The top courtesan of Yuchun Tower needed clothing, and although both finished garments and fabrics were acceptable, she specifically chose fabric due to being from the same trade association.
The leader of the Beggars’ Sect asked for not cakes but flour-based food, which makes sense now, not because cakes weren’t filling, but because the food he wanted wasn’t cakes at all.
Once the four members understood, they immediately gave Tang Shu a thumbs-up.
"Brilliant, truly brilliant! Such keen observational skills!"
Who would have noticed that tattered flag, which had never been properly looked at before, let alone the trade association number marked in the top right corner?
Such a deeply hidden clue!
"If we distinguish the shops this way, we won’t have to run around like headless flies anymore. Just find the matching number and we’ll quickly untangle the related tasks," they concluded.
A trade association doesn’t appear many times; at most, it connects five or six shops. Once identified, the relationships within can be quickly clarified.
The group’s admiring glances towards Tang Shu became more and more astonished.
The person in question twitched the corner of their mouth, "This is... common knowledge for ancient merchants."
However, such common sense had already gradually disappeared into the sands of history.
Upon hearing this, everyone gave her a blank look.
An hour later, game time was up.
The Red and Blue Teams lined up neatly at the starting square, the bags they were carrying forming a stark contrast.
Seeing that the Blue Team could hardly carry their bags, Teng Xiaoyu exploded.
"What the heck! How did you collect so much?!"
"Exactly, we thought we collected quite a lot. We didn’t expect you to be even more insanely competitive!"
Insanely competitive....
Everyone twitched their mouths in unison. At this point, the director cleared his throat and announced the first round’s scores.
"The Red Team has a total of five catties of grain seeds, the Blue Team... eighteen catties. The Blue Team wins. Who’ll come up to claim the clue?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than the Red Team, still shocked by the huge gap between five and eighteen catties, the Blue Team already unanimously turned their gazes toward Tang Shu.
When had she become the soul of the entire team?
"Then—give the clue to me."
The props team handed an envelope to Tang Shu.
The Blue Team, giggling and laughing, took the envelope aside to check the message, avoiding the envious stares from the Red Team.
"The first clue, even the landlord’s family has no spare grain... What kind of clue is this?!"
"Exactly, what is this clue talking about? The landlord or the informant?"
"Since the clue contains the word ’landlord,’ it’s mostly likely related to the identity of the landlord, but the content also has a bit of the informant’s tone as if speaking to someone else..."
The Blue Team silently put away the envelope, deciding to wait a few more rounds to see.
The second game began right after:
Throw sandbags to acquire fertile land, the Red Team wins, they get a clue.
Water relay to compete for irrigation, the Blue Team wins by a narrow margin, gaining another clue.
"Inside is... a joker card?"
A playing card peeked out from the envelope.
Now everyone understood, ’king’ might represent a surname, prompting them to focus their attention on Wang Zhan and Wang Honghong.
These were the only two guests with the surname Wang.
"Both of these people are on the Red Team! Our first clue was ’even the landlord’s family has no spare grain,’ which one of them relates to this sentence?"