Chapter 126 Murderer
Madam Fang felt irritated and depressed, but she couldn't vent her emotions in front of Madam Yun, who was like an older sister to her. She just pursed her lips and swallowed the blood on her lower lip into her mouth.
It has a strong fishy smell, slightly salty and a bit of rusty.
"It's okay. I've been feeling stuffy these past few days. It's probably because of the weather. It will be better when the weather clears up." Madam Fang said with a smile, "I'm afraid I'll have to take over your work by then."
"If you have the ability, just go ahead and rob it. I'm not afraid of you robbing it, I'm just afraid of you not robbing it." Madam Yun saw that Madam Fang was smiling again, and she felt a little relieved.
She still had a lot of work to do, so Madam Yun didn't dare to delay too much and just focused on her own work.
Madam Fang perked up a little and inserted the needle in her hand into the embroidery cloth.
Shopkeeper Du from Linglongfang came over and raised his hand to Madam Fang, "Come here for a moment."
Madam Fang put down the needle in her hand and walked over. "What do you want to see me for?"
"I remember that you embroidered a folding screen with a hundred blessings on it for a birthday celebration. The customer praised you highly, and I gave you an extra two taels of silver as a reward for it."
Shopkeeper Du stroked his goatee and said, "Today someone came to order a folding screen for a birthday celebration, and he also wanted it to be embroidered with a pattern of a hundred blessings. I remembered that you had experience last time, so I'll let you do the job this time. If you do a good job this time, I'll be generous and give you an extra ounce of silver as wages!"
"Thank you, shopkeeper." Madam Fang bowed.
"But this person brought some silk thread, saying that he got it with great difficulty, and it is mixed with silver thread. He thought that he would embroider it together. It will look beautiful with its silver glitter. You can also come with me to take a look and see if it is genuine, whether it can be used, and how easy it is to use. I can also ask the owner for the price."
Shopkeeper Du raised his feet as he spoke, "The guest is in the flower hall right now, please come with me."
Madam Fang hurriedly followed and walked to the flower hall with Shopkeeper Du.
But at this time, the flower hall was empty.
"Where are the guests?" Madam Fang was surprised.
"Maybe he went to the front? You wait here for a while, I will go look for him." Shopkeeper Du looked around and walked forward.
Madam Fang stood there waiting.
After a while, someone came over, but it was not the shopkeeper Du who led the guests, but Qu Zhiwen who was dressed in official clothes and led a group of yamen runners, standing in front of Madam Fang.
"Your Highness... Your Highness greets you." Madam Fang knelt hurriedly and saluted.
"Are you Madam Fang from Linglong Pavilion?" Qu Zhiwen asked.
"That's right." Madam Fang nodded. "I wonder what you are looking for me for."
"Some time ago, a male corpse was found in a well in Bayou Alley in Hedong Prefecture. Upon investigation, it was found that the corpse was Wei Youshan, a scholar from Jiangnian County. Do you recognize him?"
Madam Fang lowered her head with a look of panic on her face. After a moment, she shook her head and said, "No, I don't recognize him."
"Okay, then I'll ask a different question." Qu Zhiwen said, "I have carefully questioned everyone in Linglong Pavilion, and I heard that you were very happy every day two months before the college entrance examination two years ago, and you rushed to do embroidery work every day to make money. You also occasionally mentioned that you wanted to buy a dowry for yourself. I would like to ask Madam Fang, who did you want to marry at that time?"
Upon hearing this, Madam Fang bit her lip and said nothing.
"Since you don't say anything, I'll ask you another question. More than three months ago, you asked for leave from Linglong Pavilion, saying that an elder in your family had passed away and you had to go back to attend the funeral. But I've checked and found that since you were twelve years old, both your parents had passed away, and you and your second uncle's family were at odds with each other. You came to Hedong Prefecture to find a job and you didn't want to have any contact with your second uncle's family. You no longer have any contact with your maternal grandparents. I want to ask, whose funeral were you attending, how old are you this year, why did the elder die, which road did you take when you went back, and who has seen you?"
"I'll ask you again. Wei Youshan went missing more than three months ago and the neighbors heard a quarrel in his yard. It was also the day you took leave. As for the day when Wei Youshan was killed or injured, I learned from Linglong Pavilion that you were in and out frequently during those days and didn't do your embroidery well. Later, you took a few days off due to illness. Since then, you have been listless all day. What's the reason?"
"In addition, the clothes Wei Youshan was wearing were brand new, without any wear or tear, and a little too long. They didn't look like clothes he wore when he was alive, but rather like clothes he wore after his death. I have asked someone to compare the clothes carefully, and the material used was printed fabric that only Linglong Pavilion in the entire Hedong Prefecture had, and the embroidery skills on it were very similar to what you usually do, exactly the same."
"I suspect that the person who killed Wei Youshan and threw him into the well was your wife!"
Facing Qu Zhiwen's repeated questioning, Madam Fang, who had been kneeling straight with her head down, seemed to have her spine pulled out. She could no longer kneel straight and just collapsed to the ground.
After a long while, he opened his mouth hesitantly.
"I thought that if I destroyed his face and made it impossible to identify him, I would not be suspected..."
It seemed that she had been discovered after all.
Truth will eventually come to light, just as Wei Youshan thought he had fooled her around, and had no idea that he had already attached himself to the Qiao family and was going to become their son-in-law.
It's a pity that the Qiao family loves their daughter and values Wei Youshan as their future son-in-law, so they were introduced to Linglong Pavilion to buy many valuables.
And the one who took on this embroidery job was her.
When she saw Miss Qiao and Mrs. Qiao mentioning Wei Youshan with joy and pride, she was shocked and felt as if her heart was being stabbed by needles.
When Wei Youshan arrived at Hedong Prefecture, he was a poor and destitute student. His clothes were full of patches and the food was rough and hard to swallow. However, he was a very motivated person. Even when he was copying books and writing letters for others in the market, he still did not forget to study.
It was the first time she had seen such a hard-working person, and she felt that Wei Youshan would have a bright future, so she went to help him from time to time.
At first, it was one or two pancakes and a bowl of wontons, then a coat and a pair of shoes. Later, they rented a yard for him so that he had a place to stay and food to eat so that he could concentrate on his studies.
Even when she couldn't return to Linglong Pavilion on a rainy night, she gave him intoxicating tenderness.
In order to support Wei Youshan's huge expenses for studying, she had to work desperately on embroidery. She suffered from back pain, sore eyes, and even her hands were always covered with scars.
When Wei Youshan looked at her, he was full of gratitude and pity. He always said that when he passed the imperial examination and entered the county school, he would take her to Jiangnian County after he settled down. After they got married, he would study hard while she would do embroidery to supplement the family income. When he passed the imperial examination and became an official, he would let her be a real official wife.
I think I would have liked it if the day after Sunday wasn't Monday...
(End of this chapter)
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