Chapter 2 The Conspiracy Succeeds Leaving the wine shop, Liu Xi returned to the Su residence

  When he was not far from the entrance of Su's house, Liu Xi stood still for a long time, his eyes fixed on the signboard in a trance.

  As soon as he entered the house, the servants still addressed him as Liu Guan Jia, but at this time, Liu Xi always felt that there was something unusual in the eyes of the servants, looking at Liu Xi made him feel uncomfortable all over, so he quickened his pace, wanting to hurry back to his own room.

  It so happened that when Liu Xi passed by the inner gate, he coincidentally met Lan'er sending a strange man out. Liu Xi was very unhappy and coldly ridiculed him, saying, "Is this inner house also a place where men can enter at will?" "Liu Guan Jia, what are you talking about? The wife's favorite ancient zither is broken, and someone has been invited to repair it. This is the master craftsman who repairs the zither, surnamed Wang and named Song."

  The man bowed his hands and bid farewell.

  As she watched the man leave, a wicked thought flashed through Liu Xi's mind... He pulled Lan'er to a quiet place and asked her, "Do you know where that luthier lives?" "I do, he is a famous luthier, living at the west end of the street."

  "What's going on?" Liu Xi was silent for a moment, then whispered something to Lan'er. At first, Lan'er was surprised and firmly refused, but later her attitude softened, and she finally nodded in agreement.

  The next day, a hairpin and a white handkerchief given by Su Zhi to his wife were gone.

  Madam Zhao is a virtuous and kind-hearted person, who devotes her whole heart to her husband and children. She never wears heavy makeup in daily life, and occasionally when she does wear some simple accessories, they are always put on by her maid.

  So he lost something and didn't even realize it

  Su Zhi is usually intoxicated with literature and will not put his energy into managing trivial matters such as decorations.

  The lost ornament was passed through Liu Xi's hands to Wang Song, who was repairing the zither, along with 500 taels of silver.

  King Zhaoxun had read a few more years of books, so Liu Xi let him copy two sentences of poetry on the white handkerchief of the Zhao family: "A beautiful and virtuous girl, a gentleman's delight!" The next day, this handkerchief with the emotional poem was returned to the Su family.

  Liu Xi has been getting very close to the local hooligan Qian Gou'er these days, and through Qian Gou'er, he got in touch with a man named Zhu Si, also known as Zhu Bu Zhan, which means "killing people without blinking an eye".

  But Su Zhi regretted scolding Liu Xi that day, thinking about what Liu Xi had done for the family over the years. Although he was a corrupt official, Liu Xi's actions were all for the Su family. He thought he shouldn't blame Liu Xi and felt even more apologetic towards him, so he treated him even better.

  Liu Xi thereby not only further consolidated his position as a steward, but also became one of the few people, apart from Su Qi, who could enter and exit the inner mansion at will, showing the general trust in him.

  That day, Su Qi was about to go out and visit a friend. Liu Xi sent him off at the door, but unexpectedly Su Qi suddenly remembered that a book he wanted to give to his friend had been left in his wife's room, so he called Liu Xi to fetch it.

  Liu Xi was overjoyed when he heard this and led the way to the inner house. When they arrived, instead of going straight to see Madame Wang, he first sought out Lan'er and gave her a signal with his eyes.

  The other maidservants, who often saw Liu Xi coming and going, also knew that he had a private relationship with Lan'er, so they all pretended not to see anything and continued to busy themselves with their own affairs.

  Lan'er first entered the room to serve her mistress, and took advantage of her mistress's inattention to put the white handkerchief hidden in her sleeve between the book that Master wanted and another book.

  Liu Xi then turned around for a while before entering the room to report. The madam couldn't remember where she had put the book, so she told Lan'er to search for it on the bookshelf.

  Originally Su Zi loved books very much, not only in the study, but also in the bedroom, there were several rows of bookshelves, so that he could pick up a book to read whenever he wanted.

  Lan'er looked left and right, but couldn't see

  At this time, Su Zi, who was waiting at the door, was getting anxious. He was a punctual person and it was almost time to meet his friend, but Liu Xi, who was supposed to pick up the book, had not arrived yet, so he quickly entered the inner house to look for him.

  After entering the house, she somewhat impatiently complained about how it took so long for the book to be delivered.

  Madam ordered Lan'er to hurry and find it, Lan'er just said, "Ah, here it is! Master is so learned, how can there be so many books hidden in the house!" As she spoke, she pulled out the book with force, and the white handkerchief was also brought out.

  Liu Xi hastily said, "How can you be so careless! Be careful not to get the lady's things dirty!" As he spoke, he picked up the handkerchief and casually opened it to take a look, only to find that it was a love poem.

  So he pretended to be envious and said, "Master is indeed a romantic gentleman, I suppose this was the token of your affection back then. What a perfect match between you two! It's really enviable!" Su Qi heard what he said and followed his gaze, looking over and being shocked. This poem wasn't written by her, but judging from the handwriting, it was undoubtedly written by a man.

  Su Qi was puzzled and turned his head to look at his wife, who had a blush on her face. It was true that she had received many love poems from Su Qi in the past.

  Su Zi didn't say another word, casually putting the handkerchief into the book and taking it with her as she left the room.

  After meeting friends, it's still depressing and we parted ways unhappily.

  A few days passed, calm and peaceful

  Liu Xi secretly made his own calculations in his heart.

  That day, he took a bill for opening money and found the old master in the study room

  "Mr Su, there's something I need your approval on."

  "What's up?"

  It was like this, some time ago, Madame's piano was always broken, so Madame found a piano repair master to come home and fix the piano.

  It's done, the piano has been repaired, and now the repairman is here to settle the bill.

  "This is a small matter, you can handle it yourself, why ask me again?" "Oh, if the amount was small, Liu Xi would have handled it for Master, but... this..." Liu Xi held the bill, hesitating to speak.

  "What? Let me see!" He opened the bill, which showed that he had to pay one thousand two silver coins. What was even more astonishing was that the handwriting on it was exactly the same as the poem on the white handkerchief! Su Qi was secretly shocked.

  "Is this written by Master Xiū Qín?" "Yes!" "Isn't the bill supposed to be filled out by Mr. Guǎn Zhàng? How did he end up writing it again?"

  "Oh, yes, that's right. Because this person was invited to the house by the lady herself, neither the lady nor the master dared to ask about the price they had discussed with the teacher. On the day he came to settle the account, it just so happened that the master was not there, so I let him fill it out himself and said I would send it to him another day."

  Unexpectedly, when settling the account today and paying the money, I found that it was written as one thousand two, I thought this is not a small amount, what kind of piano is so expensive, besides, it's just a repair, buying a few would be enough, unless there's something else in between, so I came to ask for instructions.

  Su Zi was suspicious in his heart, but he couldn't bear to suspect his beloved wife

  Kan Qi Lao Ye remained silent about the bill for a long time, so Liu Xi found an excuse and left first.

  Liu Xizheng was about to go out when Su Qi asked him to wait a moment, saying he wanted to see that person. Liu Xi hurriedly said "Alright, alright, I'll arrange it right away."

  To say that Su Qi had been suspicious ever since he saw that the handwriting on the white handkerchief and the account book were completely identical.

  When it comes to asking Zhao's face, many years of husband and wife can't be explained.

  But it's not what I want and also impossible

  Maybe there's been some misunderstanding, so I've decided to meet this piano tuner in private.

  Liu Xi arranged for him to meet at the elegant room of Zui Xian Lou, and Su Qi also thought that if he really had something hidden with his wife, it would be embarrassing for anyone to talk about at home, so it's better to have a private meeting.