Ping'an Inn is located in a secluded alley in Pingqiao Street. It has a wide frontage and three courtyards, but only seven or eight guest rooms in total. Most of the guests are merchants from Shandong who come here to do roasted nuts business. The courtyard is filled with rice, melon seeds, and peas, and the smell of roasted nuts can be smelled from afar.
Ma Fushan didn't dare to take Zhou Shaojin to Ping'an Inn. He spent a hundred dollars to borrow the living room of the neighboring house and asked the old beggar questions.
“… Although the old man is a scholar, he has a sturdy physique… He likes to drink, and every time he goes out, he gets drunk. I always support the old man back and serve him tea… He is a close friend of the twelfth master of the Gu family. The twelfth master of the Gu family comes from a wealthy family, so how can the old man have the nerve to let him treat him to dinner every time? Occasionally, he would return the treat, but he was short of money. Every time, he would ask me to go to the pawnshop. Every time, I would argue with the people in the pawnshop for a long time, trying to pawn the dead pawn as a living one, and to get more silver from the living one…” The old beggar exaggerated his own achievements as much as possible.
Zhou Shaojin, who was standing at the back of the hall, felt his heart tighten when he heard this and whispered something to Shi Xiang.
Shi Xiang nodded and went out to talk to Ma Fushan.
Ma Fushan glanced at the old beggar who was lying on the ground with his head bowed, nodded slightly, and said, "The Gu family you are talking about, is it the Gu family in Meihua Lane?"
"Yes, yes!" The old beggar kept muttering to himself for a long time. The person sitting above him finally responded and he looked up excitedly.
Ma Fushan immediately snorted coldly.
The old beggar only saw a half-length white embroidered skirt standing next to the black lacquered armchair. He knew there was another female member in the room, perhaps a well-known maidservant of the second young lady of the Zhou family. He didn't dare to look anymore, and quickly lowered his head and fell to the ground.
"Just answer whatever you are asked," Ma Fushan said in a deep voice, "Don't talk nonsense."
"Yes, yes, yes." The old beggar nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.
Ma Fushan hummed with satisfaction and said, "What else? Keep talking!"
"Ah!" The old beggar looked up in surprise, then quickly lowered his head.
Sometimes he was asked to answer whatever was asked, and sometimes he was asked to continue talking. Did he answer whatever was asked, or continue talking...
The old beggar muttered to himself, thinking about the mention of the Gu family just now, it seemed that the people of the Zhou family were quite interested, so he continued: "The eldest daughter of the Zhuang family was married to the son-in-law of the Cheng family as a concubine. Speaking of the eldest daughter of the Zhuang family, she is really virtuous. Old An has been lying in bed for more than ten years, and the eldest daughter is not even as tall as the table, but she is already worrying about the family's firewood, rice, oil and salt. When she reached the age of 15, people who wanted to marry her broke the door. It's a pity that the eldest daughter has been engaged to the son of the Cheng family in Cunyifang since she was a child..."
Having said this, he stopped the topic in horror and looked at Ma Fushan anxiously.
Ma Fushan was shocked.
Mrs. Zhuang had been engaged to Cheng Bo, but this was the first time he heard of it.
But he had been through a lot, so he didn't lose his composure. But thinking of Zhou Shaojin... he couldn't help but glance at the hall behind him.
Zhou Shaojin felt like he was struck by lightning. His hands and feet were stiff and he didn't come back to his senses for a long time.
My mother was actually engaged to Cheng Lu’s father!
Does father know
Is there no one in the Cheng family who knows about this
Father should know this, right
Otherwise, why would you marry off your mother's personal maid
And the uncle from the Zhuang family almost forced my mother to jump into the river... What could have forced my mother to almost jump into the river...
Zhou Shaojin's head was buzzing. She didn't know how long it took before her hands and feet regained consciousness.
She wrote a few words and asked Shi Xiang to pass it to Ma Fushan.
Ma Fushan took the note and glanced at it, then said, "We all know what you are talking about. But since you mentioned it, I want to ask you out of curiosity. Since Mrs. Zhuang has been engaged to the Cheng family since she was a child, how did she marry the son-in-law of the Cheng family?"
"This, this I'm not sure about..." the old beggar said hesitantly.
Ma Fushan sneered, "You said you served Old Master Zhuang, but when asked about Old Master Zhuang's family affairs, you said you didn't know. I think you are not here to seek refuge with the Zhou family, but to defraud them of their money, right? Someone!" He shouted, "Take the master's name card and go to the Jinling government office, and say that someone is impersonating an official, and ask Lord Shen Qingyun to issue a warrant to arrest this person!"
"No, no!" The old beggar jumped up in fear, rushed forward and hugged Ma Fushan's legs, saying in a sad voice, "Master Steward, I really didn't lie. Some of the older neighbors also knew about this. But the Cheng family is kind, Master Bai has passed away, and the young master of the Cheng family is a seed of learning, so they don't want to talk about the right and wrong of his family..."
"How dare you talk nonsense." Ma Fushan kicked the beggar to the ground. "The Cheng family treats people kindly. Does that mean that Old Master Zhuang is a tyrant? When the wind blows away the phoenix tree, people will have their own opinions. No matter how kind the Cheng family is, can they control other people's mouths? I think you are tired of living... Come on! Drag him out!"
"Master, let me tell you, let me tell you." The old beggar rushed forward and hugged Ma Fushan's legs again, "It's not that the Cheng family treats people kindly, it's just that I was bewildered and talked nonsense..."
"Why don't you tell the truth?" Ma Fushan saw that this was not a solution, so he said, "I'll tell you the truth. This time, the Second Miss only sent a maid with her. If you behave yourself and wait for the Second Miss's reward to come, I will help you. If you dare not be honest in front of me, I will immediately tell the Second Miss that you are a liar..."
The old beggar originally came for the silver, and his mind immediately started working when he heard this.
This Ma Da steward originally wanted to share the money with him... Then what to say and what not to say is none of his business. As this Ma Da steward said, he will help him when the time comes...
He felt that he understood Ma Fushan's intention.
"Master Chief Steward, I'll tell you everything!" He smiled flatteringly, "The house of the Zhuang family collapsed under the weight of snow that year, but Old Master Zhuang had made an appointment with Master Gu to go to heaven early in the morning, so where did he get the money to repair it? Thinking about the old and young in the family, Old Master Zhuang settled Old Anren and the eldest daughter in the house that Old Anren brought as a dowry...
“It’s just one lane away from the Cheng family. If anything happens, the Cheng family can help take care of it.
"It was all fine at first. Madam Cheng often came to visit Miss Zhuang and Mrs. An, and when Mr. Cheng Bo was free, he would send his servants to ask if there was anything wrong. But as time went on, something went wrong..." He paused and continued, "The eldest lady of the Zhuang family was so beautiful. The ladies in the palace and the fairies in the sky were no more beautiful than her. No one could help but be moved when they saw her.
"Master Cheng Bo was fine before he saw Miss Zhuang. But after he saw Miss Zhuang, he lost six of his seven souls, and the remaining one was distracted. He stopped studying and ran to the Zhuang family as soon as he opened his eyes every day. Whenever there was anything related to the Zhuang family, he would take all the responsibility. He was afraid that others would get suspicious, so if anyone around him asked about it, he would just say that something happened to the young lady who was paralyzed in bed.
"At that time, the Zhuang family kept their doors closed. Apart from the Cheng family, they did not interact with other families. Neighbors did not suspect anything.
"If this happened to a rich and powerful family, it would be a good marriage. But the Cheng family and the Zhuang family are both small families... Especially the Zhuang family. After Mr. Zhuang left for several years, they lived on pawning things. Mr. Cheng Bo was originally an innocent man, but after several years, he became a regular customer of the pawnshop. All the affairs of the Zhuang family fell on Mr. Cheng Bo. For this, Mr. Cheng Bo even delayed his imperial examination for a year!
"Mrs. Cheng saw this and she didn't like it. She tried to persuade Mr. Cheng Bo several times, but he just ignored her...Mrs. Cheng had no choice but to ask Miss Zhuang for help. Miss Zhuang also persuaded him, but he not only didn't listen, but also thought it was an opportunity. She kept chatting with Miss Zhuang, making it difficult for her to advance or retreat...Mrs. Cheng didn't like it even more. She said that Miss Zhuang couldn't control Mr. Cheng Bo, and that she only knew how to spoil him. She couldn't be the head of the family and couldn't take charge of household affairs.
"Miss Zhuang has so much pain that she can't express it. She simply won't see Master Cheng Bo anymore.
"There was even a scene because of this."
Zhou Shaojin, Ma Fushan and others couldn't help but prick up their ears to listen.
"Master Cheng Bai had a classmate named Wang, who was so close to him that they could wear the same trousers. One time, Master Cheng Bai was really depressed, so he told Wang about it. Wang gave Master Cheng Bai an idea and told him to climb over the back wall of the village.
"Master Cheng Bai is also... He actually listened to this Wang and went to climb over the back wall of the Zhuang family.
"Didn't this Wang meet the eldest daughter of the Zhuang family... He wrote a lot of weird poems to her, which made her so angry... that she called Master Cheng Bai and scolded him severely.
"Mr. Cheng Bai stopped associating with the man surnamed Wang, but Mrs. Cheng was worried. She heard from some nun that Miss Zhuang was the reincarnation of a fox spirit and would cause unrest in the family... Plus, Mr. Wang was not willing to give up. Seeing that he had no way to deal with Miss Zhuang, he set up a trap and had someone lead Mr. Cheng Bai to gamble and visit brothels.
"Master Cheng Bo would not go to a brothel. But this gambling... He always won at the beginning. When he won, he would secretly give money to the dealer. After a long time, the person who set up the trap closed the net. How could he win? He could not help but steal things from home and sell them.
“Once, he stole a gold hairpin that Miss Zhuang was carrying with her… Another time, he lost money, and Miss Zhuang had to prepare a banquet to apologize to those people… Although the matter was finally settled with money, Miss Zhuang treated Master Cheng Bo differently… She used to say a few words to Master Cheng Bo in front of Old An, but she never met Master Cheng Bo again after that.
"Later, when Old Master Zhuang came back and learned about these things, he sighed that beauty is a disaster. He told Old Master Cheng that if Master Cheng Bo could pass the imperial examination and become a scholar, the two families would still be married, but if Master Cheng Bo was still a bachelor in a few years, the two families would cancel the marriage.
"Of course Master Cheng Bai is unwilling to cancel the engagement.
“I stayed at home and studied for several years.
"Mr. Zhuang left his daughter at home, waiting for Mr. Cheng Bai to pass the imperial examination.
“As a result, Miss Zhuang is already 20 years old, but Mr. Cheng Bo is still a bachelor.
"Old Master Zhuang saw that his health was declining and he was afraid that he would not live to see Miss Zhuang get married, so he proposed to cancel the engagement with the Cheng family.
"Miss Zhuang didn't agree at first. I don't know what Mr. Zhuang said to Miss Zhuang, but Miss Zhuang agreed.
“Grandpa Zhuang sold his ancestral property and collected five hundred taels of silver and sent it to the Cheng family.
"The Cheng family had an agreement with Old Master Zhuang, so they didn't say anything. They quickly broke off the engagement with the Zhuang family and married the girl from Scholar Dong's family in the west of the city.
"Old Master Zhuang moved to Plum Blossom Lane.
"Later, Miss Zhuang married Mr. Zhou, the son-in-law of the Cheng family."
※
I have a meeting in the afternoon, so the update will probably be around midnight... Sorry, sorry!
※(To be continued)