Xiuwa House is a famous restaurant in Songjiang Prefecture.

People are accustomed to hearing the words "Drunken Fairy", "Bandung", "Crane Song", "Baofeng" and so on, and at first they are quite curious about the word "Xiuwa".

The owner of the restaurant is surnamed Feng, saying that he and his wife gave birth to three daughters in one go, which is the joy of making tiles. He also said that his daughters were more beautiful than the other, hence the name "Xiuwalou".

Boss Feng is in his forties, with a chubby face, eyebrows, a pair of gentle bull's eyes, and a natural and sincere smile when he ushers in the send-off, sometimes when he sees Hanako coming to the door, he doesn't bluff people like other families, but beckons the guy to send a bowl of rice, and even gives Xiaohuazi two pieces of Ye Xie soft cake.

After a long time, the locals praised Boss Feng, who came from Jiangxi and worked hard to become a shopkeeper since he was a child, and took care of his business.

The year before last, Boss Feng took a good look at Xiuwa Building, and in each private room on the second floor, there were three or five pieces of good porcelain fired by Jingdezhen's famous kiln, such as colorful Rui beast lotus petals, blue and white entwined branch peony brush wash, etc., all of which were loved and appreciated by young ladies and grandmothers or literati and ink writers when they were elegant.

The story and style of the restaurant have been improved, and the reputation is even greater, and the silk merchants and cotton merchants who come and go to Songjiang Prefecture also use it as a good place to invite guests to discuss business.

On this day, it coincides with the yamen of one government and three counties, the weather in early summer is comfortable and pleasant, and at noon, Xiuwa Lou is full of friends, and even more than a dozen private rooms around the cloister on the second floor are also crowded with guests.

"A steamed anchovy with Wuzhou ham."

"A portion of braised yellow eel with shrimp in the river with seeds."

"Ten smoked silks."

"A plate of stuffed bamboo shoots with four cheek perch and diced meat."

The guys shuttled up and down, as crisp as a singing voice, bright one after another.

But no matter how lively the name of the dish is, it is not as lively as the guest officials talking about the city.

Boss Feng personally held a pot of "stinky winter melon steamed stinky amaranth stalks" and a pot of Shaoxing rice wine, through layers of sound and noise, after serving food to the guests in an elegant room, he took off his robe and walked downstairs, and came to the atrium of the restaurant with red pomegranate flowers.

"Boss Feng, the silkworm god offended that foreigner self-combing girl in the Han Mansion and almost roasted her into a silkworm chrysalis, have you heard?"

A diner scooped up half a fragrant chicken claw, sipped the dripping sauce, and smacked his lips and chatted with Boss Feng.

"I knew that day," Boss Feng diligently poured a circle of wine for everyone at the banquet, and said with a calm expression, "We are busy with business all day, and we have no blessing to watch the parade, but how can such a terrible thing be unpleasant?" But ......"

Boss Feng turned around and instructed a guy to quickly add hot tea to the private room upstairs, and then said to the old man who was gnawing on chicken feet, "However, I don't believe it, little brother. It is said that the Zheng girl brought the weaving method of her hometown Zhangrong, and the handkerchief mixed with silk thread and our Songjiang cotton cloth, the court took a fancy to it and sold it to foreigners. Isn't this quite decent, the silkworm god Niangniang knows that the silk spit out by her descendants has come to this use, and she should be happy, and she will be very happy to condemn the self-combing girl......

Before Boss Feng could say the word "even", there was a sudden scream of mixed men and women from the upstairs behind him.

The old diner in front of him also showed a look of horror in his eyes for an instant, and the chicken bone in his mouth fell on the plate with a clatter, and the person jumped up like a bullet.

Boss Feng looked back, and he was also stunned.

But when I saw a private room on the second floor, the sky was blue and white, but the fire was surging, like a huge red and dazzling lantern.

The door opened like a red lantern had burst through a blind, fast-moving ball of fire.

It was a man on fire, wailing and rolling in the hallway.

All of a sudden, the whole restaurant was screaming, and the sound of broken dishes rang out. The guests on the second floor rushed down, and the guests on the first floor rushed out, just for the word "escape".

Boss Feng shouted, "Pump, pump, put out the fire."

The guys woke up from a dream, went to the corner of the wall to get a bamboo water gun-style fire-fighting tool "pump", and ran to the water tank.

Their movements were quick, but when they filled the water, they turned around

When he ran to the fire, the man on fire who had screamed and ran to the stairs like mad a moment ago had fallen to the stairs.

The men were divided into two groups, three spraying water on the burning man and the staircase, and seven or eight others went to extinguish the fire in the private room.

The fire in the latter place, however, was not vigorous, but soon died down, but the fire on the guest's body, like a maggot attached to the bone, stubbornly confronted the column of water, until the victim's head, face, limbs and bones were blackened, and the flame turned into a spark and finally extinguished.

Boss Feng sat on the ground, his teeth fought a few times, before he reacted, and said in a trembling voice: "Report, report to the official, report to the official!"

An older guy rushed out of the door, and the two cooks who came from the back kitchen exclaimed, "Why is there a piece of bamboo foil on the table, oops, there are all on the table, and there are still words, two o'clock chicken, what do you mean?"

……

In the evening, the sky is full of clouds.

In the garden of the Han Mansion, Zheng Shoukuan was talking to Han Ximeng and Zheng Haizhu.

In the days when Zheng Haizhu was recuperating at home, Shoukuan went to school every day as usual, took care of school affairs with Steward Cao, followed up the progress of clothing and embroidery orders with Tailor Fan, and listened to classes with the children.

"Auntie, everything is normal in the school, and a few young and strong students sent by Liu Zhutou have been patrolling the surroundings from morning to night, and they haven't found anything unusual. Mr. Yao refused to go home to rest, saying that she was an official file, and that she was in the school, and that the wicked people in the shadows should not dare to do anything wrong with the school, otherwise if she was injured, Zhuang Futai and Master Huang would definitely investigate thoroughly."

Han Ximeng looked at Zheng Haizhu and praised sincerely, "Azhu, you have good eyesight. When I first saw Master Huang's wife, she was no different from the young grandmother who lingered in the back house and played with pearls, but I didn't expect her to go out with you to do things, and she was quite tenacious and courageous."

Zheng Haizhu pursed her lips and smiled.

She just relied on an experience at the beginning, and Huang Zunsu's wife, that is, a promising child, has a high probability of having a good mother, Huang Zongxi's mother, and should have "magic value".

Of course, there is no shortage of counterexamples in reality, so Zheng Haizhu feels that he is lucky, and the Yao family is really capable of carrying things.

I heard Han Ximeng ask again, "Shoukuan, Lu Gongzi and Second Brother, have you been to Sheshan?"

Shoukuan nodded: "Young Master Lu said that Young Master Gu took him to visit all the mulberry gardens and the shops of the white horse floats. Gongzi said that in order to make sulfur and charcoal into soup, it requires extremely high heat, so Young Master Gu went to inquire about these people, can they have a hand in iron or kiln burning......

As soon as Shoukuan said this, a scream of a maid suddenly sounded in the front yard.

Then came the shouts of Steward Peng and a group of small servants.

"Bolt the door, bolt the door!"

In the sound of ping-pong, the maid and the maid protected the housemother Qian, and ran to the backyard in a hurry.

Han Xi stood up suddenly: "Second aunt, what's the matter?"

These days, the second grandfather of Japan and Han went to Suzhou to discuss business, and the second grandmother Qian was the backbone of the family.

At this moment, she tried her best to show a calm demeanor, and did not answer her niece, but said in a deep voice to Zheng Shoukuan: "Ah Kuan, you run away from the back and call people now, Gu Mansion, Dong Mansion, and County Ya, just say that the uncle and son of the silkworm farmer surrounded our house, and then said that someone else came to arrest Ah Zhu and burn it. Let the officials and the family come and save their lives."

"Huh?" Zheng Shoukuan was taken aback, "Second grandmother, why do you want to burn my aunt?"

Qian Shi just pushed him away: "I will tell your aunt, you go quickly now, don't let people block it."

Zheng Shoukuan woke up, pulled his legs and left, and after a while, he ran back with the maid in the past, panting and reporting: "Second grandmother, Ah Kuan has gone out, a few breaths, it seems that a man scolded and outflanked him from the front, but he just smashed the door, as if he didn't catch Ah Kuan."

Qian's brows tightened, and he briefly said to Han and Zheng's second daughter: "The silkworm farmers said that at noon in Xiuwalou on the other side of the city, a merchant from Ningbo bought some unsightly purses embroidered by Azhu, and was burned to death by Silkworm Niangniang with a heavenly fire, which was exactly the same as the fire that burned Azhu that day. This kind of nonsense, Lao Peng and I don't believe it. But the silkworm farmer is like crazy."

Zheng Haizhu said in his heart, what a mess,

Have I ever sold a purse to a merchant in Ningbo? What the hell are you talking about?

But she quickly glanced at Han Ximeng.

The two tacitly agreed: the wonderful scene is coming.

However, at this moment, you must hide it from everyone in the courtyard, especially the stupid and evil girl in the third room.

In order to act realistically, I can only suffer the kind-hearted second grandmother to be frightened for a while.

Zheng Haizhu then said urgently: "Second grandmother, miss, let's not guess who framed me first. Let's go to the cellar and take refuge, and drag on for a while."

Qian nodded, supported by Han Ximeng, and walked to the stove room in the side courtyard, while instructing the mother-in-law and maidservant, "You go to the east courtyard and let the third grandmother and Ah Ying come over."

……

The space buried underground, although dark, keeps the noise and violence on the ground tightly blocked, but because of the warmth and silence, it makes people feel suddenly safe.

Han Ximeng and his two mothers-in-law sat in the corner with the second grandmother.

Zheng Haizhu leaned against the door of the cellar, which had been plugged in, and pressed her face against the crack of the door, staring at the movement outside.

At this time, it was the end of the unitary period, and there was no palm light in the stove room, and it was dim.

The door of the cellar was open to a few staircases, and a few rays of twilight filtered in from the small window by the chimney, which fell on the wooden steps.

Soon, the little maid guarding the door of the stove room called "Miss is here", the door opened, and Han Xiying's voice said, "Close the door quickly, be careful about those people rushing in".

Immediately, Han Xiying's embroidered shoes appeared on the wooden steps.

"Second aunt, eldest sister." Han Xiying's trembling voice sounded.

Zheng Haizhu could feel the steel chisel in her sleeve, but her hand was still wrapped in gauze, and if the person who came in was wrong, she would not be able to use the short blade as flexibly as before.

Zheng Haizhu gritted his teeth, lifted the wooden latch, and opened the door of the cellar.

In the dim and misty light and shadow, behind Han Xiying, three rough and cold men's faces appeared.

Han Xiying saw clearly that it was Zheng Haizhu who opened the door, and immediately cried out in her mouth: "Don't kill me, don't kill me."

At the same time, the shouting and scolding of the three men covered up Han Xiying's contrived crying.

One of them directly reached out and dragged Zheng Haizhu up the stairs and pressed it to the stove.

The other two pounced on the other women.

Han Xiying cried on her face, smiled in her heart, and ran up the stairs, and unexpectedly appeared in front of her that the man who should have violated Zheng Haizhu.

She was shocked, and before she could react, the man had already restrained her with his backhand, tied her up with a cloth belt, and said to Zheng Haizhu, who got up from the ground, "Look at her, I'll help our people."

Then rush into the cellar.

In the cellar, the situation a moment ago quickly reversed.

The man who had just knocked down Han Ximeng was suddenly subdued by his two accomplices, tied his hands, and lifted him to the ground.

Han Ximeng got up and said to the frightened Qian family and his mother-in-law, "Don't be afraid, those two are not villains, they were sent by Ah Zhu's Fujian villagers in Nanhui."

She and her mother-in-law helped Qian out of the cellar and into the stove.

The bound gangster yelled at the two men, "Which side are you from? Didn't you say that someone paid for us to play with these two little girls, and when the game is done, the price will be doubled."

He turned his head to stare at Han Xiying again: "Little ***, didn't you let Lao Tzu in?"

Han Xiying burst into tears: "You talk nonsense, you talk nonsense."

This time it's really crying.

Qian was completely stunned, and looked at Han Ximeng and Zheng Haizhu: "What's the matter?"

But I heard the footsteps outside the door, and an old but majestic voice said, "Open the door."

……

When Huang Zunsu came back from inspecting the flood control embankment in Fanjiabang, it was already late.

He hurriedly ate a bowl of noodles in the duty room, and then came to the mortuary with two errands.

On the way back to the city, he heard that Xiuwalou burned a merchant to death, and his condition was extremely miserable.

In the mortuary, Wu Zuo was pulling the corpse from Xiuwalou.

It would be more accurate to say that it is bones.

Because there are no more taels of meat left.

Wu Zuo looked frightened: "Master, this is really a heavenly fire, the little one has never seen it in just a few breaths, and it was burned like this."

Huang Zunsu had already heard from his wife that Zheng Haizhu was almost burned to death when he asked the gods some time ago, and later learned about the mulberry leaf spell from the market one after another.

Like his wife Yao, he firmly believed that someone was pretending to be a ghost, because he knew that Lu Xiangsheng and the second young master of the Gu family were both investigating, Huang Zun did not eagerly use the power of the government to participate in the detective.

At this moment, Huang Zunsu said coldly to Wu Zuo, "This person, do you have any belongings?"

Wu Zuo pointed to a large bamboo box brushed with tung oil: "Back to the master, except for the two strings of copper coins in the bones and a few grains of broken silver, this box is intact. The owner of Xiuwa Lou said that it was this merchant who brought him upstairs and put it in a private room, but it didn't catch fire."

Huang Zunsu passed, opened.

A pile of embroidery, colorful.

He picked up two purse-like ones, leaned under the lamp to look at them, and couldn't help but "hiss".

Wu Zuo and the two tolerances peeked from the side, not daring to speak immediately.

They've seen it a long time ago.

In fact, the owner of Xiuwa Building, who came back to see the lively diners halfway through the escape, as well as the passers-by who heard the news, also saw it.

It's not a spring palace picture, it's a war.

What's worse is that whether it is the man who presses the woman inside, or the man who slashes and kills, they are all Japanese people with hair and short shirts, and the women who are ***, or the men who beg for mercy under the knife, are Ming hairstyles, helmets and clothes.

Huang Zunsu threw the purse back into the box.

Only then did he carefully say, "Master, this silk is a high-quality object, and it is printed with the name of the Han family's tailor's shop. The people said that it was the Zheng girl from the Han Mansion who picked up her eldest lady and ordered someone to embroider it. It is rumored that this merchant from Ningbo, like the Zheng girl from Fujian, is the same species that the Japanese people left in Daming."

"Fart."

Huang Zunsu scolded angrily.

The tolerance shrank his neck in fright.

Although Huang Zunsu does not smile on weekdays, he has always never beaten or scolded them, and he has never said rude words.

Wu Zuo secretly gloated, telling you to talk a lot, you forgot, we all talked about it in private, Master Huang fell in love with the little lady surnamed Zheng, maybe he wanted to admit her into the door.

At this moment, a person hurriedly came in from outside the door, it was Liu Zhutou.

Liu Zhutou's face was dripping with sweat, but his expression was excited.

He grinned and said, "Master, the murderer has been found out. In front of the hall, the old lady Miao of the Gu Mansion took many people and waited for the master to go."