Joy of Life: The Mei Family's Son Grows Up

Chapter 406: A Quick Decision is All (Two in One)

Once the clue that Yan Bingyun was suspected to have a close relationship with Shen Zhong's sister was confirmed, although it was still unknown whether it could be used in the future, the mood of the people present was obviously lifted.

"What is Shen Zhong's relationship with his sister?"

"Shen Zhong's parents died at an early age. His sister is much younger than he is. It can be said that he raised her single-handedly. Shen Zhong is like a father and a brother to his sister."

"very good!"

Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger at the table.

"I want to see this person!"

He said this to Taoist He, and told him this because Taoist He had now accepted a heavy task and was responsible for monitoring the delegation.

Taoist He thought for a while and said.

"The delegation is heavily guarded by the Royal Guards. Even if I let you go, you won't be able to escape the eyes outside."

Fan Xian smiled, and his eyes became somewhat playful.

"You can reason with them."

Some tricks can only be used once. They had already used Guo Baokun to escape once during the day, so there was no way they could use the same trick again. Shen Zhong was not a fool, so he had to find another way to escape again. It just so happened that He Dao Ren came to him. Since Fan Xian was willing to say those words to Shen Zhong to replace He Dao Ren, he must have naturally thought about what to do next.

"?"

He Daoren could understand the literal meaning of these three words, but he was a little confused when put into the current context.

"Reasonable?"

……

The lobby of the guardhouse.

Shen Zhong was dressed in casual clothes, carefully cleaning the long-unfinished official uniform on the hanger with a feather duster. He seldom returned home these days and basically stayed in the guard post.

The deputy hurried into the hall and saluted him.

"grown ups!"

Shen Zhong stopped what he was doing and tilted his head slightly towards him.

"What's the matter?"

"Mr. He sent a message asking you to withdraw the spies from the embassy."

Shen Zhong frowned when he heard that, withdrew his hand and turned to look at him.

"What's the reason?"

"According to Mr. He, Wang Qinian, who disappeared for a long time after going out with Fan Xian and Mei Cheng'an during the day, is Nanqing's tracking master. Ordinary spies cannot escape his eyes."

Shen Zhong blinked, his brows relaxed, and a look of realization appeared on his face.

"Oh~ I was wondering, no wonder Fan Xian and his group easily got rid of their followers during the day, it turns out there is a master behind them."

The deputy said.

"Mr. He's idea is to withdraw the spies and let him follow the delegation himself."

"Put out the bait?"

"That's right. If there really are thieves in the Overwatch Council trying to contact Fan Xian and his group, we can follow the clues and catch them all in one fell swoop!"

"sound…"

Shen thought for a moment and nodded.

"That's a good idea."

the deputy asked tentatively.

"Then, subordinates, are you going to withdraw the people now?"

Shen Zhong thought for a moment and said.

"Look up Wang Qinian's life story. If it's true, do as Taoist He says."

"Yes!"

After the deputy left, Shen Zhong put his hands behind his back and looked at the official uniform in front of him. His eyes were bright as if he was looking at some rare treasure, and there was a gentle smile on his face.

……

The next day.

Compared to the first night when they were new here, after a day of adaptation and with Wei Hua not playing the prank of bringing the girls to raid in the middle of the night, everyone in the delegation slept particularly soundly last night.

After the late-night tea party, they slept until dawn. When Mei Chengan, Fan Xian and others got up, the officials of the delegation had already set out for the Honglu Temple of Northern Qi under the leadership of Chen Wen to continue their work.

A long line formed in front of the mission again. After a day of fighting yesterday, Gundam, who was in high spirits, set up the ring in the front yard again and started exercising happily.

After washing and changing clothes with the help of Hongshu, Mei Cheng'an got up and went to the front hall. After a while, Fan Xian and Wang Qinian arrived one after another.

Hongshu and his men brought breakfast to the few people. They enjoyed their breakfast while watching Gundam showing off outside.

Seeing Mei Cheng'an tearing the fried dough sticks into pieces and throwing them into the salty bean paste (corn paste), Fan Xian followed suit, pressing down with chopsticks, picking up the soft fried dough stick pieces and throwing them into his mouth. After chewing a few bites, his eyes lit up.

"Hmm? It tastes good. Compared to the sweet soy milk, the salty taste has a different flavor. Not bad, not bad. What is it called?"

Fan Xian pointed at the yellow and slightly black paste in the bowl and asked curiously.

Mei Cheng'an glanced at him and swallowed the food in his mouth.

"You haven't eaten it?"

"No, can I still ask after I've eaten it?"

"?"

Mei Cheng'an was stunned for a moment before he suddenly realized that corn porridge seemed to be exclusive to the north. When he went to school in the south, he seemed to have never seen any breakfast shop selling it. It was just like Guangdong rice rolls, which had too strong a regional attribute.

The same is true in the world of Joy of Life. The breakfast of Qing Kingdom tends to be delicate porridge and side dishes. He was only able to taste the rough temperament of corn grits porridge after he came to Northern Qi.

That's fine.

Wang Qinian is well-informed and familiar with northern breakfast, so he took the initiative to explain it to Fan Xian.

"This porridge is called Doumoer here. Although the name also contains the word dou, it has nothing to do with beans. It is made from flour ground from corn. People in the Northern Qi Dynasty usually drink this for breakfast."

"oh oh."

Fan Xian felt like he had learned something new.

"It tastes good."

Wang Qinian said with a smile.

"If it tastes good, then drink more, sir. It won't be easy to drink it when we return to Qing Kingdom."

Fan Xian nodded and started eating.

Two fried dough sticks, a bowl of salty bean paste, and a tray of steamed dumplings were finished in no time. He put down his chopsticks, gently wiped his mouth and hands with a towel, and threw the towel on the table. Fan Xian stood up, holding his bloated stomach, and began to walk back and forth in the room to digest the food.

Mei Cheng'an chewed his food slowly and ate a little slowly, while Wang Qinian ate quickly. However, he was not full with the same amount, so he asked Hongshu to get him another tray of buns.

After a while, Mei Cheng'an finally put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth and looked at the sweet potatoes.

"Did Bluebird and Green Ant go to check the accounts?"

Upon hearing this, Hongshu bowed his head.

"As you instructed last night, we set out early in the morning."

Mei Chengan nodded.

Fan Xian asked curiously, holding his waist.

"Are you worried about the shopkeepers in Northern Qi? Are you afraid that they will enrich themselves?"

Mei Chengan shook his head.

"It has nothing to do with that. They are two different things. No matter how much trust you have, you still have to check the accounts. This is not only responsible for yourself, but also for them. Financial transparency is good for everyone. Leaving it alone will easily breed corruption. This is one reason."

"Secondly, only by checking the accounts clearly can we discover various hidden problems in the business, so that we can make timely adjustments, adjust strategies, optimize resource allocation, and improve resource utilization."

After taking a sip of tea, Mei Chengan continued.

"The third one..."

"besides?"

Fan Xian was shocked.

Mei Chengan smiled.

"The third reason is that since they are here, there is nothing for them to do anyway. Instead of letting them sit there bored, why not check the accounts and find something to do."

"You can't bear to see people idle, you are indeed a black-hearted capitalist!"

Fan Xian gave a thumbs up. Having said that, he really didn't expect that his fellow villager could give so many clues to a simple account check. It sounded quite reasonable. He would take over the inner treasury as soon as he returned. His fellow villager's words gave him a lot of inspiration.

But how come this guy knows everything? Fan Xian glanced at his fellow villager. They are both time travelers, so why is there such a big gap between them?
What he didn't know was that all the principles Mei Cheng'an said were heard from Minglan, yes, the one from "The Story of Minglan".

After all, Mei Cheng'an was just a college student in his previous life and had never done business. Although the drama "The Story of Minglan" is fictional, some of the principles contained in it are universal. When Mei Cheng'an watched it, he also thought that the part about checking accounts was very reasonable, so he kept it in mind, and now he has put his knowledge into practice.

Let’s not talk about the little episode during breakfast, as they still have something important to do today, which is to meet Yan Bingyun’s rumored girlfriend.

Not long after breakfast, Taoist He arrived. Under his leadership, the group left the villa and headed straight for Shen Zhong's residence.

……

Qing State, Supervisory Council.

Everyone started to get busy early in the morning as usual. They were responsible for monitoring the outside of Kyoto and coordinating all directions. There were countless things to deal with every day.

Xuan Jiu, the head of the Eighth Department, hurried into the hall, nodded briefly to each member of the Four Departments who greeted him, and walked straight to the person in charge of Northern Qi news.

The person in charge stood up immediately when he saw him.

"grown ups!"

Xuan Jiu nodded slightly and asked directly.

"Have you sorted out everything that the organizer has instructed?"

The person in charge was stunned for a moment.

"Which one are you talking about?"

It's not that he doesn't care, it's mainly because their host Yan Ruohai has asked for more than one thing, so he asked this question.

Xuan Jiu could also understand, and said immediately after hearing it.

"Before Yan Bingyun was arrested, all the news about Northern Qi was sent back to the Supervisory Council. The Dean must present this news to His Majesty."

The person in charge suddenly realized.

"My lord, please wait a moment."

After saying that, he turned and went to the bookshelf at the back, took a copy from an empty space on the shelf, turned around and handed it to Xuan Jiu respectfully.

"My Lord, the news has been sorted out."

Xuan Jiu took the letter, opened it, glanced at its contents, nodded, snapped the letter shut, turned around and left in a hurry.

Taiping Villa.

Eunuch Hou pushed the wheelchair slowly towards the main hall. Chen Pingping sat on it holding a memorial. Emperor Qing hurried out of the room.

"Have you got the stuff?"

Chen Pingping lowered his head from a distance, holding the memorial in both hands and raising it to the air. When he came closer, Emperor Qing took the memorial, opened it and began to read it. After a moment, his eyes lit up.

"Yan Bingyun used Shen Zhong's sister to cover up his identity?"

Chen Pingping leaned forward slightly and spoke in a gentle voice.

"From the details, it seems that Shen Zhong's sister has a very good impression of Yan Bingyun."

Emperor Qing closed the memorial and bowed towards Chen Pingping.

"Do you have any information about this woman?"

Chen Pingping did not respond, but smiled, reached into his bosom and took out another memorial, then bowed and handed it to Emperor Qing.

Emperor Qing stared at Chen Pingping for a while before reaching out to take the letter. He straightened up and looked at him while speaking slowly.

"It's probably not easy for Fan Xian and Mei Cheng'an to be as experienced as you!"

Chen Pingping was not modest either. He leaned back, smiled, closed his eyes, and said something very artificially.

"I am old..."

Emperor Qing looked at him and curled his lips.

"I'm older and more cunning!"

"..."

The smile on Chen Pingping's face suddenly disappeared and he slowly raised his head.

Emperor Qing stopped looking at him and started reading the memorial.

Chen Pingping leaned forward again and asked.

"Should we send a carrier pigeon to Northern Qi to remind them?" Emperor Qing put down the memorial, thought for a moment, and then waved his hand.

"No, it's too late."

Chen Pingping nodded without saying anything more.

Emperor Qing closed the memorial, put his hands behind his back, tilted his head to look at the courtyard and spoke quietly.

"It seems that this woman is their only clue to rescue Yan Bingyun. I wonder if they can be that sharp."

Chen Pingping thinks it is possible, and asking is just intuition.

……

There is a building diagonally across the street from Shen Zhong's residence. It is a teahouse. The main door of the teahouse opens onto another street. However, there is a terrace on the third floor facing north, from which one can observe the situation in front of Shen Zhong's residence. Mei Cheng'an, Fan Xian and others chose this place as an observation point.

At this time, several people were drinking tea, and suddenly Wang Qinian on the terrace greeted them.

"There's some movement."

Upon hearing this, Mei Cheng'an and the others immediately put down their teacups, stood up and walked over, looking towards the door of the Shen Mansion. They saw that the door was slowly opening, and a woman in a white dress, a light blue coat, and a very beautiful face walked out of the door and appeared in front of everyone.

Behind him was a maid holding a large food box in her hand. The two of them were walking down the stone steps in front of the mansion.

"That's Shen Zhong's sister."

Taoist He tilted his head and looked at Fan Xian.

"What are you going to do? Tie him up?"

"Eh~"

Fan Xian's eyes followed the woman all the time, sizing her up with interest.

"That's so rude and inappropriate."

Below, a carriage had already been parked on the street in front of the Shen Mansion. The maid put the food box in her hand into the carriage, and after helping Miss Shen get on the carriage, she tidied the door curtain and put away the horse stool. Soon the carriage started slowly and drove forward.

Watching the carriage passing by them, Mei Cheng'an turned his head to look at Wang Qinian, who nodded and then stood up and left.

Noticing Wang Qinian's movements, He Daoren knew that he was following him, so he turned his gaze back to Fan Xian and Mei Chengan.

"Aren't you going to follow?"

Fan Xian glanced at him.

"Wang Qi's skills are better than mine... Besides, this time we are just tracking and exploring the route, why are there so many people?"

The pause in the middle was because he swallowed a word.

俩！
As he was speaking, he suddenly realized that his fellow villager's Qinggong seemed to be even better than Wang Qinian's. He had witnessed it several times at the border.

He Daoren fell silent upon hearing this.

……

About an incense stick of time later, Wang Qinian came back, took the cup of tea handed to him by Mei Chengan, drank it in one gulp, and then began to report the news.

"I followed the carriage the whole time. From the direction it was heading, it looked like it was heading to the place where Young Master Xiaoyan was being held captive. When it was still two blocks away, I was afraid I would be discovered if I followed any further, so I turned back."

Mei Cheng'an glanced at Fan Xian and nodded to Wang Qinian.

"Thanks for your hard work."

"It's not hard, it's not hard, it's what I should do, young master."

After being polite, Wang Qinian poured himself another cup of tea and started drinking it.

Mei Chengan smiled and said no more.

Taoist He looked at him, then at Fan Xian, and asked.

"Do you think Miss Shen went to see Yan Bingyun?"

Mei Cheng'an shrugged without denying it. Fan Xian nodded directly, put down his teacup and spoke.

"I just had a vague suspicion before, but now I feel it is almost certain. You also heard it. The carriage was indeed heading in that direction."

Taoist He glanced at Wang Qinian.

"If we don't see the carriage stop, we can't know for sure whether Miss Shen is really going to see Yan Bingyun. It's not impossible that the carriage turned around later. After all, the south city is so big."

Hearing this, Fan Xian thought about it, turned his head to look at his fellow villager, and seeing that he did not comment, he nodded to Taoist He.

"What you said makes sense, so let's wait a little longer!"

Taoist He was stunned.

"Wait? Wait for what? Everyone's gone."

"Then wait until he comes back!"

……

The daylight gradually moved forward and it was approaching noon.

Miss Shen was carrying a lunch box, obviously going to deliver food. Mei Cheng'an had no habit of going hungry, so he took out some money and sent Wang Qinian to the restaurant next door to buy some food and wine, and ate while waiting.

Bei Qi is located in the northeast, and even the dishes are similar to those in the northeast in the previous life, with the main feature being affordable and large in quantity.

Wang Qinian knows how to eat, and all the dishes he ordered were local specialties.

A dish of dried tofu with hot peppers, a dish of authentic sweet and sour pork, a dish of sauerkraut blood sausage, a serving of chicken stewed with mushrooms, a serving of snow-covered bean paste, and a serving of pickled vegetables.

According to him, if it was not really impossible to move, he would even want to buy a goose stewed in an iron pot to try it.

It must be said that with just these six dishes, the four grown men ate so much that they were so full that they couldn't finish them.

It was really delicious, but the portion was too large. Even He Daoren, a local native who usually had a big appetite, was defeated.

After eating and drinking, just as they were walking back and forth in the tea room, holding their stomachs to digest the food, they heard the sound of horse hooves coming from far away downstairs. The sound gradually became louder and reached their ears, and they all walked to the terrace and looked down.

After the carriage stopped in front of the Shen Mansion, two servants rushed out of the mansion, followed closely by Miss Shen's maid. The two servants came forward and one of them took out a horse stool and placed it in place, while the other helped lift the curtain and took the food box from Miss Shen's hand. The maid stepped forward and helped Miss Shen get off the carriage.

Fan Xian's gaze first fixed on Miss Shen's face, then moved down and fixed on her wrist. He vaguely noticed an abnormal red color on her cuff and his gaze fixed.

“I cried.”

He glanced at the fellow villager beside him.

Mei Chengan nodded.

"There are tear marks in the corners of my eyes."

Fan Xian glanced at Miss Shen from afar again.

"There were red marks on the cuffs, which looked like blood."

"like?"

Taoist He tilted his head and glanced at him.

Fan Xian shrugged.

"You have to get closer to see it clearly."

Taoist He said without hesitation.

"This is Shen Zhong's residence. It's risky for us to just stand there and watch. If we get too close, we'll definitely be discovered."

Wang Qinian added a sentence at this time.

"He's right. There are indeed many spies around here."

Fan Xian felt somewhat helpless.

"I just said that. I didn't really mean to get close."

Mei Chengan said calmly.

"No need to get closer, I can see clearly, there is indeed blood, and the food box that Miss Shen is carrying has obviously lost weight."

Fan Xian smiled and nodded.

"Now I am 90% sure that she went to find Yan Bingyun."

Mei Cheng'an glanced at him and wanted to ask him how he could be so accurate to 90% for something that could not be quantified, but he changed his mind when the words came to his lips.

"Where is the remaining ten percent?"

"The difference is..."

As Fan Xian was speaking, he suddenly noticed that his fellow villager's eyes suddenly shifted to the downstairs, as if something unexpected had happened downstairs.

He quickly stopped talking and turned to look, only to see that Miss Shen, who was supposed to go straight back home, suddenly stopped while walking, pulled the maid who was following her over, and said something in her ear. Then Miss Shen got up and went back home, and the maid suddenly turned around, walked down the stairs, and walked west along the street.

Fan Xian stared at the maid for a while and suddenly spoke.

"Come on, follow her. I have a feeling that the missing achievement will fall on her."

……

The figures of Mei Cheng'an, Fan Xian and the others emerged from somewhere on the street corner. Just now they witnessed with their own eyes that young lady Shen's maid entered a medicine shop across the street, and Wang Qinian followed her in.

Since he had to wait anyway, it was better to sit than to stand and wait. Thinking this, Fan Xian casually patted the dusty stone platform extending from the corner of the wall, then sat down, crossed his legs and started shaking.

Mei Cheng'an glanced at him, and seeing his nonchalant look, a hint of disgust flashed in his eyes.

Fan Xian patted the tiny seat next to him, which was so narrow that he had to squeeze in to sit down.

"What are you looking at? Didn't we sit on the stairs together yesterday? That place wasn't much cleaner than this one. Come over and sit with us. It's so tiring to stand here."

Whether it is clean or not is secondary. The key is that he doesn’t want to be crowded. And most importantly, what Mei Chengan really dislikes is his shaking legs.

He could barely accept shaking his feet, but the sight of both legs shaking was so beautiful that he really couldn't accept it.

Of course, although Mei Chengan couldn't accept it, he had no intention of pointing it out, especially in front of outsiders.

"No, you sit by yourself. I'm not tired."

Fan Xian snorted, rolled his eyes, and tilted his head.

“Would you rather sit still!”

As he spoke, his legs shook even more violently.

……

After a while, Wang Qinian came out of the pharmacy. After looking around, he walked towards the few people calmly.

"They are all medicines for treating skin and flesh wounds. I think there is also Fenghanling."

Fan Xian thought for a moment and slapped his thigh.

"The last 10% has been made up, now it's 100%!"

Even though he was certain and his young master had no intention of rejecting him, Wang Qinian still felt that he was a little too hasty to be 100% sure.

"How about we wait and see?"

Fan Xian waved his hand and was about to say something when He Daoren, who was standing beside him, suddenly said something.

"You don't have much time."

Fan Xian was stunned for a moment.

"why?"

Although he had no intention of delaying.

Mei Cheng'an curled the corners of his mouth, tilted his head to look around, and watched the street scene as if it had nothing to do with him.

What Taoist said.

"Lang Tao is already on his way to Beijing."

"and many more."

Fan Xian raised his eyebrows.

"Who is Lang Tao?"

"Ku He's eldest disciple."

Fan Xian thought about it.

"Haitang Duoduo's senior brother?"

Taoist He nodded.

"Yes, his fighting ability is even better than Haitang's, and he also serves under the Queen Mother. Once he enters the capital, it may not be me who is watching you."

Wang Qinian hissed when he heard this.

"Even more so than a saint...what should I do?"

Fan Xian didn't care.

"What to do? Just chill! Just a quick fight and it's over."

……

(End of this chapter)