novelraw Chapter 214 What are you doing here?
Chapter 214 What are you doing here?
Chapter 214 Why did you come back?
Madam Han said to the Cheng family: "What a fine line! They would never kill someone so easily. The Nanshan Mountain is full of cats, dogs, chickens, and sheep."
It's not hard to guess from these words that the Cheng family is definitely not a kind person!
If she had a choice, she wouldn't want to sell the incense to the Cheng family either. Unfortunately, the vast city of Bei'an is too uncooperative!
When the Cheng family offered ten thousand taels of silver as a reward, everyone else faltered, praising the aroma and refusing to bid.
The Cheng family asked for 10,000 taels, so why can't you ask for 11,000, 12,000, or even double that amount?!
Even if it's the worst, we could at least ask for the same price as the Cheng family, so that she would have some choice.
Gu Tang sighed as she changed the poison gas bomb. After she finished, she found paper and pen and wrote a letter to the old lady of the Cheng family about selling incense.
The old lady of the Cheng family is obsessed with the idea of immortals, and after receiving this letter, she will definitely take the bait that she throws out.
But how can this letter be delivered to Old Mrs. Cheng?
Hua Tongzi asked a child to deliver the message.
No, what if the Cheng family is out of their minds and thinks the child who delivered the letter is involved in this matter, and they arrest and severely interrogate him?
If that were to happen, it would likely harm innocent people.
Forget it, let's think of another way!
Gu Tang paced back and forth in the room, her gaze falling on the door frame. Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind, and she remembered someone.
How could she forget? She still has a servant wandering around outside!
That person may not be very smart, but he's very skilled! Delivering a message shouldn't be a problem for him!
However, this person is somewhat unreliable. He promised to arrange for the little beggar to find that otherworldly soul, but he disappeared without a trace after going there!
As a servant, if you have something to do, you should at least come back and let your master know!
But he just left and never came back!
Gu Tang was very dissatisfied. He took out a few more sheets of paper, spread them on the table, and began to write "Basic Rules for Servants"!
As a servant, one must: serve diligently, observe the rules, obey faithfully, and keep secrets!
This is the general classification. Under each category, Gu Tang wrote a bunch of very detailed behavioral guidelines.
She wrote down everything she could think of, and it was okay if she couldn't think of anything for the time being, as she could add it later.
She's the boss anyway, so she calls the shots!
I wrote it down in great detail, filling a total of ten pages.
After blowing the ink off the paper, Gu Tang put it away and told him to memorize it as soon as he returned!
……
Gu Tang thought that no matter how outrageous her unreliable servant was, he should have returned before dark.
Unexpectedly, she waited until the next morning for the person to return, and the person had completely changed!
At the end of Chen Shi (7-9 AM), Gu Tang was having breakfast in the kitchen when her scoundrel servant suddenly walked in from outside, startling her.
She didn't recognize him at first glance. The reason was simple: the man in front of her was handsome, tall, and dressed in a silk robe, carrying a bundle in his hand, looking very noble.
The scoundrel who had appeared before her earlier was disheveled and dressed in rags; anyone who saw him would have thought he was a beggar.
If a strange man suddenly appears in front of you, even if he were Pan An reincarnated, it wouldn't matter!
Gu Tang was furious and immediately smashed the bowl of porridge in her hand.
Gu Tang expected the person to dodge, but the person in front of her remained motionless, staring blankly at Gu Tang, letting the bowl of porridge hit her head.
The man's head was probably quite hard, as it didn't break when hit. However, his handsome face was covered in rice porridge, and his silk robe was also soaked with porridge.
Gu Tang was stunned for a moment. She hadn't expected the person to stand there motionless. She subconsciously asked, "Why didn't you dodge?"
After she finished speaking, she realized what she had said, spat on the ground, got up, grabbed a kitchen knife, and pointed it at the thief: "Where did this thief come from! How dare you break into my house without my permission!"
The man wiped the porridge off his face and said cautiously, "It's me, Ah Gou..."
Gu Tang was immediately stunned: "A-Gou?"
The man nodded, looked at the porridge in his hand, and then wiped it directly onto his clothes.
These clothes are dirty anyway, I'll change them later.
Ah Gou thought that once the person recognized him, they would calm down.
But to everyone's surprise, the person in front of them looked even more unpleasant.
Gu Tang's face was not only ugly, but in fact, she was bursting with anger!
After calming herself down, she glanced at Ah Gou from head to toe and said in a sarcastic tone, "Oh! You actually know how to come back? I thought you fell into the latrine and drowned, or that you were chased by a dog and got lost and couldn't find your owner."
Or else you might have been kicked by a donkey or gored by a cow, injured or crippled and unable to come back! I never expected that you would come back completely unharmed!
"No way! What servant goes and never comes back? Someone like you deserves either a beating or a broken arm and leg, and then kicked out. Tsk tsk! Which do you choose?"
Ah Gou understood; he realized he had made a mistake again. He shouldn't have left without saying goodbye yesterday.
Knowing he was wrong, Ah Gou immediately apologized: "I was wrong. I shouldn't have gone and never come back. I promise I won't do it again!"
Gu Tang didn't say anything, but she put down the kitchen knife in her hand.
Ah Gou breathed a sigh of relief, put the bundle in his hand on the table, opened it, and took out two foot-long boxes from a stack of clothes, handing them to Gu Tang.
“I went to find a bandit's den yesterday, and I was lucky enough to find a very wealthy one. I asked them for some valuables.”
Gu Tang turned her head, glanced at the box, and said with some envy, "You took it, so what do you mean by this?"
"Offering sacrifices."
"Offering sacrifices?" Gu Tang's eyes widened. "Are you performing ancestral rites?"
Ah Gou: "...Support?"
"...If you can't speak properly, then learn to shut up!"
Is providing for them wrong?
Ah Gou was silent for a moment, then spoke again: "To provide for someone?"
“…That’s more like human language.” Gu Tang muttered, reaching out to take the box.
Ah Gou breathed a sigh of relief; he was finally right.
The boxes used snap closures, and Gu Tang easily opened one of them. He was then dazzled by what was inside—a box full of gold and silver ingots!
She took a deep breath and opened the other box as well. It was full of various kinds of jade and agate, including hairpins, bracelets, bangles, and rings.
Ah Gou pointed to the box full of gold and silver ingots and said, "One hundred taels of gold and one thousand taels of silver."
After saying that, he pointed to the jade and agate: "Two jade hairpins, six jade bead bracelets, eight jade bangles, six jade rings, eight agate bracelets, and ten agate rings."
"Did these bandits rob some high-ranking official or nobleman?" Gu Tang picked up a string of red agate beads. The color was rich and vibrant, and it was clear at a glance that it was very valuable and that ordinary merchants could not afford it.
"The bandits said they robbed a wealthy lady passing through, taking only her valuables and not harming her. Later, they found out that the lady was a nobleman's mistress, quite favored, and had many fine items on her. She happened to be moving and passed by the bandits' place, so they robbed her of everything." Gu Tang pointed to the jade and agate stones with her finger and gave him a pointer: "Next time you rob a bandit's den, remember, don't take any of these ornaments or the like."
These finished ornaments are all marked, so once they leave our hands, they can be easily traced.
From now on, only take gold and silver. Although they have markings on them, a single high-temperature heating will burn away all the markings.
Ah Gou wrote it down very carefully, promising to only rob gold and silver in the future and not to rob these kinds of ornaments like jade and agate, almost causing trouble.
Having received a large sum of money, Gu Tang was in a very good mood. He pointed to the hot water on the stove and said, "Take the hot water to the west wing, wash your face properly, and change into some clean and inconspicuous clothes. Come to the main room to find me later; I have something to tell you to do."
Ah Gou responded, picked up the bundle in one hand and the hot water in the other, and turned to leave the kitchen.
While the person went to change clothes, Gu Tang put away the two boxes on the table and quickly filled her stomach.
She soaked the bowls and chopsticks in the wooden basin, then came out of the kitchen and went straight to the main room, where she sat in a round-backed chair to wait for someone.
Not long after, Ah Gou, who had changed into a bamboo-green robe, came to the main room and obeyed Gu Tang's instructions.
Gu Tang handed him the letter she had written earlier, asking him to deliver it to Old Madam Cheng. She also told him about her plan and instructed him to go directly to the location mentioned in the letter—the mass grave in the locust grove outside the city—after delivering the letter.
As for Gu Tang herself, she needed to go to the mass grave first to arrange some things.
Once the Cheng family arrives, she can seize the opportunity to strike!
Ah Gou, who had just received the letter, was very obedient. He believed everything Gu Tang said and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Gu Tang quickly stopped him: "Given your behavior yesterday, I've written down some 'Basic Rules for Servants' for you. Take them back and memorize them carefully!"
He took out ten sheets of paper from his system inventory, flipped through them casually to make sure he hadn't missed or misplaced any, and then stuffed them into Ah Gou's arms.
"You must memorize every single one of these items; I'll be checking them anytime! Oh, and when you go to deliver the message, don't forget to cover your face!"
Ah Gou looked completely bewildered. The basic rules for servants?
What is this?
Seeing that he was standing there motionless, Gu Tang impatiently nudged him twice: "Hurry up and leave! Don't waste time!"
Pushed and shoved out of the yard, Ah Gou stood there in a daze, looking at the paper in his hand. He glanced at it briefly.
After watching it, I realized that it was teaching him how to be a servant who could please his master.
It seems that I have performed very poorly as a servant, otherwise I wouldn't have asked her to write this "Basic Code of Conduct for Servants".
Ah Gou carefully put the paper away, and when he had free time, he would definitely memorize it word by word!
In the courtyard, Gu Tang, having chased away Ah Gou, tidied up her belongings, taking what she could and putting away what she didn't in her room and locking the door.
If things go smoothly today, she won't come back after getting the money; she'll wait until things calm down before going into the city.
……
After leaving the small courtyard, Gu Tang walked out of the street and headed towards the city gate.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, Gu Tang, who was focused on getting on her way, suddenly heard someone calling her.
"Four girls!"
The familiar "Si Ya" made Gu Tang's heart skip a beat.
She looked up and saw a familiar person standing not far ahead—Gu Mei.
Gu Tang was very surprised to see Gu Mei here.
Before she could even get there, Gu Mei was already hurrying towards her.
Only then did she notice that Old Lady Zhu, Third Brother Zhu, and Madam Yan were following behind Gu Mei.
"Siya, what a coincidence! I never expected that we would meet in Bei'an City."
These were perfectly normal words, but they sounded unpleasant coming from Gu Mei's mouth. What was the meaning behind that condescending, condescending tone?
Gu Tang looked her over and noticed that she had her hair styled in a married woman's bun, her figure was much fuller, and her eyes and brows had a more alluring charm.
"Just by looking at you, I can tell you're living a good life. When did you get married? I haven't heard anyone mention your marriage."
Upon hearing this, Gu Mei's face flashed with gloom. Before she could speak, Yan Shi, who was standing next to her, suddenly chimed in.
“She’s not married yet, but the family found someone to match their horoscopes, and they said the most auspicious day is the 20th of the twelfth lunar month. The day is fast approaching, and your eldest sister insists on making a red wedding dress. That’s why we came to the city today to look around and buy a piece of red cloth to make her own wedding dress.”
While I'm at it, I'll also go to the money exchange and exchange the ten taels of silver for smaller pieces of silver and copper coins.
Of course, Yan would never say that last sentence to Gu Tang.
Her eyes kept scanning Gu Tang up and down, and the more she looked at her, the more she found this girl remarkable. She was a hundred times better than Gu Mei!
It's just a pity that my son didn't marry Gu Siya!
Ignoring Yan's gaze, Gu Tang's eyes lingered on Gu Mei's head as she laughed, "So you're not married yet? Then your attire today is a bit inappropriate. What kind of unmarried girl wears a married woman's hairstyle? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were married."
These words seemed to hit Gu Mei's sore spot, and she actually pointed at Gu Tang in the street and started cursing: "You shameless little hussy! I'm just combing my hair and you're making a fuss about it! No one else would say such a thing except you!"
Being scolded for no reason, Gu Tang was immediately unhappy. She shouted back, "If you're not afraid of losing face, I can just stop any auntie or grandma and let them take a good look at you. They'll know what you're up to!"
Upon hearing this, Yan's face froze, and Old Lady Zhu and Zhu Laosan's faces also changed, their expressions turning rather unpleasant.
Gu Mei fell silent, her face deathly pale, her eyes filled with panic.
The four of them were clearly up to something.
Just by looking at Gu Mei's hairstyle, one can guess that Gu Mei and Zhu Youshou had probably slept together beforehand.
Having already guessed what was going on, Gu Tang didn't press the matter or ask aloud. She just rolled her eyes at them and walked past them towards the city gate.
After the person had gone far away, Madam Yan couldn't help but complain to Gu Mei: "Tell me, you know that girl is not someone to be trifled with, so why do you insist on picking on her?!"
Gu Mei exploded again: "What did I ever do to her? It was clearly her who had dirty thoughts about me!"
"What's wrong with her? You're getting married soon anyway, what's the big deal if she asks?"
At this point, Madam Yan glanced at Gu Mei's hairstyle with a disdainful expression: "You're not even married yet, why are you wearing a married woman's hairstyle? Are you afraid people won't know you've been sleeping with men?"
Gu Mei's mind went blank!
His face turned from white to red, his eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was ferocious.
The next moment, she suddenly reached out and grabbed Yan's neck.
"You old whore, you'll die a horrible death! Do you think I don't know? That was all your deliberate scheme!!!"