Chapter 75: In the poisonous and lonely night, only her lonely crying...
The fire in Yichun Tower lit up the night sky of the capital.
The left and right guards and the brave guards all sent a large number of people to put out the fire.
This is bound to be a restless night!
Xie Wuhen walked towards the Wuyou Teahouse in the sky-high flames.
It was late at night and the teahouse had already closed.
He knocked on the door and asked An Zi, who came to open the door, "Is Mr. Zeng okay?"
Anzi felt that this Shaoqing was really strange. It was unreasonable for him to come to ask hello in the middle of the night.
He bowed and replied, "It's late at night, the master has gone to bed long ago."
Xie Wuhen said bluntly, "I need to talk to you, sir. Go wake him up."
Anzi felt that this man was unreasonable: "The government... wouldn't interrogate people in the middle of the night, right? Besides, the gentleman is still injured. He usually has trouble sleeping due to the pain, and he finally fell asleep today..." How could he wake him up again?
Xie Wuhen was too lazy to talk to him anymore and just walked in.
Anzi followed him, holding a lantern, chattering incessantly, "Since your Excellency has released the gentleman, he is now a good citizen. You can't just barge into a private house and interrogate a good citizen without any reason, right?"
Xie Wuhen glanced at him.
Under the orange candlelight, that glance looked exceptionally cruel and ruthless, like a demon seeking death. "If you dare to say anything more, you'll be the one to go to the Dali Temple next time."
Anzi shrank his neck in fear and fell silent.
Xie Wuhen snatched the lantern from his hand and went up to the third floor on his own.
Zeng Yidao had already lit the candle when he heard the noise and sat down with his clothes on.
He was wearing a moon-white undershirt, his hair was half tied up, and his injured hand was still wrapped in gauze, but his mental state had obviously improved, and there was a hint of comfort in his peaceful expression.
Seeing Xie Wuhen coming to visit in the middle of the night, he smiled and said, "It seems that Master Shaoqing has made a mistake."
Xie Wuhen put down the lamp in his hand and sat down opposite him: "Mr. Zeng can predict the future?"
Zeng Yidao said calmly, "If the Shaoqing had successfully found the person he was looking for, he would not be coming to my humble abode, but to the palace, right?"
He glanced at the teapot on the table and said, "I'm really sorry, my hand is injured and I can't make a pot of good tea for Master Shaoqing."
Xie Wuhen also smiled: "Mr. Zeng knows very well that I am not here for tea."
"Master Shaoqing, please feel free to ask if you have anything to say."
"Mrs. Duofu's child is a daughter, right?"
"Master Shaoqing must have found relevant clues. If so, why bother asking this?"
Xie Wuhen stared at him intently, not missing any subtle expression on his face.
But Zeng Yidao was a man of deep scheming, and his face never showed any expression.
Xie Wuhen asked again, "After escaping the palace, Empress Duofu was sold into slavery to the Du family, right?" Zeng Yidao's tone was ambiguous, "Master Shaoqing's investigation has made considerable progress!"
Xie Wuhen continued, "Mrs. Duofu must have met with misfortune at the Du family. That's why Mr. Zeng took Liu in as his apprentice, so he could keep an eye on the Du family's movements until he found the child. That's why, when the child grew up, he killed Du Yuting to avenge his mother, right?"
Zeng Yidao remained noncommittal: "Master Shaoqing, why don't you finish what you want to say in one breath?"
Xie Wuhen asked in return: "Why did Liu Dazhong and Zhou Yuanze become the enemies of that child?"
Zeng Yidao breathed a sigh of relief and spoke slowly, "Tonight, I will only answer one question for you, Lord Shaoqing. Are you sure it's this question?"
Xie Wuhen said with a cold face: "Just answer it."
Zeng Yidao raised his eyes to the void, his gaze deep and sorrowful. "You're right. Junior Sister's death is inextricably linked to the Du family. I later learned that Shunzi, who escaped the palace with Junior Sister, was beaten to death in the Du family's backyard. Junior Sister, perhaps trying to redress Shunzi's grievances, went to the news drum, but was ultimately killed by Judge Liu Dazhong's sword."
"No wonder." Xie Wuhen woke up as if from a dream, and many messy clues were straightened out in an instant.
He then asked, "What does all this have to do with Zhou Yuanze?"
Zeng Yidao sighed, "It is said that the person who beat Shunzi to death was Zhou Yuanze."
Xie Wuhen frowned slightly: "Why did he want to beat Shunzi to death?"
Zeng Yidao shook his head and said, "I tried to ask the Du family's servants, but all the servants present at the time were sold off, so I found nothing."
He also said, "Junior Sister and Shunzi are also slaves. There are a thousand reasons why their masters could take their lives."
Xie Wuhen was silent for a moment, then leaned closer to him, leaning his elbow on the table. "Since Mr. Zeng is so fond of his junior sister, he should also be concerned about the child she has borne. Now that child is determined to take Zhou Yuanze's life, I'm sure Mr. Zeng is well aware of the danger. For the sake of the child's safety, Mr. Zeng should tell me the truth about her whereabouts."
Zeng Yidao chuckled: "She's not as incompetent as you think!"
Xie Wuhen's expression remained unchanged: "Are you sure?"
"The facts are right in front of us."
"Mr. Zeng is just trying to make excuses for his indifference."
"That's the child that Junior Sister gave birth to for another man. Shouldn't we be indifferent?"
"That's also your junior sister's child."
"Zeng doesn't want to see the scene of their family reunion, the loving father and the filial daughter."
"So you're going to watch that child get into danger?"
"Zeng is watching her, she is safe."
Xie Wuhen asked, "Where is she?"
"Zeng said that he would only answer one question from you tonight, Lord Shaoqing. This is the second question."
Xie Wuhen stared at him solemnly for a moment, then stood up: "Okay, since Mr. Zeng doesn't want to say it, I won't force you." As he spoke, he leaned close to him again, met his eyes, and his tone was filled with coldness: "But Mr. Zeng, remember this, as long as you hide it from me, you will not be free for a day." After that, he stopped talking nonsense and turned around and walked out of the tea room.
Under the cover of night, his back was cold and tall, like a mountain.
Zeng Yidao looked at the back and chuckled softly again.
In Moxiang Courtyard, Zhang Qianer also saw the fire.
She leaned against the door frame and asked, "Why is the sky over there turning red?"
Dong Ye replied: "Maybe there's a fire."
She sighed, "A fire like this is likely to kill a lot of people."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Jianye's voice came from behind him: "My chest hurts so much, come and rub it for me."
Seeing Zhang Qian'er ignoring him, he angrily scolded: "You whore, don't you have ears?"
Zhang Qian'er then turned and walked into the house, saying with disdain: "If I am a whore, then what is my husband, a whore's client?"
Li Jianye coughed a few times, then gasped for breath, and finally recovered.
He was still filled with anger: "Your mouth is getting sharper and sharper now. What's the matter? Is marrying into the Li family unfair to you?"
Speaking of "marrying into the Li family", Zhang Qian'er couldn't help but feel annoyed. If she hadn't had no choice, how could she have spent the rest of her life with such a tuberculosis patient?
She asked in return: "Don't you think I'm not wronged, my husband?"
Li Jianye sneered: "With your humble background, you were destined to be a concubine. You are fortunate enough to be the head wife of my Li family. You should be grateful."
Zhang Qian'er also sneered: "Who should I be grateful to? Your mother's constant sarcasm or your constant sickness?"
"If I hadn't been so sick, how could I have married you? To be frank, we're evenly matched, so let's not blame each other." Li Jianye took out a packet of datura flowers from under his pillow and told her, "Light this."
Without lighting the Datura stramonium, he couldn't breathe.
Zhang Qianer rolled her eyes at him, took the datura, and lit it in the incense burner.
She hated the smell of the flower and couldn't help but stand further away.
"Come here and massage my chest." Li Jianye ordered.
"I can't stand the smell of datura. I'll wait until it burns out before I go over there."
"Even if you can't smell it, let me smell it. This is your life."
Zhang Qian'er struggled internally for a moment, but finally compromised. She walked to the bed, covered her nose with one hand, and rubbed his chest with the other.
Li Jianye ordered again: "Make me another cup of datura tea."
Zhang Qianer complained unhappily, "There are just too many things to do." Then she got up and went to make tea.
Datura tea is made from datura pollen. He Manyun felt sorry for her son and prepared two large jars of datura pollen for him in the house.
Zhang Qian'er scooped a small spoonful of pollen into the teacup. When she was about to take a second spoonful, Li Jianye hurriedly stopped her: "This pollen is poisonous. Are you trying to poison me to death?"
"You still drink it even though it's poisonous?"
"Excessive amounts are toxic, but moderate amounts are harmless."
Zhang Qianer asked casually, "What will happen if you get poisoned?"
Li Jianye said impatiently: "Poisoning can kill people. What, do you want to murder your husband?"
Zhang Qianer curled her lips: "I don't want to be a widow."
After drinking the datura tea, Li Jianye's chest felt much better. He lay on the couch with his limbs stretched out, letting Zhang Qianer massage his chest.
The datura smoke in the incense burner beside the bed wafted out, and wisps of it danced between the curtains.
Li Jianye half-closed his eyes, hazily looking at Zhang Qian'er's jaw and the veil that was sliding down her shoulders. In a dreamlike state, he seemed to see Li Shuli sitting in front of the bed, gently undressing him.
Li Jianye suddenly became excited. He dragged Zhang Qianer over, pushed her onto the bed, and prepared to do something.
Dong Ye, who was standing at the door, had never seen such a scene before and couldn't help but scream.
Li Jianye shouted: "Bitch, close the door and get out."
Dong Ye was so scared that his scalp tightened. He turned around and walked out of the house, closing the door behind him.
Li Jianye had not had sex for a long time due to poor health, but this time he was particularly adept at it. Zhang Qian'er also hoped to conceive a child, so she tried her best to cooperate with him.
At the top, Li Jianye couldn't help shouting, "Sister... I want you... sister..."
It was like a bolt from the blue, and Zhang Qianer couldn't believe her ears.
When the wind and rain died down, she asked, "Who did my husband just call?"
Li Jianye got up from her, coughed twice, turned his head and slept on the other side, mumbling: "I didn't call anyone, I'm tired, let's sleep."
Zhang Qianer turned over and grabbed his collar: "Are you calling your sister?"
Li Jianye warned her, "It's getting late, stop making noise." Then he pulled her hand away and turned back to sleep.
Zhang Qian'er looked at his sideways figure and asked hesitantly, "Could it be... that you covet Li Shuli? Are you... committing incest?"
Li Jianye didn't move and still ignored her.
Zhang Qianer rushed over hysterically and beat his back desperately: "You have no shame... You consumptive ghost, you lied to me, you consumptive ghost..."
Li Jianye coughed repeatedly after being hit by her. After coughing, he turned over and stood up, "Yes, I just like my sister, and I just want to commit incest with her. What can you do to me?"
Zhang Qian'er's tears fell, she gritted her teeth and spoke word by word: "You are filthy!"
Li Jianye's eyes were also wet with tears: "But listen carefully, the sister I like is not the young lady of the Xie family. My sister is long gone. The young lady of the Xie family is a fake. My tuberculosis is caused by her. She is a fake Li Shuli, a fake..."
Li Jianye became a little hysterical at the end.
Zhang Qianer didn't believe in the real or fake Li Shuli at all. She thought it was just an excuse for the consumptive to turn love into hate.
The only word she heard was "incest".
She hated it, hated Li Shuli.
Her brother Zi Yu was taken away by Li Shuli, and now he married a tuberculosis patient who is still obsessed with Li Shuli. She couldn't swallow this.
She threw herself at Li Jianye hysterically again.
Li Jianye could no longer bear it, so he slapped her in the face and then kicked her off the bed.
Zhang Qian'er fell so hard that she saw stars and felt a dull pain in her back.
She wanted to get up and fight with the man again, but the man had already fallen asleep.
In the lonely night, only her lonely crying was left.
In Chunhua Courtyard.
Su He was also lying on the couch with her clothes on. The injuries on her body made her break out in cold sweats.
At this time, Xie Wuhen had returned from the Wuyou Teahouse and was walking through the Chunhua Courtyard archway, passing through the porch, and pushing the door into the main house...
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