"You must tell Lord Qi to release me..."
"Tell me if you want, or don't." Shen Qing turned and left.
Gao Yuanqi cried out in anguish, "There's treasure hidden beneath my second uncle's house!"
Shen Qing paused again.
Treasure?
There's a treasure hidden beneath the Gao family's ordinary-looking house?
So that's why Gao Laosan and Zhao Yuanwai's gang were so determined to occupy the house.
She recalled the night of Gao Liu's birthday celebration, when Gao Laosan secretly tapped on the bricks under the courtyard wall.
She found it strange at the time, but later forgot about it because she was busy with business.
Now that I hear what Gao Yuanqi said, it does make sense.
But is that even possible?
The Gao family, including their ancestors, were not a wealthy or noble family; they were just ordinary small merchants in Jiangzhou.
Shen Qing believed the claim that Cheng Zhiwen's family had a hidden treasure, but she didn't believe the claim that the Gao family had a hidden treasure.
Gao Yuanqi is cunning and scheming; he's probably just using this as a gimmick to lure her into finding a way to release him.
Shen Qing wasn't going to fall for it!
She turned around with her hands behind her back, and pointed her chin at the wound on Gao Yuanqi's thigh: "If your leg is not treated within three days, bacteria will enter your bloodstream, cause an infection, and you will die soon. If you are willing to confess everything, I will have Lord Qi find a doctor to treat you, at least to save your life."
After saying that, he left the dungeon without looking back, no matter how much Gao Yuanqi shouted after him.
Step out of the dungeon.
Cheng Zhiwen and Qi Zhenheng were talking outside when they saw her come out. Cheng Zhiwen turned around and looked at her.
Recalling how he had threatened Gao Yuanqi and shot him in the leg, Shen Qing suddenly felt that he was a little unfamiliar, even... cruel.
Seeing him walk towards her, she instinctively took a step back.
He saw her, paused for a moment, and then walked towards her again.
"What unexpected move did Gao Yuan make?"
"They said it was Master Zhao who ordered it, but he didn't know who was behind it."
"Anything else?"
Shen Qing pursed her lips, glancing elsewhere: "I also heard from Master Zhao's subordinates..."
Cheng Zhiwen asked in a deep voice, "What did you hear?"
Shen Qing found it difficult to speak.
Although Gao Yuanqi didn't finish his sentence, she could guess that Master Zhao was still thinking about taking her as his concubine one day.
Half a year ago, Master Zhao coveted the original owner's beauty. He broke into her house to rob and rape her, but failed. The original owner smashed his head with the bricks, but although his head was broken, his lustful thoughts remained.
Cheng Zhiwen later heard about these things, so she could guess the second half of what Shen Qing was ashamed to say.
He gritted his teeth, raised his hand to press on the gun holster at his waist, and spat, "I'm going to kill that old devil!"
Shen Qing quickly grabbed his arm and shook her head: "Forget it, don't cause any more trouble. There's no time. Let's go to the factory first!"
After saying that, he walked towards Qi Zhenheng and reported to Qi Zhenheng that Gao Yuanqi had confessed half of his story, and asked Qi Zhenheng to continue interrogating Gao Yuanqi.
But she didn't mention the "treasure" hidden under the house, nor did she say that Master Zhao had threatened to rape her.
Because the former is more like a joke and not worth mentioning.
The latter was just hearsay from Gao Yuanqi, with no evidence whatsoever. Even if Qi Zhenheng wanted to help her, he had no evidence to arrest Zhao Yuanwai.
Therefore, Shen Qing did not tell Qi Zhenheng.
She waved goodbye to Qi Zhenheng and went to the factory with Cheng Zhiwen.
The factory has been cleaned up neatly in the past two days, and there is no trace of the damage.
Shen Qing walked up to a spinning machine and ripped off the dust cover.
Some parts were barely hanging on the body, and some of the broken parts showed that they had been forcibly torn off.
Cheng Zhiwen's pupils contracted, and she gritted her back teeth.
He went forward, installed the parts onto the machine based on his memory, and then started the machine.
The spinning machine did not respond at all.
Every single one of them is like this.
He looked at Shen Qing with pity and said calmly, "It needs to be sent to the original factory for repair."
Shen Qing hummed in response, showing little emotion: "I was mentally prepared. But with the round trip by sea, plus the repair time, it'll take at least three months, right?"
Cheng Zhiwen nodded: "About the same, or even longer."
Shen Qing's scalp tightened: "How long is 'longer'?"
"It could take more than half a year."
Shen Qing was speechless. He walked to the side, squatted down, and stared blankly with his arms crossed.
Cheng Zhiwen stood and watched her for a while, then walked over and squatted down beside her.
He reached into his suit pocket and opened his palm in front of her—there were a few candies wrapped in gold foil.
Shen Qing looked up at him, reached out and picked up a piece, opened it, and put it in her mouth.
It's chocolate.
It seems the technique has been improved; the taste is better than the one used for preparing the medicine last time.
Recalling how he took care of her day and night after her chest injury, Shen Qing felt a little less alienated from the memory of witnessing Gao Yuanqi being tortured.
The atmosphere returned to a relaxed state.
"Are these the wedding candies from your wedding?" She fiddled with the gold foil paper, her cheeks puffed out from stuffing candies.
Cheng Zhiwen frowned: "Get married?"
"That's right. You haven't been to Jiangzhou for three months, didn't you go back to get married?"
After a moment of silence, he said with suppressed emotion, "Who said I went back to get married?"
His tone suggested he was about to arrest and beat up the person who spread the news of his marriage.
Shen Qing, of course, wouldn't implicate Lao Xu, so he lied: "I heard it from a fellow villager in Yongzhou."
"Tell your fellow villager who spreads fake news to watch out when he goes out!"
Shen Qing was stunned for a few seconds before he realized that he meant "spreading fake news".
The term "rumor" doesn't exist in this era, so Cheng Zhiwen uses "fake news" instead.
He knew Shen Qing could understand.
Shen Qingcai realized what he meant and squatted down, turning to face him sideways: "Aren't you going back to get married?"
"I don't have the time."
Shen Qing was delighted, nudged his shoulder, and asked with a smile, "So where did you go for those three months?"
"I went to England."
"Going to England to do business?"
Cheng Zhiwen didn't answer; his expression suddenly became serious.
He glanced at the ten spinning machines, remained silent for a while, and then said in a low voice, "Wearable rayon fabrics have already appeared in Europe and are being mass-produced. It is expected that in less than six months, they will be exported to China in large quantities, just like foreign cloth was in the past."
Shen Qing was shocked and immediately stood up, looking at him incredulously: "What did you say?"
Historically, viscose fabric did not appear until 1892, and it could not be used as a wearable material due to its lack of breathability and softness. It was not until about ten years later, around 1902, that it was officially worn by humans.
How could rayon possibly be available in Britain right now? And something that can be worn?
Cheng Zhiwen also stood up, looked at her and said, "Europe's textile industry is far more developed than ours. Even if you repair the machines now, with the production capacity of these ten machines, it will definitely not be able to resist the invasion of large quantities of rayon from Europe. Therefore, I think..."
Before he could finish speaking, Shen Qing raised her hand to interrupt him.
Shen Qing paced back and forth, slowly processing the bad news.
The focus now is not on whether or not to repair the machine, but on why there is rayon in Europe.
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