Song Ming had sent Song Gua out, leaving him and his daughter-in-law alone in the house.
“This is my daughter-in-law, we can’t write the recipe because we can’t read, my daughter-in-law said, you have to remember it well.”
The boy looked at Song Ming’s daughter-in-law and saw that she was cowering and hiding behind Song Ming, it was obvious that she hadn’t been beaten up much during the day, no wonder she went out to earn money every day and supported Song Ming, a big man.
“You say.”
“Slow down!”
Song Ming extended his hand towards him, “Bring the silver ticket first.”
The boy was reluctant, he hadn’t even got the recipe yet.
“Don’t try to fool me, what if you don’t give it after you’ve listened to it? Either, pay the silver first and then listen to the recipe, or leave quickly.”
“You ……”
The boy was a dart master pretending to be a dart master, no one dared to treat him like this on a regular basis, he was very angry at being treated like this by Song Ming, but when he thought of the recipe, he suppressed his anger and took out five silver cheques, let Song Ming see the amount on them and gave him one first.
Song Ming took them in his hand, shone them against the sun and looked at them carefully a few times before folding them up and placing them carefully in his arms.
“First, tell him the recipe for the hotpot base.”
Song Ming’s daughter-in-law said one ingredient at a time, and the boy listened carefully, repeatedly reciting it a few times, remembering it and then writing down the next one, and after all of them had been written down, he let Song Ming’s daughter-in-law say it a few more times, and he checked it carefully in his mind before taking out a silver cheque and giving it to Song Ming.
Song Ming did not look at it this time, directly folded it carefully and put it up, signaling his daughter-in-law to say the recipe for herbal tea.
Song Ming’s daughter-in-law was a little hesitant and said with a wince, “Er, Er Ya is still in their hands.”
Song Ming glared at her, “I won’t tell if you don’t, who knows who leaked the recipe, hurry up, if someone finds out later, we’ll be really screwed.”
Song Ming’s daughter-in-law spilled the herbal tea recipe.
After the boy took note of it, he gave Song Ming all the remaining three silver tickets, turned around and got into the carriage, rushing off at a gallop.
Song Ming’s daughter-in-law put away her timid look and extended her hand towards Song Ming.
Song Ming ran his hand over the silver tickets in his arms for a long time before pulling them out and giving them to her, “That girl all said to give me ……”
Song Ming’s daughter-in-law glared at him, and Song Ming didn’t dare to say the words that followed, and gamely turned around and went back inside, taking out the seven taels of silver from yesterday and fiddling with it.
Song Ming daughter-in-law sent the silver ticket to Song Shen, and in order not to arouse the suspicion of the person behind it, Song Wan Yue got up early in the morning and followed Song Lin to the county town.
Song Shen only took one look at it, “It’s all fake.”
……
The boy rushed the carriage all the way back to the dartboard, asked for a pen and paper, wrote down the two recipes, and only then dared to wipe a sweat from his forehead, “This really made master right, Song Ming only looked at the first one carefully, he didn’t even look at the later ones.”
The first one he took out was the most realistic, ordinary people couldn’t tell the difference, let alone people like Song Ming who had never seen silver tickets before.
Things went so smoothly that Qi Wu felt something was wrong, he took the recipe in his hand and looked at it several times, “Did you hear it from Song Ming’s daughter-in-law yourself?”
The dart master pretending to be a boy nodded, “I heard it with my own ears, and that Song Ming’s daughter-in-law looked like she had been beaten up all the time and was beaten into submission.”
Qi Wu was still a little uneasy, in case the recipe was false, it would draw even greater anger from the Third Prince.
Qi Wu handed the recipe to another dart master, “You run to the inn and ask the people there to give it to my brother-in-law so he can take a look.”
The dart master took it to the inn and passed the idea to Qin’s father and mother, both of whom didn’t know if it was true or not after reading it. When Qi Wu got the news, he was cautious and sent someone to buy the ingredients mentioned above to come over and try it out, but it didn’t work out.
“How dare that Song Ming lie to us!”
The dart master dressed as a boy was furious, “Master, at night we ……”
Qi Wu waved his hand, he had already lost six dart masters by going to Gu’s house to try, he couldn’t afford to lose any more people, “You guys stay calm, I’m going to go to the Third Prince’s place.”
Qi Wu left the dartboard, rode his horse around the street a few times to make sure no one was following behind him, then he went in through the back door of the county courthouse to see the Third Prince, told him about the fake formula, and said, “I think the best way is to bring Song Ming and his wife into captivity.”
The Third Prince fiddled with his tea leaves, “You mean, let me send someone?”
“Song Ming and his wife are not far from the Song family, and although my men are skilled, they are not light-skilled, so if they make a commotion when they move and are discovered by the village, there will be no chance of capturing them again later.”
The Third Prince had only brought twelve guards with him this time, and he did not want to use his own men unless he had to, but Qi Wu had a point.
“I remember you have a son, don’t you?”
Qi Wu’s heart skipped a beat, “Yes.”
“Have him take two men with my guards and make sure you bring the man in.”
……
After the curfew, the men from the Wei Yuan Dart Board once again escorted two chests out of the city gates, and the soldiers guarding the city were overjoyed that in just a few days they had already gained twenty taels of silver.
“We’ll be back in about an hour, we’ll have to trouble the soldier master then.”
Qi Run’s words were polite, and the soldiers on guard naturally responded, watching the group of seven disappear into the darkness before slowly closing the city gates.
The group galloped on, stopping when they reached Song’s village with a mile or so to go and changing into their night clothes.
The two darters stayed behind to guard the horses, while the remaining five swept towards Song Ming’s house. They had not gone far when two silent figures appeared on the side of the road, and before the two darters left behind could react, they were killed with a single slash.
Unbeknownst to the five men, they stopped at the entrance of Song Ming’s house and looked around cautiously.
It was late at night and the village had fallen into a deep sleep, with only the occasional sound of frogs coming from the village.
The two guards instructed Qi Run to wait at the door, and they tiptoed to the two windows, took out the incense and lit it, and put it through the open window.
Figuring that the incense had worked, the two men walked to the door of the house, picked the latch with the tip of their knives and walked inside, entering the west room.
Qi Run looked towards the house with bated breath, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of light, and he instantly rolled to the side, dodging the sharp blade behind him.
The two darters were killed with another slash, and warm blood spurted on his face. Qi Run was too shocked to call out to the people in the house and turned to flee in haste outside the village.
As he was about to flee the village, a figure leapt out of the shadows and plunged a sharp blade in his hand into his heart.
The moment he was about to fall to the ground, he was hooked by his foot and thrown into a box with a casual lift.
There, the two guards who had entered Song Ming’s house were carried out, also thrown into the box, and tied to their horses. The two of them rolled up, one carrying a box to the city gate, and without shouting, the soldiers guarding the city opened the door for them.