Chapter 163 - Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix (2 more updates, asking for monthly votes!)

The slip was too small.Three days, three silver, search for a person.

The kind that if the subordinates dared to bring it in front of him without getting slapped a few times would be considered lucky, how could it possibly be approved.

What’s terrible is that no one anticipated that this Diao Ruru, a woman who only had enough to pay three silver to find her elder brother, would have such a rebellious younger brother of the tenth rank?

How can this be happening?

You have a rank ten brother to back you up and you bring out just three silver to deceive people?

A rank ten’s basic monthly salary is thirty silver, not to mention various under-the-table incomes.

Even if your brother is not doing well, as your biological sister, could the money ever be less?

Shopkeeper didn’t understand.

Either the rank ten is to the extreme selfish and self-serving, not giving a dime to his sister.

Or this second elder sister has a bad relationship with her older brother, and didn’t really want to find anyone.

But looking at the current situation, neither seems to match.

So... what’s the situation?

Shopkeeper carefully looked at the two.

"Um... Sir rank ten, the bill has been settled."

"Settled?"

Fang Yu slapped the table hard.

"Look at it yourself, what is the final conclusion?"

Shopkeeper glanced over.

’Checked Ten Directions Tea House, covertly visited Guangyuan Inn, stopped at Peony Workshop.’

’Target status, life or death unknown.’

’For route details and investigation process details, please first pay an additional deposit of 30 silver.’

’The shop will deduct the subsequent cost proportionally, refunding any excess and providing additional investigative services. This term is strictly non-creditable.’

Shopkeeper:...

Shopkeeper showed an awkward expression.

This is a common tactic of the Detective Workshop.

Simply put, it’s used for fishing.

Whether alive or dead, definitely cannot say.

The route could be mentioned.

But detailed results of the investigation, interrogation content, etc., all require additional payment.

The core message... more money needed.

This tactic, is specially set for the poor.

Drain their money, then indefinitely delay the case and that’s it.

A rather low-level method, but extremely effective.

For clients with few resources, these tactics are used to lure them, forcing them to figure out ways to gather money to search for people.

If it’s a wealthy client, of course, it’s a different playbook, not so down and dirty.

As for how much of the investigation result is true or false.

As a shopkeeper, he couldn’t tell either.

After all, who actually carries out these assignments are the subordinates.

The extent it can be done depends only on the executor’s conscience.

If you’re willing to hustle, you can do a real investigation.

Fake reports, that’s fine too.

After all, the shop does not care, as long as the money is collected in the end.

For such small assignments, the shop grants a high degree of flexibility and freedom.

Thinking it over, the shopkeeper said,

"Three days, it’s really a bit rushed..."

Fang Yu sneered.

"Three silver is not a small amount. Once money is given, the task should be done."

Fang Yu could see that this was just forcing the second elder sister to continue spending money.

It’s lucky that the second sister highly values her family, and not senseless.

Discussing this with him, Fang Yu immediately brought people to smash the place.

His request was not high.

Just clearly state the investigation results in the slip.

Whether to spend more money on finding someone would depend on the actual situation.

Shopkeeper wanted to argue, that’s the rule here.

But seeing Fang Yu’s pressing demeanor.

The shopkeeper truly feared that as soon as he opened his mouth, someone would stab a sword into his mouth and out the back of his head.

For the sake of his life, he quickly waved to Zhang Chenchen.

"Go call Xiao Huang over."

The shopkeeper had seen it clearly.

Among so many people in the shop, only this newcomer was clever, the rest were all good-for-nothings, utterly useless!

Bullying ordinary people on a usual day wouldn’t show it.

Today, we encountered a tough nut to crack; not one reliable person around.

Zhang Chenchen quickly went upstairs.

Then she discovered that at the corner of the corridor on the second floor, quite a few people were gathered.

Seeing someone come upstairs, the group exchanged glances.

It turned out they had heard the commotion downstairs earlier but nobody dared to go down and see what was happening.

Now seeing Zhang Chenchen, they all started gossiping and asking questions.

"Newbie, what’s happening downstairs?"

"I heard the Foolish Underworld is handling a case? Is there a demon involved?"

"Is the Shopkeeper okay? We haven’t settled this month’s salary yet."

Zhang Chenchen was momentarily speechless.

These people had even less loyalty to the shop than her, who had just joined.

She shouted twice, asking who Xiao Huang was.

Soon after, someone pointed out that Xiao Huang was in the next private room entertaining guests.

Though called a "private room," it was just a small compartment; the second floor never entertained any wealthy clients.

Xiao Huang’s role was just an ordinary investigator. He wasn’t qualified to serve higher-tier clients.

When Zhang Chenchen barged into the private room, both Xiao Huang and the guest were baffled.

"Come with me! The Shopkeeper needs you urgently!"

Using the Shopkeeper’s name naturally left Xiao Huang with no objections.

She led the person downstairs.

Xiao Huang, seeing so many people, awkwardly stood beside the Shopkeeper.

"Shopkeeper, what’s the matter?" Xiao Huang nervously asked.

"Nothing much, just share the investigation results of this order with Lord Shi."

The word "Lord" was heavily stressed by the Shopkeeper, indicating to Xiao Huang the seriousness of the matter.

But...

"Eh? Didn’t our team leader say we need to charge extra for this? They wouldn’t let me record it in the documents without additional fees..."

Xiao Huang felt two burning gazes; those were the Shopkeeper’s eyes.

The Shopkeeper gritted his teeth and said,

"When I tell you to speak, just speak!"

No tact!

Can’t you see what situation we’re in now?

Is my shop really filled with useless people apart from that Zhang Chenchen!

The Shopkeeper felt that if this matter could be resolved smoothly, he must recruit some clever people to work with him in the future. Otherwise, there’d be nobody to even provide cover in a pinch!

"Yes..."

"Three taels of Silver covers three days of investigation."

"I started investigating from Diao Ruonian’s Ten Directions Tea House."

"But strangely, the staff at the Tea House were very wary, unwilling to divulge extra information to outsiders."

"At the time, I suspected that the Tea House people might have harmed Diao Ruonian and disposed of the body."

"However, as the investigation deepened, I found that the Tea House people still had a decent impression of Diao Ruonian; although unwilling to reveal more, they did express much regret over his disappearance in casual conversations."

"Since there seemed to be no conflict among colleagues, and nothing else could be elicited, I inquired about the Tea House’s operations during the days Diao Ruonian went missing."

"One detail caught my attention."

"Some said that during those days, there was little activity, and there was a shortage of tea leaves, all were waiting for new supplies. The Shopkeeper even asked the workers to help fetch goods from the inn, but there were few respondents."

"The Diao family probably aren’t wealthy; Diao Ruonian might have taken on the task hoping to earn more."

"So, the next day I went to investigate the inn closest to the Tea House."

"After checking three inns, I finally heard from the inn people that Guangyuan Inn has a special storage for difficult-to-preserve yet valuable goods like tea leaves, possibly cooperating with the Ten Directions Tea House."

"Investigating Guangyuan Inn, it was already the third day."

"Guangyuan Inn, backed by powerful support, not only had everyone tight-lipped, but also patrol teams shooing people away."

"It was almost nightfall after all the trouble before I managed to dig up some information. The owner of the Peony Workshop seemed to have a good relationship with the owner of Guangyuan Inn."

"This was a promising direction for the investigation, but since the employer didn’t provide additional inputs, I stopped the investigation."

Saying this, Xiao Huang had a hint of regret.

He seemed to have developed a bit of interest in the matter too.

It felt like an intricate and secretive story.

While next to Xiao Huang, the crowd was gaping with their mouths open.

The Shopkeeper was shocked.

Stunned.

Who are these people?

Are these my subordinates?

When did I hire such a capable worker?

Was Xiao Huang always this clever?

How come I had no idea? No feeling of it at all? Didn’t notice it even a little?

Aren’t my subordinates supposed to be nothing but good-for-nothing scammers?

Zhang Chenchen was also bewildered; were there hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the shop?

With me being a hidden dragon, could it be that Xiao Huang is also a rising star?