"Who are you?" the teenager asked with a frown.
"This is Young Miss…" Cai Yun Shao didn't know what to say. He forgot to ask what surname or name that Nan Hua wanted to use.
"Hua," Nan Hua added succinctly.
"Right, Young Miss Hua. Young Miss, this is Cai Yao Shu."
"Your son?"
"Yes. He's also the vice leader of the information gathering group. Ah Shu, are you going to let us stand here all the time?"
"Ah?" Cai Yao Shu furrowed his eyebrows. He was still a teenager, a few years older than Nan Hua. It was clear that he didn't look like someone who was gathering information, which was why Cai Yun Shao told her that it was a professional group.
Stepping to the side, he allowed them to come inside.
"Brother, we have a guest?" a young girl came out of the room, dressed in shabby clothing. She looked fairly similar to Cai Yao Shu but with slight difference.
"Yes, Father has returned."
"Father?" the girl immediately become alert. Upon seeing Cai Yun Shao, her eyes lit up before tears streamed out and she rushed over. "Daddy!"
Cai Yun Shao hugged his daughter tightly and caressed her head. "Father had returned, Lin'er. Sorry for leaving you for so long."
"No, it's not your fault but that b*tch." Cai Yao Shu snorted. He sat down on the chair then looked at Nan Hua curiously. For his father to expose the matter of the information group to someone else, does it mean that this Nan Hua was the one who resolved his father's crisis?
Cai Yun Shao smiled awkwardly. He then introduced Nan Hua to his daughter. "Young Miss Hua, this is Cai Yao Lin, my daughter. She…. Should be of the same age as you?"
Cai Yao Lin then noticed Nan Hua and smiled before she curtsied clumsily. From the way she acted, it was clear that she hadn't received education before, making it hard for her to act the way a noble girl would.
Nan Hua looked at Cai Yao Lin. The two of them indeed of the same height but Cai Yao Lin was shorter than normal children because she was living an improvised life in this place. "I'm 9."
Cai Yao Lin was stunned. "Miss Hua, nice to meet you. I…. I'm Cai Yao Lin and I'm 11 years old."
Not only Cai Yao Lin, even the other two were speechless when they heard Nan Hua's age. Cai Yun Shao even began to think that he was crazy to agree to follow Nan Hua when he heard the young girl's age.
But thinking of the scene he saw in Minister Hou's residence along with the fact that this young girl could know so much about Dark Moon Organization… he chose not to think so much anymore. Since she was capable, what would age matter?
Still, his lips twitched uncontrollably.
"Please take a seat."
"Mhm." Nan Hua sat down and looked at Cai Yao Shu before turning to look at Cai Yao Lin. "Are you leaving the information group to your children because they can obtain information easily without anyone being suspicious of them?"
"That's one of the reason." Cai Yun Shao smiled and sat down, pulling his daughter to sit on his lap. "And another one is because my son is smart and know how to obtain information far better than me. I usually help from the back if there's any matter that can't be resolved by children."
Nan Hua nodded. She knew that no one would be suspicious of a group of children who were roaming on the street and played around. There were many children who were unfortunate and couldn't live well. Since it was quite common to see them on the street, no one would be suspicious of them even if they asked around.
Though, there was a limit to what they could ask.
"There are many other children?" Nan Hua asked.
"Yes. This information gathering can help the children to live and at the same time, we'll be able to get information that we need. Every time a child can give us the necessary information, we'll give them some copper coins as remuneration." Cai Yun Shao then began to explain how the information gathering worked.
In short, they used the children to gather information.
If they needed information regarding things from a distance away, they would ask the village children who sometimes come to study. After all, there was a small school in Heng Xing City where children would gather to study after paying a certain price.
They were all studying hard in order to pass the examination.
If they could pass the examination, they could change their live and no longer lived on the street like this.
Nan Hua nodded then took out one gold tael from her pocket. It was the money that her grandfather gave to her as pocket money but she didn't know what to use it for. Since she still kept it, she better used it for this.
"This is?" Cai Yun Shao was stunned.
"Expand the circle. I would like you to hire some people to work. Screen them first and then have them work in information organization while still living their normal life." Nan Hua knew very well that to be a spy, the best method for them to blend in the crowd. This was why most spies were ordinary people who didn't look any different from other people.
Well, it was a bit impossible for her to become very ordinary, though.
The novel stated that Nan Hua was a peerless beauty....
Cai Yun Shao furrowed his eyebrows. "It'll be harder to find trustworthy people."
"Use debt and thanks." Nan Hua was calm. "You can do it, right?"
There was chills on Cai Yun Shao's back when he heard that. He knew very well that Nan Hua wanted him to make use of their gratitude when he helped them in their dire times. As long as it was like that, he would be able to gather more people.
"What if information leaks out?"
"Establish a circle of informants.. Information had to pass through several people and the untrustworthy ones will be at the lower rungs where they only know one person to pass the information to."