Love Lock

Chapter 186 There are countless ways to kill you

Lin Yuanshan's smile froze instantly, and he stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

"This...why is this? Our Lin's Cloth Shop has been operating in the capital for three generations, and our reputation has always been..."

"Boss Lin."

Tang Xiaotong leaned forward slightly, her voice extremely low.

“Of course I know the strength of Lin’s Cloth Shop. But it’s not a matter of strength, but rather because…” He paused, “…it’s a matter of character.”

"Character?" Lin Yuanshan asked, puzzled, his face turning pale. "My Lin family has been in business for three generations, always adhering to the principle of integrity, and has never..."

Tang Xiaotong raised her hand to interrupt him again: "I wasn't talking about you. Mr. Lin, I've heard a lot about your reputation; you are indeed an honest businessman. But..."

He looked at Lin Yuanshan meaningfully and sighed.

“Oh! You should go back and ask your wife. My master said that your wife, Zhao Qiao’er, poisoned her, intending to kill her. We at Jinxiufang would never want to have anything to do with such a vicious person.”

"What did you say?" Lin Yuanshan was struck dumb.

He couldn't believe that the person Tang Xiaotong was talking about was his wife, Zhao Qiao'er.

He travels all over the country and is often away from home. Since Zhao Qiao'er married into the Lin family more than two years ago, she has been serving her parents-in-law at home without complaint.

Zhao Qiao'er had a good reputation among her sisters-in-law; everyone said she was a qualified and good daughter-in-law.

He believed that Zhao Qiao'er was a bit impatient, but not to the point of poisoning someone.

"This...this can't be, right?" Lin Yuanshan staggered back two steps, the gift box in his hand falling to the ground with a "thud." "Qiao'er may be a bit impulsive, but she would never..."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly remembered the scene before Jinxiufang opened, when Zhao Qiao'er gritted her teeth and said she would find someone to burn Jinxiufang down.

At the time, he took it as just an angry remark and didn't take it to heart. Now, looking back, he realizes that such a shocking thing was hidden behind it.

The owner of Jinxiufang is Young Master Wei, and the Wei family is an extremely powerful clan. Young Master Wei's father is the Prime Minister. How can this be tolerated?
No wonder Young Master Wei opened a brocade shop in the capital. Perhaps it was because of Zhao Qiao'er's poisoning incident that he deliberately targeted and suppressed Lin's Cloth Shop, wanting to destroy it.

The more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Manager Tang, I truly know nothing of this matter," Lin Yuanshan said, his voice trembling. He cupped his hands in apology and said, "Please allow me to go home and inquire further. If it is indeed true, I will certainly bring my wife to apologize in person..."

"Ha!" Tang Xiaotong sneered, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "Boss Lin, do you think my master's life is worth just a flimsy apology?"

He turned to leave, then turned back and added, "However... my master said that if Linji Cloth Shop really wants to cooperate with Jinxiufang, unless..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuanshan grasped at a straw and eagerly asked, "Unless what? Manager Tang, please speak freely!"

"Unless..." Tang Xiaotong said, emphasizing each word, "he divorces his wife!"

Divorce?

These two words struck Lin Yuanshan like a bolt from the blue, causing him to stumble backward and slam his back against the counter.

His lips trembled, but he couldn't speak for a long time.

Seeing this, Tang Xiaotong cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and said, "If Mr. Lin has nothing else to say, I will take my leave now."

After saying that, he gave Lin Yuanshan a meaningful look, then turned and went up the stairs.

Lin Yuanshan stood there, stunned, feeling dizzy and disoriented.

After a long while, he seemed to wake from a dream, bent down to pick up the gift box from the ground, and dragged his heavy, iron-like steps toward the door.

The setting sun shone on his pale face, but it could not dispel the chill in his heart.

The noise of the street seemed to be separated from him by a veil.

He was like a wilted eggplant, moving aimlessly toward home, Tang Xiaotong's warning of "divorce" echoing in his mind.

As soon as Lin Yuanshan stepped into the courtyard, the gravel on the blue brick ground crunched under the soles of his boots.

Zhao Qiao'er had been sitting on the veranda waiting for a long time. When she saw him enter, she quickly came to greet him, lifting the hem of her peach-colored floral skirt. The gold hairpins in her hair jingled with her movements.

"Yuanshan, you're finally back!"

She grabbed her husband's sleeve, her nails, painted with mandarin duck hairpins, almost digging into the fabric. "What did the owner of Jinxiufang say when you went there today? Did they agree to let us order goods?"

Lin Yuanshan slowly raised his head, the afterglow of the setting sun casting a dark gold hue on his tired face.

He stared at his wife's carefully drawn eyebrows and eyes, and suddenly felt that the face he saw every day was terrifyingly unfamiliar.

Is this woman who only knows how to apply makeup and change into new clothes every day really a venomous snake who can poison people?
The thought that he had shared a bed with such a woman for more than two years sent a chill down his spine, making him feel somewhat terrified.

"You..." Lin Yuanshan's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice dry as if sandpaper was rubbing. He grabbed Zhao Qiao'er's wrist and walked into the house: "Come inside with me first."

Zhao Qiao'er frowned her delicately drawn willow-leaf eyebrows, and the jade bracelet on her wrist made a crisp sound as it bumped against her husband's arm.

"Oh dear! What's wrong with you? You won't answer my questions, it's driving me crazy!"

Zhao Qiao'er tried hard to break free from his hand, causing the pearl pendant on her collar to sway. "Give me a straight answer, whether it's done or not!"

Without saying a word, Lin Yuanshan dragged her toward the main room, the force of which almost made Zhao Qiao'er trip.

As soon as he entered the room, he turned around and stared into Zhao Qiao'er's eyes.

"I'm asking you," he said, gripping Zhao Qiao'er's somewhat thin shoulders with both hands, his voice low but each word sharp as a knife, "did you ever poison Young Master Wei of Jinxiu Workshop?"

"What are you saying?" Zhao Qiao'er's pupils contracted sharply, and she broke free from his grip: "Are you crazy? Why are you spouting such nonsense!"

She wiped away non-existent tears with a handkerchief, "I don't even know what Young Master Wei looks like, why would I harm him for no reason?"

"Qiao'er, oh Qiao'er."

Lin Yuanshan slumped into the armchair, one hand buried deep in his hair, the other slamming down on the mahogany table.

"Why did you have to mess with the Wei family? Now that they've opened Jinxiufang, they're trying to kill us!"

Lin Yuanshan slammed his hand on the rosewood table with a deafening thud. “Do you know what? Today I went to see Manager Tang, and he said that all cloth shops are welcome to purchase goods from Jinxiufang, except for Lin’s Cloth Shop.”

"Why should I?" Zhao Qiao'er's eyebrows furrowed, her face full of displeasure.

"On what grounds?" Lin Yuanshan suddenly stood up and stared at her: "Manager Tang said... it's because you once poisoned his master!"

I said I didn't.

Zhao Qiao'er raised her voice and shouted, speaking with righteous indignation.

"Are you sure? Think about it again." Lin Yuanshan approached her.

think about it

Something suddenly popped into her head. She seemed to have gradually forgotten about it after Han Lei left Beijing.

Zhao Qiao'er's face immediately turned pale. She took two steps back and bumped into the display cabinet, making the celadon vases on it jingle.

Her lips, painted with lip rouge, trembled, and her previous righteous indignation vanished.

"I...I really didn't harm Young Master Wei..." Her eyes began to dart around, her fingers unconsciously twisting her sash. "I just...I just..."

Noticing something amiss in her expression, Lin Yuanshan's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately pressed her for details.

"But what? Tell me quickly!"

"I only went back to my parents' home for the New Year, and I brought back that bitch's soup for Zhao Zun..." Zhao Qiao'er's voice trailed off, barely a whisper, "...for..."

"Zhao Zun?" Zhao Zun was his brother-in-law, and now the King of Cangzhou. The lowly woman he brought back, wasn't that Han Lei, the Cangzhou Princess Consort personally betrothed by His Majesty?

It turns out that the person Zhao Qiao'er poisoned was Han Lei.

Besides Young Master Wei, is Han Lei also the owner of Jinxiufang? But didn't Han Lei go to Cangzhou with Zhao Zun? How come she opened Jinxiufang in the capital with Young Master Wei?

Lin Yuanshan was in a real bind.

It's no longer important who owns Jinxiufang; what matters is that Zhao Qiao'er really did poison people and plot against them.

"Stupid woman, what a brainless stupid woman."

Lin Yuanshan felt dizzy and could only stand up by holding onto the table. He angrily rebuked, "Why are you so wicked and vicious? You have caused Linji Clothing Store to be in such a predicament that it cannot be resolved."

"You're really strange. What does my poisoning of that bitch have to do with whether your business is doing well or not?" Zhao Qiao'er thought she was making a lot of sense.

Lin Yuanshan was furious. "Stubborn fool! How dare you poison the Princess! Even if you escape the death penalty, there are countless ways for others to kill you!"

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from outside the window. It turned out that the two were arguing too loudly, which had disturbed Mr. and Mrs. Lin in the west wing.

Mr. Lin stood shakily in the courtyard, leaning on his cane. His mother, supporting him, looked worried. "Shan'er, what happened? I could hear you arguing from far away..."

Having been influenced by Qin Yanran since childhood, Zhao Qiao'er, who had learned a whole bunch of messy palace intrigue skills, seemed to have grasped a lifeline.

She suddenly turned around and rushed to the window, her voice already trembling with tears.

"Father-in-law, mother-in-law! Please help your daughter-in-law! I don't know what's wrong with Yuanshan, he comes back and immediately calls me a stupid woman. It's completely unreasonable."

Zhao Qiao'er falsely accused the villain, but didn't mention a word about her own mistakes.

Lin Yuanshan suddenly realized that Zhao Qiao'er was completely different from her usual dutiful and hardworking self towards her parents-in-law.

Perhaps, this is the real Zhao Qiao'er!

Lin Yuanshan trembled with anger, a feeling of disgust rising within him.

He pointed at his wife and said to his parents, "Father, Mother, do you know what this poisonous woman has done? She actually dared to poison the Princess of Cangzhou! Now the Princess and the Wei family's Jinxiufang have spread the word that we have character issues. Unless I divorce my wife, we will never do business with Lin's again!"

"what?!"

Upon hearing this, Lin's father exclaimed, "This is outrageous!"

His cane clattered to the ground, and his wrinkled face instantly drained of color.

The old man swayed precariously, leaning against the door frame, his voice hoarse and incoherent.

“My Lin family has been in business for three generations, and we have never cheated anyone, young or old. Now… now we are going to be ruined by…” He coughed violently before he could finish speaking.

Putting aside the issue of whether or not he sources his goods from Jinxiufang, just the fact that the Lin family has questionable character is enough to slap him in the face.

Although the Lin family is a small and humble household, for generations they have been honest and upright people who have conducted business with integrity. They would never allow such a vicious woman to exist in the family.

Lin's mother hurriedly tried to soothe her husband, then turned to her son and said urgently, "Look how angry you've made your father! Hurry up and invite the clan elders! Such an important matter needs to be discussed and a plan made in the ancestral hall!"

Zhao Qiao'er was truly panicked. She knelt down with a thud and crawled to hug her mother-in-law's legs.

"Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, your daughter-in-law knows she was wrong! That slut Han Lei is nothing but a lowly maid of unknown origin. Back then... back then I was only thinking of my brother..."

As Zhao Qiao'er knelt down, her meticulously styled hair became disheveled, and a gold hairpin hung askew by her ear.

After all, even a day as husband and wife is worth a hundred days of kindness, and Lin Yuanshan was still a sentimental person. Looking at his wife's disheveled appearance, a pang of pity flashed through his heart. But Lin's father had already pointed shakily towards the outside of the courtyard, urging them on.

"Shan'er, go...go and ring the bell...invite all the heads of the households here...this matter cannot be delayed."

Lin Yuanshan took a deep breath. Despite his reluctance, he nodded when he thought of Zhao Qiao'er's insidious and vicious nature.

As Lin Yuanshan's heavy footsteps faded into the distance, Zhao Qiao'er finally collapsed to the ground.

Her expensive brocade dress spread out like a peony that had suddenly withered...

...Divider line, divider line...

Jingzhou.

A fine drizzle fell from the sky, enveloping the entire street like smoke and mist.

Han Lei stood in front of the shelf, turned her head and looked at the rain dripping from the eaves, splashing small water droplets on the bluestone slab.

The humid air was filled with the smell of wood and paint.

Inside the shop, Da Yi and his classmates were wiping down the newly made elm wood tables and chairs.

The coarse cloth was rubbed in circles on the wood grain, wiping away the last bit of sawdust.

The King of Jingzhou stood by the counter with his sleeves rolled up, fiddling with the abacus, occasionally glancing up at Han Lei, who was busy in front of the shelves.

Behind him, two attendants were carefully counting the various side dishes to accompany the drinks, all wrapped neatly in oil paper and stacked on the shelf.

“These side dishes are sold in one package,” Han Lei said as she walked to Jingzhou Wang’s side, pointing lightly to a package of side dishes wrapped in oil paper. “They’re free for the first three days of the opening, guaranteed to keep the drinkers coming back for more wine.”

Upon hearing this, the King of Jingzhou's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but swallow hard.

He could almost see the bustling scene of the tavern being packed with guests after it opened.

The Drunken Immortal Winery in Jingzhou is about to open, and the King of Jingzhou is coming here every day.

He found listening to Han Lei talk about business a pleasure. Since meeting Han Lei, he has found that his life has undergone earth-shattering changes.

In the past, he always lived in the shadow of the struggle for imperial power, cautious and fearful.

But the agency rights for Zuixian Wine filled his life with sunshine and the stench of money.

The appearance of those delicious foods brought him even more joy in life.

He couldn't wait for Han Lei's tavern to open so that her patrons could come and enjoy the snacks with their drinks.

Then, just like with the original Drunken Immortal Brew, word of mouth spread, helping him to boost his business. Once he obtained the agency rights, he was busy counting money every day.

He felt wonderful just thinking about it. Just as he was about to speak, Han Lei said, "Tao Qing should be here by now."

As Han Lei spoke, she walked to the door and peeked out.

Through the rain, several blurry figures were walking towards them from a distance.

Tao Qing, who was in the lead, wore a straw hat, and rainwater dripped continuously from his raincoat.

Behind him were several brothers from the Jingzhou Big Character Team, who were struggling to pull several carts.

The wine jars on the cart were completely covered with oil paper and straw, but a faint aroma of wine could still be smelled in the rain. Once the Drunken Immortal Wine was placed on the shelf, the preparations for the opening were complete.

"Perfect timing!" Han Lei's face lit up with joy, and she turned around and called out to the store, "Second-year students, take two people to help unload the goods!"

The drainage systems in the counties of Jingzhou are still adequate. After two days of heavy rain, the water on the streets is only just above ankle level.

The muddy water gurgled as it flowed across the bluestone path. Tao Qing and his companions trudged along in the rain, their cart wheels splashing through the puddles.

The streets were deserted and empty. The once bustling streets were now deserted, and even the soldiers and yamen runners who had been patrolling the area for the past two days were nowhere to be seen. Only the sound of rain pattering on the eaves and the occasional barking of dogs in the distance could be heard.

Suddenly, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from afar.

Behind Tao Qing and his group, a fast horse galloped towards them through the rain.

I'm asking for all sorts of things, friends, please consider and give me a reward!