Chapter 339: Password
Xu Fang still thought Liu Xiangyi was joking.
But Xu Yuyou, standing beside her, actually took it seriously and said, “Can you find out what Mr. Wu’s family did before the Liberation?”
Xu Fang was still holding a stack of documents that Ouyang had given her.
She quickly flipped to a page related to the old man’s family: “The Wu family, it’s said that back then, the whole family was in the capital, and they were in the grain business.”
Xu Yuyou frowned slightly when she heard this.
Back then, those in the grain business were either local merchants or merchants from Jiangnan. It sounded odd for merchants from Xiang Province to run a grain business in the capital.
Xiang merchants weren’t as famous as Shanxi or Huizhou merchants, but they had made their mark in modern history — they once assisted Zeng Guofan in the Self-Strengthening Movement and opened mechanical textile mills.
Usually, merchants from one province would mainly trade in local specialties when doing business elsewhere.
Xu Yuyou felt there was something suspicious about the phrase “grain business,” but she couldn’t immediately figure out what was wrong.
She knew she couldn’t expect to settle everything in a day, so she instructed Xu Fang: “Find a place nearby to stay and gather more information about Mr. Wu.”
Their group had suddenly shown up in the village, and the nearest town was almost a twenty-minute drive away.
Originally, Xu Fang had planned to have some people stay at the town’s hotel, but in the end, Xu Yuyou decided that they would pay to stay with a few local villagers.
After learning their purpose, the village head even treated them to a meal.
After the meal, the village head let out a heavy sigh: “To be honest, having a movie filmed in our village is a great thing. If the movie becomes a hit, our village might even turn into a tourist spot. By then, everyone could open farm stays and make money, and the young people wouldn’t have to leave to work elsewhere. It’s just a pity that Old Mr. Wu refuses.”
Xu Yuyou could naturally tell that the entire village, including the village head, really hoped Mr. Wu would compromise.
Unfortunately, if even Mr. Wu’s great-grandson couldn’t persuade him, the villagers had no chance either.
“We’re not fixated on the money. We just want to create a better film,” Xu Yuyou said.
The village head nodded vigorously: “Miss Xu, don’t be fooled by my age — I use the internet too. I know you. I know your company’s productions are all high-quality. It was your wuxia film that boosted tourism in Gan Province. We’d love to cooperate with you, but the cellar belongs to the old man. No one else’s words matter.”
Xu Yuyou could see that they were genuinely trying to help. All she could do now was dig up more information about Mr. Wu.
“The Wu family? Miss Xu, my family has lived in this village for generations. Everything we know about Mr. Wu has already been told to you. But when I was little, I vaguely remember my grandfather saying that the Wu family’s original surname wasn’t Wu — it was Wu (different character). For some reason, they suddenly changed it.”
Xu Yuyou frowned slightly. Wu? Just a different surname — she couldn’t deduce much from that alone.
“Village head, do you know which trading house Mr. Wu’s family ran in the capital? The grain business — which company was it?” Xu Yuyou asked.
The village head looked thoughtful for a while before he said, “I think it was called something like ‘Jun… Jun Cheng Trading House.’”
Xu Yuyou asked, “Junchen? Using ‘military’ (jun) in the name — did they deal in military supplies? Was their business supported by the Qing or Republican government?”
It wasn’t unreasonable for her to ask. Back then, it was common wisdom that “having connections in the court makes business easier.” Without backing, their business would have been devoured.
The village head shook his head: “It’s the ‘jun’ for ‘gentleman.’”
Upon hearing this, Xu Yuyou’s heart skipped a beat. She suddenly remembered the key she had — it was said to belong to a Jun Nuo Trading House safe deposit box.
She recalled what Liu Xiangyi had said — could there be a treasure hidden in the cellar?
Treasure. Safe deposit box. Everything suddenly seemed to click.
After the village head left, Xu Yuyou didn’t hesitate. She immediately took people with her to Mr. Wu’s courtyard late at night.
Mr. Wu did not greet them kindly: “What now? Are you coming to bully an old man in the middle of the night? I’ll call the police right now!”
Xu Yuyou wasn’t intimidated. She calmly said, “I have the key to Jun Nuo.”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but Mr. Wu froze instantly.
Clearly, the old man heard her clearly and had no issues with his hearing.
After a long while, Mr. Wu finally put down his cane — which he had raised defensively — opened the large iron gate to his courtyard, and said in a deep voice, “Come in.”
Xu Yuyou stepped in.
The others tried to follow, but Mr. Wu shot them a look: “The rest of you, wait outside.”
Xu Fang hesitated, unsure whether she should go in.
Xu Yuyou said directly, “Listen to the old man.”
She entered the courtyard alone. Mr. Wu switched on the lights in the main hall, and Xu Yuyou once again saw the painting.
Unlike before, when it was unfinished, the old man hadn’t lost his mood to paint after being disturbed; he had completed it.
Though the nighttime lighting wasn’t as good as during the day, Xu Yuyou could clearly see that the patterns that had seemed familiar earlier looked very similar to those on the key.
“Let me see your key,” Mr. Wu said.
Xu Yuyou had been carrying the key and a slip of paper with her. Hearing this, she immediately took them out and handed them over.
Mr. Wu examined the key carefully, studying it for a good five minutes before finally nodding slightly: “This key is real. It corresponds to Safe Box A-1.”
Xu Yuyou hadn’t expected that she had actually guessed correctly.
“You must have dug up quite a bit about me,” Mr. Wu said. “It’s true. I was the last master of Jun Nuo Trading House.”
While Xu Yuyou was very curious about Jun Nuo’s history, what she cared about most right now was the safe deposit box.
“My box…”
Just as she spoke, Mr. Wu waved his hand and said, “No rush. At the earliest, I can give it to you tomorrow morning. Besides, even though the key is real, you still need the password.”
Xu Yuyou knew about Jun Nuo’s rules — both the key and the password had to match to claim the box.
But the system hadn’t given her any password. All she could do was nervously hand over a slip of paper.
This paper wasn’t just any paper — she had found it in a second-hand Lamborghini she brought back from Hong Kong.
If the slip didn’t work, she really didn’t know what else to do.
