Before the first contact between the two, Su Changsheng spent some time exploring some of Yao Hong's local industries and social contacts in Jiaxing.
Times have changed, and Yao Hongfang's business has gotten better.
Secretly, he manages the private salt industry and controls a huge private salt trade network. On the surface, he is a famous antique merchant, specializing in selling rare antiques for dignitaries to enjoy.
Hey, what a coincidence!
After observing for a while, Su Changsheng decided to take a risk and contact Yao Hongfang.
He spent some money to buy an outfit, and he was dressed like a celebrity. He stood in front of Yao Hongfang's house and asked him openly -
Mr. Yao, do you still remember our old friend from Qingyuan Mansion?
Yao Hongfang was stunned for a long time, looking around, and then looked at Su Changsheng in surprise.
"Qingyuan Mansion...Su Family?"
"Exactly."
"Are you from the Su family? But I heard that the Su family is gone."
"My old friend has passed away, but my grandson is still alive. I have asked you to come and pay me a visit. If the officials are willing, I will be waiting for you at the Jichu Pavilion on the second floor of Huichun Tower at noon tomorrow. We have something important to discuss with you."
After saying that, Su Changsheng turned around and left generously.
Because his posture was too chic and casual, Yao Hongfang didn't react until Su Changsheng walked away.
After reacting, he fell into deep thought.
Su Dingguang of the Su family in Qingyuan Prefecture was indeed his old friend. Both of them were private salt dealers, and Su Dingguang had learned from him when he was just managing this industry in the early years.
One of them is facing south and the other is facing north. They are not in conflict with each other and their relationship is even harmonious.
Logically speaking, it is difficult for them to have any sincere friendship with salt dealers like them who are so beautiful on the surface but secretly ruthless and murderous, but Su Dingguang and he really have a special liking for each other.
He even remembered that Su Dingguang once got drunk and denounced the incompetence of today's officials in front of him. He also lamented why Yue Fei couldn't be ruthless and just become Liu Yu, which would be better than dying because of an injustice. .
Su Dingguang was very drunk that time.
Yao Hongfang just kept it in his heart silently and didn't mention it to anyone. After the incident, Su Dingguang seemed to have forgotten it and never mentioned that incident again.
Later, Su Dingguang died of illness, and he sent people to attend the funeral. Speaking of which, the old friend of Qingyuan Mansion who came to see him was not Su Dingguang, but his grandson Su Yonglin.
Su Yonglin's matter is not simple.
Although it did not cause any public discussion on the surface, within the entire network of private salt dealers, Su Yonglin, the man who plotted to kill his protective umbrella and then escaped without a trace, is already a legend in everyone's mouth.
The profession of private salt dealers can actually be divided into domestic and wild ones, and the two are easy to distinguish.
Those who are surrounded and suppressed by the imperial army at every turn and those who refuse to die are considered wild.
And every time the court strikes hard, the ones who remain unharmed are the domesticated ones.
Even saying they were raised by domestics did not eliminate this group of people.
As one of them, Yao Hongfang felt that he was a domestic pet that could make money. He specialized in making money for the powerful court officials behind them, satisfying their various weird desires, and also arranging all kinds of conflicts between them. This kind of transaction adds chips.
With their protection, I can survive in this extremely profitable but cruel industry.
Almost every private salt dealer who can survive on this land in a relatively prosperous manner is domesticated and has endless obligations to his owner. Logically speaking, pets must be loyal to their owners and must not be in any way rude. times.
But the unexpected existence of Su Yonglin broke this balance.
According to internal first-hand information, Su Yonglin drugged his protective umbrella Sun Yuanqi, causing Sun Yuanqi to suffer from detoxification and death. He himself disappeared and no trace has been found so far.
The Su family seemed to have disappeared out of thin air. The coalition of three private salt dealers organized by the big shots went to attack the Su family aggressively, but failed in vain.
The big shots in the court were extremely dissatisfied with this, but they had no choice but to order the matter to be avoided.
So everyone kept silent, for fear of angering the big shot and ruining everyone's jobs.
We all need to have enough food to survive. Countless people live by this industry. If someone above sneezes, big hail will fall on the heads of people below.
Yao Hongfang knew this, so of course he kept silent on the matter and avoided talking about it, for fear of getting into trouble and letting the people above him see that he was not feeling well.
As a result, I didn't want to avoid talking about it, but the disaster itself came to my door.
Do you want to go see me?
Going to meet normally?
Or maybe we should do some tricks, capture this person, find out Su Yonglin's whereabouts, and then offer him to a big shot, so that we can achieve great success?
Yao Hongfang locked himself in the study room and walked back and forth several times. Suddenly he saw the ink of an old friend that he had hung on the wall.
[It is better to be a centurion than a scholar]
The old friend wrote this ink while drunk, and it became the only trace left by the old friend. Yao Hongfang collected it and hung it in his study as a souvenir.
Now I accidentally saw it, and my mind went back to that night when my old friend was on the verge of collapse.
"I would rather be a centurion and die on the battlefield than be a corrupt official here! Why doesn't he let me go to the battlefield! Why!!"
The shouts of the old friend are still echoing in his ears. Yao Hongfang looked at the vigorous and powerful words and was filled with emotion.
In the afternoon of the second day, Yao Hong, accompanied by his old servant, arrived at the Jichu Pavilion on the second floor of Huichun Building. He pushed the door in and saw Su Changsheng sitting on a chair and smiling at him.
"Mr. Yao, you are here."
Yao Hongfang looked around and then at his old servant.
"Wait outside, waiting for me to come out."
"Here."
The old servant retreated obediently, leaving space for these two people.
So only Su Changsheng and Yao Hongfang were left in the exquisitely decorated Jichu Pavilion.
"I thought you would be fully prepared. Once I bring someone to catch you, you would run away immediately. But now it seems that there are only two of you and me here. Aren't you afraid that I will bring someone to catch you?"
Yao Hong magnanimously walked to the opposite side of Su Changsheng and sat down.
"Of course I have to make some preparations. After all, I don't know much about Guan Ren's character, so I still have some small countermeasures, at least I can escape. But judging from the current situation, Guan Ren did come here on his own. These methods were not used.”
"Are you spying on me?"
Yao Hongfang grabbed a small piece of pastry from the bowl in front of him and ate it.
Su Changsheng smiled.
"There is no way. Once our identities are exposed, we will definitely die, and we will also ruin Alang's affairs. In order to fulfill our mission, we must make some back-up preparations. Please forgive me, officials."
"Humph, since you want to talk about something, don't hide your head and show your tail. Tell me, what exactly does Su Yuting want to do with me?"
Yao Hongfang stared at Su Changsheng.
"Do you still remember my cousin Alang?"
"How can I not remember?"
Yao Hongfang had a confident smile on his face: "His grandfather and I are not close friends, but we still have friendship. For people in our line of work, this friendship is valuable, so I still remember it. Tell me, you can find What should I do?"
"Don't you ask where my Alang is now?"
"When you are willing to tell me, I will naturally know."
Yao Hongfang picked up the tea bowl and took a slow sip.
"Too."
Su Changsheng smiled and said: "My family, Alang, has a huge number of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and rare treasures. I hope to find a way to sell them and exchange them for copper coins, especially the copper coins of the Song Dynasty."
