Chapter 57 Chapter 57 Li Daoxuan holds the sword...
Li Daoxuan's sword-holding hand trembled, and he almost dropped the sword. He gritted his teeth and glared at Chen Qing, motioning her to pass.
Unexpectedly, Chen Qing, who was extremely addicted to acting, tilted his head and blinked innocently.
Li Daoxuan resisted the urge to throw her away, smiled and nodded, almost gritting his teeth as he said, "Okay, I'll do as you say—"
He leaned close to Shen Qing's ear and whispered, "Shen Youan, do you know that when a man acts like a spoiled child, it really makes this king feel sick."
His expression froze, having momentarily forgotten that he was a man.
Li Daoxuan patted her hands, then slowly pulled her hands away.
To outsiders, it looked like the two of them were whispering to each other intimately, saying something that seemed like they were flirting.
The head maid's mother saw this and was filled with anger and sorrow. She thought that the woman disguised as a man was the fourth prince's concubine, and that the concubine had set her eyes on Yuanchun Tower and wanted to use the imperial power to take away her years of hard work.
Her life was already under threat, and she, who valued money more than anything else, was about to have her "life" taken away. Under the multiple stimulations, she finally broke down and cried.
Chen Qing was surprised and said, "Oh, you're crying already? You haven't even told me who Ah Chou is in Ah Si Po's diary."
"How about this? I'll give you a chance. Tell me about that ugly woman's origins and how she died. I'll spare your life for now. I won't take Yuanchun Tower anymore, and I won't pursue the South Sea Pearl either."
The head mother was in a daze and couldn't tell for a moment whether Chen Qing came for Achou's case, or the other party just accidentally used Achou as an excuse to covet her Yuanchunlou.
Seeing this, Chen Qing leaned back in her chair leisurely, admiring her own white jade fingers. Li Daoxuan couldn't help but follow her gaze to her hands.
Her hands were small, but they felt incredibly soft. Her nails were neatly trimmed, the nail beds a healthy pale pink, with crescents at the base...
Li Daoxuan's eyes froze for a moment, then he looked away without making a sound.
Shen Qing was completely oblivious to all this, only busy playing with her hands. After a while, she said, "Your Highness, why don't you just kill this fake mother? Why are you still wasting time talking?" Her eyes curved, her brows filled with joy, "This is really great! This Yuanchun Tower will soon be mine!"
After he finished speaking, he saw that the lawless man had really listened to the words of the concubine and walked towards him with a sword in hand.
He walked slowly, and every step seemed to be stepping on his heart. The mother at the head of the group had her heart pounding, and she looked up at Li Daoxuan with tears in her eyes.
The young man looked like an evil ghost crawling out of Shura Prison, holding a life-snatching iron weapon, his brows frozen, and his aura extremely low. She only needed to raise her eyes slightly, and the evil spirit that was about to overflow from his eyes was enough to stop her in her tracks.
This is not the look a normal person should have. It is clearly the look someone who has actually seen blood, killed people, and been through hell would have.
The last time the chief's mother had seen that look was when she passed by Duliushu on her way to Xiguan. She had happened upon an execution. Several of the chief criminals were bandit leaders known for their murderous tendencies. The imperial court had to deploy nearly 3,000 troops to wipe out their lair of dozens of men.
Each of the leading bandits had blood on their hands, having killed countless people. Though bound and shackled, they showed no fear at all. A single glance from them was enough to scare ordinary civilians into submission by the murderous intent radiating from them. They were the legendary cold-faced Shuras, unmoved by the sheer volume of murder.
After they were beheaded, the imperial court sent a high monk from Dongshan Temple to stay at the scene and chant sutras for a full 49 days, just to prevent the resentment of these people from lingering and turning into evil spirits and demons to harm the world.
The head of the group's mother knew that he was serious, and her defenses were completely broken. She didn't even dare to cry.
"I will confess, I will confess, Your Highness, please let me live! I will confess everything!"
Chen Qing and Li Daoxuan looked at each other, their eyes full of pride.
Humph, I knew my method worked. The method of hitting the snake at its weakest point really works, Chen Qing thought.
The mother of the head of the group was afraid of death and loved money like her life. After being stimulated by Chen Qing and Li Daoxuan, her mind was already in a trance. In this way, it was much easier to pry open her mouth.
Li Daoxuan seemed to understand her thoughts and sneered, but he had to admit defeat.
She is very good at winning people's hearts.
Liu Siyuan, who was brought to the door by the young guard, paused and suddenly heard the sound of the head of the guild's mother crying loudly in the lobby. His face darkened and he was about to go in, but was stopped by the guard.
The young guard smiled gently and said, "His Highness is still interrogating the important criminal. Liu Siqing, please stay for now."
Liu Siyuan said tepidly, "Excuse me, Imperial Guards, there is no case at the moment. I wonder why Your Highness is interrogating the headmaster's mother?"
"You will know it soon, my Lord."
Liu Siyuan was forced to stop and could only listen to the noise on the other side like an ant on a hot pan. Gradually, his back was covered with cold sweat.
Until I heard the head mother yell, "I'll tell you everything!"
Liu Siyuan finally lost his patience and moved quickly.
Unexpectedly, the next moment the guard covered his mouth and restrained him in place, making him unable to move.
Liu Siyuan widened his eyes.
The guard smiled apologetically, but his tone was firm: "Thank you, Liu Siqing. You can only enter after His Highness has finished interrogating the prisoner."
Liu Siyuan stared at the lobby.
"A Chou, A Chou was a handy girl in the building. One day, she died inexplicably. I thought it was bad luck, so I threw her into the pond in the backyard to feed the fish!"
When she heard her throw Ah Chou's body into the pond, Shen Qing uttered two words lightly: "Lie."
If the corpse is really gone, then where did the funeral-happy demon come from?
Li Daoxuan pointed his sword at her and said, "If her death was so simple, why would everyone in your building keep their mouths shut when talking about her?"
As soon as he finished speaking, another person came in, holding a thick booklet in his hand.
Li Daoxuan took the booklet and glanced at it briefly. Seeing this, Chen Qing also leaned over to take a look. After reading it, he sighed sincerely: "He is really rich."
"But what do you want to do with their account books?" Chen Qing thought about it carefully. It seemed that the Yuanchunlou account books had nothing to do with Achou's case.
Li Daoxuan said, "It's a private matter." He looked carefully at the account book. If it weren't for the fact that Ah Chou's matter connected the Dali Temple and Yuanchunlou, Li Daoxuan would not have realized that the owner of Yuanchunlou was actually a woman with no social status or background.
Thinking of the grandeur of Yuanchun Tower standing for many years, he suddenly wanted to take a look at the account books of Yuanchun Tower.
The account book brought by the guards recorded the business situation of Yuanchunlou over the years. The income from one day alone was equivalent to the expenses of an ordinary family for several lifetimes.
Chen Qing had never understood how to make a living by keeping accounts, so he couldn't see any tricks.
After seeing this, Li Daoxuan's eyes were as sharp as a torch, and the look in his eyes when he glanced at the mother of the leader of the group was no longer as simple as before.
He calmly closed the account book, handed it to his subordinate, and instructed, "Send it to this palace and keep it under good care."
The subordinate took the account book and whispered in Li Daoxuan's ear, "The person guarding the account book quickly tore off two pages and ate them when we arrived, then jumped out the window and escaped."
"By the time I and others caught up with him, he was already dead."
Li Daoxuan's eyes darkened. "If he's dead, just cut open his stomach. Do you still need me to teach you?"
The subordinate replied, "Of course not. I dispatched personnel to dissect the body as quickly as possible, but... someone had already cut open his stomach and removed the remaining pages before us."
Li Daoxuan was silent for a while, then said, "I understand. There's no need to make this public."
The little episode passed quickly, and Li Daoxuan smelled a different scent from it.
Seeing Shen Qing’s puzzled expression, he said, “The boss of Yuanchunlou is just an unarmed fake mother.”
A word can wake a person up from his dream.
Yuanchunlou is such a popular place that it's no wonder it attracts covetous attention. Yet, for so many years, it has not only remained peaceful, but has actually seen its business flourish. It's impossible for the fake mother to have such power to keep Yuanchunlou standing in Chang'an without someone protecting her.
Chen Qing and Li Daoxuan both thought of the diary of Grandma Si.
Originally, Grandma Si was illiterate. Whether it was the neighbors or the people in the building, when they mentioned Grandma Si, they all said that she was crazy and how could she know how to read.
Combined with the resentful handwriting on the first page of the diary, which was clearly different from the handwriting on the following pages, they quickly concluded that Ah Si Pozi was originally illiterate, but when Ah Chou came to Yuanchunlou, he taught her how to read and write. However, Ah Si Pozi never revealed her literacy in front of others, so everyone naturally assumed she was illiterate.
Those who could read and write in the current dynasty must have come from wealthy families. Most people could not afford to educate their children. The fact that Ah Chou could read and write showed that his family conditions were not bad before.
This makes Liu Wanxiu's identity as "sister" even more suspicious.
Chen Qing asked, "Could it be that this fake mother and Liu Siyuan have something going on?"
She remembered that Liu's mother had previously insisted that she didn't know Liu Wanxiu had a sister, and she guessed that this Ah Chou was at least related to Liu Siyuan, and was even very likely Liu Siyuan's illegitimate daughter.
Otherwise, with Ah Chou's dazzling appearance, she would have been taken away by her shrewd fake mother to entertain customers, instead of being hidden in the back garden of Yuanchun Tower, doing a small errand, and spending all day with an insane person.
Shen Qing leaned close to Li Daoxuan's ear and whispered, "Could it be that this Ah Chou is really Liu Siyuan's illegitimate daughter, and in order to let her fake mother take care of her, Liu Siyuan has been protecting Yuanchun Tower all these years?"
What Chen Qing could think of, Li Daoxuan could naturally think of as well.
He overturned Chen Qing's speculation without a second thought: "If she is an illegitimate daughter, there are plenty of opportunities to bring her back home without anyone noticing. At the very least, buying her a house to raise her is not a problem. Why send her to a brothel?"
"Also, the matter of Yuanchunlou's account books is my personal affair. The relationships involved are complicated, and what you said is far from the truth. Don't worry about it, and don't make random guesses."
Chen Qing choked: "Oh." She turned to think about Ah Chou.
There is Achou, who can read and write, who has a striking appearance but is ignored by her shrewd and greedy fake mother and is spared the fate of entertaining guests, and there is also Liu Wanxiu, who is "completely unaware" of the Liu Siqing and his wife but calls her "sister" affectionately.
The clues are in a mess, but they all point to Liu Siyuan and his wife. The mystery of the happy funeral monster's life experience is only one step away from being revealed, but there is a lack of a thread that can connect all the clues.
What on earth is…
When it comes to the cause of Achou's death, Chen Qing doesn't care that much. She wants to know who Achou is and whether she is Liu Siyuan's daughter?
Turning to look at Li Daoxuan, he looked thoughtful with a frown on his face, and it was clear that he was also confused by all this.
Suddenly, seeing the headmaster's mother pretending to be dead, Chen Qing then remembered that the questions they asked at first were: Ah Chou's origin and life experience, and secondly, the cause of her death.
However, the answer from the head mother seemed to be meaningful, but in fact it was all nonsense that avoided the main point.
Ah Chou was indeed dead, but his death was inexplicable, and his body was thrown into the Huachun Pond. This statement was as good as saying nothing.
Chen Qing immediately realized that she had been fooled by this fake mother. She was really a cunning old fox. She was afraid that her previous tearful and frightened expression was also mixed with some truth and falsehood.
She said, "What an old fox."
Li Daoxuan never liked to embarrass himself. Seeing that he could not get any words out of his fake mother, he waved his hand and ordered people to drag the mother of the head of the group away and lock her up.
You know, this mother who heads the group is most likely one of the baits used to lure the Happy Funeral Demon here.
Even when the head of the group's mother was being dragged out, she was still crying out that it was unfair. Chen Qing rolled her eyes at her and said, "Whether it's unfair or not, we'll know when that ugly guy comes back."
The mother of the leader of the group was like a chicken with its neck strangled. She stared with her eyes wide open and made intermittent "ho ho" sounds in her throat.
How do the dead come back?
She looked at the gloating look in Chen Qing's eyes, and an answer vaguely emerged in her mind.
Of course, they will come back as evil spirits or monsters.
This time, the mother at the head of the group was truly lying in a heap as she was dragged away.
After seeing the head of the group's mother being dragged away, Liu Siyuan pretended to be calm, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and was led into the lobby by the guard.
At that time, Chen Qing took a piece of paper and picked up a brush to draw on the paper carefully. He wrote A Chou on the left, Xisang Yao on the right, and then Yuanchunlou and Liu Wanxiu.
She paused halfway through writing because there was only one thread missing to connect the clues together. She was biting the tip of the pen and thinking.
However, he was thinking too deeply, and a drop of ink dripped down the tip of the brush, blurring the three words "喜丧妖".
Li Daoxuan was about to pull out the paper when he saw it, but he held down his restless hand and asked, "What are you doing?"
"The paper is dirty, why not just change it?"
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