Chapter 113 The Roster Was Stolen
Cai Meng is in charge of Su Qianqian's "Cuiyinglou". He is busy every day, fearing that there will be any omissions. After all, those who come here to buy vegetables and fruits are all powerful people in Xijing City.
Su Qianqian had instructed that the store's membership list must be carefully kept, as this list contained important information about the backyard of Xijing's wealthy and powerful. It was like a net that quietly spread out and infiltrated hard-to-reach places.
But the list was inexplicably lost.
Cai Meng rushed to the Marquis' Mansion with sweat all over his forehead to report the news. It was already noon. He searched the back hall where the list of names was kept before he had to report to Su Qianqian.
Su Qianqian knew that this matter was of great importance. If the list was used by someone with ulterior motives, there would be endless trouble.
She did not hide anything and told the truth to Madam Qin and Qin Hanzhang, and then Qin Hanzhang rushed to Cuiying Tower with her.
Cuiying Building also has three floors, connected to a backyard. The backyard consists of east and west wing rooms and three upper rooms, with a small patio in the middle.
Selected vegetables and fruits are packaged in the east wing, the west wing is used as a warehouse, and in the upper wing, except for one room for accommodation for the shop assistants, the other two rooms are the accounting office and Cai Meng's clerk room, which is also the manager's office.
The list was kept in the record room. To get the list, three locks had to be opened. At this time, all the locks were intact on the table. Cai Meng stood aside, sweating and worried.
"Has any stranger entered the backyard today?" Su Qianqian observed as she walked in the back hall.
"Except the waiters, no one is allowed to enter the backyard. Normally, no one is allowed to enter. I have asked the waiters, and they said that no one enters the backyard except to pick up goods." Although Cai Meng was worried about the sudden change, he remained calm and replied cautiously.
"Did anything unusual happen today?" Su Qianqian asked with a frown, looking at the slight oily sheen on the lock.
"Today...nothing unusual happened." Cai Meng lowered his head.
Su Zi, who came with Su Qianqian, twisted her handkerchief nervously. She knew her second brother's temper. He must have been angry with his parents or his eldest brother again and was unwilling to speak.
[Today, Cai Yong came to the store to look for Cai Meng, saying that his parents were worried about him and asked him to go back when he had time. When he was about to enter the backyard, he was stopped by Cai Meng, who scolded him for being heartless and disrespectful to his elder brother. 】
The system tells what happened before.
When Cai Meng heard this, his face turned even paler.
"Second brother, have you seen eldest brother today? Don't hide it. Report everything to Madam. Don't delay important matters." Su Zi was anxious and broke the rules to remind her brother.
"I did see my eldest brother today, but he didn't go into the backyard and couldn't have touched the key, so I didn't report it."
Cai Meng hurried to explain.
"There are some oil stains on the lock. Did you touch anything greasy today?" Su Qianqian asked.
"I dare not. There are rules in the store. To prevent greasy things from contaminating fruits and vegetables, the first thing everyone does when entering the store is to wash their hands and change clothes. How could I knowingly break the rules?"
Cai Meng was surprised and went to check the lock, and sure enough, there was a little oil on the keyhole.
"That's it. Someone must have used a greased key to open the lock to prevent it from being opened, which left the grease stain."
Su Qianqian narrowed her eyes and thought, why does a key need to be greased to be safe? This key must be made roughly, but no matter how rough it is, it must have a mold. Where does the mold come from?
"Have you always carried your keys with you? Have you left the store in the past few days?" Su Qianqian asked again.
"I always carry it with me, even when I sleep. I've been in the store these past few days...except the day before yesterday when my mother got sick and sent me a message asking me to buy a smoked chicken. When I got back, it was curfew and I didn't come back until almost dawn."
Cai Meng recalled what happened the day before. That night, his mother was especially gentle and kind to him because he bought smoked chicken. She even took out the old wine that she usually didn't want to drink and made an exception to give him two cups.
[It happened that night. Cai Meng's mother asked Cai Meng to drink, and took out the key while he was asleep. She carved a clay mold and gave it to Cai Yong. The mother and son believed that Cai Meng must have made a lot of money and it was impossible that he only gave that little to the family, so they went to the shop to find it.
Today, Cai Yong got the cast key and first inquired about the situation in the shop. When Cai Meng came to deliver the goods, he came in and told the clerk that the weather was cold and sent a quilt to Cai Meng.
The waiter was busy and knew that it was Cai Meng's biological brother, so he asked him to take him to the backyard. He saw that there was only a locked door there, so he used a greased key to unlock it.
He went in and opened the lock on the last box, and saw only a booklet and no gold or silver. He took it away in a rage and wanted to teach Cai Meng a lesson. 】
The system found clues and followed them.
Cai Meng clenched his hands into fists and his eyes gradually turned red.
Su Qianqian breathed a sigh of relief. Now all she had to do was find Cai Yong as soon as possible and get the list back. As for what Cai Yong did with it, it didn't matter.
Cai Meng regained some of his senses, pretended to remember something, called the waiter to ask, and sure enough, Cai Yong had come in to deliver the quilt.
"Madam, my parents dote on my eldest brother, so maybe he did something wrong. Please let my second brother go home quickly to take a look. If they don't know the consequences and destroy the list..."
Su Zi's voice was choked with sobs.
"Why don't we go together to avoid any accidents?" Qin Hanzhang saw that Su Qianqian attached great importance to this list, so he asked Su Qianqian what she thought.
"That's exactly what I meant." Su Qianqian also believed that if things were not implemented, they would not be considered the final result.
When the group hurried to Cai Meng's parents' home, the lights were already on.
In the small courtyard, several mud houses were lit with warm red lights. From the houses came the sound of children laughing, women scolding, and Cai Mengniang praising her son with an old but happy voice: "My son is really capable..."
Cai Meng paused for a moment. He seemed to be separated from the people in the room by a barrier studded with thorns. Every time he tried to get closer, he would be covered in bruises.
Su Qianqian and Qin Hanzhang sat in the car and watched Cai Meng and Su Zi walk into the room.
The warmth that had been there before disappeared in an instant, and Cai Meng's mother cursed Cai Meng loudly: "You unlucky thing who killed your father and mother, how dare you come and wrongly accuse your brother for anything? Get out now!"
Su Zi cried, "Mom, please wake up. My elder brother has done something that cost him his life. Do you still want to protect him?"
"Tsk! You have climbed up the social ladder and have forgotten the humbleness of your parents and brothers! Did you see that he has won the favor of the Marquis's wife and want to gang up on your elder brother? I am not dead yet, and I will not tolerate your arrogance!"
Cai Mengniang's scolding attracted the neighbors to secretly peek out to listen to the fun, but when they saw the marquis's luxurious carriage and silent guards, they quickly retreated.
"Bring the person out." Qin Hanzhang's eyes showed impatience and he ordered in a deep voice.
Soon Cai Yong was dragged out by the panicked black-clad guards, followed by Cai Mengniang, who was desperately pulling her son, crying and begging for mercy. When she saw the marquis's carriage, she suddenly calmed down and knelt on the ground trembling.
Cai Meng and Su Zi followed behind, as well as the timid old man Cai.
"Where is the thing?" Qin Hanzhang's voice was not loud, but it seemed as if a thousand-pound force was pressing down on every word. Cai Yong did not dare to delay or quibble: "It was... bought by someone!"
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