Joy of Life: Starting by clinging to the eldest princess's coattails!

After the boat swayed along the canal for seven or eight days, Wu Feng finally saw the outline of the Suzhou wharf from the window.

The morning mist had not yet dissipated, but the shore was already bustling with activity.

The porters carried large and small packages of goods back and forth on the gangplank, their shouts and calls blending together.

Wu Feng packed his bags and pushed open the door.

The door to room number 7 next door opened, and a peasant woman dressed in coarse cloth came out. Her hair was wrapped in gray cloth, and her back was slightly hunched.

Wu Feng paused, taking a second look.

The peasant woman also looked up at him, and in the instant their eyes met, Wu Feng sensed a familiar feeling in her eyes.

It is Xie Cai.

This woman made herself look at least twenty years older, blending in seamlessly into the crowd.

But as you get closer, you can still smell that strong perfume scent; it's too overpowering and doesn't match my outfit.

As Wu Feng walked past her, he lowered his voice and said, "She still smells too much of a perfumer."

Xie Cai was visibly taken aback. She raised her arm and sniffed her cuff, muttering, "Is it strong? I can't smell anything..."

Wu Feng ignored him and disembarked with the crowd.

The docks were busier than he had imagined.

More than a dozen cargo ships were moored on the shore, and the goods carried by the porters were mostly marked with the logos of Qingyutang or the Three Great Workshops.

Silk, porcelain, soap, and sugar are all valuable items.

Wu Feng stood on the shore for a while, his brows gradually furrowing.

Ye Qingmei has been dead for so many days, but the production and transportation of the three major workshops seem to have been unaffected in the slightest and are still operating as usual.

Qingyutang has something special.

He turned and walked into the city.

Suzhou is more humid than Beijing, and the April breeze carries moisture and the fragrance of flowers.

The cobblestone path has been worn smooth by time, and shops line both sides, their signs fluttering gently in the breeze.

Wu Feng strolled slowly along the main street, seemingly wandering around, but his fingers left a few inconspicuous marks as he passed several corners of walls and bridge piers.

This was the code Chunmei gave him.

When he reached the west side of the city, he found an inn and asked for a room on the second floor facing the street.

After closing the door, Wu Feng took out the makeup tool kit from the system.

Upon opening it, I found that the items were quite complete: powder compact, eyebrow pencil, fake beard, and even several pairs of contact lenses in different colors.

He sat down at the table, took out a mirror, and began applying makeup to his face.

The foundation darkened my skin tone by one shade, the eyebrow pencil deepened my brow shape, and added a few fine lines to the corners of my eyes.

Finally, he added two mustaches and a pair of gray-brown contact lenses.

The person in the mirror had changed; he now looked like a slightly shorter, thirty-something-year-old merchant with a somewhat tired expression.

Wu Feng twitched the corners of his mouth at the mirror, his expression relatively natural.

He sat by the window, holding a teacup in his hand, his gaze fixed on the street.

As it approached Shenshi (3-5 PM), a rhythmic knocking sounded at the door.

Wu Feng pulled a dagger from his boot, held it behind his back, walked to the door, and asked in a low voice, "Who is it?"

"Sir, here's your hot water." It was a woman's voice, clear and cold.

Wu Feng opened the door a crack.

Standing outside the door was a woman in her early twenties, dressed in a light blue outfit. She had a tall and straight figure and a spirited look in her eyes. She was Shu Ying, one of Li Yunrui's eight bodyguards.

When she saw Wu Feng's face, her eyes sharpened instantly, and her hand silently pressed against the hilt of her sword.

"Come in first." Wu Feng stepped aside, his voice returning to its original tone.

Upon hearing this voice, Shuying's tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and she slipped into the house.

The door closed.

"Young Master Wu?" Shu Ying scrutinized Wu Feng's disguised face, a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. "Your appearance..."

"I disguised myself just to be safe." Wu Feng walked to the table, sat down, poured a glass of water, and pushed it towards him. "Sit down, let's talk about the current situation in Suzhou."

Shuying sat down opposite her, took the water glass but didn't drink it, and placed it on the table.

She said in a calm tone:

"Suzhou appears calm on the surface, but it's actually in chaos. With Ye Qingmei's death, the people in the three major neighborhoods are restless. The Ming and Cui families have secretly joined forces with the prefect and have already begun targeting Qingyutang."

Wu Feng tapped his finger lightly on the table: "The Ming family and the Cui family... are they prominent local families in Suzhou?"

"Yes." Shuying nodded. "The Ming family started in the brothel business and now they practically control all the brothels in Suzhou. The Cui family started in the silk business and has a lot of ties with Yangzhou. Both of them have long coveted the profits of the three major workshops, and now they feel their opportunity has arrived."

"Anything else?"

"The old aristocratic families of Suzhou, such as the Su family and the scholarly family of Gu, have been frequently in contact with small and medium-sized merchants who get their goods from Qingyutang these days."

"It seems they want to bring these merchants together to form an alliance and take a piece of the pie from the three major workshops."

Wu Feng sneered:

"They're really aiming high. Qingyutang has always been the sole distributor for the goods from the three major workshops. Are they trying to bypass Qingyutang and connect directly with the three major workshops?"

"I'm afraid so." Shuying paused. "Only the Xia family's water fortress, which controls the canal transport, hasn't made any moves yet."

"The Xia family..." Wu Feng remembered the name. They were local bullies in the canal transport industry, employing many boatmen and thugs, and wielding considerable influence along the Suzhou Canal.

Shuying also said:

"By the way, Ye Songnian, the head manager of Qingyutang, arrived in Suzhou three days ago. He must be here to stabilize the businesses here."

Ye Songnian.

Wu Feng remembered this person; he was one of the earliest managers trained by Ye Qingmei, and he took the surname Ye after her. He was an important figure in Qingyutang.

These people are mostly die-hard fans of Ye Qingmei.

"The three major pharmacies and Qingyutang should have received the imperial decree from the capital by now, right?" Wu Feng asked, "The news that they will be under the imperial administration from now on."

"We received it," Shuying said. "That's why the Ming and Cui families are so eager to contact the person from Kyoto, which is you. However, they don't yet know who the person from Kyoto sent is; they only know that the imperial envoy has arrived in Suzhou."

Wu Feng's eyes lit up.

This could be an opportunity.

The distribution of goods in the three major workshops has always been coordinated by Qingyutang, which then distributes them to small and medium-sized merchants in various regions for sale.

Ye Qingmei's approach of distributing wealth among the people did indeed benefit lower-level merchants, but it also thwarted the ambitions of powerful families to monopolize financial resources.

Now that Ye Qingmei is dead, these people naturally want to jump out.

Their desire to contact the imperial envoy was simply a way to gain official approval and get the court to tacitly agree to give them a share of the spoils.

Wu Feng had made up his mind.

"Shuying," he said, looking at the woman, "accompany me to the Three Great Wards first thing tomorrow morning. I want to see the situation there for myself."

"Yes." Shuying stood up. "Does Lord Xiaowu have any other instructions?"

"No, not for now. Be careful and don't reveal your identity."

Shuying nodded, walked to the door to listen to the sounds outside, and then slipped out.

The door closed again.

Wu Feng walked to the window and looked at the sky, which was gradually darkening.

With only Shuying and a few other guards, there are still too few people.

The profits from the three major workshops are so great that even powerful and influential families would take risks.

He touched his chest; besides the princess's token, he now also possessed an imperial edict bearing the emperor's seal.

A smile appeared on Wu Feng's lips.

It seems I'll have to go to the prefectural government office tomorrow.

After all, if something were to happen to him, the imperial envoy, in Suzhou, the first person to suffer would be the prefect of Suzhou.