Imperial Treasure

"If I were normal, Elder Tang wouldn't have chosen me..." Since he was her employer, Sui Yi naturally had to show some respect, so she just softened her expression slightly and said warmly.

Normal also meant mediocre.

Elder Tang's eyes twinkled at her words, and he began to chuckle to himself.

But being extraordinary didn't necessarily mean outstanding. Sui Yi always knew how to advance and retreat with measure, after all.

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The trade Elder Tang assigned was simply for Sui Yi to act as a receiver, picking up goods from underworld figures. However, all the contact and communication were always handled by Elder Tang himself; Sui Yi was just a pawn.

But the first pawn to lay hands on the goods was extremely important. If not clever enough, not only might they fail to secure the goods, but also attract trouble, and that would be problematic.

Sui Yi wasn't averse to this kind of "work." For one, her age was protected by law; two, she had never been involved in the exchange of information regarding these goods, effectively making her ignorant—legally bearing minimal responsibility; three, her youth made her less suspicious...

Although she knew the consequences were generally not severe, Sui Yi was still very careful, so much so that she had never failed.

In Elder Tang's view, this was a sign of her work efficiency.

Of course, as mentioned before, she was unaware of the details, so after leaving the Yantang Residence, she knew nothing of the people who provided the goods or what the goods were.

After leaving the Yantang Residence, she took a letter from the mailbox at the gate, opened it casually, and glanced at a line of text.

——Black beans and dried tangerine peel, add hot water, simmer for an hour and three minutes, stew with pork knuckles, delicious...

This was the recipe for black bean and pork knuckle soup. After reading it, Sui Yi threw it casually into the trash can and shoved her hands into her school uniform pockets.

Watching Sui Yi disappear from the gate, Elder Tang answered a phone call, holding a teacup in one hand, his face beaming with a smile like a breath of spring, "My person is ready on this end, don't you drop the ball on yours."

"The people I choose are naturally competent, can get things done... not much, three thousand yuan should suffice. I had thought it would cost ten thousand... unlike your guys, all listless and dragging their feet... can't be like that this time. It's a special period, after this job, you'll need to lay low... Trouble? If it happens, let it be, after all, it's not my concern on this end, and as for you..."

"Hey, how did I become a shrewd merchant? If I am one, there are no good people left in this world..."

Having muttered that, Elder Tang hung up the call, his previously cheerful expression hidden in the interplay of sunlight and the shadows of the blinds.

Obscure and slightly ominous.

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Half an hour later, she strolled leisurely to a small restaurant by the Nanxun River, choosing a window-side seat in a small private room—a bit pricey, but she would get Elder Tang to reimburse her...

The restaurant was called Delicious, a name so common and easy to understand, very down-to-earth.

Since it was lunchtime and the start of the school term, with the afternoon free, many students were still in a relatively relaxed and excited state, walking in twos and threes into the Ancient City streets, making the restaurants bustling with activity.

Sui Yi didn't seem out of place as a student there at all.

The scenery in the Ancient City was always beautiful, with the green river water meandering past the window, the old stone bridge over flowing water, the houses with smoke rising in a quiet elegance, and the misty rain of Jiangnan lingering along the Yangtze River.

Here, even the tip of the nose could detect the ancient aroma from the roots of the Ancient Tree by the bridge.

Sui Yi ordered a bowl of congee and two side dishes and began to eat. After a while, someone sat in the chair opposite her, seemingly wanting to enter the private room and opting to join her for the view from the window. The restaurateur seemed a bit embarrassed, but as Sui Yi was indifferent, she agreed. The newcomer glanced at Sui Yi, then turned to shout to the owner: "Boss, give me a bowl of beef noodles."

The voice was deep and hoarse, matching the man's rugged and dark appearance. His broad and stern face carried a trace of fierceness, as he sat with his legs wide open, an expansive posture that one would have seen portrayed in the movie "Young and Dangerous."

Restaurant owners fear such customers and so agreed readily.

"Alrighty, Teacher, please wait a moment..."

Before long, the noodles were served, and the other party slurped several mouthfuls while Sui Yi had already finished, wiped his mouth with a napkin, looked up at the wall clock—it was 1:03 in the afternoon, pretty punctual.

"Hei Pi, what do you think of these noodles?"

"Not bad, but they can't compare to our Sichuan style noodles back home," Hei Pi snorted and poured a large dollop of chili sauce onto his noodles.

Sui Yi smiled faintly, such a love for spicy food?

"Indeed, people from Yancheng Ancient County in Sichuan do love their spicy,"

Hei Pi's noodle-eating paused, and he raised his eyes to look at Sui Yi, a chill flash in his eyes, "How does a little girl like you know about that?"

Those in their line of work dreaded most being known by others. Following the thread could easily lead to someone getting their den busted.

Although Hei Pi was fierce and there was nobody else around, Sui Yi remained calm as he faced him, withdrawing another tissue with his left hand to wipe his mouth, and said lightly, "The newspapers mentioned that Yancheng Ancient County has recently been frequented by rats, with holes being dug everywhere, making both black cats and white cats restless... but you can rest assured, I needed to confirm your authenticity, and now it seems, you truly are the person I was waiting for."

Huh? Was she testing me just now?

Hei Pi frowned and gave Sui Yi another careful look.

Despite his rough exterior, Hei Pi had his own subtleties and knew a few tricks of the trade, not like those who only knew how to rummage through graves for goods, dull and foolish. In his own words, that would be, "I, the lord, am a cultured man with understanding, not easily fooled by anyone!"

Otherwise, he wouldn't have brazenly come out to make the delivery during such a time.

But, he really hadn't expected the other party to send such a naive little girl...

That was his initial thought, but now, he no longer saw it that way.

"I am Hei Pi, as you've just confirmed," he lowered his voice and once again poured a large dollop of chili sauce into his noodles, stirring it quickly with chopsticks. The noodles mixed with soup turned a bright red, along with the dark red, almost black beef pieces, looked like chopped-up flesh and blood, somewhat shocking to see.

Sui Yi turned her face away, noncommittally saying, "Anyone can call themselves Hei Pi, can't they?"

Hei Pi paused for a moment, grinned, revealing yellow teeth, "That's right... but the Hei Pi who can come to meet you, certainly there's only one, and there's only one Hei Pi who has the goods."

With that, he picked up noodles with his chopsticks in one hand and lifted the black bag that was sitting on the ground by his feet with the other, placing it on the table with a thud. The dust on the bag scattered, drifting down to the oily soup, causing a faint mist to rise...

With a creak, he unzipped the bag and pulled out a dust-covered pottery jar.

The note had mentioned it—"guanzhu" referred to a jar, and the one before her seemed to be an ancient pottery jar, though it was smeared with a lot of dirt. Sui Yi, not particularly attentive to this aspect, merely glanced at it, confirmed it was the "merchandise" and then said, "Okay, I've taken the item, someone will contact you later for the follow-up..."

Her hand was already resting on the strap of the bag...

"Wait!"

Slap! The strap of the bag was abruptly held down by Hei Pi, as Sui Yi's gaze flickered upwards.

Hei Pi grinned at Sui Yi, bits of beef still lodged between his teeth, "No, I thought about it on my way here... I can't do business this way! The cops are tight on our tails, I need to get the money fast, otherwise, I really don't know what kind of tricks you people might pull..."

Typically, their kind of deals were cash-and-carry, but legally speaking, exchanging cash or using bank cards was considered illicit trade. If the money was not given immediately, but later, the chances of being caught and sentenced were much lower, and it also greatly skirted legal issues. However, this depended on the level of trust between both parties. Who, on the giving end, would feel comfortable having their goods taken without the cash in hand?

Nowadays, money is king. Some suppliers, out of desperation or lack of options, indeed accept such risky deals that might lead to losses.

But most buyers didn't want to push these sellers into a corner unless they had the seller completely under their thumb, with no future threats...

Elder Tang of Yantang Residence still had some reputation, and the tasks Sui Yi had previously taken on were this type of work, without any accidents happening.

But...

Today, an accident occurred!