Transmigrating with a Five Million Dollar Retirement Life

Chapter 173 Hiring Bodyguards

"Don't worry, Madam Song, I'll give the instructions shortly," the shopkeeper said respectfully.

"I'll take these two with me."

"Okay, thank you for your trouble, shopkeeper." After Song Jiaojiao agreed, the two people following behind the shopkeeper helped the person away.

After the shopkeeper left, Song Jiaojiao told everyone to go and rest, thinking that there wouldn't be any more trouble tonight.

The next day,

Song Jiaojiao didn't fall asleep until midnight last night, and she slept until 9 AM.

"Xiaoxiao, what time is it now?" Song Jiaojiao called out towards the door.

Shang Xiaoxiao pushed open the door and came in. "Reporting to Madam, it is now past 11:30 AM. Madam, shall we have breakfast first or go to see Young Master Wang?"

"Ziyi is here. How long have you been here?" Song Jiaojiao asked.

"You've had two cups of tea," Shang Xiaoxiao said as she tidied the bed for Song Jiaojiao.

After getting dressed, Song Jiaojiao said, "Okay, I'll go see Ziyi first."

Upon arriving in the lobby, Song Jiaojiao said with a smile.

"Ziyi, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Wang Ziyi, who was chatting with Mu Xue, heard Song Jiaojiao's words. He stood up and asked, his face showing anxiety.

"Sister Jiaojiao, are you alright?"

"It's alright, I didn't even see the person. Xu Sen and his men arrested them."

Song Jiaojiao said with a smile, knowing without a doubt that Wang Ziyi knew it was the shopkeeper who told him.

"I'm sorry to have frightened Sister Jiaojiao; it's Ziyi's fault." Wang Ziyi hadn't expected anyone to be so bold as to commit petty theft in the inn.

It seems the inn's safety needs improvement. The Song Jiaojiao incident has made Wang Ziyi realize the inn's weaknesses.

The immediate rectification was what prevented a disaster from happening later and allowed Sifang Inn to reach new heights.

"It's not your fault. I carelessly flaunted my wealth, which attracted these petty people," Song Jiaojiao said apologetically.

"By the way, Ziyi, I want to hire some people. I wonder if the escort agency can hire people?" Song Jiaojiao thought that her team was still inexperienced.

“Sure, the escort agency offers this service. Leave this to me, and I’ll introduce a few people to Sister Jiaojiao,” Wang Ziyi said.

"You know I'm going on this trip without a destination or return date, so I need to make that clear to whoever I'm talking to."

Song Jiaojiao had no idea where she would be going; for now, she was only planning to head south.

"Sister Jiaojiao, don't worry, I'll take care of it."

Wang Ziyi left after a short while. He had squeezed in this visit, as the hot pot restaurant had just been finalized and he needed to get it open as soon as possible.

The sooner we open for business and make money, the more dishes we can serve to the soldiers who are risking their lives in the military.

It was getting late, and Song Jiaojiao had only eaten some pastries to fill her stomach before having lunch.

After lunch, Wang Ziyi had someone bring over the people that Song Jiaojiao wanted to hire.

"Madam Song, I've brought the person here. I'll go and give them my report now."

The innkeeper brought the person there and then left.

"Thank you both for your hard work. I don't know how to address you."

Song Jiaojiao looked at the two imposing men in front of her and asked.

"My name is Zhou Dayong, and this is my younger brother, Zhou Dadan."

His accent was thick with Northeastern Mandarin from the moment he opened his mouth.

The two look very similar, and it's easy to tell they are brothers. The older brother looks a bit more honest and simple, while the younger brother looks more shrewd.

"My name is Song Jiaojiao, you can just call me Madam Song. I have a daughter, and the rest are the servants in the house. This is my first time going on a long trip, so I still have to look up to my two brothers."

Song Jiaojiao gave a brief introduction of her basic information.

"Don't worry, Madam. Young Master Wang has explained everything to us brothers."

Zhou Dayong chuckled sheepishly and said that Wang Ziyi had mentioned these things before he came.

"Alright, we plan to stay in the prefectural government for two more days this time. We'll be stopping along the way. If there's anything we need to prepare, just tell Xu Sen."

"Xu Sen, take your two brothers down and make preparations."

"Yes, Madam." Xu Sen nodded and led the two away.

In the afternoon, Song Jiaojiao planned to go to the south of the city. She only told Shang Xiaoxiao before going out alone.

Upon arriving outside the inn, Song Jiaojiao hired a carriage. The south of the city was quite far away; it would take about half an hour to walk there.

The south side of the city is more chaotic than the north side. It's obvious that there are more farmers coming and going here, and you hardly see any caravans.

Song Jiaojiao got off the carriage and asked the old man who drove it to wait for her in a quiet spot.

Stepping into the general store, it was noticeably more cluttered than the clean and organized stores in the north of the city.

"What does the gentleman need?" Spring planting season is long over, and apart from selling sugar and oil, the general store rarely has customers. Since someone has come, the waiter naturally greets him with a smile.

"Waiter, what kind of seeds do you have in your shop?" Song Jiaojiao asked with a smile.

"Our store has a very complete selection of seeds, including common seeds like green beans, loofah, and pickled vegetables..." The waiter was about to say more when Song Jiaojiao interrupted him.

"Are there any uncommon seeds? Any kind of seed is fine, but medicinal seeds would be even better."

"Hmm... we do have some seeds, brought back by the owner from another prefecture. There's only one packet, and I'm not quite sure what they are. Would you like them, sir?" the waiter said after thinking for a moment.

"Take a look at it." Song Jiaojiao thought that it was brought back from another county, and perhaps it would bring a surprise.

Soon, the waiter took out a small cloth bag. When he opened the bag, he saw that it contained orange-red seeds that were about the size of beans.

Song Jiaojiao didn't know what kind of seed it was, but her intuition told her that she had to buy it, or she would regret it.

"I've never seen this before. It looks like a red bean, but the color isn't the same. How much is it?"

"The owner said he wanted one or two ounces of this seed. He almost lost his life for it." Actually, the owner encountered bandits on his trip and was taken up the mountain. He escaped and found the seed in the mountains. Since he was already there, he thought he should bring something back, so he grabbed a handful of the seed.

Of course, these things were not to be told to Song Jiaojiao.

"This price isn't low, and besides, we don't even know what this thing is, or whether it can be grown," Song Jiaojiao said, frowning.

In fact, not only Song Jiaojiao thought it was expensive, but even the shopkeeper thought that no fool would buy something he didn't know what it was.

"This price was set by the owner, and there's nothing I can do about it," the waiter said helplessly.

"How about this, think about whether there's anything we don't have here?" Song Jiaojiao asked.

"We're out of seeds, but we have a fruit that might be of interest to you, sir," the waiter said, thinking of the small fruit he had brought back a couple of days ago.

"Okay, bring it over and take a look."

The waiter brought over a small bamboo basket filled with bright red, translucent fruits.

Isn't this a cherry?

What is this?

"Sir, we bought these from the farmers. They all call them little red fruits."

"It looks festive. Okay, how much is it if we wrap it up together with that unknown seed?"

"Just give me an ounce, sir, and I'll give you this fruit to try." The waiter said with a smile. He had only spent five coins to buy the fruit from the farmer, so it was practically worthless.