Chapter 398: Cai Xue
“Little Brother, why aren’t you sleeping yet?”
Shi Yi, who was standing closest to the side, stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow at the boy.
The boy shook his head. “Ah—Ah!”
He was actually a mute.
Shi Yi smiled faintly. “It’s not too late. It’s dangerous outside. Hurry up and go back to sleep.”
“Ah, ah!”
The boy nodded and hurriedly closed the door, as if he was shocked.
Lu Sheng’s gaze landed on the entrance of the house and she realized that there was a plaque with the words ‘Cheng Mansion’ on it.
“Let’s go.”
Chu Sihan specially glanced at the plaque before hugging Lu Sheng and leaving the alley with the rest.
—————
In the prison.
A woman leaned against the fence and shouted at the guards outside, “I’ve already said that we didn’t kill her. The officials can’t malign us like this!”
When Lu Sheng and the rest entered, they realized that there was another man in the cell. He should be the ex-husband of the deceased mother.
“Lord, you came at the right time!”
The woman reached out her hand, wanting to grab Fu Xianyun, but her hand was too short.
The woman had a plump figure and a round face. Her eyes were very small and her face was covered in oil. It was glowing under the candlelight.
However, her clothes and hairpin did not look cheap.
Lu Sheng had bought this material before. It cost ten taels for a bolt of cloth, and ordinary villagers would not bear to buy it.
As for the pearl hairpin that was stuck on her head, if she sold it, it would fetch at least a hundred taels.
No wonder she could ‘buy’ Mdm Tan’s husband over so generously.
Fu Xianyun said expressionlessly, “We won’t know if it’s you or not until we find the murderer.”
“Oh!”
The woman collapsed to the ground and hit the fence, crying. “What kind of life is this? I clearly didn’t kill them. Why did you make me suffer like this?!”
Cai Xue was the daughter of Hua Xiang Village’s landlord. After her parents died, they left her a huge sum of money.
Mdm Tan’s family moved to Hua Xiang Village from another town. They had only been there for three years.
As Cai Xue was ugly and had a rude personality, she had once married someone but her husband died not long later. Then, she returned to her maternal family.
Ever since she saw Mdm Tan’s husband, she had fallen in love with him at first sight.
After knowing that Mdm Tan’s husband was a son-in-law who married into her family, she seduced him secretly.
It was a pity that Mdm Tan had a good family background and was good-looking. Her husband doted on her a lot, so he mostly ignored Cai Xue’s intentional teasing.
In a fury, Cai Xue started to pressure Mdm Tan’s family and collected two times more rent than others.
Initially, Mdm Tan’s family could still bear with it. However, Cai Xue became more aggressive and increased the rent by four times.
Although Mdm Tan was furious, she gritted her teeth and paid the rent.
It was just that later on, Mdm Tan’s mother suddenly became seriously ill and she invited a doctor to take a look. He said that she had a blood illness and needed to be nourished well.
She was taking either ginseng or various precious tonics every day. Before long, the Tan family’s wealth had depleted.
When Cai Xue heard this news, she was very pleased. Then, she secretly went to Mdm Tan and asked her to give her husband to her. She would then give her a sum of money to continue treating her mother.
Initially, Mdm Tan rejected her. Even when the family ran out of money, her mother’s illness did not improve. Between loyalty and filial piety, she decided to be filial and let Cai Xue have her husband.
After her husband found out about this, the two of them had a big fight. After that, her husband was disheartened and followed Cai Xue back to the Cai Mansion.