The next morning, Li Chonglou woke up early with Wan He and the other few, learning some basic chores.
"Uh, forgot to restock the cleaning agent."
On the way, Wan He, as the little leader of the seven, suddenly realized he had forgotten to restock supplies during their vacation when checking the daily necessities.
Li Chonglou volunteered, "I'll go buy it, I won't be able to get the hang of things that quickly anyway."
"Do you know where it is?"
"Just tell me the store name, I've walked around the town, I should be able to find it."
Wan He smiled, "Alright, I'll write down the address and the list of items to restock for you. I'll trouble you with this."
"No trouble."
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since he was now a member of the car wash, he naturally had to do his part. It was good to run errands in the early stages.
This would also help him integrate with them faster.
As expected, upon hearing that Li Chonglou was helping with the errands, the other members' favor towards him increased. They all actively greeted him as he left.
Kind people were so easy to get along with. Li Chonglou was beginning to understand why Qiu Yuan had such a good temper.
However, it was also possible that the seven were influenced by him.
After leaving the car wash, Li Chonglou, passing by a street with a decent flow of people, suddenly overheard some interesting discussions.
"Did you hear? That Sun family seems to be going bankrupt. Anyone who bought their stocks should sell them quickly to cut their losses."
The Sun family, could it be the Sun family from the Sixteen Great Families?
Li Chonglou initially paid it no mind, until he heard the next sentence.
"I don't have the money to buy such things, but the world is indeed getting harder to get by. Even several of the Sixteen Great Families, with their centuries-old history, have gone bankrupt. It's even worse for us ordinary folk."
It was at this point that Li Chonglou's steps halted.
He then turned and walked in front of the two men who were discussing.
"Excuse me, I just heard you say that several of the Sixteen Great Families have gone bankrupt. Is that true?"
The passerby man looked Li Chonglou up and down with a hint of confusion, frowning slightly, "Brother, didn't you just get out of somewhere?"
"You don't even know about such big news in Shangjing?"
Li Chonglou looked astonished, but he decided to go along with it and nodded directly.
The two were somewhat cautious, subconsciously taking a step back. Another man cautiously asked, "Brother, what did you do to get yourself in there?"
Li Chonglou rolled his eyes, "What, these days everyone who comes out of there is a murderer?"
The two chuckled awkwardly, then began to explain.
Li Chonglou had been recuperating, and out of caution, he hadn't dared to inquire too overtly about the situation in Shangjing.
He had even minimized his social circle as much as possible. This was also why he had stepped up for the boss back then.
After all, he was the only one he could talk to on a regular basis during this period.
Therefore, he was learning about the current state of Shangjing for the first time.
In Shangjing, four of the Sixteen Great Families had already gone bankrupt openly, and three more were still in precarious situations.
When Li Chonglou first heard this, he was worried about whether the Hu family would be among them, as he had just sent Chen Pao and the others to help Hu Han gain control not long ago.
A force at its weakest moment is prone to internal strife.
Fortunately, among the bankrupt families, there was no one Li Chonglou was familiar with.
However, this problem was not to be underestimated. These large families were almost all established families that had existed for decades or centuries, and they naturally had their own emergency measures.
Under normal circumstances, they would never have fallen into such a predicament!
Moreover, four had gone bankrupt in such a short period, followed by the emergence of four new families.
Li Chonglou would never believe that such a situation was not orchestrated from behind!
But what was strange was that even though the situation in Shangjing was so tense, who dared to make a move at such a time?
And why were the people from the General Bureau also inactive, as if acquiescing!
"This water seems to be very deep."
Li Chonglou shook his head.
After thanking and bidding farewell to the two passersby, his mind heavy, he spent over an hour buying all the items on Wan He's list.
His hands were full with large bags on both sides.
"It seems I need to discuss this with Zhou Tong again."
While shopping, Li Chonglou had been continuously thinking and organizing the information he had just obtained. In the end, he felt he should take another gamble.
Although the situation was peculiar, and he couldn't see who was behind the moves, no matter what, as long as he focused on the reaction of the General Bureau, he could find a way out.
Sometimes things were that simple.
No matter how many big shots were scheming and plotting, if the General Bureau didn't interfere, it proved that the bottom line had not been crossed.
This gave Li Chonglou more room to maneuver.
Just like when he first arrived in Shangjing, the signs were already appearing. Although he didn't know the reasons behind it, Li Chonglou had always believed that the more chaotic Shangjing became, the more beneficial it would be for him!
The same was true now.
Four great families had fallen within a single month. Could this situation not be called chaotic? It could even be called the most chaotic in a century!
But at the same time, the General Bureau had shown no reaction. Sister Feng, as a member of the underworld, could still complete tasks for her gang, which was equivalent to indirectly limiting the danger.
To put it bluntly, the current chaos in Shangjing was chaos under the control of the General Bureau!
Li Chonglou had seen the General Bureau's attitude: they wouldn't interfere with the lower levels, and no matter how chaotic it got, they could deal with it at any time. As long as the upper levels were not in chaos.
And what was his current status?
Wasn't he exactly one of the people at the lower levels? It was with this in mind that Li Chonglou felt he could take some risks and contact Zhou Tong again.
Perhaps even re-establish the secret lines, just as he had when he first arrived in Shangjing.
"The higher-ups don't care, and the situation below is complex. At such a time, no one should be watching me anymore, right?"
"Xiao Li, I advise you to reconsider. This is different from before. If you gamble wrong this time, you'll lose everything."
This time, it wasn't Old An who sensed Li Chonglou's thoughts.
It was the usually boisterous Old Lin.
Perhaps sensing the seriousness of the matter, Old Lin changed his usual demeanor and appeared extremely composed.
However, what he said was also correct. Even if Li Chonglou gambled wrong in the past, he still had trump cards. At the very worst, he could still forcibly merge souls with them.
But now, he truly had nothing left.
Besides the experience, all it would take was a very ordinary pistol to put him in mortal danger.
Li Chonglou agreed. Although his intuition told him that this great family upheaval would be an opportunity for rapid rise.
But if he gambled wrong, he would lose everything.
"Well, I'll think about it."
Li Chonglou agreed. He still had too little information. Those two were just two among many onlookers.