chsdbacks Page 259
Page 259
"What are you doing?"
Su Feng strode over, just in time to stumble into Qiu Shengwencai's "plot".
"Oh, hello, Young Master Su!"
When Qiu Shengwen saw Su Feng appear, he quickly nodded and greeted him.
"Are you out buying cooked food for Uncle Jiu?" Su Feng pointed to the roast chicken and a pot of liquor that the two were carrying.
That's quite rare.
Uncle Jiu was usually quite frugal. He would only ask Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai to prepare cooked dishes on holidays or when important guests came to his house.
"Has a distinguished guest arrived?" Su Feng raised an eyebrow and asked casually.
Wen Cai scratched his head and chuckled, "Hehehe, nothing can be hidden from Young Master Su's eyes."
"Our master and I returned from Jiuquan Town yesterday, and we were planning to visit and greet Young Master Su this afternoon..."
"But unexpectedly, General Jiang suddenly came to our door."
Jiang Dalong?
It seems he was right when he heard it.
"What is General Jiang doing here? Isn't he still dealing with the remnants of the Japanese in Jiuquan Town?" Su Feng asked again.
Before leaving Jiuquan Town, he instructed Jiang Dalong to completely eliminate the remaining Japanese people in the town.
An operation was also launched during this period to eliminate potential threats.
But whether there were any remaining members of the party was unknown, so Jiang Dalong decided to stay in Jiuquan Town for a while longer.
It also allows them to oversee the church's reconstruction.
Well, less than a week later, he came to Renjia Town and immediately went to see Uncle Jiu, which means he must have encountered something important.
“We don’t know why either…” Wen Cai pursed his lips, “but from the conversation between Commander Jiang and Master, it seems that they also mentioned Young Master Su, and it seems that they plan to visit the banana grove later.”
"Oh, that's perfect, I'll go with you."
Anyway, there's nothing to do back home right now, so I might as well go to the mortuary and hear what Jiang Dalong has to say.
It's a shame about those two sesame seed cakes... I can only hope they won't get cold by the time I get back.
……
Led by Qiu Shengwencai, Su Feng arrived at the mortuary.
It was the same familiar smell; the entire courtyard was filled with the stench of death, but there was no threat whatsoever.
Four armed soldiers stood at the entrance of the mortuary. When they saw Su Feng arrive, they greeted him respectfully.
"Master, Young Master Su has arrived!"
Qiu Shengwen ran into the backyard and started shouting loudly.
A short while later, Jiang Dalong and Uncle Jiu ran out one after the other.
"Oh my! Young Master Su!"
Jiang Dalong beamed with joy upon seeing Su Feng and hurried forward to greet him, "I was just thinking of looking for you!"
"You're too kind, Commander." Su Feng replied with a smile, glancing at Uncle Jiu, who stood behind Jiang Dalong looking preoccupied. "Has something happened?"
"Ahem... Let's come in and talk." Uncle Nine opened the door and invited Su Feng and Jiang Dalong inside.
……
Roast chicken and white wine were placed on the table, but it seemed that no one touched them.
The entire room was filled with a subtle atmosphere.
“It’s like this,” Jiang Dalong lit a cigarette and recounted what had happened, “A few days after Young Master Su left, the daughter of Old Wang’s family in town came to my mansion looking for me, saying she had important business to discuss with me…”
Old Wang's daughter?
Su Feng raised an eyebrow.
Jiang Dalong further explained, "Old Wang is a very famous appraisal master in Jiuquan Town. You should have met his daughter; she just returned from studying abroad."
“Oh, oh, oh! Annie!” Qiu Shengwen interrupted, gesturing with his hand in front of his chest.
Uncle Jiu found their lack of manners extremely offensive and slapped the backs of their hands hard with his chopsticks, making them afraid to be so disrespectful.
"I saw Miss Anne at the jewelry store on the day I came back. What happened to her?" Su Feng asked curiously.
The fact that they personally went to Jiang Dalong's door to ask for help clearly meant it was something important.
"Sigh, Annie said that Lao Wang has been gone for several days without any news, and she's worried that something bad might have happened to him."
Jiang Dalong exhaled a puff of smoke, took out an invitation from his pocket, and placed it on the table.
The invitation was exquisitely crafted and made of high-quality paper.
In the lower right corner of the cover, several large characters were prominently displayed: "General Xu cordially invites you."
"...Not long after Annie contacted me, Marshal Xu sent someone with this invitation, saying that he was inviting me to his mansion to see his newly acquired treasures or something."
Jiang Dalong's expression was somewhat complicated. He threw his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out. "This Commander Xu is just like me, a warlord who controls the surrounding area. However, he has been very powerful in recent years, recruiting soldiers and horses. His current troop strength is estimated to be more than twice that of mine... I don't know where he plundered all this money from."
Both were warlords and controlled several towns, but the other had amassed far more wealth, which greatly displeased Jiang Dalong, yet he was powerless to do anything about it.
"Heh, it seems this Commander Xu is quite the show-off." Su Feng chuckled dismissively, then asked, "What does this have to do with Miss Annie?"
Jiang Dalong scratched his head and smacked his lips, "Old Wang went out a few days ago to have his treasures appraised at Marshal Xu's mansion... and then he never came back."
Hearing this, Su Feng finally understood the connection.
If it weren't for the fact that Annie's father's affairs were related to Marshal Xu, Jiang Dalong probably wouldn't have been sent out.
"I hope that Young Master Su can accompany me to this invitation from Commander Xu."
Jiang Dalong smiled somewhat embarrassedly, "With Young Master Su by my side, I feel more confident!"
Su Feng raised an eyebrow thoughtfully...
With constant warfare, internal and external troubles, and foreigners eyeing China's territory, the warlords are divided and each has its own interests, completely disregarding the potential risks from the outside.
This invasion by the Japanese served as a wake-up call.
However, given the current situation, it is not so easy to get warlords in various regions to put aside their differences and unite their forces to resist foreign invaders.
This invitation might be a turning point.
Will other warlords participate?
"Probably... Commander Wu from the South District, and Commander Liu from the North District..." Jiang Dalong replied.
"Okay, when do we leave?" Su Feng agreed after considering it for a moment.
"Eh? Does this mean Young Master Su has agreed?"
Jiang Dalong blinked in disbelief.
He thought he was going to be turned away!
I didn't expect Su Feng to agree so readily...
“That’s natural… but I have a condition.” Su Feng smiled meaningfully.
"Alright, alright! As long as Young Master Su agrees, any condition will do!"
Seeing Jiang Dalong so excited, Su Feng smiled and waved his hand.
"No rush. I will find an opportunity to explain properly after this matter is resolved."
Take this opportunity to let the various warlords sit down and have a good talk, and form a united front.
This was Su Feng's real purpose in agreeing to the matter.
"Oh right, I need to go and tell Miss Annie!" Jiang Dalong suddenly stood up.
This surprised Su Feng somewhat. "Is Miss Annie in Renjia Town?"
"Yeah, this girl just won't stay home no matter what, she insists on coming here, and I can't do anything about it," Jiang Dalong shrugged and said.
He didn't help Annie entirely out of his friendship with Wang Sanyang.
To put it bluntly, they're just after the Wang family's vast fortune!
Jewelry, jade, porcelain... this is a fortune that cannot be estimated.
The reason I'm helping with this investigation is to find out for myself whether Wang Sanyang is alive or dead... If he's really dead, then I'll have the chance to swallow up that mountain of gold and silver all by myself.
"Is that so? Then I'll go with you."
Su Feng smiled thoughtfully, spoke up, nodded to Uncle Jiu, and then got up to leave with Jiang Dalong.
He saw through the situation but chose not to say anything, opting to remain a bystander.
……
Since the destination was the Marshal Xu's mansion, it was inconvenient to bring too many people on the trip.
Therefore, it was not appropriate for Uncle Nine and his disciples to participate in this trip.
After saying goodbye to the others, Su Feng followed Jiang Dalong to the inn where Annie was staying.
A small, unpretentious shop.
As soon as I stepped into the inn, I saw Annie sitting in the hall with a worried look on her face.
With her father missing and no word from him, she had no time to stay upstairs and waited for news in the hall.
Annie was slightly surprised to see Jiang Dalong approaching, followed by Su Feng.
But her family matters were more important at that moment, so she quickly got up and went forward.
"General, how is it? Have you found out their whereabouts?"
She assumed that Jiang Dalong had come to Renjia Town because he knew some inside information.
Jiang Dalong shook his head, "Not yet. I came here purely to ask Young Master Su for help."
"Miss Annie, we meet again." Su Feng greeted her casually.
Anne nodded awkwardly.