Traveling through the Republic of China, I married a dead person

"Madam, this old slave deserves to die!" Kong Dai fell to the ground and kowtowed. It was too late for Su Bai to stop him.

As expected, I guessed correctly. Guo Deyi was the third concubine's lover, and the second young master was Guo Deyi's son.

"No need to explain. Brotherly love is thicker than blood. Let's not talk about the past, okay?"

Kong Dai was still kneeling on the ground, looking up at Su Bai in a daze.

Su Bai then came over to help him up: "Uncle Kong, you are the person I trust most in the Kong Mansion. I regard you as my support. Don't you understand?"

"Then, they..." Kong Dai looked at Su Bai eagerly, waiting for her next words, wanting to know how she was going to deal with this matter.

"I would like to ask you to go to Qingdao again to help me with a private matter." Su Bai did not answer the question that Kong Dai was expecting.

Kong Dai nodded and whispered, "Guo Deyi is still loyal to the Kong family."

Su Bai slammed the table and said, "Sleeping with the master's woman, is this called loyalty?"

Kong Dai immediately changed his words: "I mean, he is loyal to the young mistress."

"I know this. Don't worry. I won't make things difficult for him. I will pretend I don't know about this."

Kong Dai looked at Su Bai with half belief and half doubt.

"The third young master is Kong Li's son, am I right?" Su Bai asked again.

Kong Dai nodded first, then lowered his head.

"Does the master know about this?" Su Bai suddenly had a bold guess. Master Kong knew about the affair between the fourth concubine and Kong Li, but the affair between the third concubine and Guo Deyi was concealed by Kong Dai.

Even Kong Dai was not sure about this. He only knew that the master was suspicious of the fourth concubine and Kong Li, but he didn't know what he was thinking.

There was one thing he was sure of, no matter whether the master became suspicious or knew the truth, he was not going to hand over his military power to Kong Chen and Kong Li, but to the eldest young master.

Therefore, the master never revealed a single word about the hiding place of the gold bars to the second and third masters, and wanted to leave it to the eldest master.

Unexpectedly, the eldest son had an affair with a foreign woman in Tianjin, and the father and son almost fell out. The transfer of military power was delayed. After the old master became seriously ill, he sent a letter to the eldest son, thinking that he would hand over everything to him after the eldest son came back, but he didn't expect that something happened to the eldest son.

Kong Chen's temporary military power became official after his master left.

Only then did Su Bai know that the commander of the Temporary Seventh Army was Master Kong, and Kong Chen was the deputy commander. After the master fell ill, he had always regarded himself as the commander.

The master also had doubts about the third concubine, but unlike the fourth concubine, he did not expect it to be Guo Deyi.

"This is the only thing I have done that is not good to my master in my life..." Kong Dai's confession came from the heart.

"No need to say more, I just know these things in my heart, and no one of us is allowed to mention them again in the future."

Su Bai praised Guo Deyi for keeping the Kong Mansion in order, and explained to Kong Dai the reason why he was going to pretend to be ignorant about this matter. If Guo Deyi knew that Su Bai knew about his and the third concubine's background, he would definitely be resentful or hesitant. The Kong Mansion is about to recruit new people, and if Guo Deyi cannot devote his full efforts to such a large family as a housekeeper, he cannot stay in the mansion.

Su Bai was hinting to Kong Dai not to tell Guo Deyi that Su Bai already knew about what happened between him and the third concubine. This would distract him and even make him do something he shouldn't do.

"I understand what the young madam means." Kong Dai really understood.

"Let's talk about the Second Wife." Su Bai remembered what the Sixth Aunt had told him about the relationship between the Second Wife and the Xishan bandits.

That happened many years ago. By the time the story reached Sixth Concubine's ears, it had passed through several people, so it was inevitable that some of it might be a little exaggerated.

Su Bai wanted to know more details from Kong Dai.

Before the second wife married into the Kong family, her lover was named Xu Heizi.

In fact, Longxing was just a town more than 20 years ago, called Longxing Town, which was under the jurisdiction of Linhua County.

Because this is the birthplace of the Kong family, it was changed into a county by Master Kong. Its area and population are much smaller than those of Tianlong and Linhua. Tianlong and Linhua have townships under their jurisdiction, and villages under the townships. However, Longxing does not have the township level, and villages are directly under the county.

Xu Heizi is from Wangjia Village, Longxing County, and so is his second wife.

The Wang family is a big family in Wangjia Village, and the second wife's family is also considered a wealthy family in the village, but Xu Heizi's family is very poor.

This is inconsistent with what the Sixth Concubine said. It was actually the Wang family's idea to have Mr. Kong take the Second Wife into the Kong Mansion. They would rather let their daughter marry Mr. Kong as a concubine than marry him to Xu Heizi.

What happened later was almost the same as what the Sixth Concubine had said. Xu Heizi went to Beishan and became a bandit. After the Second Wife gave birth to the Second Miss, Xu Heizi left Beishan and went to Shili Peak in Xishan.

As he got older, Xu Heizi changed his name to Xu Laohei.

Indeed, after Xu Laohei arrived in Xishan, he never harassed Longxing County again.

"Uncle Kong, do you think... could it be that the Second Madam was saved by Xu Laohei?"

Kong Dai showed a surprised expression: "Young Madam has also thought of this possibility?"

It turned out that Kong Dai had the same guess, but this matter would involve the old relationship between the Second Wife and Xu Laohei, which would be an embarrassing thing for the Kong family, so he didn't tell Su Bai.

He thinks this possibility is not small.

Although the bandits from Shilifeng never harassed Longxing County, in addition to robbery, they also usually hunted and gathered in the mountains. They often operated in Xishankou and even in the Beishan area, but they did not go down the mountain to rob people.

On the day when the second wife had the accident, there was a lot of gunfire. If there happened to be bandits nearby, they would definitely not go far.

They were not hiding aside to watch the show, but waiting for the battle to end and then going down the mountain to see if they could pick up some spoils that had not been cleared away.

If this is true, there is a high possibility that the second wife was picked up.

So, the possibility that Su Bai had thought before, that Xu Laohei did not allow the second wife to return to the Kong Mansion, did exist.

The letter asking Su Bai for 1000 ocean dollars was sent to the Confucius Mansion by Xu Laohei's men.

Su Bai and Kong Dai's speculations on this matter were highly consistent. The difference was that Kong Dai believed that Xu Laohei would send letters again to ask for money, but the second wife would not return to the Kong Mansion.

Su Bai knew clearly that if his and Kong Dai's guess came true, the Second Wife would definitely return to the Kong Mansion. In the eyes of the Second Wife, Su Bai was bought by her, and the Kong Mansion's property should belong to her, which could not be satisfied with just one or two thousand dollars.

What's more, her daughter lives in the Kong family.

"When do we leave for Qingdao?" Kong Dai asked.

"I'll leave tomorrow. I'll tell you when I'm ready."

Before leaving, Kong Dai left a message for Su Bai, saying that he would not tell Guo Deyi what he talked about with the young mistress today, so that he could focus on taking care of the Kong Mansion. After he returned from Qingdao, he would have a long talk with Guo Deyi.

"Okay." Su Bai felt relieved. Kong Dai not only understood her meaning, but also expressed his feelings to her.

Of course, Su Bai would not pretend to be ignorant of the matter between the third concubine and Guo Deyi as he did to Kong Dai. Guo Deyi could be let off, but not the third concubine.

After the men in the Kong Mansion were exiled by Kong Chen, the only servants left in the mansion were the maids in each room, two housekeepers and an accountant. There were only four women, two cooks, and two kitchen helpers who did odd jobs.

Compared with the several backyards, the front yard is much larger, with six rooms in the east and west wing. Kong Dai lives in the east wing of the front yard.

Of the two front yards, the west front yard, which was separated from the sixth concubine's west second yard by a wall, originally had the most servants living in it. All the men lived here. After Kong Chen was conscripted into the army, the west front yard was completely empty.

Servants were not allowed to live in the main house. I don't know if it was a rule set by Mr. Kong or Kong Dai himself. No one had ever lived in the main houses in the east and west courtyards and they had always been used as warehouses and tool rooms.

Guo Deyi lived in the east wing of the east front courtyard, which was separated from the third concubine's east second courtyard by a wall, and the maids lived in the west wing opposite him.

Su Bai asked Zi Yan to find one of the cooks who was close to her and entrusted her with a task. She didn't have to make breakfast in the kitchen for the next few days, she could get up later, and keep an eye on Guo Deyi across the street after midnight. If she found him leaving the room, she had to report to the backyard immediately.

Su Bai plans to catch the third concubine and Guo Deyi in the act.

What Su Bai didn't expect was that Guo Deyi was so diligent. Zi Yan had just instructed the cook about this matter in the evening, and there was news a few hours later.

Around one o'clock in the middle of the night, Zi Yan woke up Su Bai who was already asleep. The cook had just knocked on Zi Yan's window. A few minutes ago, Guo Deyi left the house and went towards the backyard.

The cook didn't know which yard at the back he was going to, and she didn't dare to follow him.

That was enough. Su Bai suddenly came to life. He quickly put on his clothes, went out of the house with Zi Yan, and went to the east wing to call Xu Tianyi out.

"Madam, where are we going so late?" Xu Tianyi put on his clothes and walked out with sleepy eyes.

"Yes, to catch an adulterer."

When he heard that they were going to catch an adulterer, Xu Tianyi also became excited.