The other party stroked his beard and said meaningfully, "Does Master Liu have any enemies? Have you offended anyone recently? The other party's methods are extremely skilled. Powder was found in your room and the servants' rooms. This powder looks like dust, but it's not simple. It's a soporific. I inspected your rooftops and found traces of tiles being tampered with on your roof and those of the servants."
"Are you implying someone did this deliberately?" Although he already had an answer in his heart, Liu Baishi still asked reluctantly. The county magistrate and Master Liu nodded. The more this was the case, the harder the matter became. When did such a notorious thief come to the city? The opponent was not only skilled in using drugs but also highly proficient in martial arts. It was too troublesome.
Liu Baishi frowned in distress. He couldn't recall offending such a master. However, in the business world, it was inevitable to misjudge people sometimes. They say competitors are enemies. It was possible that he had snatched someone's business, and they wanted to teach him a lesson. After thinking for a long time, he shook his head with a frown.
The matter reached a deadlock. The county magistrate told him to go back and they would notify him when there was any news.
Although Liu Baishi was somewhat unwilling, he understood that he could not afford to offend the county magistrate, and there were no clues in the matter. He could only beg the county magistrate to pay more attention to his affairs. After saying a lot of nice words, he reluctantly left.
As soon as he returned home, he saw his wife looking at him with expectant eyes. Knowing what she wanted to know, he shook his head helplessly. Ren Jiajia's face immediately fell, looking on the verge of collapse. That was real silver, painstakingly saved by her and her husband for their son. To think it all went to someone else overnight.
Liu Baishi couldn't help but sigh. His wife didn't know that the silver was actually left by Li Jinyu when she was alive. For so many years, every time his wife asked him, he said he would save money for their son. Not long ago, he told her that he had saved two thousand taels. In reality, the two thousand taels had always been there, and his wife had even prepared a sumptuous banquet for him with great joy to thank him.
Although he acted imperiously in his own courtyard, when he went to the shops, he was cautious with every customer. When Li Jinyu was alive, she ran the business with great success. When he first started helping the Li family, they only had three or four shops. Within a few years of her taking over, she had expanded them to five or six.
He felt that after working for the Li family for so many years, he had learned enough skills to support the Li family. Even she, a woman, managed so well, let alone him, a grown man?
It was only after he took over the business that he realized how many intricacies there were in running a business. He had underestimated her before. No wonder the Li family elders always praised her as a business prodigy with a talent for commerce. At that time, he dismissed it, thinking they were exaggerating. Parents always see their children in the best light. Now he understood the vast difference between people.
It was a pity that it was too late to understand. If he had known earlier, he should have sought her advice more often when Li Jinyu was alive, instead of trying so hard to recall her every word and deed now, and barely managing to keep the shops afloat.
Over the years, two more children had been added to the household, and his wife's expenses were not small. Despite his caution and personal involvement, the silver earned from six shops was barely enough for their daily expenses. Sometimes, Liu Baishi even used the money earned by his wife when she was alive to supplement some of it.
His wife didn't understand and thought he was earning a lot of money, so she didn't hold back when spending. Sometimes, when he couldn't help but say a word or two, his wife would immediately look at him with a pitiful expression, and he would say no more, letting her spend as she pleased.
Anyway, their lives were not in dire straits for the time being. Even if the shops couldn't be run anymore, they could still survive by renting them out to others. So he turned a blind eye, after all, he was the one who pursued her when they got married, and vowed that as long as she followed him, he would ensure she lived a good life. He didn't expect reality to be so different from ideals.
In the past few days, the servants in the Liu family walked carefully and stealthily, afraid of making any noise and displeasing their master and madam.
As for Wu Caiwei, she used more than two thousand taels of silver to buy three shops near the Liu family's establishments. It wasn't that she didn't want to buy six, but she simply didn't have enough money. Although there were a few hundred taels left, the shops needed money for renovation and opening, so she had to let it go for now.
Before Liu Baishi could recover from his grief, he discovered that a cloth shop had opened opposite his own, a rouge and powder shop opposite his own rouge and powder shop, and even a similar shop opposite his small tavern. He felt a vague sense of unease. At first, he thought it was all a coincidence, but after investigating, he found out they were all owned by the same person, which caught his attention.
Recalling the matter of his inexplicably lost silver some time ago, he suspected that this was the work of the other party. However, when he met that owner, he felt he had overthought things.
At that time, Master Liu and the county magistrate had both told him that the thief was someone with high martial arts skills and medical knowledge. In his mind, the opponent should have been around thirty or forty years old. But this young girl with a smiling face in front of him could not possibly be connected to that thief.
He forced a gentle smile and stepped forward, asking, "May I know your name, miss? This is our first meeting. If I have said anything offensive, please forgive me."
Wu Caiwei raised her innocent, smiling face and looked at him with her bright, limpid eyes, saying without reservation, "Oh, you mean me? My name is Li Shiqin, and I'm from Lan City. Master Liu, this is our first meeting, but I've seen you before. After all, our shops are not far apart, and we see each other often."
This seemingly ordinary remark made Liu Baishi freeze all over. Could there really be such a coincidence in the world? The names were similar, the ages were similar, and even the shops were opened opposite his, clearly targeting him.
He carefully examined her features. He had heard from Chunlan that she looked exactly like his deceased wife. Although he disliked his wife from the bottom of his heart, he had to admit that his wife was truly beautiful, one of the best in the city. But the young girl in front of him, naive and unworldly, with an ordinary appearance, bore no resemblance to his wife.
"So that's how it is. We'll meet many more times in the future. I have matters to attend to, so it's not convenient to chat with you for long today. Let's have a meal together with your parents another day." Liu Baishi, whose mind was already in chaos, felt that he could not continue talking to her, as he might reveal himself. He had to hurry back and call the coachman and that maid to identify whether this was his daughter.