Chapter 139 [VIP]
The shop door was tightly shut, and Chen Qingyan knocked for a long time before it opened a crack.
"Master, you've arrived!" Tianju quickly opened the door.
Chen Qingyan entered the house, and Tian Ju immediately locked the door again to prevent anyone from rushing in.
When Wang Ying and Lin Sui saw him, they quickly went up to him. "Qingyan, what brings you here?"
"Ah Ying, are you alright?" Chen Qingyan grabbed his hand and looked him up and down.
"It's nothing..." Wang Ying's face was pale, her hands and feet were ice-cold, and her body was trembling slightly with anger. She had been selling popsicles for so long and had never heard of anyone being poisoned by eating a popsicle!
"What's wrong with that person outside?"
Wang Ying shook her head, "I don't know either. I had just opened the door this morning when I suddenly heard shouting and cursing outside. At first, I thought it was someone cursing at someone else, but when Sui Di went out to check, there was a dead body lying at the door..."
Even though the dead body was covered with burlap, Lin Sui was still terrified. Her legs were so weak when she entered the house that she could barely stand.
Wang Ying immediately ordered Tian Ju to lock the door, telling him not to go out no matter how much they cursed outside, and to wait for the officials to arrive.
After waiting for half an hour, instead of the yamen runners, Chen Qingyan arrived instead.
Lin Sui asked quietly from the side, "What should we do now?"
Chen Qingyan said, "I'll go out and explain to them that even if it was poisoning, there needs to be evidence. What kind of business is it to put a dead body in front of the shop without any proof?"
Wang Ying quickly grabbed him and said, "Don't go out. Let's wait for the officials to arrive before we talk."
"Are we just going to let them smear our shop at the entrance?"
"This matter is not that simple..."
It all started with the inexplicable commotion a few days ago, then yesterday someone claimed to have gotten diarrhea after eating their popsicles, forcing Wang Ying to pay a sum of money to cover the person's medical expenses. And now someone's died from popsicle poisoning… If no one was deliberately sabotaging this, nobody would believe it!
Wang Ying gritted her teeth and said, "If this matter can't be resolved, we might as well not do business anymore! Who would dare to eat Mixue shaved ice if others mentioned that it was poisonous?"
As the saying goes, cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents. Wang Ying is not someone to be trifled with. If you push him too far, no one will have a good time!
After waiting for another fifteen minutes, the voice of a yamen runner finally came from outside, "What's going on here?"
"Your Honor, you must do me justice! He's my only brother. He was perfectly fine yesterday, but after eating that bamboo tube popsicle from their shop, he suddenly became seriously ill. The doctor said he was poisoned. They must have put poison in the popsicle!"
Wang Ying burst through the door and angrily demanded, "What proof do you have that your brother died from eating popsicles? We sell hundreds, even thousands, of popsicles every day. How come everyone else is fine but your brother is dead? Who knows if he was poisoned by something else!"
Upon hearing this, the man closed his eyes and began to wail again, "My poor brother... why did you leave us so early... if you hadn't eaten that popsicle yesterday, none of this would have happened..."
The crowd pointed and whispered at Wang Ying, with one person deliberately saying, "I didn't expect there to be poison in this popsicle. I won't dare eat it next time."
"Yes, otherwise their drinks would be so cheap. The iced drinks I had before cost tens of dollars a bowl."
Wang Ying stared intently at the two people speaking. If she wasn't mistaken, one of them had started the commotion that day!
Several constables sized up Wang Ying and asked, "Are you the manager of this shop?"
"Yes, that's me," Chen Qingyan said first.
Wang Ying turned to look at him, "What are you doing?"
Chen Qingyan whispered in his ear, "I am a scholar, so I don't have to kneel before officials. You have a better idea than me to stay outside and figure out a way."
"Come with us to the yamen. The shop will be sealed off and will not be allowed to open for the time being. The dead body will also be examined by the coroner at the yamen!"
"Qingyan!" Wang Ying followed anxiously behind.
Chen Qingyan waved his hand at him and said, "Don't worry."
The constables took Chen Qingyan away, the shop was sealed off, the dead body was also taken away, and the crowd of onlookers gradually dispersed.
Wang Ying didn't have time to feel bad; she immediately beckoned Tian Ju over and whispered a few words in his ear. "Be careful, just remember the doorway, don't let anyone see you."
"Don't worry, my lord, I'll go right away!"
Lin Sui followed behind Wang Ying, her eyes brimming with tears, and said, "Sister-in-law, what are we going to do?"
"Let's go home first and talk about it later."
The two hurried home, and just as they entered, they ran into Chen Qinghuai and Chen Qingsong seeing Liu Changyi off.
Seeing Wang Ying's pale face and Lin Sui's tear-streaked face, the two quickly stepped forward and asked, "Sister-in-law, what happened?"
Wang Ying took a deep breath and said, "Just now, some people came to the shop and caused trouble, saying that they were poisoned after eating our popsicles. The government officials came and took your older brother to the yamen."
"Ah!" Chen Qingsong cried out in fright. "What, what should we do?"
Liu Changyi said, "Don't worry, I'll go back to my father now and ask him to help me think of a solution."
Although Lord Liu held a sinecure in the government, his words carried considerable weight in the government office because he had a powerful older brother.
Wang Ying said, "Thank you for your trouble, Young Master Liu."
Without time for pleasantries, Liu Changyi quickly boarded the carriage, saying, "I will send someone to inform you if there is any news."
After everyone left, Wang Ying said, "Keep this from Mother for now. If she doesn't know what to do, telling her will only cause her unnecessary worry and anxiety."
Chen Qingsong nodded, "Oh, what if Mother asks about my older brother?"
"So... he was invited to the Liu family to listen to Master Lu's lecture."
"Okay." The group agreed and entered the house, pretending to be nonchalant.
As expected, Li asked where Qingyan had gone during lunch. Wang Ying replied, "He was called away by the young master of the Liu family. He said that Master Lu wanted to give him a lecture, and he won't be back for the next two days."
"Why didn't Qinghuai and Qingsong go together?"
Chen Qinghuai quickly replied, "They also invited the two of us. We'll go over tomorrow."
Li had no doubts; it was a good thing that her son was studious, and as a mother, she couldn't stop him from studying.
After finishing his meal, Tianju returned from outside and immediately reported to Wang Ying, "I found that person's residence. It's in an alley on Zhenghe Street. I noted down the address and came back."
"Alright, these next few days you and Ma Qianzi will keep an eye on this man. Find out exactly where he goes and who he comes into contact with."
"Yes!" Tianju turned around and ran out again, calling Ma Qianzi to go out the door together.
Neither of them had ever done surveillance before, but Ma Qianzi was quick-witted and knew that simply standing guard at the door like that wouldn't work; anyone with eyes could easily spot it.
So they simply set up a banner, and he dressed up as a wandering Taoist priest, while Tianju wore tattered clothes and smeared dirt on his face to look like a beggar. The two of them didn't stand out in the chaotic Zhenghe Street.
The man being followed was named Wan Liang, a lazy hoodlum who spent his days eating, drinking, and gambling at the nearby casino.
He had taken on some work these past few days and had a lot more money in his pocket. He spent his days gambling and his evenings drinking with some friends at a nearby tavern.
Tianju and Maqianzi followed them at a distance, and once they entered the tavern, the two of them eavesdropped next to the tavern.
"Brother Liang has struck it rich; he's actually treating us guys to drinks."
"Go away, as if I've never invited you before."
In the past, he mostly ate at other people's houses and rarely treated others to drinks, so everyone found it strange.
The four people sat around a small table by the window and ordered four dishes and two jugs of wine from the waiter.
"Brother Liang, what good business have you been doing lately? When you're eating meat, can you at least give me a sip of soup?"
Wan Liang, with peanuts between his fingers, squinted and said, "Even if there's business, you wouldn't dare to do it."
Seeing that he was being mysterious, the others became interested and pressed him to tell them what kind of business it was.
At first, he was reluctant to talk, but after a couple of drinks, he told everyone about all the dirty things he had done recently.
Do you guys know about that new Mixue shaved ice shop that just opened in town?
"I know, the bamboo tube popsicles they sell are ten coins each. I bought one last time and it was quite delicious."
Wan Liang chuckled, "I'm afraid we won't be able to eat it anymore."
"What do you mean by that?"
"He offended someone, and they won't let them sell anymore."
"Who did you offend?" everyone asked curiously.
"You know Wei Linshui, right?"
"I know him, his nickname is 'Water Rat,' right? Did the owner of Michelle offend him?"
Wan Liang took a sip of his wine and said, "How could Boss Wei be willing to sell ice so cheaply? Isn't that ruining his business? He found me and a few others to cause trouble, but after a few days of trouble, he came up with another despicable idea."
Yesterday morning, they had someone drag a dead body over and put it in front of his shop, insisting it was poisoned by his popsicles. Do you think he can still do business like that?
The two people outside widened their eyes upon hearing the noise. Tianju was about to get up when Maqianzi pulled him back, gesturing for him to be quiet and indicating that he should continue listening.
"Oh dear, that's a really insidious trick by the Water Rat. Even if it turns out to be fake, Michelle's business will still be ruined."
Once a rumor gets out, no matter if it's true or false, someone will believe it. It spreads like wildfire, and if everyone says that Mixue's popsicles are poisonous, who would dare to buy them?
"How much is Boss Wei paying? Are you hiring anyone to do this?"
Wan Liang didn't respond to that. If he introduced the job to others, how would he make any money? "Come on, let's drink and eat."
Maqianzi and Tianju stood guard outside with somber expressions until the people inside paid their bills before quietly leaving.
Back home, the two of them told Wang Ying everything they had heard, word for word. "That person said it himself, it was a man named Wei Linshui who deliberately framed our shop!"
Wang Ying was furious when he heard this. He knew why so many things had suddenly happened for no reason; it turned out that someone was causing trouble behind the scenes.
Wang Ying had inquired about Wei Linshui before and heard that he was a formidable figure who had risen to his current position entirely through ruthless means.
I never expected that someone would suddenly attack me when I had no grudge against him and hadn't even blocked his business!
"You two continue to keep an eye on Wan Liang these next few days, and let me know if you hear anything."
"yes!"
*
On the other hand, after Chen Qingyan was brought into the yamen, he was locked in a single cell and was not immediately put to court.
In ancient times, investigations followed a strict procedure. For example, in the case of poisoning, the coroner had to first examine the body to determine if the deceased had truly been poisoned, what kind of poison was used, and approximately how long it took for the poison to take effect. Only after determining the exact cause of death could the next step be taken, which would take at least two or three days.
The next morning, Liu Changyi came to the yamen with his father's nameplate, bringing not only food but also several books.
Upon seeing each other, Chen Qingyan stood up in surprise and said, "Changyi, what brings you here?"
"I ran into your sister-in-law yesterday and learned that you were taken to the yamen. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Could you please tell my family not to worry when you go out later?"
"Don't worry, I'll come to your house later. There are many suspicious points in this case. My father has already spoken with the authorities and they will investigate carefully. They absolutely cannot let you be framed."
"Thank you..."
"Hey, there's no need to thank me. It was just a casual remark. Besides, we'll be family soon."
Chen Qingyan felt relieved. With Lord Liu's help, he thought the case would be investigated and resolved soon.
A note from the author:
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