Chapter 20 Blocking the Door
Aunt Li's son Sun Changsheng is addicted to gambling and doesn't care about the hardships his mother went through in raising him alone. Not to mention that the family is penniless, if Aunt Li was not from Prince Liang's Mansion, Sun Changsheng would have wanted to sell her as well.
But even so, Aunt Li still couldn't bear to ignore her son.
Sun Changsheng disappeared a month ago. At first, Aunt Li thought that he had been gambling all day and didn't come home, but after not seeing him for several days, Aunt Li became worried. At this time, the loan shark A Tai, who lent money at high interest in the casino, found the back door of the palace and said that Sun Changsheng owed two thousand taels of gambling debt and was now in their hands, so they asked Aunt Li to raise money to redeem him.
Ever since Sun Changsheng learned how to gamble, debt collectors would come to his house every now and then. Aunt Li had also seen this loan shark, A Tai, several times.
Therefore, Aunt Li had no suspicions. What else could it be? It must be that her eldest son was causing trouble again.
But this time it was two thousand taels, not two hundred or twenty taels. No matter how much money Aunt Li could make, she was just a cook in a palace. It would take her twenty years without eating or drinking to earn these two thousand taels!
Aunt Li didn't dare let anyone else in the palace know that her son owed gambling debts. She didn't know how many people were eyeing her position, both openly and secretly.
She was in charge of those precious medicinal herbs. If people knew that her family owed a huge debt, even if one or two herbs were missing, people would think that she sold them to pay off her debts. Not only would she be kicked out of the palace, she might even be sued.
Of course, this is not a secret, but we will keep it secret as long as possible and try to pay the money back before the news reaches the palace.
Aunt Li had something on her mind, and when she returned to the palace she could only put on a smile. She only dared to borrow twenty taels of silver from Aunt Zhang, with whom she had a good relationship. Aunt Zhang offered to help her raise the money.
Like her, Nanny Zhang was not a born-in-law. She was a maid who came with her as a dowry to her aunt Nie Qionghua. She followed Nie Qionghua when she got married, returned home with Nie Qionghua, and then came to the Prince of Liang's Mansion with Nie Qionghua. Later, she married a steward of the Prince of Liang's Mansion as a concubine. Unfortunately, less than three years after the marriage, the steward died of illness, so Nanny Zhang returned to serve Nie Qionghua.
Nanny Zhang's two step-sons believed that she had killed their father, so they ignored her. In addition, Nie Qionghua was a mean person, so Nanny Zhang had no friends in the palace. Only Aunt Li could talk to her.
The next day, Chan'er, the little maidservant under Nanny Zhang, brought her a message, saying that Nanny Zhang asked her to go home after she got off work.
Aunt Li was very happy, thinking that Aunt Zhang was helping her raise money. She took the snacks she brought from the palace, went to East Street to buy a roast chicken, and went to Aunt Zhang's home in the alley behind the palace.
All the people living here were servants of the palace. When Aunt Li arrived, the door of Aunt Zhang's house was locked. She waited for a while and was seen by the daughter-in-law of the Wang family who lived next door. She was then invited to her home to sit for a while.
Although the two were not familiar with each other, they had spoken several times before because Wang's daughter-in-law's maiden name was also Li.
But as soon as she entered the house, she was grabbed from behind and a kitchen knife was placed across her neck.
Aunt Li didn't dare to resist and could only obey. Then, Aunt Li saw Sun Changsheng tied up!
Faced with Sun Changsheng's earnest pleas, Aunt Li dared not say no.
The next day, Aunt Li met Aunt Zhang and asked her indirectly, and found out that Aunt Zhang had never made an appointment with her, and the little girl named Chan'er fell into the lake and drowned.
Aunt Li was frightened half to death. Knowing that she could not break free, she decided to go all out and told Taofen and Libai's parents and sisters-in-law how favored they were and how many rewards they had received.
In fact, Taofen and Libai had indeed received many rewards, but they were completely different from what Aunt Li said.
But their families believed it and became even more unscrupulous when talking about their daughters to Aunt Li.
From what they inadvertently revealed, Aunt Li was certain that Taofenlibai must have stolen a lot of things to supplement her family's income.
Everything in Shun'an Palace, even a cup, is registered. If something is missing, it can be found out with a simple check. It all depends on whether these two people have tampered with the account books.
Aunt Li tried to find an opportunity to trick them, but Taofen was not tricked out. However, Libai was fooled and begged Aunt Li not to tell anyone.
Aunt Li threatened Li Bai with this matter, so Li Bai simply followed suit and dragged Tao Fen into it as well.
That day, Princess Jiayi and Prince Consort Xiao came to visit the mansion, and the small kitchen in Shun'an Palace became idle. Aunt Li had nothing to do, so the daughter-in-law of the Wang family asked someone to call her home.
These days, Sun Changsheng has not been released, and Aunt Li can only wait for instructions from Wang's daughter-in-law.
Wang's daughter-in-law gave her a packet of medicine and asked her to wait for King Liang to come back and find a way to make King Liang drink it.
So she did as she was told, and Taofen and Libai also cooperated well. The three of them worked together to send the precious Prince Liang to heaven.
As soon as Aunt Li gave away the name of Wang's wife, Zhao Shiqing personally led people to arrest her. On the way, she found out that Wang's wife was the second wife of the steward Wang in the mansion. She did not have a contract to sell herself and could not be considered a servant of the mansion.
Manager Wang was in charge of the shop of Prince Liang's Mansion in Hongcheng, and he only returned to Liangdu once every two or three months. Wang's wife did not work in the mansion either, and usually did housework at home.
When Zhao Shiqing arrived at Manager Wang's house, the house was already empty. After asking the neighbors, he learned that a few days ago, Wang's wife and her brother had gone out, saying that they were going to Hongcheng to visit Manager Wang.
Because there happened to be a funeral in the mansion, everyone was very busy. Moreover, Wang's wife and her brother were not servants in the mansion, so no one cared where they went.
Zhao Shiqing reviewed Aunt Li's confession, and without saying a word, kicked towards the door of Aunt Zhang's house!
Nanny Zhang made an appointment with Aunt Li, and Aunt Li was threatened by the wife of the Wang family. After Chan'er delivered a message, she fell into the lake and drowned. Nanny Zhang is not innocent in this matter!
Nanny Zhang lives alone and only comes back when she is not on duty. Most of the time she is with Nie Qionghua.
Zhao Shiqing searched her house but found nothing, so he took his men back to the palace.
When Nie Qionghua first arrived at the palace, she lived in a separate courtyard. In recent years, Prince Liang rarely spent the night in Suining Palace, so Nie asked Nie Qionghua to move in and live with her.
Zhao Shiqing could kick down Nanny Zhang's door, but she couldn't rush into Suining Palace to arrest anyone. She was sure that Nanny Zhang was in Suining Palace at the moment, so she sent someone to the Royal Guard Camp to inform Zhao Yunnuan, and she took Lingbo to stand at the gate of Suining Palace, not letting anyone out.
A eunuch tried to force his way in, but was pecked by Xiaoguai, who cried for his parents and ran back to report the news.
When Nie heard that Zhao Shiqing had blocked her door and released an eagle to peck at her people, she was so angry that she trembled. She sent someone to call Zhao Yunnuan. When she learned that Zhao Yunnuan was not in the palace, she sent someone to call Zhao Tingxuan.
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