Following the clues about the mutton-fat jade tablet and the Prince's Mansion, Xia Houshu stayed near the Prime Minister's Mansion for less than half a month and finally made a major breakthrough.
A drunken carriage driver in the Prime Minister's Mansion once mentioned to others that Yi Wu had a personal maid named Yinxiang who was similar in age to Yi Wu. She was not outstanding in appearance, but she was smart and steady in dealing with things. When Yi Wu first entered the Prime Minister's Mansion, she
She followed her and won Yi Wu's trust. Strangely, after Yi Wu's death, Yinxiang suddenly disappeared. These days, the Prime Minister's Mansion is also secretly looking for her.
Xia Houshu never expected that something would slip through the net. She was so happy that she didn't sleep well all night, racking her brains to plan the next steps.
With the new clues, Xia Houshu's investigation ideas became clearer and the progress was faster.
After many twists and turns, Xia Houshu finally found the maid named Yinxiang in the back kitchen of Shuyu Pavilion.
Shuyu Pavilion is the largest brothel in the capital. It is usually crowded with customers and mixed with dragons and snakes. It is not an easy task to get into the back kitchen of Shuyu Pavilion. In order to successfully sneak into the back kitchen of Shuyu Pavilion, Xia Houshu spent two gold coins to buy it.
An elderly couple who deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to Shuyu Pavilion every day.
The old couple who delivered the food had kind faces. The man's surname was Qiu and the woman's surname was Hu. Although the couple were doing business with Shuyuge, they were not as smooth and sophisticated as other businessmen. I guess this was why Shuyuge chose to do business with them.
Business reasons.
Xia Houshu pretended to be the daughter of an old couple named Qiu, and lied that Aunt Hu, who usually delivered vegetables, had a cold and could not go out, and that Qiu was old and could not deliver such a large amount of fruits and vegetables by himself, so he came to help.
Father Qiu delivered food to Shuyu Pavilion every day. The concierge naturally knew him and did not make things difficult for him. However, when he saw Xia Houshu behind Father Qiu, he still did a routine interrogation.
Xia Houshu was now wearing light blue coarse cloth clothes, with a wooden hairpin stuck in her bun, and her face was specially darkened. She looked like a farmer's daughter who had been working all year round. The concierge undoubtedly had
He lost interest after a few cross-examinations, but half-jokingly and half-seriously told Father Qiu to take good care of his daughter. After all, Shuyu Pavilion is not a place where good men and women live. Don't be fooled by the ignorant.
The benefactor thought he was a girl here and was teased.
Father Qiu quickly thanked him and turned to Xia Houshu to move the vegetables on the wooden cart inside.
Xia Houshu is a martial arts practitioner and is stronger than ordinary women. It is no problem to carry several baskets of vegetables. She followed Father Qiu as he moved basket after basket of fresh vegetables into the kitchen and counted them with the grandma in charge of purchasing.
, while secretly paying attention to the situation in the kitchen.
There were about a dozen people in the kitchen. Those who washed vegetables, cut vegetables, stir-fried vegetables, plated vegetables, and served dishes were all performing their duties. It was a mess but not chaotic. Everyone was so busy that the wind was rising at their feet. No one noticed Mr. Qiu.
Did the father bring a daughter? Xia Houshu looked at it for a long time and couldn't tell which one was Yinxiang.
When Xia Houshu was carrying the fourth basket of vegetables, she suddenly heard a curse coming from the kitchen. She looked towards the source of the sound and saw several fat cooks surrounding the stove not far away.
He stared at the small figure at the stove, and cursed from time to time, the content of which was extremely unpleasant. After taking a closer look, he discovered that a young woman in rough clothes, covered in oil, and with messy hair was squatting in front of the stove.
He cursed and kept adding firewood to the stove hole.
Father Qiu seemed to be used to such scenes, or maybe he didn't want to cause trouble, so he turned a blind eye to the bullying and curses in front of him, and went about carrying his own dishes.
Since Xia Houshu was pretending to be Father Qiu's daughter, he naturally didn't dare to cause any trouble, so he tried not to look over there and continued to help Father Qiu move the vegetables while listening carefully to hear the whole story.
Got a rough idea.
I just heard a meaty-faced cook poking the woman in coarse cloth in the face and scolding fiercely: "What a scumbag! Do you think that after working as a maid in a rich family for a few days, you become the master? In my opinion, you are a cheap person."
Waste, born to be a slave!"
Another cook next to her also spat at her, and then cursed: "If you ask me, saying she is a slave is just flattering her, and I feel unlucky even if she brings me foot-washing water. I have been here for so long, and even one
He can't even see the fire, and he's useless at all. Which big family would dare to use such a person?"
"It's true. I don't know where the wild girl came from. She can only dream! If you really have the ability, why come to this dirty kitchen? Isn't it better to be an court lady in the front yard? If not, go and serve the court lady.
It's okay to take a bath and comb your hair. It makes the ladies happy. Maybe one day the lady will become a good girl and she can actually work as a maid in a wealthy family." The fat cook agreed. In a blink of an eye, she saw the coarse clothed woman still sobbing, and suddenly raised her arms and shouted at
Yinxiang slapped her on the face and cursed: "Cry! I cry every day. What about going to the funeral? If you are so shameless, why don't you just kill me easily?"
After listening to a series of curses, Xia Houshu concluded that the maid who was lighting the fire was Yinxiang, who was being searched for by the Prime Minister's Mansion. Yinxiang was probably too sad to be scolded, and was suddenly beaten, and fell down in front of the stove.
Kneeling on the scattered firewood, she sobbed softly and begged for mercy. Her hands were covered with deep and shallow wounds, and it was hard to tell what caused them.
It is indeed not easy to bear such humiliation and bear such heavy burden.
Xia Houshu saw everything in his eyes and was sure that Yinxiang must know something, otherwise she would not suddenly leave the Prime Minister's Mansion and hide in this dark place, living like a ghost. But she didn't
I plan to fight for Yinxiang right now, but plan to wait until Yinxiang is desperate before giving her a clear path. After all, it is easier for people to break down their psychological defenses when they are most vulnerable.
Amidst the increasingly unpleasant insults from the cook, Yinxiang became more and more uneasy. The firewood in the stove still failed to light up, but instead filled the whole room with smoke. The cooks who had been so aggressive just now were smoked.
He coughed, cursed and ran outside holding up his skirt, as if there was a scourge inside.
Yinxiang herself was so smoked that she burst into tears, but she still kept adding more firewood to the stove. At that moment, she made up her mind to die together with those who bullied her every day.
The smoke in the kitchen was getting bigger and bigger, and sparks jumped on the hay that was used to support the combustion, and it immediately started burning. The cooks called for others to help, while carrying wooden buckets, wooden basins, clay pots and other things that could hold water.
He went to the well to fetch water and poured it into the smoke-filled kitchen. The whole kitchen suddenly became chaotic...
Father Qiu didn't want to cause trouble, but the cook in charge had just been lecturing the useless servant, and she didn't have time to reconcile with him. He didn't dare to leave rashly. After all, these baskets of fruits and vegetables were carefully prepared by him and the boss.
Cultivated and carefully selected, it is worth a lot of money. But looking at the current situation, he did not dare to ask more questions, lest he get into trouble, so he could only stand at a distance not far from the right and wrong with full of thoughts, waiting for the next story, and from time to time he asked Xia Hou
He gave her a relieved look and asked her to find a way to leave quickly.
Xia Houshu was also very anxious. Yinxiang had spent a lot of effort to find new clues. If she died in the fire like this, wouldn't all her previous efforts be in vain?
However, as she is now the daughter of Father Qiu, she does not dare to act rashly in front of so many people. Otherwise, she will be exposed as a petty person, which will also affect the old man's family and bring them endless disasters and even life-threatening.
.
Xia Houshu thought about it again and again and decided to wait and see what would happen. So she reached out and patted the old man's arm, telling him with her eyes not to panic and to wait and see how the situation developed.
When Father Qiu saw that Xia Houshu had no intention of leaving or getting involved in the kitchen, he couldn't help but doubt her true intention of pretending to be his daughter and sneaking into Shuyu Pavilion, and he became increasingly uneasy.
Father Qiu was born in a farmer's family, and his family relied on the few acres of land left by their ancestors to grow and sell vegetables in exchange for a little money. He had worked hard all his life and was an honest man. He didn't expect that he would encounter such a person just because he was greedy for Xia Houshu's two ingots of gold.
Even so, Father Qiu also knew in his heart that there was no point in being anxious. It was better to wait and see what would happen like Xia Houshu did. He quickly took a few steps back to a safer place, so as not to block the people who were rushing to fetch water to put out the fire.
The crowd is even more afraid of accidentally injuring themselves.
The kitchen was filled with smoke and the smell was pungent. In the thick smoke, Yinxiang suddenly opened her eyes, and was immediately filled with tears. It was as if an embroidery needle had been stuck in her eyes, and she could hardly breathe through her mouth and nose.
She slowly groped for the large water tank next to her based on her memory, scooped out a few ladles of water and poured it over her head, soaking her whole body.
More and more people came to put out the fire. Cold water was poured on them one by one. The smoke gradually became smaller. Finally, not even a single spark was seen. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and stood there in embarrassment, taking a big mouthful of food.
He gasped for air and no longer had the energy to curse.
A fat cook suddenly threw away the wooden bucket in her hand, rolled up her sleeves and rushed into the kitchen angrily. After a while, she pulled out the wet silver incense like a chicken and threw it on the ground.
Then he slapped him in front of everyone, kicked him a few more times, and then cursed: "You bastard! You don't want to live anymore and you want to drag us to be buried with you? See if I don't beat you to death!"
Yinxiang, who was dizzy from the thick smoke, was suddenly slapped again and kicked several times. She felt that all the senses in her body were stinging, and she actually became more awake. She looked around with red eyes.
He stared at her like a hungry wolf, wishing to tear her into pieces, the cook and the handyman. The sadness in his heart gradually turned to anger, and he suddenly grabbed the arm of the fat cook who was restraining her and bit her hard.
He took a bite, and then ran out as hard as he could while the cook was in pain.
The fat cook didn't expect that Yinxiang, who usually tolerated her anger like a mute, would resist, holding a fat arm and howling earth-shatteringly.
Everyone didn't react for a moment, they all stood in a daze and watched.
I don't know who shouted "Catch her!" Everyone woke up as if from a dream, and chased Yinxiang in the direction in which she escaped.
Xia Houshu knew that the opportunity had come, so he whispered to Father Qiu: "Go to the back door and wait for me. If anyone asks, just say that you were helping the kitchen catch the arsonist. You got separated from me and you want to wait for me."
go back."
Father Qiu was stunned for a moment, then nodded wildly, and was about to run to the back door.
Xia Houshu suddenly stopped him again and continued: "Dad Qiu, you must never forget that I am your daughter now. If you are in a hurry, you will leave me here alone and run away.
Not only will it arouse suspicion, but even if I promised you the final payment, you won't be able to get it."
Only now did Father Qiu understand Xia Houshu's intentions, and also knew that Xia Houshu's words were not just a threat. He paused for a long while, nodded heavily, and ran away without looking back.
Xia Houshu curled his lips and quickly walked to a corner while taking advantage of the chaos. This chapter has been completed!