female catcher

Chapter 18 The old grudge

After Hongying finished applying the balm, she turned her head slightly, her eyes turned to Liu Qi and Xia Chu, and she smiled softly.

Liu Qi was fine, but Xia Chu blushed when she saw her, and cleared his throat embarrassingly, "Uh... why didn't Gong Yuanhe look for you on the sixth night of February?"

"Who knows." Hongying said shyly, "It's probably because I saw Mr. Qiao, and the two of you have gotten into each other again. Ever since the two fell out, they always have to compete with each other when they meet. If you add more, drink more water than anyone else, and order more girls than anyone else. Nine girls secretly laughed, saying that it would be great if all the guests were compared like black-eyed chickens."

Xia Chu leaned forward, "Young Master Qiao? Who is that? Can you tell me in detail?"

"Mr. Qiao, the young master of the jade merchant Qiao's family in the south of the city. He is very wealthy. He used to know Mr. Gong very well, and we often came to the flower planting hall together."

"You just said that the two had a falling out. Do you know why?"

"Of course I know." Hongying put down the small wooden comb in her hand, turned around, her eyes flashed with the look that is unique to women when they talk about gossip, "Back then, the girls talked about it a lot in their free time."

Mr. Qiao's name is Qiao Xingli. He is the youngest son of the Xijing jade merchant Qiao's family. He has two older brothers and three younger brothers. His elder brothers are responsible for the business of the family. He is only 16 years old this year. He doesn't know anything, and specializes in eating, drinking and having fun.

This Qiao Xingli used to be Gong Yuanhe's friend. When Gong Yuanhe was short of money, he would often ask Qiao Xingli to borrow some money, and he would always pay it back, so the borrowing went smoothly.

In the late autumn of last year, Gong Yuanhe lost a large sum of money by gambling. His mother imposed economic sanctions on him for a period of time after she found out.

Gong Yuanhe thought that his mother would punish him for two days just like before, but this time his mother might be very angry, and the sanction time was a bit long. Ask Qiao Xingli to borrow it.Qiao Xingli saw that he hadn't paid back the previous money but wanted to borrow new ones, so he didn't want to, and the two had a quarrel.

But when the quarrel broke down, he still had to pay back the debt. Qiao Xingli began to press for the debt until before the Chinese New Year, and finally blocked the door of Gong's house.

"I don't know how it happened later, Gong Yuanhe suddenly ran to the government office to sue Qiao Xingli for blackmail, and the accusation was finally settled. The officials took Qiao Xingli into prison, and in the end he was beaten twenty boards and locked up half of the prison. He was not released until the 29th of the year. Then Qiao Xingli suffered from being dumb, and hated Gong Yuanhe to death."

Hongying giggled, picked up the comb again and slowly ran through the ends of her hair, "It is said that this counter-accusation of blackmail was the idea of ​​Mr. Gong's uncle, Mr. Wu. Mr. Wu promised It was because of the tigress at home that he made such a bad move. Mr. Gong didn't have to pay back the 500 taels, but no one would dare to lend him money in the future, and now they all started stealing things from the house as pawns. "

Xia Chu nodded slowly, drew a line under Qiao Xingli's name with a pen, thought for a while and asked, "You just said that Qiao Xingli was also in the Flower Planting House on the sixth night of February, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Qiao was in my room that night."

"In your room!" Xia Chu raised his voice an octave, seeing Hongying looking at him in surprise, he calmed down, "Then when did he come and when did he leave, do you remember? ?”

"I don't know when I came here. I was not the one who served Young Master Qiao that day, but Sister Liu Ying. Later, when Young Master Gong came, he ordered Sister Liu to accompany him, and Miss Nine asked me to serve him. Go to my room Li..., probably just after Xu time."

"Did Qiao Xingli look for Liuying first?" Xia Chu's eyes lit up.

"Yeah. Mr. Qiao is a frequent visitor of Sister Liu. Sister Liu likes that he is generous and gentle, and refuses to be picked up easily."

"Did Gong Yuanhe and Qiao Xingli stay in your room before and after the accident? Do you remember what you were doing at that time?"

Hongying sat quietly and asked the maid to put her hair in a bun, lowered her eyes and thought for a while, "Young Master Qiao is always in my room. As for what to do..." She glanced at Xia Chu, and said with a smile: "What else can I do? Mr. Qiao didn't drink well, so he fell asleep after a while, and I was happy, so I fell asleep too. Mr. Gong had an accident... I woke up when I heard someone yelling. When I woke up, I thought I had a nightmare, and then I woke up completely when I heard someone in the courtyard say that I had killed someone."

"Was Qiao Xingli still in the room when you woke up?"

"Young Master Qiao, please wake up earlier. When I got up, he had already closed the curtain and left."

"Did he have any special reaction at that time?"

"I didn't see it. Mr. Qiao didn't enter the house again, and he had already left when I went out. He didn't give any rewards. I don't know if he was scared because of the accident. I heard that Mr. Qiao is generous. I don't think so." in this way."

"I heard?" Xia Chu caught the words in her words, "That is to say, you have never had contact with Qiao Xingli before?"

"No, that day was the first time."

(End of this chapter)