Denghuaxiao

"Was Mrs. Lu, the first eldest grandmother of the Ke family, killed by your uncle?"

Wanfu was so shocked that he almost jumped out of his chair and said, "How is that possible?"

The person behind the curtain spoke softly: "So, she was killed by people from the Taishi Mansion."

As soon as these words came out, Wanfu suddenly raised his head: "How do you know about the Taishi Mansion?"

There was silence all around.

Wanfu suddenly realized where the strangeness in his mind came from. He looked at the light blue bamboo curtain, wishing to see the person behind the curtain clearly, and asked: "Who are you?"

This man came up and asked about the Lu family, and mentioned the Grand Master's Mansion during the conversation.Think about it again, although Wanquan is not a good person in ordinary days, he will not lose thousands of taels of silver smoothly.

But it's different if someone leads you there.

The other party was clearly well prepared, and I'm afraid they set up such an exit just for this moment.

"You deliberately lured Quan'er to Kuaihuo Building to owe a huge debt. Do you want to deal with the Ke family?" Wan Fu gritted his teeth, "Who are you?"

Behind the bamboo curtain, Lu Tong lowered his eyes and looked at the tea cup in front of him and smiled sarcastically.

Wan Fu is Ke Chengxing's most trusted servant. I heard from Nanny Wan and Yin Zheng that before Qin came in, the Ke family had changed a number of servants, especially Lu Rou and Ke Chengxing's yard.

Wanfu is the only one left.

This young man is not young. In addition to being loyal, he is also very tight-lipped.Perhaps because of this, Ke Chengxing still kept Lu Rou by his side after his death.

Lu Tong spoke slowly: "Master Wan, it doesn't matter who I am. What's important is that your son's safety now depends on you alone." Her voice seemed bewitching, "You only need to answer the question, and I owe you 3000 taels." The contract will be voided. If you don't answer..." She sighed, "Master Wan might as well lower his head and see what's in the table."

Wanfu lowered his head subconsciously. He saw a black square table with flat drawers.He pulled it out and saw a snow-white silk handkerchief lying inside.Wanfu opened the silk handkerchief, then shouted "Ahhhh" and almost fell off the chair.

On that snow-white silk handkerchief, there was actually a bloody severed finger lying on it!
"All!"

A trace of grief escaped from Wan Fu's throat, and tears suddenly rolled down like broken beads. He held the severed finger and cried bitterly.

Just as he was crying with grief and anger, he heard the voice of the person in the curtain: "Master Wan, don't cry just yet. You might as well take a closer look."

Wan Fu paused for a moment, then looked at it intently. Suddenly he was overjoyed and shouted: "No... there is a black mole on Quan'er's little finger. There is not one on this finger. This is not Quan'er's little finger!"

The person behind the curtain smiled and said: "Master Wan's love for his son is touching. It was just a little joke with Master Wan before. This broken finger was paid for by another young man in Happy Building who had a gambling debt. "

"I'm afraid Mr. Wan still doesn't know the rules of Happy House. If you owe 100 taels, one of your fingers will be cut off. My son owes 3000 taels, so even if you cut off your fingers and toes, you still have 1000 taels left to pay."

"Now Mr. Wan and I are discussing here. My people are still guarding Mr. Wan. If we fail to reach an agreement and my people don't see me coming back after burning the incense, they will have to follow the rules of Happy House. .”

The person behind the curtain asked, "Actually, I'm also very curious. Is Mr. Wan more loyal to Mr. Ke, or is he more concerned about his son?"

Wanfu looked gloomy.

If he was still hesitant before and thought about dealing with this person and talking nonsense to get rid of him, now he really has no intention of confrontation at all.The amputated finger destroyed all his defense lines, causing him to be instantly defeated.

If Wan Quan really had his fingers and toes chopped off, he would really be a cripple!

He looked slumped behind the curtain: "What exactly do you want to know, young lady?"

There was silence in the room for a moment.

After a moment, the voice of the person in the curtain sounded again: "I want you to tell me how Grandma Ke, Mrs. Lu, died."

When Wan Fu heard this, his heart was shocked, his eyes flickered a few times, and then he considered his tone and said: "Grandma is sick..."

"I think Mr. Wan doesn't want to talk to me anymore." The person behind the curtain stood up decisively and was about to leave.

"Wait!" Wanfu hurriedly called her, gritted his teeth, and said: "Actually, I don't know. At that time... I didn't go in at that time."

The person behind the curtain paused and sat down again.

Wanfu breathed a sigh of relief and sighed again: "That was already the year before last."

In the 37th year of Yongchang's reign, shortly after the New Year, Wanfu followed Ke Chengxing to the shop to deliver New Year's gifts.The Ke family was a businessman and was originally quite famous in Shengjing. However, after Mr. Ke passed away, the porcelain kiln business in Fuzhong plummeted.However, the skinny camel is bigger than the horse. Although it is not as good as before, it can still hold up.

Every year after the New Year, the business houses hold a spring banquet to entertain major merchants.

Ke Chengxing also wants to socialize.

The restaurant where the party was held was at Fengle Building in the south of the city. Ke Chengxing didn't drink well and got a little tipsy during the dinner. After getting drunk, he sent Wanfu back to ask Mr. Lu to cook some black plum and osmanthus soup to sober up.

Wanfu tried to persuade him several times, but failed to do so, so he had to go back to Ke's house.

When Mrs. Lu heard this, she responded with good temper.It was late at night, so I hurriedly cooked sobering soup and took a carriage to Fengle Building to pick up someone.People in Fengle Building said that Ke Chengxing was drunk and slept in the warm pavilion upstairs.Mrs. Lu took the maid upstairs.

Because Wanfu was a young man and could not follow him, he gave the spring gifts prepared in advance to the people in the business first.After the banquet was over, Ke Chengxing figured it was time for him to sober up, so he went to the Nuan Pavilion upstairs.

There was no one in the Nuan Pavilion upstairs, so Wanfu found Ke Chengxing. Ke Chengxing was as drunk as mud, but there was no sign of Lu around.

Wanfu was a little panicked at that time, and looked around, and finally found Mr. Lu in a bungalow near the end.

Wanfu's voice trembled as he recalled the scene of that day: "At that time... the grandmother was covered in injuries and her forehead was still bleeding. Her maid Dangui was on the ground, dead."

He was so frightened that he was about to scream, but someone stumbled out from there. He was a richly dressed young man with a dazed look on his face. He only glanced at him with a smile.He wanted to catch up, but he was a little scared for some reason. He also heard the voice of Lu from the couch, so he left it alone and went to deal with Lu first.

After a while, Ke Chengxing also woke up.Wan Fu knew that something serious had happened and did not dare to delay. He quickly informed Ke Chengxing of the matter.When Ke Chengxing heard about this, he became furious and went to find the instigator of Fengle Tower.Wanfu wanted to see Lu and didn't dare to follow.

The room was very quiet, and the person behind the curtain asked calmly: "What next?"

Wanfu swallowed his saliva: "The uncle looked for the shopkeeper and came back not long after. His expression was very strange. He didn't say anything. He just asked me to take my wife back quickly."

He vaguely guessed something in his mind and didn't dare to ask more questions, so he took Mrs. Lu back to the Ke family.However, Mrs. Lu's disheveled and bruised appearance when she returned home inevitably aroused suspicion.There were people in the house talking quietly.

Then, those maids and servants who were talking were either beaten to death or sold.

Everyone in the government was forbidden to mention this matter again, and Wanfu didn't dare to say anything more.

"How is Mr. Lu?" asked the person behind the curtain.

Wanfu said: "Grandma... Grandma is always making trouble."

Lu's demeanor that day was anyone's guess.At first, looking at her dying appearance when she was brought back, everyone speculated that she would not survive.Unexpectedly, after some days, I slowly got better.

But after getting better, Mr. Lu began to quarrel frequently with Ke Chengxing.

She was very loud during the quarrel, even hysterical, and kept saying that the Grand Master had defiled her.Rumors began to spread outside. In order to avoid getting into trouble, Mrs. Ke made people declare to the outside world that Lu Rou was unruly and had seduced the prince of the Taishi Mansion and had her beaten up.

"How can a family like ours dare to go against the Grand Master's Mansion? If the Grand Master's Mansion knows that grandma is talking nonsense outside, the entire Ke family will suffer." Wan Fu subconsciously defended Ke Chengxing.

The voice behind the curtain was calm: "It's not just that. Uncle Ke is a man, but in order to avoid trouble, he took the initiative to cuckold him. It seems that he is desperate and shameless."

Wanfu choked and didn't answer for a while.

The person behind the curtain continued to ask: "Then what? In order to avoid provocation, Uncle Ke killed Mr. Lu to avoid future troubles?"

"No!" Wanfu said hurriedly: "That's not the case."

"Originally, the uncle just kept the eldest grandma at home and didn't let her go out. He said to the outside world that the eldest grandma was suddenly suffering from a mad disease. But then...then..." He hesitated.

"What happened next?"

Wan Fu hesitated for a long time and finally said: "A few months later, I found out that grandma was pregnant."

"Bang" sound.

The teacup was tipped onto the table, and the hot tea poured all over the floor, soaking the woman's frosty white cuffs.

Lu Tong slowly raised his eyes: "What did you say?"

(End of this chapter)