Chapter 91: Setting Up the Game 4 Li Shuli might still be alive
Su He invited Wu Qiutang to a private room in a restaurant on Qingshui Street.
There was a curtain between them, so Wu Qiutang couldn't see her face.
She got straight to the point: "I've made the hasty decision to meet with Boss Wu today because I have something to ask of you."
Wu Qiutang looked at the hazy figure behind the curtain and his heart was pounding.
He has been living in fear since the encounter with the ghost. Fortunately, the ghost couple did not appear again, and his shop business was not affected at all.
But who exactly was the "Avenger of the Zhou Family Young Master" that the ghost couple mentioned, and how exactly should he help him? This really took him a lot of thought.
The only people he knew were unknown small vendors and his family members. Who would dare to provoke the eldest young master of the Zhou family?
He even asked Yu San from time to time: "Has anyone come to see me today?"
Yu San was confused. "Everyone who comes to the shop is a customer buying pigeons. No one asks for the master."
Wu Qiutang was in a panic, worried that he would not be able to find the person who needed help, and also worried that the ghost couple would come to the pigeon house to look for him again.
Just when he was feeling anxious, a beggar came into the restaurant and claimed that someone wanted to meet him. He then followed the address the beggar gave him and went to the restaurant's private room.
Wu Qiutang asked tentatively, "Who is the Madam?"
Su He said in a cold tone, "If knowing more means more danger, will Boss Wu still ask who I am?"
Wu Qiutang felt a chill on his back and fell silent for a moment.
After a moment, he murmured, "I am just a commoner with no money or power. I don't know how I can help you, Madam."
Su He asked directly, "I heard that you have to go to the Zhou Mansion every day to bring a bowl of fresh pigeon blood soup to the Zhou family's young master?"
Wu Qiutang secretly said, "As expected," but replied, "Yes, I'll deliver it every day at noon."
Su He said slowly, "I want you to add a medicine to the pigeon blood soup."
Wu Qiutang's thoughts raced, his face horrified. "If...if the Zhou family's young master died from this poisoning, wouldn't I...wouldn't I also be guilty of murder?"
Su He sneered: "When did I say I wanted to add poison?"
Wu Qiutang paused, realizing that he had been so nervous that he had said the wrong thing. "I spoke without thinking. I hope Madam will forgive me."
Su He said in a light tone: "I want you to add donkey kidney powder to the pigeon blood soup of the Zhou family's young master." As she said that, she handed a paper bag to Zhang Xiuhua.
Zhang Xiuhua walked around the curtain and handed the paper bag to Wu Qiutang.
Wu Qiutang was confused: "What on earth is this donkey kidney powder?"
Su He replied, "It's colorless and tasteless." Then he added, "And it's non-toxic."
Wu Qiutang became increasingly puzzled: "Then why... add this thing?"
Su He chuckled lightly, her laughter was light and weird, which frightened Wu Qiutang so much that his scalp became numb.
She said, "Zhou Yuanze relies on pigeon blood soup to release semen, nourish qi, and harmonize yin and yang, but this donkey kidney powder can strengthen the kidneys, enhance yang, boost libido, and raise qi, making one unstoppable."
Wu Qiutang seemed to understand, "Madam, what exactly do you want to do?"
Su He replied calmly, "Starting tomorrow, add donkey kidney powder to Zhou Yuanze's pigeon blood soup. For several days, this will arouse his lustful nature. Seven days later, on his birthday, tell him that a boatwoman is waiting for him on a boat called 'Yuefang' on the south bank of the Qingshui River. That's all."
Wu Qiutang was uneasy, but he had no choice but to agree. After all, he had the warning from the ghost couple. "I can help Madam with this, but... it's a bit dangerous. I have elderly parents and young children at home. Madam, please... please don't let me get into trouble."
"It's precisely because I don't want to implicate Boss Wu that I acted this way. Otherwise, why don't I just do as Boss Wu wants and poison the pigeon blood soup directly?"
Wu Qiutang cleared his throat and said, "Thank you, Madam, for your consideration."
Su He spoke in a firm and frank tone, "Donkey kidney powder dissolves immediately when it comes into contact with blood, leaving no trace. Zhou Yuanze also decided to go on the flower boat on his own, and it has nothing to do with anyone else. Even if someone investigates later, Boss Wu can stay out of it. It's absolutely safe."
Wu Qiutang breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help asking, "What happened after the Zhou family's young master got on the flower boat?"
Su He replied: "I just said, the more you know, the more dangerous it is."
Wu Qiutang immediately stopped talking: "Yes...I was just talking too much."
Su He then took out a few banknotes and asked Ah Si to hand them to Wu Qiutang: "This is your reward."
Wu Qiutang didn't dare to accept it: "It's just a small favor, madam, please don't be polite."
Su He said something with a hidden meaning: "How can I feel at ease if Boss Wu doesn't accept the money?"
Wu Qiutang took a deep breath, then reached out to take the banknote, bowed his head to express his thanks, and turned to leave.
The room fell silent.
Zhang Xiuhua, who was standing by, breathed a sigh of relief: "This Wu Qiutang is really afraid of ghosts. He actually agreed to our request so easily."
Then he asked, "Miss, are you really going to dress up as a boat girl yourself?"
Su He answered simply: "If I want to kill him, I will pretend to be the boat girl."
Zhang Xiuhua was worried: "Zhou Yuanze has met the young lady twice. I'm afraid he has memorized her face. No matter how I dress up, I can't deceive him. Besides, the south bank of the Qingshui River is remote, with few people and boats. What if I fail again..." She didn't dare to say any more.
Su He comforted her: "Don't worry, aunt, as long as he can get on the boat, he will not be able to get off the boat alive."
After she finished speaking, she stood up from the official hat chair and was about to go home, but she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her fingertips, making her hiss.
Zhang Xiuhua asked, "What's wrong, Miss?"
Su He raised his hand and said, "The barb on the chair pricked my finger."
Zhang Xiuhua was shocked: "Oh, my fingertips are bleeding."
Su He wiped the blood with a handkerchief: "It's okay, it's just a small matter."
“Although it’s a small matter, it’s still worrying.”
"What is Auntie worried about?"
"It's your time for revenge. To see blood for no reason is an ominous omen."
Su He didn't care: "Auntie, you worry about everything all day long. When can you give your head a break?" After she said that, she smiled, turned around and walked out of the private room.
Zhang Xiuhua followed behind her, still feeling inexplicably uneasy.
The two of them walked out of the restaurant one after another and got on the carriage.
The carriage sped all the way to Xie's house.
Su He opened the car curtain and looked at the street view outside the window.
It was a clear and crisp autumn day. The streets were bustling with people. The vendors were shouting their wares and the children were playing and chasing each other. It was a magnificent scene of an imperial city.
Su He asked, "Aunt, do you like the capital?"
Zhang Xiuhua sighed: "What can we do if we like it? There is no place for us here."
Yes, they are slaves. No matter how good the capital is, it does not belong to them.
Everything that existed now - the so-called Madam Shaoqing, the so-called luxurious life, were nothing but an empty dream. After seven days, when her revenge was achieved, she would have to leave or even flee.
She also sighed secretly: "Aunt is right, this is not our place."
Then he said, "After we leave, we need to find two reliable people to take care of the shops and farms that are part of the Li family's dowry."
Zhang Xiuhua replied, "Don't worry, miss. I've already started making arrangements."
Su He said, "Thank you for your hard work, auntie."
In less than half an hour, the carriage stopped in front of the gate of Xie's mansion.
The main gate of Xie Mansion faces the "Guiyun Inn" across the street.
After getting off the carriage, Zhang Xiuhua accidentally glanced at the opposite side. It would have been fine if she hadn't looked, but when she did, she froze.
Su He noticed her strangeness, "Aunt, what's wrong?"
Zhang Xiuhua's face was pale, and she raised a trembling finger to point to the opposite side: "Miss, I... am I seeing things? Yes... opposite side, look opposite side..."
Su He looked in the direction she pointed, and a face suddenly appeared in the window on the second floor of Guiyun Inn. It was a face that looked exactly like hers.
Under the bright autumn sun, the face huddled in the dark window, pale and delicate, with cold eyes but a smile on his lips.
She was smiling at them, a strange and cold smile.
That coldness was like a sharp blade, ruthlessly cutting through the facts they had tried so hard to conceal: their identities, their origins, and everything they possessed were all fake.
——In an instant, the sky collapsed and the earth cracked, and in an instant, the earth shook.
Zhang Xiuhua was distraught: "Miss, is that her?"
Su He was unable to react and remained speechless for a long time.
After a moment, she grabbed Zhang Xiuhua's hand and said, "Aunt, don't panic. Let's go back home first."
The two of them returned to Chunhuayuan one after another.
Chunlan came forward to greet her, "Miss, are you doing things well?"
Su He replied: "It went smoothly."
Seeing Zhang Xiuhua's pale face, Chunlan asked again, "Aunt, what happened?"
Zhang Xiuhua couldn't even speak straight, so she pulled her into the house and closed the door: "Chunlan, I want to tell you, I just... just saw Li Shuli."
Chunlan was unable to react for a moment and lowered her voice to ask, "Isn't the young lady Li Shuli?"
Zhang Xiuhua waved her hands frantically: "No... it's not this lady, it's... it's the lady who stabbed you in the face at first."
Chunlan's eyes went dark and she almost dropped the feather duster in her hand.
She instinctively felt fear: "Where is that person...?"
Zhang Xiuhua replied, "It's at the Guiyun Inn across the street."
Chunlan shook her head, still in disbelief: "Aunt must have seen it wrong. That person is already dead. We buried her with our own hands. There is no way she can be alive again. It must be...it must be that her resentment is too heavy to be reincarnated, so she turned into a ghost to scare us."
Zhang Xiuhua also shook her head: "It's not a ghost, it's a person, smiling at us openly."
He added, "Not only did I see it, but the young lady saw it too. If you don't believe me, go ask the young lady."
At this time, Su He had already sat down at the wooden table, silent and not saying a word.
Chunlan called out anxiously, "Miss?"
Su He then raised his eyes and looked at the two of them.
She smiled slightly: "Li Shuli may really still be alive."
Chunlan was so frightened that she burst into tears: "Why did you say that, young lady?"
Su He replied, "We were in such a hurry that day that we dug the grave too shallow. Plus, it rained, so she had a glimmer of hope."
Zhang Xiuhua was so panicked that her legs were shaking and she no longer cared about anything else.
She turned around and prepared to pack her luggage, muttering to herself, "I knew it, I knew it was a bad omen today, Miss's bleeding finger. We have to pack our clothes quickly... run quickly, we can't stay in the capital anymore... we can't stay anymore..."
Su He called her: "Aunt, revenge is not yet complete, how can you run away?"
Revenge could be taken in seven days, but at this critical moment the damn Li Shuli came back.
Zhang Xiuhua was so anxious that she was spinning around, tears streaming down her face. "Young lady, you must survive first before you can seek revenge. Your father and mother are gone. If anything happens to you, how can I face them in the afterlife?"
She asked in return: "How did you know that we couldn't survive?"
Zhang Xiuhua wiped her tears and argued confidently, "If Li Shuli had gone to find her son-in-law or Li Taian, how could we possibly survive? No, not only would we have no chance of survival, but even if we died, we would be cursed and trampled upon by thousands of people."
Su He's expression remained unchanged: "But Li Shuli didn't go to find Xie Wuhen, nor did she go to find Li Taian. Instead, she came directly to me."
Chunlan also paused: "What does she want to do?"
Su He smiled coldly: "She wants to kill me and then secretly replace me in my current position, just like I killed her and replaced her position, but how can she kill me so easily?"
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