The Old Master of the Ji family, Ji Huaishan, is sixty-one years old. He has three sons and a daughter with his wife. The three masters of the Ji family all live in the ancestral home. Because Ji Huaishan is still serving as the Celestial Commissioner, he lives in the capital all year round. He leaves the Old Lady Ji in Yiyang City so that her children can be filial.
Ji Huaishan is far away in the capital. The First Master, Ji Xiaohan, is the temporary head of the Ji family. The Yi family receives a salary from the imperial court. Opening a trading shop to provide divination and divination services for officials, merchants, and even the common people is another common source of income. The few trading shops the Ji family owns in Yiyang City are mostly managed by Ji Xiaohan.
Although the eldest son is the head of the Ji family, the second master Ji Xiaochun is the favorite of the Old Lady. His daughter, the fourth daughter of the Ji family, passed the Dayan Examination, which is held every three years in the capital at the age of fourteen. She was able to study at the Taishi Library, which is owned by the Celestial Commissioner.
The third master, Ji Hyotani, is not the head of the family, nor is he favored by his parents. However, he has been a businessman since he was young. Every year, he can add a large amount of silver to the family. Therefore, no one in the Ji family dares to look at this master differently.
Yu Shu is squatting at the door. Together with Aunt Liu, she is supporting Aunt Cui, who is almost out of breath after being beaten. Under the cover of her disheveled hair, she quietly raises her head to look at the third master of the Ji family.
It is noon. The sun is blazing outside. In a room in the East Stride Courtyard, half of the people are standing. Only a middle-aged man in his thirties is sitting on a heavy wooden armchair.
Ji Hyotani was dressed in a purplish-green robe. The sleeves of his robe were embroidered with exquisite black floral patterns. His waist was fastened with a wide belt buckle, revealing his belly slightly. His hair was combed into a hilt, with a triangular inverted silver crown and a long hairpin.
Ji Hyotani was born with a round face and slightly curved eyebrows, which should have made him look kind, but at the moment his face was gloomy and his eyes were gloomy, spoiling his benevolent appearance.
"What I hate the most in my life is people who betray me while helping others. What I hate the most is people who lie to me. None of you can count on luck for today's matter. Even if you manage to muddle through this day, if I find out about it in the future, you will only suffer twice as much."
Ji Hyotani was now thirty-six years old. After his wife passed away a long time ago, he did not remarry. On the contrary, his concubines were brought into the family one by one. Thus, he had a few more trifling matters to deal with than others.
From today onwards, it would have to go back to last night. In his courtyard, there was a woman who came back from the back door with a man. It was dark and the lantern was weak, so several old women on night duty saw the figure of the woman.
Early the next morning, the news of the fire in the backyard reached Ji Hyotani's ears. He called several witnesses to the upper room for questioning. Someone pointed out that it was Aunt Cui who lived in the Little West Pavilion.
At that time, Ji Hyotani was in a fit of anger. He asked someone to drag Aunt Cui, who was still sleeping, over. When he saw her sleepy look, he didn't even ask her anything. He kicked her in the chest and threw her out without even asking her to wear her shoes.
This led to the scene in the morning when Yu Shu finished her bath. Some servants came in and out of the back room.
Coincidentally, Yu Shu was looking for a place to burn joss paper last night. She ran into that pair of wild mandarin ducks. She was sure that it was not her "mother" who did it. So she lied to two servants and left Yu Xiaoxiu. She took Aunt Liu and followed them to the East Striding Courtyard to tell them the truth. Someone went in to report. After waiting outside for a while, they were led in.
As for Ji Hyotani, after kicking Aunt Cui, his anger subsided a little. He wanted to catch the adulterer again. He turned around and asked someone to pick up Aunt Cui from the street. After listening to the servant's report about Yu Shu, he let them in together.
After saying these harsh words, Ji Hyotani turned his face to Yu Shu who was at the door.
"Yu Shu, right? Where did you go last night?"
"Third Master, last night I got up in the middle of the night and went to the woods in front of the back door of the courtyard. I met, met …" Yu Shu pretended to be timid and looked around at the women in the room.
"Met what? Tell me. "Ji Hyotani also glanced at the several trembling concubines in the room.
"I saw a man and a woman biting each other's lips." Yu Shu lowered her head after she finished speaking.
Ji Hyotani clenched his fists on his knees and said in a low voice, "Did you see who it was?"
"It was dark. At that time, I thought they were two ghosts. I got scared and hid in the haystack. I didn't see their faces, but I heard them talking."
The breathing in the room became softer. Someone was holding their breath.
"What did they say?"
Yu Shu rubbed the tips of her toes and stammered, "That man said that he wanted to let the woman rub his feet, but the woman said that he was annoying. She said that his hands were messy and that he shouldn't be impatient like a monkey. She also told him to be gentler and slower. That man, the man told her to be softer. Later, the woman said that Third Master treated her very well. It's just that you're old and can't …"
"Enough!" Ji Hyotani interrupted Yu Shu with a dark face. He glanced at the concubines in the room coldly and said to Yu Shu in a stern voice,
"Lying and talking nonsense at such a young age. What were you doing at the back door in the middle of the night?"
Yu Shu's legs softened and she knelt on the ground, "Third Master, I don't dare to lie. I had a nightmare last night and was haunted by ghosts. So I wanted to burn some joss paper in the woods to say goodbye. If you don't believe me, you can send someone to search my room. The joss paper is under my bed. Oh, and, and I left the joss paper in the woods last night. If you don't believe me, you can send someone to find it."
"Guards!" Ji Hyotani shouted and several servants immediately appeared at the door, "Go to the woods at the back door of the compound and see if there is the joss paper she mentioned. And see if there are any footprints nearby and measure them for me."
"So smart. He can draw inferences." Yu Shu praised him secretly.
In fact, Ji Hyotani had believed Yu Shu's words. As soon as he sent the servants out, he asked Yu Shu again,
"Do you remember the voices of the two people who talked last night? If I ask you to identify them now, can you point them out?"
Yu Shu looked up at the women in the room again. It was not difficult to find that one of them had turned pale. She scratched her hair and said to Ji Hyotani in a timid voice,
"I knew it wasn't my mother's voice."
She didn't come here to help her stepfather catch the adulterer. If she hadn't considered that she would be driven out, the family of three would have to sleep on the street. They would even lose the opportunity to learn Yi in Sanjue Study Room. She didn't want to be involved in such a bad thing.
Moreover, this matter also involved the 'Second Young Master'. Before she could establish her own family, she still had to stay in the Ji Family for a long time. If the two branches really fell out with each other, she wouldn't be able to get anything out of it.
There were some things that had to be kept in the stomach. It was enough for him to know, and he absolutely could not bring it out to others.
Ji Hyotani was determined to find out the adulterer who had cuckolded him. He didn't give up. He asked the concubines to speak and asked Yu Shu to identify them.
Yu Shu pretended to be stupid and didn't point out any of them in the end. It was not until the servants who were sent to the woods to find the joss paper came back that Ji Hyotani let her go.
The joss paper was found and the footprints were found. Ji Hyotani was not stupid. He asked the servants to search the rooms of the concubines and finally found a pair of embroidered shoes with mud on the soles.
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