Chapter 394: Inspiration

At the first light of dawn the next day, He Yuzhu's door was pounded with a "thwack-thwack" sound. Several young girls shouted from outside: "Brother! Are the candied gourds ready? We're waiting to go sell them!"

Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu's heart skipped a beat. He had intended to make them yesterday, but he hadn't been able to find any hawthorn fruit at all.

He gave a wry smile, threw his clothes over his shoulders, climbed off the kang, and pulled open the door. He saw He Yushui, Xiaoqi, Xiaomi, Ding Li, and Dahua—several little girls with bright, sparkling eyes—crowded at the doorway, their small faces full of anticipation.

"About that..." He Yuzhu scratched his head. "Your brother searched all night, but I couldn't buy any hawthorn in all of Beijing. I'm afraid the candied gourds can't be made."

"Brother is a liar!" He Yushui pouted, her eyes instantly turning red. "You didn't keep your word!"

The other girls nearby chimed in: "That's right! Brother Zhuzi is a liar!"

Seeing this situation, He Yuzhu knew he wouldn't get away today without producing something real.

He steeled his heart and said, "Fine! Come back in two hours to get them. I guarantee I won't delay your selling!"

"Liar!" He Yushui didn't believe him. "You don't even have hawthorn, what are you going to make them with?"

"Don't you worry about that." He Yuzhu winked mysteriously. "In two hours, I promise you'll see something good!"

The girls were half-doubting, whispering to each other as they ran off to play.

He Yuzhu closed the door and hurriedly took over a dozen cans of fruit from his space—oranges, apples, yellow peaches, and pineapples, all bought back from Hong Kong.

He deftly opened the cans, drained the syrup, cut the large pieces of fruit into uniform small chunks, and carefully skewered them onto bamboo sticks.

Next, he started a fire and boiled sugar in a two-to-one ratio of rock sugar to water.

The amber syrup bubbled in the pot, and a sweet, fragrant aroma gradually filled the entire room.

When the sugar had boiled down to where it could be pulled into translucent, fine threads, he picked up the fruit skewers, rolled them quickly in the syrup, and used a copper spoon to scoop up more syrup, turning his wrist lightly to drizzle it finely over the surface of the fruit... Finally, he placed them on an oiled tray, and the sugar shells instantly solidified, crystal clear and bright.

In less than two hours, the colorful fruit skewers were already filling the straw bundle, shining brightly in the morning light like a tree hung with little lanterns.

"Brother is a liar—Brother is a liar—" The shouting grew from far to near, and the girls ran back again.

But as soon as they entered, they all froze, their little mouths agape, their eyes wide and round.

The straw bundle was filled with candied fruit they had never seen before: golden yellow peaches, orange-red oranges, tender white apples, and pale yellow pineapples. Each piece of fruit was wrapped in a thin, crisp, translucent sugar coating, glowing with an alluring luster in the sunlight.

"Brother... what are these?" He Yushui swallowed her saliva, unable to tear her eyes away.

"These," He Yuzhu laughed, "are called 'Assorted Fruit Skewers'. These are much tastier than hawthorn candied gourds."

He Yushui cautiously took a yellow peach skewer and took a bite—the sugar shell gave a "crack" sound, and the fruit inside was soft, glutinous, and sweet.

She squinted her eyes and said indistinctly: "This is a hundred times better than the hawthorn ones! I'm never eating candied gourds again!"

Seeing the girls all smacking their lips in hunger, He Yuzhu said: "Everyone have a taste, otherwise if someone asks you what they taste like, you won't be able to say!"

Upon hearing this, the girls immediately started tasting them, one after another.

Xiaoqi held up an orange skewer, her eyes curving into crescents: "I like this one best, it's sweet and sour!"

Ding Li ate a yellow peach skewer in small bites, nodding repeatedly: "The peach one is still the best!"

Dahua held two skewers, taking a bite from the left and then the right, her cheeks bulging: "I, I like them all!"

"Alright, alright," He Yuzhu hurriedly stopped them. "If you keep eating, they'll be gone! Why aren't you going out to sell them yet?"

The girls finally came to their senses, shouldered the straw bundle, and were about to rush out.

"Wait!" He Yuzhu grabbed the straw bundle. "You girls are going out on the street; what if someone tries to snatch them? Go call Ershuan and have him help look after things."

Xiaoqi agreed and took off running.

He Yuzhu added sternly: "The cost of these fruit skewers isn't low; it's fifty thousand in total. You decide the selling price yourselves, but you must return the principal to me when you come back tonight. If Ershuan helps you out, you have to give him some hard-earned money too, you hear?"

Upon hearing this, Ding Li hurried over to the straw bundle and counted the remaining skewers one by one, her little brows furrowed as she muttered to herself, calculating.

He Yushui, however, took advantage of the fact that no one was looking to sneak another pineapple skewer, turning away to eat it in small bites.

Before long, Ershuan came running with Xiaoqi. Hearing they were going to sell Assorted Fruit Skewers, he was so happy he rubbed his hands together and picked one up to eat.

Ding Li hurriedly said: "Brother Ershuan, you have to keep track of how many you eat; we'll deduct it from your wages later."

"There are wages? That's great!" Ershuan laughed honestly. "I have to say, this stuff really is better than candied gourds!"

"Hurry up and go! I still have work to do!" He Yuzhu laughed as he shooed the group out the door. Only then did he turn back into the room, brewed himself a cup of strong tea, and sat down at the table, his expression gradually turning calm.

The events of the past two days rolled through his mind like a movie.

The female secret agent had taken a liking to the down jacket in Chen Xueru's shop, yet said she had to "save up money."

The white-bearded man in the Small Tavern had eaten an entire plate of pickled vegetables and even told Xu Huizhen the pickled vegetables were "delicious."

The cellar raided last night contained nothing but a few cabbages, half a basket of white radishes, half a vat of cornmeal, and a little millet. The spies weren't living very well either; the stove was clean, without even a drop of oil.

When those people evacuated, they left behind a dozen Mauser C96s missing parts, and not a single bullet was found. This meant their guns were assembled.

He Yuzhu's fingers tapped the tabletop unconsciously, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter. These fragments seemed unrelated, but if they were pieced together...

They were very likely, extremely short on money.

And not just ordinarily short.

Secret agent activities required large amounts of funding. If they had to "save up" just to buy a decent piece of clothing and could only eat pickled vegetables with coarse grains, it meant their funding channels had run into a major problem.

As for the Bald Party, either they weren't paying out the money, or the route for remitting money had been cut off.

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck!

He Yuzhu stood up with a "whoosh," grabbed the phone, and dialed Tian Dan.

The call connected, and he spoke rapidly: "... Dan, I've sorted through the information and reached a conclusion—they are extremely short on money. It's not that their superiors aren't giving them money, but that they don't dare to remit large sums from abroad... We should go check those Trade Companies that can receive overseas remittances or..."

There was silence on the other end for two or three seconds, followed by a "bang" of a hand hitting a table. Tian Dan's voice was filled with suppressed excitement: "Good lad! You've grasped the key point! When I saw that vat of cornmeal, my heart skipped a beat too, but I didn't think deeply along the 'short on money' line! That clue about Chen Xueru further corroborates it—'saving money to buy clothes'—this suggests they probably haven't been paid their allowances for a long time!"

"Not just in Si Jiu Cheng, we need to check Tianjin as well," He Yuzhu added.

"I'll arrange for people to check immediately!" Tian Dan said decisively.

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and said, "I'm going to the black market tonight. The dozen or so guns we found in the cellar were all missing parts, which suggests they might have obtained these guns from the black market."

"Correct! We'll attack on both fronts! I'll make the arrangements now!" Tian Dan said.

After hanging up the phone, He Yuzhu felt much more at ease.

He walked out onto Di'anmen Street and saw from a distance several young girls promoting the Assorted Fruit Skewers to a group of children.

Those children all stared longingly at the colorful fruit skewers, smacking their lips, but no one took out money.

Dahua shouted at the top of her lungs: "Delicious fruit skewers, a hundred times better than a Gourd!"

Xiaoqi had been shouting for a long time without making a single sale, so he leaned over to He Yushui's ear and whispered: "Yushui, why don't we take out a few skewers and let these children have a taste? If they're really delicious, they'll surely go home and tell their parents to come buy some."

"Alright, I'll listen to you!" He Yushui nodded.

Ding Li said earnestly from the side: "We must make them line up, one by one."

He Yuzhu stood not far away watching, a smile involuntarily appearing at the corners of his mouth.

Suddenly, a little girl of about six or seven, wearing a patched old padded jacket, carefully wrapped the few fruit pieces she had received in her palm with a dirty little handkerchief and stuffed them into her pocket, yet she herself only watched longingly, licking her lips.

He Yushui saw this and asked softly: "Little sister, why aren't you eating yours?"

The little girl looked up and said timidly: "I... I want to save them for my younger brother. He is sick and has never eaten anything so pretty."

He Yushui was stunned. She looked at the little girl's small hands covered in chilblains, and her nose suddenly felt sore. Without a word, she picked the two plumpest skewers from the straw bundle—one of yellow peaches and one of oranges—and shoved them into the little girl's hands.

"Here, take them," He Yushui's voice was a bit choked, "one skewer for your brother, and one for you to eat. These... are very sweet."

The little girl held those two glistening fruit skewers, her eyes instantly welling up, and she only murmured: "Are you really giving... giving them to me?"

"Take them!" He Yushui said.

She smiled at He Yushui, turned around and ran, then after a few steps she turned back, waved her hand vigorously, and disappeared around the corner of the alley.

He Yuzhu watched this scene and shook his head lightly; his sister, she had too kind a heart and couldn't bear to see others suffer; he feared she would never be able to become a businessperson in this life. However, that was also fine; this world always needs someone to do things without counting the cost, right?