20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 634 Buying the murderer
As the sound got closer, Zhao Guoyan endured the stench and quickly bent down, hiding near the mink cage.

But Master Shen walked not far away, whispered a few words, sent the maidservant around him away, and then immediately ran over like a thief, stretching his neck and looking around.

"Don't look for it, it's right here!"

Zhao Guoyan showed up.

Shen Zhiye breathed a sigh of relief, subconsciously turned around to look around, and then came over to ask: "Hey, what were you guys doing just now?"

"Nothing, just a little friction, a misunderstanding."

Zhao Guoyan waved his hands, unwilling to explain further, but Shen Zhiye refused to give up and asked:

"Are we going to start fighting? That big boss from Haichao Mountain is always pushing his nose to the ground. We should have taught him a lesson long ago."

"Master Shen, what do you mean by this?"

Zhao Guoyan frowned, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He then asked, "Why do I feel like you're just hoping for chaos in the world?"

Shen Zhiye said awkwardly: "Humph, the world has been in chaos for a long time, and the Shen family store is not much, so let it be in chaos!"

"If you want to cause trouble, go ahead and do it yourself!" Zhao Guoyan said, "Master, I have to remind you that my boss is not here to cause trouble, but to settle it. Do you understand?"

"Understand!"

"Then stop talking nonsense and get to the point. What happened on the day of the robbery?"

Hearing this, Shen Zhiye suddenly hesitated, thought about it, and said, "If I tell you, can you agree to one condition of mine?"

"condition?"

Zhao Guoyan scratched his ears to make sure he had heard correctly, and then he accused more and more puzzledly: "By eliminating the Hu bandits, the Jiang family will gain face, and the Shen family will get rid of their anger. It's the best of both worlds, and each side gets what it wants. What other conditions do you have?"

"Hey, can't you see that I'm taking risks now!"

As he spoke, Shen Zhiye felt inexplicably frightened, and immediately couldn't help but look behind him repeatedly.

Seeing his expression, Zhao Guoyan asked directly, "Do you have any spies of the Hu bandits here?"

Shen Zhiye refused to answer directly, and continued to ask in a tangled manner: "Tell me first, can you agree to my conditions?"

Zhao Guoyan stared at him blankly for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter, which made Shen Zhiye confused and at a loss, and his expression gradually became unhappy.

"No, I'm serious, why are you laughing?"

"Nothing, Master Shen, come here first!"

Zhao Guoyan held him close to him, raised his hand and pointed to the tall tower in the front yard, found a window, and said, "Do you know what my boss does?"

Of course Shen Zhiye had heard of the Jiang family and had a certain degree of understanding of them, but he didn't understand why the other party suddenly asked about this matter.

Zhao Guoyan continued, "Master Shen, my boss saw last night that you were having trouble speaking. Although I don't know why, I am willing to sympathize with your difficulties, so I sent me here to discuss things with you. But now you are negotiating with me... Do you think you are stubborn enough and the Jiang family can't ask what they want to ask?"

Shen Zhiye is not a fool.

He simply lacked experience in dealing with gangs. Once he was reminded, he thought about it for a while and realized the inappropriateness of it, so he immediately changed his tone.

"Then...if I tell you, can you ask Boss Jiang to do me a favor?"

A difference of one word can make a world of difference.

The condition is a transaction, and helping is a favor.

Although they lead to the same end and are essentially the same, they sound much more pleasant to the ear.

"Well, that sounds like human language!"

"Is that okay?" Shen Zhiye looked delighted.

Zhao Guoyan shook his head and said, "No, I can't make the decision for the boss. You can tell me what happened that day first. As for if you need any help, I will tell you later. This is the only way now. Do you accept it?"

"This……"

"Master, you said you came here at a risk, so you don't want me to tell anyone about our meeting, right?"

Shen Zhiye was suddenly panicked.

After all, he was still a little immature.

Zhao Guoyan explained the pros and cons in a few words, and the initiative fell into the hands of the Jiang family.

"Then I'd better tell you first!" Shen Zhiye glanced at the front yard again, then pointed at the mink cage and said, "You squat here, I'll tell you what happened that day!"

"What, I still have to squat?"

Zhao Guoyan lowered his head and happened to meet the eyes of a sable.

The sable tilted its head, suddenly turned around, and slipped away. Not long after it ran away, it stopped and looked back, its black bean-like eyes full of confusion.

"Is this necessary?" Zhao Guoyan asked.

"Of course it's necessary!" Shen Zhiye argued immediately, "This is a long story. What if someone sees us along the way?"

Zhao Guoyan had no choice but to pinch his nose and squat in the gap between the mink cage and the back wall.

Shen Zhiye pretended to be serious. He bent over to check the situation in the mink cage and muttered to himself about the encounter with the bandits that day.

…………

It turned out that Shenjiadian was located in the Laoyeling mountainous area, a remote place with isolated information. Any news about the current situation could only be heard by going to the nearby county town.

At first, Shen Zhiye had no idea that the Suifenhe mountain guerrillas were rebelling. If he had known, he would not have chosen this time to escort the goods.

On that day, Shen Zhiye, escorted by the armed team of the Lianzhuang Association, was heading towards the nearest train station to Shenjiadian.

It was not until they were less than two miles away from the railway station that they heard passers-by say that there was a war ahead and advised them to turn back quickly.

At that moment, the east-west railway line had been occupied by the rebels, who were looting food and supplies everywhere.

However, the Shen family's carriages and horses, loaded with grain and furs, had been traveling for two consecutive days and were already exhausted. How could it be easy to turn around and run away at this time?
As expected, before the group had gone far, they were stopped on the spot by a cavalry of over a hundred men.

The leader of the rebels was a tall man. He dismounted and said, "The 'Fengtian Army' has been ordered to collect food and fodder. Leave your carriages and belongings behind. I won't make things difficult for you. Get out of here!"

Although Shen Zhiye was not so obsessed with money, he felt distressed when he saw several truckloads of goods were about to be lost, so he immediately shrank back and tried to argue with reason.

"Sir, these are all old rice, not good stuff. Please be flexible. Besides, it's not time to pay the grain yet!"

"Fuck you!" The rebel leader slapped him in the face. "Just hand over the food if I ask you to. Why are you dealing with poverty? This war is for you common people. Our brothers have been fighting on the front lines, so what's wrong with eating some of your food? You are so nagging. If you keep arguing with me, I will kill you right now!"

The Shen family travels along this route all year round and has encountered bandits on the way in the past, but since they bought the Jiang family's insurance, they have never encountered any problems on the road.

At the critical moment, Shen Zhiye stepped forward and handed a cigarette to the rebel leader, and said with a smile: "General, we can talk about it. This batch of goods of mine is insured by the Jiang family. Have you heard of the Fengtian Jiang family?" It's no wonder that the rebel leader had actually heard of the Jiang family.

Just by mentioning Jiang Lianheng, the situation not only did not ease, but instead turned from a "business trip" into a "personal vendetta."

"Fuck you, why are you pretending to be so high and mighty? I am robbing the goods guaranteed by the Jiang family!" The rebel leader raised his hand and called out, "Brothers, unload the goods! Take off the money and clothes on this kid, and let him walk back naked!"

At this time, another soldier in the cavalry came forward and suggested: "Brother, this guy is using people to bully us, just beat him up!"

"Hey~ I'm Mr. Jiang's customer, you can't interrupt me!"

The rebel leader walked up to Shen Zhiye, looked him up and down, and said in a veiled tone, "If you have the guts, go complain to Boss Jiang and say that it was me, 'Lao Mang', who stole his goods. If you have a way, go ahead. If you don't, you'll die. The situation in the three northeastern provinces is about to change. Why is he still pretending to be such a coward? Come on, take this kid off!"

At this command, Shen Zhiye immediately felt a lot cooler.

Although the Shen family was escorted by an armed team, the gap in strength between them and the rebels was too great.

Knowing there was no chance of winning, I had no choice but to let them slaughter me.

Soon, the cavalry of the "Anti-Feng Army" sped away, leaving Shen Zhiye standing alone in the wind, disheveled...

…………

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"Hiss, so you...really came back naked in the end?"

After hearing about the robbery, Zhao Guoyan fell into deep thought.

"Is this the point?!" Shen Zhiye was furious. "Don't always focus on these details. I'm talking about the bandit Hu now!"

"Sorry, I'm just a little curious."

Zhao Guoyan squatted beside the mink cage, carefully recalling what Young Master Shen had just said.

The bandit's name has been confirmed - Lao Mang - and it is the clue provided by the bandit Sun Xiangyang when they were in Kuanchengzi earlier.

What is puzzling is that, in Master Shen’s narration, this “Old Mang” seemed to have harbored a grudge against the Jiang family for a long time, and finally took advantage of the Gao and Lu rebellions to slap the Jiang family in the face.

But where does the resentment come from?
Zhao Guoyan thought hard, but he still couldn't remember when the Jiang family had such an enemy.

To take a step back, if the two families really had a feud by accident, why not take the opportunity to sneak into Fengtian to seek revenge?

Afraid of the Jiang family's power?
If you are really afraid, there is probably no need to keep anyone alive.

Moreover, if they wanted to use this incident to embarrass the Jiang family, they might as well rob more valuable goods instead of just a few bags of grain.

No matter how you look at it, the behavior of this "Old Mang" does not seem to be premeditated, but more like the result of an accident or a spur of the moment action.

"Why didn't you say it before?" Zhao Guoyan suddenly asked.

"Is this intolerable? I've been humiliated like that, do you think I don't want to speak out, don't want to take revenge?" Shen Zhiye said indignantly, "But there's nothing I can do. People in the village don't agree. They're afraid that if I speak out, I'll get into trouble. What can I do?"

"No, you are the eldest son of a landlord, why do you care what the tenants think?"

Like Jiang Lianheng, Zhao Guoyan had long felt that there was something fishy about Shen's store, and now he finally had the chance to ask them face to face.

But Shen Zhiye shook his head sadly, as if helpless, as if mocking himself, with both unwillingness and resentment. When he opened his mouth, he hummed twice.

"Haha, buddy, can't you see that in this village association, I am not even a young master at all. I am just a grandson!"

“I see it, but I don’t quite understand it.”

Of course Zhao Guoyan had noticed it a long time ago.

The second young master of the Shen family is being constrained everywhere at home. Not only is the old man beating him, but even the maids around him are monitoring him.

Thinking of Hai Chaoshan's attitude towards Mr. Shen just now and the sad faces of the women in the Shen family, Zhao Guoyan couldn't help but suspect that the father and son of the Shen family had been sidelined by the armed team of the Lianzhuang Association.

But if you think about it more carefully, there are many things that don't make sense.

For example, the business of the Lianzhuang Association is still controlled by Mr. Shen; the tenants are quite respectful to the old man; the servants also obey his orders without any complaints.

If all this is just an act, who are we pretending for?

On several occasions, Mr. Shen had the opportunity to be alone with Jiang Lianheng, and he never said anything during that time. Was he afraid?

"Well, after all, this is all my brother's fault!"

In addition to resentment, there was a hint of sarcasm in Shen Zhiye's tone.

"I've said it before, my brother is a complete nerd, but the old man still doesn't believe him and always thinks he can accomplish anything. Now, he has raised a tiger and brought disaster to himself. He is really a shriveled eggplant!"

"What are you talking about?" Zhao Guoyan was confused.

Shen Zhiye explained, "My brother used to study at Dalian, a school run by foreigners. He was a good person at first, but after graduation, he went home and became crazy. I don't know where he got this new word from, but he insisted on saying that our Shen family had 'original sin' and that my father 'ate people'. It's not a famine, why would he eat people?"

Zhao Guoyan frowned, unable to understand such groundless accusations.

"Who said it wasn't true?" Shen Zhiye didn't understand. "I'm not exaggerating. You can ask around. Our Shen family is very kind. When the Russians came south, it was my father who let us live in blockhouses and gave them a large sum of money. That's why they didn't cause any harm to our Shen's store. But my brother said that this was not enough."

"So what else do you want?"

"He said that the village association should not be decided entirely by the old Shen family, but by all the tenants. Isn't that ridiculous? After a few days of drinking foreign ink, he even forgot who he is!"

"Your father didn't stop him?"

"Humph, my father just spoils him. There's nothing I can do about it. After all, I'm the second son of the wife!"

Shen Zhiye was even more resentful, and continued, "I just don't understand. Our Shen family never steals, robs, or cheats. We relied on our ancestors' accumulation to get this family business today. The land within a radius of more than ten miles is all our property. The tenants live in our houses. We paid for the construction of the watchtower. Why should we let them get involved?"

"So, the current situation was caused by your brother?" Zhao Guoyan asked.

"Yes, it's all his fault. This blind idiot gave the key to the armory to Hai Chaoshan and ran off to Japan, shamelessly saying he wanted to study further, leaving this mess behind for the family!" Shen Zhiye felt a little guilty and lowered his voice unconsciously, "Military men are meddling in politics, and our family is in turmoil!"

Zhao Guoyan didn't quite agree.

At present, it seems that the second young master is the only one in the entire villa who is in unrest.

Then, he suddenly remembered what Master Shen said last night, and asked, "But...your brother can deal with Haichao Mountain, right?"

Shen Zhiye was stunned, his eyes looked a little suspicious: "How do you know?"

"My guess is that if your brother couldn't deal with Hai Chaoshan, he wouldn't hand over the key to the armory!" Zhao Guoyan quickly tried to smooth things over.

Shen Zhiye was half-believing and half-doubting, and suddenly he snorted and muttered, "Who cares about him? He's not at home anyway. He's mentally ill and doesn't even understand the principle of 'I shouldn't allow others to snore beside my bed'... By the way, I want to ask Boss Jiang to help me with this matter."

Zhao Guoyan narrowed his eyes and asked, "Master Shen, you don't want my boss to kill someone for you, do you?"

Shen Zhiye nodded: "You guys name a price, how much?"

(End of this chapter)