Shuanggui Alley is extremely secluded, rarely visited all year round, making it a good place for someone to hide; it’s not unusual for people from the jianghu to find such places to settle down.

Now that those two had left, the chances of running into another group of jianghu people were extremely low, so he decided not to change locations after all.

With that interruption, the earlier ‘imaginings’ naturally couldn’t be continued.

Henry Blake wiped his face to clear away distracting thoughts, feeling he had too much energy, so he got up, grabbed a broom, and started practicing the ‘Red God of Wealth’ gun technique inside the house.

He busied himself for half an hour, and gradually, dawn broke.

Henry Blake tidied up, donned a rain cape and bamboo hat, tucked the still-sleeping Birdie under his cape, and led his horse out of the alley.

It was barely light and raining again, with hardly a soul on the street.

After eating a basket of meat buns, Henry Blake walked just over two li along the street and arrived at Tianshui Bridge.

Tianshui Bridge was all owned by the Pei family, with all kinds of shops—rice stores, cloth shops, security agencies, taverns—everything was open for business.

Henry Blake came to the front of the Zhenyuan Security Agency, intending to greet the guards washing up, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a maid with an oil-paper umbrella emerge from a nearby alley—it was the maid of Third Lady he’d seen yesterday.

“Young Master Blake, you’re here so early?”

Henry Blake was a bit surprised and led his horse over:

“Just came to have a look. Why are you waiting here?”

“I heard Mr. Bennett say last night that you wanted to find something to do at home, so Mary is waiting for you at home. Come, I’ll take you over.”

The maid Emma said this as she took the reins, and even tried to pick up Birdie.

But the drowsy Birdie glanced at Emma’s collar... and showed no interest at all.

Henry Blake handed the silly little bird to Emma, and walked deep into the bluestone alley, where he saw that the entire alley was lined with the courtyard walls of a single household, the buildings inside uneven and sprawling—a typical wealthy family’s residence.

But merchant families tended to be low-key; the main gate wasn’t grand, just a high wall and a small door, with a lantern bearing the character ‘Pei’ hanging outside.

Henry Blake followed Emma into the house. As soon as they turned past the screen wall, a group of maids appeared at the corner of the covered walkway, curiously sizing him up and chattering:

“So this is Young Master Blake, right?”

“Yeah, Young Master Blake isn’t just handsome, he’s skilled in martial arts too. Yesterday I saw with my own eyes Young Master Blake take down Chief Brooks in one move.”

“Compared to Young Master, it’s like heaven and earth...”

“No, no, I heard from Sister Emma that Young Master Blake is older, so in the future Young Master will have to be called Second Young Master...”

...

Hearing this, Henry Blake asked Emma a couple of questions and learned that his ‘uncle’ Stephen Collins had died in an accident while doing business, leaving behind an only son, Matthew Collins, the sole heir of the Pei family, who was currently studying at the academy, with no other men left in the household.

Chatting along the way, they soon arrived at the The Collins Estate’s main hall.

Grace Collins was already waiting in the hall, but she wasn’t alone—across from her sat two elderly men in their fifties, both frowning, seemingly discussing some troublesome matter:

“You just can’t deal with these ruffians...”

“Exactly, if you give them a little benefit, they’ll only push for more...”

Seeing this, Henry Blake paused in the corridor, waiting for Grace Collins to finish her conversation.

But the Pei family had already announced his arrival, and as soon as he appeared, the two elders stood up and greeted him from afar with cupped hands:

“Young Master Blake.”

Henry Blake wasn’t keen to acknowledge the title of Pei family young master, but as the adopted son of Richard Collins, he had no choice. He nodded in return:

“No need for such formality. Mary, who are these gentlemen?”

“They’re the family’s chief stewards, both long-time elders of the household.”

Grace Collins put away the ‘worried’ look between her brows:

“You two may go now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The two stewards immediately took their leave.

Big Birdie, seeing Big Sister, was suddenly wide awake, flapping its little wings to fly onto Grace Collins’s lap, looking up with shiny black eyes, trying to act cute.

But its view was blocked by her collar.

Birdie tilted its head, curiously hopped, and nudged with its head.

Thump~ thump~

The collar trembled, the scenery was exquisite.

Grace Collins quickly held Birdie down and fed it sunflower seeds in her arms:

“Why are you so naughty?”

Henry Blake pretended not to see this scene, sat down at the tea pavilion, and asked:

“Mary, you and the two stewards didn’t look too happy. Is there some trouble with the shops?”

“Sigh~”

Last night, Mary had the strength to ‘uproot a willow tree’, but now she was like Lin Daiyu mourning over fallen flowers, letting out a soft, melancholy sigh:

“In business, nothing ever goes completely smoothly. With no man in the house to take charge, those local bullies outside see the Pei family as easy prey—just a widow and orphans—and constantly look for trouble...”

“Oh?”

Henry Blake, sitting on the other side of the tea table, frowned and asked:

“What kind of trouble?”

“The dockside thugs want to collect ‘tribute money’ at Tianshui Bridge. Our Pei family does honest business right under the emperor’s nose, so of course we can’t pay. As a result, these people stir up trouble every few days—today they say the food is spoiled and made them sick, tomorrow they claim the cloth shop sells shoddy goods. They make a scene all day, making it impossible for the shops to do business...”

Henry Blake understood at once. Having worked at the security agency before, he was all too familiar with this sort of thing:

“The Pei family does business in the capital—don’t you have any connections with the authorities? Or do the troublemakers have some kind of backing?”