The room fell silent.

Everyone looked at the old lady Lu in the fourteenth room, but Lu just calmly picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, and ate a snack.

After eating, she put down the teacup and said, "You guys also think something is wrong, right?" I didn't think about it back then, everything was crowded together at that time, it was a mess, who would have thought that? ”

Zhou Ma swallowed: "What does Auntie mean...... What's wrong with the fire in the Wang family? Does it have anything to do with Ah Jia or Mrs. Gu? ”

Lu Shi snorted: "Who knows if it has a relationship? Anyway, at that time, Zhou Shuyi's letter was unreasonable, and the mother-in-law in the West Courtyard always sent our eldest daughter-in-law to ask Mrs. Wang what she had told her, which was even more unreasonable! ”

Lu himself actually doesn't remember. After sending away Zhou Ma's ancestors and grandchildren yesterday, the more she thought about it, the more wrong she became, so she called the old grandmother who left her eldest daughter-in-law at home to ask about the details of the year.

This old lady is the nurse of the eldest daughter-in-law, and she is also the dowry girl of the eldest daughter-in-law's mother, and she has been living with the eldest daughter-in-law's mother. A few years ago, the eldest daughter-in-law's mother died, and the eldest daughter-in-law returned to Chang'an for the funeral, so she took the old lady to her mother-in-law's house to care for the elderly, and helped take care of the children on weekdays. Mrs. Wang returned to Liangzhou from the capital before the accident, and when she passed through Chang'an, she came to visit her sister-in-law and nephew. The old lady was originally the daughter of the Wang family, and Mrs. Wang did not shy away from speaking in front of her, she followed the old master and heard a lot of things, but she never had those words related to the fire of the Wang family before.

According to this old woman, Mrs. Wang once complained to her eldest sister-in-law, saying that she went to the capital to make friends with powerful people, but she just wanted to borrow the connections of Zhou Shuyi's husband's family, and it was not a big deal, but Zhou Shuyi pushed back and did not give face to her relatives. Mrs. Wang couldn't see her, so she had to make up her mind from the old shopkeepers she married. It's a pity that the old shopkeepers are willing to help her, but they can't be Zhou Shuyi's master, and they are busy completing the things the hostess tells them to do, so they really can't help her.

Madame Wang was very annoyed, so she quietly went to inquire what they were busy with. I only found that they were buying a lot of medicinal herbs, and some things like fire oil. The former may have been collected for the Northwest Zhou family, but what is the latter for? The Northwest Frontier Army was mainly defending the city, and rarely used this kind of siege weapon, and it was impossible to buy it from the capital all the way.

Mrs. Wang couldn't help but inquire more, only to find that these things were not intended to be transported long-distance, and seemed to be used around the capital. She was shocked at the time, it was the time when the Zhou family and the Sun family were fighting the hardest, and she thought that the Zhou family had decided to be ruthless to the Sun family! After the accident, the merchants in the northwest will not be implicated, right? She went to inquire with the old shopkeeper she knew, and the latter told her that it was to prepare for the excavation of the rocks, and she left in disbelief.

When leaving, she saw a familiar face in Zhou Shuyi's capital trading house, and it was the merchant from the Western Regions who she felt was suspicious and reminded Mrs. Ma not to come and go. Judging by the tone revealed by this person when he talked to the old shopkeepers, Zhou Shuyi seemed to intend to introduce him to other powerful people, so that he could sell the precious spices at hand. Mrs. Wang immediately felt unbalanced in her heart. Why is Zhou Shuyi, who is also a businessman, would rather introduce powerful people to outsiders than help her as a relative? !

In a fit of anger, Mrs. Wang simply stopped begging Zhou Shuyi, but instead begged others to introduce her, and got acquainted with another powerful family, who also had a mother in the palace. It was in order to buy a batch of high-quality gems and spices from the Western Regions for this lady that she hurried back to Liangzhou. When she stopped in Chang'an City halfway, she remembered the cold treatment of Mrs. Ma and Zhou Shuyi's mother and daughter, and couldn't help but complain to her sister-in-law, so she hurried on the road again.

Then she never appeared in front of Lu's eldest daughter-in-law and her mother.

Lu sighed to everyone: "I have never heard of any medicinal materials that Zhou Shuyi also bought for the Northwest Frontier Army. The medicinal materials of the border army have always been purchased from those time-honored trading houses. In the past, the Tu family was also a big family, but after being controlled by the mother-in-law in the West Courtyard, she often transported medicinal materials from the northwest to the capital to deliver goods to Zhou Shuyi's trading house. As for the excavation of mountain rocks, it is even more impossible to talk about. The dowry that Sanfang bought for her in the capital is either a good shop in a prosperous area, or a good paddy field on the outskirts of Beijing, where can she take the trouble to dig a mountain and open a road? Besides, what do you want to do with fire oil for this kind of thing? Why didn't she collect gunpowder? It's not about killing people and setting fires! ”

Thinking about it carefully, Zhou Shuyi really showed a lot of horses back then. Mrs. Ma specially recruited Lu's eldest daughter-in-law to ask carefully, which showed that she was also an insider. The Lu family didn't know what the mother and daughter were planning to do unsavory things, but if they continued to associate with the merchants from the Western Regions who were suspected of being a spy of the Hu people, then it was possible to kill Mrs. Wang's mouth for the sake of secrecy.

Regarding the fire in the Wang family's grain store, the Lu family also heard the eldest daughter-in-law and the in-laws mention that the Tao suddenly burned in the middle of the night that day, because the weather was dry and the wind was strong, and it quickly burned into a piece, but for some reason, the entire grain store, together with the Wang family's master and servant and the grain store guys, did not wake up. By the time the neighbors discovered the fire and rushed to help, there was no way to extinguish the fire, and no one could escape. The only people who could save their lives afterwards were the people of the Wang family who lived far away, as well as the men and guards who had taken leave in advance.

In addition to the people of the Wang family's grain store, the nearby people were also implicated in the fire, and there were many dead and injured, and the supply of grain and grass in Liangzhou Wei was also in an emergency for a while, so it was urgent to transfer several batches of grain and grass from the surrounding guards to help, so that the soldiers did not go hungry.

Because there was no war with the Hu people at that time, the Liangzhou side had always suspected that it was the nearby sand thieves and horse thieves who set the fire, and wanted to weaken the combat power of the local garrison, but no one came forward to admit it.

The consequences of this fire were so serious that after it was transmitted back to Chang'an, everyone was worried about it. Mrs. Ma actually had the leisure to ask Mrs. Wang what she had said to her relatives and friends and who she had seen since she returned from the capital. Not to mention Lu's eldest daughter-in-law, even the Lu family, who is separated by two floors, also thinks she is not like words. If it weren't for the fact that the fourteenth room couldn't be separated from the help of the third room back then, their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law would have wanted to turn their faces with Mrs. Ma at that time.

Lu Shi recalled that year, and couldn't help sighing: "I knew that it was the result of today, I should have turned my face directly with her!" At that time, the old lady was still there, although he had already been deceived by the mother-in-law, but if we dared to make a big deal in the fourteenth room, how could he ask a few words......"

Zhou Yijun asked in a low voice: "What the old lady has always wanted to inquire about is what my uncle and grandmother said today, right?" If it is said that the fire of the Wang family back then was really done by the old lady and her aunt and grandmother in order to extinguish Mrs. Wang's eloquence, then ...... What is the secret of what Mrs. Wang saw back then? Is it because of that merchant from the Western Regions? ”

Haitang looked back at his brother: "This merchant from the Western Regions, could it be the Hu man spy who was caught by the Sun family?" Because he was caught, Zhou Shuyi was worried that the relationship between herself and him would be leaked out, so she was in a hurry to destroy Mrs. Wang's mouth? ”

Haijiao said: "I don't think so. There are more people who know that she has a relationship with the merchants of the Western Regions, if you really want to clear up the relationship, what is the use of just destroying the mouth of the lady of the king? Mrs. Wang was originally a relative of the third room, so it was a big deal to coax her with good words and coaxing, and promised to help Mrs. Wang introduce a few powerful families and just let Mrs. Wang shut up. Mrs. Wang won't have trouble with money, can she still cause trouble for her relatives in order to breathe a sigh of relief? ”

What he was more curious about was what those medicinal herbs and fire oil were used for? Since it was not purchased for the Northwest Frontier Army, and it has to be covered up from people, what the hell was Zhou Shuyi doing back then? !

(End of chapter)