He Youyou suddenly realized that she was indeed not very wary of Zhao Changqing, this paper tiger.
But in front of Cheng Tingrui, she subconsciously turned up her IQ to the maximum.
Because we are of the same kind, we understand each other, we are wary of each other, and we always keep something to ourselves.
It's not because Cheng Tingrui is a bad person, but rather...
The person who knows you best knows how to deliver the fatal blow.
Maintaining vigilance towards her peers is a habit she has cultivated over the years.
Even business partners won't work; there are plenty of cases where business partners turn against each other.
Moreover, Cheng Tingrui is someone who can outwit thousands of people in his family.
If you said he had eight hundred schemes in his mind, He Youyou wouldn't believe it.
There are at least eight thousand.
Finally, He Youyou concluded to Butler Qian, "If we're talking about people who are easier to get along with, then let's go with Zhao Changqing. He's easier to fool."
Butler Qian's mind raced for a moment: "You mean... Young Master Zhao is rather... foolish?"
Butler Qian: Master, I'm sorry.
He Youyou: "Are you being polite? How can you talk to a guest like that? You can't say someone is stupid, you can only say they're not very clever."
Manager Qian: So that means you're brainless?
Cough, it means the same thing.
A few days after the holiday, He Youyou got busy.
She locked herself in her room and organized the survey data.
All the information given by Aunt Guo, as well as what Han Wenzheng did, were compiled into tables, and then the data and information inside were analyzed.
She refused to see any visitors and also forbade anyone from coming up to the corner tower to disturb her.
After several busy days, I finally finished organizing all the materials.
While analyzing the data, she noticed a detail.
In Han Zheng's survey, the color that girls liked the most was "pale yellow," but on that day, the most popular color among the girls was madder red.
She then compared the data with Aunt Guo's investigation records. Among all the cloth shops that had been investigated in Jizhou City, the fabrics included gamboge, ginger yellow, ivory yellow, and gardenia yellow, but none of them contained this pale goose yellow.
Everyone loves pale yellow, yet you can't find a single one in the whole city.
That's very strange.
For any local oddities, you should ask the local people.
He Youyou immediately sent someone to find the intelligence expert, Aunt Guo.
Knowing that she could make money by following He Youyou, Aunt Guo dropped what she was doing and immediately came over.
She bowed to He Youyou with a smug look on her face: "Greetings, Madam. May I ask what brings you here today?"
Without wasting words, He Youyou went straight to the point: "Aunt Guo, I asked you to come here today because I have something to ask you. If the information you provide is useful, I will certainly not treat you unfairly."
"Please ask me whatever you wish, my wife will answer all your questions."
Do you know where in Jizhou you can find pale yellow cloth?
Aunt Guo said "Oh" and replied, "Pale yellow, I know that. It's a fabric dyed with a unique dye from the Shen family dye house in the south of the city."
"Why can't we find this color of fabric on the market?"
"Madam, you may not know this, but the Shen family dye shop was originally supported by the elderly Shen couple. They only had one daughter, who married long ago. A few years ago, the elderly couple passed away one after another, and the dye shop was left unattended and abandoned. It hasn't produced any cloth for many years."
"Do they still have their dye recipe?"
"The prescription should be in the hands of his married daughter."
At this point, Aunt Guo couldn't help but sigh.
"Alas, this girl is pitiful. Not long after she got married, her husband fell seriously ill. To pay for his treatment, they sold off all their possessions, leaving them penniless. If you ask me, this girl is just not smart enough. Back then, the philanthropist Master Ma was so determined to marry her that he waited outside her house for half a month, but she refused and insisted on marrying a poor scholar. Now look what's happened; she not only lost her dowry but also incurred a mountain of debt."
What?
He Youyou was stunned. It was Xiaoyu, the one who had made Ma Xiuyuan lose his mind?!
She asked calmly, "I heard that this young lady borrowed money and took her husband to the capital to see a doctor. Has the illness been cured?"
"Alas! My husband's illness has been cured, but... we never expected this!"
Grandma Guo slapped her thigh excitedly.
He Youyou perked up her ears: "Can't think of anything?"
"That scholar was a scoundrel. After spending money on medical treatment, he came back and interrogated her about where all that money came from. The girl didn't hide it and said she borrowed it from Master Ma. The scholar went crazy and insisted that his wife had an affair with Master Ma, otherwise Master Ma wouldn't have lent her so much money for no reason."
"And then what?"
"Later, I heard that in a fit of anger, he wrote a letter of divorce. Someone saw that the girl ran away from her husband's house crying, probably going back to her parents' home. Poor thing, so pitiful. She has no one from her parents' home anymore, and she'll be all alone and helpless from now on. What will she do then..."
He Youyou understood.
She sent Aunt Guo to Steward Qian's place to collect a reward of one tael of silver.
Aunt Guo left after expressing her gratitude profusely, promising to come and report to He Youyou if there were any further developments in the matter.
He Youyou secretly smiled.
Hmm, the after-sales service from this lady is pretty good.
After seeing Aunt Guo off, He Youyou immediately sent someone to deliver a message to Ma Xiuyuan, asking him to come over, meet, and have a chat.
It wasn't because He Youyou was arrogant and didn't take the initiative to visit Ma Xiuyuan, but insisted that others come to see her.
The main thing is, our Master Ma... he's a street urchin.
Why don't you just stay quietly in the mansion?
That's impossible.
Every day, they would either go to brothels to drink and have fun, or attend literary gatherings among scholars, either drinking or listening to music.
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