Volume One: The Eight-Coffin Corpse Field, Chapter 91: Iron Pillar Loses His Head

Chen Tao was busy with work, and when he looked up and saw us, his face lit up with joy. “Yangzi, Mr. Li, you’re finally back.”

As he spoke, Chen Tao came out from the office area, led us into the reception section, and asked eagerly, “Well? Did everything go smoothly?”

Mr. Li nodded. “More or less. I’ll transfer the money into the company account shortly.”

“That’s wonderful. Mr. Li, you really are amazing. To make so much money in just one month.”

Seeing the people working in the office, I asked, “Brother Chen, have you hired more staff? Is business really that busy?”

Chen Tao smiled. “Yangzi, you don’t know this, but our regular business has been doing quite well too. The volume has doubled, and without hiring more people we simply couldn’t keep up. Even so, though, we’re still some way off from making two hundred thousand a month.”

I nodded. Our real estate agency made its money from the spread and the commissions; earning big money was never easy. When we first took over the company, we had not expected to make much from it. Still, the speed at which it had developed in such a short time was beyond even my expectations.

Third Uncle was surprised too, and asked Chen Tao how he had managed it.

Chen Tao gave a smile. “I have to thank Assistant Liang for that.”

I froze. “Assistant Liang? Liang Yue? What’s going on?”

Chen Tao said, “A number of the projects developed by Tianyou Group included quite a few properties used to settle debts. Assistant Liang used her personal connections to have all those debt-settlement properties listed for sale through our company. Those properties are in high demand, so our business has been booming lately.”

“She was that kind?”

Third Uncle glared at me. “What’s so strange about that? I told you, that girl Liang Yue is pretty good.”

I curled my lip. “Didn’t see it. If she wanted to help us, why set such a bully of a clause?”

Chen Tao said, “Yangzi, you really have misunderstood Assistant Liang. After you left, she came almost every day. Every time she came, she asked about you. I told her I hadn’t heard anything, and she grew anxious beyond words. I told her to call and ask you herself, but she refused to do even that...”

Third Uncle waved a hand. “She was asking about Li Yang, wasn’t she? It had nothing to do with me, the old Daoist.”

Chen Tao laughed and went on, “And Assistant Liang also told me that clause was added at President Wu’s request. It was meant to test your ability. After all, the board of Tianyou Group has other directors too. Though this agency is small, it is still one of the company’s assets, and there had to be an explanation to the board. Assistant Liang even had a fight with her uncle over it...”

Only after Chen Tao explained everything did I finally understand what had happened. It seemed Liang Yue had said all that simply because she was still sulking with me.

After chatting for quite a while, I suddenly remembered something and quickly asked Chen Tao, “Brother Chen, where’s Tie Zhu?”

“Tie... ah, you mean that dog...” Chen Tao paused, then realized I was asking about the stray dog.

Back then, we had really liked that stray dog. I had wanted to bring it with us to Linjiang, but Third Uncle refused flatly, so I left it in Chen Tao’s care.

At the mention of the dog, Chen Tao sighed.

I grew anxious. “Brother Chen, what happened to Tie Zhu?”

Chen Tao hurriedly waved his hands. “Nothing’s wrong with the dog. It’s just that after you left, it stopped wanting to eat. No matter how much food we prepared for it every day, it would only take a little. Later it went almost mad, barking nonstop. Several times it nearly bit the customers who came to the company. The shops nearby all said it was a mad dog and insisted it be put down. They even called the police. I couldn’t do anything about it. Since this is still a company, I had it sent to a pet boarding place.”

I blinked. “How could that be? Tie Zhu was always pretty obedient. Where is it? I want to see it.”

Chen Tao nodded. “I’ll call them right now and have them bring the dog over.”

He made the call. Not long after, a pickup truck pulled up in front of the company. The driver led Tie Zhu down from the truck. There was a chain around its neck, and it was still wearing a muzzle to prevent bites.

“Tie Zhu!” I called out.

The dog heard my voice, its ears flicked, and it suddenly lunged forward, actually wrenching the chain free from the man’s hand. Then it ran straight toward me.

I went to meet it, and Tie Zhu flung itself at me, nearly knocking me over.

Only then did I take a closer look. Its fur was in terrible shape, obviously because it had not been bathed for a long time, full of clumps and tangles. Much of its coat had also fallen out. It was even thinner than it had been when it was still a stray, looking worse than the homeless dogs on the street.

My heart ached at once. I took off the muzzle, and Tie Zhu was so excited that it kept panting and licking me all over with its tongue.

Chen Tao shouted at the pet shop worker, “How did you people take care of the dog? Why didn’t you even give it a bath?”

The man said with a bitter face, “That dog is vicious. Who’d dare give it a bath? If you hadn’t paid so much, we never would have taken the job. And I have to advise you too, you’d better not keep this dog. It’s stupid and can’t be trained at all. Look at that strange head of its. It can’t be tamed, just like a wolf.”

Chen Tao dismissed the man with a wave, then said to me, “Yangzi, what he said isn’t wrong. We should get rid of this dog as soon as possible. We can’t really keep a dog in our place anyway, and this one is just too strange.”

As soon as Chen Tao finished speaking, Tie Zhu let out a low growl in his direction, baring its teeth in a way that was truly frightening.

Startled, Chen Tao jumped and hurriedly slipped away.

I patted Tie Zhu on the head. “Tie Zhu, this won’t do. I can’t keep bringing you around with me all the time. These people are our own. You can’t bare your teeth at everyone you see.”

“Chen Tao even fed it before. Seems the pet shop people were right after all. This dog can’t be tamed. We should get rid of it early,” Third Uncle said, patting his backside as he headed upstairs to rest.

I poked Tie Zhu’s nose and complained, “Look at you. While I was gone these past few days, you managed to offend everyone. How can this go on? I really will have to find you somewhere else.”

Seeing me, Tie Zhu no longer acted fierce. Instead, it was like a wronged little wife, whining as it shoved its way into my arms. That made me lose the heart to scold it any further. But I was afraid it would run off, so I had no choice but to lock it in a cage and keep it on the upper floor.

Early the next morning, Third Uncle left the company without telling anyone where he was going. Just after he left, Liang Yue arrived in high spirits.

I put the company ledger in front of her. “Assistant Liang, Third Uncle and I have lived up to our word and exceeded the target. The contract is valid now, isn’t it?”

Liang Yue glanced at the ledger and curled her lip. “Who knows where you two got all this money from? Does every kind of money count as company revenue?”

The moment I heard that, I got anxious. “Liang Yue, Assistant Liang, are you really going to say you don’t trust us at all? This money came from the properties our agency handled. We resolved the real estate matters for the owners and received labor fees for it. We have contracts as proof. How does that not count as company revenue?”