Chapter 227 Arson
To hold such a large funeral, the Ji family's original staff was naturally insufficient.
Under the pretext of recruiting helpers, Feng Qingsui recruited the people Ji Changqing left behind in the capital into his mansion.
The person responsible for recruiting helpers was Shunzi.
On the third day of the mourning period, Shunzi suddenly came to report to Feng Qingsui: "Madam, someone is trying to bribe me again."
Feng Qingsui: “…”
Even she was jealous of Shunzi's extra money.
"That person wants to work as a helper in the mansion?"
She asked.
Shunzi was full of admiration. "Madam, you're so good at predicting things! I told that person that I had already found someone, and he refused to give up. He said that if I could help him make room for a kitchen helper, he would pay me this amount."
He held up a finger.
Feng Qingsui raised his eyebrows: "One hundred taels?"
Shunzi nodded.
"The monthly salary we offer funeral assistants is only five taels. His one hundred taels is enough for us to hire twenty assistants. I asked him why he paid out of his own pocket to work as an assistant in the mansion, and he said he wanted to see the world."
The worldly experience must be fake.
There must be another real plan.
Feng Qingsui pondered for a moment and replied, "Promise him."
"Okay!"
Shunzi smiled happily.
On the same day, He Jiu, who bribed him, was arranged to work as a helper in the kitchen of Ji Mansion.
The temporary helpers were all Feng Qingsui's spies. After He Jiu entered the mansion, she handed over the surveillance tasks to these helpers and threw this man aside.
It wasn't until the evening of three days later that a helper reported to her: "He Jiu put drugs in the mung bean soup prepared for the night watchmen."
Feng Qingsui: “…”
This sounds familiar.
When she and Qi went to Prince Ping's mansion to pay their respects, Prince Ping's Crown Prince Zhao Bichang had people put drugs in the sour plum soup and barley tea prepared for them.
Could it be that the mastermind behind He Jiu is Zhao Bichang?
Very likely.
Prince Ping's palace was stripped of its title and its property was confiscated because of Ji Changqing's report. Zhao Bichang must have been holding a grudge and wanted to take advantage of the Ji family's funeral to retaliate.
She called Yan Chi and ordered, "Go to the Zhao family and keep an eye on Zhao Bichang."
Yan Chi took the order and left.
Feng Qingsui asked Wuhua to keep an eye on He Jiu again.
Then he ordered his men to quietly replace the mung bean soup with the one He Jiu had added ingredients to.
He Jiu didn't know that his every move was being watched. When other helpers brought mung bean soup to the mourning hall at night, he smiled and stepped forward to lend a hand.
He watched with his own eyes as the servants at the mourning hall drank the mung bean soup and quietly threw two pills into the brazier where paper money was burned. Only then did he clean up the dishes and retreat.
In the middle of the night, he estimated that the time was almost up, so he sneaked into the mourning hall to take a look.
Seeing that both Qi and Feng, as well as the servants waiting by the side, were sleeping soundly, a triumphant smile appeared on the corner of his lips.
He returned to the kitchen and picked up the two jars of tung oil that he had smuggled into the house in the slop bucket when he went out to empty the mansion and stored in a dark corner of the woodshed.
Then return to the mourning hall.
The servants on night watch were all knocked unconscious by the knockout drug in the mung bean soup, and no one noticed his actions.
He opened the tung oil jar and was about to pour out the oil when he heard a voice from behind him: "What are you doing?"
He turned his head subconsciously and a round-faced, slightly plump maid came into view.
"The little one is here to apply tung oil to the coffin."
He said calmly.
"The steward told me during the day that the weather has been damp these days, and the tung oil coating on the prince's coffin is a little thin. He was worried that it might get contaminated by moisture, so he told me to repaint it at night."
"It's well-made."
Wuhua scoffed.
"Didn't the steward tell you that only maids and wives are allowed to come to the mourning hall at night, and no men are allowed?"
When He Jiu heard this, he knew that he could not hide the truth from this maid.
But he didn't take a mere maid seriously.
After taking two steps at a time and reaching the maid, he clenched his right fist and struck the maid's temple with lightning speed.
With his strength, this blow was enough to kill the maid.
However.
His fist stopped just one finger's distance to the right of the maid's solar plexus.
"ah!"
A heart-wrenching pain came over me.
He nearly fainted.
This maid actually grabbed his wrist and twisted his elbow backwards and broke it.
How, how could it be...
"Before you came to our house to do evil, didn't you ever ask about the capable people in our house?"
Wuhua released his hand and kicked him to the ground.
He Jiu was sweating profusely.
Of course he had asked around and knew that Feng had a maidservant with great skills.
But no matter how good a maid's skills are, how good can they be?
Better than him, a martial artist?
Besides, weren’t the people on night duty knocked unconscious by him?
How come this maid is not hurt at all?
The next moment, he saw people who had fainted in various places in the mourning hall waking up.
His face suddenly turned pale as paper.
It turned out that his actions had been noticed by others from a long time ago. He even thought that the Prime Minister's Mansion was full of loopholes like a sieve.
Feng Qingsui walked up to him and looked down at him: "Who sent you?"
He Jiu's face was gloomy. "I don't know. I was once a martial arts master in a prestigious martial arts school. I accidentally killed an apprentice while teaching him. I didn't want to go to jail, so I hid in the capital..."
Someone came to him and said that if he could help them accomplish something, they would give him a new household registration and help him escape.
Otherwise, hand him over to the authorities.
He had been practicing martial arts since he was young, and had a chance to pass the military examination. However, he was drunk and molested a flower girl. He was seen by Ji Changqing who passed by and was sent to the government office. He was sentenced to six months in prison, and his future was ruined.
After being released from prison, he could only make a living by working as a martial arts instructor in a martial arts school.
His wife thought he was a disgrace, so she divorced him and married someone else when he was in prison.
He was always unlucky and often drank too much, which is why he lost his mind while teaching an apprentice, beat someone to death, and had to flee.
All this is thanks to Ji Changqing.
Therefore, when he learned that the man wanted him to go to Ji's house to set fire and kill people, he agreed without hesitation.
If Ji Changqing had not meddled in his affairs and insisted on sending him to see the officials, thus ruining his future, how could he have ended up like this?
Why was Ji Changqing posthumously conferred the title of Prince, but he was like a rat in the gutter, not daring to show his face?
He could have been a military scholar, a palace guard, and a favorite of the emperor, with a future as promising as Ji Changqing's.
It was Ji Changqing who ruined him.
What Ji Changqing owes him should be repaid by his family.
Of course, he would not tell these secrets to the women of the Ji family. He only said that someone bribed him to set the fire.
"...The man came with a mask on. I don't know who he is."
He doesn't know, but Yan Chi knows.
After Feng Qingsui handed him over to Wuhua to be taken away for detailed interrogation, Yan Chi flew down from the eaves.
"Madam, I was just at Zhao Bichang's place and heard him instruct his followers to kill He Jiu as soon as he succeeded."
Feng Qingsui said calmly, "It's indeed him."
She has always been willing to help others.
Since Zhao Bichang was seeking death, she would naturally help him.
Then he gave Yan Chi some instructions.
Yan Chi took the order and left.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
