Nāgata: Infernal Night, Qinghan and I are True Love

Chapter 133 The Shen Family's Predicament

Inside the county government hall, an official with half-gray hair was chatting with Shen Ping, the steward of the Shen family.

In the middle of the hall, Miss Shen Miao, dressed in a somewhat tattered robe, paced back and forth.

She, who is usually cheerful, was a little sullen.

This left Li Guanghua and Shen Ping, who were having an awkward conversation, looking extremely embarrassed.

"Boom!"

The young lady stomped her foot on the floor: "Does washing up take this long? I bet he went to the toilet while he was at it!"

Li Guanghua gave an awkward smile: "Miss Shen, don't worry, the leader has been on the go all day..."

Shen Miao snorted coldly: "I've been running around all day! If I had known it would be this slow, I would have gone to wash up too!"

Shen Ping also advised, "Miaomiao, sit down quickly. Master Xu is very busy with many affairs of state. How can you be so rude!"

Shen Miao pouted: "Okay, okay, I know, it's so annoying!"

The sound of her pacing could be heard continuously in the hall.

As she walked, she reached the doorway.

Suddenly, an idea struck me.

I quietly slipped out the door.

Xu Tianyi was in the east courtyard, so Miss Shen took out a large firecracker.

"I'll give you a big one if you won't come out... hehe..."

Shen Miao lit it with a wicked grin.

"呲呲呲..."

The voice was shrill and familiar. Shen Ping suddenly rushed out of the hall: "Shen Miao!!! Kill her right now!!"

Shen Miao looked completely innocent and was casually tossed into the east courtyard.

"What...what? I didn't do anything..."

"boom!!!"

Shen Ping was stunned, while Li Guanghua watched in shock as a figure inside was blown away...

"Fuck!!"

Xu Tianyi only had time to exclaim in surprise.

He was secretly laughing when Shen Miao threw it at him.

I don't laugh anymore.

He thought that a firecracker the size of a hand grenade could have any power.

But when it exploded, he was thrown five meters away.

The courtyard walls were all broken.

Shen Miao was also dumbfounded: "Ah... what are you doing by the wall..."

Li Guanghua rushed over anxiously: "Master~~"

Xu Tianyi shook his head; his ears were ringing.

Seeing how nervous Li Guanghua was, he immediately straightened his posture:

"It's nothing, just a little firecracker, cough cough..."

Seeing that he was indeed not seriously injured, Li Guanghua breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that his future depended on this man.

Xu Tianyi patted his magnificent robe and stepped forward past Li Guanghua.

Shen Ping quickly bowed and said, "Master, Miss was a bit reckless. I apologize on her behalf. I hope you won't blame me..."

Xu Tianyi smiled and said, "Butler Shen, you're too kind. You go ahead with your work. Shen Miao and I are friends. I'll take her out for a walk..."

After saying that, he looked up and exclaimed, "Hey...where is everyone?"

The three looked around.

Suddenly, a whistle rang out.

Xu Tianyi turned his head and saw that Shen Miao had actually entered his courtyard, standing with her hands behind her back, whistling and admiring the flowers.

Xu Tianyi was speechless, but Miss Shen seemed to have lost weight.

At sixteen, she was about 1.7 meters tall, with long legs, wearing ripped fishnet stockings, and her slightly tanned skin showed she had clearly spent a lot of time in the sun.

She had a short ponytail and a perky butt, and it looked like she hadn't been slacking off lately while practicing martial arts.

He walked up gently and patted her right shoulder.

"Snapped……"

Some mischievous dust particles scattered out.

Shen Miao immediately turned around, feigning surprise: "Oh! Brother Xu! Long time no see!"

As she turned around, dust mixed with the smells of gunpowder and rust rushed towards her.

Xu Tianyi covered his nose with a look of disgust: "Miss Shen, did you go and roll around in the mud?"

Shen Miao pouted: "What? I just came back from Yunzhou, I'm all travel-worn, it's inevitable that I'll be a little dusty. Look, I came to find you right away, I didn't even have time to wash up, aren't you touched..."

Xu Tianyi chuckled: "Yes, I'm very touched. You set off firecrackers on me as soon as we met. I think you're here to murder me!"

He looked at Shen Miao with a somewhat serious expression.

The girl in front of me looked travel-worn, with dark circles under her eyes and some light yellow dust on her bangs. Her delicate features were framed by smiling eyes that blinked frequently.

A small hand, slightly dusty, immediately grabbed Xu Tianyi's wrist and shook it: "Oh, I'm sorry, you won't blame me, right..."

Xu Tianyi was immediately amused by her.

"You, you're not allowed to play like that next time. Luckily I'm a Grandmaster, otherwise I would have really gotten hurt."

Shen Miao laughed and said, "Yes, yes, I won't do it again next time. Brother Xu, you're so amazing, you became a Grandmaster so quickly..."

Xu Tianyi looked at his wrist, which had been marked with grayish-yellow finger marks, and gently wiped it:

"Alright, alright, go wash up quickly. If there's anything urgent, we can talk about it later. I'll wait for you in the lobby..."

"Wow, I'm exhausted! You'd better wait for me to come out..."

Shen Miao laughed loudly and rushed inside.

Xu Tianyi smiled slightly and turned to look at Shen Ping and the other man. Just as he was about to say something, Shen Miao poked her head out of the house again: "Brother Xu, I didn't bring any clothes..."

As she spoke, a hint of anticipation shone in her smiling eyes.

Xu Tianyi rolled his eyes at her: "Wear it if you want!"

"Yay! Great!"

Shen Miao slammed the door shut, overjoyed.

Xu Tianyi didn't mind; she must have seen the spare dress Gu Qinghan had left there.

. . .

Xu Tianyi sat down in the hall.

After exchanging pleasantries, Xu Tianyi got down to business.

"What brings Butler Shen to Taikang this time? Surely he's here to collect a debt from Mr. Xu, haha..."

Xu Tianyi felt guilty; he owed the Shen family a debt he couldn't repay.

We can't even repay the favors we owe, let alone the money, provisions, and weapons.

It is estimated that the debt is at least one million taels, not even counting the cost of personnel. Many of the talents in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Medicine were arranged by the Shen family.

The Shen family themselves rarely dared to go; every time they did, they had to borrow money, weapons, and men.

If you have any problems, just ask Grandpa Shen; he can usually solve them.

The Shen family welcomed all comers.

This made Xu Tianyi feel very favorable towards the Shen family.

Shen Ping, on the other hand, didn't think much of it. As the most trusted confidant of the Shen family, he naturally knew a great deal about the family's affairs.

Investing in Xu Tianyi may result in short-term losses, but in the long run, it is entirely profitable.

At least many of the collateral branches of the Shen family became officials, and the Shen family also made a lot of money because of the soaps and perfumes developed by Xu Tianyi and the craftsmen.

As for the weapons, that was no problem at all; they were all in stock. Xu Tianyi even wrote IOUs for them, so giving them away was no big deal.

Anyway, it's not a core product.

With the Northwest stabilized, the Shen family's trade routes to Yongzhou, Yanzhou, and even Zhongzhou were also stable, and there were no tolls or worries about bandits.

This is also a good thing, as the abundance of cheap labor in the Northwest has made the Shen family much more comfortable.

Almost every county magistrate welcomed the Shen family to do business and open factories, offering policy support and not demanding bribes. They even used IOUs to offset taxes, so the Shen family really didn't lose out.

Consider it paying taxes in advance.

Given the various hidden benefits, the Shen family had no reason not to help.

When Xu Tianyi asked, Shen Ping immediately bowed and said, "I have come here to ask Master Xu, now that His Majesty has once again declared the Valley God Sect a traitor, and the Imperial Preceptor and General Qin Xian are leading an army of 200,000 to suppress them, I wonder if Master Xu has any preparations to resist?"

Shen Ping naturally wouldn't say that he had come to ask for help.

With the arrival of the snow-covered army, the situation for the Shen family becomes uncertain. Given the close relationship between the Shen family and Xu Tianyi, it's hard to guarantee that he won't use any pretext to attack the Shen family out of greed for their wealth.

In particular, Xue Mantian has already asked the Shen family to provide military equipment.

Shen Haisheng came here this time to fight for Xu Tianyi's opportunity.

Simply put, he wanted to see if Xu Tianyi could stop him; if not, he would have to prepare to find another way out.

Of course, he also sent people to find Yue Shan.

Now only these two people can help, and he hopes Yue Shan will help first. Yue Shan agreed. Yesterday, when Yue Shan was on his way back, he passed by the Shen family and asked the Shen family and Xu Tianyi to discuss it again.

This is also why Shen Ping came to Taikang.

I just didn't expect Xu Tianyi to come by at that time.