The maid's road to success

Li Changan sat in the small room, listening to the man's report, and finally felt relieved. He was the one who had someone do Jin Yue's death. To be more precise, he and An Zizhong worked together.

After getting married, Madam Qi and Qi Yangchuan always sent people to scold him to treat Qi You well. Qi You himself would tell Madam Qi about others whenever he was in a bad mood, which made him very depressed. When he returned to the Li family, he couldn't even order the people in his own house around. There were spies everywhere and he was restricted in everything he did. Qi You was very clingy and always wanted him to accompany him. However, he had just been assigned to an official position and it was time to contact his colleagues and familiarize himself with official duties. How could he have so much time to chat and drink tea with Qi You all the time? As time went on, he could no longer suppress the urge to break away from the Qi family.

During the rest period, she didn't want to go home and face Qi You, so she asked An Zizhong to come over for a drink to relieve her boredom. She thought that An Zizhong was now the son-in-law of the Grand Princess and should be able to help her find out some things. However, An Zizhong told her that he could help her drive away Qi Yangchuan and his wife.

Li Changan suddenly felt sober, sat up straight and asked An Zizhong how to get rid of him.

"I can ask Jin Yue to help add fuel to the fire."

The more Li Changan listened, the more confused he became. Although Qi Yangchuan did a lot of foolish things for Jin Yue later on, Jin Yue's identity and background could not determine the fate of an official, right?

"The Fourth Prince wants to deal with the Sixth Prince, and your uncle is one of the pawns. The Emperor is suspicious, and the Sixth Prince is not a pushover. As long as he can make more efforts and make people notice him among the imperial censors, he can use others to drive him away."

Li Changan suddenly didn't dare to sit and talk with An Zizhong casually anymore. He knew that An Zizhong was a capable person, but he didn't expect that the people around his uncle were placed by him. Then, wasn't the farce of the Qi family in the past two years related to An Zizhong?

"Jin Yue is yours?"

An Zizhong shook his head and looked at Li Changan's caution and carefulness, not caring.

"No, but I can get her to do something for me."

Li Changan nodded. He was not very clear about An Zizhong's real purpose, but he was very sure that he must have a certain influence on An Zizhong. Although he also knew that he would not be so lucky to be valued by An Zizhong, Li Changan himself preferred to work with An Zizhong. After all, An Zizhong would not suppress him. Following An Zizhong, he would have his own day to come forward. However, Qi Yangchuan would want to control him one day. Even though he and Qi You had already married, and even though Qi Yangchuan later had an indecent relationship with Jin Yue, he never relaxed. The Li family still had many spies watching him.

"it is good."

Li Changan didn't know what An Zizhong was going to do, but he didn't want to live under Qi Yangchuan's nose anymore.

Ever since they met that day, Li Changan had been paying close attention to Qi Yangchuan's behavior. As expected, he was persuaded by Jin Yue to do his best to discredit the Sixth Prince on behalf of the Fourth Prince.

The Sixth Prince did not pay attention to Qi Yangchuan at first. After all, the Fourth Prince and the Grand Princess had given orders to many people. It was Li Changan himself who spread some news around the Sixth Prince's housekeeper, and then the Sixth Prince noticed Qi Yangchuan's behavior. He originally wanted to get rid of a few people to vent his anger, but he didn't expect to run into one like this.

Li Changan watched Qi Yangchuan being impeached and demoted by the Sixth Prince's men. He returned to the mansion in a rage and rushed out to find Bai Shoude. An Zizhong also helped the Grand Princess and kept avoiding Qi Yangchuan.

Li Changan also had his own spy in the Qi family, but he was not a steward in charge of important matters. He had been guarding near the Qi family since Qi Yangchuan left the Grand Princess's Mansion, fearing that Qi Yangchuan would find other ways to stay in Kyoto. When Qi Yangchuan suddenly began to interrogate Jin Yue, Li Changan roughly understood how Jin Yue made Qi Yangchuan devoted to her.

Seeing that Qi Yangchuan was busy arranging the funeral affairs in Kyoto, the Li family already had more than a dozen servants from the Qi family, which made Li Changan very uncomfortable. If they wanted to transfer more people from the third family, would the Li family still have the final say?

Suddenly someone came to say that they saw Jin Yue climbing out of the wall. Li Changan immediately asked someone to ask An Zizhong what to do with Jin Yue.

The situation was not very good. He looked injured and was running away in a hurry.

"Find someone to kill Jin Yue. Don't let her go to Zhiyuxuan alive, and don't let Qi Yangchuan catch her."

An Zizhong immediately arranged for people to deal with Jin Yue. Jin Yue is now a pot of poisonous cactus. If touched, it will be injured. If forced into a corner, it will reveal its lingering love affairs. By then, if they investigate all the way, they will find out that Simian is from the An family, Zhiyuxuan is also the property of the An family, and Qi Yangchuan is not a good person. He is very difficult to deal with. The reason why they have not dared to kill Qi Yangchuan so far is because Qi Yangchuan is not a small official, and secondly, his own family and Madam Qi's family also have considerable influence in a prefecture bordering Gongzhou. If they are forced into a corner, it will not be good.

"If we were caught murdering someone in Kyoto, we would both be finished."

This was the first time that Li Changan was involved in a murder case, and he was more afraid.

"Jin Yue has no family or friends. If you handle it carefully, no one will care. Qi Yangchuan is the only one in Kyoto who has a relationship with her. But Qi Yangchuan can't look for Jin Yue openly now. Once he leaves Beijing, this matter will be over."

An Zizhong had a lot of thoughts. First, two women in very ordinary clothes followed Jin Yue. When she fell in the alley opposite Zhiyuxuan, they immediately pretended to be people they knew, confused Jin Yue, and then helped her up and walked away.

In this world, if two men were to leave with a weak-looking woman, it might attract other people's attention. But if two young girls were to anxiously hold a woman and say they wanted to see a doctor, no one would pay much attention.

Jin Yue was put on a carriage and her hands and feet were immediately tied up. She followed a caravan from the south and went up the mountain. When she was almost at the cliff, she pierced the horse's butt and rushed down the cliff with her eyes blindfolded. She was smashed to pieces. There were wild beasts under the cliff. In less than two days, she would be bitten beyond recognition by the beasts and all evidence would be lost. Even the clothes Jin Yue wore when she left were replaced with other clothes.

Li Changan himself worked in the Ministry of Justice, and he knew very well how meticulous An Zizhong was in this matter. First, he controlled Jin Yue to make suggestions to Qi Yangchuan, and then instigated him to attack the Sixth Prince and was demoted. Qi Yangchuan was successfully driven out of Kyoto, and no one would find out about the relationship between Jin Yue and An Zizhong. Jin Yue's death was handled too cleanly, and from beginning to end, no one paid attention to Jin Yue being taken away, and no one paid attention to Jin Yue leaving Kyoto, and no one discovered that someone deliberately controlled the carriage to fall off the cliff.

In this way, Jin Yue had no relatives or friends to report to the police, and there were no witnesses who saw Jin Yue being killed. Jin Yue could only die quietly under the cliff in Kyoto, and no one would know how she died.

This was the first time Li Changan experienced such a thing and also the first time he went against Qi Yangchuan. Although An Zizhong helped a lot, it was the first time he took the initiative to oppose his uncle. Li Changan knew very well how cruel his uncle was, and he would not feel at ease as long as Qi Yangchuan had not left.

Always paying attention to Qi Yangchuan's movements.

After Qi Yangchuan woke up in the backyard of the Qi family, he went to find Mrs. Qi and explained to her why he had behaved so outrageously and absurdly during this period. Mrs. Qi kept making a fuss and refused to believe it at first, but later she burst into tears, as if she wanted to vent all the grievances she had suffered in the past two years. Then she asked Qi Yangchuan to hand over Jin Yue to her so that she could vent her anger.

How could Qi Yangchuan refuse? He took Madam Qi with him, intending to let her vent her anger first before interrogating Jin Yue. However, when they arrived at the front yard, they found the room empty. The ropes hanging on the beams and the tiles that had been lifted from the roof told Qi Yangchuan that Jin Yue had escaped.

"What about people?"

The servants knew Jin Yue. In their impression, Jin Yue was a weak and pretentious woman. What could they do being tied up and locked in the room? After guarding for a while, they got tired and sat on the steps to chat without noticing that the woman locked in the room had escaped.

He quickly knelt on the ground to defend himself.

"Qi Yangchuan, did you let that woman go on purpose just to deceive me?"

Mrs. Qi’s first reaction was that Qi Yangchuan was acting and deliberately deceiving her.

"Why would I lie to you? What do you want?"

Mrs. Qi was suddenly speechless. Yes, Qi Yangchuan had quarreled with her countless times for Jin Yue before. In order to help Jin Yue get things, he always came to her courtyard openly, but he had never spoken to her in a nice way or done such a thing like he did today.

"Hurry up and find it!"

Qi Yangchuan looked around the yard and figured out that Jin Yue had escaped by climbing over the wall next to the study. Mrs. Qi followed Qi Yangchuan to the room where Jin Yue usually rested, and watched Qi Yangchuan take out Jin Yue's clothes and jewelry.

"Madam, please sell these as soon as possible. We will exchange them for silver and keep half for You'er, and take the rest to Gongzhou."

Mrs. Qi felt very sad when she thought about the fact that they were going back to Gongzhou again and going back in such a shameful way. She used to be the most precious woman in Gongzhou, and everyone came to curry favor with her. But now that she was going back, she had become a stray dog, and would not only be laughed at and looked down upon, but also face a life that was no longer wealthy.

It was all the fault of that bitch Jin Yue. The Qi family had been running business in Gongzhou for many years and had saved a lot of money, but in less than two years, almost half of it was lost. Fortunately, she held on tightly and refused to let go, so she managed to keep a lot of the remaining money. Seeing Qi Yangchuan's furious look, Mrs. Qi decided not to tell Qi Yangchuan that she had enough money to buy another big house in Gongzhou.

"Okay, I'll pack up some of the larger porcelain corals and sell them together tomorrow. Let's see if I can get a good price for them."

Qi Yangchuan still had something to do, so Mrs. Qi took her people to the backyard.

"Madam, are you really going to sell all of these?"

All the jewelry Jin Yue bought were valuable. She might not be able to get a good price if she sells them now. Moreover, Qi Yangchuan has suddenly changed his mind. Who knows if he is really reliable?

"Don't worry, Nanny. I have a plan. You can pawn the jade beads. They are dead stocks that can bring more money. We can keep the gold and silver jewelry. Sell the ornaments and jade screens that are not used at home as soon as possible."

Mrs. Qi would not listen to Qi Yangchuan. In her opinion, Qi Yangchuan had been such a jerk for Jin Yue before. Who knows if such a situation will happen again? What if Jin Yue comes back and Qi Yangchuan is still the same as before? Or what if another woman appears? Qi Yangchuan has let Jin Yue squander so much money of the Qi family in just two years. She can't guarantee what will happen in the future.

"Nurse, you go with me. Keep 30% of the money you pawned, and give the rest to the master. Also, take the opportunity to sell the things I have and exchange them for gold leaves and silver notes. We will take them with us. I also have You'er and Cheng'er. I can't help but think about them. What should they do if something like this happens again?"

The wet nurse was happy to see that her mistress had finally made up her mind. As long as the mistress could grasp the power of the housekeeper and control the money, she would not have to worry about the master making mistakes again in the future.

Mrs. Qi looked at the account book in her hand. She now had about 40,000 to 50,000 taels of silver from her shop, farm, and jewelry. She would not leave any for You'er for the time being. She would first see how much Qi Yangchuan planned to leave for You'er. If it was too much, she would keep it for herself. If it was too little, she would find a way to supplement it for You'er.

Ever since Qi Yangchuan stole things from her room for Jin Yue for the first time, Madam Qi had already made all the preparations. Every time Qi Yangchuan could take away from her, the only things that Madam Qi had taken away from Jin Yue were the jewelry and ornaments that Madam Qi had snatched from Jin Yue. No matter what, Madam Qi would never let Qi Yangchuan take Jin Yue's things.

Qi Yangchuan had been busy for three days and was no longer as energetic as before. He sat in the study in a depressed mood, looking at the account books and a box of gold and silver bills handed over by Mrs. Qi.

"We are in too much of a hurry to sell, and most of the time we can't give a good price. We have to compare with several shops to get this much money. Most of the jewelry Jin Yue buys are from the silver shops and embroidery shops of famous families. The things in them are very expensive, but they are not made of good materials. We can't get a good price if we want to sell them. Master, do you think it's too little?"

Mrs. Qi thought that some of the money she had withheld had been discovered by Qi Yangchuan, and she felt a little uneasy, but she calmed down in a moment. After all, Qi Yangchuan was the head of the family and was not so clear about the market conditions outside. What's more, Jin Yue was a stupid woman and all the things she bought were fancy and not good things at all.

"Thank you for your hard work, Madam. Take out 10,000 taels from the vault and give it to You'er. Have you chosen the servants you were asked to select?"

Qi Yangchuan felt frustrated when he saw that the money in front of him was not as much as he had expected. He was afraid that the money would not be enough for him to manage his affairs when he returned to Gongzhou.

"Well, I'll send the money over today, and I'll also send the good medicinal herbs in our house. They won't sell for much, and I still have to go see You'er before I leave. But You'er said I can't send the servants, and the Li family can't accommodate them. Let's wait until they move to a bigger house."

Qi Yangchuan never thought that Qi You would not let his family send servants over. When Li Changan knew that he was banished from Kyoto, he bought in advance several maids who were good at cooking and combing hair, as well as those who could play mahjong, tell stories, and sing songs. They filled the Li family's house until there was not even a servant's room available. Although the money box was a lot emptier, after all, without those Qi family members who would only stare at him and remind him, he could do his work easily.

Those servants were bought at a huge price, but they were told to treat themselves as masters. They coaxed Qi You every day, which made Li Changan feel a lot more relaxed.

Li Changan and those specially arranged servants were talking to Qi You. Qi You could naturally see that the servants from the Qi family were self-righteous, disrespectful to the male owner Li Changan, and also drank and gambled. How could he be willing to have anyone from the Qi family come again?