Chapter 270 There must be something fishy going on!
After Jin Zhi finished speaking, he stopped talking, and Zhou Changqing also tactfully shut his mouth.
The two sat opposite each other, and for a moment, the room was so quiet that the only sound was each other's breathing.
Outside Zhou's house, the servants trotted and soon arrived at a nearby tea shop.
"Give me a cup of the best tea you have here."
The waiter quickly responded, "Sir, this best tea is not outside. You have to go in and get it from us."
"Okay." The servant responded, then went behind the curtain and quickly disappeared.
A soldier quietly appeared from the side, glanced at the tea shop's wall, then jumped and jumped lightly onto the willow tree next to it.
In the tea shop's warehouse, the waiter handed a cake of tea to the servant, "This is the best tea you wanted, five hundred taels of silver."
"I'll give you some silver. If the tea isn't good, I'll come back and settle the score with you."
"Sir, please rest assured, the quality of this tea is absolutely fine!"
The servant did not delay any longer and rushed back to Zhou's house as quickly as possible with the tea, and then served the freshly brewed tea.
Jin Zhi took a sip and nodded. The tea tasted much better this time.
Zhou Changqing motioned him to go out first and looked at Jin Zhi, "Master Jin, when will this investigation end?"
"I don't know. The emperor said that we must keep investigating until we find that person."
Just like this, two hours passed.
The entire Zhou mansion was turned upside down, and all the servants and guards were carefully checked.
However, the person was not found.
Jin Zhi then stood up and said, "Master Zhou, we will take our leave now."
Zhou Changqing personally escorted Jin Zhi to the door, with a smile on his face, "Master Jin, take care. If you need any help in the future, just let me know!"
As soon as Jin Zhi left, Zhou Changqing quickly ordered the door to be closed, and then anxiously found the servant who went out to buy tea, "Has the message been delivered?"
"It has been delivered. Master, you can rest assured. I guarantee that no one will notice." The servant patted his chest and vowed.
"That's good. This Jin Zhi came too suddenly and caught me off guard!" Zhou Changqing frowned, feeling vaguely uneasy.
But now that things have come to this, he can only suppress his emotions and act according to circumstances.
After a while, a guard came in and reported, "Master, Lord Jin has taken people to search another house. By the way, the entire Daxing Street has been surrounded by them, and they have ordered that no one is allowed to move around freely. If there is anything, you must first inform Lord Jin and let his men do it for you."
Fortunately, he just spread the news, otherwise it would be too late!
Zhou Changqing secretly rejoiced, flicked his sleeves, and strode into the inner room.
He came to the ancestral hall and slowly pushed open the heavy door.
Zhou Changqing knelt on the cushion, looked devoutly at the rows of neatly arranged tablets, and kowtowed deeply.
"Ancestors, please protect the Zhou family and keep them safe!"
"My Zhou family made great efforts to help the emperor ascend the throne. But after the success, not only did he not give the Zhou family the credit we deserved, but he suppressed us everywhere."
A trace of resentment flashed in Zhou Changqing's eyes. "Everything I do is for the future of the Zhou family! If this continues, the Zhou family will be completely ruined. Ancestors, please bless the Zhou family and pray that this plan will succeed!"
After saying that, he kowtowed several times in succession.
…
Outside Zhou Mansion.
Jin Zhi called a soldier over and asked, "Did you find anything unusual?"
The soldier shook his head and answered truthfully, "No, General, they are really just trading tea."
"Tell me in detail what happened, don't leave out any details."
Jin Zhi simply didn't believe that things were so simple.
He came to investigate under the emperor's order. How could Zhou Changqing, as a senior official in the court, be so ignorant of the rules that he even sent his servants out to buy tea during the search?
There must be something fishy going on here!
Furthermore, how could the Zhou family have only moldy tea leaves? This was probably an elaborate scheme from the very beginning, just to find an excuse for the servants to go out and pass on the message.
Upon hearing this, the soldier recounted in detail what he had seen and heard, even repeating the conversation between the servant and the waiter without any error.
Jin Zhi suddenly interrupted him, "Wait, you mean, from beginning to end, only the waiter and the owner of the tea shop didn't show up?"
"Yes, I didn't see the shopkeeper."
"Then the five hundred taels of silver should be given directly to the waiter?"
"That's right..." The soldier looked confused and asked, "General, is there any problem with this?"
This is a big problem!
Five hundred taels of silver is not a small amount of money. How could he not consult the shopkeeper for such a large transaction?
The owner of that tea shop lived in the back, which was connected to the tea shop, so there was no possibility that the owner was away.
What’s more, the waiter actually dared to accept such a large amount of silver bill directly, which is too abnormal!
It is very likely that this is not an ordinary silver note at all, but contains important information!
"You stay here and keep an eye on it!" Jin Zhi gave the order decisively and immediately went to the tea shop in person!
The tea shop was still open as usual, the aroma of tea filled the air, but there were very few customers.
The waiter stood at the door. When he saw someone coming, he immediately smiled and greeted him warmly, "Sir, what kind of tea would you like to buy?"
When he saw clearly that the person coming was Jin Zhi, the smile on his face froze instantly. He bowed with fear and trepidation, his voice trembling, "Jin... Lord Jin, I'm honored to meet you!" ”
"No need to be so polite. Are the Zhou family's servants here to buy tea today?"
The waiter did not dare to hide anything and quickly replied, "Yes, sir. He bought the best cake of tea in our store."
"How much silver did it cost?"
"Five... five hundred taels."
"Did you collect the money?" Jin Zhi's tone remained calm, but the invisible sense of oppression was like a mountain, making it difficult for the waiter to breathe.
The waiter felt the sharp eagle-like gaze and couldn't help trembling. He stammered, "Yes, Master Jin, I accepted it. I checked it carefully, and there is no problem with the banknote..."
"Why can you accept so much money for the shopkeeper?"
The waiter's forehead was covered with beads of sweat. "I... I have been an orphan since I was young. Thanks to the shopkeeper's taking me in, I can have food to eat. The shopkeeper trusts me, so he lets me collect the money. However, I have already given the banknote to the shopkeeper."
Jin Zhi walked straight to the backyard.
The shopkeeper was lying on the bed, looking pale and weak.
He was infected with the epidemic, and although he took medicine, his body has not fully recovered.
After hearing Jin Zhi's explanation of his purpose, the shopkeeper did not dare to neglect him. He hurriedly took out the five hundred taels of silver note from his pocket and handed it to Jin Zhi with both hands, "Master Jin, this is the silver note."
Jin Zhi took the banknote and looked through it carefully, but found nothing unusual.
Moreover, the silver note exuded a faint fragrance, a unique fragrance that Jin Zhi was very familiar with. It was indeed the same fragrance that the Zhou family used.
The spices used by the Zhou family are extremely precious and come from the south of the Yangtze River. Ordinary people simply cannot afford them.
The fragrance of the silver note has completely permeated into my body, and it has obviously been there for a long time.
Judging from the current situation, there is nothing wrong with the silver note, and there is no hidden information on it.
Could it be that I really guessed wrong?
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