Chapter 1: Winter in Jinling Chapter 24: Taking the Lead
No matter what, Fan Datong and Zhao Shouzheng can be considered friends who can chat with each other.
After witnessing his father's heartbreak last night, Zhao Hao naturally would not really drive away this "only friend" in Zhao Shouzheng's words.
He went back to his room, guarded the hundred kilograms of precious brown sugar, and carefully thought about what to do tonight and tomorrow.
By the time he had thought of the entire plan, Fan Datong finally stood up and said goodbye.
"Huh..." Zhao Hao breathed a sigh of relief. He could finally start work!
…
The father and son continued to do the same thing as the day before, one making fire and the other boiling sugar.
To be on the safe side, Zhao Hao divided the 100 kilograms of sugar into ten batches. Even if he failed in any of them, the loss would not be too great.
But in this case, the father and son were destined to fight all night long again.
The father and son chatted casually while working mechanically.
"Father's friend is very... hard to describe." Zhao Hao initially thought that this person was shameless and was always trying to take advantage of others. But he didn't expect that he would actually go around the world looking for Zhao Shouzheng to pay him back.
"Hey, Brother Fan is actually a very good person," Zhao Shouzheng added firewood and shook his head slowly, "His family used to have quite a lot of property, and he spent a lot of money on us."
"What about his money? Did he gamble it away? Or did he do the same as us?" Zhao Hao asked curiously.
"Can a good person gamble?" Zhao Shouzheng said to Zhao Hao in a rare serious tone: "Son, you can do anything in the future, but you can't gamble!"
"I know, I know." Zhao Hao nodded helplessly, which really made Zhao Shouzheng nag. Don't expect to have a peaceful night tonight. "Let's talk about your brother Fan."
"He is a poor man. His family had some property, so he didn't work hard on his studies. After his parents passed away, there was no one to push him forward. He spent all his time traveling around with his classmates."
The stove fire reflected on Zhao Shouzheng's face, making his eyes sparkle. At that moment, he seemed to have returned to the days when he was young and full of vigor and pursued his dreams.
Zhao Hao knew at a glance that Master Zhao was definitely among those people. The so-called study tour was nothing more than traveling around the world.
"What happened next?" He interrupted Zhao Shouzheng's memories.
"Later, his wife, who had been alone in the empty house for a long time, actually fell in love with his housekeeper. Not only did they have an affair behind his back, but they also took away all his property. They also borrowed two thousand taels of silver in his name and disappeared."
Zhao Hao smacked his lips when he heard this and had to admit, "How miserable."
"Yes, he never recovered from that. He became even more unruly and spent his days seeking pleasure in various ways. He spent his money quickly and went around gambling when he had no money."
Zhao Shouzheng sighed, and said with some self-pity: "It's just like my father now, everyone is avoiding me."
"Turn off the fire quickly, or the pot will burn!" Zhao Hao suddenly shouted.
Zhao Shouzheng had become quite skilled in serving the Kitchen God these days, and upon hearing this he immediately took out most of the firewood.
The fire in the stove immediately became much smaller, and Zhao Hao hurriedly scooped out the boiled sugar paste, so as not to waste the whole pot of sugar...
…
The father and son worked until dawn and burned all the firewood before they turned 100 kilograms of brown sugar into white sugar.
The two carefully put the sugar into a cloth bag. Zhao Shouzheng weighed it and said, "We have thirty kilograms."
"It's okay." Although Zhao Hao was not very satisfied with the conversion rate, when he thought about how much thirty kilograms of sugar were worth, what else did he have to complain about?
Now even Zhao Shouzheng realized how huge this fortune was. He was eager to try and asked, "Shall we sell it now?"
"Let's go." Zhao Hao also couldn't wait any longer.
"We have to hire a bodyguard this time." Zhao Hao still remembered the last time Zhao Shouzheng was ripped off, so he wanted to hire a door god to deter the unscrupulous and unscrupulous businessmen.
Zhao Shouzheng naturally had no objection, so the father and son carried their cloth bags and went to the blacksmith shop in front to find Gao Wu.
Gao Wu had been waiting at home for a long time. When he saw Zhao Hao coming, he stepped forward and took the cloth bag.
"Wait!" Zhao Hao looked Gao Wu up and down and felt something was wrong.
Gao Wu felt frightened by being looked at and kept scratching his head.
"Why do you feel different today?" Zhao Hao touched his chin and looked at Gao Wu strangely. He saw that Gao Wu was neatly dressed and looked respectable, which was unusual for him.
Then he heard Gao the blacksmith chuckle and say, "After all, he is going out with the young master, and we cannot embarrass him, so let him change into New Year's clothes."
"I thought so !" Zhao Hao suddenly realized and waved his hands, "Hurry up and change into your normal clothes."
Gao Wu nodded and went into the inner room without saying a word.
After a while, Gao Wu came out wearing his usual coarse cloth shirt and pants. He was a martial artist, and he would dress like this even in the cold winter, not to mention that it was already the end of February.
"Don't you usually like to roll up your trouser legs and open your shirt?" Looking at Gao Wu's deliberately lowered trouser legs and buttoned collar, Zhao Hao smiled and said, "Just return to the way it was before."
Gao Wu followed his instructions and rolled up his trouser legs, revealing his iron-like calf muscles. He then opened his chest, revealing seven or eight scars of varying depths on his angular abdominal and pectoral muscles, which looked particularly hideous.
Add to that the scar on his face, and no one would doubt that he is the bandit leader.
Otherwise, Zhao Hao wouldn’t have been almost scared to death that day.
"Well, this is exactly what we want!" Zhao Hao clapped his hands in satisfaction and said, "Let's go!"
…
The three of them said goodbye to Gao the blacksmith, walked south along Caijia Lane, and went all the way to Gulouwai Street, and came to the "Tangji Southern Goods Store".
Zhao Hao thought about it carefully last night. Buying sugar should be done by many buyers so that the secret can be kept. But when selling sugar, the situation is the opposite. The fewer buyers, the better the secret can be kept.
After much thought, he decided to buy all of them at once.
After pondering for a moment outside the store, Zhao Hao looked at Zhao Shouzheng and said, "How about asking father to keep watch outside the door?"
"Ah, my son, you don't have to be so tactful. I know I'm not the type to bargain with you." Zhao Shouzheng had indeed grown strong in pain, and he was quite self-aware and said, "I won't go in and cause more trouble."
Zhao Hao gave his father a thumbs up and praised him. Then he asked him to sign two pieces of paper, and then he and Gao Wu entered the Tangji Southern Goods Store.
…
In the southern food store, the fat boss was counting the goods with his shop assistants.
Suddenly, everyone noticed that the light in the store dimmed.
Looking blankly at the door of the store, I saw an eight-foot-tall scarred giant walking in aggressively with his trouser legs rolled up and his shirt open, revealing a body covered in scars.
The atmosphere in the store suddenly became tense, and several waiters secretly grasped the whistle sticks leaning behind the counter.
"Excuse me, sir...what can I do for you?" the shopkeeper asked with a stiff upper lip.
But the giant said nothing, just stared at everyone with a pair of copper bell-like eyes.
Everyone in the store was immediately horrified and even had the urge to run away.
The fat boss held the counter and said with a dry mouth: "My dear man, if you have something to say, let's talk it over. Don't hurt anyone's life..."
