The maid's road to success

Zhuhai hid on the roof, and when it was too cold to stay there any longer, he finally waited until it was time for them to rest.

"Mother, today the steward of Zhushan came to inquire about the cakes. Will it be bad for them?"

The wife of the magistrate looked at her daughter's tender face and felt a little worried.

She decided to help those people conceal the truth today, and she knew that if it was discovered, it might implicate her family, but she always felt that one should not be so snobbish.

They turn a blind eye to the good things that are done to you, and instead curry favor with high-ranking officials and nobles by closing off the city.

My husband's job as an official is very hard, but he also attaches great importance to the upbringing of his children. He and his wife do not want their children to be exposed to the power and filth of officialdom too early, thus affecting their own character.

"Don't worry. We were just asking about the cakes and honey tea. We didn't tell them where they came from or who made them. It's not that easy for them to check."

Jin'er nodded.

"Just don't get in touch with them recently, so as not to cause trouble for everyone. Wait until everything is calm before going."

Jin'er also knew what she should do.

"Mother, I know. I won't buy cakes until the Protector of the Country and the others leave."

Although Jin'er didn't have much contact with the ladies in Yufuzhai.

But she also knows that once a teacher, always a father.

They were not proper master and apprentice, but during those days in Chunyuan, the two ladies instructed the female workers in her unit and taught her how to make tea as the wealthy families did.

Tell her about the customs and habits of various places and point out the etiquette rules to her.

Apart from her own elders and the teaching nanny, who else would explain these things to her in detail?

You can't find such a person even with a lantern.

Seeing Jin'er's determined eyes, Mrs. Tongpan felt a little relaxed.

The couple attaches great importance to the upbringing of their children and almost does it themselves.

No matter how busy the husband is or how he flatters his superiors in the officialdom, he hopes that his children will try not to be exposed to the disputes and filth in the officialdom as early as possible.

Although their children have been studying hard with the teachers, they will also take the path of imperial examinations in the future.

But my husband still hopes that the children can have a sincere heart and not be tempted by the bad habits of officialdom too early.

The same goes for daughters. Although the wife of the Tongpan would use the conflicts within the various families to teach her daughters not to be bullied after getting married.

But they never teach their children to really come into contact with these things. They still hope that their children will know more, but try to experience simpler things.

Regarding the matter of Madam Yufuzhai, Lady Tongpan guessed that the two of them did not want to reveal their identities.

Since he chose to hide and interrogate the prisoner, and live safely in a small shop, he must have his own unspeakable secrets.

If the other party wanted to let the Duke of Protectorate know their whereabouts, they could have told him themselves when they first arrived in Yuzhou.

Otherwise, the manager of Zhushan would not be still inquiring and investigating.

When Zhu Hai saw them lying down and the surroundings were quiet, he quietly left and returned to the second house.

"I heard clearly that they concealed the truth."

"They know exactly where the cakes came from, but they deliberately didn't tell us the truth. They didn't make the honey tea either. They did it to help those people conceal their whereabouts."

Zhushan looked at Chen Luoxi's face and felt a little worried.

"Find the records of the shops we screened earlier."

Zhushan went to the desk and got it. He understood Chen Luoxi's thoughts.

The wife and daughter of the magistrate knew the man selling pastries before and had been in contact with him before the disaster.

After all, they were the wives of officials. Apart from the cakes made in their own home and those given by relatives and friends, their only source of food was to buy them from outside.

Considering that the Tongpanfu's private residence was in Yuzhou Prefecture, the place where cakes could be sold was in Yuzhou City.

And it has to be a legitimate shop. The food from that kind of stall is popular among ordinary people and is cheap.

But ladies of status pay more attention to the appearance and ingredients, so the shop must be a specialty of selling snacks.

"Sir, there are two, Yufuzhai and Qixiju."

Zhushan looked at the two names. The owner's name was not recorded on them. They were both white deeds.

There are two types of deeds. The red deed is more expensive and is directly recorded in the name of the store owner. If the deed is lost, you can apply for a new one.

One is a white deed, which does not have the name of the actual owner. The deed is considered to belong to whoever holds it. Therefore, most people make a white deed to hide who the real owner is.

Either to give as a gift or as a bribe.

These two shops are both white-leased, and both are newly opened dim sum shops in Yuzhou City, so we need to inquire about them carefully.

"I will inquire about the situation of these two shops tomorrow. The cakes they sent still taste sweet even when they come to Anyun. They must have been made recently."

"And it hasn't been long since I've been here. I'll go ask the guards. They should have some clues. The girl must be safe now."

Chen Luoxi held the porcelain jar and nodded.

It will be soon, we will find Wen Niang soon, just wait a moment.

Zhushan and Zhuhai made the bed and watched Chen Luoxi lie down, then took Zhuhai out to the yard.

"Zhu Hai, you have a good relationship with the guards, go and find out who has come to see the women of the Tongpan Mansion recently, what they came for, what their names are, and where they live."

Zhuhai nodded, went to the room to get a gourd of wine, and went to where the guards were resting.

"Zhuhai Guards are here so late at night, but what's the matter?"

The bamboo sea sways the wine gourd.

"I stole a pot of wine from Zhushan and drank it with my brothers."

The guards' eyes lit up when they saw the wine, and they laughed even harder when they heard the origin of the wine.

"Come on, come on, no one is on patrol tonight, let's have a couple of drinks."

Zhuhai drank a few glasses with the others before gradually getting to the point.

"I'm so worried all day. Our wife likes cakes, and the master wants to find a cake chef to make her happy, but where can I find a good cake chef here?"

The guards didn't think much about it and one of them spoke directly.

"The cakes in Yuzhou are pretty good, but we don't have the energy and time to make them right now. But there are some disaster victims who can make cakes. We can ask if anyone can come."

Zhuhai shook his head and said no.

"Our Madam loves the people the most. In this situation, she would rather endure it than trouble the victims. You know, fortunately the Tongpan Mansion sent some. At least Madam is much happier today."

When a guard thought of Tongpan Mansion, he remembered one thing.

"The cakes for the Tongpan Mansion were specially delivered by a child. It seems that the child often visits the Tongpan Mansion. The servants of the Tongpan Mansion came to pick them up."

"I remember that he brought a bag of snacks and stayed with the wife of the magistrate for quite a while."

Zhu Hai looked at the guard curiously.

"Oh? That's perfect. That person lives there. Since we can do business with the wife of the magistrate, we can also go and buy it."

The guard shook his head.

"I don't know about that. As long as they are not problematic, it is not convenient for us to interrogate them too much."

Zhu Hai lowered his head to hide the disappointment in his eyes.

"That's a pity. I have to look for him again. But aren't you in charge of patrolling our yard? Why are you also in charge of receiving visitors from the Tongpan Mansion?"

The guard sighed.

"Why should we entertain him? That guy was always hanging around here. We caught him and asked him about it. He said he knew the young lady from the Tongpan Mansion and was delivering cakes to her, but couldn't find the way."

"We thought he was lying at the time. After all, he wasn't dressed well, just coarse cloth. But a servant from the Tongpan Mansion came over and said he recognized him, so we let him go."

"But that kid is really good at dealing with things. Before he left, he came to the yard and gave us another bag of cakes. They were delicious. My daughter was happy for two days."

Zhu Hai asked because he saw everyone teasing him about having something to share.

"You are so good at dealing with things. What's your name? I'll see if I can find out later. Go and look for her."

The guard frowned and thought for a while.

"I heard him say it once. His name was Wu, Wushan. The people in the Tongpan Mansion should know where he is. They said that the wife of the Tongpan Mansion stayed at their place some time ago."

The other guards added.

"It seems that before the adults and ladies came here, they lived in a place further east for a while. The place was a bit small, and they were afraid that they would need to accommodate people coming from Kyoto and that they would have to ask people from the government office to come as well, so they moved here."

Zhuhai nodded, and when he couldn't get anything out of him, he left the room, making the excuse that he had to go back to stand guard.

Zhushan waited for him to come back, asked him about everything in detail, and then hurried back to the main house.

Chen Luoxi was not asleep. Zhushan was guarding in the outer room and kept hearing the sound of him turning over.

"what happened?"

Zhushan came in with the light on, and Chen Luoxi sat on the bed, closing his eyes and thinking.

"Zhu Hai went to ask the guards about the people who had recently visited the wife of the Tongpan Mansion, and made an important discovery."

Chen Luoxi opened his eyes, looked at Zhushan, and asked him to speak quickly.

"The girl may have sent someone to inquire about the news from us."

"Zhu Hai asked the guards, and they said that the child had been hanging around our yard since he came here, and only said he was sending cakes when he was discovered. He also came here specially before leaving and gave the guards a bag of cakes."

Chen Luoxi sat up straight and began to think.

"That child's name is Wushan. I heard from the guards that he is only about 11 or 12 years old. Why is there a half-grown child in front of the girl?"

"Besides, it is said that before the prefect and his men moved here, they lived in a place for a while, which is where the child lives."

Chen Luoxi spoke slowly.

"The one who came to investigate was not Wen Niang, but Bi He."

Zhushan looked at Chen Luoxi and didn't understand why the person investigating was not the girl, but the woman named Bihe.

"Mrs. Wen would rather I don't get any news from her. She won't take any risks. She also knows that you guys are following me. If you find Wushan, it will be bad."

"But Bihe doesn't recognize you, and she cares about Wen Niang very much. When she heard that there was a woman named An Wen Niang by my side, she would definitely suspect that someone had replaced Wen Niang, or that I had changed my mind. That's why she sent people to investigate."

Zhushan nodded.

"But today's information is not in vain. Knowing where they lived will make it easier to find out. Don't ask the women. It's too troublesome for you to go there. Go ask the manager of the prefectural government."

Zhushan said he understood, and only after he had further news about Chen Luoxi did he lie down with peace of mind.

The next morning, Zhushan came to where the managers were.

"Meet the steward of Zhushan."

Zhushan smiled and waved his hand.

"We all serve our masters, it's all the same, no need to be so polite."

Zhushan came over with a few bags of herbs.

"The ladies are worried that you have been busy with things here all day and neglected your family, so they asked me to bring you some medicine for your sisters-in-law and children. These herbs are more valuable than those boiled by the victims."

Several managers took it with joy.

"I mainly wanted to chat with you guys. I was exhausted after dealing with the disaster for such a short time. You guys are amazing. You seem to be very calm after such a long time."

Several managers were also very happy to hear Zhushan praising them like that, and greeted them by saying "no, no".

"We hurried over here. It was really hard for people to move around in the rain, but I heard that several managers have been looking for a suitable place for everyone to take shelter. I don't know how much they worked to get this safe place."

A manager felt sad when he thought about the scene where it was raining heavily during that period and they had to keep going out to find accommodation.

"It's what we should do. We couldn't find it anywhere at first. Fortunately, we arrived at Chunyuan. The chief steward of the Tongpan Mansion knew the master's family and asked the masters to live in Chunyuan. Now we can free up our hands and look for a place to live."

When Zhushan heard Chunyuan, he immediately perked up.

"Chunyuan? It sounds like the outer courtyard of a wealthy family. Even the chief steward of the Tongpan Mansion knows it. It must be a good place. Why doesn't he live there forever?"

The steward waved his hand.

"It sounds elegant, but it's actually three shabby courtyards. The owner lives in one, with dozens of children squeezing in. So they made two courtyards for us, one for the men and one for the women. There's not even much supplies, so it's so crowded."

"Yes, the house leaks, the window paper is broken, and there is not even any decent furniture."

"It took us a long time to clean up the place until it was barely habitable. If it wasn't for the heavy rain and the blocked roads, we wouldn't dare let our masters live there."

"I'm curious about where that place is and why there are so many children. The owner of the house is willing to give up two yards. He is a kind-hearted person."

The manager gossiped.

"Yes, I heard that those children were from the charity hall, and they were taken in by the owner of the house. Before he left, there was a group of children who were lost from the charity hall, and they were also taken in by them."

"It's in a place on the way from the city. You can see it from the official road. There are three small courtyards."

Zhushan suddenly stood up, said goodbye to everyone, and trotted back to the yard.

He had an impression of that place. On the first day he came here, the more steady yamen runner led the way for them halfway.

I once said that if the road is difficult to walk on, you can go there to rest first.

They were in such a hurry to get on their way that they had no time to rest. Now it seemed that they had just missed the opportunity to find the girl as soon as possible.

I have to tell the Master quickly. I don’t know how regretful he will be when he finds out.

If we had listened to the bailiff and stopped to rest for a while, perhaps we wouldn't have been delayed for so long and made the young master worry for so long in vain.