "It won't be long before people realize that the most important thing in business is not profit, but cash flow. When you have cash, you have power. When you don't have cash, you're just fish on the market."

Chen Ji was still lost in thought. The gangster waved his pipe in front of him: "What are you thinking about?"

Chen Ji snapped out of his daze and instructed, "Once you take the private account books of the Chen family's salt shop, you'll have complete control of the salt shop. You'll be the head manager, and Huang Que will choose someone to be the second manager in charge of the private salt business. With the Chen family's backing, the private salt business can finally operate in the open."

The man took a puff of his cigarette: "Don't worry."

Chen Ji continued to instruct, "The money in the accounts cannot be touched casually. The Chen family's accounts are investigated by the Chen family, and the Zhang family's accounts are investigated by the Zhang family. Our methods of making money must be hidden in the shadows. By the way, I need your help to get close to the Canal Gang. This is a very important step."

The man exhaled a long puff of smoke: "I've been quite curious lately. You don't seem to really like money. If it were anyone else, having taken over such a large salt business and set up this salt certificate trading exchange, they would have jumped for joy long ago. But you don't seem very happy?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Of course I'm happy, how could I not be?"

The gangster held up his pipe and looked into the distance: "Happiness can't be faked... Is it because you took a bloodstained bargaining chip? Don't think too much about it. The hardest thing in this world is not killing, but being kind. A soft-hearted person is a person without fortune."

Chen Ji got up and walked out: "Don't worry, I'm not a soft-hearted person. The reason I'm not so happy is only because making money is not my end goal. What I need to do has only just begun, and there are still 998 steps to go."

The man from the robe asked in confusion, "What exactly do you want to do?"

Chen Ji waved his hand without turning his head: "It's better that you don't know, Brother. I probably won't be coming to Plum Blossom Ferry anytime soon. Things have settled down here, and I have other things to take care of."

He left Plum Blossom Ferry through the back door. Si Cao Gui set up a footstool and used a bamboo stick to lift the carriage curtain for him: "Young master, please get in the carriage."

Chen Ji crawled into the carriage, and the carriage slowly started moving.

They remained silent until they passed through Zhengyang Gate, and Si Cao Gui did not utter a single word.

Chen Ji gently lifted the carriage curtain a crack and looked at Si Cao Gui's rock-solid back: "Why isn't Lord Si Cao urging me on today?"

Si Cao Gui remained silent for a long time before speaking, "From now on, there shouldn't be any need to urge you anymore. Tonight, watching you set a trap to kill the salt shop manager, I suddenly realized that this might be something I could never do in my entire life. Since I can't do it, I have no right to point fingers at you anymore."

Chen Ji was somewhat surprised.

Si Cao Gui leaned against the outside of the carriage, looking at the bustling night view of the capital: "As I said before, as long as you do things that are beneficial to Jingchao, I would be willing to be your weapon. Now you have proven that your wisdom is much better than mine, so from now on you don't need to listen to me, I will listen to you instead."

Chen Ji was even more surprised.

Si Cao Gui retorted, "What, you think I'm joking with you?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "No, Lord Si Cao is very meticulous in his work, how could he joke around like that?"

"Power is useless to me. Whoever can uphold the foundation of my Jing Dynasty should hold the reins. Just as we supported your uncle to replace those incompetent nobles, it wasn't that your uncle needed us, but that we needed your uncle. Now that you have proven yourself, I should listen to you."

Si Cao Gui changed the subject: "But if I find out that you have betrayed the Jing Dynasty, or are hiding any selfish motives, don't blame me for turning ruthless."

Chen Ji leaned his head against the carriage and closed his eyes: "Rest assured, Lord Si Cao, this humble servant will do his utmost."

Si Cao Gui sighed slightly, "It's a pity that I can't send what happened here back to Jingchao right now, lest it be intercepted and someone guesses your identity from the letter. Otherwise, your uncle would be happy to know what you've done. In the future, you will definitely become the Si Master."

Chen Ji changed the subject, saying, "Why doesn't my uncle let Si Cao become the head of Si?"

Si Cao Gui smiled and said, "I am just a warrior. In your uncle's words, I can be a fierce soldier in the Banner Guard, but the name of the commander on that banner will never be my surname, so I am not qualified to be the commander."

Chen Ji asked in confusion, "Who is the current head of the department?"

Si Cao Gui shook his head: "I don't know. Only your uncle knows who the Master is now, while I only know the identities of Si Cao Jia, Si Cao Yi, Si Cao Ding, and Si Cao Xin. Si Cao Xin is already dead; he was the Manager Yuan who died in Luocheng. Si Cao Yi was Lu Guanwu's man, and I have personally dealt with him."

Chen Ji peered out through the gap in the carriage curtain and cautiously probed, "Is Si Caojia the spy codenamed Long Whale?"

Si Cao Gui became wary: "Why are you asking about this? This is not something you should be concerned with."

Chen Ji laughed and said, "Just now, Lord Si Cao said to listen to me, but if I don't know who in the Military Intelligence Bureau can support me, how can I plan and strategize?"

Si Cao Gui softened his tone: "Si Cao Jia and Si Cao Ding's identities are too sensitive to tell you for the time being. Wait a little longer. They are doing something extremely important. You will know their identities when the time is right."

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Is the Chief of Staff one of my uncle's people? Or one of the former Military Strategist Lu Guanwu's people?"

Si Cao Gui said, “Naturally, he is one of your uncle’s men. He has managed the Southern Military Intelligence Bureau very well. Si Cao Bing, Si Cao Geng, and Si Cao Ren are extremely loyal to him, and your uncle can’t easily touch him. However, I heard from your uncle that the Chief of the Bureau is getting old and will have to give up his position sooner or later.”

Si Cao Gui laughed: "If you become the Chief Si, I can serve as a dutiful Si Cao under you."

Master...

Chen Ji closed his eyes again.

(End of this chapter)