Qin Shuli accepted the silver dollars and said with sincere sincerity, "Uncle He, I'll take these two silver dollars, and I'll pay you back later!"
He Daqing smiled indifferently. He looked around, pulled Qin Shuli under the base of the wall, and whispered, "I see you have decent martial arts skills, but you're still young after all, and you don't understand a lot of things. You need to be careful of Old Jia and Old Yi in the future."
Qin Shuli gave He Daqing a deep look. Regardless of what motives he might have, this warning was entirely genuine. He Daqing's relationship with Jia Fugui and Yi Zhonghai was much better than his relationship with the Qin family.
Based solely on this warning, Qin Shuli decided that he would not let little Yushui go hungry in the future.
As for Shazhu, he couldn't help him!
"Thanks, Uncle He, I know!"
After the two parted ways, Qin Shuli walked toward Mao'er Hutong while mulling over the situation with Jia Fugui and Yi Zhonghai.
Both of them were currently working at the Rolling Mill. After the war broke out, Lou Bancheng had very wisely handed the Rolling Mill over to the Japanese devils; essentially, those two were working under the devils.
Qin Shuli knew what kind of person Yi Zhonghai was. Moreover, he was young right now, far from the hypocritical paragon of virtue and morality he would become twenty years later. At present, he was simply someone with ambitions who could only resort to underhanded, behind-the-scenes tricks.
As long as Qin Shuli demonstrated absolute suppression, a person like this would go into hiding and slowly bide his time for an opportunity.
Jia Fugui, on the other hand, was much more troublesome. Qin Shuli didn't know Jia Fugui's personality or intentions, but judging from their recent conflict, this man had guts, ambition, and the ability to endure. It seemed he needed to find an opportunity to make him disappear.
Qin Shuli crossed Nanluoguxiang and walked into Mao'er Hutong, carefully observing his surroundings along the way until he reached Courtyard No. 7.
You have to hand it to them — the residences of former officials were truly massive. Qin Shuli took nearly forty minutes just to walk around the perimeter of the estate. The main courtyard had at least four compounds deep, and there should have been auxiliary courtyards on both sides, covering a tremendous area.
However, Qin Shuli had no way to get inside and had no idea what it looked like on the inside. Wang Yueshu's words that morning had served as a reminder: even if his strength surpassed the average person, he still needed to conduct proper reconnaissance.
If something went wrong, he could run away and leave it behind, but his family couldn't run. For the sake of his mother and the twins, he needed to keep a low profile.
Thinking of this, Qin Shuli turned around and left. Having killed Wang Shenggui yesterday, the Wang family would find out sooner or later, so he should visit the Mao'er Hutong area less frequently over the next few days.
It took Qin Shuli about ten days to thoroughly figure out the surrounding situation. Moreover, he had made contact with the night-soil collector who went to the Wang family, learning about the family's basic situation from the night-soil man's own mouth.
The old man of the Wang family, Wang Pu, stayed home every day listening to opera, occasionally visiting the theater, but because he was worried about his eldest son these past few days, he hadn't gone out at all.
Below him was Wang Shengcai, who had six concubines and twelve children at home. The older ones were studying abroad, and the youngest was already twelve years old — despite their tender ages, none of them were any good.
Over the past few days, Qin Shuli had basically replenished everything the household was lacking, except that vegetables were quite troublesome. With early spring still freezing the ground, it was impossible to find any leafy greens.
There was land inside his Space, but he didn't know where to find seeds.
A few days ago, when the Wang family discovered that Wang Shenggui was missing, the entire Jiaodaokou area had descended into chaos. There were patrolmen everywhere, followed by gang members. No matter how hard they searched, the man was neither seen alive nor found dead.
Wang Shengcai probably didn't care much for his useless brother; after searching for seven days without results, everyone was withdrawn, and the streets returned to peace.
That evening, Qin Shuli finished his meal and returned to his room early to sleep. Wang Yueshu knew her eldest son was taking action tonight, but she forced herself to keep quiet. Killing a traitor was right, and not being able to survive at home was also right. She couldn't persuade him otherwise; she could only worry in silence.
At 11:00 PM, Qin Shuli slowly opened his eyes, dressed, pushed the door open, and stepped outside.
He didn't use the front gate; instead, he scaled the western wall of the courtyard and left directly through the alley outside.
Fortunately, it hadn't snowed again recently. Although the paths were quite muddy, it allowed him to better conceal his tracks.
Wang Shengcai's house was deathly quiet. Qin Shuli vaulted over the western wall, first taking care of the two guard dogs on the premises, and then began his operation from the western auxiliary courtyard.
He didn't kill the Wang family's servants; he simply knocked them unconscious, tied them up, gagged them, and locked them away in the utility room.
His search was methodical and slow, and it wasn't until the early hours of the morning that he entered the courtyard where the masters of the Wang family lived.
Everyone in the Wang family was asleep, but the light was still on in the east side-room of the middle courtyard.
Qin Shuli crept close. Instead of taking care of everyone who was sleeping first, he went directly to the exterior of the brightly lit room.
The room was very quiet. After waiting for a moment, Qin Shuli heard an elderly voice: "Second Child, are you really not planning to look for your brother anymore?"
Wang Shengcai sounded extremely impatient. "Dad, I've searched for seven days without a single clue. What else can I do?"
"Well, you still have to look! He is your older brother, after all!"
Wang Shengcai raised his voice. "If I keep searching, how are we supposed to run the family business? Are you saying that just because Big Brother is missing, all dozen or so mouths in this family should go drink northwest wind?"
Wang Pu panicked. It was just looking for someone; did the whole family have to starve for it? "Second Child, is there something else going on here?"
Seeing that the old man was no longer badgering him about his older brother, Wang Shengcai leaned in closer and explained in a low voice:
"Dad, I've caught wind that the Japanese lords have a batch of opium to unload. With too many buyers, the lords want to see who bids the highest. As long as I can snatch a share, I can turn around and double my money. If I scatter our funds now to look for my older brother, how can we possibly outbid the others?"
Startled by the staggering profit, Wang Pu hurriedly said, "My boy, don't look for him then. Making money is what matters most! Son, Dad only has you left from now on; you must be filial!"
Wang Shengcai smiled. "Dad, of course I'll be filial. Once I secure the opium and make a fortune, I'll look for Big Brother then!"
"Look for what? Who knows where he died anyway? From now on, I'll treat as though he never existed, and you should stop worrying so much!"
Imagining his family fortune doubling, Wang Pu was already calculating how much money he should spend. The new little Red Flower at Rouge Alley was so exquisite, tender, and charming, oh yes!
Listening from outside, Qin Shuli burned with rage. Traitors were traitors: harming their fellow countrymen and acting as jackals for the tiger.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside. "Damn dogs, bastards like you deserve to have your bloodline cut off!"
Wang Pu didn't care who had broken in; wishing that his Wang family's bloodline would be cut off was crossing the line. "Grandson, who the hell are you? How dare you curse my Wang family while you're right inside my house? Have you got a death wish?"
Dressed in a long gown, Wang Shengcai looked refined and scholarly. With a guarded expression, he demanded, "Who are you? Why are you hiding your face?"
Qin Shuli held a knife in his hand. Wiping the blood clean from the blade, he smiled and said, "Can't you tell? I'm a dashing bandit!"
With that, he hurled the knife in his hand forward.
Before he could run toward the inner hall, Wang Shengcai took the blade straight in the back, let out a painful cry, and breathed his last breath.