Chapter 22: Can Foreign Money Be Earned?

  Outside the house door, three big men stared at each other.

  First, they were talking, then there was an eerie silence, and after a moment, screams were heard, followed by a series of... I don't know how to put it, what is the relationship between this man and woman?

  One shouted and killed, one came over at midnight to save people.

  Don't understand, don't understand.

  The doctor smiled and left first, the old shopkeeper saw that everything was normal downstairs, gestured to several apprentices to carefully check and hide in the corner to smoke, Shen Shu-kai simply patted his forehead, hoping to faint.

  The couple in the room were also stunned, the girl rummaged around for her revolver everywhere, while Yang Qiu stared at the spotlessly white... place and couldn't say a word.

  This is all a misunderstanding!

  Yang Qiu's heart almost stopped because he forgot that it was now the Qing dynasty. The undergarments of this era were called huī yī and huī kù, with the latter resembling modern loose-fitting pants, although there were also shorter versions. However, the person on the bed was clearly... conservative, wearing a pair that reached almost to his knees. He hadn't noticed earlier when he tore them open that they had two layers, and he had used too much force!

  In the flurry, Yang Qiu suddenly remembered a joke from later generations. It said that when a hotel service staff saw a female guest changing clothes, they would deliberately call out to the guest's husband to make him feel less awkward. So, Yang Qiu simply didn't care and picked up the fallen wooden stick, stuffed it back into the girl's mouth, saying: "Don't make noise, I'm treating your injury."

  Miao Luo, who had been searching for half a day and didn't see the gun under the pillow, knew he was cheated again. Before he could even find him to settle the score, his mouth was brutally covered again, and he was bullied so loudly that he almost forgot about the pain. Suddenly, a pair of beautiful eyes stared intently at Yang Qiu, who was carefully using tweezers to open up the flesh and search for bullets, but for some reason, she didn't dare cover it up... there.

  A strange scene appeared in the room, and the girl was still naked like this, her bright red eyes seemed to be staring at people fiercely. The man, on the other hand, focused on the operation, without even moving his eyes, concentrating on finding that troublesome bullet head.

  Time passed minute by minute, second by second, and the pain gradually made Miao Luo forget about shame. Just as the wooden stick in his small mouth was about to be bitten into pieces, he heard a long sigh. Yang Qiu straightened up, raised the tweezers, shook off the bullet head on top, wiped away sweat and said: "It's all right, it's all right."

  Seeing the bloody bullet head, and hearing that it's nothing, Miao Luo's heart relaxed, but before he could thank him, a severe tearing pain like a tidal wave enveloped his entire body, and he fainted again.

  After treating her wound, he saw that the small wooden stick wrapped in cloth in her mouth had been bitten off. Yang Qiu couldn't help but secretly admire this rare heroic girl of this era.

  Yang Qiu re-bandaged the wound with gauze, and then, resisting temptation, carefully helped her adjust her pants before he finally left the room. Outside the window, it had started raining at some point, the sky was a mess, and the grandfather clock in the corner told him that he had stayed for almost an entire night.

  In the room behind her back, beautiful eyes flickered a few times, small hands tightly wrapped the quilt on Yang Qiu's bed, and strings of tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

  "Thank you, Mr. Shen, for your timely rescue, but I have something important to attend to today and must return immediately, so..."

  "Master Biao can rest assured and go to his post, I just need to stay here for a few more days. We will also take good care of Miss Miao until she recovers." Shentu Kui knew that Yang Qiu was going to take up his post today, so he didn't linger and asked the old shopkeeper to find two wet nurses to take care of her.

  Hearing that Shen Shu Kai had already made thorough arrangements, Yang Qiu couldn't help but ask out of curiosity: "Thank you, Mr. Shen, for your righteous assistance, but there is one thing I don't understand - why do you want to help me?"

  Shen Shukai smiled slightly and immediately gestured to take out a small package, handing it to Yang Qiu, saying: "This time I came on behalf of He Shengyuan to apologize to you, sir."

  "Make amends?"

  When he saw Yang Qiu's puzzled face, Shen Shukai hastily explained the reason.

  After the Chengdu incident, Yang Qiusheng's promotion and reward from the imperial court spread throughout the country. Shen Shukai was restless after receiving the news, because if Yang Qiu was still a logistics officer, he would not be afraid of He Shuangyuan's current prestige, but Yang Qiu had been promoted, not only awarded the title of Batu Lu, but also inexplicably became the commander of the 42nd banner.

  These days, no matter how big or small the deal is, what's most feared are those with guns, especially military officers. Thinking back to when Yang Qiu almost got killed on the streets because of a leak in his own store, Shen Shukai knew he was in trouble. After all, the 42nd division was in charge of Hankou, and the Hankou branch was one of the five major branches of He Sheng Yuan, with hundreds of millions coming in and out every month. Not to mention if it got smashed, even if Yang Qiu just hinted at it, there would probably be no good outcome.

  So he rushed from Shanghai to Wuchang, and also asked the old shopkeeper to come to Wuchang, preparing a thick gift to wait on the road for Yang Qiu's return to camp, ready to intercept and apologize, but unexpectedly saw what had just happened by mistake, and unexpectedly saved Miao Luo.

  After listening to Shen Shukai's account, Yang Qiu was also bewildered. The confused official encountered a confusing situation. It turned out that the other party had come specifically to apologize and hurriedly said: "Mr. Shen doesn't need to mind, the Chengdu matter was also my fault! If I really want to thank you, it should be me thanking you instead. If it wasn't for the coincidence of establishing merit, there wouldn't be me today."

  "That's because you, sir, have good fortune. I, Shen Shu-kai, dare not take credit for it." Not disappointing as the manager of He Sheng Yuan, he pushed the burden to Yang Qiu and said: "No matter what, Yang Bao-tong is here because something happened at He Sheng Yuan, so I specially brought a humble gift. You must accept it, otherwise, you would be looking down on me."

  Without hesitation, Shen Shukai opened the package and continued: "There are 50,000 taels of silver inside. This house has also been purchased and transferred to your name. Moreover, I have already arranged for Dong Zhanggui to be transferred to the Hankou branch. Please give me any instructions you may have."

  Yang Qiu didn't expect that the familiar name Shen Shu Kai would actually offer 50,000 taels at once, and even handed over the house and people to himself. The magnitude of his generosity was clearly not that of an ordinary person, so he hastily asked: "Mr. Shen, I've always felt that your name is familiar, but I just can't seem to recall it."

  Shen Shukai didn't think that Yang Qiu had also heard of him, and he couldn't help but feel a little proud in his heart. He smiled and said: "Hehe, it's just that I opened a branch in Japan, I didn't expect it to reach the ears of adults like you, it's really embarrassing, embarrassing."

  "Japan divided? Harmony is primary, declare the tree's name!"

  After connecting several pieces of information, Yang Qiu finally remembered where he had seen this guy before. If there were a few businessmen in the late Qing dynasty who couldn't be avoided, then this person would definitely be among them. It was his tireless efforts that made Shanxi merchants go abroad for the first time and open ticketing offices in Japan and Southeast Asia. If it weren't for the warlords fighting each other after the Xinhai Revolution, and the ticketing offices becoming a fat piece of meat to be divided up and devoured, he might have really been able to create a new world.

  "So you are the famous Mr. Shen. No wonder I've heard of you." After realizing who the person in front of her was, Yang Qiu's thoughts suddenly became more active.

  Because of his awkward identity, he has been wanting to find a partner outside the army, but unexpectedly, not only did he get one now, but also an extremely formidable guy! Moreover, judging from the other's expression, if he didn't accept this money, they probably wouldn't truly let their guard down. So, instead of refusing this small fortune, he grasped the bundle and said: "Since it's Mr. Shen's kind intention, I won't be polite either. However, taking such a large sum of money makes me feel embarrassed, so there's an opportunity to make a fortune here - does Mr. Shen have any interest?"

  "Oh? I didn't expect Lord Yang to be a fellow practitioner as well, what kind of business is it?"

  Looking at Shen Shu-kai's expression, Yang Qiu knew that he took his words as a courtesy, but he didn't get angry either. After all, it was only the first meeting, and smiled: "The two greatest treasures in the world, doesn't Mr. want to take them?"

  "Two taels of silver? Shen Shu-kai muttered to himself, then his face suddenly changed and he stood up with a bow: "General Biao, although I love money, I would never engage in the despicable business of selling opium, harming countless people!"

  "This guy reacts really fast!" Yang Qiu secretly admired, no wonder he was able to dominate the late Qing market, and hurriedly said: "Mr. Shen, you don't believe me that much? And......" Yang Qiu looked at himself and smiled: "Do I look like a bad person?"

  "Isn't it tobacco? Is it possible that you, sir, want to...?"

  Yang Qiu didn't say anything, picked up his luggage and said: "Mr. Shen, forgive me for speaking directly, is it a big business? To be honest, I'm not sure myself, but I can guarantee that we'll make money, and it's foreign money, at least... fifty million US dollars! It's just that today I really have something important to attend to, if you're willing, why don't you wait for me here for a few days?"

  "Five hundred thousand dollars! That's a full one million taels!"

  Shen Shukai had already become somewhat interested when he heard that he could earn foreign money, and now hearing that there was so much of it, he was immediately attracted to it. However, he also knew that Yang Qiu was going to formally take over the 42nd banner today, so he cupped his hands and said: "Sir, you can rest assured and go ahead, Shukai will wait here for your good news."

  "Alright, I'll be back in seven days at most. Then we can have a detailed discussion with Mr. He." Yang Qiu also didn't waste any words, grabbed his bundle and turned to look towards the hazy and rainy Hankou.

  Maybe that's where dreams begin!