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Chapter 17 Undercurrent
"Since only Lu's can make wine, what is this?" Zhu Yu said, pointing to the unopened jar of wine on the table. "Just now, those two people over there got drunk. If it's not wine, could it be vinegar?"

"This..." The waiter scratched his head, looking at the wine jar on the table with a slightly confused expression, and then it suddenly dawned on him, "Oh! The shopkeeper actually dug out this wine! I almost forgot about it!

The old shopkeeper bought this from a man who was selling wine on a shoulder pole. I guess he moved to Qingshui County later and didn't know the rules here, so he came to our store to sell it.

The old shopkeeper saw this and probably wanted to help him, so he quickly pulled him to the back, probably explained the rules to him, bought the wine, and then sent him back.

After that, I never saw this man selling wine again!"

"How much wine did the old shopkeeper buy from that man? Has he ever made anyone drunk before?" Zhu Yu glanced at the doctor.

The young man grinned and said, "We bought two baskets of wine. I remember taking a look and seeing about seven or eight jars. They were put away by the old shopkeeper after we bought them.

The old shopkeeper had never dared to sell this wine before, and no one knew that the alcohol could be so strong!
But these two didn't lose out. After all, Lu Ji had suddenly experienced such a big change. It was still unknown when they would be able to buy alcohol in Qingshui County again. They finally got their fill! "

They chatted with the waiter for a few words. The doctor had already checked the two drinkers and confirmed that they were really drunk. He sat at the table with a helpless look on his face and wrote a recipe for sobering soup for the shopkeeper.

"This is really rare!" The doctor twirled his beard with one hand and wrote a prescription with the other, glancing at the two drunken men. "Lu's wine is always bland, and I've never seen anyone get this drunk before!

Look at the way they both look, it's as if they're drinking aged wine as if it were new!"

After hearing this, the shopkeeper secretly took half a step back to cover the wine jar on the table behind him, not wanting the doctor to see it.

The doctor didn't pay much attention to it. He wrote the prescription, collected the consultation fee and left.

After all this trouble, Lu Qing and others had no intention of continuing to eat and stood up to leave. The shopkeeper, who had just sent the doctor away, hurriedly asked the waiter to bring out the wrapped rabbit fur. Seeing that Lu Qing wanted to take the jar of wine away, he quickly found a piece of coarse cloth and helped him wrap the jar.

"Sir, it's better to have less trouble than more..." He handed the wrapped jar to Lu Qing and reminded him in a low voice for the sake of the small silver cake, "In this Qingshui County, you can't afford to offend Lu Ji, and neither can we."

Lu Qing readily agreed, nodded, took the wine jar, handed the talisman back to him, and walked out of the restaurant with Zhu Yu.

The three of them wandered around the county town again and found an inn in a busy area to rest. Fu Lu put down the rabbit skin and the wine jar and left in a hurry, not knowing where he went.

Zhu Yu sat at the table, looking at the small wine jar on the table. He could still smell the faint fragrance in his nostrils, but so much time had passed since he was in the restaurant, and he did not feel dizzy or drowsy at all. This proved his previous guess - the aroma of the incense was very long-lasting, but the drug dissipated quickly.

After a while, she looked up at Lu Qing, who was sitting opposite her with his eyes closed, and asked, "Have you often come to Qingshui County before?"

Lu Qing opened his eyes and looked at Zhu Yu: "I've never been here before."

"Then how do you know that the restaurant owner is new and the old owner is gone?" This answer surprised Zhu Yu very much.

Lu Qing raised the corner of his mouth and said, "The wine flag outside the restaurant is very old, and even the door threshold is polished to a shine. It must be an old restaurant.

When we entered, the shopkeeper was counting the bill behind the counter, but he had to check again and again before he could find the key to the cash box.

The restaurant owner couldn't be too young. Since he wasn't familiar enough with everything in the store, he must have been a temporary successor to the previous owner because something had happened to him.

As the saying goes, all is fair in war. If you don't try it, how can you know what's really going on? "

Zhu Yu didn't expect that the moment he walked in, facing the waiter's warm greeting, Lu Qing actually noticed so many details without showing any emotion: "What if I guessed wrong?" "Then say that I remembered it wrong and mistook that place for someone else." Lu Qing took the small wine jar on the table and played with it in his hand, looking pleased.

Zhu Yu didn't say anything else. She felt that what happened in Qingshui County was very different from her initial speculation.

Originally, she thought that Lu Qing had abducted her because someone in this area was using the guise of supernatural powers and the name of "ghosts and immortals controlling wealth" to kill people.

After all, this kind of thing can be big or small.

To put it mildly, this incident will disturb the people and make them live in fear all day long.

Generally speaking, throughout the dynasties, anyone who wanted to find a reason to stir up troubled waters would more or less like to bring up some theories about ghosts, gods, and destiny.

However, at this moment, combined with all the previous things, Zhu Yu intuitively felt that the "water" in Qingshui County was much deeper than she had previously thought.

And what Lu Qing wants to investigate is definitely not as simple as a "ghost immortal".

The corpses in the "Ghost Fairy Temple" had been drained of blood, and the incense of the bewitching runes was mixed with the smell of blood.

In Qingshui County, there is a Luji Winery that no one can afford to offend. The owner of the winery has disappeared without a trace and is suspected to have visited the "Ghost Fairy Temple" just like the old owner of the restaurant.

Although no one dared to sell private brewing other than that of Lu Ji Distillery, the old owner of the restaurant bought seven or eight jars of wine from a stranger who "didn't know the rules".

The wine shop never sold the private brew purchased by the old manager. In the end, there were only two jars left out of seven or eight.

This jar of illegal liquor of unknown origin was also stained with the strange fragrance left after the incense in the Ghost Fairy Temple dissipated.

Everything seemed to be connected by a string of invisible hooks, forming a ring.

And this circle is also shrouded in fog.

Although Qingshui County is not a major fortress, it is located at the foot of the imperial city, only a hundred miles away from the capital. Even though Zhu Yu is inexperienced, he understands that even if the head of the Lu family has great ability, he cannot monopolize the winery business in this area alone.

Then the government is naturally involved behind the scenes.

It’s hard to say whether it is Qingshui County Government or Jingzhao Prefecture.

Zhu Yu recalled the night of the wedding banquet. When Lu Qing asked Jingzhao Prefecture to borrow a coroner and a prosecutor to help examine the poisoned guard, the Jingzhao Yin present looked so embarrassed that his first reaction was to look at Duke Yan.

If not for this, she wouldn't have made up her mind and spoken out.

Rubbing his swollen forehead, Zhu Yu realized that what Lu Qing had said to him before was indeed true. Under the imperial city, there was an undercurrent, and the Xiaoyao King's family was also caught up in this undercurrent.

As the saying goes, no egg can remain intact when the nest is overturned. If I want to live a leisurely life without any worries, I must first ensure the safety of everyone in Xiaoyao Palace.

After an imperial decree tied her to one end of a rope, her life was destined to be complicated as long as Lu Qing on the other end of the rope was in a complicated situation.

　Thanks to book friend 20210301105365700752 for the 100 starting coin reward!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)