Chapter 110: Clues Emerge

He Yuzhu placed the roast duck into his homemade oven to heat it up, took it out, set it on the cutting board, and quickly sliced it.

He Yushui brought over a small stool, stood on it, and kept her big eyes fixed on the movements of her brother's hands.

Seeing that her brother had sliced a lot without letting her taste any, she couldn't help but reach out with her little hand to grab a piece of duck meat, stuffing it into her little mouth impatiently.

But after chewing a few times, her little brows furrowed: "Brother, this duck doesn't taste good!"

Seeing this, He Yuzhu hurriedly picked out a piece of heated duck skin from the pot, placed some duck meat on it, added some scallion shreds, spread on some sweet bean sauce, rolled it up, and handed it to his sister.

He Yushui took the rolled pancake, took a big bite, chewed it vigorously, and her eyes suddenly lit up. After finishing it, she shouted repeatedly: "More! Brother, more!"

He Yuzhu smiled and rolled two more for her, but after she finished those, she still wanted more.

Shen Guizhi lifted the curtain and came out from the inner room. Seeing this, she quickly stopped them: "No, no, the child has already eaten three rolls, she can't have any more, or she won't be able to digest it!"

Before her voice had even faded, He Daqing pushed the door open and entered, looking triumphant, carrying an exquisite box of pastries in his hand.

Shen Guizhi went up to meet him and took the pastries, asking: "What happy event is there today? Look at how happy you are; one could see it from two miles away."

He Daqing raised his eyebrows, his voice filled with laughter: "That old Liu who found people to beat me actually ran to the factory today and knelt before me, begging me to forgive him—tell me, isn't this person pathetic!"

He Yuzhu interjected from the side: "He's just afraid you'd find people to break his legs too! Dad, did he only bring pastries and not send any money?"

He Daqing laughed and scolded: "I knew you brat wouldn't have anything good to say at home!" Then, lowering his voice, he said with a hint of showing off: "He gave me fifty Big Ocean." After saying this, he honestly handed all the money over to Shen Guizhi.

The next morning, He Yuzhu stepped on the creaking snow and arrived at the restaurant, the white breath he exhaled condensing into a thin mist in the cold air.

The stove fire had already been lit in the kitchen, and Chen Qingshan was heating up a steamed bun for himself. Seeing He Yuzhu enter, he said: "Zhuzi, the New Year is coming soon, how many days of holiday should we take?"

"Siqiang, you decide on this matter!"

Chen Qingshan pondered for a moment and added a piece of firewood to the stove: "The kitchen staff says that most restaurants close from the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month until the fifth day of the first lunar month, though some bosses whose families are out of town stay closed until the fifteenth of the first lunar month."

"Then shall we also rest until the fifteenth of the first lunar month? What do you think?"

"We two can't go home anyway, so let's just rest until the fifth! Staying here is boring anyway!"

"Alright, I'll listen to you. During the New Year, you can come spend it at my place."

A smile appeared on Chen Qingshan's face: "I'll come over early then and tend the fire for you. It's a deal, I want to eat the pickled cabbage fish you make."

At this moment, Chen Wenjun lifted the door curtain and walked in, bringing in a gust of cold wind.

She was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket, and her scarf was still covered in unmelted snowflakes: "Zhuzi, it's still very hard to buy rice, flour, grain, oil, and meat for the shop, you have to think of a way. Relying on my dad to collect them in the countryside won't yield much. It was fine before the New Year, but it won't be enough after."

He Yuzhu nodded, his gaze sweeping over the slightly empty Warehouse: "I'll go find Miss Liu and think of a way. You don't need to worry about rice and flour, I can get those, but meat is indeed hard to come by."

Chen Wenjun looked somewhat worried: "Running one shop is already this hard, what are we going to do if we open another?"

"No need to worry about that, don't we have Jin Hai?" He Yuzhu comforted her, "He is a Prison Warden and has some connections. When the time comes, I'll have him figure out the supply side. I actually think that if we want to expand the restaurant, we need to raise our own pigs, cattle, and sheep."

"That makes sense!" Chen Qingshan continued to add firewood to the stove: "After spring begins, I'll go to Qin Family Village to take a look. They have mountains and water there; if I find a few farmers to do some breeding, they should be willing!"

Approaching noon, the restaurant gradually became lively.

He Yuzhu tied on his apron and got busy alongside Chen Wenjun.

At this time, Li Xiangxiu walked in with a short-haired woman.

The woman was wearing a tattered red-flowered cotton-padded jacket and black cotton trousers, looking very rustic, as if she had just come from the countryside.

But He Yuzhu recognized her as Wang Jiazhi at a glance. He hadn't expected this woman to be quite capable of causing trouble.

"Zhuzi, this is my cousin Li Xia." Li Xiangxiu introduced her, winking at He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu immediately explained: "Daya, I asked Xiangxiu to call her cousin over. She needs to work at the new shop and needs to learn here for a while. You arrange it and find her a uniform! These clothes are too ugly and might scare the customers."

Seeing that Chen Wenjun had walked away, Wang Jiazhi whispered: "My outfit isn't bad, is it? I even cut my hair for this."

"Your outfit is too rustic, you look like you're from the countryside. With such a low starting point, how can I make you a manager later?"

"It is a bit much, it was all Xiangxiu who dressed me up." Wang Jiazhi complained.

Li Xiangxiu glared and was about to retort when Chen Wenjun brought over a set of uniforms.

Once Wang Jiazhi put on the uniform, her features immediately looked much more delicate!

Chen Wenjun looked at Li Xia and praised: "You Li Family members really look quite alike."

He Yuzhu truly began to doubt Chen Daya's aesthetic sense.

Just as the three were talking, a group of customers walked in. He Yuzhu went up to meet them and discovered it was actually Zhao Ying.

She was wearing a dark green woolen coat today with a fox fur collar, followed by two men and three women.

As soon as she saw He Yuzhu, she walked up and kicked him.

"Why are you hitting me!" He Yuzhu was full of disbelief.

Zhao Ying leaned into He Yuzhu's ear and lowered her voice: "You know what you did, don't you have any idea?"

"What did I do?" He Yuzhu was completely confused.

"That day, where did you kick me!" Zhao Ying glared at him.

He Yuzhu suddenly realized, thinking to himself that he had saved her, and he only kicked her butt once! Wasn't that an emergency measure? And now she was seeking revenge. There was no helping it, who told this woman to be so petty!

He led the group to a private room and asked: "Sister Ying, what would you like to eat today? I'll give you a forty percent discount."

Zhao Ying looked at her companions and said: "If you all have no objections, I'll order for you."

Several people expressed that they had no objections.

She then ordered the dishes she usually ate.

"Remember, send me a bottle of Bordeaux wine," Zhao Ying said.

"Alright!" He Yuzhu agreed.

After arranging the dishes, He Yuzhu exited the private room, and Zhao Ying followed him out.

She looked around, confirmed no one was paying attention, and then whispered: "Yesterday, we caught a rickshaw puller who participated in the bombing case."

"Since when did the Military Statistics Bureau become so capable?" He Yuzhu raised an eyebrow.

"Capable, my foot," Zhao Ying sneered, "A neighbor across the street saw this rickshaw puller delivering something and even remembered that there was a logo for Xu's Rickshaw Firm on his vehicle."

"Damn, doesn't that mean Xu Tian's family is in trouble!" He Yuzhu blurted out.

"You recognize this rickshaw firm?" Zhao Ying asked sharply.

He Yuzhu nodded: "Is there something wrong with the rickshaw firm?"

"The rickshaw firm is fine," Zhao Ying lowered her voice, "the rickshaw puller said that person got on near the Baizhifang Police Station; he was dressed quite decently, but his face was strange, and he didn't smell good—he reeked, and there was a thick smell of smoke and fire..."

"That would suggest this person might have used a fake mask and has no fixed place of residence..." He Yuzhu analyzed.

"Liu Rusi and I think so too. You should find some time to go over there and take a look, focusing on visiting the beggars; he might just be mixed in among them."

"Alright, I'll go this afternoon." He Yuzhu agreed, then suddenly remembering something, "By the way, Sister Ying, can you get hold of pork and mutton? Our restaurant is currently in short supply."

Zhao Ying looked at him with a half-smile: "I'll ask for you, but you still haven't given me the paintings you promised!"

"How about this: you get me ten thousand catties of pork, and I'll give you two paintings by Shi Tao," He Yuzhu proposed.

Zhao Ying's eyes lit up, and she readily agreed: "Fine, it's a deal."