Ever since the news of Xue Rui's disappearance came back to Wangji Tower, Lin Fu had been on tenterhooks. He had warned everyone in the restaurant to be on guard against villains. Even if they were careful, they still couldn't stop it.
That evening, the restaurant was full again, and there were no seats left downstairs. The customers who came later either left in disappointment, or generously booked a private room on the second floor and paid an extra ten taels of silver to unlock the door.
Apart from noon, business was good at this time of the day. Lin Fu sat behind the counter and used a small scale to calculate and keep accounts. His abacus was so fast that it was not enough for both hands. Downstairs, there was another table of regular customers who had settled the bill. Lin Fu smiled and greeted them, "Second Grandpa Sun, Young Master Li, there will be aged wine coming out in two days. Don't forget to come and have a taste."
"Hahaha, sure, sure."
"Someone died!"
All of a sudden, the crowd was in an uproar.
Lin Fu's heart skipped a beat. He grabbed the waiter who was passing by with the dishes and asked the waiter to guard the counter. He called Gui Liu, who was running the restaurant downstairs, and the two of them ran up the stairs. The scream just now came from the second floor.
It was a mess downstairs, but it was even worse upstairs. The corridor was filled with people. They were all customers who heard the scream and came out. Gui Qi opened the way in front while Lin Fu lifted his robe and walked behind him. Soon, they arrived at the scene of the accident.
The private rooms of Wang Ji Tower were arranged according to the names "Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon". This room was a flower room, and it was furnished with all sorts of exquisite and novel things. It was usually used to entertain young masters and young masters.
Lin Fu stood at the door and poked his head in. He saw that the eight-immortal glazed screen blocking the door was pushed to the ground. A chair was smashed on it and one of the glass windows was cracked. Thousands of taels of silver worth were destroyed just like that. He didn't have time to feel the pain. He heard a noise inside.
"Where's the manager! Where the hell is the manager! "
In the inner room, there were six or seven young people gathered around a round white marble table. Some of them were sitting while others were standing. The tablecloth had been lifted. The red and green dishes were scattered all over the floor, still steaming. Lin Fu didn't recognize the person who shouted, but when he saw someone sitting next to him, his eyelids suddenly twitched.
He squeezed out a smile and walked in with small steps. "Oh my lord, I didn't know you were here. This little one greets Lord Eleventh."
Do you know who was the leader of this room? It was the devil incarnate who was expelled from An Ling City by the emperor's decree. Eleventh Prince Liu Yi.
Liu Yi folded his arms and sneered. He did not make a sound. The person beside him shouted again, "Don't try to get close to our master. Are you the manager of this restaurant? Good timing. I was just about to settle the score with you. My brother just drank a mouthful of your wine, and then he foamed at the mouth and fell to the ground dead. Tell me what to do! "
After being yelled at, Lin Fu took two more steps forward and walked around the table. Only then did he see a person lying on the ground, dressed in bright and beautiful clothes. His mouth was full of white foam, and his eyes were rolled back. He was motionless and looked like he had died.
Lin Fu was startled and thought that something was wrong. He turned around and asked the waiter who was in charge of serving the dishes. He pointed at the person on the ground and asked, "What happened?"
The waiter was obviously frightened. He shook his head with a pale face. "I don't know. He was fine when you came."
Although there were many hidden dragons and crouching tigers in Wang Ji Tower, when there were too many people, there would always be corners that could not be taken care of. Liu Yi entered the door and sat in the private room upstairs drinking wine. Lin Fu actually knew nothing about this. This was obviously a trap set by the other party.
Lin Fu could see through this kind of trick in one glance. But since it was done, it would not be easy to deal with it. Most importantly, Liu Yi was present, so he could not use force.
"What are you talking about! There are so many eyes watching. He died in your place. If you don't give us an explanation today, we will smash this tower! "
Lin Fu wiped the sweat off his forehead and ignored the noisy lackey. He bowed to Liu Yi and said, "Master Liu Yi, our Forgotten Machine Tower's tea, wine, and dishes are all clean and fresh. We have so many customers all day long. If it was poisoned, something bad would have happened long ago. Could it be that there is some misunderstanding? Why don't I send someone to report to the officials and have them investigate this matter? "
Lin Fu retreated in order to advance. At this time, there were too many people in the tower. He could not be careless and let people think that Wang Ji Tower had a guilty conscience, which would ruin their reputation. On the contrary, Liu Yi had already been expelled from the capital by the Emperor. No one would dare to interfere if he entered the city quietly. But if he were to cause trouble in such a big way, they would have to think twice.
"Report to the officials?" Liu Yi finally opened his mouth. He looked at Lin Fu and said sarcastically, "Who doesn't know that the owner of your restaurant is the eldest son of the Xue family? He is the Shaoqing of the Supreme Court and specializes in investigating cases. I think you want to report to the officials so that you can get away with your crime. Let me tell you, there is no way!"
Lin Fu took a deep breath and argued with him with a bitter face, "You are joking again. My young master has not been back for a few days —"
"Yo!" Liu Yi interrupted him with a loud voice and a fierce look on his face, "So, no one is in charge here? Serves you right that my little brother was poisoned to death by you, and I have no place to seek justice! Do you believe that I won't smash this broken tower of yours right now? "
Lin Fu was roared at by him and thought that this was bad. This Master Liu Yi was here to cause trouble because the eldest son was not around.
He tasted bitterness in his mouth. If it was any other day, he wouldn't need to be afraid even if another Liu Yi appeared. However, today was different from the past. The Xue Clan had changed, and Xue Rui wasn't around. How could he have the confidence to fight a prince seriously?
"Master Liu Yi, please calm down. My young master is not here, but there is another person in charge here. Why don't you sit here and wait, and I will invite her over?"
"There is another person in charge?"
"Speaking of which, you also know her. She is my eldest son's sworn sister, Miss Lianfang." Lin Fu had no choice but to use the name of Yu Shu.
Hearing this, Liu Yi's eyes flashed. He cracked his neck, and his joints made a cracking sound, "Okay, invite her over."
The people who came with him all looked like they were watching a good show.
Lin Fu secretly sighed, excused himself, and left. He first apologized to the customers in the corridor, saying that they could skip the meal. After all, a life had been lost, so he couldn't do business today. He asked everyone to go back.
Some people listened to him and left, but some refused to leave. They said a few words to Lin Fu and returned to the private room, waiting for someone to come. Then they continued to watch the show.
Lin Fu did not want to chase these guests out, so he could only shake his head and go downstairs to clear the place.
.....
When Yu Shu saw the messenger, she didn't even take a breath as she entered the room. She turned around and went straight to Wangji Tower.
The carriage passed by the front door and saw that the door was unlocked. The sky was dark, and two of the four red lanterns on the door were extinguished. There were still many onlookers standing at the entrance, and they did not want to leave.
Yu Shu ordered the driver, Liu Zhong, to go through the back door. Lu Hong and Xu Qing rode their horses and followed closely behind.
Yu Shu entered the restaurant from the backyard. All the customers downstairs had left, and the table was filled with cold leftovers. It was quite desolate. The waiter, Gui Qi, was squatting at the staircase. When he saw her rushing in, he rushed over.
"Where is everyone?" Yu Shu asked.
"They are upstairs, and Manager Lin is accompanying them."
Yu Shu nodded, and Gui Qi led the way in front. As they spoke, they went up to the second floor. The customers in the rooms on both sides of the corridor heard footsteps and poked their heads out. There were many who knew her, but they did not have the time to greet her.
"Manager, the lady is here."
Outside the flower room, the door was open. When Yu Shu stood at the door, everyone in the room turned to look at her, especially Liu Yi. He stared at Yu Shu's tall and slender figure from head to toe. The corners of his mouth curled up as he said, "It's been a long time."
Yu Shu smiled insincerely and cupped her hands at him. She walked in and first looked at the corpse on the floor. It has been less than an hour since the incident. The corpse was still fresh, but the white foam at the corner of its mouth had dried up. It was sticky and stuck to his face. It was indescribably disgusting.
Yu Shu did not recognize the deceased, so she did not waste time talking to Liu Yi. She asked him directly, "Who is the unlucky one?"
She could not be blamed for not respecting the deceased. To be on the same side as Liu Yi, he must not be a good person.
Liu Yi saw that Yu Shu did not even look at him and was unhappy. He grumbled, "It's my little brother. He drank your wine and was poisoned to death. Since you are the owner, you should give me an explanation."
Yu Shu looked at Lin Fu and the latter hurriedly whispered, "This room ordered two jugs of 50 year old Flower Carvings. They were taken out from the cellar on the same day. They were tested with silver needles before serving. There is no poison."
Yu Shu looked at the overturned table and the broken wine jugs on the floor. The wine had long been spilled and there was no way to test for poison.
She moved her feet and was about to approach the corpse when she heard Liu Yi's men shouting, "What are you doing? Are you trying to destroy the corpse?!"
Yu Shu stopped and retracted her hand. She thoughtfully stared at the corpse for a few moments before raising her head to speak to Liu Yi, "This person definitely didn't die because he ate the food and wine of our Forgotten Machine Building. However, this incident happened here. How about this, Lord Eleventh, give us a plan and we will discuss how to handle it."
Yu Shu lowered her stance but Liu Yi did not budge an inch, "Don't talk nonsense with me. This person was poisoned to death after eating your food."
Yu Shu pulled a long face, "If you are not willing to settle this privately, then report it to the authorities. If you want to investigate, then investigate thoroughly. The crime of poisoning someone to death is not something our restaurant can bear."
Liu Yi sneered, "So what if you want to report to the authorities? Do you think I'm afraid? However, let me remind you, don't forget who I am. I don't even know who poisoned me. Fortunately, it was someone else who died. If I had taken that mouthful of wine and something happened to me, all of your heads added together wouldn't be enough to chop off!"
Yu Shu's face changed slightly. She could hear the threat in his words. This scheme of framing someone was not very clever. However, with Liu Yi involved and someone dead, it was different. If this prince was not careful, it could be said that they were plotting to kill a prince.
The Xue family was at the heart of the struggle. The owner of this Wang Ji Restaurant was Xue Rui. If they were to bear the suspicion of plotting to kill a prince, wouldn't it be adding fuel to the fire?
She weighed the pros and cons and had no choice but to make a compromise. She looked at Liu Yi and asked, "Then, what should we do?"
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