good season

Chapter 20 Blocking the Door
Aunt Li's son Sun Changsheng was addicted to gambling and didn't care about the hardship his mother had put in raising him alone. Not to mention that the family was penniless, if Aunt Li was not from Prince Liang's Mansion, Sun Changsheng would have wanted to sell her as well.

But even so, Aunt Li still couldn't bear to ignore her son.

Sun Changsheng disappeared a month ago. At first, Aunt Li thought that he had been gambling all the time and did not return home. However, she was worried after not seeing him for several days. Just at this time, the loan shark A Tai found her at the back door of the palace and said that Sun Changsheng owed two thousand taels of gambling debt and was now in their hands, so they asked Aunt Li to raise money to redeem him.

Ever since Sun Changsheng learned how to gamble, people would come to his house every now and then to collect debts. Aunt Li had also seen this loan shark, A Tai, several times.

Therefore, Aunt Li had no doubts. What else could it be? It must be that her eldest son was causing trouble again.

But this time it was two thousand taels, not two hundred or twenty taels. No matter how much money Aunt Li could make, she was just a cook in a palace. It would take her twenty years without eating or drinking to earn these two thousand taels!

Aunt Li didn't dare let anyone else in the palace know that her son owed gambling debts, as she didn't know how many people were eyeing her position, both openly and secretly.

She was in charge of those precious medicinal herbs. If people knew that her family owed a huge debt, even if one or two herbs were missing, people would think that she sold them to pay off her debts. Not only would she be kicked out of the palace, she might even be sued.

Of course this is not a secret, but we have to keep it secret as long as possible and try to pay the money back before the news reaches the palace.

Aunt Li had something on her mind, so she could only put on a smile when she returned to the palace. She only dared to borrow twenty taels of silver from Aunt Zhang, with whom she had a good relationship. Aunt Zhang offered to help her raise the money.

Like her, Nanny Zhang was not a born child. She was a maid who came with her aunt Nie Qionghua as a dowry. She followed Nie Qionghua when she got married, returned home with Nie Qionghua, and then came to the Liang Palace with Nie Qionghua. Later, she married a steward of the Liang Palace as a concubine. Unfortunately, less than three years after their marriage, the steward died of illness, so Nanny Zhang returned to work for Nie Qionghua.

Nanny Zhang's two stepsons believed that she was the one who killed their father, so they ignored her. In addition, Nie Qionghua was a mean person, so Nanny Zhang had no friends in the palace. Only Aunt Li could get along with her.

The next day, Chan'er, the little maidservant under Nanny Zhang, brought her a message, saying that Nanny Zhang asked her to go home after she got off work.

Aunt Li was very happy, thinking that Aunt Zhang's plan to help her raise money was successful, so she took the snacks she brought from the palace, went to East Street to buy a roast chicken, and went to Aunt Zhang's home in the back alley of the palace.

All the people living here are servants of the palace. When Aunt Li arrived, the door of Aunt Zhang's house was locked. She waited for a while and was seen by the daughter-in-law of the Wang family who lived next door. She then took her home to sit for a while.

Although the two were not familiar with each other, they had spoken several times before because Wang's daughter-in-law's maiden name was also Li.

But as soon as she entered the house, she was grabbed from behind and a kitchen knife was placed across her neck.

Aunt Li didn't dare to resist and could only obey. Then, Aunt Li saw Sun Changsheng tied up!

Faced with Sun Changsheng's earnest pleas, how could Aunt Li dare to say no?

The next day, Aunt Li met Aunt Zhang and asked her indirectly, and found out that Aunt Zhang had never made an appointment with her, and the little girl named Chan'er fell into the lake and drowned.

Aunt Li was frightened to death, and knew she couldn't break free, so she decided to go all out. She told Taofen and Libai's parents and sisters-in-law how favored they were and how many rewards they had received.

In fact, Taofen and Libai had indeed received many rewards, but they were completely different from what Aunt Li said.

But their families believed it and became even more unscrupulous when talking to Aunt Li about their daughters. Aunt Li was sure that Taofen and Libai must have stolen a lot of things to support her family from what they accidentally revealed.

Everything in Shun'an Palace, even a cup, was registered. If something was missing, it would be easy to find out with a simple check. It all depended on whether these two people had tampered with the account books.

Aunt Li tried to find an opportunity to cheat them, but Taofen was not fooled, but Libai was fooled and cried to Aunt Li not to tell anyone.

Aunt Li threatened Li Bai with this matter, so Li Bai simply followed suit and dragged Tao Fen into it as well.

That day, Princess Jiayi and Prince Consort Xiao came to visit the mansion, and the small kitchen in Shun'an Palace became idle. Aunt Li had nothing to do, so the daughter-in-law of the Wang family asked someone to call her home.

These days, Sun Changsheng has not been released, and Aunt Li can only wait for instructions from Wang's daughter-in-law.

Wang's daughter-in-law handed her a packet of medicine and asked her to wait for King Liang to come back and find a way to make King Liang drink it.

So she did as she was told, and Taofen and Libai also cooperated well. The three of them worked together and sent the precious Prince Liang to heaven.

As soon as Aunt Li gave away the identity of Wang's wife, Zhao Shiqing personally led people to arrest her. On the way, she found out that Wang's wife was the second wife of the steward Wang in the mansion. She did not have a contract to sell herself, so she could not be considered a servant of the mansion.

Manager Wang was in charge of the shop of Prince Liang's mansion in Hongcheng and only returned to Liangdu once every two or three months. The wife of the Wang family did not work in the mansion either and usually just did housework at home.

When Zhao Shiqing arrived at Manager Wang's house, the house was already empty. After asking the neighbors, he learned that Wang's wife and her brother had gone out a few days ago, saying they were going to Hongcheng to visit Manager Wang.

Because there happened to be a funeral in the mansion, everyone was very busy. Besides, Wang's wife and her brother were not servants in the mansion, so no one cared where they went.

Zhao Shiqing reviewed Aunt Li's confession, and without saying a word, he kicked towards the door of Aunt Zhang's room!

Nanny Zhang made an appointment with Aunt Li, and Aunt Li was threatened by the wife of Wang family. After Chan'er delivered a message, she fell into the lake and drowned. Nanny Zhang cannot be separated from this matter!

Nanny Zhang lives alone and only comes back when she is not on duty. Most of the time she is with Nie Qionghua.

Zhao Shiqing searched her house but found nothing, so he took his men back to the palace.

When Nie Qionghua first arrived at the palace, she lived in a separate courtyard. In recent years, Prince Liang rarely spent the night in Suining Palace, so Nie asked Nie Qionghua to move in and live with her.

Zhao Shiqing could kick down Nanny Zhang's door, but she couldn't rush into Suining Palace to arrest anyone. She was sure that Nanny Zhang was in Suining Palace at that moment, so she sent someone to the Royal Guard Camp to inform Zhao Yunnuan, and she and Ling Bo stood at the gate of Suining Palace, not letting anyone out.

An eunuch tried to force his way in, but was pecked by Xiaoguai. He cried for his parents and ran back to report the news.

When Nie heard that Zhao Shiqing had blocked her door and released an eagle to peck at her people, she was so angry that she trembled. She asked someone to call Zhao Yunnuan, but when she learned that Zhao Yunnuan was not in the palace, she asked someone to call Zhao Tingxuan.

(End of this chapter)