I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 209 Warm-hearted

The man walked in confused, and seemed to be worried that the Chu family had bad intentions, so he didn't dare to get too close.

"Well, you guys are not doing anything bad, are you?"

Bai waved her hand and said, "Don't get me wrong, little brother. We caught a thief last night and were about to send him to the government office."

The man wondered: "Why do we have to put the thief in a vegetable basket when sending him to the government office?"

"This... is a long story." Bai clasped her hands together, thinking about how to say it, but Chu Yuxin, who was holding onto her skirt, had already spoken it all.

He described clearly how the thief broke into his house last night, how he caught the thief, and why he put the thief into the vegetable basket.

Mrs. Bai looked down at her own daughter. She was so good at making up stories. Did she learn this on the stage?
"So that's how it is. In order to avoid causing other troubles, we must not let the thief's accomplices see us." The man nodded repeatedly after hearing this. He didn't seem to doubt that Chu Yuxin was fooling him at all.

Chu Yuxin blinked at her mother and said, "Isn't your little girl awesome?"

Bai pursed her lips to hold back her laughter and raised her hand to touch her little head.

Seeing that Father Chu and Chu Shangming were having a hard time lifting the vegetable baskets, the man stuffed the jar of wine into Bai's hands without saying a word and went over to help.

It's much easier with three people lifting it.

Father Chu smiled and said, "Thank you for your help, little brother. What's your name?"

"My last name is Xiao, Xiaoyue Xiao, and I'm the fifth child in my family. You can just call me Xiao Wu." Xiao Wu said, "What's your name, brother?"

"You are of different generations." Father Chu pointed at Chu Shangming and said, "I see that you are about the same age as my son, so you can just call me Uncle Chu."

"Okay, Uncle Chu." Xiao Wu smiled, and his smile was a bit naive, looking like a very honest young man.

Father Chu thought that this young man was quite pleasing to the eye, and said, "Yesterday I saw the middleman bringing someone to look at the shop, and it didn't seem to be you, but was it your relative?"

"No, they are friends I met through business." Xiao Wu's mind flashed back to the middle-aged couple he had sent away with a banknote. "I was busy preparing the goods yesterday and couldn't leave. I asked them to help me look after the shop. If they are suitable, I will buy it and sell the wine."

"Selling wine?" Father Chu was surprised and looked at him. "There are many wine shops on these streets. It will take some effort to sell wine here."

"I know." Xiao Wu smiled, "I asked about it before I bought the shop."

Father Chu was worried that Chu was being cheated by that friend. He thought that since he had just bought the shop and it had not yet opened, he could switch to another business or sublet it. At most he would have to give up a few taels of silver, which was better than losing all his capital if the business was bad in the future.

However, after hearing what Xiao Wu said, he knew that Xiao Wu had a plan in mind, so he said no more.

Xiao Wu looked at Chu Shangming and asked, "Is this Mr. Chu Shangming, who was awarded by His Majesty to study at the Imperial Academy?"

Chu Shangming knew that the news of his reward by His Majesty had spread, and Xiao Wu had to inquire about the news before he took over the shop here, so it was not surprising that he knew about this. But he was rarely called "sir", and he was not used to it.

He asked, "How old are you, Brother Xiao?"

Xiao Wu said: "Twenty-one."

Chu Shangming said, "I am nineteen. Brother Xiao, why don't you call me by my courtesy name Deyin?"

"Okay." Xiao Wu was a straightforward person. "Don't call me Brother Xiao anymore. We are just neighbors. We will spend a lot of time together in the future. I am older than you, so you can just call me Brother Wu."

Chu Shangming nodded.

Xiao Wu looked at Father Chu and said enthusiastically, "I have an acquaintance in the government office, uncle, I will accompany you to the government office to settle this matter."

"I'm sorry to trouble you. You just moved here, so you must have a lot of things to do." Father Chu waved his hand, "Deyin will accompany me."

"Well, it won't delay anything. I just need to go to the government office." Xiao Wu helped Father Chu to harness the ox cart and said, "Deyin is a scholar. How can he have more strength than me to carry things?" Father Chu wanted to refuse, but Xiao Wu said, "Uncle, don't be so formal with me. It's fate that we can be neighbors. I'm new here and I don't know the neighbors well. When I'm too busy carrying wine and delivering goods in the future, I'll have to ask you to help me."

Having said that, the young man was very warm-hearted, and Father Chu was not a shy person, so he nodded and said, "Okay, if you need any help in the future, just let me know."

"Hey!" Xiao Wu responded with a smile.

The two men drove the ox cart to the government office. Bai tidied up the yard and opened the shop to do business.

In the restaurant selling braised pork diagonally opposite, two customers hurriedly paid the money and left with their packaged braised pork.

While the restaurant owner was looking down to find the money, the two men had already disappeared. She looked towards the street corner and asked curiously, "Why did they leave when they haven't found the money yet?"

*
Posthouse.

The chief guard bowed and reported to the person on the bed: "Your Highness, the Chu family caught a thief last night and sent him to Shuntian Prefecture Government Office in a bullock cart. I saw from afar that the thief was wearing the same clothes that Yao Zhou wore yesterday, and his figure was the same, so he must be Yao Zhou."

Wei Mingliang's face was gloomy.

Yao Zhou is quite skilled in Kung Fu, but he was caught when he was just investigating a grocery store. Could it be that there are hidden dragons and crouching tigers in such a small grocery store?
He thought of something and asked, "Besides you, is there anyone else watching around the grocery store?"

"There are no suspicious people around." The head guard shook his head and asked, "Your Highness, Yao Zhou has been imprisoned in Shuntian Prefecture Prison. Should we send someone to rescue him immediately?"

"Yes." Wei Mingliang said, "Let the people from the merchant company redeem it."

The chief guard received the order and was about to inform the manager of the business when Wei Mingliang stopped him and asked, "How is the matter I asked you to find out?"

"In reply to your Highness, I have inquired carefully and found that the grocery store is just doing ordinary business. There is nothing unusual except that the head of the family often goes out to deliver goods."

Again, nothing unusual.

Wei Ming felt annoyed. There was clearly something wrong, so why couldn't he find out what it was?
He clenched his fists unconsciously, and only slowly loosened them when he felt the pain from the wound, and let out a deep breath.

He said, "Tell the people from the merchant company to go to that street and buy a shop. The closer to the grocery store, the better."

The chief guard didn't understand why his Highness was keeping an eye on a small grocery store. He had carefully observed that the grocery store was ordinary, so why would he spend so much energy on it?

However, these doubts only lingered in his mind.

He thought to himself that this order came at an untimely moment. If His Highness had given the order two days earlier, the shop next to the grocery store would have been an excellent choice, but it had already been sold yesterday.

Wei Mingliang didn't know what he was thinking, so he ordered, "Please bring the princess over."

"Yes, sir." The captain of the guards turned around and went out, telling the maid to ask the princess to come over, while he went to contact the trading company.

At the same time, Dali Temple.

In the duty room, the Grand Secretary of the Dali Temple and two Junior Secretary sat opposite each other, all with worried looks on their faces, scratching their heads over the case of Prince Li.

Zuo Shaoqing said, "Sir, judging from the autopsy results, the prince was defenseless when he died. The murderer must be someone the prince knew. Why don't we investigate again?"

"We have sent people to check all the people who had contact with the prince after he entered the capital. We even sent people to question Princess Gaochang. Everyone can prove that they did not go to the inn when the prince died. The guards responsible for protecting the prince also said that they did not see anyone suspicious."

The Dali Temple official sighed, "There are no new clues. Even if we investigate again, there will be no progress."

How did this trouble fall upon him?

The Dali Temple Minister is worried.

At this time, a guard came in and reported: "Sir, the steward Zhao from the Loyal and Brave Marquis's Mansion wants to see you."