The fellow shouted repeatedly as he went in, and several others rushed in after him.

  In the blink of an eye, Zhou Zhuang, a man in his fifties, came out from inside, walking and running at the same time. He bowed deeply with his hands clasped together, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Master Tong, Master Tong is coming this way. The special dim sum for serving esteemed guests are all inside. Which ones would you like today?"

  This feeling is like directly ascending to heaven from the mortal world, face flushed and dizzy, unable to speak clearly. "Grandfather hasn't come..." Before he could finish speaking, Fu realized it in his heart, his name was Wutong, this Tong grandfather, was calling him!

  "Osmanthus cake!" Wu Tong coughed a few times, puffed out his chest, "Good package, this is silver." Wu Tong handed over the silver that had been clenched in his palm.

  "Master Tong is indeed a straightforward person." Manager Zhou smiled warmly and respectfully, "Let's go to the back room first, the rules of the gentlemen upstairs are strict, I've served them before, I understand the rules, Master Tong needs to see it with his own eyes, please this way..."

  Zhou Zhanggui and De Yue Lou's manager, one on the left and one on the right, accompanied him, wrapped up several large packages of osmanthus cake, and didn't give out Wu Tong's silver, but instead was stuffed a four or five tael silver ingot in his sleeve pocket by Zhou Zhanggui.

  Returning to De Yue Lou, after a short while, Wu Tong finally came back to her senses.

  On the way to Hangzhou, Wu Ye said those words, he didn't dare believe them, but now... Wutong touched the six or two silver coins in his sleeve pocket, and in the blink of an eye, it was six or two silver coins, six taels!

  And this dignity... The key is this dignity!

  The wutong's heart was scorching hot, and it couldn't get any hotter.

  ………………

  Li Wenshan went to Wansong Academy for less than ten days and then hurried back home to Hengshan County, saying he really missed his family.

  Magistrate Li's face turned stern as he scolded a few words, but looking at Li Wenshan's obviously haggard face, he couldn't continue, thinking that the child must be homesick to look like this...

  Forget it, forget it, Shang Ge is still young, and this is his first time leaving home, it's normal for people to feel this way...

  After dinner, Li Wenshan said he was bringing his homework back and went to do his homework in his study. Li Xianling and Mrs. Xu were heartbroken, proud and sentimental at the same time.

  Li Xia seized the opportunity and slipped into Li Wenshan's study.

  Li Wenshan saw her coming in, threw away the book and jumped up, rushed to the door, looked around and closed it with a bang.

  Li Xiaqi's forked waist glared at him, "You call this 'no silver in this place, three hundred taels'!"

  "It's terrible! Unbelievable......" Li Wenshan's face was a mixture of anger, fear and a hint of confusion.

  Li Xia looked at his face and saw that it was different from usual, his expression also somewhat solemn, "Let's go to the Bell Tower."

  The bell tower of the county government office is isolated on all sides, with thick walls and no windows. A small door only allows one person to enter or exit at a time, and the stairs are so narrow that even a slightly stout person can't climb up. It's a good place for whispering secrets.

  Li Wenshan and Li Xia slipped out one after the other, Li Xia was small in stature but quick on her feet, she darted into the bell tower, by the time Li Wenshan entered, she had already gone up to take a look around and was hurrying back down.

  "What's going on?" Li Xia closed the door and put down a coarse ceramic jar she had secretly prepared.

  The door hinge was oiled by her, the switch was silent, she came in and others couldn't hear it, others came in and she couldn't easily hear it either, so something had to be put there as a warning.

  "Several things... nothing else matters, just the wutong tree..." Li Wenshan looked extremely distressed, choking back his words for a while.

  "Axia, I didn't sleep all night. Wutong told me that Zhong Yiniang asked him to bring me to my downfall, to take me to a brothel and said we... were born with bad luck, no fortune, no fate, and should... now it's all over. Wutong also said... once when Zhong Yiniang was drunk, she told him that if it wasn't for her stopping Father back then, saying that if Father had passed the imperial examination, Father would have been a dead man..."

  Li Xia fell back into Li Wenshan's arms with a thud.

  Her father passed the imperial examination and became a scholar in the second year, but then he suddenly gave up his promising career, asked for a teaching position, and went to Taiyuan. She couldn't understand this, it was so unreasonable.

  She thought at the time that it must be the pressure from the Marquis's residence, that the Marquis's residence would not allow her father to have a future and did not permit him to take the exam again.

  "Axia, you're also scared, right? You say, how can Zhong Yini be like this? She..." Li Wenshan was overcome with emotion and couldn't help but think that there were such dark hearts in the world.

  "When did Wutong tell you?" Li Xia felt suffocated in her heart and immediately turned to the main topic, shifting her emotions.

  Regret and sorrow are more useless than tears.

  "The day before yesterday, I wanted to come back early yesterday morning, but I was afraid of being suspected by Wutong, so I endured for a day and a half...I couldn't bear it anymore, so I came back." Li Wenshan slumped his shoulders, looking very dejected.

  "What happened the day before yesterday?" Li Xia asked.

  "The day before yesterday? What's the matter? The day before yesterday, Wang Ye and Xiao Gu and a few others helped me entertain guests, we had dinner at De Yue Lou, I even asked someone to buy... it was Tong who went to buy."

  Li Xia let out a breath, Wu Ge's words had already confused Tong's mind. The day before yesterday, Qin Wang went to Old Hang's house to buy some pastries, which was the Gu family's property... He must have received a lot of flattery and might have even gotten a lot of silver in his hands... The Gu family did business in a very cunning way.

  "Brother Wu, you've been away for a few days, and I've been watching everything go wrong. This won't do, Mother must take charge now. This is the best opportunity, so go find Mother and tell her about it. Brother Wu, if even this can't make Mother stand up and be strong, then we'll have to put her aside and think of another way." Li Xia's eyes were fixed on him.

  "Alright! I'll go find Mother!" Li Wenshan took a deep breath, "Carrying Father on his back?"

  "Hmm, can't let Father know about this for now. Also, there are two things I want you to tell Mr. Qin to take care of when you get back. First, find a reliable place for Clock Granny to go. Second, have him arrange for one or two outsiders... to meet with Hong Granny. Since Clock Granny often runs outside, and the things that were investigated outside, when you're not at home, there needs to be another way to pass them on, to Mother's ears."

  Li Wenshan nodded repeatedly. The two of them quietly slipped away.

  Li Wenshan sneaked to the door of the upper house, lifted the curtain a little, and caught sight of Mrs. Xu. Mrs. Xu also saw him, hurried over a few steps, waved her hand at him, "Your father is fine, I'm here, you hurry back to rest, tomorrow midnight has to get up, quickly go back to rest, your father just drank a few more cups, nothing."

  Li Wenshan heard what his mother said, hesitated for a moment, and felt that it was not the right time to talk about those things. He casually responded with a "yes" and retreated back to his own room. He scratched his head for half a day, then thought, "Forget it, I'll just go to sleep first." His mother would definitely get up earlier than him tomorrow morning, so he'd talk to her then.

  The next day, Li Wenshan got up half a time earlier, hastily washed and entered the upper house, and Mrs. Xu hurriedly asked Qionghua to urge breakfast.

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