The 17-year-old girl, wearing a short dress, stood alone in the corridor, looking back with a calm and confident look, and in a calm but firm tone, she instructed the servants who finally dared to come to the corridor, "... Bring the hemp rope to tie up the fifth master's wrists and ankles, gag him, and please go to the flower hall."
"Boil two buckets of mugwort water in the water room and add some ginger."
"The kitchen has ordered some sauerkraut noodles. The soup is boiling hot and the noodles need to be freshly rolled."
The servants came in tremblingly in a line. They had no time to think about who was giving the orders. They only heard a series of steady commands. Now that they had something to do, the fear in the servants' hearts finally dissipated by eight points.
After seeing Chen Wu being tied up tightly and thrown into the flower room, Xianjin reached out to push open the side door of the small hall and made a "please" gesture to Aunt Qu.
Second Aunt Qu's lips were trembling. She squatted down and supported Old Madam Qu's arm on her shoulders. She tried to stand up several times, but failed because her legs were weak.
Xianjin reached out to help, and seeing the doctor rushing over exhausted, he apologized, "I'll go see Fifth Grandpa first."
Aunt Qu knocked her teeth against each other, and couldn't help but feel scared: Are you going to take a look, or to send her off...
Half an hour later, Xianjin pushed the door into the small hall, where Second Aunt Qu was squatting and soaking Old Madam Qu's feet. The smell of mugwort and ginger was spicy and pungent, but also sobering.
Madam Qu felt warmth on the soles of her feet, and the hot blood gradually began to flow regularly in her body. She looked at Xianjin with deep eyes.
Xianjin stood beside Aunt Qu and handed her a towel for wiping her feet.
Aunt Qu raised her index finger and twisted the edge of the handkerchief with difficulty, trying her best to avoid any physical or eye contact with Xianjin.
"The doctor checked and said that Grandpa Wu's blood and qi were flowing backwards into his brain, and his five orifices were blocked. Even if he wakes up, he may not be able to speak or stand up straight. He told us to be mentally prepared."
Xianjin's voice was faint.
Madam Qu propped her feet on the edge of the wooden barrel, pushed Aunt Qu away, and said in a hoarse voice, "Please trouble Sister Jin to help me wipe it."
Xianjin squatted down without hesitation, took the towel from Aunt Qu's hand, and gently wiped Old Madam Qu's feet.
The old man's feet were covered with bulging veins and looked as old as chicken skin.
The bones of the left ankle were deformed and there was a fist-sized bump.
"Twenty-three years ago, I was driving a truck delivering rice straw to Dingzhuang. The truck flipped into a ditch and the shaft of the truck fell on my leg. That's how my foot got broken."
Madam Qu's voice was as broken as paper torn by the wind. "Later I learned that the other end of the shaft was on Lao Wu. If he hadn't held the wood tightly with both hands for two hours, I would definitely not have been able to save my leg."
Xianjin bent down and helped Madam Qu put on the soft-soled footwear.
Madam Qu said in a tense voice, "...There is no such thing as a white jade paperweight that is the best in the imperial examination, right?"
Xianjin lowered his head, and after a while, he nodded slightly.
"You just want to trick me into going there to see for myself what kind of mess Hai Si has made of the Jixi workshop, right?" Old Lady Qu asked again.
Xianjin continued to nod.
"Today's series of events are all under your control, right?" Old Lady Qu asked three times in a row.
Xianjin pursed his lips, raised his face, and looked at Madam Qu frankly, "Yes."
Madam Qu looked at Xianjin's face carefully. His eyes were long and big, and his eyelids were in a subtle and lingering fan-like shape. The upturned corners of his eyes successfully neutralized the gentleness of his eyelids. His straight nose was matched with a slightly upturned mouth...
She is as beautiful as her mother.
Her mother was like a little white flower on the shore, ready to be picked by anyone.
However, she exuded a temperament of "Don't come to offend me, or I will kill you if you do", which was even more evident after she came back from Jing County.
Madam Qu looked at her, feeling inexplicably frightened. After putting on her footwear, she placed her legs on the footrests, avoided Xianjin's gaze, and said softly, "Tell me, why must Old Five die?"
Xianjin stood up, took a silk handkerchief to wipe his hands, and said in a steady voice, "He wants me to die. He wants Third Master, Master Li, Brother Gou, the Zheng brothers...all those who came back from Jing County to die in Baochanduo Temple."
Madam Qu frowned, "You mean, Zhou Ergou and Zheng Da's leg injuries were not accidents?"
Xianjin smiled and said, "What kind of accident could cause the flesh to tear apart and the bones to be clearly visible?"
Old Madam Qu looked at Xianjin without blinking.
Xianjin looked straight ahead without fear. "Seven or eight people, seven or eight mouths. You can find out the truth of what I said. You can not believe me or the Third Master, but Master Li, Brother Gou and the Zheng brothers have no reason and no ability to make up stories."
Madam Qu looked away.
Authenticity?
If it was fake, then wouldn't Chen Laowu's scream when he just went crazy be groundless?
Xianjin first calmly told the story of how she and Chen Fu had defrauded Chen Laowu of his usury; then she attributed the bandits' defeat to a team of rangers who descended from the sky, and perfectly omitted the cavalry led by the horse-riding sister from the story; finally, she explained how she pretended to be a bandit and extorted three thousand taels of silver from Chen Laowu.
Xianjin placed the three thousand taels of silver neatly in front of Old Madam Qu.
"Fifth Grandfather is meticulous and watertight. If you want to uncover his true colors, you must use a series of tricks, one after another, to force him to make a mistake and reveal himself."
Xianjin said in a light voice, "Colluding with bandits, lending money at high interest rates in casinos, murdering blood relatives...Everything Fifth Grandpa did was like walking on a single-plank bridge over a cliff. If you let it go, there will be endless disasters."
Madam Qu listened with a stiff expression on her face. After taking a few deep breaths, she said, "He is indeed sorry to the Chen family."
"But the most important reason why you decided to take his life is that he wanted you to die."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
