The maid's road to success

An Zizhong sat in the study, looking at the offering book in the flickering light of the candle. His fingers had wrinkled the book so much that the paper under his right thumb was already torn. An Zizhong put down the offering book and leaned back on the chair.

I had always thought that I was well prepared and strong, but I didn't expect that just reading the confession that recorded one-tenth of what my father and brother had experienced would tear open the cage covering my heart. It turned out that the memory was still so profound that it hurt so much that I couldn't breathe every time I thought of it. An Zizhong closed his eyes, tears running down his cheeks and disappearing into his hair. One could only see his pain and overwhelming hatred from his trembling body.

His father, brother and relatives were convicted based on such a false confession. His father killed countless bandits on the battlefield, but he never imagined until his death that he was strangled by someone with a hemp rope. His eyes bulged out, his face was black and purple, and the flesh on his neck was squeezed so hard that some broken flesh and skin remained in the hemp rope. Blood gushed out, soaking the clothes of the surrounding yamen runners, and there were many bloodstains on the wall. His elder brother, who was so talented that he could be called a genius among the men in Kyoto, was pinned to the ground by those people, who stepped on his face that had long been disfigured. They tied his neck with an iron chain and tied him to the beam of the house, looked at his struggling legs, took off his brother's clothes while jokingly chatting, and carved the word "slave" on the inside of his thigh.

His father killed so many enemy armies that wanted to invade. Even the northern barbarians said that his father was the shield of Chen State. His elder brother helped so many people when he was sent to be a local official. When he came back, the local people made him an umbrella for the people. Some people even offered him a tablet in the place where he was appointed. However, he was humiliated by such a despicable and black-hearted person.

An Zizhong couldn't sleep all night. After reading the confession, he asked Zhuhai to send it to An Wenniang and asked her to arrange someone to find the account book outside the city. The account book of Cheng En Gong's bribery was still outside. All those who might attack him would be monitored, and he was no exception, but An Wenniang was different.

Since I got married, An Wen Niang and I have seldom interacted with each other, let alone had any relationship with the Grand Princess. She only went to the Chrysanthemum Viewing Banquet once, and that was to see the scandal between the Fourth Prince and Princess Baozhu.

An Wenniang knew what was in the purse, but she didn't have the courage to open it and look. She just found a red rope and made a necklace to hang it under her necklace and wore it close to her body.

An Wenniang outlined the location of the land temple on a piece of paper. It was a bit far from the temple where she usually went to burn incense. The land temple seemed very deserted. She could go and take a look nearby tomorrow.

The next day, An Wenniang took Baimei to a place she often went to burn incense, and talked to the monk in the temple who specialized in interpreting divinations.

"I have been dreaming about my deceased relatives today. Please help me to pray for their souls to rest in peace."

Taking the opportunity to stay in the temple to find a solution, An Wenniang stood on the top of the mountain looking in the direction of the land temple for two days. When going down the mountain, she asked Baimei to stand guard at the fork in the road.

An Wenniang brought a bamboo basket with a sickle in it. She looked carefully at every floor tile of the land temple. Finally, she saw a floor tile with a larger gap in the back corner. She pried it open with great effort and found a cowhide bag inside. Inside was the account book that Li Changan had mentioned. An Wenniang flipped through two pages and found that it indeed recorded a large amount of silver and money accounts. She quickly put the money in her arms, put the brick in place, and then picked up the soil to fill the gaps between the bricks.

After a careful look and checking the surroundings, Bai Mei left carefully. She was worried for a long time. When she saw An Wenniang come out safely, she carefully pulled her aside, looked at her, and helped her brush off the dust on her body.

An Wen's mother thought about it and untied the strings of the account book. She took a rope and tied them around her own and Bai Mei's legs. After the ropes were separated, seven or eight account books were tied around each leg, so even if someone searched them, they could not find them.

As expected, the security at the city gate had been tightened. When I went out three days ago, I was required to explain the reason and time of my going out. Now when I come back, I am still interrogated, and men are searched.

An Wenniang and Bai Mei walked up to them, took out the sachets and talisman papers left behind after a ritual was performed in the temple, and even told them which monk had performed the ritual.

"Take out your belongings and check them."

Bai Mei looked around and stuffed some money into the gatekeeper's pocket.

"Sir, we girls only have these two bamboo baskets, and we have no place to put things on our bodies, so we only have two purses and jade pendants."

The guard weighed it and found it was about one or two taels of silver. He nodded with satisfaction and took a quick look through the bamboo basket. At a glance, he saw only some cosmetics, makeup, and shoes and socks for replacement, nothing special.

Seeing that the two were well-dressed, they should not be the daughters of ordinary families. Their families have always been powerful. After a quick glance, he saw that they were not wearing much and had slender figures, so they did not look like they were hiding anything. He nodded and let the two people in.

After thinking about it, I whispered a reminder to the two of them.

"There have been thieves in the city recently, and the gates in and out of the city have become increasingly strict. If you have nothing to do, try not to go in and out as much as possible."

Bai Mei thanked them and took An Wen's mother away. When they reached a safe place, she quickly took the book off her legs and put them together. The book was wrapped around her inner thighs and it hurt her legs from walking too much.

"Go and tell my brother to come over."

An Wenniang looked at the unusual atmosphere in the city. There were some people in very ordinary clothes looking through the things in the stalls and just said that they lost something.

An Wenniang asked as she pulled a man who was hurriedly leaving with a basket of snacks on his back.

"Brother, what's going on? Why is it so chaotic?"

The man selling snacks seemed to be very angry and spoke in an impatient tone.

"Who knows? These people from the Wolf and Tiger Gang suddenly said they lost something, and they have been searching vendors everywhere these past two days. They are usually not so brutal when asking for stall fees and tributes."

After saying that, she left without looking back. An Wenniang looked at those people who were called the Wolf and Tiger Gang, pulled Bai Mei back, and wrapped the books that had been taken down and placed in the basket back around her thighs that had been rubbed red.

"What's in the basket?"

An Wenniang's Baimei was walking along the main road when she ran face to face with two members of the Wolf and Tiger Gang. They snatched the bamboo basket from her hands and wanted to look.

"Who are you? So rude?"

Bai Mei protected An Wen Niang behind her and spoke coldly.

"Oh, the young lady has quite a temper."

When the man saw that both of them were good-looking and one of them was a young lady, he immediately became lustful and wanted to tease them.

"How dare you! If you dare to touch us, you will die miserably."

An Wen Niang scolded Bai Mei harshly from behind. The pampered life she had lived in the past few years had made her develop an aura of authority without even getting angry. The man was stunned for a moment, then he realized that he was being scolded by the two girls. He was so embarrassed that he was about to pull Bai Mei away and scare An Wen Niang, but was seen by people nearby.

"What are you doing? Business is the most important thing. If you miss it, you will lose your hand."

A man who looked rather cold and steady came up from behind and stopped the man's actions. Kyoto was full of nobles and royal families. Although these two women were young, they were definitely not from ordinary families. They must be from wealthy merchants or wives of officials, otherwise they would not be able to maintain such a noble demeanor. Their presence here to look for something had already attracted the attention of many people, and nothing else could happen.

If these people from the Wolf and Tiger Gang didn't know the mobile vendors and shops in the market best, they wouldn't have cooperated with them. They are really hopeless and have no rules at all.

The man was scolded, and he felt unwilling in his heart but dared not to talk back. He threatened An Wenniang with his eyes, walked to the side, pulled up a vendor, opened the vendor's wooden box and started to check, and his actions were even more arrogant and domineering.

An Wenniang pretended to be very angry and pulled Baimei to talk.

"It's really a bad year. I encountered something like this just when buying something. It's terrible."

After getting away from the Wolf and Tiger Gang, An Wenniang asked Baimei not to inform her brother.

"Lord Cheng En is getting really anxious now. He even dares to look for gang members. He starts searching directly on the street. My brother must be keeping a close eye on us. We better be careful recently and don't arouse other people's suspicion."

Bai Mei was puzzled. How did the girl know that those people were helping Cheng Engong find the so-called account book?

"How did the girl know those people were looking for the account book?"

An Wenniang hurried home while explaining in a low voice to Baimei.

"You didn't realize that the so-called Wolf and Tiger Gang is made up of two groups of people. One group is the real Wolf and Tiger Gang, they dress like gangsters, and their speech and behavior are very vulgar. The other group has a good physique, and their speech and behavior are different from those of the Wolf and Tiger Gang. They are very disciplined. They can also tell the difference between ordinary people and powerful people. I think only the guards or secret guards of wealthy families can do that."

Bai Mei nodded. These people were so crazy that they were searching the streets? Did they really think that Kyoto was their home? Then were they searching the streets today? Wouldn't they be searching the mansion tomorrow? Had Lord Cheng'en's power reached this point?

"After returning, we must find a proper place to hide the account book. It seems that this account book can really deal a heavy blow to Lord Cheng En, otherwise he would not be so disrespectful."

An Wenniang and her partner returned to the yard and immediately closed the door. They discussed with An Yun where the account book should be hidden. While Baimei and An Yun were discussing, An Wenniang rebound the book with needle and thread. She glanced at a few pages and suddenly widened her eyes in horror. No wonder Duke Cheng'en was determined to find the account book at all costs after he knew about it. The things recorded in it were too shocking. It turned out that the amount of money embezzled by Duke Cheng'en was so huge. He also withheld military pay, sold official positions, misappropriated items from the national treasury, and colluded with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to transport items that should have been tribute to the harem to Duke Cheng'en. There were even records of stockpiling weapons.

Duke Cheng'en was not simply greedy, but had the intention of treason. He was not greedy enough to be greedy for so many things. Why did he stockpile weapons? Why did he withhold some of the cotton-padded clothes and shields shipped to the border troops and send them to his private residence? Why did he buy a large amount of mountain land?

Why did An Wenniang and An Zizhong cooperate with the Hua family for the land of Xishan? Wasn't it because they wanted to raise a group of their own secret guards and spies, and needed such a deserted and private place where no one could touch to train talents?

So when An Wenniang saw the name of the mountain and compared it with the display and records on the map, she immediately had a bad idea.

She rewrapped the stitched book with cowhide cloth, and seeing that An Yun and Bai Mei had not yet agreed on a good location, she asked them to leave. This matter involved too many things and was beyond their expectations, so the fewer people who knew about it, the better.

Several people were driven out of the room by An Wen Niang. An Wen Niang examined her room. It was unrealistic to pry open the floor tiles. She needed to be able to take them out immediately when An Zizhong came to get them one day. Besides, the floor tiles were tightly fitted together. One reason was that it was difficult for An Wen Niang to do it by herself, and the other was that the floor tiles at home were not as messy and damaged as those in the land temple that was nostalgic and in disrepair. The floor tiles here could be seen by moving one of them.

After thinking about it, An Wenniang took apart her soft needle, mended the cowhide that wrapped the book, stuffed it into the inner core full of Cassia seeds, and then sewed the outside layer by layer. She was famous for her needlework in the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion, so she was able to take the pillow apart and then restore it to its original state. People always want to find an absolutely safe place to hide things, but the so-called the more dangerous the place, the safer it is. She used this pillow every day, so unless you kept fiddling with the pillow, no one would guess that she would put such an important thing on the bed.

An Wenniang originally thought that she should not let An Zizhong take risks, but after she saw the contents of the book, she knew that she needed to let An Zizhong know the contents of the account book as soon as possible, so she decided to go find An Zizhong herself first. Things like books are taboo now, especially since An Zizhong is now the focus of Duke Cheng'en because of the Grand Princess and the Fourth Prince, so it is not appropriate for him to take the account book with him.

After thinking about it, An Wenniang packed two pairs of newly made shoes and a purse, and took some cakes to find An Zizhong. Sure enough, when she was at the door, she could feel two pairs of eyes staring at her.

An Wenniang was An Zizhong's sister, so everyone in the yard naturally recognized her and opened the side door to invite her in. An Wenniang felt that her meeting with An Zizhong would not be so smooth. Sure enough, after walking for a while, she suddenly stepped on a stone, twisted her foot and fell to the ground. The basket she was carrying also turned over, and the things inside spilled out.

The people following behind hurried over to help pack up. An Wen's mother's hands were scratched from the fall, and her eyes were filled with tears, mumbling something.

"It's really unlucky. If I had known, I wouldn't have gone out today."

In fact, An Wenniang was carefully looking at the servants who were helping to pack up. Who could it be? She clearly didn't see any stones on the ground just now, so how come a stone suddenly appeared under her feet? Could it be that these people would test it like this when they saw someone bringing something in to see if there was anything mixed in that shouldn't be there?

An Wenniang finally arrived at An Zizhong's study. Seeing her limping, An Zizhong hurriedly pulled her to sit down.

"what happened?"

An Wenniang spread out her hands and complained.

"I was walking along the road and a stone hit me, so I fell."

He sounded aggrieved as he spoke, but his eyes were reminding An Zizhong to drive everyone away.

"Go get me some medicated wound medicine, some tea, and some cakes."