Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1257 602: Dark Bridge (Nuclear Core)_4

Ye Jianhuang packed a pipe of dry tobacco, let out a cold laugh: "Girl, it's not that I look down on you. You're good in a fight, but when it comes to other methods, I don't even know where to start.

I'll just ask you one thing: do you know how to talk to the territory?"

He Yuxiu gazed into the distance, putting on a look of scouting and longing.

"Cut the act," Ye Jianhuang flicked his pipe, "you don't even know how to talk to the territory, so how the hell are you going to negotiate with it?

Look at the time we're in now, don't mess around anymore. Get some good food and drink, let everyone have a decent New Year, then talk."

Li Banfeng spoke up beside He Yuxiu: "Xiuer, I think Brother Ye has a point."

Ye Jianhuang snorted: "Old Qi, you always pop up like a ghost. Next time if I'm not on guard and we end up throwing hands, don't blame me."

"Brother Ye, I've got urgent business. I want to discuss a deal with Xiuer."

He Yuxiu said: "What kind of deal?"

Li Banfeng handed a list to He Yuxiu: "This is a batch of Spiritual Objects the Dark Star Bureau lost. Jia Qing took them. Can you talk to Jia Qing? The Dark Star Bureau is willing to buy them back, as long as the price isn't too outrageous."

He Yuxiu looked a bit troubled: "Old Qi, I heard things are pretty tense between you and Jia Qing, but I'm still his aunt. Don't use this to screw him over."

Li Banfeng shook his head: "What can I possibly do to him? I work for the public office out in the Outside Provinces. Coming to him for a deal now is just to balance the books.

Everything that could be settled, I already found a way to settle. These few items really can't be leveled off. Talk to him, count it as doing me a favor."

He Yuxiu nodded: "Since you put it that way, I'm relieved. I'll definitely help with this. If he's not willing to give them back to you, I'll find a way to get these items for you myself."

He Yuxiu sent someone to the newspaper office, and Shen Rongqing managed to get in touch with He Jiaqing.

Two days later, He Jiaqing showed up in New Land, went to a wooden cabin in the woods to see He Yuxiu.

He Yuxiu laid out the situation. He Jiaqing was half convinced, half skeptical: "Li Qi wants these things from me just to settle Dark Star Bureau's accounts?"

He Yuxiu didn't answer He Jiaqing's question, she countered first: "You tell me first, are these things in fact taken by you?"

"I took them." He Jiaqing didn't deny it.

"Then that's fine. You give them to me, I'll hand them over to Old Qi. You two don't have to have any contact, and you don't need to worry Old Qi will harm you."

He Jiaqing stayed silent for a long while. He Yuxiu grew displeased: "What's that supposed to mean? Yes or no? Give me a straight answer!"

"Aunt, it's not that I don't trust Li Qi, it's just this matter…"

"Stop rambling. You might not trust others, but you don't trust me either? Whatever risk there is here, I'll carry it for you!"

He Jiaqing read through the list again: "Quite a few of the items on here, I've already sold off. It won't be that easy to get them back. Aunt, give me some time, I'll go out and ask around first."

He Yuxiu had been rolling around the Jianghu for years; she understood this kind of trick at a glance: "Jia Qing, public office goods from Outside Provinces aren't that easy to move in Puluo State. I think you just don't want to bring them out and are dragging this out on purpose."

"Aunt, we in the Taoist Sect have rules: things we shouldn't keep must be sold off at once. Tomorrow night, same hour, I'll give you an answer."

...

Leaving New Land, He Jiaqing went to Big Head's place. Big Head's wife and kid were already asleep, so He Jiaqing caught him at the right time to talk business:

"In your Dark Star Bureau, is settling accounts considered a big deal?"

"Of course it's a big deal."

"Is it considered urgent?"

"Depends on when," Big Head glanced at the Month Plate, "New Year's Day is almost here. All accounts must be settled before year-end reporting. Right now it's already a ten-seconds-to-midnight situation."

He Jiaqing asked again: "Does every single account have to be completely squared?"

"Not necessarily. Different accounts get handled differently."

"How are accounts for Magical Treasures and Spiritual Objects supposed to be handled?"

"You mean the dark energy carrier division's accounts," Big Head explained, "dark energy carriers are part of weapons allocation. If two or three carriers are damaged, the carrier division can handle it on their own.

If more than five are damaged, then Vice Director Chen, who's in charge of carriers, has to deal with it. If it goes over ten, Shen Jingye has to step in personally, and the matter might not be smoothed over even then."

Hearing this, He Jiaqing finally understood: "So basically, getting back even one is better than nothing."

"That's for sure. As soon as you find one, you have to send it back to the Bureau immediately, and it has to beat the higher-ups' inventory inspection."

The next day, He Jiaqing went to Liu's Pawnshop.

The Shopkeeper saw He Jiaqing and hurried him into the inner hall. He Jiaqing went straight to the warehouse, sent everyone else away, and opened a wooden crate in the storage.

Inside the crate lay a dozen or so dark energy carriers, all taken from the Dark Star Bureau. He Jiaqing picked out one scarf and one umbrella.

He Jiaqing took out a fishing line from his coat, wrapped it several times around both the umbrella and the scarf, and waited a full hour before taking the line off.

He attached hooks to those two carriers.

The longer the fishing line stays wrapped, the deeper the hook sets, and the harder it is for others to spot.

Once the hooks were set, He Jiaqing waited until evening. He took the scarf and umbrella and went to New Land.

He Yuxiu looked at the two items, clearly displeased: "Jia Qing, I rarely ask you for anything, and this time you bring me just two items? There are more than twenty listed on that form!"

"Right now I can only get back these two. You hand them over to Li Qi first, and have him give me a bit more time."

"Fine, name your price then."

He Jiaqing waved his hand: "I don't want any money. I just ask that Li Qi put in a few good words for me, so the Defense Agency will give me more leeway."