novelSusiti Chapter 14 Card Game and Blood Debt
Chapter 14 Card Game and Blood Debt
While Finn's men were selling energizing tea in the South District, Fiona didn't rest either. She pushed open the door to the back kitchen of Boyle's Bakery, and a complex smell of butter, yeast, and fear hit her.
Mr. Boyle was standing next to a huge kneading table. He wasn't working; he was just wiping his fat hands, which were covered in flour, over and over again with a damp cloth.
He heard the door open, his obese body visibly trembled, and he turned around, forcing a smile that was more like a grimace on his face.
"Fiona, little...no, sir."
He emphasized the word "adult" heavily, his tone full of flattery and unease.
Fiona ignored his form of address and walked to the table covered in flour. The white powder floating in the air landed on her dark blue skirt, but she didn't care.
"How's the matter with Lieutenant Andrew Gage going?"
Her voice was flat and devoid of emotion, yet it instantly caused a fine layer of sweat to bead on Boyle's forehead.
"This...this is a bit difficult."
Boyle stammered as he explained, "Lieutenant Gage is of high status and rarely leaves his home; he's not someone a small merchant like me can easily meet. You know, things haven't been peaceful in the city lately; those 'Sons of Liberty' are causing trouble again, and the Governor's Mansion is heavily guarded..."
He kept rambling on, his words full of excuses, trying to stall for time.
Greed still burned in his heart, but the increasingly tense situation between the British army and the rebels made this opportunist feel a deeper fear.
He was afraid of choosing the wrong side, afraid of becoming the first insect to be crushed in the power struggle between the two sides.
Fiona listened quietly without interrupting him.
After he finished speaking, she slowly took out a folded piece of white paper and a sharpened quill pen from her bosom and gently placed them on the kneading table.
"My master said that he was afraid you might have forgotten some details from your statement, so he asked me to write another copy for you to keep."
Fiona's voice remained calm, as if she were talking about something trivial.
"Now I'll check it again."
"Mr. Boyle, please repeat the specific time, place, and amount of your funding for 'Sons of Liberty' in detail. I need to write it down so that there are no mistakes or omissions."
The color drained from Boyle's face in an instant.
He stared intently at the blank sheet of paper and the pen, as if he could see the ropes of the gallows.
I finally understand that kneeling down that night left me with no right to bargain.
The girl in front of him was no longer the maid he could beat and scold at will.
She is Li Wei's spokesperson, the messenger who holds his life and fortune in her hands.
With a "thump".
The baker's large body collapsed to the ground, his knees hitting the stone slabs hard.
"I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!"
His face was long and gloomy, and he no longer harbored any hope.
"I...I really can't arrange a meeting with Lieutenant Gage within a few days, that was all just bragging! But...but I have a way!"
"Lieutenant Gage is a gambler! He loves playing Whistler!"
"Every week, he goes to a club called 'Royal Oaks'! It's run by a retired British army captain who only entertains his own men. I... I gave that captain free bread for three years, and that's how I got a few words in there!"
Fiona put away the paper and pen on the table.
"Very good. It seems your memory is excellent; you don't need any backups at all."
She looked down at Boyle, who was kneeling on the ground, and gave him new instructions.
"tonight."
"Use all your connections, whether it's sending money or women, to arrange a card game for my master at 'Royal Oak'."
"The opponent must be Andrew Gage."
"That's an order."
……
Meanwhile, in the warehouse at the North Wharf, Li Wei was not waiting quietly.
He completely disassembled the musket that came from Liège, Belgium, laying out each tiny part on a clean piece of linen.
He carefully wiped the barrel, hammer, and flint with a soft cloth soaked in whale oil, his movements skilled and focused, like a veteran who had served firearms for half his life.
After maintaining the gun, he perfectly reassembled all the parts, the whole process was smooth and efficient, without a single unnecessary movement.
"Hmm, this time it's three seconds faster, but it's still much slower than before in the camp. After all, this is much simpler than the Type 81 automatic rifle."
In a corner of the warehouse, a small crucible was warming over a charcoal fire.
Some herbs were being simmered inside. In addition to the original energizing ingredients of "Awakening Powder", Li Wei also added some black powder that no one recognized.
When the powder is heated, it emits a strange fragrance with a slightly numbing sensation.
He carefully divided the newly refined medicinal powder into several smaller oil paper packets.
After doing all that, he pulled out a tattered cloth bag from under a box full of odds and ends.
The bag contained no money, but a deck of cards made from animal bones.
The tiles are smooth and engraved with strange, non-European patterns, resembling Eastern Pai Gow, yet different.
He held the dominoes in his hand, his fingers deftly moving, the dominoes colliding between his fingers and making a crisp sound.
Just then, the warehouse door was suddenly kicked open with a loud bang.
One-Eyed Finn rushed in, supporting a man whose face was covered in blood. It was Rory, who was on his way to distribute tea in the South District.
"Mr. Li!"
Finn's voice was filled with barely suppressed rage, "The 'Bloody Hands' gang has made their move! They broke Rory's nose and kicked over our tea barrels!"
Rory covered his face, blood seeping from between his fingers. He struggled to add, "Scarface did it! They said only 'The Butcher' could do business in the South!"
Almost the instant Finn finished speaking, Fiona strode in from outside.
She immediately noticed the injured Rory and Finn's angry faces, and upon hearing the word "butcher," her expression instantly turned serious.
Fiona quickly walked to Levi's side and shared the information she had obtained from Boyle.
Information from both fronts converged at this moment.
The trouble came faster and more directly than expected.
The atmosphere in the entire warehouse instantly became tense.
However, Levi, who was at the center of the storm, reacted with a frightening calm.
He had Fiona help the injured Rory sit down and poured him a cup of hot tea.
Then he stood up, walked to the wall, and picked up the newly maintained bird gun.
"very good."
Li Wei's voice broke the tension in the warehouse.
"It's faster than I expected. It saved us a lot of trouble."
He turned to Fiona and gave her instructions.
"Inform Boyle that the plan remains unchanged. Tonight, we'll meet Gage at the Royal Oak."
Fiona paused for a moment, but immediately nodded.
Li Wei tucked a packet of newly refined medicinal powder and the set of animal bone tablets into his pocket and continued, "But the purpose has changed."
His gaze passed over Fiona and Finn, as if piercing through the warehouse walls, and landed on the faces of the perpetrators in the South District.
He issued the new order in a tone devoid of emotion, yet one that sent a chill down the spines of Finn and Rory.
"Finn, let your men see clearly who is standing up for the Irish in Boston tonight."
"Let's go to the gambling table now and win an 'alibi'."
"Then, go to the streets and collect the first blood debt."