Chapter Eighteen
After much thought, Baozhu was at her wit's end, so she decided to sneak out to Chen Garden to find Saixue to cheer herself up.
But as soon as she stepped into Chen Garden, she felt the tense atmosphere inside.
The servants gathered in small groups, whispering amongst themselves.
Miss Fox Spirit quietly crept up to listen for a while and discovered that they were discussing the fierce conflict that had broken out between Master Chen and Madam Liu the previous night.
"The master is getting more and more confused. He said to his wife with a smile that in order to cleanse the Chen family of their sins, he should donate the Chen Garden to do good deeds."
"Oh dear, this is really something. This man has become increasingly strange over the years; how can this not anger the lady?"
The traitorous servant, who had painstakingly amassed such a large fortune, resorted to curses and rumors to preserve it. Unexpectedly, a living bodhisattva emerged among his descendants, who wanted to donate it all.
Not to mention the servants of the Chen family, even Baozhu found it unbelievable and hurriedly ran into Saixue's courtyard to hear the firsthand information.
When she arrived, Sai Xue was sitting high on the treetop, craning her neck to observe the birds flying around in the sky.
The little bird flew to the left, turning its neck to the left.
The little bird flew to the right, turning its neck to the right.
The birds circled in the air, and Sai Xue's head began to draw circles.
This was so ridiculous that Baozhu couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"why are you laughing."
Sai Xue was startled and quickly curled up into a ball, looking down at Bao Zhu with a haughty air.
"Tell me, did Mr. Chen and his wife have a big argument last night?"
Baozhu scrambled up the tree, sat on a branch, dangling her legs, and looked at Saixue with a curious expression.
"Oh, speaking of that."
Sai Xue got excited and cleared her throat, describing the argument between Master Chen and his wife, and how the wife stormed out of the room and smashed several bottles.
"Chen Yongchang seems to be under a curse these past few years."
Sai Xue concluded with her final comment.
"Such a large enterprise, can you just give it up like that?" Baozhu suddenly lost all concept of worldly wealth. "You'd have to be a prefect to accumulate this much money."
"They have to be extremely greedy and wicked, they have to scrape the ground clean."
Why be greedy and evil?
Isn't being an official a way to make a lot of money?
As Li Zhi rose through the ranks of officialdom, the jewels in his jewelry box became increasingly valuable, and his family's garden grew ever larger.
Aren't officials in the mortal world here to enjoy wealth and glory?
Baozhu doesn't understand anything at all!
Sai Xue scoffed with amusement, mockingly saying, "You stupid fox, the prefect's annual salary is only two hundred taels of silver, not even enough to buy the painting hanging in Chen Yaozu's room."
"If one is a good official, can one afford to live in Chen Garden?"
Sai Xue's mouth was still opening and closing, but Bao Zhu was in a daze. Something in her world had collapsed.
She tried to refute Sai Xue, but the words that came out of her mouth were not coherent sentences.
Yes, yes, Sai Xue is right.
The way the maidservants used to look at her makeup box, and the subtle hints from the housekeeper, all came to Baozhu's mind.
She had never cared about the food, clothing, or daily necessities of her family before, and she was unaware of the value of the precious treasures that Li Zhi sent her. Baozhu only cared about squandering and enjoying them, and she was perfectly justified in not caring about these things. Why should a demon be proficient in mortal affairs?
Therefore, she only indulged in romantic escapades with Li Zhi, reveling in pleasure, because her lover was perfect and flawless, possessing unparalleled character, and was a peerless jewel in the world.
The pearl has traversed the entire mortal world without being tainted by a single speck of dust.
Li Zhi's face became blurry in Baozhu's mind. Was the Li Zhi in her memory the real one?
Seeing the terrible expression on Baozhu's face, Saixue reached out and touched her, hesitatingly asking, "Why are you so upset about mortal matters?"
"I am not upset about worldly matters."
Baozhu felt a tightness in her chest, but couldn't explain why.
Just as Sai Xue was about to ask further questions, a commotion in the distance interrupted their conversation.
"It's coming from Liu Xueyu's courtyard." Sai Xue's ears twitched, and she eagerly invited Baozhu, "Shall we go take a look?"
Baozhu had no objection, and the two little demons leaped on the eaves and sneaked into Madam Liu's courtyard.
In the open space of the courtyard, a servant was trembling as he washed the bloodstains off the bluestone slabs with water.
They looked at each other and saw confusion in each other's eyes.
Just then, the sound of shattering porcelain came from inside the room again. A maid covered her face and retreated from the room, hurrying outside.
The servants in the courtyard looked even more grim upon seeing this, and whispered to the maid, "Are you alright?"
Blood spilled from the maid's hand. Tears welled in her eyes, and she said nothing as she left Madam Liu's main courtyard.
"Madam Liu has quite a temper." When Baozhu was a madam, she never scolded or beat the maids around her.
"She wasn't always this bad-tempered," Sai Xue said, equally confused. "Could it be that her husband and son have upset her?"
The two whispered and discussed on the roof for a while, but couldn't reach a conclusion, so they had to give up and go back.
On the way, Sai Xue thought of Li Zhi again and asked, "Have you found out what your mortal did?"
Baozhu remained silent for a long while before finally speaking: "He wouldn't harm me."
Luckily, Sai Xue is a cat, otherwise she would have rolled her eyes.
At this moment, Li Zhi had no time to think about anything else.
He was just about to enter the city when he ran into Gu Chen and Zhao Jing at the city gate.
Gu Chen looked dejected, but had a smile on his face, while Zhao Jing seemed to have injured his foot and was walking with a limp.
The two men occasionally whispered to each other.
Li Zhi looked around again but did not see the squinty-eyed man or Zhou Huan.
He couldn't help but clench his fist.
The two people in front did not see Li Zhi, and Li Zhi did not greet them, but carefully followed behind them.
When Gu Chen paid the city gate guards the entrance tax, his arm was exposed. He was fair-skinned, which made the scratches on his arm stand out even more.
In the blink of an eye, Li Zhi quietly withdrew from the queue to enter the city.
Last night, Gu and Zhao left the city with Zhou Huan, but then left Zhou Huan outside the city and left wounds on their bodies.
They must have had a conflict, and Zhou Huan is probably still safe somewhere.
If their goal is to seize Zhou Huan's property, then he cannot die for the time being.
But there's also the possibility of things getting even worse.
Li Zhi recalled the squinting man with a pleased expression.
It is highly likely that Gu and Zhao went into the city to find him.
He needs to hurry to save Zhou Huan.
Li Zhi first exchanged a few words with the vegetable vendor squatting at the city gate, asking which direction Gu and Zhao came from, and then ran quickly in the direction the vendor pointed.
These two men were from Qiling County. If they wanted to hide Zhou Huan, a grown man, they would probably need to rent a small courtyard in a village near the city.
The autumn imperial examinations are just around the corner, and many scholars are coming to Xiandu Prefecture to take the exams. Prices in the city are soaring, so renting a place in a village on the outskirts of the city won't arouse any suspicion from the villagers.
There are three villages on the outskirts of the city, from near to far. Li Zhi only hoped that they would not be greedy and stay in the one furthest away.
He pretended to be looking for his classmate, asked the villagers, and found Zhou Huan's whereabouts when he entered the second village.
An old man, enjoying the cool shade under a big tree, fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan and pointed to a lonely little courtyard, saying, "The people the young master is looking for are over there, aren't they? Those three young masters must have drunk a lot of wine yesterday, they were still causing a ruckus in the middle of the night, keeping this old man awake."
Li Zhi quickly thanked the old man.
The gate of this small courtyard faces out of the village and is located in a corner of the village. Unless you keep a close watch, it is difficult to know who is coming in and out. If Gu and Zhao hadn't been so inept and Zhou Huan hadn't been so strong, they wouldn't have been able to cause such a commotion.
Li Zhi went around to the gate and saw that it was locked from the outside, so he used the wall as leverage to climb over into the courtyard.
The courtyard had a typical layout: a main house and two side rooms. Li Zhi quickly finished looking at it. Although the bowls and cups in the main room were broken, he did not see Zhou Huan.
Li Zhi had no choice but to return to the courtyard for a thorough examination.
This time, he discovered a cellar entrance in the courtyard. After opening it, he found Zhou Huan inside, his hands and feet bound and his mouth gagged.
Upon seeing the light, Zhou Huanfu first closed his eyes, but when he opened them and saw that it was Li Zhi, joy appeared in his eyes.
The cellar wasn't high, so Li Zhi jumped in and removed the restraints from Zhou Huan, asking, "Can you still walk?"
"No, they broke my leg." Zhou Huan's face turned pale with pain, but he remained calm.
Li Zhi frowned.
Even if he could carry the tall Zhou Huan back to the city to find Zhang He, if he happened to run into Gu and Zhao, who were there to help, they would probably all perish.
After thinking for a moment, Li Zhi helped Zhou Huan up from the ground and lifted him onto the ground, then restored the cellar entrance to its original state.
Despite his broken leg, Zhou Huan remained completely silent throughout.
Li Zhi inwardly praised them and asked, "What did they do to you yesterday?"
Zhou Huan thought for a moment and shook his head, saying, "It was just that I had some wine, and then they tried to persuade me to seek bliss with them and offer my body and soul to some supreme being. After I refused, they tied me up and threw me into the cellar."
It seems that Gu and Zhao are just small fry, while the squinty-eyed man is the real star.
Time was running out, and Li Zhi had to make a decision immediately. He couldn't take the disabled Zhou Huan back to the city, much less take him to Ruan Garden and cause trouble for Baozhu.
Therefore, the most dangerous place is also the safest place.
Li Zhi carried Zhou Huan on his back and left the courtyard. He looked around and found a house with its gate tightly closed, then climbed over the wall and entered.
There was a thick layer of dust at the entrance of the house, and the house itself looked dilapidated, suggesting that it had been uninhabited for a long time. Li Zhi found the cellar in the yard, opened it, and went down to explore.
It was empty inside, a bit dusty, but didn't smell strange.
He carefully hid Zhou Huan in the cellar and then found some tools in the room to cover Zhou Huan's figure.
"Wait here for me, I'll go into the city to ask for help," Li Zhi instructed Zhou Huan.
"Okay." Zhou Huan touched his broken leg and lay weakly in the corner of the cellar.
Li Zhi leaped onto the ground.
He carefully stirred up the dust in the courtyard to erase any traces of himself and Zhou Huan. After climbing over the wall, he turned around and dealt with the marks on the wall.
Then, mimicking Zhou Huan's posture of having one leg immobilized, he left a mark on the ground, pointing towards the outside of the city.
After doing all this, Li Zhi finally felt a little relieved. Gu and Zhao were not skilled in evil magic, and Zhou Huan was completely clean. Even if that squinty-eyed man came, he wouldn't be able to find him easily.
The village was very close to Ruan Garden, and it was on the way back to the city. Li Zhi didn't know if he could get back in time today, but since he was passing by Ruan Garden, he decided to inform Baozhu.
A moment later, Li Zhi saw Ruan Garden and the two Celestial Masters standing at its entrance.
They were calling out to Li Zhi loudly at the entrance of Ruan Garden.
Li Zhi's heart sank.
Seeing Li Zhi walking in from outside, Zhang He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Young Master Li, we were worried that something might have happened since you didn't show up as promised today."
"It's good that you're alright," Pei Xuanji echoed.
No.
Li Zhi looked at the heavy gate of Ruan Garden behind the two Celestial Masters. He couldn't see through the gate and didn't know where the precious pearl was, but he knew something else.
He's in big trouble.
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