Chapter 173 Bloodline
After ordering Bi Yue'er to be taken to the guest house, Qi said to Feng Qingsui, "Although my aunt was sold to the Qi family by my brother, she has no complaints against him. Every Qingming Festival, she burns a portion of paper for him."
"She said her brother had always been very kind to her since she was a child. He would always give her the good things first, remember her preferences clearly, and take her wherever she wanted to go."
"When she had the pox, the servants didn't dare get close to her. It was my brother who fed her the medicine."
"My father fell in love with her while dining at a restaurant. Her parents had already passed away at the time. When her brother heard that my father wanted to take her as a concubine, he refused without hesitation, saying that his sister was going to be the main wife."
"Later, I was swamped with debt and was harassed by violent debt collectors. I was afraid that even if I promised my mother to an ordinary family, they would still be forced to pay her back, so I sold her to my father."
"My mother has been in the Wenyuan Marquis's Mansion for so many years. Although it can't be said to be smooth sailing, she can at least live a comfortable life with no worries about food and clothing."
"Her only regret was that her brother had made a mistake, squandering not only the family fortune but also his life, leaving behind no offspring."
Having said that, she sighed.
"If Bi Yue'er's father is really a descendant of the Shen family, it would save my aunt one regret."
"But I always feel that this matter is a bit strange. Ever since Chang Qing returned to Beijing to take up his post, relatives have come to visit one after another, all kinds of monsters and ghosts. I don't know if she is a human or a ghost."
Feng Qingsui smiled and said, "As the saying goes, if you are poor in a busy city, no one will care about you; if you are rich in the mountains, you will have distant relatives. Second Master is in power now, so naturally there are many people who want to take advantage of him. Not to mention those who are blood relatives, even those who are not blood relatives will try every means to establish connections."
Qi agreed deeply: "That's right."
"Her family is in the capital, so it's not difficult to verify. Whether she's telling the truth or a lie, you can let Second Master investigate and he'll know."
Feng Qingsui said again.
"But blood relationship is difficult to verify. Even if her grandmother gave birth to her father after seven or eight months of pregnancy, it is not enough to prove that her father is of the Shen family."
"Do you think she looks similar to your aunt?"
Qi shook her head.
"My mother and I both have oval faces and almond-shaped eyes, but she has a melon-shaped face and almond-shaped eyes. We don't look alike at all. Maybe she takes after her grandmother or mother."
Feng Qingsui did not find any rare genetic characteristics in Bi Yue'er, so it was difficult to draw a conclusion.
It can only be handed over to Ji Changqing for inspection.
Ji Changqing, who came back from court to find that he had a cousin: (-_-;)
Why are all the people who come to visit my cousins?
Does your cousin embroider at home?
After hearing the whole story, he sighed and called Zhuying over: "Check the Bi family in the west of the city."
Zhuying was about to leave when Feng Qingsui interrupted, "It would be best to check the whereabouts of the Shen Family Restaurant."
Ji Changqing narrowed his eyes slightly: "You are suspicious..."
"Mother said that Aunt Shen's brother is an honest and decent man. He inherited such a large restaurant at such a young age. Maybe someone deliberately lured him into the casino and made him owe a huge debt."
Ji Changqing nodded.
"That makes sense."
"In that case, let's also investigate the cause of death of Aunt Chen's brother."
The Shen's restaurant was mortgaged to a pawnshop, and the fact that Youshi happened to marry the pawnshop owner after the death of Aunt Shen's brother was also suspicious.
Zhuying obeyed the order.
Half a day later, the investigation file was submitted.
Ji Changqing specially asked Feng Qingsui to come to Ci'an Hall to watch it together.
The Shen's Restaurant was mortgaged to the Yulong No. 1 that year.
Although Yulong and Hengchang are openly at odds with each other, Xin Qi, the founder of Yulong, is the mentor of Bi Yuan, the founder of Hengchang, and the two have been partners for many years.
After Bi Yuan retired from officialdom, the two men each opened a pawnshop and had constant private dealings.
Because the Shen family failed to redeem the restaurant, it was sold to the Liu family.
The Liu family is a relative of the Bi family and also runs a restaurant. The head of the family's sister, Liu, is Bi Yuan's granddaughter-in-law.
After the Shen family restaurant was mortgaged, Aunt Shen's brother sold his sister to the Wenyuan Marquis Mansion, and then took his wife Youshi back to their hometown in the suburbs of Beijing after many twists and turns.
For fear of being chased for debt, he did not move into the old house, but instead lived in an abandoned old house at the foot of the mountain.
The valley was originally a swamp. A villager bought it and dug up the soil to make a pond.
The pond is not deep, but because there is swamp underneath, it is easy to sink. Few villagers dare to go into the water to catch fish. At most, they can secretly catch a few fish when the owner is not paying attention.
Aunt Shen's brother drowned in this pond.
Villagers said that he had not been in the village for many years and probably did not know that the pond bottom would sink, so he entered the pond to fish and lost his life in vain.
But an elderly widower claimed that when Aunt Shen's brother was a child, he went back to his hometown with his grandparents for a few years, went to play in the swamp, and accidentally fell into it, so he knew how dangerous it was.
After Aunt Shen's brother passed away, Youshi returned to her parents' home in the capital.
Only a month later, she married Bi Yuan's great-grandson Bi Siquan, and seven months later, she gave birth to Bi Yue'er's father, Bi Sheng.
Bi Sheng has two sons and one daughter. His eldest son joined Hengchang for training at an early age and is now able to stand on his own.
The second son had no ambition and spent all his time visiting brothels with his friends. He had a close relationship with Wu Guifei's second nephew, Wu Renxing, until Wu Renxing's death.
It is said that he once suggested to his father that he give his sister to the eldest son of the Wu family as a concubine.
"On the surface, Bi Yue'er didn't lie."
After reading the file, Feng Qingsui smiled.
"The biggest flaw is that the Shen family restaurant fell into the hands of the Bi family's relatives."
Ji Changqing nodded.
"If the Shen Family Restaurant had been in the hands of someone else, it wouldn't have been so easy for people to be suspicious after Youshi married Siquan."
Feng Qingsui smiled.
"No wonder the Second Master has such an amazing talent for cooking. It turns out his ancestors ran a restaurant."
Qi agreed: "Changqing has indeed inherited the Shen family's bloodline in this respect."
Ji Changqing: (￣ω￣；)
Thinking that her aunt's only relative might have been murdered, the smile on Qi's face faded.
"It's been so many years since the incident, and all the evidence has been lost. Even if my aunt's brother was murdered, I'm afraid it's impossible to verify it."
Feng Qingsui shook his head: "Not necessarily."
Qi gave him a puzzled look.
Feng Qingsui explained, "If Bi Yue'er came to the mansion not to seek refuge but for other motives, it is very likely that she was instructed by someone. The person who instructed her could be her grandmother or someone else."
"Zhuying has also investigated her. Apart from the rumor that her second brother wanted to give her as a concubine, there is no other trouble with her. It is very likely that the person being manipulated is not her, but her grandmother."
“If her father is really the blood of the Shen family, her grandmother could have asked you for help instead of letting her come to you to avoid disaster.”
"Given Second Master's current status and position, the Wu family will definitely not go against him just for a concubine."
“But they didn’t.”
"This means that what they are using to control them might be something related to the Shen family, something that will turn you and the Second Master against them and make it impossible for you to stand on the same side."
"I think this thing is most likely evidence of the murder of your aunt's brother."
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