In the depths of winter, even Suzhou is extremely cold.

The old house of the Li family has long been idle now, but after all, thinking of his father Li Xingchang's various things over the years, he has not disposed of the house, on the one hand, it is also considering that the business on Shufang Street should also be taken care of.

However, Li Wan'er no longer lives in the Li family's house, and still lives in the Nuanxiang Pavilion in Kunshan.

Since some more people left in the mansion, the huge mansion was a little deserted, but fortunately, Li Wan'er was also used to this tranquility and didn't care too much.

Today, Shen Tianjun studied with Xu Jie, so she was left alone in the lakeside pavilion in the entire back garden, blowing a bleak cold wind, and she was still a little uncomfortable after all.

So while tinkering with the stove, he put the teapot on the shelf, tightened the fur on his body, sighed lightly, and muttered: "I don't know what happened to Wuyan over there, Suzhou is so cold, how should Liaodong live ......"

said this, and then sneered again, and said: "Last year was also winter, and I survived...... Forget it, how can he lose himself? ”

There seemed to be a sense of blame in the words, but the tone was still pitiful after all, and there was probably still some missing, but after all, I had to drink tea alone, and then swept the ruins of the pond and sighed bitterly.

Before the tea was hot, people from the house ran over.

Li Wan'er has always been generous to others, so these subordinates in the house also lack discipline, but they are not as good as the subordinates in the big families next to them have rules, and they are as straightforward as they are, and they have never had any fears.

But she didn't care about this, looked at the maid who came in a hurry, and hurriedly quipped: "Chun'er, this winter hasn't passed yet, you are in a hurry." ”

The maid named Chun'er looked anxious and hurriedly said, "Young grandmother, don't be busy laughing...... There was an official errand outside the door, saying that he had something to find the young grandmother. ”

"Official?" Li Wan'er frowned slightly, and said curiously: "What is the matter with him, did he mention the young master?" ”

Chun'er was stunned for a moment, and couldn't stop blinking her big eyes. Shaking his head, he said, "He didn't say it, he just said that he would ask the young grandmother about something...... But it seems to be a matter of the silk village. ”

"Satin Village?" Li Wan'er nodded slightly, and said softly: "Yes, you go and call him in......"

"Right over here?" Chun'er glanced at the scattered scene here and was stunned.

Li Wan'er smiled and said lightly: "You kid is very particular...... Just to ask something, I just happened to have tea boiled here. If you go to the teahouse, you will waste this pot of good Tieguanyin. ”

……

For the weaving bureau lost silk worth 700,000 taels of silver. And there was also a murder case, and Li Zhutou was actually very embarrassed. Even if he probably had a guess, he could only continue to detail the matter, but it was not conclusive.

Walking in the Shen family's mansion in Kunshan, his mood was even more complicated. has served in the prefect's yamen for many years, so he naturally knows a lot about what the owner of this house has done.

The flood of Taihu Lake back then was the plan of Mr. Shen to minimize the disaster suffered by the people. Later, this person encouraged the rich to donate silver for the country. I don't hesitate to do it.

In general, this Mr. Shen is not a big traitor, even if he has all kinds of means in business, and even the case of the two evil men who died in the wilderness on Yulong Street is probably related to it, but it can't explain anything after all.

Speaking of which, Li Zhutou still admires this Mr. Shen very much, from a nameless small shopkeeper in Daru Lane, and later became a big man in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. But no ordinary person can do it.

In the yamen, although he can't understand all the things in officialdom, he often hears Xu Shangzhen mention that this Mr. Shen got rid of Yan Song, Yan Shifan, a traitor of the Ming Dynasty.

Later, he was plotted by people in the court, and now he is assigned to Liaodong, but he is not a bad person.

Now I came to visit Mr. Shen's wife with this complicated feeling. There may be some questions, but in short, things are not so simple.

With the guidance of the maid in the house, through several corridors, Li Zhutou saw the woman standing on the edge of the pavilion watching.

So he hurriedly stepped forward and hugged his fist at the woman, and said, "Down is Li Zhutou of the prefect's yamen, come over today to ask Mrs. Shen about something." ”

"Just call me Wan'er and ......" Li Wan'er took a little bit of this Li catcher, and saw that the other party was quite upright. The hanging heart relaxed slightly, but he was still a little worried, and hurriedly asked, "I don't know what ...... happened?"

Li Zhutou glanced at the tea boiling in the pavilion, and said with a smile: "Why don't you go and have a cup of tea and talk......

Li Wan'er realized that she was a little anxious, smiled hurriedly, approached the pavilion, and poured tea for this Li Zhutou before she said lightly: "No words are there...... Just ask me anything. ”

"I'm here to ask Madame." Li Zhutou smiled lightly: "I just asked about the situation of the Li family's silk village...... When I came here today, I saw that the shops over there were closed, could it be that something happened? ”

Li Wan'er was stunned and said bitterly: "These things...... I'm afraid it's hard to say......"

"Isn't it convenient, forget it......" Li Zhutou was slightly disappointed on his face, but he still smiled and said gently.

Li Wan'er hurriedly shook her head and said, "It's not inconvenient...... The Li family was originally an imperial businessman, and this year, Xia's father got a hint from the Weaving Bureau, saying that the Mid-Autumn Festival needed a batch of silk...... So he prepared this batch of silk in advance, worth a total of 700,000 taels of silver, almost all of the Li family's wealth. ”

"However, the weaving bureau did not admit it later...... Li Zhutou sighed lightly and said with a wry smile: "I didn't get the exact situation, why did I prepare this batch of silk ......?"

Li Wan'er sighed lightly and said helplessly: "Li Zhutou, you don't know anything...... The Weaving Bureau usually informs in advance, but this year this year this Qi Lord has been replaced, but there is no letter...... My father was worried that the court would ask for silk and satin at that time, and the Li family would not be able to take it out...... The Li family can't afford this crime. ”

"Then this is the fault of his weaving bureau, why worry about it." Li Zhutou snorted lightly, obviously very dissatisfied with the Weaving Bureau.

Li Wan'er saw the other party like this, so she no longer had any scruples: "How can the ordinary people of the Li family compare with those adults in the Weaving Bureau...... Once the court blames it, it will be my Li family who will suffer after all. ”

Li Zhutou nodded and sighed: "This is also ...... But I don't know when the Li family offended that Qi father-in-law. ”

Li Wan'er smiled bitterly and said, "How dare the Li family offend the adults of the Weaving Bureau...... Since my father-in-law came to Suzhou at the beginning of the year, my father has not given away a lot of silver objects...... I really don't know if I will offend his old man. ”

"But it's like this......" Li Zhutou nodded slightly, then got up, hugged his fists and said, "Okay...... That's all I have to say, and I'm coming to pay a visit when I think of it...... It's really bothering. ”

Although Li Wan'er's mood was turbulent, she had always been alert, and after listening to the other party's question, she could soon hear some of the differences, so she asked casually: "Could it be that something happened to the Weaving Bureau?" ”

Li Zhutou was about to turn around and leave, but when he heard Li Wan'er ask like this, he hurriedly turned his head and smiled, and said, "But something happened...... Gonggong Qi later bought the Li family's batch of silk back, but the weaving bureau was stolen last night, and all the silk was lost. ”

"Lost?" Li Wan'er's pupils shrank, and her face changed drastically, because she suddenly remembered another thing.

A few days ago, I met Li Xinglong, and the two talked, and he said that he was going to Liaodong to sell a batch of goods, but he didn't mention what the specific goods were, but looking at that caution, there was obviously a problem.

I didn't care about it at the time, but at this time, it sounded like there was a problem.

"What's the problem?" Li Zhutou looked at Li Wan'er's suddenly pale face and asked hurriedly.

Li Wan'er hurriedly waved her hand and said, "No...... It's a little cold......"

"It's cold, Mrs. Shen should pay attention to her body...... Mr. Shen has always been admired by my generation......" As he spoke, Li Zhutou glanced at Li Wan'er meaningfully, and then left.

After leaving Li's house, Li Zhutou rushed to a restaurant in Suzhou.

After hurrying upstairs, he slipped into an extremely remote room. He clasped his fist at the person in the room and said, "Brother Guizi, long time no see." ”

Guizi, who was sitting in the room with a sad face, probably drank wine to strengthen his courage, and his face was already red at this time, as if he was a little drunk.

Seeing Li Zhutou coming in, Guizi hurriedly whispered: "Li Zhutou, ...... Sit down and have a drink or two. ”

Li Zhutou took the wine glass handed by Guizi, swept over the slightly timid little eunuch, and sighed lightly: "Something happened at the Yamen, so I came late...... Really clenched fists. ”

Guizi hurriedly waved his hand and said in a deep voice: "It's okay...... There are things that should not have been told to you, but not ...... Don't say it, it's uncomfortable to hold it in my heart......"

"You say." Li Zhutou was overjoyed in his heart, secretly thinking that this case seemed to be about to come to light.

Guizi suddenly laughed and said, "What am I not as good as that stupid Junko...... Now he is betrayed by Junko, but he is still in his household......"

"What does Brother Guizi mean, that batch of silk is the hand of Junzi? Then why did he die...... "Li Zhutou hurriedly asked.

Guizi chuckled lightly and shouted: "Of course it's Junko's hand, with his means in the Weaving Bureau, what does he dare not do...... As for why he died, of course, it was the uneven distribution of the spoils. ”

"Uneven distribution of spoils? With whom to share the spoils. Li Zhutou's face changed slightly, and he hurriedly asked.

Guizi seemed to be even more intoxicated, and his voice was no longer clear, and he could only be heard vaguely saying: "Yulong Street, wake up eight guests, Zhang ......"

"Katsuko?" Li Zhutou frowned slightly, and hurriedly helped Guizi who was lying on the table up, but the other party was already drunk.

"Yulong Street, wake up eight guests...... Sheet...... What is ......?"

Li Zhutou sighed slightly, and said helplessly: "After all, Mr. Shen is still involved...... I just hope that it is only the work of Mr. Shen's subordinates, and has nothing to do with Mr. Shen. ”

……

Listening to the sound of the footsteps leaving on the other side, the old man sitting on the opposite side of the room nodded with satisfaction, then propped up the window, and watched Li Zhutou go away in the carriage, and then pushed the door out. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )