As the morning light filtered through the window lattice, Shen Weiwan kicked open the carved wooden door of the warehouse. The old housekeeper was climbing a ladder to reach the camphorwood box on the top floor when he heard the noise and nearly fell down, the account books in his arms scattering all over the floor.
"Miss! You are going to scare this old slave to death!" He held his waist and gasped, his gray beard trembling three times.
Chen Weiwan bent down and picked up a leather-bound account book. She tapped her fingertips on the entry for "Liu's withdrawal of twenty jade ornaments." The corners of her mouth curled up into a beating arc: "Uncle Wang, what are you dawdling about? If you don't finish counting, my aunt's dog head will run away."
The old housekeeper squatted down with a bitter face: "Miss, that shrew Liu is imprisoned in the Sky Prison. Can she still fly away?"
"What do you know?" Chen Weiwan fanned herself with the account book, the scent of ink mingling with the odor of aged camphor. "Yesterday, when Chuntao was delivering steamed bread, I heard her whispering to the jailer. Her eyes moved faster than a rattle."
As soon as she finished speaking, Chuntao rushed in with a lunch box, her hair damp with sweat. "Miss! Liu bribed the jailer and wants to steal and destroy the account books that were used to withhold military pay!"
Shen Weiwan raised an eyebrow: "Oh? Where did she get the money to bribe people?"
"It's... it's the money that Shen Ruorou secretly hid." Chun Tao panted, "They also wanted to contact the bandits outside the city to hijack the prison van and rescue Liu!"
The old housekeeper was so shocked that he dropped the account book on the ground: "Treachery! This is a capital crime!"
"Behead?" Chen Weiwan squatted down and pinched a corner of the account book with a piece of silk. "They owe me more than just a head." Her fingertips traced the record of "giving 500 taels of silver to Li Xiu" in the account book, and a cold glint flashed in her eyes. "Uncle Wang, put the evidence of Liu's collusion with Li Xiu in a separate pile, and then find the testimony of her hiring someone to assassinate my wet nurse."
The old housekeeper shuddered: "Miss, the case of the wet nurse..."
"When my mother died, the wet nurse 'slipped' and fell into the lotus pond. Do you really think I forgot?" Shen Weiwan stood up, her skirt sweeping across the account books on the floor. "Put all this evidence into the gilded box used for the wedding. The Seventh Prince will send a carriage to pick it up later."
Chun Tao blinked and said, "Miss, isn't it unlucky to put evidence in a wedding box?"
"Auspicious?" Shen Weiwan tilted her head and smiled, her eyes shining like a cat stealing fish. "It will be auspicious when the Liu family kneels on the execution ground and drinks the beheading wine."
Meanwhile, deep inside the prison, Liu was using a hairpin to pry at a crack in the wall. A steamed bun thrown in by the jailer rolled to her feet, and she crushed it, revealing the wax pellet hidden inside.
"Mother, is the account book destroyed?" Shen Ruorou's crooked handwriting was inside the wax ball. "My daughter is almost choking to death on cabbage in Jingxin Temple! Please find a way out quickly!"
Liu bit her fingertip and wrote on the back of the wax pill with blood: "Fool! That little bitch Shen Weiwan has already sealed the warehouse! Quickly find a way to contact the 'Black Wind Village' in the west of the city and tell them to give them 30% of the land in the general's mansion after the matter is completed!"
She had just stuffed the wax ball into the steamed bread when the prison door clanged open. Chun Tao came in with two guards, carrying an oil-paper bag.
"Madam Liu, my young lady is afraid that you will become thinner due to hunger in prison, so she specially asked the kitchen to make your favorite braised pork elbow." Chuntao opened the oil paper with a smile, and the aroma of rich oil and red sauce filled the cell.
Liu retreated cautiously: "What tricks does Shen Weiwan want to play again?"
"A trick?" Chuntao picked up a piece of pork elbow and suddenly stuffed it into Liu's mouth. "It's just that since you're about to leave, I'm treating you to a last-minute meal."
Liu grimaced from the burn, and suddenly felt something stuck in her throat. She scratched her throat in fear, but swallowed the wax pill. Chuntao took out a handkerchief to wipe her hands, smiling like a little fox: "Auntie, eat slowly. Our young lady is waiting to see you off at the mansion."
As the imperial guards dragged the coughing Liu away to examine her wounds, Chuntao picked up a broken piece of steamed bread from the ground and pulled out half a wax pill that hadn't been hidden. She glanced at it in the sunlight, her smile growing even wider. "Miss, Liu is indeed planning a prison break."
Chen Weiwan was directing servants to pack boxes in the front yard. Without even looking up, she said, "Send the people from Black Wind Village. It's a great gift for the Shuntian Prefecture Governor." She pointed to the eight gilded boxes in front of her, each with a wax seal. "Load these onto the Seventh Prince's carriage. Remember, avoid West Street on the way. That's where Liu's 'surprise' is buried."
The old housekeeper looked at the golden lacquer "囍" character on the box and couldn't help sighing: "Miss, the box your biological mother gave you as a dowry is now filled with these filthy things..."
"It's okay." Shen Weiwan patted his shoulder, "When Liu is executed, I will use the corrupt official's dog head to consecrate the box. It will be more auspicious than anything else."
When the carriage pulled into the Shuntian government office, the prefect was sighing over a pile of files. Hearing that the seventh prince's carriage was coming, he even put on his official boots backwards and ran out to greet him.
"Your humble servant greets His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince..." He bowed to the empty carriage. It was not until Chuntao lifted the curtain that he discovered there were only eight boxes inside.
Shen Weiwan came out from the tea stall next to her, holding a bowl of jelly in her hand: "Sir, don't rush to pay your respects. First, take a look at the 'gift' I brought you."
The prefect wiped his sweat as he opened the box. He collapsed to the ground the moment he saw the first account book. "This... is this the general's household account book? How dare Liu embezzle 8,000 taels of military pay?"
"Eight thousand taels?" Shen Weiwan poked the jelly with a bamboo stick. "My lord, please take a closer look at the third page. She sold the night-shining pearls that were tributed from the Western Regions as glass balls. That's what you call a big spender."
As he was speaking, a bailiff suddenly rushed in: "Sir! A group of people from the Black Wind Stronghold west of the city are breaking into the streets with weapons, saying they want to rob...rob some important prisoner!"
The prefect was so frightened that he threw the account book to the ground and said, "This is a rebellion! Send in the constables!"
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