“Eight immortals cross the sea, ancient trees meet spring, nation peaceful and people secure – Miss, please come in.”

A middle-aged clerk in a neat long robe half-opened the door, exchanged passwords, and methodically made the “heaven, earth, man” hand signs with his right hand.

Lin Yuchan’s eyes lit up. She recognized these gestures – Su Minguan had used them when retreating to Haizhuang Temple that day.

Quite comprehensive in their rules!

Looking up, the “Yixing Shipping” lantern remained, but the entrance was much tidier than last time, with a hint of complete renewal. New couplets flanked the door frame, “Safe passage for all routes” signs were hung, and a Guangdong-style door god and earth god shrine had been added at the threshold.

Wait… she seemed to have seen this clerk before – wasn’t he the one who had opened the door for her last time, whom she had confronted with a few words, and who was then slapped by Boss Chu…

Same person, but no longer so greasy. He had lost considerable weight and looked much more spirited, with his temples shaved clean, appearing very neat.

The marks on his face couldn’t be erased though, and were even deeper than before, as if imprinted on his skin, adding three parts ferocity to his appearance.

Seeing her examining him, the clerk smiled awkwardly and gestured for her to enter.

“I greatly offended you last time – please don’t take it to heart, Miss. Our boss is awaiting you inside.”

Lin Yuchan looked back at the distant police station. This time, there was no money to bribe the police – she bore the risk herself.

Boss Su Minguan wore a bright long robe, sitting upright behind the counter with his legs crossed, chewing on a brush handle, with stacks of old and new account books before him. He read with concentration, occasionally adding a note or two.

Kerosene lamplight illuminated half his profile, the lines of his face sharp as if drawn, clear and powerful.

His gaze swept over columns of numbers in the ledgers, steady and stern, quite the domineering CEO style.

But as soon as he spoke, the CEO’s aura completely shattered.

“Xu Laosi, don’t throw away used charcoal – it can be used as writing material.” He glanced at a clerk in the back hall and said sternly, “Two wen is still money – if you waste it, you pay for it.”

The named clerk quickly agreed and hurried away.

Su Minguan nonchalantly looked up, uncrossed his legs, rubbed his wrists, and smiled generously.

“Miss Lin, don’t be shocked – frugality is a virtue. Please sit inside. Longjing or jasmine tea?”

Lin Yuchan followed him into the adjacent room with three parts surprise and three parts admiration.

Originally, the room where thugs smoked opium had been transformed into the essential guest tea room of Guangdong shops. The walls were freshly whitewashed, the floor re-laid, the years-old smoke smell had miraculously disappeared, and a pot of evergreen sat in the corner.

The tea table and stools were all made from old ship planks, with nail holes and carved marks remaining on the surface, giving them a weathered charm.

“There’s no proper tea set here, and I don’t want to add any.” Su Minguan set down the kettle, carefully avoiding the nail holes on the table surface as he slowly poured water into the covered bowl, asking, “A’Mei, is everything well?”

Lin Yuchan nodded, tapped her fingers in thanks, sipped the tea, and looked surprised.

“This tea isn’t cheap!”

Having worked at Defeng Trading House for so long, she was somewhat of a professional – after all, she had secretly tasted all the various teas that spilled from the shelves.

She then realized something and smiled: “You didn’t buy it.”

“Too busy to die, where would I have time to buy it?” He frankly admitted, “Every sip of this tea means one less – you’re not allowed to spill any.”

Lin Yuchan had never seen Young Master Su so stingy before. For a moment, she was amused, her eyes sparkling with laughter as she forcibly pulled down the corners of her mouth.

The guest room had a small window that let in a ray of daylight. She lightly pointed at the busy clerks outside the window and asked quietly: “Reformed and turned over a new leaf?”

Su Minguan looked at her with surprise.

“Do I look like a law-abiding citizen?”

He did. When he lifted his hand to pour tea, lowering his eyes submissively, he looked like a clean, neat, pure, good youth.

Lin Yuchan nodded and spoke truthfully: “You look especially easy to bully.”

He couldn’t hold back, biting his lips as he laughed, using the large covered bowl to hide his face.

“Can’t say reformed, just a bit more respectable than before – A’Mei, how does it look? Does it still seem like a legitimate business?”

“The best on all of the Shanghai Bund.” She praised sincerely, “I only regret not having millions in contracts to sign with you.”

He couldn’t help laughing: “Be more modest.”

“I’m sincere.”

This rainbow flattery was genuine. In just half a month, he had reformed a den of thugs so thoroughly – she couldn’t imagine how he’d done it.

He saw through her thoughts at a glance, drained his tea, and stood up.

“Tour?”

“I’d be delighted.”

She rose to follow him to the back hall – not through that hidden door, but around the small alley behind the shop. Clerks by the roadside were diligently working, repairing old ship planks.

Su Minguan called out “Excuse me,” bowed, and went over to chat quietly with the clerk, asking a few questions.

“Sorry about that,” he returned to explain, “I’m new to this business – there’s a lot I need to learn.”

He looked at her and smiled: “But it should be much better after you come…”

Lin Yuchan stopped walking and said apologetically: “I’m not here to apply for a job.”

Su Minguan’s eyes dimmed slightly, disappointment flashing briefly.

“You thought for half a month just to give me this answer?” he said. “May I presumptuously ask – what will you eat next month?”

He pondered for a moment and guessed: “Did you renew your contract with the customs? How much are they paying you?”

Lin Yuchan shook her head and said quietly: “I want to do some small business myself.”

As expected, Su Minguan disapproved.

“By yourself?”

“I’ve investigated,” she immediately explained, “in the area between the racecourse and the old city, quite a few women set up stalls to do business, mostly food, tea, and embroidery-related, with plenty of Chinese and foreign customers… I’m fairly familiar with tea leaves and want to continue in this trade. This year’s tea tax has also been reduced…”

She kept something back, not mentioning the matter of asking Rong Hong to purchase on her behalf. After all, it was still up in the air.

Su Minguan asked a few detailed questions and discovered she hadn’t wasted the past half month. She had a pretty good grasp of commercial conditions in Shanghai’s various districts – rent, labor, taxes, procedures for setting up stalls and opening shops, connections that needed to be made – she spoke of everything systematically.

He wanted to find fault, but couldn’t pick out any obvious flaws for the moment.

“I’ve even budgeted for paying respects to gang bosses,” she finally said somewhat embarrassedly, looking up at him obediently and asking quietly, “Of course, if someone has ‘reformed,’ with protection fees waived, that would be even better. But I don’t know which streets and alleys Yixing Shipping’s business mainly covers?”

Only then did Su Minguan understand the purpose of her grand visit, and he gave a slight cold laugh.

“Who told you protection fees would be waived?” he said indifferently. “A’Mei might not know – hundreds of years ago, during the Heaven and Earth Society’s heyday, you had to queue to join, with brothers at all levels paying membership fees – of course, this money wasn’t given for nothing. If anyone was bullied by officials or thugs, the Hongmen brothers would naturally restore justice for them. If any family encountered misfortune, the organization would also look after and support them, not letting people wander the streets…”

Lin Yuchan stuck out her tongue: “So arrogant?”

This was not putting the government in their eyes at all!

“Of course, that was before.” Su Minguan said, “The Guangdong branch’s accounts haven’t balanced for decades. When I was small – I forget which year – those account books were all confiscated by Ye Mingchen. But I’m thinking, now that cash is tight, maybe this tradition could be revived.”

His eyes held a smile as he looked at Lin Yuchan and added, “If you burn incense and join the society, membership fees can be twenty percent off.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

Discount your head.

She wouldn’t submit to criminal forces.

As they spoke, the two had walked to the dock. This dock was also much more orderly than before, so clean you couldn’t tell people had died here. Pushing open the hidden door and entering the warehouse, they saw that altars to the Heavenly Father and Earthly Mother, Guandi Yunlong, White Crane Immortal Master, and the Five Shaolin Ancestors had been added facing south. Simple gang behavioral codes were posted on the walls, such as prohibiting opium consumption, gambling, and picking fights, while promoting mutual help and assistance.

There had originally been a hidden room outside the warehouse. Though the entrance couldn’t be seen, Lin Yuchan could vaguely hear sounds from inside.

Dull thudding sounds, something hitting flesh. Suppressed wails that changed pitch, stopping only after a long time.

So-called “heaven spares no one” – some thug was receiving belated punishment.

Su Minguan frowned, thinking that Miss Lin would surely have something to say again. This time, he was too lazy to explain.

But she probably also knew what words were annoying. After hesitating, she didn’t comment on this.

Instead, she gave a succinct evaluation: “Really… retro.”

This was already the Second Industrial Revolution, yet these heroes’ behavior remained in legendary storybooks from eight hundred years ago.

Su Minguan didn’t argue, giving a slight bitter smile and lowering his voice.

“This is all done according to how the Guangdong meeting hall looked when I was small – just copying a model. That hall was destroyed long ago, but I remember all the decorations inside… It’s shameful to say, I used to look down on these old things, but now I know that without inviting the ancestral masters out, you can’t suppress this group of villains.”

The carefree troublemaker Little Su had finally become what he used to hate.

Lin Yuchan asked warily: “You’re not planning to carry out your predecessors’ wishes and go… anti-Qing and restore the Ming, are you?”

For the sake of their life-and-death friendship, she had to give good advice. Let the Ming Dynasty live on in Hanfu – there was no need to waste one’s whole life summoning its spirit.

Fortunately, Su Minguan immediately shook his head.

But then he was helpless again, saying: “I don’t know.”

After a pause, he added: “For now, staying alive is more important.”

This was the truth. Lin Yuchan noticed that of the rows of boats previously moored at the dock, probably only half remained, floating gap-toothed by the shore, making the place seem deserted.

“Disposed of quite a few boats.” She asked, “Cash flow is very tight?”

Su Minguan nodded, “They were all old boats without much use, and maintenance cost money. Sold altogether for only a few hundred…”

He suddenly glanced at Lin Yuchan and stopped talking.

“Outsiders need not concern themselves with our company’s operational status.” A profound smile floated on his lips, “Want to know? Keep accounts, burn incense, twenty percent off.”

Lin Yuchan pressed her lips together, pretending not to hear.

Seeing his attitude, Yixing’s “territory map” definitely wouldn’t be given to her for free. Too bad that when he had fired his gun to seize control last time, she hadn’t taken advantage of the chaos to grab those account books and read them.

This person clearly distinguished between the brothers’ accounts and never did good deeds for free.

She wondered what she could trade with him…

“A’Mei,” Su Minguan suddenly saw lanterns lighting up across the Suzhou River and said excitedly: “There’s no curfew today – want to go out and see the lanterns?”

The cold, cunning “Heaven and Earth Society bandit chief” instantly transformed back into a spirited youth. Without further ado, he ran back to the counter to get a cloak and counted out a handful of silver dollars and copper coins from the drawer.

“Thank you for your visit. Our company’s hospitality has been inadequate – please let me treat you to tangyuan outside.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

This change of style was a bit fast!

But Lin Yuchan could understand Su Minguan’s excitement. The Qing Dynasty had strict curfew systems – unless it was an emergency like death or childbirth, anyone going out at night got beaten with boards.

The concessions were the same, except that enforcement was done by police with more varied punishment methods.

Only a few days, like the Lantern Festival, were exceptions. People could go out at night to admire lanterns and have fun without restriction.

People accustomed to rich modern nightlife could hardly understand this joy of “rare freedom.”

Though in Lin Yuchan’s view, certain thorns who scorned the law certainly often violated the prohibition. But compared to sneaking around like thieves, who wouldn’t want to walk openly under the night sky and see the brilliant lights?

She was infected by his enthusiasm and nodded happily.

After working hard for most of the year with no weekends or long vacations, relaxing for one evening wasn’t excessive.

But deep down, there was still a vague thought nagging at her: what was the nature of this invitation? Don’t try to fool her about what kind of romantic day the Lantern Festival was – “when the moon rises above the willow tips, lovers meet after dusk” was required memorization for the college entrance exam, and she hadn’t forgotten yet.

Su Minguan called over a trusted subordinate and gave him a few instructions about holiday rules. The subordinate looked pleased and went off with a smile.

“A’Mei?” He saw the hesitation in her eyes, smiled knowingly, and deliberately said: “I thought you dared to go anywhere – if you’re worried, call some fellow townspeople to make it lively.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

Quite vindictive.

Come on, this era had no WeChat or Didi – only immortals could be summoned at will.

She thought again – what was there to fear? In his eyes, she was already without taboos, and pretending to be shy wouldn’t earn her any money.

As a single young lady walking on the streets to join the fun, she was more likely to suffer losses. Following him was like having a free bodyguard.

So she said magnanimously: “Boss Su, please lead the way.”

Su Minguan didn’t move: “Miss Lin, please go first.”

Lin Yuchan found it a bit funny. When did this person learned Western ways? Ladies first?

She heard him say somewhat embarrassedly: “I’ve gone out a little these past few days. A’Mei has traveled all over Shanghai and must know the roads well.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

So he was looking for a guide. She’d been deluding herself.

Of course, she couldn’t let him take this advantage for free and righteously demanded, “I can take you out to play, but could I borrow a look at Yixing Shipping’s business coverage area? – Just that general ledger I saw last time would be fine…”

Su Minguan was slightly startled, then smiled broadly and walked ahead of her to open the door.

“Alright, alright, I’ll lead you. Can’t I ask for directions if I don’t know the way?”