The entertainment tycoon of the Republic of China

After an unpleasant episode in the teahouse, Xie Yan did not encounter any unexpected situation. He chatted with shopkeeper Liu, and then went back to the backyard to write a novel. He wrote a few thousand words in one breath. It wasn't until Li Quan came back at night that he turned off the lights and went to sleep.

The next morning, Xie Yan woke up and found that Hankou had snowed heavily last night, and it had not stopped until now. The coals piled up in the small yard were covered tightly, only a little black was exposed, like dough cakes with mildew spots.

Xie Yan picked up the fox fur cloak on the back of the chair and draped it over his shoulders, opened the door and went out to take a breath of the cold air. He is now very glad that he accepted the cloak from Mrs. Wen yesterday, otherwise he might not have left this morning When he arrived at Wen's house, he was already unconscious from the cold.

"Ayan, there's a lot of snow on the road today, why don't you go and take the tram to work." Li Quan went to the back kitchen to warm up a few fist-sized steamed buns, and handed one to Xie Yan.

"That's my plan." Xie Yan nodded, although saving money is important, but in such a cold day, he doesn't have to struggle with his body.

Xie Yan tightened her cloak, held the steamed buns wrapped in oiled paper in her hand as a heat source, said goodbye to Li Quan and walked towards the tram stop on Furong Street.

Perhaps it was because the snow was too deep and thick. There were more than half of the pedestrians on the road this morning than usual. Xie Yan stepped on the snow with one foot deep and the other shallow. Along the way, he only saw a few ordinary people who got up early to work and dressed in simple clothes.

He shook his head, shook off some snowflakes from his hair, and was about to walk towards the tram stop in the next street, when he suddenly caught sight of an old man in his 50s struggling to carry a linen bag from the nearby street. Walk out of the alley.

"Be careful!" Seeing that the old man was not paying attention and almost slipped on an ice ridge, Xie Yan reminded him and walked over to help him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Seeing that Xie Yan was dressed exquisitely, the old man thought he had met the young master of a wealthy family, so he hurriedly expressed his thanks.

"It's okay." Xie Yan shook his head, and he and the old man put the sackcloth bag on the donkey cart he came over.

"Old man, did you come to buy rice early in the morning?" Xie Yan was a little puzzled when he saw the words "Mount Fuji Rice Shop" written on the sackcloth pocket.

Why would a normal person drive a donkey cart all the way to Furong Street to buy rice on a snowy morning?No matter how you think about it, you won't be short of rice for your morning meal.

The old man breathed on his hands that were purple from the cold, and then he sighed and said, "You don't know, young master. My house is far away. If I don't come here earlier, I won't be able to go back to burn the boiler. The government will deduct money, and the Furong Street guards will come later. Now, I won’t let me drive the donkey cart into the street, and I can’t walk back with the rice bag.”

After the old man explained, Xie Yan was even more confused. Hankou is so big, why did he insist on buying rice at Furong Street, which is far away and guarded?

"Old man, why don't you buy rice near your home?"

"Young master, it's not that I have to go a long way, it's that I can't buy it elsewhere." The old man sighed and looked at Xie Yan, feeling that the young man in front of him was too ignorant of the sufferings of the world. His grandson is only 13 years old this year and has already gone to the pier After doing hard work, how can there be such a good fur clothes to wear?

"How do you say that?"

"You probably don't know that the weather in Hankou was too bad last year, and the rice harvest in the nearby area dropped by [-] to [-] percent. Farmers in the village with a lot of land may still have surplus food in their hands. We live in the suburbs and work part-time. When it’s over, you can only spend money to buy it.”

"The small rice shops in the city didn't receive any grain in summer, and they didn't sell anything in winter. Only those rice shops that could buy goods from other provinces by steamer can buy rice." The old man sighed deeply when he said this, " There are not many rice shops like this in Hankou, so we can only travel long distances to buy rice, and the price of rice has risen a lot, making it more and more unaffordable."

"Doesn't the government care about this?" Xie Yan frowned. Based on his previous experience, Huguang inspectors are not people who don't care about people's livelihood.

"Hey, how can those big people take care of the affairs of ordinary people like us, and it's just that buying rice is too expensive, and it's not like starving to death." The old man rubbed his hands. There is also food in the house, but our days when we can't get up and down are more difficult."

"In fact, the original situation was better than it is now. Although rice is difficult to buy, there are also kind-hearted rice merchants who take pity on us. Not only is the price of rice not high, but they only charge an extra shipping fee, and they even hire a car to send rice to the suburbs every other day. It’s convenient for us to buy it, but unfortunately I haven’t seen it again these days for some reason, maybe the boss can’t hold it anymore.”

"Really?" Hearing what the old man said, Xie Yan suddenly remembered the poor Mrs. Xie that Li Quan mentioned yesterday. The other person's house seemed to be a rice store. "Old man, do you know the name of that rice store?"

"Name?" The old man was taken aback. "I bought the rice at the door of my house. Who asked about this, but I seem to have his bag in the car. If you can read, you can take a look."

Talking, the old man rummaged through the straw on the donkey cart for a while, and pulled out a small linen bag, "That rice shop doesn't have many licensed products, and there are too many people buying at one time, so I can only use small bags. Just wait in line a few more times before buying some, alas.”

Xie Yan took the linen bag and took a look. There were a few large characters written in the middle of the bag, which was the "Xieji Mihang" that I heard about yesterday, and there was a line of small characters printed in the corner, which should be the address of Xieji Mihang. .

Xie Yan read the address carefully and found that Mihang was located near the tram stop he passed by every day to work.

"Old man, I offer two copper coins, can you sell me this bag?"

"Okay, then young master, you go away." The old man didn't understand why Xie Yan wanted the rice bag, he just thought it was a small problem of the rich young master.

He had been delayed talking to Xie Yan just now, when he heard that he took the copper coin given by Xie Yan, he jumped onto the cart at an angle, picked up the whip and slapped the donkey's buttocks, and left with the wobbly donkey cart .

After watching the other party leave, Xie Yan glanced at the address written on the sack in her hand, and decided to go to this Xieji Rice Shop to have a look.

Mr. Li's behavior yesterday set alarm bells in Xie Yan's heart. He has always been used to thinking about things with the worst outcome and taking precautions before they happen.If something unexpected happens in the future and Xie Yan needs to deal with Mr. Li, then the matter of Mrs. Xie who thanked Mi Xing is the best breakthrough.

Only by grasping the enemy's secrets and weaknesses in advance, and taking precautions, can you be invincible when things go bad. This is the life principle that Xie Yan summed up in more than ten years in his previous life.

It took Xie Yan more than ten minutes to find the address on the sackcloth pocket. He had been passing by this corner every day for the past few days, but he hadn’t paid attention to it. At this time, he observed carefully and finally found the "Xie Ji Mi" among various signboards. line" words.

On a snowy morning, few shops on the street were open, and the door of Xie Ji Rice Shop was also closed. Xie Yan looked around and walked into a tea shop that had just opened across the street.

"Boss, please tell me when the rice shop across the street opens?" Xie Yan asked politely, "I bought pearl rice from his place before, and the taste is much better than other places. Why didn't I see it when I came here today? open?"

The owner of the tea shop just opened the door and was paying the bills. Hearing this, he looked at Xie Yan, "This young master is not in Hankou recently? Xie Ji closed down more than half a month ago. Two men in his family went to the funeral two days ago. I went to send it off for a ride, alas, I think I was a wealthy family back then, but now I can’t even afford a painted coffin.”

"I went to the capital a while ago, and I really haven't heard of it." Xie Yan said naturally, "How did the Xie family get into this state?"

"It seems that there was a problem with the batch of rice imported from Shanghai last month, and the business suddenly collapsed. Xie's father and son went out to raise working capital, but were killed by the rebellious bandits. Poor Master Xie's child was only half a year old. There's only one mother left." The boss shook his head and sighed, "It's strange to say, the Xie family has been in the rice business for so many years, how could they suddenly fall into such a big stumble?"

Xie Yan saw that the owner of the tea shop didn't know more about the inside story, so he didn't continue the question, so as not to be suspected of the purpose, he thanked the boss, bought a Western-style portable water cup for five dollars, and casually said before going out, "The weather in Hankou is colder than in Beijing. There are not many people on the road. By the way, boss, you just said that only Mrs. Xie and her child are left in Xie's family. Are they all right? Are you still doing the rice business?"

"What business are you doing?" The boss seemed to have heard a joke, "Once the father and son of the Xie family died, the debt collectors almost smashed the door of the Xie family. Mrs. Xie married for a few years, and she was an ordinary boudoir girl before she got married. Where will things in the business world be?"

"It is said that the old house of Xie's family has been mortgaged to pay off the debt, and Mrs. Xie's child is sick again. She should take care of the child in the foreign hospital on the other side of the concession now."

After the owner of the tea shop said these words, he turned his attention to the account book in his hand. Xie Yan kept the news in his heart, said hello and walked out of the shop.

He looked at the water glass he bought casually in his hand. The design of the gray glass body was simple and beautiful, the outer layer was made of frosted material, and a black rope chain was tied to the lid.

He runs around a few times a day, so there's no need to use such an expensive cup, it's a waste to keep it, why don't we just give it to Wen Heng?Xie Yan thought about it, and thought it was a good idea. Wen Heng had helped him a lot these days, and he really should give a gift to show that favors always come and go.

The conversation with the owner of the tea shop just now gave Xie Yan a preliminary understanding of the matter of Xie Ji Mi Xing. No matter how much she asked, she couldn’t find anything. Go to Wen's house early, and think about how to deal with that Mr. Li later.

When he walked near the tram station in the wind and snow, the nearest tram had just left, and the next one would take more than ten minutes to arrive. Xie Yan looked at the back of the tram slowly moving away, and shrank in annoyance He wrapped his cloak tightly around his shoulders, and decided to go to the eaves not far away to avoid the snow.

At this time, it has been more than 20 minutes since Xie Yan went out in the morning, but the heavy snow still has no tendency to decrease. There seem to be fewer pedestrians on the road than before. Xie Yan looked around and chose a eaves at the corner of the street to avoid the wind .

The location of this house is a bit remote, not far from the Xieji Mihang with its gate closed, and behind the house is a small alley full of sundries.

Xie Yan stood against the wall and walked up the steps to prevent his shoes from getting wet from the snow. He rubbed his hands and let out a sigh of relief, intending to eat the steamed buns in his hands first, but before he could feel the warmth, a sudden noise came from the alley behind him. There was an abrupt sound, which seemed to contain the sound of falling debris and a fleeting cry for help.

The heavy snow and the complex terrain absorbed almost all the sound, no one on the street noticed this unusual movement, only Xie Yan who was standing across the wall stood up straight.

A cold current started from the spine and filled Xie Yan's whole body in an instant. At this moment, the vigilance and desire for survival of human instincts expanded to the extreme. Xie Yan suddenly recalled the fatal knife in his chest when he traveled to the Republic of China. Until now, he didn't know who wanted his life.

But this time, it is impossible for him to stumble on the same thing a second time.

Xie Yan pursed his lips, and the next second his heart was extremely cold. He quickly and calmly took out the pistol in his arms, moved a few steps towards the entrance of the alley calmly, and pricked up his ears to judge the movement inside.