The Incense Monopoly Order

Chapter 108 Murder and Blame

"Move aside, move aside, Young Master Qi is here." There was no trouble on the first day Xiang Ming Zhai started selling tea. However, on the second day, a group of vicious servants violently pushed aside the people in line and surrounded a young man in gorgeous clothes who walked forward in a swagger.

"Whatever tea is left at Xiangmingzhai, our Young Master Qi will buy it all." The lackey in the lead was arrogant and didn't take the guards seriously at all. He took out two ingots of gold weighing ten taels each and threw them in front of the steward over the guards who were blocking the way.

"It's the young master of the Qi family." Shang Wenshu saw a look of worry on Qi Dalang's face.

The Qi family runs a timber business. Mr. Qi and his wife are both kind and sensible people. The couple is busy with their family business and travels between Huizhou Prefecture and Jiangsu and Zhejiang all year round. They have only one son, Qi Dalang, and they neglect to take care of him. After Qi Dalang became an adult, he was lazy, shirked his responsibilities, had high expectations but poor skills, and bullied others by taking advantage of his power.

"Go and invite Mr. Qi." Shang Jinliang ordered his servant.

"I'm afraid Mr. Qi and Mrs. Qi are not in Huizhou Prefecture." Shang Mingshu had a blank expression on her face. Standing on a high place, she looked into the distance and kept searching. She guessed that Qi Dalang was instigated to come here.

Qi Dalang has accomplished nothing and prefers to show off his achievements. He always wants to do something big to impress his father and is easily instigated. He is the only child of the Qi family and cannot be taken lightly. If anything happens to him, even if he makes a thousand mistakes, it will incur the hatred of the Qi family.

Besides, it was just some tea. In Qi Yuanwai's opinion, what was the harm in selling all the tea to Qi Dalang? At worst, they could subsidize Xiang Ming Zhai privately.

"Hemu." Shang Mingshu glanced around and didn't see anyone lurking in her sight, so she shouted to Hemu who was guarding downstairs.

Hemu trotted over, bowed to Shang Jinliang and Shang Wenshu, and then walked to Shang Mingshu's side: "Third Madam."

"You go..." Shang Mingshu covered herself with a round fan and whispered to him in a low voice, avoiding everyone.

Shang Zishu pricked up her ears but only heard a few words, which made her even more confused.

"What did you say to Hemu?" Shang Zishu was curious.

Shang Mingshu smiled at her and deliberately teased her: "I won't tell you."

After saying that, she also left leisurely with He Sui, bypassing the busy stairs of the teahouse, going downstairs from an unknown corner, and going straight to a hidden room.

Shang Jinliang and his two daughters were left bewildered.

Downstairs, Qi Dalang was about to get into a conflict with the merchant's security guards under the instigation of a group of his friends. He Mu rushed in with his men, and while the men were trying to separate Qi Dalang, he quickly put a sack on him, picked him up and ran away.

The people were carried away and disappeared, and then everyone reacted.

Qi Dalang disappeared, so the servants naturally chased after him. No one dared to make trouble. They knew that they were the ones who caused trouble first, and the merchant was in the right. If they were beaten up, their families would not help them get an explanation, and they might even twist their ears and ask them to apologize.

Several people wanted to retreat, but before they could break out of the encirclement, several guards ordered by Hemu surrounded them and started beating and kicking them with their fists in front of the people queuing to buy tea.

The onlookers cheered continuously. Many of the people here had been harmed by these dandy young men. The merchants' beatings varied, ranging in severity from weak to strong. After beating someone black and blue, they carried him out and threw him to the street corner. The manager smiled at the fearful people and said, "Everyone, line up and buy some tea!"

On the other side, Qi Dalang was carried by Hemu to the room where Shang Mingshu was. Hemu threw him to the ground. He broke free from the sack and saw Shang Mingshu with a face full of anger: "Shang San, how dare you tie me up!"

"If you dare to break my rules, I won't just tie you up." Shang Mingshu slowly squatted down, pressed the shoulders of Qi Dalang who was about to stand up, and forced Qi Dalang to look at her.

The gentle and intelligent girl had a faint smile on her face, and her calm eyes seemed to be full of water. Only when you looked into them up close could you deeply feel that they were like an abyss with no end in sight, and like a sharp sword piercing the heart.

Qi Dalang thought of Shang Mingshu's clean and neat killing during the tea competition in Shiyuan Garden. He couldn't help but shrink his neck and said stubbornly: "You...if you dare to hurt me, my father will not let you go--"

Shang Mingshu sneered from the bottom of her heart, her eyes revealing disdain. "I remember you were still three years older than me. You didn't look down on me for stirring up trouble everywhere. What people looked down on was that after you got into trouble, you would just rely on your father to seek justice for you."

Qi Dalang's face flushed with anger, and he tried to struggle, but he couldn't free himself from the delicate hand resting on his shoulder. The arm, so slender and white, seemingly as fragile as a lotus root, pressed down on his shoulder with a weight that was as heavy as a thousand pounds, immobilizing him.

"Believe it or not, I will strip off your clothes right now, order someone with a similar body shape to rush out wearing them, lead your guards away, and then make it look like you are upset and want to jump into the river. Even if you run away from me in anger, your father will be powerless to stop me no matter how much he hates me?" Shang Mingshu tilted her head and smiled a little gloomily.

Qi Dalang was not convinced. He opened his mouth and met Shang Mingshu's half-smile. He admitted defeat, fearing that it would irritate Shang Mingshu and make her do such a heartless thing.

Shang Mingshu gently patted Qi Dalang's angry face with the back of her hand. "I saved your life today, but next time you see me, behave yourself. If you dare to provoke me again, I'll chop off your hands, dry them, and send someone a thousand miles to Shaoxing..."

"How dare you!" Qi Dalang, his heart beating fast, spoke faster than he could think. He regretted it the moment he said it, and tried to change the subject, "When did you save my life? I don't owe you a life-saving favor!"

Shang Mingshu smiled and stood up, winking at Hemu. Hemu put on a weird smile and punched Qi Dalang in the face, making Qi Dalang scream.

When Qi Dalang was found by the servants, his face was bruised and bloody. He cried out in grievance when he saw his old housekeeper: "Uncle Tan, sob... Shang Mingshu sent someone to beat me, sob..."

Butler Tan closed his eyes. He already understood the whole process. He knew that the young master's beating was not unjust. The Qi family had never been involved in the tea business, but he had to get involved in this matter for others. Moreover, the person who beat him was not Shang Jinliang. He was beaten like this by a woman of the same generation, and he had the nerve to complain...

"Young Master, I have already written to you, and you will take care of it for me." I will beat you up again and force you to go to Madam Shang San's house to apologize.

What Butler Tan said was exactly the same as what Shang Mingshu told him. Qi Dalang was a little frightened because Shang Mingshu said that if everything she said was right, then if he didn't believe that someone wanted to kill him, he could only wait to die.

Qi Dalang cried even harder. He quickly took out a letter and gave it to Butler Tan, and without saying a word, he stuffed it into Butler Tan's arms without anyone noticing.

After Butler Tan calmed Qi Dalang down, he looked at the room alone, and his expression changed drastically.

"Will someone really kill Qi Dalang and put the blame on us?" Shang Zishu didn't believe it at the Shang Mansion.

(End of this chapter)