Midnight Blood Case

  Liu Yuan's heart rose with a warm feeling.

  These days of crossing over, Liu Yuan knew early on that this pretty little junior sister in front of him had a crush on himself, but only when no one was around did she reveal it.

  It's obvious that a girl often smiles at you for no reason, and from time to time secretly looks at your every move, especially during meals when the other apprentices only have a bowl of plain rice and a few green vegetables, while Liu Yuan's bowl of plain rice underneath often hides big fish and meat as well as all sorts of good things that only the master and his wife can enjoy.

  That mind's eye is quite extraordinary.

  Often, Yuan Fugui would frown while eating and say: "Hey, little wife, where are the chicken legs? Little wife, why is there so little meat?" The little wife would coquettishly reply that I ate first because my stomach was growling.

  Every time Yuan Zhanggu says that there is a shortage, Liu Yuan will subconsciously lightly scrape the rice with his chopsticks, and eight or nine out of ten delicious foods are buried at the bottom of his bowl.

  The hardest thing to bear is the kindness of a beautiful woman.

  "Junior sister," Liu Yuan softly called out.

  The little girl's mouth twitched slightly, and she said somewhat unhappily, "Wooden head, call me by my nickname."

  In ancient times, a woman's nickname was only called by very intimate people, such as her parents and husband. Otherwise, it would be considered impolite and flirtatious, which could lead to gossip or even official trouble. Now that the young lady is taking the initiative to show affection, what more can be said about her intentions?

  To be honest, the young lady is absolutely a flower in bud, delicate and elegant in appearance, slender and graceful in figure. Within three years, she will definitely become a renowned beauty in Yangzhou. As for Liu Yuan's current body, although he looks quite good, he can't be described as stunningly handsome, but rather has a clear and bright complexion, which is just above average. If he were to pursue the young lady, even if he lined up on nine streets, it would still not be his turn.

  In the memories left in this body, it seems that there was once a time when Little Girl went out and was chased by a mad big vicious dog, which pounced on her and was about to bite her delicate little face. At the most critical moment, the original "Liu Yuan" rushed out, knocked down the big vicious dog, pinned it to death with all his might, crying and shouting loudly for Little Girl to run quickly, almost getting bitten by the dog himself. Unexpectedly, just as he was about to be bitten, the dog foamed at the mouth and died.

  The big dog had inadvertently eaten rat poison and died of poisoning after a violent outburst at the critical moment.

  The dog is dead, but the feeling remains. The girl has a special affection for that heroic rescue, especially when it's herself being rescued. Just like that, a beautiful woman was pushed into Liu Yuan's arms.

  Luckily, I got a master who is mediocre in skills but has a bad temper. Fortunately, there's a beautiful female apprentice by my side to make up for it.

  There's a beautiful woman delivered right to his doorstep, Liu Yuan wouldn't be so foolish as to push her away. As the saying goes, "A gentle and elegant lady is what a gentleman desires."

  "Little girl." Liu Yuan called out gently.

  "Uh-huh." The little girl responded happily.

  Before, this senior brother was like a wooden stake, being both respectful and fearful of himself, as if he was playing with himself just to secretly take the meat dishes he had snuck for himself. Now it's much better, occasionally he would also use that fiery gaze to look at me, making my little heart skip a beat uncontrollably.

  She didn't know that the Liu brother in front of her had already become someone else.

  "Senior brother, please apologize to Zhao senior brother for me. My father was a bit overboard today." The young girl said softly.

  Having such a father, even a young lady can't help it.

  Liu Yuan shook his head and said: "This, this is a bit difficult."

  Yuan Zhanggui's bad temper wasn't something that developed overnight. From the day the three of them became apprentices, it was all about beatings and scoldings. If they had said that enduring it would allow them to learn real skills and make a lot of money in the future, then so be it - getting beaten could be considered paying tuition fees. However, after entering the trade, they realized that Yuan Zhanggui's craftsmanship was only mediocre.

  Eating poorly, sleeping poorly, not hitting or scolding, and taking apprentices as a venting outlet. The most miserable thing is that the future is also uncertain. According to Liu Yuan's knowledge, Zhao Yuan and Li Fang have been thinking about it since early morning, whether to follow someone else or change careers, wanting to leave is not just one or two days.

  The young woman is kind-hearted and doesn't want discord in the shop; she understands that harmony brings wealth.

  "Big brother, just help out, you three usually eat and live together, there must be a lot to talk about."

  Liu Yuanyu said with a sullen face: "Little girl, it's not that I don't want to help, but usually those two are in cahoots, they never involve me in anything, our relationship isn't very good, we don't talk much, and when there is something, they don't tell me either, communication is a bit difficult."

  "What's going on with this and that?" The young woman felt a bit depressed.

  Seeing Xiao Niang's gloomy expression, Liu Yuan's heart softened and he comforted her with a smile: "Alright, alright, my little wife has the kindest heart. Tonight I'll talk to Zhao Shixiong about it and tell him not to take it to heart."

  "Hmm..." The little girl's brow suddenly relaxed, and with a smile in her eyes, she said: "Thank you, Brother Shifu ~~"

  Looking at Xiaomei's beautiful and lovely appearance, Liu Yuan rubbed his hands together and chuckled: "Well, my little wife, how do you plan to thank me?"

  That way, it was just like a big grey wolf staring at a small sheep. She gazed at the "shy" spot, her face turned red, and she gave Liu Yuan a white eye before quickly walking away.

  "Senior brother~~you're so bad~~" could still be heard from afar.

  Bad? Where's bad? You haven't seen the bad side of me yet.

  Liu Yuan wanted to tease her a bit, but the little girl had already run away with a red face early on.

  She is really a shy girl.

  Li Fang helped Zhao Yuan go to rest and recover from his injuries, while Yuan Zhang returned to the back room to drink tea. The young woman was also teased away by Liu Yuan, leaving only Liu Yuan alone guarding the large gold shop.

  The Jin Yu Shi Jia store has over 30 square meters of space, which is considered medium-sized in Yangzhou. If it were a well-known store, at least five or six people would be needed to attend to customers carefully, busy to the point of sweating profusely, just like next door's Jin Yu Zhai, which has more than a dozen apprentices and even hired several shop assistants to help with business, each one busy to the point of not having time to wipe their sweat.

  The Yu family's golden mansion was eerily quiet, so much so that one could hear a pin drop.

  Liu Yuan couldn't help but shake his head as he looked down at the styles and craftsmanship in the cabinet.

  Doing business, credit, quality and innovation are the capital of success. The styles here are old and outdated. Take that gold hairpin for example, it has too many impurities, the gold is dull and not shiny, it looks like a kind of dark matte finish, and it's neither sandblasted nor electroplated or polished. The first impression is already not high-end, and the craftsmanship is not fine enough, the style is also very outdated. With these things, how can you attract business?

  It's just coaxing those unsophisticated rural people.

  At this level, Liu Yuan was better at it after just a month of starting out in his past life, so every time Yuan Fugui said he had decades of experience in the trade, Liu Yuan couldn't help but feel a cold sneer.

  Making jewelry processing, this kind of work requires a high level of skill and craftsmanship. At the very least, one must have sharp eyesight, deft hands, a clear mind, stable hands, agile fingers, high stability, and coordinated hand and wrist strength. Only when one's eyes, heart, and hands are all fully engaged can they be considered an excellent jewelry processing technician.

  Because people's fingers are most flexible between the ages of 13 and 18, once they reach around 20 years old, their bones have already formed, and their hands become clumsy, making it very difficult to learn.

  Yuan Fugui is clearly a type of person who relies on hard work and determination to get by, without much natural talent or skill. He has some business acumen and is willing to take risks.

  Liu Yuan had been guarding the counter for half a day, and he only sold two silver buttons, a silver candle holder, and a gold hairpin of average craftsmanship. The money he earned was pitifully small, and Liu Yuan couldn't help but shake his head after calculating it.

  The money I earned today is still not enough for rent.

  If there hadn't been a major change, the downfall of the Jin Yu family would have happened sooner or later.

  Although he had gotten along well with the little girl, Liu Yuan was not ready to take action rashly. Firstly, he had suddenly become powerful and didn't know if others would think of him as a monster and burn or drown him. Secondly, since he had just arrived in this world, there were many things he still didn't understand, and many matters needed careful consideration before acting.

  After dinner, Liu Yuan washed up and returned to the room, only to find Zhao Yuan and Li Fang both inside. They seemed to be discussing something, but as soon as they saw Liu Yuan enter, they immediately fell silent.

  "Zhang Shixiong, are your injuries okay?" Liu Yuan asked with concern.

  Living under the same roof, it's also good to get along with each other.

  "It's much better now, thank you, young master." Zhao Yuan said calmly.

  The relationship between the two had always been lukewarm, in modern terms, it was like they couldn't even be bothered to pee in the same pot.

  As soon as Zhao Yuan spoke those words, Liu Yuan knew that his own words were in vain.

  Li Fang somewhat embarrassingly said: "Xiao Yuan, today I'm having you watch the store alone, sorry about that."

  "It's okay, Master and Sister are going shopping, you also need to help Zhao Brother with wound care and medication, and cook meals too. You're working hard as well. Anyway, I can take care of myself, don't worry."

  Zhao Yuan said in a low, eerie tone: "Of course, our Jin Yu Shi family's business is well-known on Golden Water Street. Who doesn't know? It's just cheating those ignorant country bumpkins, heh heh... Future prospects? What a joke!"

  He had originally wanted to persuade him a bit more, but upon hearing Zhao Yuan say this, Liu Yuan knew that the ice was three feet thick and not formed in a day. His hatred for Yuan Zhang wasn't something that developed overnight, and now he was at his most angry, the more he spoke, the angrier he became.

  If it were me, if there wasn't a young woman around, I'd be afraid of being seen through myself, and would have left with a flick of my butt, why would I still be here suffering this kind of treatment.

  Li Fang was still quite good to Liu Yuan, he hesitated for a moment, walked up to Liu Yuan and said: "Liu Shidi, we..."

  "Xiao Fang, go to sleep, don't talk too much."

  The words had just been spoken halfway when Zhao Yuan abruptly interrupted, Li Fang seemed to be very afraid of Zhao Yuan, swallowed his throat and didn't say anything, walked to the oil lamp and gently blew out the oil lamp, the three people went to sleep separately.

  Liu Yuan felt that Li Fang had something he wanted to tell him, but Zhao Yuan wouldn't let him speak.

  No need to mention it, anyway they don't have the mood to know their own mess either.

  In the middle of the night, the Jin family's house suddenly rang out with a shrill and mournful cry "Ah......", then the young lady was heard loudly wailing: "Save me, save me, murder, murder, Father..."

  Liu Yuan hastily jumped out of bed, and didn't even bother to find a match to light the lamp or look for his shoes. He stumbled in the dark, rushing to where Xiaoniang was screaming, and was immediately shocked by the large amount of crimson blood on the ground:

  Yuan Fugui lay on the ground with a dagger stuck in his chest, his face as white as paper. The young woman was holding him and crying out in grief.

  ;