"If no one was offended, then who could have done it?"
A scene flashed through Chu Lianxin's mind, and she suddenly thought of her stepdaughter, who had changed a lot during this time.
"Shi Yu, I think Jiang Luoxue was definitely behind this."
"She must know that you were responsible for the carriage accident a while ago, which is why she took action to retaliate."
"That's impossible. For safety reasons, I didn't even show up myself. I had someone outside the government handle the matter under the guise of discussing official business, and it was a case of someone asking someone else to do it."
Even experienced officials from the Dali Temple couldn't find out who I was, let alone a young woman like her. How could she possibly know that I was behind this?
Zhou Shiyu was very confident in his plan. He used the pretext of purchasing goods for the Tan family to find his cronies Lai San, and through Lai San, he found other people. The process went through layers of intermediaries, and finally, a beggar found an opportunity on the road that Jiang Luoxue's carriage would definitely take to secretly blow madness powder into the horse's nose.
Such a meticulous plan would be difficult for even the constables of the Dali Temple to uncover.
Jiang Luoxue, a sheltered young woman, could never possibly know that it was him who did it, no matter how capable she was.
But Chu Lianxin didn't think so and insisted on it.
"Even if Jiang Luoxue can't find out the truth herself, don't forget that she has Ye Xuanchen behind her!"
"I think that she or the General of the Cavalry helped her do this!"
Zhou Shiyu thought about it carefully for a long time, but in the end he still shook his head.
"I don't think this was done by the young lady."
Seeing that Chu Lianxin still wanted to speak, Zhou Shiyu immediately analyzed the situation for her.
"Think about it, if the young lady knew that I did this, given her personality, she would definitely confront me as soon as she got back to the manor."
And then there's Ye Xuanchen. If he were to intervene, with his power, ability, and methods, he could easily make me disappear. Why bother going to all that trouble and crippling me?"
After hearing what he said, Chu Lianxin was no longer so sure.
"If it wasn't her, then who could it be?"
"Why don't we report this to the authorities?"
Zhou Shiyu smiled bitterly: "There wasn't a single witness in the alley at the time, and my head was covered, so I didn't even see what the assailants looked like. After they finished beating me, they were so careful that they even took the sack with them. What good would it do to report it to the authorities?"
The two were talking quietly when they suddenly heard Jiang Yucheng's stern shout from outside.
"Get out of my way!"
Chu Lianxin turned pale with fright and exclaimed in a panic, "What should we do? Why is that old man back? And why is he here?!"
"It's too late to go out now. You'd better hide quickly, or we're all doomed if he finds us."
Even Zhou Shiyu's usually smiling face showed a rare hint of anxiety, and he quickly told the woman to find a place to hide.
But his house was simple, so it wasn't easy for him to hide someone.
Chu Lian paced anxiously around the room, watching the hurried footsteps outside grow closer, but she still hadn't found a place to hide.
She was so anxious that sweat poured down her face, and she was on the verge of tears.
Her gaze inadvertently fell on the dark underside of the bed, and she felt as if she had grasped at a straw.
She quickly grabbed a piece of Zhou Shiyu's black clothing and wrapped herself in it, then rolled under the bed and shrank back quickly.
She had only crawled under the bed for a few breaths when the door was kicked open with a bang.
Chu Lianxin trembled with fear, her heart pounding wildly. She tried to crawl deeper into the room, then curled up in a corner, not daring to utter a sound.
Suppressing his panic, Zhou Shiyu, lying on the bed, feigned calmness and said, "Master, thank you for visiting me."
"I'm too weak to rise and cannot bow to you. Please forgive me, sir!"
Jiang Yucheng had no time to pay attention to him; his face was gloomy as he looked around the room with sharp eyes.
He checked every possible hiding place but found no one he were looking for.
Only then did he walk to the bedside and look down at Zhou Shiyu.
"Where is Madam?"
Hearing this, Chu Lianxin, who was under the bed, was so frightened that her heart almost jumped out of her chest.
Biting her pale lips, she dared not even breathe.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Yucheng asked about his wife as soon as he arrived, which meant he knew something.
Zhou Shiyu was inwardly shocked, but feigned surprise. "Madam? Isn't she at Changchun Garden?"
Jiang Luocheng didn't speak, but kept staring at the man on the bed with sharp eyes.
Zhou Shiyu pretended to be stupid and said with a face full of gratitude, "It is already an honor for me to be visited by the kind-hearted master himself. How could I dare to ask the mistress to visit a servant like me as well!"
Seeing his reaction, Jiang Luocheng squinted his eyes suspiciously and asked again to confirm.
"Madam really didn't come?"
"I swear!"
Zhou Shiyu raised a finger and said decisively, "I am not worthy to offend your discerning eyes, Madam."
Jiang Yucheng saw that he looked calm and didn't seem to be lying.
He thought to himself, "Could it be that those two maids were just talking nonsense, and Chu Lianxin was never actually here?"
After venting his anger and searching for people everywhere, Jiang Yucheng felt a bit tired, so he simply found a stool to sit down and rest for a while.
Thinking back on these past few days, he had to ask Duke Anguo to help arrange the marriage between his second daughter and Prince An.
On one hand, the theft in his mansion left him penniless, and on the other hand, he had to run around borrowing money, but with little success.
He had no choice but to sell several of his profitable properties in order to keep the mansion running and to cover necessary social obligations.
However, this is only a drop in the ocean, since the industry will eventually be sold out.
In order to get his lost property back as soon as possible, he went to the Dali Temple every day to urge them to solve the case and get the silver back quickly.
But those incompetent officials at the Dali Temple still haven't found a single useful clue.
With the household expenses increasing rapidly, it was about to become unsustainable.
He was so anxious that he developed several blisters on his lips, but he still couldn't find the things he had lost.
He had originally planned to come back today to discuss with Chu Lianxin and see how to solve the current problem.
As soon as he entered the hanging flower gate, right in the covered corridor, he overheard two maids in the courtyard whispering that the madam and Steward Zhou were getting very close.
It was also said that Zhou Shiyu was injured, and Chu Lianxin put aside her status as a lady to take care of him personally.
How could he tolerate such a thing!
He was furious and wanted to grab the two maids and get to the bottom of it.
As a result, the two maids ran faster than rabbits.
When he got there, he only saw the two figures disappear into the half-moon gate.
Unable to catch the person, and still somewhat doubtful, he went directly to Changchun Garden.
To everyone's surprise, Chu Lianxin's maid panicked as soon as she saw him and even tried to use the excuse that the madam was resting to prevent him from entering the room.
It's obvious to anyone that she has something to hide.
This deepened his suspicions, and he rushed into the house but couldn't find Chu Lianxin anywhere.
He concluded that she had come to Zhou Shiyu's place.
That's how the scene of him kicking down the door to catch his wife cheating came about.