1354 Personal Secret Agent
Qiao Mei called Qian’e to come over and asked her, “What’s up with my mother? What happened? Why do I feel that there’s something wrong with her today?”

“I think she seems quite alright. There’s nothing particularly strange about her,” Qian’e said.

“I wonder if she’s feeling sad because I haven’t had time for her recently,” Qiao Mei probed.

“Did you spend a lot of time with her in the past? Sometime back, she was so focused on making money that she did not even have time to sleep. She had never asked you to spend more time with her. You’re thinking too much,” Qian’e explained.

Could it be that Li Gui really just had a sudden impulse to cook a nice meal for them? Qiao Mei thought about it carefully. It was not anyone’s birthday, nor a special anniversary, nor the festive season. Perhaps it was just as Li Gui had said, she did it purely because she felt happier than usual today.

“How’s the issue with the Zhao family?” Qiao Mei asked.

“The matter with the Zhao family seems to have been settled. During this period of time, Zhao Fei has been coming to pick up the goods alone. However, half of his sales team used to be from the Zhao family. Given that those people have been asked to go, our sales have naturally dropped a lot,” Qian’e said honestly.

Even though Qian’e was now in charge of the popcorn business, when something like this happened, Qiao Mei also had to play a part to plan for the future. Since she had agreed to let Zhao Fei be the exclusive agent, she could not go back on her word.

“Let’s leave it at that for now and just take it as we’re slowing down our pace. The construction of the factory in the suburbs has already started. We can actually take a break from selling the popcorn and other products for a period of time. When the factory is ready for operation, we can recruit more people then,” Qiao Mei said.
By then, Qiao Mei no longer wanted to recruit salespeople. Instead, she wanted to be a wholesaler and distribute the goods to the retail shops. Her people could still do direct sales themselves if they wanted to, but probably in a different manner.

“Alright,” Qian’e agreed.

Qiao Mei waited in the study until late at night and wondered if the person who spoke to her on the phone would appear. Would that person walk openly into her house?

The television dramas portrayed such secret agents as people who could leap onto roofs and vault over walls. Once their true identities were exposed, they might get themselves killed. Were the television dramas too much of an exaggeration?

Just as Qiao Mei turned away, a figure appeared at Qiao Mei’s window.

“Madam Xia, I’m the person you’re looking for,” the man outside the window said in a low voice.

Qiao Mei turned around and looked at him in surprise. The man walked in through the study door and sat opposite her desk with a straight face as he looked at her.

“I… I thought you would jump in through the window…” Qiao Mei said with a hint of disappointment.

The man raised his eyebrows and asked curiously, “Then should I do it again?”

“It’s fine. I still don’t know how to address you,” Qiao Mei said.

“I’m Xia Zhe’s personal secret agent. My name is Yao Nian. You can just tell me about what needs to be done. Other than murder and robbery, I can help you with everything else,” Yao Nian said with a smile.

Qiao Mei sized up Yao Nian carefully. Just as Qiao Mei was considering whether to believe this person, the pigeon in the birdcage suddenly made a cooing sound. It seemed that this person was the real deal.

“Is this your bird?” Qiao Mei asked as she pointed at the birdcage.

“It’s my carrier pigeon. I have been wondering why it hasn’t come back. I thought it had been shot down by a skilled hunter. I never expected it to be captured by Madam Xia. What a… disappointment,” Yao Nian said with a sigh.

“It almost got turned into a dish of braised pigeon. Fortunately, it’s smart enough,” Qiao Mei said very seriously, as if trying to put across the point that she had really wanted to stew this pigeon.

“Since Madam Xia likes it so much, then let it be your exclusive carrier pigeon from now on. This pigeon knows how to find me. If you need anything in the future, use the carrier pigeon to communicate with me. It’s safer this way,” Yao Nian said.

What a strange person. It was so much more troublesome and time-consuming to use a carrier pigeon over making a phone call. Furthermore, a carrier pigeon could only send a short message of about one or two sentences. What if there was a lot of information to be sent across?

How did Xia Zhe usually make contact with these people? These people were really weird.