Mysteries of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 29 Tofu Xishi
The yellowed cotton handkerchief was tightly grasped in the hand of the shoe store owner. The owner was slightly fat and looked like an honest middle-aged man. "My Lord, these shoes should be sold in our store. We are the only one in Fengxian County that has this style, but..."

The boss wiped the sweat from his forehead with a cotton handkerchief and continued, "This same style will cost at least eighty if not a hundred..."

Rong Wanyin was furious. This boss looked honest, but in reality he was very cunning. "But you told me the other day that there was only one pair of each pattern!"

The fat boss put on a flattering smile. "Everyone's embroidery technique is different, and each batch of silk thread is not exactly the same, so there's only one pair of each pattern, which is not wrong... Well... business, it's all about salesmanship... salesmanship... But don't worry, I guarantee it won't be more than seventy-four pairs. I only bought a hundred pairs in total, and there are still twenty-six pairs in the warehouse..."

-

"Seventy-four pairs..." Yan Mingzhang sat at the dining table, muttering to himself, still thinking about the case.

Rong Wanyin picked up a braised lion's head with her chopsticks and took a big bite. "My lord, let's eat first! The braised lion's head here at Yuexianglou is really delicious! The soup dumplings are delicious too. Come on, my lord, eat!"

Rong Wanyin stretched out her right foot, shook it, and squinted her eyes. "It's not seventy-four pairs, it's seventy-three. There's still one pair on my foot! Doesn't that eliminate one?"

Changfeng chuckled, Yan Mingzhang shook his head and picked up a soup dumpling.

At this moment, there was a sudden noise downstairs. Rong Wanyin quickly put a few more mouthfuls of food into her bowl and held the bowl to the railing on the second floor. She ate while looking down at the excitement.

"Changfeng, there's something exciting to watch, come quickly!" Rong Wanyin turned around and waved at Changfeng. Changfeng glanced at Yan Mingzhang, and seeing that his master had no objection, he also stood up to watch.

It turned out that there were four scholars who had been drinking and were chatting loudly.

"Brother Ruwen, why haven't I seen my sister-in-law these days?" A bloated, fat scholar jokingly said with a playful smile. He was wearing expensive clothes, and it was obvious that his family was well-off. "Could she have run off with that butcher?"

A scholar of medium build smiled at the fat scholar. He had a mean look on his face and looked like he was not a good person. "Brother Yuhe, please don't talk nonsense. Look, Brother Ruwen is angry! Last time, you said you saw your sister-in-law flirting with the pork seller, and Brother Ruwen went home and quarreled with your sister-in-law. I heard it clearly from across the courtyard."

"Really? Brother Li Zhun, please tell us quickly, tell us quickly..." The smallest scholar among the four people quickly moved his bench forward with a curious look.

The scholar named Ruwen was also of medium build. His long gown was worn but clean. His face was red, and he was obviously very angry, but he just clenched his fists and said, "Stop talking nonsense. She...she went back to her parents' home!"

"Hey, waiter, who are these four people?" Rong Wanyin pulled over the waiter who was serving the dishes.

The waiter glanced downstairs, snorted coldly, pouted his lower lip, and spat with a "Pah" sound, his face full of disgust, but he still lowered his voice: "What a bunch of garbage! These four are students from Shouzheng Academy not far ahead. The leader is Qian Yuhe. He relies on his family's little money to call friends every day. He is ignorant and bullies others by taking advantage of his power. The middle-aged one who joined in the discussion is called Xu Lizhun, the worst of all! The skinniest one is called Sun Yining, a lackey!
The silent one is called Zhao Ruwen. He stutters and I don't know why, but he's always being laughed at. Yet he insists on hanging out with these people. He obviously married a good wife, but he listens to outsiders' instigation and beats his wife when he gets home. He's not a good person either!"

Before the waiter could finish, the man called Qian Yuhe waved his hand and slammed three copper coins on the table. "Waiter, quickly ask your boss's wife Xiuniang to come out and have a drink with us brothers! I'll give you a reward!"

The waiter hurried downstairs, a smile on his face, and greeted him: "Master Qian, our boss lady is really not in the store. She went to stock up. She goes to the nearby market to pick up some mountain products on the 15th of every month. Master Xu also knows this." Xu Lizhun acted like a shop owner: "Hey, Brother Yuhe, please don't make things difficult for the waiter. When I marry Xiuniang, this Yuexianglou will be all mine. Then you can eat there whenever you want! You can have a few drinks with Xiuniang if you want."

Rong Wanyin frowned, moved the stool back to the table, and muttered to herself: "I thought there would be some fun to watch, but it turned out to be a few mice having a meeting!" Rong Wan scooped a spoonful of cold tofu, put it in her mouth, and spat it out!
Changfeng and Yan Mingzhang were so frightened that they quickly handed over the handkerchief.

Changfeng picked up the plate of tofu and smelled it: "Is the tofu spoiled? ...It's not spoiled!"

Rong Wanyin quickly picked up the teacup and rinsed her mouth. While dry-heaving, she was eager to speak: "...The sleeves...are brine..."

The monk Changfeng Erzhang was puzzled: "Huh? What brine?"

Yan Mingzhang's face changed, and he stood up quickly: "The thing on the sleeve of that female corpse is brine!"

Rong Wanyin had always had an exceptional sense of smell, and the first bite of the braised tofu reminded her of the smell on the woman's sleeve that morning—the smell of brine. Rong Wanyin retched until she was almost in tears, nodding as she retched.

Chang Feng thought for a moment and said, "Brine? Was the deceased a tofu maker?"

Yan Mingzhang grabbed the jade flute from the table and ran downstairs: "Quick, find Mo Yun! Check the tofu shop!"
-
"Oh, what's going on... What happened? Why are there soldiers coming every day these days?
"I heard that Tofu Xishi was murdered!"

"Ah... such a nice person, how could... who could she have offended?"

"No wonder I haven't seen her setting up a stall these days."

"What Tofu Xishi? She's just a widow. She relies on her looks to seduce people everywhere. I think she must have been harmed by her mistresses!" A short man with a pointed chin and monkey cheeks said sarcastically.

"Pa!" A plump woman slapped the man on the back of the head. "Skinny Monkey Li, please be more polite! Tofu Xishi usually does good deeds and has never done anything wrong. You're not holding a grudge because of the last time you acted foolishly and she beat you out with a broom, are you?"

"It is! It is!"

When Skinny Li saw that everyone was ostracizing him, he retreated into a corner without saying a word.

The tofu shop was a mess. This was the first crime scene. Yan Mingzhang had been coming here every day for the past few days...

Yan Mingzhang squatted on the ground, looking at the half shoe print in front of him. It was left by the murderer when he stepped on a piece of tofu. There was a patch on the sole of the shoe.

(End of this chapter)