Perhaps out of fear of misunderstanding, she would always avoid shopping at stores bearing the Gu family name. But even though she was on the safe side, she didn't know that some of Gu Huaian's shops didn't bear his name.
The next day, Gu Huaian arranged for a confidant to deliver jewelry to Mrs. Wu.
"Oh my God."
An exclamation attracted the attention of Mrs. Wu who was trying on a hairpin.
"It's that one who doesn't know the rules and is yelling there." Luya, the maid next to Mrs. Wu, scolded.
Then, a woman in pink clothes walked out shakily. Feeling Lu Ya's gaze, she knelt down in fear.
"Please forgive me, madam. Qingguo didn't mean to do it. Qingguo just hasn't seen any lady wearing this hairpin. Madam, you are so good-looking. I was so surprised by her appearance that I uttered such an exclamation. Please forgive me, madam."
Her words immediately attracted Mrs. Wu's attention. Who doesn't like others to praise themselves, especially the women in the back house, who doesn't like others to say that they are good-looking.
"Get up." Mrs. Wu was in a particularly good mood.
"Thank you, Madam."
"Who else has bought this hairpin?" Mrs. Wu asked seemingly unintentionally while continuing to try on the jewelry.
"The wife of the Taiwei, the wife of the prime minister, and a princess are all given by me as gifts, but I think this set of jewelry is most suitable for you, madam."
Qingguo said with a look of regret.
Mrs. Wu, who was listening on the sidelines, was even more happy.
"By the way, Madam, I heard that a queen in the palace ordered a set of jewelry from our store. I think the style of the jewelry is most suitable for Madam. If Madam is interested, she can come to our store to try it out. "
After hearing what she said, Mrs. Wu felt a little moved.
The maid on the side scolded: "What a despicable idiot. All the things he sells are slapped on our wife's head."
"Madam, forgive me, madam, forgive me, Qingguo doesn't dare, everything Qingguo says is true." Qingguo knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately.
"Okay." Mrs. Wu waited for a while before stopping her: "Give her some money and let her go."
"Yes." Luya took the order and handed a purse to Qingguo, "Get out of here."
"Yes, yes, yes." Qingguo quickly took the money and left without missing a beat.
As soon as she walked out of the door, she heard Mrs. Wu asking her personal maid Luya, "Luya, do you think this jewelry on me really looks as good as she said?"
Seeing this, Qingguo knew that he had succeeded and waited for Mrs. Wu to come again.
After returning, Qingguo told Gu Huai'an exactly what happened.
Seeing that Mrs. Wu took the bait, Shen Qianshan began to investigate the people around her to see if he could start with the people around her and let his own people in.
The next day, Mrs. Wu came to the store with her personal maid Lu Ya and asked for Qingguo by name.
"Mrs. Wu, you are here, come to the inner room quickly." Qingguo greeted Mrs. Wu warmly as soon as he saw her. The people shopping nearby were a little envious of her.
When they got to the inner room, Qingguo took out a set of jewelry and said to Mrs. Wu: "This set is what the palace empress wants. Look, is it different from the one you bought before?"
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Wu quickly picked it up and looked at it. The exquisite workmanship was probably not even comparable to the Gu family's jewelry shop.
"The workmanship is indeed exquisite." Mrs. Wu praised.
He was about to try it on himself, but when Qingguo saw it, he quickly stopped him, "Madam, madam, you can't try it on. This is for that empress."
When Mrs. Wu heard this, she was very unhappy and threw the bracelet in the tray. "If you don't want to try it, let's go."
"Oh, wait a minute, madam." Qingguo quickly grabbed Madam Wu.
Lu Ya glanced at her hand, and Qing Guo quickly put it down.
"Madam, although I can't try it on, I can ask our master to make a set for you. The master is my uncle. I just think this set of jewelry is more suitable for Madam. I can't let this set of jewelry fail to show its beauty. .”
"Seriously?" Mrs. Wu asked.
"It must be serious, otherwise why would I bring you to the inner room? The other ladies and I didn't say a word."
What Qingguo said was extremely sincere. Mrs. Wu looked at her appearance and liked this set of jewelry very much, so she agreed nonchalantly.
"Okay, then bring it to my house when it's done."
After Mrs. Wu left, Gu Huaian walked out from behind the screen.
"Bring this to her in two days and tell her that her personal maid is having an affair with Wu Dequan."
Qingguo took the jewelry handed over by Gu Huai'an and nodded in response.
Yesterday, Shen Qianshan sent someone to investigate and found that Wu Dequan had always wanted Lu Ya from Mrs. Wu to fill his house. Mrs. Wu never agreed, but Lu Ya held a grudge against Mrs. Wu and sometimes secretly flirted with Wu Dequan at night. .
If Mrs. Wu knew about this, there would be one less person around Mrs. Wu. They would arrange for another person to gain Mrs. Wu's trust and get close to Wu Dequan, and then the matter of going to the Zongren Mansion would be settled.
Gu Qiang was imprisoned in the clan's mansion. Shen Zhongbai never came back since that time, but he had arranged for someone to be by her side.
Because there was no interrogation, Gu Qiang had been locked up for the past few days. She didn't look panicked at all, as if she didn't know she would be out soon.
Two days later, Qingguo came to Wu Mansion again with jewelry.
After Mrs. Wu tried on the jewelry, she saw that she was still lingering and seemed hesitant to speak, so she couldn't help but ask, "Do you have anything else to do?"
Qingguo glanced at her thick green buds and then at Mrs. Wu, but still didn't speak.
Mrs. Wu immediately understood what she meant and said to the people around her: "You should step back first."
There were only Mrs. Wu and Qingguo in the room.
"Madam, there is something Qingguo doesn't know whether to say, but I feel a bit ashamed not to say it because of Madam's love for me."
As soon as these words came out, Mrs. Wu was confused. She wondered: "What on earth is going on?"
"When I came today, I saw Mr. Wu and Miss Luya..." Qingguo shut up at this point.
Mrs. Wu naturally knew what Qingguo was going to say later. She tried her best to suppress the anger in her heart and scolded: "Can you slander Master Wu? You are a lowly maid who doesn't know how to live or die."
Qingguo was so frightened that she knelt down, "It was Xiao's fault. Please forgive Mrs. Wu. Xiao should not have wronged Mr. Wu like this."
"It's best to shut your mouth. If word spreads, I will take your life." Mrs. Wu said angrily.
"Yes, yes, I have never said anything to Mrs. Wu."
Seeing this, Mrs. Wu released the green fruit with satisfaction.
This matter has been planted in Mrs. Wu's mind, and she will surely send someone to investigate soon. By then, Wu Mansion will definitely have one more concubine.
Sure enough, as expected, Wu Mansion had another concubine, and Mrs. Wu lost a personal maid. Since Lu Ya became a concubine, she also needed a maid to serve her, so the housekeeper of Wu Mansion went out and bought a maid.
Qingguo took the opportunity to go to Mrs. Wu and recommended a guard Fangqian to Mrs. Wu, asking her to arrange Fangqian to monitor Wu Dequan so that she could monitor Wu Dequan's every move.
Mrs. Wu, who had just lost her confidant, received Qingguo's comfort and regarded her as a confidant, and soon agreed to Qingguo's arrangement.
Mrs. Wu originally wanted to bring Qingguo over, but Qingguo refused because Wu Dequan was suspicious.
In this way, Wu Dequan did not have too much doubts about the person she arranged because of his guilt and Mrs. Wu. Because Mrs. Wu hated the Gu family, he trusted Mrs. Wu very much.
Things went particularly smoothly. Wu Dequan sometimes took Fang Qian with him when he went out. It wasn't until he discovered that this guard would protect him that he fully trusted him.
On this day, Wu Dequan was arranged by Shen Zhongbai to interrogate Gu Qiang, and Fangqian followed him.
Zongren Mansion.
Gu Qiang watched her wounds getting better day by day, and sighed helplessly as she was about to undergo punishment again.
"Gu Suran, tell me about your crime."
He was very clear about this matter, so he just went through the motions. He planned to torture Gu Qiang no matter what she said.
"The common people are not guilty to begin with. I wonder what you want the common people to say?"
Gu Qiang was very calm.
"Bold maniac, you have already reached this point, do you still expect anyone to save you? It is a fact that you bought/murdered the murderer, so you should tell the truth honestly and don't make it difficult for the Ninth Prince."
Fang Qian spoke before Wu Dequan, which made Wu Dequan a little dissatisfied.
Gu Qiang glanced at him as soon as she heard what he said. She knew this person. He was someone close to Shen Qianshan.
She immediately understood that this was the person arranged by Shen Qianshan, and immediately returned, "This is something I have never done before. Even if the emperor convicts me, I have never done it. Are these things that the emperor has done so few?"
This subconscious mind means that all this was designed by Shen Zhongbai, so beware of Shen Zhongbai.
Naturally, the people in front of the house also heard it.
"How dare you slander the emperor." Fang Qian turned to look at Wu Dequan angrily, "Sir, how do you want to deal with this kind of madman who slanders the emperor?"
Wu Dequan, who was still doubting the identity of this person, suddenly heard him calling him, and he didn't react for a moment.
"Oh, then give her thirty lashes and you can carry out the execution."
This seemingly unintentional sentence was actually someone arranged by Shen Qianshan in front of the testing room.
"yes."
In response, Fangqian turned around and picked up the whip. When he walked towards Gu Qiang, he was already ready to go back and confess his crime.
"Snap." Gu Qiang didn't feel much pain when the whip was applied, because Fang Qian was a martial arts student, so he knew how to hit the whip so that it would not hurt but make a loud sound.
After being whipped several times, Gu Qiang didn't feel much pain. In order not to be discovered, Gu Qiang could only pretend to gnash her teeth.
"That's it? Didn't you eat?"
The weak voice coupled with the aggressive tone made people wonder how heavy the big whips in front of the room were.
Plus that harsh whip sound.
But hearing these words in front of the house was something else.
After all, Wu Dequan also studied martial arts. If you look closely at his fighting style, you can see the clues.