Chapter 391: The Gray-Bearded Man

"Second Aunt! May your business flourish!" A teasing voice rang out as He Yuzhu leaned against the counter, watching Xu Huizhen, who was bent over drawing wine.

Xu Huizhen turned her head, and upon seeing it was He Yuzhu, she immediately squeezed out a smile and said, "Zhuzi is here. Haven't seen you in a long time, where have you been?"

"I went to save the world! There are still so many suffering people in the world waiting for me to rescue them!" He Yuzhu spouted glibly.

"Get lost! The more you learn, the less serious you get!" Xu Huizhen spat.

"Huizhen! Yo, you're really fast; you just gave birth, and you're already getting married!" Chen Xueru said.

"You two really are a family, damn it; neither of you can say anything nice!" Xu Huizhen scolded.

"Are you my Second Aunt?" He Yushui stared at Xu Huizhen with wide eyes.

Xu Huizhen reached out and touched the new clothes He Yushui was wearing, clicking her tongue twice: "Your family is certainly rich. You let this little brat wear clothes worth over two million?"

He Yushui's little face darkened. She hated it most when people called her a brat, so she started to dislike this damn Second Aunt and pouted, "You, your eyesight is bad. These were bought for my mother; I'm just trying them on for her first. Can't you see they're too big?"

Xu Huizhen whispered, "Zhuzi, your sister's temper is quite something."

"Student He Yushui is a little celebrity. You actually called her a brat; she'll probably hate you for the rest of her life!"

Xu Huizhen curled her lips, looking completely unimpressed, and said, "What are you whole bunch of people doing running over here?"

"You're about to become our Second Aunt, and you've opened a shop; shouldn't you treat us juniors to a meal?" He Yuzhu said with a cheeky grin.

"I haven't bowed to heaven and earth with your Second Uncle yet! I don't count as family to you! If you want to eat, you have to pay!" Xu Huizhen said with a smile.

"Second Aunt is an iron rooster!" He Yushui said, intentionally retaliating.

The four little girls also made faces under He Yushui's lead.

"Truly, there is no merchant who isn't treacherous! My Second Uncle will have it rough in the future! Comrade Chen Xueru is still better!" He Yuzhu said.

"Why did you have to drag me into your conversation?" Chen Xueru said with anger, reaching out to twist He Yuzhu's ear.

He Yuzhu swatted away her reaching hand, feeling her anger was inexplicable: "Are you sick? Why do you respond to everything?"

"You hit me, I'm not eating this meal!" Chen Xueru's face darkened, and she turned and walked out.

He Yuzhu was stunned. In a flash of insight, he suddenly understood her meaning—she was intentionally picking a fight because there must be uninvited guests in the shop.

He intentionally raised his voice and said to her back, "Quite a temper! Don't eat then! I don't owe you anything!"

Chen Xueru didn't look back and walked away quickly.

Seeing this, Xu Huizhen kicked He Yuzhu and lowered her voice urgently: "You brat! She's really angry! Recently, the shops in our area are jealous of her business and calling her a profiteer. Your words stung her, hurry up and chase her back!"

He Yuzhu took the opportunity to step down and hurriedly chased after her.

Catching up to Chen Xueru at the street corner, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, his voice instantly becoming serious: "You didn't, did you? You saw that woman?"

Chen Xueru looked around and said in an extremely low voice, "There's a man with a graying beard in the shop, barely over thirty, he's intentionally disguising himself as old!"

He Yuzhu's eyes sharpened, and he said quickly, "Hurry and call Tian Dan, tell her to bring people over!"

Chen Xueru nodded and left quickly.

In the Ninety-five Courtyard, the sun was listlessly baking the dried radishes and dried sweet potatoes set out on everyone's windowsills, and the air was filled with a mix of coal smoke and pickled vegetables.

The moment Xu Damao stepped into the courtyard gate, Third Master's wife Yang Ruihua rushed out from the room, hands on her hips, and cursed: "Xu Damao! You wicked, smoke-trailing thing! Why did you teach my Jiefang those messy doggerels?"

Xu Damao's heart skipped a beat. Damn, it must have been that kid Yan Jiefang who sold him out. A surge of evil fire shot up in his heart; these two children of the Yan family could be used as errand boys for a few small favors, but they had no filter on their mouths!

He suppressed his anger and pulled out a fake, insincere smile: "Third Master's wife, you can't say it like that. It's true I made up the doggerel, but it was your Yan Jiefang who begged me for the idea. As for how he used it or what trouble he caused, can you blame me for that?"

Yang Ruihua was so angry her hands were shaking. She stepped forward and said, "Don't tell me you think you're in the right? Because of this damn business, the Liu family's second son splashed water at my door, and my Lao Yan fell and broke his arm! He can't even go to teach class!"

"Yo, Third Master fell?" Xu Damao raised an eyebrow, his tone devoid of any sympathy, "If you think this is my fault, go report me to the police station! Don't stand here blocking the door and blathering, you're delaying me from going home to eat."

Yang Ruihua was choked speechless by his shameless attitude. She pointed her finger at him for a long time before turning away resentfully, muttering hatefully under her breath: "... really not a thing, same character as his dead ghost of a father!"

These words were like a needle, piercing deeply into Xu Damao's heart.

The fake smile on his face instantly froze, and he cursed in his heart: "Not a single good thing in the Yan family. I'll keep this account for you."

Holding back a belly full of anger, he pushed open his door, and "Bang!" he was hit by something.

Xu Damao turned his head to see his mother, Cui Xiu, holding a feather duster, glaring at him with a face full of rage.

"You heartless bastard! Not doing anything proper, why did you dig up Liu Guangtian's past? Liu Haizhong's wife has been sitting here crying and wailing all morning, insisting our family pay up!"

Xu Damao sat down by the Eight Immortals table and asked, "Mom! You didn't even ask about right or wrong and just hit me, what is this all about?"

Only then did Cui Xiu explain the ins and outs of the matter.

After listening, Xu Damao smiled and said, "Heh! Didn't expect it to blow up this big, interesting!"

"You're still laughing!" Cui Xiu was so angry she raised the feather duster again, "I'm telling you, Xu Damao, the Liu family hates you to death now! You spilled that kid's dirty laundry all over the courtyard! From now on, you go to work honestly and stop coming back here to stir up trouble!"

Xu Damao curled his lips and said indifferently, "That kid Liu Guangtian is no good bird, just like his father—not much ability, but competitive. He'll suffer a big loss sooner or later!"

Cui Xiu twisted his ear: "I'm asking you, can you be quiet in the future and stop stirring things up in the courtyard? Can you?"

Xu Damao winced in pain: "Got it, got it! I promise, okay?"

Only then did Cui Xiu let go, glaring at him with lingering anger.

Xu Damao rubbed his reddened ear, glancing sideways at the Liu family's door in the courtyard, his revenge plan taking root in his heart.

After Chen Xueru finished the call, her heart felt like it was tied by an invisible string; she was worried about He Yuzhu getting into a fight with that spy. This thought made her restless.

After an unknown amount of time in agony, Tian Dan finally appeared at the shop entrance.

Chen Xueru's eyes lit up, and she practically rushed over to pull Tian Dan inside, whispering, "Let's talk upstairs."

Chen Xueru recounted all the details of the day. After listening, Tian Dan pondered for a moment and said, "The foot traffic in Qianmen is too heavy. We don't know exactly how many people the other side has. Acting rashly might alert the enemy, so it's better to focus on surveillance."

"But Zhuzi told me to find you to arrest them," Chen Xueru said urgently.

"We can't follow his train of thought entirely. Leave this matter to us, and you should stop participating directly for now. I'll send someone to find a way to call Zhuzi out and ask about the situation inside," Tian Dan said.

"I'm the most suitable to call him! I just had a 'fight' with him, so finding an excuse to go back won't arouse suspicion," Chen Xueru said.

Tian Dan pondered slightly and nodded: "Good, this group of spies is very cunning, act natural."

Chen Xueru specifically went to Yueshengzhai to buy spiced beef and roasted mutton.

Carrying the items, she stepped over the threshold of the Small Tavern again and saw that at He Yuzhu's table, the five little girls were chattering about something.

Chen Xueru placed the oil-paper parcel in front of Xu Huizhen and said, "Stingy Auntie, could you please slice the meat? This time... it wouldn't be right to charge a processing fee, would it?"

Xu Huizhen said with a half-smile, "Heh, you haven't even married into the family yet, and you're already siding with outsiders?"

He Yuzhu walked over and said to Xu Huizhen, "Where did my second uncle go?"

Chen Xueru said, "I just ran into him; he said he wouldn't be back for a while and is preparing some things outside."

He Yuzhu nodded; he understood the implication behind Chen Xueru's words.