The main hall was large, with curtains hanging from openings to smaller side rooms on both sides.
Two square chairs were placed at the front, with Su Xiaoqi seated in the higher position.
Zhao Ye was seated at her left hand, in a lower position.
Xiao Sanzi knelt at Su Xiaoqi's feet.
Su Xiaoqi bent over several times to help him up, but he dodged her each time, remaining on the ground.
Especially when Su Xiaoqi mentioned that someone was behind him, he turned pale, stared at Su Xiaoqi with wide eyes, and looked utterly disbelieving.
He hadn't said anything, yet how did Sister Xiaoqi guess?
"You don't need to hide it for him. I believe you wouldn't have dared to do this without his prompting."
Su Xiaoqi had originally thought Xiao Sanzi was responsible.
But after a brief probing, she saw that his courage was less than that of a mouse.
Moreover, he was like a startled bird, cracking under the slightest questioning and confessing the truth.
How could such a Xiao Sanzi have any decisiveness?
It must have been someone behind him instigating him.
"Is it Xiao Yi?" Su Xiaoqi directly named the person.
Xiao Sanzi's face flushed and paled, then flushed and paled again.
He just stared blankly at Su Xiaoqi, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Su Xiaoqi sighed and said, "I believe Xiao Yi, like you, doesn't have bad intentions.
Tell me the truth, and I'll know what really happened."
Su Xiaoqi tried her best to imitate their way of speaking, hoping to make him feel more at ease.
"Yes, yes, Sister Xiaoqi. The matter is, it's like this..." Xiao Sanzi stammered, and it took him a quarter of an hour to clarify the whole affair.
Everything before was similar to what Zhao Ye had said.
It was he who first discovered that someone from the He family was inquiring about their bitter buckwheat tea production.
They had even tried to enter the courtyard several times.
But they were all driven away by Aunt Wen, who was in charge.
So, he told their leader, Xiao Yi, and Xiao Yi then gave him this idea.
"Brother Xiao Yi said that Sister Xiaoqi is too busy, and you are so good to us. We can't let you worry about us anymore.
So, we wanted to solve the problem in our own way."
"What was your own way?" Su Xiaoqi leaned forward and asked.
"I deliberately pretended to betray Sister Xiaoqi and contacted that He family. I agreed to teach him the method for making bitter buckwheat tea."
Of course, they wouldn't give him the real recipe, so they made a fake one.
The other party was about to give them one hundred taels of silver.
The problem now was that the money had already arrived, and they were scheduled to meet at Zuifeng Tower for the transaction tomorrow.
Then they realized that the situation could no longer continue like this and was beyond their ability to resolve.
Coincidentally, Zhao Ye caught him, and having no other choice, he revealed the matter.
"Your Brother Xiao Yi doesn't know you're here, does he?" Su Xiaoqi knew Xiao Yi well.
He was a stubborn person; once he decided to do something, he wouldn't stop until he achieved his goal.
Like this matter, since he had decided to handle it himself, he definitely wouldn't let her intervene halfway.
"Mm, we agreed that Brother Xiao Yi would go for the transaction tomorrow.
He has already made arrangements, saying he will expose the He family's malicious intentions in front of everyone."
In this era, although many people desired family secret recipes and would find various ways to obtain them,
there was an unspoken understanding among people.
These matters could only be conducted in secret, never brought out into the open.
If Xiao Yi did this, the He family's reputation would naturally be damaged. As long as they had any sense of shame, they would most likely not resort to such tactics in the future.
However, Su Xiaoqi felt this was a bit of a loss.
Giving it to the He family felt like too much of a concession.
But not giving it to them, while there was no immediate loss, was not a long-term solution.
As Su Xiaoqi was pondering, Shen Yun entered at some point and joined the conversation, saying,
"Actually, we don't necessarily need to rely on making tea for income anymore. We might as well just give it to them."
"What, what did you say?" Xiao Sanzi stretched his neck in disbelief, glaring at Shen Yun.
Su Xiaoqi gave Zhao Ye a look, and he took the opportunity to pull Xiao Sanzi up and seat him in the opposite chair.
Su Xiaoqi pressed her temples, looking at Shen Yun, as if asking why he said that.
Shen Yun said, "You're going to the capital with me, and we might not come back. It would be better to put aside the bitter buckwheat tea business and focus on the supermarket and grain store businesses, so you don't get too tired."
Shen Yun had read the Geographical Records of Daliang extensively, and naturally knew that bitter buckwheat mostly grew in the Bashu region.
It couldn't grow in the capital, and Su Xiaoqi definitely shouldn't still be worrying about making tea when they reached the capital.
Once his scholarly pursuits yielded results, she wouldn't need to concern herself with these matters.
Hearing Shen Yun's words, Su Xiaoqi was momentarily bewildered.
She really wanted to tell Shen Yun that she had no intention of not returning when she followed him to the capital.
If Shen Yun didn't return, she would definitely return.
She just wanted to stay far away from him.
However, this was not the best time to discuss this matter.
Seeing her predicament, Shen Yun further reminded her, "The tea recipe isn't being given away for free. I think the cooperation with Chen Jinji is a very good model."
Shen Yun's hint was enough. Su Xiaoqi thought for a moment, a direction emerging, and she said to Xiao Sanzi, word by word,
"Go back and tell Xiao Yi that the transaction tomorrow will proceed as planned, but he doesn't need to go. I will."
"I'll go too," Shen Yun said gently.
Xiao Sanzi looked at Shen Yun with some displeasure.
But he was quickly defeated by Shen Yun's eyes, which seemed calm but were in fact unfathomably cunning.
His heart leaped, realizing that Shen Yun was not someone he could provoke. He immediately lowered his head, his heart chilling instantly.
Zhao Ye observed this entire process. It was a pity that he couldn't speak and offer any opinion.
In fact, what Shen Yun had said was also what he had in mind.
When he learned of Xiao Yi and Xiao Sanzi's plan, he had already thought of this possibility.
But since he couldn't speak, he couldn't seize the initiative.
In his dejected mood, he opened his mouth, and an involuntary monosyllable escaped his throat: "Wuw..."
Su Xiaoqi, lost in thought, suddenly heard this sound and was pleasantly surprised:
"Zhao Ye, you can speak, no, you can make a sound. Say two more words for me to hear."
Su Xiaoqi had known from the beginning that the reason Zhao Ye couldn't speak was psychological.
When he was young, something must have frightened him, and that fright had scared away his instinct to speak.
Later, he kept giving himself psychological suggestions, telling himself he couldn't speak, couldn't speak.
He was mute, he was mute, and then he truly became mute.
His throat and vocal cords were perfectly fine.
However, the psychological problem, due to the unknown cause of its onset, was even more difficult to resolve.
Therefore, Su Xiaoqi had been unable to cure him.
Now that he could produce a monosyllable, it indicated that there was great hope for him to speak again.
Seeing hope, Su Xiaoqi immediately cast aside the matter of the He family.
Compared to making money, she believed that healing and saving people was more meaningful.
Especially now that she was not lacking in money.
Su Xiaoqi immediately began to guide Zhao Ye.
But Zhao Ye had just been stimulated by the unspoken understanding between Shen Yun and Su Xiaoqi, and his heart was filled with such sorrow and indignation that he couldn't help but make a sound.
Now that Su Xiaoqi's heart was entirely focused on him, he had no motivation. Naturally, his mouth remained open, and no more sounds came out.