Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

The sun climbed high, and the icicles under the eaves dripped with melting water.

Seven or eight burly men with fierce faces shoved aside peddlers blocking their way, striding menacingly toward Fan Changyu's shop. The leader had a broad face, a short beard, and a vicious expression, though he walked with a noticeable limp.

It was none other than Boss Jin, the head enforcer of the gambling den who had repeatedly caused trouble at Fan Changyu's home.

"I’d like to see who’s got the guts to run a business on this street without paying their respects—"

The moment Boss Jin spotted Fan Changyu standing with her arms crossed at the shop entrance, his voice died in his throat. The thugs behind her, who had suffered her beatings before, also paled instantly.

His uninjured leg began to ache faintly.

This husband-and-wife duo struck harder than anyone. Would his other leg end up broken here today?

The thugs instinctively took half a step back, dragging their injured legs.

Butchers from nearby shops, seeing the gang’s overwhelming numbers and Fan Changyu being just a young woman, couldn’t help but worry for her. Only Guo Butcher across the street wore a gloating smirk.

Boss Jin forced an ingratiating smile. "Fan… Miss Fan? Is this your shop?"

The onlookers were dumbfounded.

This… wasn’t the expected outcome.

Fan Changyu casually picked up a stick leaning against the door. The gangsters immediately recoiled in terror, their faces twisting with fear.

Boss Jin frantically waved his hands. "A misunderstanding, Miss Fan! A genuine misunderstanding! Had we known this was your shop, we’d never dare show disrespect!"

Guo Butcher’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, utterly baffled that these street thugs were so terrified of Fan Changyu.

Fan Changyu fixed Boss Jin with a cold stare and pointed her stick at the smashed brick stove in front of her shop. "Your doing?"

Despite the freezing cold, sweat beaded on Boss Jin’s forehead. He wiped it away roughly with his sleeve and stammered, "We were just hired hands, paid to do a job! We’ll fix it! We’ll fix it right away!"

He urgently signaled his underlings, who trembled at the sight of the stick in Fan Changyu’s hand. Still haunted by memories of being beaten until they vomited, they scrambled to rebuild the stove.

Fan Changyu was momentarily taken aback. She had assumed they were here to extort protection money, but there seemed to be more to it.

She demanded directly, "Who sent you to cause trouble at my shop?"

"Miss Fan, that’s…" Boss Jin hesitated. They’d been paid to keep their mouths shut.

Fan Changyu swung the stick, pressing it against Boss Jin’s throat before he could react. His sweat froze into droplets as all professional ethics fled his mind. Stuttering, he confessed, "It… it was the owner of Wang’s Braised Food on Main Street."

Fan Changyu frowned. She had never met Wang’s owner—their shops were streets apart, with no competition between them. Her braised food business had only been open for a few days; surely it couldn’t have provoked such hostility.

"Lies!" she snapped. "I’ve no quarrel with Wang’s owner. Why would he send you to wreck my shop?"

Boss Jin insisted, "It’s the truth! Yesterday, Wang’s employee came to us with the money himself."Fan Changyu's frown deepened as she watched the lackeys use clay to rebuild the bricks on the stove. With more onlookers gathering, she decided not to delay her business any further and withdrew the wooden stick.

Before Jin Lao San could catch his breath, Fan Changyu barked another order: "You, light the fire and dry the stove first. The rest of you, fetch several buckets of water from the well at the street corner."

Since she was braising meat right at the shop entrance, water was naturally needed inside. However, she hadn't had time to fetch water this morning due to dealing with the smashed stove.

Having already lost half a day, doing everything herself now would be too late. Might as well put these ready-made laborers, who had delayed her time, to work.

The lackeys never expected they'd be ordered around one day. Frozen in place, they snapped to attention under Fan Changyu's sharp glance and hurried off with buckets to fetch water.

Once the hooligans left, the clueless onlookers crowding outside the Fan Family shop assumed the matter was resolved and dispersed to go about their business.

Only the neighbors, witnessing Fan Changyu bossing around these troublemakers, were so shocked their jaws nearly dropped, looking at her as if she were some freak.

Unfazed, Fan Changyu noticed Jin Lao San loitering at her shop entrance, scaring away potential customers. She shooed him aside: "Go stand over there. Don't block my business. After I finish selling today's meat, you're coming with me to Wang's place—I want answers. If you feed me any lies..."

Her gaze swept over his other leg: "I'll break this one too!"

Jin Lao San recalled the man's sinister expression and the ruthless strike that had crippled his leg. A sharp pain shot through his still-healing injury, turning his face pale as he hastily shook his head: "I, Jin Lao San, wouldn't dare deceive Miss Fan!"

Seeing his terror, Fan Changyu maintained her fierce expression but wondered inwardly—just how brutally had that guy beaten them? A mere threat to break another leg had scared him this much.

The lackeys soon returned with water. Suspicious they might have tampered with it, Fan Changyu handed them a ladle to drink from their own buckets first before using the water to wash the pork for braising.

As for the cooking water, there was still yesterday's supply in her shop's water vat.

Once the large pot was set up, the aroma of braised meat began wafting down the street again.

Those who had queued unsuccessfully yesterday arrived early today and finally got their purchase.

However, most customers hesitated upon seeing Jin Lao San and his crew squatting miserably by Fan Changyu's shop—their rough, scowling faces still looked intimidating despite their downtrodden state.

Noticing this, Fan Changyu, just as the first batch of braised meat was nearly sold out, bought six pig heads and three buckets of offal from a neighboring butcher. She distributed the pig heads for them to clean and had the rest wash the offal under her watch.

With them busy at work, customers no longer noticed their menacing faces.Fan Changyu worked as both a butcher slicing braised meat and a supervisor. Whenever she spotted someone slacking off or failing to clean properly, she'd jab them with a stick: "There's still bristles on this pig's head! Rub the intestines with plant ash first, wash them clean, then scrub them thoroughly with straw from end to end!"

She was fiercer than the fiercest bully.

The gang of street thugs trembled in fear, silently regretting their terrible luck in crossing paths with this formidable woman again.

As if reading their minds, Fan Changyu scowled and said, "Wrongdoing deserves punishment, or what would become of the law?"

The group shrank like quails, nodding frantically in agreement.

Seeing their repentant attitude, Fan Changyu softened slightly during a break and asked, "Weren't you working at the gambling den? Why are you everywhere?"

At this, the thugs looked embarrassed.

Jin Lao San muttered, "We're not with the gambling den anymore."

Changyu found this strange and asked why.

A young hoodlum holding a pig's head mumbled, "We followed Third Brother to work as enforcers there just to get by. When we couldn't collect debts on time, the den wouldn't accept just Fan Da's hand as payment. Besides, in all our years collecting, we never actually maimed anyone. Then after getting our legs broken... we got kicked out..."

Changyu frowned. "But you're still collecting protection money all over the streets?"

Jin Lao San sighed. "That money doesn't go to us. We're just collecting for others."

Seeing her confusion, he explained plainly: "We can openly extort merchants because officials turn a blind eye. With powerful backers covering for us, we're protected if trouble arises. Most of the money goes to those officials as tribute."

Changyu's face darkened as she fell silent.

Jin Lao San quickly added, "But this street never had protection fees before last month. Had we known your shop was here, we'd never have dared..."

A shadow crossed Changyu's mind. She suddenly asked, "When exactly did collections start here?"

"Last month," Jin Lao San recalled.

Her frown deepened. Her parents had died at bandits' hands last month too—could there be a connection?

But she dismissed the thought immediately. Her father, a seasoned martial artist, had lived safely in Lin'an Town for over a decade. It made no sense for him to be targeted now.

Shaking off these thoughts, Changyu glared at Jin Lao San's group. "Strong men like you could do honest work instead of this thuggery!"

"We'll change! We swear we'll go straight!" they quivered like frightened quails.

Only then did Changyu relent. With others handling the hard labor today, she enjoyed rare leisure.

The reputation of Fan's Braised Meat had spread. Business boomed even more than yesterday—by noon, all the pre-braised meat and fresh batches had sold out, along with every last braised egg. She even sent a thug to buy another basket of eggs, most of which were sold too.Three coins could buy two braised eggs—such a price was truly tempting.

Fan Changyu roughly calculated today’s earnings and was surprised to find it exceeded four taels of silver!

The butchers from nearby meat shops naturally envied her thriving business, but seeing how Jin Lao San and his crew bowed and scraped before her, they didn’t dare utter a single jealous word.

In high spirits from her earnings, Fan Changyu even found Jin Lao San and his men much more tolerable. Since they had worked for her all morning and showed sincere remorse, she even gave each of them a braised egg.

The young ruffians, who had been ordered around all morning, were as wilted as cabbages in the field. Suddenly handed a steaming braised egg, they were clearly stunned.

Fan Changyu continued glaring at them with a fierce expression: “Eat up, then follow me to Wang’s shop for a confrontation!”

Having smelled the aroma of braised meat all morning, the rascals’ stomachs had long been growling with hunger. Now, they could hardly wait to devour even the eggshells.

After finishing, the group was clearly still craving more and cautiously asked, “Miss Fan… Miss Fan Da, could we come work at your shop in the future?”

Fan Changyu scowled inwardly—absolutely not! These burly men would eat her out of house and home if they all worked for her!

She mercilessly refused: “No.”

The ruffians immediately fell silent, hanging their heads dejectedly as they trailed behind her toward Wang’s shop. However, their naturally fierce expressions made it impossible to detect any hint of gloom.

Pedestrians along the street quickly made way for them. To any onlooker, the scene resembled a female tyrant leading her gang of thugs to pick a fight—

In a riverside tavern, a man in brocade robes personally poured tea for the person seated across from him. Amid the rising steam, the intricate embroidery on his wide sleeves blurred slightly:

“The situation in Huizhou remains unstable. With the Marquis lying low here, your trusted aides cannot easily come. But Zhao is a businessman—the Wei family’s hounds won’t sniff me out. As long as the Marquis trusts me, Zhao is willing to serve you with utter devotion.”

The window was half-open. The man opposite him had a profile as refined as jade, his features elegant. His slender fingers, marked by dark scabs, tapped lightly on the table—casual yet exuding an oppressive, unspoken authority.

His narrow eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed out the window, seemingly admiring the snowy scenery along the street.

The brocade-robed man, noticing his prolonged silence, followed his gaze outside and realized he wasn’t looking at the snowscape—but at a young girl leading a dozen ruffians down the street.

Glancing back at Xie Zheng, the brocade-robed man’s eyes flickered with amusement as he smiled. “That must be the new wife the Marquis has married, yes?”