Malicious Scheme

It was already late, but the sunset was an intense red, stretching across the sky like blood, a truly shocking sight.

As curfew approached, the constables in charge of the matter were already carrying gongs, striking them to remind people to return to their respective neighborhoods and not to go out unless necessary.

Shi Dayong and Gu Heng also began to remove the door panels of Sushan Market, but Gu Heng was clearly distracted while working.

He was supposed to accompany Pei Qingwu to buy cloves today, but he suddenly suffered from severe abdominal pain and was unable to go out.

“I’ve been to the West Market many times, and I don’t think there’s anything serious going on. You don’t need to worry. I’ll be right back.”

But it's already this late...

"Why hasn't the master come back yet?" Yinlan muttered to herself. "Does it really take this long to buy cloves?"

"Yes, the gates are about to close. If we don't come back soon, we'll be punished with a beating," Qian Tao said worriedly, her eyebrows furrowed.

Everyone was uneasy, tidying up as they continued to wait.

Nianci was in the courtyard, playing with Tuanzi and Maomao.

The two frail puppies have recovered considerably under careful care and are now full of energy, even chasing and biting the knot in Nianci's hand.

That was made by Pei Qingwu, imitating the design of modern pet toys, using hemp rope to train the bite force of the two puppies.

As dusk deepened and Pei Qingwu still hadn't returned, the two puppies became restless.

Tuanzi, in particular, suddenly lost its toy and started barking anxiously.

"Hey! Tuanzi, what are you doing? Don't make noise, you'll disturb others." Nianci was startled and quickly tried to coax her with dried meat.

The dried meat was made by Pei Qingwu from fresh mutton, which he cooked and dried without any seasoning, especially for his two puppies. They usually loved it dearly, but now they wouldn't even glance at it.

As Nianci paced anxiously, Shi Dayong glanced at Tuanzi and said in a deep voice, "Dogs are much more sensitive to certain things than humans. Tuanzi was picked up by the owner. Could it be that the owner has run into trouble?"

"Oh? What should we do then?" Nianci panicked upon hearing this: "Sister Dongjia is a good person, she can't be hurt!"

"First, find the village head and report to the authorities."

The head of Anyefang and Pei Qingwu were old acquaintances. She knew that doing business was impossible without someone to look after you, so she learned to take care of the head of the village early on and would send him some snacks from time to time.

Therefore, upon hearing that Pei Qingwu might have encountered an accident, the village head was also very anxious: "Don't panic, I will also send the yamen runners out to search. He's probably just in Qinzhou City. Pei Dongjia is a living person, we can always find him."

The curfew had already begun, so no matter how anxious they were, they couldn't go out and could only wait in their shops.

The candlelight flickered, and Nianci, being young, was the first to succumb. Holding the little dumpling, her head bobbed up and down like a chick pecking at rice.

"Nianci, if you can't stay up any longer, go to sleep," Shi Dayong advised. "You're young, you can't stay up all night. We'll let you know when the boss has any news."

“Yes, Nianci, Madam Zheng is coming tomorrow, and you still need to study with her,” Yinlan also advised.

Nianci stubbornly shook her head: "No, I don't want to. I want to wait for Sister Dongjia to come back."

Seeing that they couldn't persuade them otherwise, the others could only sigh and continue to wait.

Gu Heng sat alone to one side, his hands on his knees, clenched into fists so tightly that the veins on the back of his hands bulged and his nails dug deep into his palms.

If he hadn't suddenly experienced abdominal pain today...

If something really happens to his employer, he will never forgive himself for the rest of his life.

“Sigh…” Yin Lan put her hands together and began to chant Buddhist prayers.

Before her former master's family fell into poverty, the old lady was a devout Buddhist who chanted Buddhist scriptures every day. She served her and listened to a few of the scriptures.

"Buddha above, our mistress is the most compassionate of all. Without her, I'm afraid none of us would survive. For the sake of her usual generosity and kindness, please don't let anything happen to her..."

By this time, the bright moon was already high in the sky.

The clear, cool moonlight shone down, flowing like water over everything in Qinzhou City, and also reflected on Pei Qingwu's pale face.

She leaned against the dilapidated wooden door, still clutching a blood-stained wooden stool tightly in her hand, trembling violently but refusing to let go.

She was in a disheveled state, her carefully styled hair was in disarray, and a section of her sleeve had been torn off, revealing her forearm and wrist with bruises, indicating that she had been pulled forcefully by someone.

Her chest heaved violently with each breath, yet she dared not slacken her vigilance, her bloodshot eyes fixed intently on the corner, not missing a single detail.

There lay Said, who had been knocked unconscious by her hitting him with a stool.

She was drugged and kidnapped to this godforsaken place. Before she even knew where she was, she saw Sayyid, who had clearly been drugged.

At first, the man could barely endure it, but soon the drug took effect, turning him into a beast with a small head controlling a large one, and he pounced on Pei Qingwu.

Although she managed to dodge in time, he still tore off half of her sleeve, and her wrist was tightly gripped, which she couldn't shake off no matter how hard she tried.

In a moment of desperation, Pei Qingwu grabbed a wooden stool from the side with his other hand and smashed it hard against Said's head.

The first blow only knocked his hand away.

So the second blow was delivered with all my might, without caring whether it would kill him, until I finally knocked him unconscious.

We're safe for now.

But Pei Qingwu dared not let her guard down. She didn't know when this person would wake up, nor did she know if someone else was hiding in the darkness. Her only weapon for self-defense was this wooden stool.

The door was locked, and she had no choice but to stay there until she was discovered.

Pei Qingwu's mind raced as he began to piece together the details of the matter.

There is no doubt that Liang Jingshan harmed her.

Moreover, this scheme was extremely malicious. She was a weak woman and a widow. Even if there was no man who had been drugged, the rumors that she had only been away for one night were enough to crush her spirit.

If it were someone with a gentler temperament, they might have hanged themselves by now.

However, as far as she knew, there was no Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, no chastity arches, and no drowning in pig cages in this era.

Moreover, things like drowning in a pig cage were always private punishments throughout history, never truly incorporated into the official penal system. Only the husband's family of the "adulterous woman" had the authority to carry out such acts.

The ancients were not fools. They would not arbitrarily judge whether a woman was a spy based on mere speculation. The woman's husband had to witness it firsthand and catch her in the act to confirm it.

Such vigilante justice was more common in places far from the emperor's reach, where clan power was strong. Qin Prefecture was so close to Chang'an that the rulers would not allow arbitrary murders to occur in such places.

Besides, she was a merchant's daughter who usually showed her face in public selling pastries. How could a mere fabrication about her chastity possibly work on her?

She couldn't understand it at all, and dared not take it lightly.

She hadn't eaten dinner today, and her stomach was growling with hunger; she could only swallow hard.

That bastard Liang Jingshan! Once she gets out, I'll definitely tear that old scoundrel to pieces.

As I pondered these thoughts, a sense of weariness crept over me.

People can't live without sleep. Pei Qingwu was so sleepy that he forced himself to look around to make sure no one else was there. He then found some rope and tied Saiyide up tightly. He kicked Saiyide and only felt relieved when he saw that Saiyide still hadn't woken up.

Fortunately, this is an abandoned warehouse, and it has a fairly complete set of items.

She laboriously moved an old table over and blocked the doorway, then tried pushing it and found it to be fairly sturdy.

Oh well, what can we do now that things have come to this?

Let's go to sleep first.

Pei Qingwu was too exhausted to stay awake any longer, so he leaned against the corner of the table and fell asleep.

But in his hand, he was still tightly clutching the wooden stool.

She woke up hungry as dawn was breaking.

Having gone hungry for two meals, she couldn't leave even if she wanted to. Grabbing the corner of the table, she shakily stood up, trying to find another way out—

"Bang! Bang!"

The sound of slamming the door echoed repeatedly.

Pei Qingwu was startled and quickly held the wooden stool in front of him, watching the doorway warily.

The table was well blocked; it couldn't be moved even after several attempts. I heard someone outside curse something, and it seemed like a few more people joined in before they finally managed to break the door open.

Suddenly, the morning light eagerly poured into this small corner.

Pei Qingwu was so shaken that she instinctively closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Liang Jingshan was already surrounded by servants and walked up to her with an arrogant air.

"You shameless Master Pei! I knew you were lonely after losing your husband, but I never expected you to be so dissolute, even seducing a barbarian—"

The people at Sushan Market had been waiting all night, almost going crazy with anxiety. They were so eager that they wanted to go and find him themselves as soon as the curfew was lifted. But then Pei Qingwu returned with a gloomy face.

Yinlan was the first to rush over: "My boss, where have you been? You're covered in dust! Quickly change these clothes, I'll wash you up..."

"Are you alright? Are you hurt? Where have you been all night?"

Looking at the person who cared about him, Pei Qingwu closed his eyes and said in an extremely cold voice, "I've fallen into Liang Jingshan's trap. I'm in trouble."

She forgot that Said was a Hu (non-Han) person.

Although the social atmosphere was tolerant at that time, and people from the Central Plains were allowed to do business, deep down, many people actually looked down on them and despised them as barbarians.

If it were an ordinary man, this would be easy to handle. Pei Qingwu's husband had long since passed away, and neither of them were married. It would be fine for them to fall in love. But Saiyide was a barbarian!

Even in a place like Zuiyuelou, girls with some reputation wouldn't accept foreigners as guests.

For a woman to have an affair with a barbarian would be seen as self-degradation, making her even less desirable than a prostitute.

Upon hearing this, before anyone else could speak, Qian Tao's eyes reddened, and she gritted her teeth, saying, "How could Liang Jingshan be so vicious?! It's just a business transaction, yet he has to resort to such despicable means!"

Seeing the indignant expressions on everyone's faces, Pei Qingwu felt a warmth in his heart.

That's good; they're willing to believe in themselves.

"Never mind, we can only deal with it as it comes." Pei Qingwu said, "Yinlan, get me a bucket of hot water first. I stayed in a dirty place all night yesterday, I need to wash up."

"good."

After bathing, Pei Qingwu, with her still half-wet hair, sat by the window and applied medicine to her wrist.

Looking up, she saw Gu Heng silently sharpening a knife in the courtyard.

"Aheng, what are you doing?!"

Pei Qingwu was shocked. He immediately got up and walked into the courtyard, disregarding that his hair was not tied up and that he was only wearing a daylily-colored nightgown.

Gu Heng looked up, his delicate face showing a calm expression.

"I was born into a lowly family. If it weren't for my master's help, I would have died in that alley long ago."

“I have no relatives in this world. My only mother passed away long ago. I was lucky to be alive.”

"So my death is not a pity, but Liang Jingshan is despicable. He actually used this method to scheme against his boss. He clearly wanted to drive his boss to his death. It was just a business dispute, but he wanted his boss's life!"

"Alright then, let me take his life first!"

As he spoke, Gu Heng was actually about to draw his knife and go out.

Pei Qingwu hurriedly stepped forward and hugged his waist tightly: "No! Aheng, it's not worth it!"

"I won't die because of a few criticisms from others, and I don't want you to waste your life on such a rotten person. I saved your life! I won't allow you to squander it like this!"