Chapter 72: Broken Throat

  Before long, the sound of horseshoes came from outside, and then Ji Rufeng walked in with three packs of Chinese medicine, followed by Zhao Tieshan, who was still holding a silver ingot.

  A Fu took over the medicine and said, "I'll go decoct the medicine."

  Nie Lingdang on the bed, although her head was dizzy and her body ached, but hearing Song Kai's words so lightly, she was no longer afraid.

  "This bill... the cost of medicine, needs to be reimbursed by Song Kai," Nie Lingdang said when he was seriously ill and still remembered to ask for reimbursement. "Seasoned grandfather, is the cost of medicine expensive?"

  Ji Rufeng's face was strange, first shaking his head and then nodding.

  Nie Ling Tong saw Ji Rufeng's expression and sighed, "Could it be that Hui Chun Tang is too deceitful, scaring you, Master Ji, out of your wits?"

  Ji smiled wryly and looked at Song Kai with a strange expression, "This medicine... doesn't require payment."

  "Huh?" Nie Lingdang was taken aback, then thought of it and said: "It seems that Sun Niangzi gave a free pass because of Song Kai's face."

  "It's not that, it's just that the one who received us was a woman named Sun Niangzi. But after she saw the prescription, not only did she not ask for any money, but she also gave us two taels of silver thread, saying that this prescription had taught her something, and that we were very generous... I was also confused by that woman," Ji Rufeng stared at Song Kai, "Song Lang, is this prescription a secret family recipe?"

  Song Kai woke up and realized that it was Sun Niangzi who had seen the prescription he created, gave two taels of silver to buy it, he smiled slightly, didn't say a word, and secretly sighed in his heart, this era's medical books are really too poor, if it were later generations, there would be secret prescriptions everywhere, three yuan could buy a whole book at a roadside stall.

  The young woman's big eyes were also looking at Song Kai, "Lang Jun, wasn't that talisman just casually written by you?"

  Song Kai waved his hand, "I'll explain it to you in detail later, wait for the medicine to be ready and drink it while it's warm, then cover yourself with a blanket to sweat."

  Not long after, Ah Fu brought a bowl of medicine and walked over. After taking the medicine, he covered himself with two quilts and fell asleep.

  In the afternoon, Nie Ling Tong opened his eyes, exercised his muscles and bones, feeling refreshed and relaxed, with only a slight dizziness in his head, but his body was much clearer.

  He walked down from the bed, went out of the door and arrived at the backyard, where Song Kai was talking with Ah Fu.

  "It won't be long before the number of mahjong tiles increases. Instead of buying them cheaply from the black market manufacturers, why don't we make and sell them ourselves?" Song Kai sat on a stone, stretching out to Ah Fu: "You contact that carpenter again, let him find some people, within five days, make as many mahjong tiles as possible, the key is to have our Red Dust Inn's logo on it. The selling price of these mahjong tiles can be lower than the black market, but most importantly, we need to print our Red Dust Inn's logo on the tiles so that players will remember."

  A Fu nodded, his nose almost dripping over his lips.

  "And also, keep it confidential. Pay attention to this for the next few days and don't let anyone take the Mahjong out of Hongchen Inn. Try to delay the appearance of pirated Mahjong as much as possible," Song Kai reminded.

  "But... Dalang, if we sell the Mahjong, won't it affect our inn's business? Although the rooms were bombed recently, business has been booming. I think the baozi shop should be renovated and turned into a wine house, connected to our Red Dust Inn. This way, more customers can come." Ah Fu also started worrying about the store's affairs recently.

  Song Kai nodded, "It's okay like this, but the guest house is short of reserve funds now. Let's talk about it after selling mahjong and making some money. As for affecting the business of the guest house, even if we don't sell mahjong ourselves, the black market will spread mahjong soon. Running a guest house relies not on mahjong, but on service and taste." Song Kai stood up, "Alright, Fu Bo, you can go now. I'll take care of the shop today and be the boss."

  Nie Ling Tong crossed her arms over her chest, staring at Song Kai. Seeing Ah Fu leave, she coughed and said, "Song Kai."

  Song Kai turned his head and looked at Nie Lingdang's face, smiling: "Better now?"

  "Hmm," Nie Ling Tong smiled, his eyes sizing up Song Kai from head to toe, his eyeballs rolling around rapidly.

  Song Kai made a shy face, "What do you want? Why are you staring at me with such fervent admiration?"

  Nie Ling's hands were behind her back, her chest slightly puffed out, with a hint of mischief and a dash of arrogance. "I'm thinking, should I... tie you up and take you to the Holy City?"

  Nie Ling Tong walked a few steps towards Song Kai with a sly smile.

  "Don't come any closer, you little thief," Song Kai backed away, shrinking his shoulders.

  "Go ahead and shout, shout until your throat is hoarse, no one will come to save you," Nie Zhong continued to move closer.

  "Ah-choo!" Song Kai let out a loud cry.

  Nie Ling Tong suddenly choked with laughter and stood on the spot, laughing loudly.

  Song Kai also stood still, staring at Nie Zhongzheng, watching her laugh non-stop.

  The laughter stopped, and Nie Lingdang felt a little lost. "Song Kai, I wasn't joking just now. If we go to the Holy City..."

  "If you go to the holy city, will you marry me?" Song Kai suddenly said.

  "What the...? You bastard, what are you talking about?! I'm saying... uh, let's go to Holy City, we're still good friends," Nie Lingdang said with a red face, but didn't back down, bravely looking into Song Kai's eyes.

  Song Kai shook his head, "Ling Dang, I want to stay, and I think we can meet often, only next time we meet, I'll be Boss Song, you'll be Boss Nie."

  "Boss?" Nie Lingdang stared at Song Kai.

  "Yes, boss is someone who can make decisions," Song Kai pulled Nie Zhongtang to sit down, "Next thing, I need your help, Zhongtang."

  "Oh? What does Mr. Song need me to do?" Nie Lingdang's interest was piqued.

  Song Kai didn't take Nie Lingdang's joke seriously and said solemnly, "I need a lot of money, not just for myself. Although the Hongchen Inn is currently doing well, but relying on just one inn, the money earned is far from enough. So, I want to do business and trade with your Western Regions, Tujue Country, and other countries."

  "Are you really determined to take the Silk Road?" Nie Lingdang hesitated, "Now, that place is very unsafe. To be honest, the situation on the border is not optimistic. In the past, the Tang army marched far away and had the protection of the Duhu Fu, our Turkic country was once subordinate, and the Tang merchants were relatively safe. But now, that place has been controlled by Arabs wearing turbans, and it's very unsafe to trade with them."

  Song Kai nodded, "I may not be entirely clear about the situation, but I also know it's a difficult spot, which is why I wanted to ask for your help. For now, don't go far away, and with your Sacred City as the center, do some trading in the surrounding areas. And I think my merchant team's strength is absolutely top-notch."

  Nie Lingdang nodded, "This is also okay, the Sacred City has me to take care of it, and I don't think there will be any major mistakes. However, once you leave the Turkic country, it's within the control range of the Great Food Country, which is very dangerous."

  "Hmm, I'll need your advice at that time. Apart from silk and porcelain, I think we should also trade paper and Buddhist scriptures. What do you think?" Song Kai wasn't very clear about the situation in the Western Regions, so he asked Nie Lingdang.

  Nie Ling Tong thought for a moment, "The classics are naturally very popular, but the cost is too high, and not many people will buy them."

  Song Kai thought for a moment and said, "The cost issue is okay, after the tea garden side stabilizes, I plan to experiment with papermaking and printing, try to reduce some costs. As for printing, I have a good idea for movable type printing, which can greatly reduce printing costs. The key is still commerce, so this time you'll go back to Sheng City with my merchant team and help set up your own station there, how about it?"

  "Great!" Nie Ling Tong finally cheered up. It turned out that this separation was not a permanent goodbye. "With me around, you can rest assured."

  "Uh, when the time comes, let Ah Fu follow you. This trade route is very important to me and must be handled by someone I absolutely trust. You two settle down over there, and in the future, this route will be filled with gold." Song Kai smiled slyly.

  Nie Lin burst out laughing, "If you go to Holy City, it will be more convenient."

  "Uh-huh," Song Kai nodded, "When Uncle Fu comes back, the two of us will go take a look at the tea garden. Once Taihu Gang is pacified, I'll immediately prepare for business matters..."

  In the afternoon, Song Kai and Nie Ling Tong took Ji Rufeng out of Hongchen Inn and prepared to take a boat to Taihu Tea Garden to check on the situation.

  Qingniang stayed at the inn, following Ah Fu to learn some daily business things. Song Kai was cultivating Qingniang as his best assistant, after all, this girl was clever and a good helper.

  Song Kai and the three of them boarded the awning boat, where there were two green-clad guards on board. These were subordinates of Zhou Ce, which was a form of protection. After all, Song Kai was now also an important general under Xue Weihai's command, shouldering heavy financial responsibilities, so he naturally had to be protected.

  The awning boat swayed along the river towards Taihu outside the city.

  Not long after the boat left, a man walked out from under the willow trees by the shore.

  The man stared in the direction of the departing awning boat, let out a cold laugh, then lowered his head and hurried along, soon entering a small teahouse.

  In the backyard of the teahouse, a young man who looked like a servant was brewing tea.

  "What's going on?" asked the shopkeeper as the man came in.

  "They've gone, taking the water route, probably to the tea garden to meet with the Taihu gang," the man sneered, "They think they're safe just because Yang Zongguan is dead, humph, our Blood Hand Gang will never let them continue to live."

  The little servant-like man took out a small piece of paper, wrote a few words on it, grabbed a carrier pigeon, tied it up, and with both hands, threw it. The carrier pigeon quickly flew in the direction of Taihu Lake.

  "After Taihu Gang killed them, how can we fulfill our promise?" The little second rubbed his head, "Now we don't even have the ability to rescue them."

  "Hmph, what's the point of thinking so much? In short, killing these two will avenge my Blood Hand Gang," the man said coldly. "As for that group of fools from Taihu Gang, they're just a bunch of fishing thugs, it's easy to play with them."

  Just as they were talking, the door of the teahouse in front was suddenly smashed open and more than a dozen soldiers carrying Tang knives rushed in.

  "It's them, take them away! Take them back for interrogation!" A small leader looked down at the intelligence in his hand and pointed at Xiao Er and Hanzi loudly, "The higher-ups have given orders, not a single person from the Blood Hand Group is to be spared..."