Chapter 530: The Tea Ship Sinks into the River
Yuqi felt his love and care in her heart, and happily leaned on his shoulder and looked out the window.
Zhao Yulin turned his head and saw that Yuqi had closed her eyes. He carried her to the kang and told her to take a nap. He would be back soon.
After coming out, he asked Zuo Liangchen to lead the way to the craftsmen's camp and asked the master to find two pairs of spring boosters taken from the damaged catapult and install them on the carriage to make it firm.
Zuo Liangchen understood immediately that Zhao Yulin wanted to modify a carriage with shock absorbers. He asked Zhao Yulin to go back and rest with Wu Dazongguan, and he would stay here to ensure that everything was done properly.
After Zhao Yulin left, Zuo Liangchen told the masters: This is the carriage that the third young master made for the chief steward Wu. The chief steward suffered serious internal injuries and had to return to Chengdu, so the carriage had to be modified to be more comfortable.
The craftsmen knew that they had a heavy responsibility and dared not be careless, so they started planning immediately.
The next day, a seemingly ordinary carriage was waiting at the gate early in the morning. Zhao Yulin helped Yuqi out, pointed at the carriage and said with a smile that although it was old, it was very sturdy, and was pulled by two horses, so they would definitely catch up with Cao Gong and Meng Gong and go back quickly.
Wu Yuqi went up with a smile, opened the door and was surprised to find soft couches, backrests and small tables inside. The craftsmen also installed a charcoal stove in the corner for heating. The beautiful woman was very happy. She grabbed Zhao Yulin's hand and pulled him in to sit down. Then the carriage started very smoothly.
The woman fell into his arms and asked: It was you who asked the master to do it yesterday, it felt so comfortable.
He stroked the woman's face gently and whispered: I will serve you to please you.
Wu Yuqi's face immediately turned red, and she said coquettishly: Brother, you are not allowed to call yourself an emperor or a king, so how can you call me "Empress"?
It's taboo.
After that, she put her hands around his neck and raised her small mouth to block Zhao Yulin's big mouth. The couple quickly hugged each other to compete whose tongue was more agile.
Three days later, Zhao Yulin's carriage arrived in Jingyang County. Yuqi heard the noisy voices outside, so she opened the curtain and looked out. She saw that the dock was full of people watching. A woman in a red jacket and red skirt was standing by the water at the dock, shouting loudly to protest her injustice and asking the judge to help her.
People watching on both sides of the dock pointed and talked at a cargo ship that sank to the bottom of the river.
Zhao Yulin was very upset when he saw that there were so many onlookers but no one from the government was doing anything about it, so he asked the guards to go and see what was going on.
Not long after, the guard came back to report to him: a tea-carrying ship called Tiantai Store was damaged by thieves last night. The thieves opened the ship's bottom hold and caused the cargo ship to take in water and sink into the river.
A shipload of tea from Tiantai Store was destroyed when it took on water, and the store suffered a huge loss of money. The storekeeper, Mrs. Jinhua, called on the judge to investigate the case, catch the criminals and take justice for her.
Wu Yuqi thought this was a strange thing. The cargo ship carrying tea had already arrived at the dock, so how could it get flooded and damaged? The dock was used by cargo ships every day, and the reefs were marked, so the danger had long been eliminated.
There must be a reason behind this. Perhaps it was really the criminals who sank the tea ship.
With Zhao Yulin's careful care, the woman has recovered a lot of her spirits and is ready to solve the case.
Zhao Yulin was also curious, so he and Yuqi accompanied the wealthy businessman to the dock to check it out, and gradually became familiar with the situation.
It turned out that Mrs. Jinhua's real name was Sai Jinhua. She ran a tea shop called Tiantai. Her husband drowned four years ago and she had reported the case to the authorities. She did not believe that her husband had fallen into the water and drowned, and suspected that he had been murdered by thieves. The suspect was her family's competitor, Manager Li of Fulintang Tea Shop.
The lawsuit was dropped due to fabrication, but the business of Tiantai store plummeted due to the accidental death of the shopkeeper. However, it helped the shopkeeper Li of Fulintang to become the leader in tea sales in Jingyang.
Jingyang was not originally a tea-producing place, but the county seat was close to the Jing River and was located at the head of the Zhengguo Canal, so going north or west had to be done by land. The unique advantage of cheap water transportation led to the flourishing business in Jingyang with many merchants.
Zhao Yulin felt very sorry to see the dried and fresh tea leaves wrapped in bamboo strips scattered all over the dock. Suddenly, the Jingyang Fu tea he ate in later generations flashed through his mind, and he suddenly had an idea to buy the tea from Mrs. Jinhua.
Yuqi pinched his waist and whispered: Luzhu is already investigating the case and will definitely give justice to the victim. Why are you in such a hurry, brother?
Could it be that he saw the beautiful Lady Jinhua and was attracted by her beauty and wanted to marry her into his family?
Zhao Yulin had a clearer and clearer idea of how to make Jingyang Fu tea in his mind. He was thinking about how to make a new type of famous tea, so he didn't take Madam Jinhua seriously.
Yuqi saw him staring at the tea bags on the dock in a daze, as if possessed, and pulled him hard to wake him up. The couple walked out of the crowd, and he asked Zuo Liangchen to tell the shopkeeper that his young master had bought the tea and to move it back to the store quickly to dry it, as it would be useful.
When the two returned to the inn, Zhao Yulin went into the inner room and got busy, sorting out the tea-making methods he had memorized in his mind and writing them down.
Yuqi saw him writing very seriously and revising the text thoughtfully, so she asked him if he really wanted to buy the tea leaves to make tea.
My brother really likes Madam Jinhua and wants to take her in to open a tea shop?
Zhao Yulin was taking a break with tea, and when he heard her say that, he spurted out a mouthful of tea, which made Yuqi laugh out loud.
He stared at the woman and asked: Am I that lustful?
Yuqi looked at him playfully without answering, and her expression seemed to say: Even worse than before.
Zhao Yulin was so angry that he hugged the woman and started biting her hard. Yuqi soon collapsed in his arms.
The couple sat down to drink tea after being tired of interacting with each other. He said that there is a method of making tea, which is to sprinkle water on the dry tea, then pile it up to ferment, and then press it into bricks to dry. He felt it was a pity to see so many tea bags thrown on the dock, so he decided to give it a try.
The woman had already understood that smiling meant not talking.
In the evening, Zuo Liangchen came back and reported that all the tea had been bought.
Liangchen said proudly: The female shopkeeper was surrounded by tea merchants who came to buy tea and demanded deposits and compensation. She was overwhelmed and exhausted from dealing with them. I went up to her, opened the cash box, showed her brand new coins, and said that all the soaked tea had been bought. I told Madam Jinhua to quickly transport it back to the store and hang it up, and tomorrow our shopkeeper would come to inspect the goods. The tea merchants were all stunned.
Zuo Liangchen also acted like a knight. He pointed at the tea merchants and said: The shopkeeper's cargo ship has been damaged by water. You are not allowed to ask for compensation from the store. You can only take the deposit and leave.
Yuqi smiled and said to the captain of the guard, "Well done. Knowing that our master has taken a fancy to Madam Jinhua, all the good ministers have started to serve as bodyguards."
Zuo Liangchen immediately felt embarrassed and ran away with the excuse of arranging dinner.
Zhao Yulin rolled his eyes at Yuqi and said: Just two jokes are enough, don't speak so badly of your man.
The woman smiled and went over to massage his shoulders and neck.
At night, Green Bamboo came back.
After wolfing down her meal, the young woman said: This matter is indeed related to Manager Li of Fulintang. She secretly contacted the Jingyang Shunfeng Office, and the person in charge told her that the chief steward Qiu Ju had already suspected something and arranged for them to conduct a secret investigation.
Judging from the clues seized some time ago, it is suspected that the county lieutenant has shares and dividends in Fulin Hall, and this guy has too much contact with Manager Li. Such a big incident happened at the dock today, but it was hastily resolved by just sending two officials to conduct simple questioning this morning.
Recently, they found that the county magistrate was also suspicious. He always protected and dragged his feet on matters involving the Li family. This repeated behavior made people suspicious. The accountant of Fulintang got drunk outside once and said that their boss had bought the county magistrate with money, and Fulintang could do whatever he wanted around Jingyang.
Damn, that's so arrogant.
Now that there's a major case of a tea boat sinking in the river, it's a good opportunity to investigate both together.
Seeing that the clues gathered were sufficient, Wu Yuqi could take action. She called out to Lvzhu and was about to go out, but was stopped by Zhao Yulin and told not to go. Lvzhu and the others were busy enough, and there were so many guards around to help.
Yuqi said that she wanted to go there in person. She hadn't moved in recent days, and encountering such an interesting case was a good opportunity for her to stretch her muscles.
Zhao Yulin had no choice but to ask Luzhu to protect it carefully and continued to sit down to organize her Fu tea making method.
The rooster crowed twice, and Yuqi came back. The woman told him happily that she hadn't solved such a case for a long time, which was really a relief. According to the brother's method, he could basically arrest the criminal once he identified him.
Haha, Wu Yuqi personally went out and followed the tea merchants who asked for deposits in Tiantai store today and found out that two of the major buyers were secret agents of Manager Li of Fulintang. After paying the deposit, the two thieves immediately went to Manager Li's backyard in a roundabout way. After handing over the money, they came out and went to Tianshui Lane to have fun. Naturally, they could not escape the surveillance of Shunfengchu.
The fat man drank Qin Feng's wine and said: I don't know where this fool came from, he actually bought all the water-infused tea of Sai Po Niang, doesn't he know that Boss Li wants to destroy Tiantai and take that woman in?
Really, that bitch was already desperate and wanted to jump into the river, but it was all in vain.
The skinny man said as he ate the crispy duck: "Who cares? We just need to make money. Keep your mouth shut, or you will get into trouble."
The fat man said sinisterly: It's hard to say whether the disaster has already happened, so just keep knocking, brothers, for who knows, the Tiantai store might catch fire or burn tonight.
The two of them smiled knowingly while burping from their wine.
However, after the two guys paid the bill with silver coins, they had just walked out of the tavern not far when they were knocked unconscious by two men in black who came up from behind with knives in their hands, and then carried them away on their shoulders.
In the backyard of Sai Jinhua's Tiantai shop, the craftsmen had already spread out the soaked tea leaves to dry, and then closed the door and turned off the lights. When the surroundings became quiet, the back door of the tea shop creaked open, and after three cat calls, two black shadows ran over. The back door quickly closed, and the sounds of fighting and groaning came from inside. Immediately, someone opened the back door and moved things out with a rustling sound.
This was the Shunfengchu action. With the help of Zhao Yulin's guards, Luzhu's action team naturally became more powerful. They quickly captured the thieves and took them to the Shunfengchu in Jingyang County.
Wu Yuqi personally tried the case, and soon the truth came out about how those guys could withstand the wonderful punishment of Shunfengsi.
