Chapter 3 The Tavern Date On the day of their agreed meeting, Su Qi left home early under the pretext of visiting a friend. Liu Xi pretended to be completely unaware but had secretly arranged everything beforehand. He had bribed Qian Gou'er and Zhu Bu Nian in advance, and they were already waiting next door at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion's elegant room.

  Su Qi met with Master Fu Wang Song and began to chat, thanking him repeatedly for repairing his wife's beloved guqin. He praised Fu's exceptional craftsmanship, and later, while drinking wine, they discussed more topics related to the guqin. Su Qi was also well-versed in the art of the guqin, so the two men had a very enjoyable conversation.

  During the conversation, Wang Song also took out many special Guqin tools from his chest pocket and showed them to Su Qi one by one, saying that many of them were invented by himself.

  These guitar tools were kept very carefully by Wang Song, and each one was exquisite. What caught Su Qi's eye, however, was the half of a golden hairpin that Wang Song inadvertently revealed from his chest when he reached for a tool. Su Qi's attention never left this golden hairpin. It was five years ago, on the tenth anniversary of his marriage to his wife, that he had specially commissioned a friend in Beijing who made jewelry, Guo Bai, to design and make it. Because his wife had said that she was born when peach blossoms were in full bloom, it was named Heart Peach. The main body of the hairpin was shaped like a cup, connected to the pin, with countless beautiful hollowed-out peach hearts evenly engraved on the cup, symbolizing the idea that one's heart belongs only to Heart Peach for a lifetime.

  How did this hairpin end up on Wang Song's body? Did he often go out to play and befriend, and the lady couldn't bear the loneliness and had an affair? No! Or was it that the lady dropped her hairpin when she went out and Wang Song picked it up? But how could the poem be explained? The more Su Qi thought about it, the more confused his mind became. He excused himself to go to the restroom and left for a while. On the stairs, he bumped into Xiao Er. Xiao Er saw that this Mr. Qi's face was pale today, with a hint of panic. Xiao Er tried to talk to him, but he ignored him and quickly walked away.

  During his absence, Qian Gou'er, who had been waiting next door, entered the room and put sleeping pills in the wine. Wang Song, having already received 500 taels of silver beforehand, was reassured by Liu Xian that it was just a prank to teach Su Qi a lesson.

  Because he felt that the matter was not serious, at most it would make Su Qi drunk and make a fool of himself, or get beaten up while being confused, learn a lesson, and because of Mrs. Zhao's affair, he would be depressed for a while and then nothing would happen, so he didn't stop him either

  After taking the medicine, Qian Gou'er quickly turned around and went back next door.

  Su Qi returned, Wang Song had already put away all the tools and was preparing to persuade Su Qi to drink again. Once he passed out, he would leave.

  Su Zi fell down after drinking just one cup, and Wang Song hurriedly went to knock on the wall of the neighboring room.

  Qian and Sun knew it was done, so they turned back into the house.

  Su Zi actually fainted, so he cleaned up the wine cups with the anesthetized wine. Wang Song saw that there was another person beside Qian Gou'er, and his eyes revealed a fierce light, so he wanted to bid farewell and leave quickly. Qian Gou'er said let him leave, but at the same time, he swiftly wrapped his arms around Wang Song from behind and covered Wang Song's mouth with his hand. Before he could react, Zhu Bu Yan immediately moved in front of Wang Song and stabbed him to death with a fruit knife on the table.

  Qian and Sun quickly set up the room as the scene of Su Zi's murder and left.

  When Zhu left, he shouted to the second floor, "Add a portion of braised beef for Old Qi!" The second floor was busy and didn't know who shouted, but habitually responded with "Ah, okay! Coming right up!" The amount of anesthetic wasn't large, so Su Qi soon came to. In his daze, he saw that Wang Song, who had been drinking with him, was also lying on the table. Had he also gotten drunk? Was he suffering from a hangover like me? Would just a few cups of wine get someone drunk? But when he looked again, he saw something dripping onto the floor, red and bloody! Su Qi quickly used both hands to prop Wang Song up straight, but his face was waxen yellow, his mouth open as if trying to cry for help... What's going on?! Just then, Su Qi noticed that there was fresh blood on Wang Song's right hand, and a bloody fruit knife! As Su Qi's head spun with confusion, the second floor pushed in the door, "Master, your braised beef is here!" But what happened next made the second floor drop the tray of meat, and the owner downstairs yelled, "You little scamp, do you want to quit?!" Meanwhile, the second floor fled out, shouting "Murder! Murder!" The owner's heart skipped a beat - taking a life wasn't something to be taken lightly. Who wouldn't want their business to run smoothly? Hurriedly report the case... wait, first take a closer look, don't let that kid get all worked up for nothing. If it's not a murder case, those officials from the yamen will come and go as they please, and we'll be in trouble again. This humble restaurant has been in debt to the yamen since Lord Lu took office... if we report a false case, who knows how much more we'll owe?!

  As he thought of this, the boss decided to go upstairs personally to investigate, although his heart was also uncertain, but after chanting "Amitabha" all the way, he still went up. At this time, Su Qi suddenly rushed out of the room and ran onto the street. Many people saw that there was blood on his hand, and he tightly grasped the fruit knife.

  The boss poked his head in from the side of the door and saw a person lying on the ground. It turned out that after being startled by Xiao Er, Su Qi had let go of Wang Song's hand, and Wang Song fell to the ground with the momentum.

  The boss plucked up his courage, and with a trembling leg, he entered the room. Upon closer inspection, he saw a puddle of blood on the ground. He shook as he tried to check for breath, but the person was already dead. The boss was so scared that he rolled out of the room and immediately reported it to the authorities.

  Mr. Lu was overjoyed when he heard that the suspect who killed people was Su Qi, thinking that he could finally avenge the insult of that day.

  The people of the underworld were divided into two teams, one team went to seal off the scene and inspect the body, while the other team went to the Qi family to capture people. They also ordered the closure of each city gate to prevent Su Qi from escaping in fear of punishment.

  Suzy has always been dazed and confused, now she feels even more muddled in her mind.

  He didn't know why he wanted to run, but at that moment, he unconsciously ran out. He ran all the way back home, found a secluded spot to calm down his emotions, and unexpectedly cleared his mind a bit.

  It wasn't as if he had killed someone, so why run? But with a bloody knife in his hand and the dead body beside him, how could he escape the trial of Lord Lu, who was at odds with him? Su Qi didn't dare delay, quickly entering the inner courtyard, where Zhao Shi was playing with Ling'er. At this time, Man Xiu was just over a month away from turning one year old, laughing non-stop, completely unaware of the disaster that was approaching this happy family step by step.

  When they saw the old master holding a knife with bloodstains on his body, Zhao Shi and Ling Er were both shocked and asked what had happened. It turned out that Su Qi was in such a hurry that he forgot he still had the knife in his hand when he ran back home, no wonder the servants at home were all stunned when they saw him.

  Su Zhi pulled out a golden hairpin from his bosom, which he had taken from Wang Song's, oh, it was from Wang Song's corpse's bosom. "This golden hairpin, how did it end up with you?" "Madam, do you recognize Wang Song?" "Wang Song? Oh, you're referring to that luthier, right? Previously, the guqin was broken, and since it's an antique, I was afraid that moving it would cause even more damage, so I had him come to the inner courtyard to repair the guqin once."

  After fixing it, he just left.

  "What?" A very ominous premonition flashed through the lady's mind.

  Su Qi handed the golden hairpin back to Madam, telling her to keep it well and not lose it again. At this time, she might have seen the bloodstains, and Manxiu, who was laughing loudly just now, suddenly burst into tears. Su Qi walked over, hugged her son tightly, and pressed his face against hers, holding him tighter and tighter as Manxiu cried even more miserably.

  The lady was just about to say something when the official from the government office rushed in and without saying a word, seized someone and took them away.

  Madam Zhao cried out and tried to grab her husband's hand, but the golden hairpin fell again. This time it was picked up by Ling'er who was standing beside them. The bailiffs didn't notice and ruthlessly pushed Madam Zhao away, taking Su Qi away.