That night, Mo Fei slipped out of his room, moving carefully and lightly enough not to wake any of the children.
Except for Tom, who, whether by chance or thanks to his outstanding talent as a wizard, seemed to notice something. He glanced toward the door, then closed his eyes again.
Mo Fei was not so naive as to think the matter had ended there.
Even if his original self had harbored such naive thoughts, as someone from the twenty-first century who had been subjected to countless films and television dramas, he had always known that human nature was inherently evil.
And an evil person would not turn over a new leaf just because a good person showed them mercy once.
That man had exposed his greedy nature at their very first meeting, which was more than enough to show that his intentions were not so simple.
Mo Fei put on dark clothes, then pushed open the orphanage's front door and stepped out into the night.
He had to admit that winter's chill had not fully faded. As he walked down the street, biting gusts still found their way into his clothes.
Fortunately, improving his combat skill had also improved his physical fitness.
He had to say, the combat skill was an incredible bargain.
Even at entry-level proficiency, it had given him enormous benefits, improving both his physical fitness and his fighting techniques.
Without that skill, today's incident would not have been so easy to resolve.
Following the route he remembered, Mo Fei found his way to the bakery.
It was a small, two-story building, with the bakery shop on the ground floor and Miles's living quarters upstairs.
The bread-making area was crammed into the backyard.
Since Mo Fei was already there, he drew on his own culinary skills to inspect the oven.
He had to admit that the oven had not been properly cared for at all.
Even the cleaning had been perfunctory. Grease and scorch marks had left deep stains across its surface, and more importantly, cracks had appeared in many places inside the oven.
Those cracks made the oven's temperature unstable, so they used more firewood to maintain the temperature needed to bake bread.
And more firewood widened the cracks further, creating a vicious cycle.
So the decline in the quality of their bread might also have had something to do with their neglect of the oven.
However, Mo Fei was not here to study his competitor's oven. He carefully jumped up onto a platform in the backyard.
An oil lamp happened to be burning inside, casting Miles's shadow onto the wall.
Mo Fei held his breath and focused, beginning to eavesdrop on his next move.
Miles was not alone in the room. A young cook was there too, comforting her boss.
"Boss, don't worry. It's just an orphanage. There used to be so many bakeries around here, and didn't you drive them all away? What's there to worry about... They can't possibly be harder to deal with than those people..."
After speaking, the woman continued massaging Miles with both hands.
But Miles did not accept her kindness. His face remained livid. "What do you know... That's a woman's thinking... The orphanage itself is a huge problem..."
"I only went to ask the Black Snake Gang after I got back, but the thing is, apparently the orphanage director is on fairly friendly terms with the boss of the Iron Hand Gang. If I use underhanded methods, he can respond in kind..."
"It wouldn't matter much to him, but if my shop loses even a day's earnings, I'd take a huge loss..."
"So I can't use the same methods I did back then..."
Indeed, Miles had only managed to drive away the nearby competition because he had some connections with the Black Snake Gang. The mentor who had taught him his craft was their head chef.
And even then, every time he asked the Black Snake Gang for help, he had to pay a hefty sum to grease the wheels.
Even when he did not need their help, he still had to regularly provide the Black Snake Gang with information to maintain that relationship.
Miles's words startled the cook too, but she soon offered another suggestion.
"Boss, if we can't use the underworld, let's use the authorities. I don't think I've ever heard of an orphanage selling bread before. If those greedy hyenas at city hall found out, wouldn't they take some action too?"
The woman's voice was clearly sweet, but hearing it made anger burn inside Mo Fei.
Miles knew nothing of what was happening outside the window. Instead, his eyes lit up. "Exactly! Those bloodsuckers squeeze money out of all of us who do business. If they squeeze the orphanage too, there won't be any profit left. Then if I step in, won't I become their savior?"
"What a great idea. Mwah~"
Miles planted a kiss on the cook.
"Hehe~" But the cook seemed to have more ideas. "There's more. We could send people out to spread rumors that the orphanage director exploits child labor, making the children bake bread day and night while feeding them the worst food, and pockets huge amounts of money himself. That would definitely interest some moral crusaders too. And then... hehe~"
The woman's laughter sounded like a venomous snake's hiss.
But Miles was delighted. "Brilliant, darling! You really do know more than I do. If that damned director gets driven out, I'll marry you and make you the mistress here, in charge of all the cooks..."
"Really? That's wonderful, darling... I love you so much~ Mwah!"
Mo Fei did not keep listening to the rustling that followed.
Still, he needed to pay closer attention to their scheme.
This was an overt scheme.
The main reason the orphanage had never attracted trouble before was its poverty.
But now, with Mo Fei's arrival, many things needed to be addressed, just as Miles had mentioned.
There had never been any explicit rule about whether an orphanage could sell bread. But if city hall really got involved, there would certainly be plenty of problems unless they had enough money to grease the wheels.
After all, the orphanage had yet to see a single penny of its subsidies. Did that not say enough?
Then there were the rumors among the neighbors.
Those were even harder to avoid. Again, human nature was inherently evil. As life at the orphanage improved, many neighbors might grow envious, making it difficult to judge where they would stand.
There was no point saying the children could testify for themselves.
In the eyes of many moral crusaders, that might be further proof that he had brainwashed the children. They would only believe what they wanted to believe.
Still, there was actually a way to resolve that problem. One thing Miles had overlooked was that Mo Fei and Aiwen were on very good terms with Mrs. Field.
That lady held a very special position here.
As long as she was willing to vouch for them, that side of the problem could be resolved.
The biggest problem now was still trouble from the authorities.
Fortunately, after lowering his head and thinking for a moment, Mo Fei came up with an idea.
Since he could not resolve it himself, he could simply find a backer. This was Britain, after all. As long as he found a titled noble willing to step in, many things would become much easier to resolve.
As it happened, an earlier accident had given him the chance to meet a kindhearted young noblewoman.
If...