As expected, Xu Shichu found the incense-making raw materials on the wall of the mud room that were obviously stolen from her spice shop, as well as several spice recipes and an investigation into the situation of the spice shop's craftsmen.
After finding these, Xu Shichu lit another incense stick. A quarter of an hour later, the fierce expression on the tied man's face changed, and he began to look dazed.
It was only at this time that Xu Shichu repaired his jawbone, allowing him to regain the ability to speak.
"Tell me, who is the person behind the scene who asked you to go to the spice shop in Zuixiang Pavilion to steal the incense?" Xu Shichu asked.
The man's eyes were dazed, but he answered word by word, "I don't know. Only a masked man came to me at night and asked me to go to that address to steal the spice recipe, and hopefully persuade the craftsmen inside to defect."
"What does that man look like? What are his characteristics?" Xu Shichu continued to interrogate.
"I can't see his features clearly because his face is covered. He is about five and a half feet tall and of medium build... Features? The thumb on his left hand seems to be underdeveloped, with only a short section." The man answered in a serious tone.
"Then how did you contact him after stealing the spice recipe?" Xu Shichu asked again.
"After stealing the recipe, I hid the message in the statue of the Earth God in a dilapidated temple five miles outside the city in the direction of Dawo Village. That person will go to get the message regularly, and then I will wait for him to contact me." The man was like a puppet without his own will, and he gave the contact information of the person who ordered him without reservation.
After hearing what he said, Xu Shichu was not at all surprised by the caution of the person behind the scenes, but she already had an idea in her mind. She knocked the man unconscious and threw him into her companion space to make sure he would not come out and alert the enemy.
After finishing all these, it was already late. She collected all the information collected by the spy and returned quietly to the prime minister's residence. She changed her clothes and went back to sleep.
After daybreak, she was not in a hurry to look for the person who was in contact with the spy, but patiently continued to be the prime minister's wife, occasionally teasing little Du Zhao.
After dark, she disguised herself as the spy and rushed to the dilapidated temple that the spy had mentioned. As expected, she found a tattered statue of the God of Land. She then hid the modified spice recipe and the craftsman's personal information inside the statue.
It was impossible for the contact person to appear in the dilapidated temple immediately and take the things away, so Xu Shichu just hid the things and left.
She was not worried about not being able to find that person. After all, the information she hid was stained with a special almost colorless and odorless smell. It just so happened that her powder moth could smell it, and Xu Shichu could also smell it when he was close. The spy was an example of someone who was caught.
The bait has been released, but Xu Shichu is not in a hurry to fish it out. After all, it will take some time for the fish to take the bait.
After waiting for another seven days, Xu Shichu went to the ruined temple to check, and sure enough, the information she had placed there had disappeared. Apparently, it had been taken away by someone. So she released the powder moth and chased it back to the city.
But this time, the place where the powder moth flew to was not the slums in the west city, but the wealthy families in the east city.
Before Xu Shichu sneaked in, he saw the words "Qu Mansion" written on the plaque on the gate of the mansion that the powder moth flew into.
Even in the middle of night, one could see that the Qu Mansion was extremely grand and magnificent, with carved beams and painted pillars, rockery and rivers and ponds. It was magnificent and splendid, and it was obvious at first glance that it was a luxurious mansion that only wealthy and powerful families could afford to live in.
In this way, it becomes clear which family the Qu family belongs to. After all, among the powerful officials in the current dynasty, only one has the surname Qu.
That was Qu Xiaofeng, the second-rank commander of the palace. Qu Xiaofeng was the uncle of the current second prince. He was in a high position and had great power. He was working hard to help his nephew ascend the throne, but he did not expect that his efforts would end up affecting Xu Shichu.
It takes a lot of money to fight for the throne, but Xu Shichu didn't expect that the commander-in-chief of the palace, a second-rank official, would not even let go of her small Zuixiang Pavilion. Should she feel honored
The moth did not fly to the magnificent main courtyard, but instead flew to a servant's room on the left side of Qu's mansion and stayed on the beam. Xu Shichu lit a magic incense to make everyone in the room faint, and then walked in.
There was a man of middle build in the room, hugging a woman and lying on the bed with disheveled clothes. Xu Shichu happened to notice that the man's left thumb was shorter and thicker than that of an ordinary person, and he immediately knew that this man was the one the spy had mentioned, the one who gave him the address and asked him to go to the spice shop to steal the spice recipe.
This man is a servant of the Qu Mansion, so it is easy to imagine who his master is. Who else could it be besides the master of the Qu Mansion? Xu Shichu did not need to find the right person behind the scenes. She only needed to know that the people who attacked her Zui Xiang Pavilion were from the Qu family.
She is impatient to take revenge bit by bit, and is better at cutting off the source of the problem.
The reason why the Qu family had the energy and confidence to steal her secret spice recipe was because of the Palace Commander Qu Xiaofeng and the Second Prince, wasn't it
Then she will get Qu Xiaofeng and the second prince!
Those who can have a smooth career and become high-ranking officials rarely have clean hands. The fact that the people in the Qu Mansion used such underhanded means to seize Xu Shichu's secret recipe of spices already shows that they have evil intentions.
If a person with evil intentions happens to be powerful, will he refrain from doing things like bullying others, bullying men and women, murdering for money, abusing power for personal gain, embezzling money, and accepting bribes
This is impossible, so Xu Shichu plans to help the second prince's rival to get rid of Qu Xiaofeng.
Of course Xu Shichu didn't try to deal with him openly. After all, as the prime minister's wife, her status was inconvenient, and it was more convenient to deal with him secretly.
She didn't do anything but found the secret room in Lord Qu Xiaofeng's study, and in the secret room she found evidence of how he had helped the Second Prince make money, embezzled money, and accepted bribes over the years. She quietly placed half of the evidence in the First Prince's study and the other half on the Third Prince's desk.
In this way, there is no need to worry that the eldest prince or the third prince will be partial to Qu Xiaofeng and not get rid of him. Instead, they will find something against him to make him work for them.
In addition to collecting these evidences, Xu Shichu also did not forget to collect all the gold, silver, jewelry and rare treasures that Qu Xiaofeng had placed in the secret room and put them into her own companion space. If she did not accept these ill-gotten gains, would she leave them for this corrupt official
Xu Shichu didn't need to worry about what happened afterwards. The fatal evidence was handed over to the second prince's political enemies, and Qu Xiaofeng, the second prince's right-hand man, was doomed.
As a result, the capital city and the court were bustling for a long time. As the prime minister, Luo Changqing was so busy that he didn't even have time to ask about his own son's marriage. He was busy with the corruption and law-breaking of Qu Xiaofeng, the commander-in-chief of the palace.
Xu Shichu's potential enemies were soon confiscated, dismissed from office, and exiled thousands of miles away. Qu Xiaofeng was spared from beheading because he was the second prince's uncle, but it was impossible for the Qu family to rise again.