Chapter 34 One wave subsides only for another to rise. Miss Cui, Ru Niang has let you down...
Upon hearing that it was Ru Niang, the servants of the Cui household hurriedly opened the door to check, only to find a woman covered in filth. They instinctively felt disgusted and wanted to drive her away.
"Go away, go away, where did this beggar come from?"
Ru Niang grabbed him and hurriedly explained, "Young man, it really is Ru Niang. I have something important to tell Miss Cui. If I delay Miss Cui's important matter, I will inevitably be scolded. Why don't you go and inform Miss Cui? I can wait here."
Ru Niang spoke earnestly, trying her best to persuade the gatekeeper.
As she spoke, she looked back; she was genuinely afraid.
For the past two weeks, she has been living a life worse than death, constantly being hunted down, and only by hiding and running away has she managed to escape.
After escaping that day, she left the capital and stayed in the suburbs. Last night, she managed to sneak back into the capital by hiding in a beggar's den. Today, she finally managed to shake off her pursuers before daring to come to the Cui residence to find Cui Fuyu.
The other party also remembered that half a month ago, the young lady's head maid, Sister Zhu Jin, had come to instruct her to keep a close eye out for any woman named Ru Niang who came looking for the young lady, and to inform the young lady immediately if she did.
Thinking of this, he shuddered. He had almost ruined the young lady's plans. He smiled and invited Ru Niang into the mansion to wait.
He immediately went to Yutang Courtyard and told her that someone claiming to be Ru Niang had come looking for the young lady that morning.
Juning gave him a piece of silver: "Thank you for your hard work. You did a good job keeping the person here. I'll go and inform them now."
He beamed with joy upon receiving the reward, saying, "Okay, I'll make sure you don't worry, sister."
Juning nodded in satisfaction before turning and heading into the inner room.
Inside the house, Cui Fuyu, who was recuperating, was frowning as she slowly drank her bitter medicine.
Chi Yanzhou held a small cup of candied fruit in his hand and gently coaxed her to take her medicine.
Cui Fuyu noticed Juning coming in. "What's wrong? You're so agitated. This isn't like you."
Cui Fuyu teased Juning and smiled.
Juning glanced at Chi Yanzhou and whispered, "Ru Niang requests an audience."
Upon hearing this, Cui Fuyu smiled knowingly. She frowned, suppressing her bitterness, and gulped down the medicine in her hand.
She handed the medicine bowl to Chi Yanzhou: "You've finally arrived."
Cui Fuyu was waiting for Ru Niang to come on the day she ran away. When she found out that Zhao Jinghuan had harmed her, Cui Fuyu wanted to use this as a breakthrough to find out all the dirty things Zhao Jinghuan had done.
Unfortunately, Ru Niang misunderstood her at the time, which led to her running away.
Now that Ru Niang has reappeared, she might bring even greater surprises.
Chi Yanzhou looked at the cryptic conversation between Cui Fuyu and Juning with suspicion, and then left the room with great insight: "You two talk first, but Ayu is weak now, her health is important, don't overexert yourself."
Chi Yanzhou knew that she had more important things to do and it was inconvenient for him to be present. He was just worried about her health, since her injuries had not yet fully recovered and he didn't want her to hurt herself again.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Cui Fuyu smiled knowingly at him. Given her current physical condition, she couldn't do anything even if she wanted to.
After Chi Yanzhou left the room, Ju Ning said, "I had someone keep her here. The servants said she looked terrible. We don't want her to smell bad, so let her go wash up first, and then you can see her again."
After thinking for a moment, Cui Fuyu said, "Okay, but we must keep a close watch on her and protect her safety. We must not let her die in the Cui residence under any circumstances."
Ru Niang must have Zhao Jinghuan's secrets. If he finds out that Ru Niang is in the Cui residence, he might very well send someone in to kill her.
She wanted to protect Ru Niang in advance, then seemed to remember something, "Later I'll give you a note and send it to the manager of the teahouse."
Cui Fuyu has no one he can use right now, so the task of investigating Ru Niang has to be left to Anxuan Aqing.
Whether what Mother told us is true or false is not entirely credible.
Juning went to the main gate to pick up the person. After she saw the person in front of her, she could hardly connect her with Ru Niang, whom she had seen when she went to the clinic to pick up the person that day.
“Ru Niang, let me take you downstairs to wash up.” Juning walked ahead and led her to an empty side room. “You’re not in a good position to see Miss right now. Why don’t you take advantage of the time to wash up and think about how to explain things to Miss later?”
Ru Niang's face paled for a moment, but she finally got her wish and returned to the Cui residence.
As she soaked in a tub filled with flower petals and steaming hot water, she quickly washed her face, hair, and entire body clean. Looking at her wounds, hatred flashed in her eyes.
This time, she was determined to kill that damned Zhao Jinghuan with Miss Cui.
Previously, she was blind to the great man's worth and even suspected that Cui Fuyu and Zhao Jinghuan were in cahoots. She ran away from the Cui residence on her own and ended up in a state that was neither human nor ghost.
The room was filled with moisture, and the heat rose instantly through the Suzhou embroidery screen depicting the four seasons, making the room humid and hot.
Bathwater splashed onto the floor, wetting the bluestone jade floor.
The door was tightly closed, and a screen separated Ru Niang and Juning. Inside, Ru Niang was taking a bath.
Juning sat at the tea table, watching Ru Niang's every move through the slightly transparent screen.
I didn't rush her, and just waited quietly for her to finish washing.
After putting on the clothes that Juning had brought in, Ru Niang lowered her head somewhat uneasily and followed Juning into Cui Fuyu's room.
"Our young lady is injured now, so hurry up and tell us what you want her to do, don't keep her from resting."
Ru Niang had heard about what happened on Cui Fuyu's birthday, and the government's extensive search in recent days to catch criminals had greatly facilitated her hiding.
She asked, "Do you know who hurt Miss Cui?"
Juning was furious that the thugs had injured Cui Fuyu, but she didn't know who it was. Helpless, she said, "I don't know."
When the two arrived at Cui Fuyu's place, she was lying on the bed having Zhu Jin read a storybook to her. This storybook was specially found by Chi Yanzhou to keep her from getting bored.
As soon as Ru Niang saw Cui Fuyu, her eyes filled with tears, and she immediately knelt down in front of Cui Fuyu, kowtowing to her repeatedly.
She cried, "Miss Cui, Ru Niang has betrayed your trust. It is Ru Niang's fault. Please, Miss Cui, have mercy and help Ru Niang again."
Ru Niang was apologizing to Cui Fuyu because she was worried that Cui Fuyu would stop helping her because of her departure.
Her enemies are eyeing her with hostility, and if Cui Fuyu doesn't help her either...
Who can help her get revenge?
Ru Niang cried and kowtowed repeatedly to Cui Fuyu: "Please help me, Miss Cui. I will tell you everything right away."
Cui Fuyu disliked people kowtowing in front of her like this. "Get up quickly, I haven't said anything yet."
She gave Zhu Jin a look, and Zhu Jin immediately helped Ru Niang up and offered her her seat.
Ru Niang picked up the scroll, wiped away her tears, and began to recount the original events in detail.
——
At the Ministry of War, Wang Fei led a group of people, preparing to personally question each person one by one, so as to do it discreetly and not let anyone find out.
His confidants have been secretly investigating the route the transport team took, step by step.
The first people he asked were the handymen who had carried the weapon crates that day; they were the first to have contact with the people there, and they might be the first to notice something was wrong.
Wang Fei asked several people in a row, but to no avail.
This made him wonder, could it have happened on the road?
However, Wang Fei was not made to wait.
Li Da, who was the first to discover the problem with the box, was at the very end of the line. He didn't know what the leader meant by calling them over. The people who came out of the room didn't say much, keeping their mouths tightly shut and leaving immediately, afraid of getting into trouble if they stayed.
Everyone was baffled, and even after they came out, they avoided talking about it.
He just hurried away.
Li Da was next; everyone before him had gone in.
A moment later, someone inside came out with a list and called to him, "Li Da, come in."
Li Da scratched the back of his head and went in, confused. He then noticed a row of people inside, a table in the middle, and someone sitting in front of him.
It's Wang Fei, Li Da knows him.
He bowed respectfully and said, "Greetings, sir. May I ask why you summoned me here?"
Wang Fei looked him over carefully and saw that he looked nervous but not flustered, so he said slowly, "Don't panic. I'm just here to ask you some questions. Do you remember what happened half a month ago when I asked you to move the weapons?"
Hearing Wang Fei ask this question, Li Da felt much more at ease, recalling that he had indeed found something wrong with the box that morning.
Li Da nodded hurriedly: "I remember, I remember. That day when I was moving the boxes containing weapons, I felt that the weight was not quite right. The night before last, I obviously had to carry more boxes, but strangely, the next day I felt that they were lighter. I couldn't quite get the weight right. I even asked the brother who was moving them with me, but he said it was just my imagination and told me to just keep moving and not to talk nonsense."
Li Dayue realized something was amiss. Why was Lord Wang from the Enforcement Division asking about this matter out of the blue?
Something was very wrong. Li Da hurriedly asked, "Sir, is there something wrong with this weapon?"
Upon hearing Li Da's words, Wang Fei had an idea. Since the weapons were exchanged in the capital, it would be easier to investigate.
Wang Fei stared at him intently, his eyes deep: "The weight of the weapon crate is wrong? Are you sure? Why didn't you report it that day?"
Wang Fei asked a series of questions, but remained silent on Li Da's questions.
His eyes, sharp as a hawk's, were fixed on Li Da, as if trying to see if he was lying.
"My lord, the box containing the weapons that day was heavy, even after I carried it two or three times. Perhaps it's because I often do chores at home and can roughly estimate the weight of things. But the box was lighter the next day, I'm sure of that. Why didn't you say that you thought there might be fewer weapons in the box and that your brother persuaded you not to think so much?"
Li Da recalled that the adults opposite him had become suspicious of him, and he began to feel uneasy. If something really went wrong, they would all lose their heads.
"Have you mentioned this to anyone else?" Wang Fei said quietly. What a coincidence! He was the only one who noticed the problem, and he was also the one who didn't take it to heart. How could he not suspect him?
Li Da shook his head: "I was very busy that day. I went to work right after I finished moving, and I didn't have time to tell anyone."
After a moment's thought, Wang Fei directly instructed, "Take him away and bring him back to the Enforcement Division for further interrogation."
Li's eyes widened, his legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground, begging for mercy: "My lord, I've told you everything I know, I haven't hidden anything, please, my lord, spare me..."
No one paid any attention to Li Da. Wang Fei just stared at him coldly. Someone immediately stepped forward, took out a strip of cloth, stuffed Li Da's mouth shut, tied him up, and took him back to the Enforcement Division with them.
Wang Fei instructed those around him, "Quickly send a message by carrier pigeon to summon the scouts along the route back!"
Everyone assumed the weapons were switched on the way, but no one expected these people to be so audacious as to tamper with the weapons right under the emperor's nose!
Wang Fei suddenly smiled, realizing that things would be much easier as long as they were in the capital.
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Author's Note: I've been writing every day after get off work lately, so updates have been very late. I'm sorry everyone (I'm a writer who updates without any preparation). I expect to finish writing by the middle of next month. [Thumbs up] Thank you all for your support!
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