After the eldest sister-in-law of a fishing family became a widow, her disabled younger brother-in-l

Chapter 98 Overestimating the Jiang Family

Although those who were not selected looked disappointed, they were surprised to find that they could still receive coins, so they happily took the money and left.

Now that there was no one else around, the chosen manager, Zheng Guang, finally spoke up, "Miss, if you need a servant to manage the shop for you, you can just say so. Why go through all this trouble to put on such a show?"

"Naturally, it's to avoid being noticed."

Jiang Yuyue said calmly, "Manager Zhou has been a member of our Jiang family for over ten years. I specifically asked you to come here because I trust you. Although on the surface it is to have you help me manage the shop, there are actually other things I need to entrust to you."

The Xie family's shops are all in pretty good locations, and if they were to really manage them well, they could indeed generate considerable revenue. However, Jiang Yuyue's efforts to acquire these shops were not for the money; she had other plans.

After all, Xie Yunqi had successfully climbed up to the princess. Although it was unknown when he would return, it was only a matter of time. Once Xie Yunqi returned, or Xie Longqing used some method to reinstate him and bring the Xie family back to the capital, things would not be as easy to deal with as they were now.

In order to deal with this situation, Jiang Yuyue naturally had to make preparations in advance. If she did not have enough bargaining chips, how could she compete with the Xie family?

Upon hearing that he was to be given another task, Zheng Guang immediately replied solemnly, "I will obey your orders, Miss!"

"The task I'm assigning you isn't difficult."

Jiang Yuyue said, "On the surface, you just need to run the shops like ordinary shops, and you don't need to pay too much attention to them. Just keep them running normally. But internally, you need to develop these shops into strongholds for gathering information."

"I'll tell you the specifics of what to do next in a few days. For now, you just need to make these preparations."

Zheng Guang was a little confused by these words, but he still nodded repeatedly, "Yes!"

After settling things at the shop, Jiang Yuyue turned a corner and entered a teahouse.

At this point, Jiang Yuyue couldn't help but feel fortunate that her family's businesses were vast and spanned various industries. Fortunately, few members of the Xie family were bright enough not to thoroughly investigate the Jiang family's background. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been fooled by Jiang Yuyue's few words about not having money.

The waiter at the door immediately recognized Jiang Yuyue and stepped forward to lead the way, saying, "Please come in, sir!"

Jiang Yuyue and Xiao Liu were led into a private room on the second floor. Not long after they were seated, a man with graying hair pushed open the door and walked in.

"Butler Xiang, you've arrived."

Jiang Yuyue greeted him with a smile, and the man addressed as Butler Xiang immediately bowed to her.

"This old servant greets Miss."

Then, the steward looked Jiang Yuyue up and down with concern, his tone full of worry, "Miss, I've heard about what happened to the Xie family. How could such a thing happen? I also heard that you're living in a dilapidated house now. This won't do. Now that you're pregnant, you need to take better care of yourself..."

Listening to Butler Xiang's rambling, Jiang Yuyue felt somewhat helpless. Butler Xiang had practically watched her grow up since she was a child, and he had a very deep affection for her. He had always treated her this way, and even after Jiang Yuyue got married, she was still like a child in Butler Xiang's eyes.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. How could I possibly let myself live such a miserable life?"

Jiang Yuyue smiled, then immediately returned to the main topic, "Any news lately?"

"Have."

When the steward mentioned this matter, he frowned. "Ever since you reminded me to be more careful, Miss, I have secretly sent more people to keep an eye on our Jiang residence and our family's properties. Sure enough, we caught two thieves who were secretly spying on us."

"However, this old servant is incompetent and failed to pry anything out of them. These people seemed to have come with the determination to die. As soon as they were caught red-handed, they bit off the poison hidden in their teeth and committed suicide. There was no time to stop them."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuyue's expression shifted slightly. Although she had anticipated this, she still hadn't expected that they would send assassins.

But they really think too highly of the Jiang family.

"It's alright, as long as they didn't succeed."

Jiang Yuyue then changed the subject, "But have you taken care of all the things I asked you to do before?"

"That matter has been taken care of!"

The steward hurriedly replied, "This old servant has distributed all of the Jiang family's money to various banks as instructed by Miss, using forged identities to deposit it. There is absolutely no way to trace it back to the Jiang family."

"As for the account books of each shop, two copies were made, one for the shop and one for the store. I have personally reviewed them and they are absolutely flawless. Even the most experienced cashier would not be able to find any problems."

Hearing this, Jiang Yuyue felt much more at ease. In her previous life, the Jiang family was wiped out, and all their wealth was looted by that mysterious person. Although the shops were not harmed, it was still necessary to make several preparations to be absolutely sure.

"That's no problem."

Jiang Yuyue said cautiously, "As for the guards, Steward Xiang should just keep a close watch as before. We must not take any rash actions, or we will fail if we alert them."

After saying this, Jiang Yuyue paused for a moment and beckoned to the butler, "Come a little closer, there's something else I need you to investigate for me."

Upon hearing this, Butler Xiang immediately stepped forward, and then Jiang Yuyue whispered a few words in his ear. Hearing what Jiang Yuyue said, Butler Xiang's face showed a rare look of surprise.

"Very well, this old servant will do his best to find out the truth for Miss."

"Good work."

Having said everything that needed to be explained, Jiang Yuyue could not linger any longer and was escorted to the door by Butler Xiang. Butler Xiang watched Jiang Yuyue's departing figure and sighed inwardly.

I wonder what preparations Miss is making, that she's keeping these things from even the master and mistress.

"To the housekeeper."

No sooner had Jiang Yuyue left than a servant rushed over and whispered, "Today, a group of distinguished guests arrived at our Tongfu Inn. They want to book our inn for a few days and said they're willing to pay eight hundred taels of silver!"

Eight hundred taels of silver?

The steward was somewhat surprised. Their Jiang family's Tongfu Inn was considered one of the top inns in Jinling. Although it would cost more than ten taels of silver to stay for one night, it was rare for someone to spend a huge sum of eight hundred taels of silver to book the entire inn.

The steward immediately did some mental calculations. It wasn't the inn's peak season, and there were only a dozen or so guests at most. Even if the 800 taels of silver were used to compensate the guests who checked out to clear the place, there would still be a considerable profit!

"Of course we should take this big job!"

He answered the butler without hesitation, but such generous guests were a rare sight, so he still asked, "But who are these people?"