Perhaps it was the hypnotic effect of the small half bottle of whiskey. Not long after John returned to the hotel, he fell asleep on the goose down quilt. Dutch took out his handkerchief and wiped the blood off his fingers, and then blamed all the people who had made him unhappy today. Once again, he took off his clothes and fell asleep.
The noisy crowd in the early morning woke up the people in the room. John reluctantly opened his eyes and saw Dutch sitting on the corner of the bed putting a dagger in the scabbard. He smiled at him and said hello. Dutch tilted his head and looked a little confused. Not pretty.
"Do you still need me to wake you up?"
John felt that Dutch was acting weird again, so he quickly dressed and went downstairs. He found that the scheduled carriage had already been parked at the door, and he realized that he was late.
The carriage drove from the Chrysler Hotel in Lyon onto McMaha Street, then turned and bumped on Pilling Avenue for a few minutes, and finally turned into an unknown alley. The coachman strongly requested to stop in front of a hayyard.
Dutch took the small piece of paper given by Swift and carefully compared the house numbers one by one. Then he discovered that the numbers on these number plates were in an increasing relationship. The number 163 in his hand was logically at the end of the narrow alley. So he walked towards the end of the street.
No. 163 is a simple tailor shop. There is a wooden sign on the shop door saying that it is not open yet. A group of children are playing and playing in front of the window.
"Is this the informant that the fat man said?" Fantasy looked at the children with disdain on their faces.
John was also deeply skeptical, but still questioned the wild children with a little hope.
A boy who looked like a king of children stood up and answered generously: "Give us five dollars each and I will lead the way."
"Just you? What more money do you want from a bunch of brats?" Fantasy's thumb was stuck in the round cake-shaped belt buckle, and a contemptuous smile flashed across his face.
Dutch nodded and told Fantasy to come up with a sufficient amount of money. Facing the questioning look from the latter, Dutch explained that Mayor Lemieux had the habit of recruiting children as spies, which was a characteristic of Saint-Denis. , children’s credibility is quite high.
The bastards took the money and ran away like crazy. At first John thought they were just nimble liars, but the older boy ran up to a trailer and stopped, waving and shouting at Dutch and the others.
"This way, gentlemen!"
John and the others followed these beating lives through the streets and alleys, and finally stopped in front of a row of iron fences.
"Sir! Your destination has arrived."
This is a courtyard, decorated in the style of a church garden, giving people a quiet and leisurely feeling. It does not look like the private residence of a sinister moonshiner at all.
The guard at the gate took away the dagger from Dutch's waist and promised to keep it, and others also handed over their weapons. After disarming, several people continued to search for Manstar. Beside a nursery, John saw a gorgeously dressed lady having an intimate conversation with a strong deputy. He thought it might be Stritch's lover and her. The personal bodyguard walked up and asked.
"Madam, do you know where Mr. Manstar is?"
The woman held her little hands and smiled without saying a word.
Seeing that the woman didn't answer, John asked the man the same question again, and the man pointed at the woman next to him.
John was a little confused: "Sorry, madam, but..."
"Aren't you looking for Stritch Manstar? That's me." the woman said.
This voice came from the mouth of this pretty lady. It was a very high-pitched voice between a male voice and a female voice. John searched in his mind and he was very sure that Stritch Mann Star was a man's name, but what appeared in front of him was a woman. He knew there was another hidden meaning, but at least the misalignment of vision and hearing was enough to make him dizzy for a while.
"Hey... tell me, why did everyone react like this when they first met me?" Mansida sighed.
"Sir, we understand your surprise. My friend encountered an accident when he was a child and unfortunately lost the function of some limbs. He chose to develop in another direction. Although his parents acquiesced in his decision, not all People can understand him like that, and over the years we have always wanted to be respected by everyone, and with his character and career, the name Stritch Manstar can never be laughed at," the man said. .
"Then you are..."
The man gently picked up Manstar's right hand, and then kissed it with great affection: "Bryant Jay - a star who will always protect his sweetheart."
At this time, Dutch came over with the remaining people and asked John why he had been dealing with two irrelevant people for so long. John introduced Stritch, and then he found that the same shock flashed across Dutch's face. It passed by, but Dutch quickly calmed down.
"Mrs. Manstar... I think I should call you that." Dutch bowed, "If you have made such a big achievement in the wine making industry, you don't have to care about other people's opinions."
"I believe and have been living by this belief. Only by going further on the road that I am good at can I stay away from everyone's attention." Stritch nodded lightly and said.
"Yes, we are all trying to be that kind of person, but times have changed too fast, and it is difficult to implement those things that we thought were a matter of course." Dutch said with a smile.
"Oh, is it so?"
It was obvious that Stritch was interested.
Dutch looked at John: "Well, this year is really a happy year for the corn harvest. Mr. De Price wants to skip the middleman relationship and directly collect rent from suppliers. He thinks this trade should be simpler and purer. , additional third parties should not be allowed to intervene to share the oil and water, but he did not make a deal, but retained some middlemen to provide opportunities for cooperation. In addition, as the production of distilled spirits is about to usher in the peak season, he is also eager to Looking for qualified partners, that’s why we found you.”
"The De Price I know is not a person who changes rules easily." Mansida held his chin and thought for a while and said.
"In addition to pursuing higher profits, Mr. Price actually found evidence of collusion between some restless middlemen and the police. If he still wanted to retain his position as governor, he had to take action, so he sent me here."
"It's important. I have to get in touch with him to prove your identity." Stritch said with a smile, with a hint of mockery in her eyes.
"No need." Dutch said as he took out a moonshine order and handed it to Stritch.
John felt that in the perception of the group of people who secretly brewed moonshine represented by Stritch, the moonshine order was their wake-up call, always reminding them that they must bribe officials to make their water legal, so as a liquor store The dealer should have been nervous and anxious when he saw the moonshine order, but to his surprise, Mansida's face was calm and she spoke calmly.
"Gentlemen, please follow me."
Dutch and his entourage followed Stritch to a meeting hall. In the middle of the meeting hall was a large round table made of quartz. Half of the wooden earth was exposed in the middle of the round table. The whole scene was arranged to make people feel like they were in the sacred era of Camelot. , sat next to King Arthur.
"I can understand that old Price has his own difficulties and ideas, but if major changes occur, he would prefer to visit in person." Stritch sat on a stone chair beside the table and patted his skirt. Dust and wrinkles on the hem.
"You have also seen that the moonshining order is in the old man's own handwriting, and the signing date is not long ago. You can check these at will, but what we want to do is to let you cooperate with us without any worries. Mr. Price asked We didn't come all the way here just to let his sincerity go unused." Dutch read out the lines he had prepared in advance with great emotion. If John didn't know the ins and outs of this matter, he might actually believe it.
"Okay, sir, you have temporarily won my trust, but Mr. De Price should know that the middleman who gets the most dividends is me, but as far as he can find me to cooperate, he may still look down upon me. I have these sales channels.”
"In short, with your ability to govern Saint-Denis, your wisdom is unparalleled. I think you know who is the biggest beneficiary in this matter? Mr. Price just wants to maximize the profits for both of us. Realizing this shouldn’t be difficult for you,” Dutch says.
Stritch stood up slowly, took out a wooden box from under the drawer of the round table, and then wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.
"I can still distinguish between praise and flattery."
"But this does have a lot of benefits for you. You can get your share of the money without any effort, and if your former competitors were defeated in Mr. Price's screening, they will also give away their money. Let yours, Mr. Price..."
Stritch raised his hand to stop Dutch who wanted to continue to refute: "If you still want to facilitate this matter, go and collect the debt before I change my mind. The big and small taverns in the city have coins waiting for you to go. .”
