Chapter 40 Teahouse 5 Today I am going to catch an adulterer
Li Jianye has been very busy these days.
He made a special trip to the Xishan Villa, found the servant Wang Gui, and asked him in detail about Su He's life when she lived in the villa.
Wang Gui naturally didn't know much, just some obvious things like "the young lady has a bad temper" and "the young lady has boils and is covering her face with a scarf."
Li Jianye said sternly, "Think carefully. If you can't come up with anything important, I'll make sure you pay for it today."
Wang Gui was so frightened that his legs were trembling. He had no idea what this young master's intentions were, and he had no idea that this young master's temper was even worse than that young lady's.
He replied in a trembling voice: "The young lady...she even chased away a few people."
"Who were the people driven away?"
Wang Gui replied, "One was Mrs. Zheng from the kitchen. She was sent away because the rice was too hard. The other two were guards named Jin An and Jin Shun."
"Why did she drive away the guards?"
"I heard that the young lady was frightened by the wild cat because of poor guarding."
Li Jianye was silent for a moment.
This character of driving away, selling or beating servants at any time is more like Li Shuli.
He then asked, "Did she ever beat the servants?"
Wang Gui thought for a moment and said, "In the beginning... I did fight him, but then nothing happened."
"Later? When was later?"
"Even after the young lady contracted boils, her temper softened considerably. She even gave each of Zheng Pozi and Jin An and Jin Shun twenty taels of silver to keep them safe, and even returned their indentures."
Li Jianye couldn't believe his ears. "She kicked him out and still paid the money and returned the indenture? Is that her character?"
"That's what I heard them say at the time."
Wang Gui felt a wave of panic, but then he remembered, "Oh, I also heard that the young lady rescued many starving people on the mountain path outside the villa. She even cleared out a utility room in the villa to house the seriously ill."
Li Jianye felt like he was listening to a joke.
The person Wang Gui was talking about was not Li Shuli at all, this was clearly a Buddha or Bodhisattva.
He ordered: "Take me to that utility room to have a look."
Wang Gui followed orders and said as he walked, "Young lady, you have been very low-key. You didn't let anyone know about this place at first. I only learned about it after you returned to Beijing."
Li Jianye had a cold face and ignored him.
The two came to a secluded row house in the northeast corner of the courtyard.
In the past, this row house was used to store firewood and sundries. Later, because the other courtyard was vacant for a long time, this row house was also abandoned. Usually no one comes here at all.
Li Jianye looked around inside and outside the townhouse, his expression growing increasingly gloomy. "This is indeed a great place to hide our tracks."
Then he asked, "When did she get boils?"
Wang Gui thought for a moment, "The young lady contracted boils...it must have been around twenty days after she came to the other courtyard."
More than twenty days!
In other words, after more than 20 days, the fake Li Shuli replaced the real Li Shuli. Since then, she not only released the slaves, but also secretly rescued the hungry people.
In other words, the boils were just a pretext - just a pretext used by the fake Li Shuli to buy herself some time.
But where did Li Shuli really go?
Based on Li Jianye's understanding of the real Li Shuli, unless she was dead, she would never be so silent when someone else was impersonating her.
Is he really dead?
In fact, he didn't care about the life or death of the real Li Shuli. What he cared about was how to find evidence to bring down the fake Li Shuli.
But even though the facts were becoming clearer and clearer, he still hadn't found any evidence.
Li Jianye was furious, but helpless.
After returning to Beijing from the villa, he lost his fighting spirit for a while, and was discouraged and depressed all day long, until he met Zhang Qian'er at the Wuyou Teahouse by coincidence.
A woman's heart is indeed as poisonous as a snake or scorpion.
She actually thought of a way to ruin Li Shuli's reputation, which was really gratifying.
It was also his own fault. He was so obsessed with exposing Li Shuli's true face that he ended up in a dead end.
But think about it in another way. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether Li Shuli is real or fake. What matters is how to make her live a life worse than death!
Zhang Qianer gave him a new idea.
Three days later it will be May 20th.
On the night of May 19th, at Wuyou Teahouse.
The waiter Changgui had already wiped all the tables and chairs in the store, and placed the tea needed for the next day into the ceramic jars on the counter.
He called out "Wangcai" several times.
A waiter named Wangcai was washing cups and plates in the back hall. Hearing the noise, he shouted back, "Brother Changgui, what's going on?"
Changgui asked, "Have you packed everything?"
Wangcai replied: "Wait a little longer, it will be fine soon."
In just half a cup of tea, Wangcai had finished washing and trotted to the front desk. "Brother Changgui, is there anything I can help you with?"
Changgui looked around the teahouse lobby. It was already late at night. Candles flickered in the lobby and the doors and windows were closed. Many of the waiters in the teahouse had gone off duty, leaving only him and Wangcai to guard the shop.
He smiled mysteriously, bent down and took out a bag of roast chicken from the bottom of the cabinet.
Wangcai, who was always greedy, had his eyes light up: "Brother Changgui, you are really capable."
Changgui lowered his voice and said, "I asked Aunt Liu from the kitchen to secretly keep some for me."
Then he took out a can of daughter's red wine and said, "There's also this."
Wangcai clapped his hands in delight: "That's great."
Changgui quickly shushed him, "Be quiet, don't let the boss hear you."
Isn’t it the owner Zeng Yidao who lives on the third floor of the teahouse?
Wangcai quickly fell silent, and finally asked, "Where are we going to eat?"
Changgui whispered back, "Let's go to the private room on the second floor. It's isolated from the noise."
Wangcai had no doubts and nodded repeatedly.
So the two of them carried the roast chicken and wine, went upstairs, and pushed open the private room of "Xiangcha Pavilion".
Changgui took out a lighter and lit the candle.
A bean of light instantly filled the room.
Wangcai couldn't wait to open the roast chicken and pour two glasses of daughter's red wine.
Changgui said politely, "The chicken is delicious, the wine is good, you should eat more."
Wangcai was not polite either. He tore off a piece of chicken and stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing the meat, he immediately drank the wine in one gulp.
While eating, he said, "Brother Changgui, you eat too."
Changgui humbly said, "I'll have some chicken, so I'll skip the drinks."
Wangcai asked: "Why?"
"It's just the two of us keeping watch. If we both drink, who will get up early to open the shop tomorrow?"
"Brother Changgui is still good to me."
Changgui's tone was meaningful: "It's good that you know it, kid."
So he watched Wangcai eat and drink, and after just a cup of tea, Wangcai fell drowsy on the tea table.
Changgui tentatively called out "Wangcai" a few times, but Wangcai was already unconscious.
Then he stood up and drew aside the curtain in the room. Behind the curtain was a soft couch with sheets and bedding already laid out on it.
He took great pains to carry Wangcai to the couch, muttering, "Anyway, you won't suffer any loss. Maybe you'll even be lucky enough to marry a beautiful wife. Just bear with it for now." After that, he turned around, cleared the wine and roast chicken on the table, extinguished the candle, and left the private room.
When the young minister's wife comes over at noon tomorrow, he will also bring her a pot of tea with a sleeping pill, and there will be another woman on the couch.
——If he catches the adultery in public then he and the young master of the Li family will be even after all the money and goods are settled!
Changgui went downstairs to the second floor, returned to the cubicle behind the lobby, and went to bed peacefully.
As soon as he closed his eyes, a pipe of smoke broke through the window and entered.
In just a moment, Changgui lost consciousness.
Anzi entered the cell and ordered his accompanying guards, "Having such a filthy thing in a teahouse really tarnishes the reputation of the master. Put it in a sack and throw it out of the city."
The two guards bowed in response, and then quickly put Changgui into a sack and dragged him away.
Anzi then ordered another guard, "Carry Wangcai from the Fragrant Tea House into this room."
The guard responded with "yes" and turned to leave.
The night finally became quiet.
The starry sky is brilliant, the moonlight is flowing, and the night is slowly moving forward like water, until the insects retreat and the birds fly, and there is a faint light on the horizon, and a new day has come again.
The next day, Wangcai woke up and felt quite confused.
He remembered that he had been drinking and eating chicken at the Fragrant Tea House last night, so how could he have ended up back in the cell? Could it be that Brother Changgui had carried him back?
But Brother Changgui's bed was empty, with no one in sight.
Wangcai hurriedly got up, washed, and then went to work.
But he ran all over the front hall and the back kitchen, but didn't see Brother Changgui at all.
He had no choice but to ask people in the store, but no one knew where Changgui had gone.
In the end, Wangcai had no choice but to ask the shopkeeper Anzi.
An Zi replied while counting the beads: "You don't need to look for it. Changgui had a stomachache early this morning and went to the clinic for treatment. You can do his work today."
Wangcai was puzzled: "Why did Brother Changgui suddenly have a stomachache?"
It was obviously him who ate the most last night.
An Zi said calmly: "Who knows."
Wangcai felt a little disappointed. Brother Changgui always took care of him, so why didn’t he even say hello to him when he was sick?
Forget it, I’ll ask Brother Changgui after he comes back. He’d better go to work first.
At this time in Chunhua Courtyard.
Su He had finished his meal and was sitting in the corridor reading a storybook.
There was still some time before noon, so she was not in a hurry to go out.
Zhang Xiuhua brought the eight-treasure box and placed it on the table beside her. She couldn't help but feel a little worried: "Miss, are you really going today?"
Su He replied: "If they have the guts to ask me out, I will go."
"But if we fall into their trap..."
Su He closed the storybook and breathed a sigh of relief towards the clear sky: "Auntie only knows that they set a trap for me, but how can you know that I didn't set a trap for them?"
Zhang Xiuhua paused, "What trap did the young lady set for them?"
Su He smiled slightly: "Aunt will know when the time comes."
She stood up and went back to her room, saying as she walked, "It's getting late, let's take our time packing up. Today I want to wear my gold hairpin and that crimson skirt."
Zhang Xiuhua was confused, but she also stood up and responded, "Okay, Miss, you can wear whatever you want."
At this time, there are three rooms next door.
After Zhang Qianer got up early in the morning, she asked Dong Ye to secretly keep an eye on what was happening in the main room.
Today is her big day for revenge, and she can't miss any good scene.
She would ask Dong Ye from time to time: "Do you think Li Shuli will go to the teahouse?"
Dong Ye replied: "Didn't Mr. Li promise that he would go?"
After a while, she asked again, "What time is it now? Is there any movement from Li Shuli?"
Dong Ye replied: "It's just the Si hour, there's still no movement over there."
It was not until two o'clock in the afternoon that Dong Ye hurried over to report: "Miss, Li Shuli has left. The carriage has just left the house."
Zhang Qianer's face lit up with joy, "Quick, let's get going too."
Finally, she glanced at her bright dress and stopped abruptly: "Today we are going to catch an adulterer, so I can't dress so ostentatiously and steal the limelight. Dongye, change my clothes for me."
Dong Ye hurriedly changed her master into a simple dress, and then got on a carriage and rushed to Wuyou Teahouse.
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