This man was none other than Xinbao, Deng Qiuzhi's servant.
"What's wrong? Get up quickly, what happened to your master?"
Yan Xia quickly pulled Xinbao up from his kneeling position. His eyes were red and swollen, like two big walnuts, and his clothes were torn and covered in mud. He must have been in an argument or had fallen.
"Our master has been framed by Wang Chenshi and her daughter, and has been arrested and imprisoned by the officials!!"
Although Xinbao stood up, he was trembling and his legs were weak, and his voice was shaking.
She looked like she was about to burst into tears.
"What? You've been framed? Quick, come into the shop and tell me the details."
Yan Xia was startled by the news.
Although Deng Qiuzhi was only a business partner to her, after spending so much time together, she had long since come to regard him as a close friend.
They learned that he had been framed and imprisoned.
She desperately wanted to grab Xinbao by the collar and demand an explanation, but the doorway was full of customers and the street was still bustling with people.
She could only suppress her curiosity and took Xinbao to the backyard.
The two of them had just touched the stone bench.
Xinbao then began to speak.
"A couple of days ago, a wealthy businessman from out of town wanted to franchise your pastry shop, Manager Yan. He invited you to dinner at Qingmanyuan. Last night, when the money arrived to deliver the goods, you helped carry the pastries before heading off to the banquet. Lately, the weather has been too hot, and the flower cakes and peach shortbread haven't been selling very well. So you said you'd stay an hour later each day. After dinner, I continued to watch over the shop. Just before closing time, a strange woman bought all the remaining flower cakes—three packs in total..."
Yan Xia interrupted Xinbao.
"A strange woman? What's strange about her?"
"Because as soon as she entered the shop, she looked around. The shop was so small, and she even wanted to go to the backyard to take a look, but I stopped her. She also asked me where the master was. I thought she was a friend of the master, so I told her that the master had gone to a banquet. She actually kept asking me where the master was eating, asking three or four times. I thought she had something urgent to tell the master, so I said that the master was at Qingmanyuan. Who knew that she paid and left. After the flower cakes were sold out, my shop naturally closed. But I waited and waited, and the master still hadn't returned. It was almost midnight, and there were hardly any people on the street. The master had never returned so late before. Before he left, he specifically told me that he would be back before the end of Xu hour."
Xinbao's tone became more and more agitated as he spoke.
Yan Xia quickly poured him a glass of chilled tea to calm him down.
She brewed the herbal tea herself, adding a calming herb. Sure enough, after Xinbao drank a few sips, his tone became much calmer.
He continued.
"So I was afraid something had happened to my master, so I rushed to Qingmanyuan to pick him up. But when I got there, I found the restaurant was already closed. Qingmanyuan didn't have any guest rooms, only restaurants. My master couldn't possibly be staying there, so I knocked on the door. The manager opened it and told me that at 7 PM, a guest had been arrested by the officials, and it was my master. The restaurant manager said that someone had reported my master to the county government, saying that he had poisoned the flower cakes! Manager Yan, how could flower cakes be poisoned! It's impossible for them to be poisoned. Today, a piece of flower cake fell on the ground, and my master couldn't bear to throw it away. He even picked it up and ate it. If it were poisoned, how could my master have survived to attend the banquet!"
"So I rushed to the county government office, but the officials stopped me and wouldn't let me in. I just squatted at the entrance and waited until I saw Wang Shufang's family come out of the county government office. I hid by the stone lion and saw them talking to the officials. They even slipped two taels of silver to the officials and told them to teach their master a lesson before leaving. Isn't it obvious? They're here to frame their master! One of the four is the woman who came to buy flower cakes last night. She's standing next to Wang Shufang's younger brother. She must be his new wife. This is slander! Manager Yan, I have no choice. I can't get into the county government office, so I had Qian Yi bring me here to you before dawn. Manager Yan, you know whether the flower cakes are poisoned or not. Please, you must save your master!"
Xinbao's face turned pale. After he finished speaking, he gripped the cup tighter and tighter, causing the herbal tea in the cup to ripple as his right hand shook.
"The flower cakes couldn't possibly be poisonous. Also, if Wang Shufang and the other three are falsely accusing the flower cakes of being poisonous, why are they all unharmed at the county government office? As far as I know, there are only four people in her family. So who was poisoned?"
Yan Xia was somewhat puzzled.
Since it's a setup, they must have actually poisoned him.
Otherwise, where would the evidence come from?
Are you suggesting we rely solely on word of mouth? Any doctor could easily determine whether a flower cake is poisonous or not.
The methods used were too crude, and they also risked being countersued by Deng Qiuzhi.
“Wang Shufang’s younger brother, Wang Guangyao, was seen with his arm around one of the officials, so they must be acquainted.”
"No wonder!" Yan Xia suddenly realized.
I had long heard that the magistrate of Jiangnan County was a corrupt official. If the leader was a bad guy, how could the underlings be any better? I guess Wang Guangyao bribed the officials.
He was instructed to secretly arrest Deng Qiuzhi and imprison him without the county magistrate's knowledge.
The county magistrate is too busy to care about such a trivial matter.
“Don’t be afraid, Brother Deng will be fine. No matter how bold the officials are, they wouldn’t dare to let someone die in jail for no reason. I guess they must have something to do with it. You can stay at my house tonight, and we’ll set off first thing tomorrow morning. I will definitely get Brother Deng out of jail.”
Yan Xia's voice was like the warm sun in winter and the clear spring in summer, soothing Xinbao's frightened and anxious heart.
After the shop closed.
Yan Xia returned to the mansion with her children, servants, and Xinbao.
After dinner, I took a shower to digest and then went to bed early.
At the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), a carriage emerged from the front gate of the Yan residence.
It was too early; the city gates weren't even open yet.
Yan Xia greeted the guard before she was allowed to leave.
Running at full speed, Yan Xia avoided the official road in order to reach Jiangnan County as soon as possible. The first half of the journey was along side roads, which made her stomach churn with acid. She could only endure it until there were no more side roads to take before returning to the main road.
During the journey, the carriage hardly stopped except to relieve itself.
Halfway there, they met Yuanshan, who was returning from delivering goods from Jiangnan County.
He encountered Qian Yi's carriage yesterday and naturally learned that Deng Qiuzhi had been arrested and imprisoned. Since Deng Qiuzhi's shop was closed, he temporarily left the pastries at Yan Xia's residence.
The hour of Wei (1-3 PM).
Yan Xia's carriage entered the city gate of Jiangnan County. Because the queue was too long, Yan Xia used her money magic.
That's how they managed to cut in line.
"Xinbao, go to the shop and sell pastries. I'll have the servants bring them to you later. The ice jelly and other things that were delivered the night before last are inedible even if you keep them chilled. Just throw them away. The pastries can still be sold. The shop was closed yesterday and this morning, and the customers are probably getting impatient. You should open the shop as soon as possible."
Yan Xia parked the carriage outside Deng Qiuzhi's shop.
He said.
"Manager Yan, why are you still selling pastries? Our master's life is hanging in the balance. Let's save him first."
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