Chapter 624: Chapter 611: Unacceptable

“Now, no one can call me a weakling anymore.”

The speaker wore a faint smile at the corner of his mouth as he said this, clearly satisfied and grateful for the work at hand.

Zhuang Qingning saw the man’s joy and also cracked a friendly smile, “If you like it here, then you must work hard. The better you perform and more cloth you weave, the more money you will make.”

“Naturally.” The man nodded vigorously, “I’m looking to earn more money so I can take a wife in the future.”

His candor made the people around him, all busy with their work, raise their heads and share a cordial laugh. Someone even teased, “Apart from pursuing a wife, Ge Wu seems to have nothing else on his mind.”

As these words left his mouth, laughter erupted spontaneously from the crowd.

Ge Wu, feeling a tad embarrassed by the laughter, awkwardly scratched the back of his head in front of Zhuang Qingning.

“Get back to work.” Zhuang Qingning smiled.

“Yes.” He quickly resumed his work.

Zhuang Qingning glanced at him one more time, before she slowly moved on.

Zhuang Yutian, after a brief pause, followed step with Zhuang Qingning and left the workshop together.

After a careful look around to confirm no one was watching, Zhuang Yutian turned to Zhuang Qingning and asked in a hushed voice, “Was there something odd about that man just now?”

“How so?” Instead of answering, Zhuang Qingning countered with a question.

“You inspected the entire workshop, your expression normal while you looked at others, without your gaze lingering anywhere for too long. But you spent a considerable amount of time talking with that man. It felt kind of odd.” Yutian explained.

“Speaking of which, that man was hired recently when we needed more hands. He seemed dilligent and his weaving was efficient, so we kept him.” Yutian added.

“But there’s always something secretive about his gaze that makes one uneasy, like something is off. There’s no evidence though, and the work he does is acceptable, so we kept him on.”

“I didn’t notice anything off about him, but I did detect a peculiar scent on him.” Zhuang Qingning chuckled in response.

“Scent?” Zhuang Yutian was bewildered. “What scent?”

Zhuang Qingning touched her nose, lowered her voice and whispered something into Zhuang Yutian’s ear.

The expression on Zhuang Yutian’s face changed from initial surprise to solemn and finally to gloomy.

Around sunset, Zhuang Qingning left the weaving workshop. After seeing her off, Zhuang Yutian went to the cloth shop to inspect it. After dinner, he came back to the weaving workshop to check it again. After everyone else had left, he instructed the overnight watchman to keep a good eye on the workshop before he yawned and headed home.

As was customary, the four night watchmen divided themselves into two pairs for rotating shifts, each lasting half an hour.

It was still early, and all four men were wide awake. They made a teapot of tea which they shared, engaging in conversation.

“This tea is somewhat different from what we usually have.” One of them, after gulping down half a cup, licked his lips, “It tastes a bit bitter. Could it be this tea has gone off?”

“Ridiculous. This is high-quality tea from Cheng’s. Surely it can’t spoil.” Another man said. “The tea Cheng’s sells won’t go off.”

“That’s true.” The man took another sip and licked his lips again, “This is said to be a good stuff and indeed different from the usual. Perhaps we’re simply not accustomed to it because we’re used to the inferior tea we drink every day. Speaking of it, with such good quality tea, was it offered by the shop manager?”

“No, it was from Ge Wu.” Another answered. “He said a relative gave it to him. He couldn’t bear to drink it himself, and said we watchmen had a tough job, so we should drink more to stay alert.”

“No wonder everyone likes Ge Wu. He’s very considerate. Among all those working at this workshop, he’s the only one always complimenting the shop manager and the workshop, always with praises every day.”

“Indeed, since Ge Wu cares so much, let’s drink more to keep ourselves wide awake and guard this workshop properly.” Another laughed, adding some hot water to the teapot and filled everyone’s cups.

While pouring tea, the flame in the oil lamp flickered and dimmed. One of them set down his cup to adjust the lamp’s wick, realizing that the oil was nearly exhausted. He hurriedly went to fetch the oil can.

As soon as he picked up the oil can, he felt dizzy. Unable to open his eyes or grip the can tightly, he dropped it to the ground.

It shattered with a “bang”.

He himself collapsed heavily to the ground, creating a dull thud.

But despite the loud noise, no one came to check.

That’s because the remaining three men had also collapsed, either on top of the tables or onto the ground. Some of them even began to snore lightly.

At this moment, a figure leaped from the top of the wall and ran quickly to the door. After confirming through the door crack that everyone had fallen, he pushed the door open, kicking the unconscious men.

Seeing no response, the figure let out a breath of relief and went to the corner to fetch a new can of lamp oil, which he began to pour on the unconscious bodies, the ground, the tables and the looms.

When the oil can was empty, he took the lamp from the table to set the oil-soaked table on fire.

However, when the flame touched the table, there was no immediate blaze as expected when fire meets oil. Instead, there was no reaction at all.

The figure was taken aback.

“Of course it won’t burn,” Zhuang Qingning walked in from outside, looking at the figure who was none other than Ge Wu, the man she had talked to in the studio that day. She couldn’t help but smile, “Because the can doesn’t contain lamp oil at all. It’s just water.”

“Water?” Ge Wu was stunned. He quickly touched the table and sniffed it, only to see his facial expression change drastically, “But when I brought these cans of oil earlier, I checked them. They were definitely oil. How did it turn into water?”

“When you brought them over earlier, they were indeed filled with lamp oil. You were indeed very careful and you checked them thoroughly.” Zhuang Qingning was laughing, “Unfortunately, these cans were replaced with water at dusk when you were busy weaving. Since we made sure you did not know about it, you naturally remained ignorant.”