The awkward atmosphere was finally cast aside.
Duan Yan didn't dwell on trivial matters and said directly, "Open the storehouse. I want to see the grain that was brought back this time."
Wang Quan was somewhat surprised to hear that Duan Yan had come all the way with Song Fengsui just to inspect the storehouse.
Before he left, Brother Hu had specifically instructed him to keep a close eye on the storehouse and that shipment of lucrative grain, promising him a good reward for it. Now, unsure of what Duan Yan intended by checking the grain, and knowing his own standing wasn't as weighty as Chen Hu's, he figured it was best to stall and wait for the man to return before anything else.
Wang Quan's eyes darted around, and he said, "Big Brother, things outside have gotten chaotic, and Brother Hu rushed off to handle the grain transport before he had the chance to balance the accounts. Since it was you who personally assigned Brother Hu this task, he's always been most meticulous about it. I'm afraid if the brothers go in, they might mess up the numbers, so he took the keys with him."
"It's been quite a few hours already. Big Brother, why don't you wait a bit here? By the time supper rolls around, Brother Hu is bound to be back. I'll go tell the kitchen to whip up a few of your favorite dishes."
With that, he glanced at Song Fengsui again. "Young Master Song has graced us with his presence—let him sample our kitchen's cooking as well."
Duan Yan knew that the original body had primarily given the storehouse keys at the blacksmith shop to Chen Hu to manage—that was why everything big or small depended on him.
But he remembered that in the past, when the key holder had to go out, the keys would be left with another trusted person at the shop for convenience. By that logic, since Chen Hu had gone to the rural farm and Wang Quan hadn't gone along, the keys should have been in Wang Quan's hands.
Still, he figured Wang Quan wouldn't dare withhold the keys. More likely, Chen Hu—seeing how the plague had everyone on edge and grain prices fluctuating by the hour—wanted to keep a tight grip on the grain, so he'd taken the keys with him.
Duan Yan felt a headache coming on. The original self had been too carefree, assuming all the brothers were of one heart, and had been so lax about the storehouse keys. Back then, anyone could get them for convenience, but now—here he was, the leader, forced to wait just to get his own key. That was a fine state of affairs.
When a man was muddle-headed, it didn't matter much. But when he was clear-eyed, he realized just how pathetic it was.
"Which farm did he go to this afternoon?"
Seeing that Duan Yan wasn't taking the bait, Wang Quan had to answer, "Liucun is under lockdown, so Brother Hu went to Xiao Yan'er Village."
Following the original self's temperament, Duan Yan said directly, "Going to the old man's place to haul grain—that's bound to be nothing but trouble. There's no way he'll be back anytime soon!"
Gou San'er chimed in, backing him up: "Big Brother's storehouse—there's no reason Big Brother should have to wait. What's Brother Hu thinking?"
"Gou San'er, what are you implying? Like Brother Hu's doing this on purpose? The plague is raging in the countryside right now—one careless slip and you're done for. Brother Hu's walking through fire, run off his feet, and you're blaming him instead!"
Duan Yan could tell those words were aimed at him. The task had been assigned to Chen Hu by him, and now that Chen Hu was toiling away without complaint despite the risk of infection, it wouldn't be right to blame him.
And besides, the surface hadn't been broken yet—he still had to tread carefully and watch his step.
Song Fengsui, who had been quietly listening the whole time, now understood firsthand just how thorny the situation Duan Yan had described really was.
Seeing how much control Chen Hu had over Duan Yan's assets, he realized all the more that they couldn't afford to clash with him right now.
But the three of them had come precisely because they'd seen Chen Hu head off to the countryside—to seize this window and avoid a direct confrontation with him. If they were going to just sit here and wait for him to come back, why bother coming all this way in the first place?
Besides, once he was back, he'd be all smooth talk, and the medicinal herbs they wanted might be seen but never touched.
Song Fengsui's eyes flickered with thought. What Duan Yan needed was a reason that couldn't wait—not some excuse about being poisoned and needing the storehouse opened immediately for medicine. They needed a different angle.
"Is this blacksmith shop even yours?! You hem and haw like this over opening your own storehouse—if you've got no authority, then stop putting on airs in front of me!"
The irate voice cut through, shattering the deadlock.
Duan Yan looked up and saw Song Fengsui frowning, his delicate face full of impatience. His heart sank. "The shop is mine, it's just... just that I handed the keys to Chen Hu and didn't keep them on me."
He explained with a hint of hidden meaning, not spelling it out too clearly, but hoping Song Fengsui would understand.
"Don't you dare drag your crew along and put on a show for me. If you don't want to give me the herbs, say so early! Don't talk all sweet and say any herbs in the storehouse are mine for the taking."
Song Fengsui pressed on relentlessly: "You just led me on for this wasted trip!"
With that, he flung his sleeves and made for the main door.
Duan Yan froze for a second. This little firecracker—his temper really did flare up out of nowhere.
He hurried after him, saying, "I'm not trying to pull one over on you. Don't be mad."
But Song Fengsui shoved Duan Yan as he caught up—though his strength couldn't budge the man an inch, it made his anger clear. "Stay away from me!"
"Break it! Break the lock open! I'll let you in right now, is that enough?"
Song Fengsui's brow twitched slightly at that. Only then did he slow his pace.
Seeing this, Duan Yan let out a small breath.
Gou San'er caught on fast and immediately said, "Tie Da, Tie Er, what are you standing around for? Go grab the tools and break the lock. Are you waiting for Big Brother to do it himself?"
The two simple-minded fellows had been staring, dumbfounded, at Duan Yan coaxing the young man like a doting father. Although their boss had once taken an interest in that young man from Xiao Yan'er Village, he'd never been this patient and tender. But then again, the boss had a history of this sort of thing, and this Song fellow really was easy on the eyes—it seemed normal enough for him to be this accommodating.
So off they went to fetch the tools.
Seeing they were serious about smashing the lock, Wang Quan hurriedly said, "Big Brother, that lock was made with a great deal of effort. It might not even break, and what a shame to wreck it. Just wait a little—"
"Our smiths here are all skilled hands. Are you saying we can't forge an even better lock to replace it?"
Gou San'er cut off Wang Quan mid-sentence: "All this stopping and blocking—if you ask me, you're just trying to make trouble for Big Brother."
Zhou Wang on the side, seeing how Duan Yan indulged Song Fengsui, remembered how those two hopeless fellows, Tie Da and Tie Er, had made Duan Yan lose so much face in front of the young man earlier. Clearly, Duan Yan was trying to win back some dignity now.
As a man himself, Zhou Wang figured Duan Yan's behavior was perfectly reasonable, and he also urged Wang Quan: "Whatever Big Brother says, goes. The lock can always be reforged."
Seeing everyone leaning the same way, Wang Quan didn't dare openly defy Duan Yan now, so he shut his mouth.
A moment later, Tie Da and Tie Er came back with an axe and a hammer. A few loud clangs rang out, and the heavy, long lock was split clean off.
Simple minds, strong arms—true enough.
Duan Yan saw the lock shatter, leaned in to peer inside, and then said to Song Fengsui, who was still keeping his pretty face rigid with displeasure, "Alright, in you go now."
Song Fengsui’s expression softened slightly, but he still ignored Duan Yan. He gave a light snort and stepped past the man into the storage shed.
Duan Yan glanced at the few men in the yard. Zhou Wang and Wang Quan didn’t dare say a word. After all, if Duan Yan would break a lock for Song Fengsui, who knew—if they said something they shouldn’t—whether he’d be so bewitched as to split them in two as well.
The men wore wide grins on their faces, as if to say, That’s how you spoil a pretty young thing.
Duan Yan’s chest heaved once. He turned and trudged into the shed without a word.
Wang Quan immediately made to follow him inside, but Gou San’er suddenly blocked his path: “Let’s not go in and get in the boss’s way.”
“What’s it to you?”
Wang Quan wasn’t afraid of Gou San’er. He didn’t yet know that the man had already moved into Duan Yan’s compound, so he fell back on his old habit of glaring and snapping: “Move it! Don’t need you calling the shots for me.”
But before Gou San’er could say another word, Tie Da and Tie Er grabbed hold of Wang Quan. “Can’t you see how the boss dotes on that little brother right now?” said Tie Da. “If the boss wants to get up to something in there, we sure as hell can’t be standing around watching.”
Wang Quan shot back: “And here I thought your skull was too thick for two words. You ran your mouth plenty earlier—what happened to all that ‘can’t do’ talk then?”
“That’s all Gou San’er’s fault for spouting nonsense and riling me up! Besides, I didn’t know the boss cared that much about the kid. I figured he was just brought in for a bit of fun, and I was still thinking about the one before.”
Tie Da grumbled: “You’re so clever—why didn’t you give me a heads-up then?”
Wang Quan couldn’t be bothered to argue with the blockhead any longer. “Let go, let go! Two grown men—what are you grabbing hold of my hand for?”
Tie Da didn’t let go. If anything, he tightened his grip, clamping down like a pair of steel pliers as he dragged Wang Quan off to one side.
A flicker of amusement passed through Gou San’er’s eyes. He didn’t leave. He simply stationed himself outside the shed door.
Inside the shed, the two men now saw a dozen or so sacks of grain piled up in a chaotic heap. Judging by the look of it, Chen Hu had hauled it back that morning and had locked the shed before he could tidy it up, heading off to the countryside again.
The two of them picked through the burlap sacks of rice and grain, and sure enough, they found two bags of medicinal herbs: mugwort, honeysuckle, big thistle, small thistle... all dried, all crammed together in a jumble without being sorted apart.
Song Fengsui rummaged through them, and a sprig of bramble vine stabbed his finger.
Duan Yan’s brows knit tight: “Did it get stuck in the skin?”
Song Fengsui squeezed his finger. “It’s fine.”
“No point digging through this mess. Tie the sacks up and take them all back.”
Song Fengsui nodded and quickly fetched rope to secure the bags.
Duan Yan beat him to it and cinched the sacks shut in a few quick moves, then said, “Come with me.”
He led him to another corner of the shed and lifted down four wooden boxes from the top of a shelf.
The dust-caked crates hit the ground, sending powder flying everywhere. Song Fengsui pressed a hand lightly over his mouth and nose, asking Duan Yan, “What are these?”
“Open them and see.”
Song Fengsui carefully pried the lid off one crate. Inside were brocade boxes of various shapes and sizes—long and square. Having grown up in a wealthy household, he knew at once these were the kinds of cases reserved for valuables.
He picked out a red brocade box as long as his forearm and opened it. Lying inside, perfectly intact, was a handsome ginseng root. Judging by the depth of its rings, it had to be somewhere between twenty and thirty years old.
He took another square brocade box and found a red reishi mushroom within.
He flipped through a few more boxes in turn, coming across gastrodia, deer antler, tiger bone, cordyceps—a host of rare medicinals.
“These were gifts for people who stashed them up high and never used them,” Duan Yan said.
He grabbed an empty sack and started stuffing the contents of the brocade boxes inside: “You know medicine. Just take them all back and use them when you need to. Better than letting them sit here gathering dust.”
Song Fengsui was genuinely pleased to see these herbs. He helped Duan Yan load them into the sack. “Keeping these close at hand—whether I use them or not matters little. Either way, they’re better off in my hands than in some outsider’s.”
Duan Yan halted mid-motion at those words and suddenly lifted his eyes to Song Fengsui. “Since we’ve gone and broken the lock today, why not go one step further?”
