They initially thought their memories were mistaken, but seeing Liu Baishi slumped on the ground, they realized it had truly happened. For some reason, they felt something was off, not painful, but just different.
After a while, Liu Baishi came to his senses. It was already dawn. Recalling his encounter with Li Shiqin last night made him break out in a cold sweat. If he were still lying in his room, he would have dismissed it as a nightmare. But these ruffians weren't imaginary; it meant last night's events were real. Yet, the fact that he was still alive felt incredibly bizarre.
Though he didn't understand what was going on, he returned to the city as quickly as possible. Upon reaching his mansion, he immediately sent people to inquire about Li Shiqin's whereabouts. Although they found it strange, their master had been paying a lot of attention to Miss Li lately, so they had grown accustomed to it. When they learned that Li Shiqin had slept at home last night and gone to her shop early in the morning, his heart was a mix of emotions.
So, he took his trusted personal attendant and sat in a teahouse opposite Wu Caiwei's shop, observing her every move. Wu Caiwei didn't appear before him often, only occasionally interacting with customers. Seeing her radiant smile, it was hard to connect her with the terrifying entity from last night. However, after yesterday's experience, he no longer dared to approach her alone.
As he was lost in thought, Wu Caiwei emerged from her shop and saw him in the teahouse opposite. She quickly waved, smiling and greeting him. This made Liu Baishi's heart pound with a mixture of fear and confusion. Could what happened last night truly not have happened? If so, why was she smiling so warmly at him after how he had treated her?
The more he thought, the colder he became. Wu Caiwei was now in the middle of the street, the sun casting a long shadow on her. This calmed Liu Baishi's nerves. Soon, he approached Wu Caiwei. Just as she was about to greet him, a splash of red rushed towards her. She dodged to the side, and a pool of dog's blood splattered on the ground.
Seeing Liu Baishi's regretful expression, Wu Caiwei's face turned cold, and she angrily exclaimed, "Mr. Liu, what do you mean by this? Who splashes a basin of blood at someone when they meet?"
The commotion attracted a crowd. Seeing their accusatory gazes, Mr. Liu awkwardly rubbed his nose. Could he tell everyone present that he wanted to test if she was human or a ghost? Saying such things in broad daylight would certainly lead to him being criticized.
He didn't speak, but that didn't mean the onlookers hadn't guessed. So, they all scrutinized Wu Caiwei. Wu Caiwei remained calm, letting them stare. Then, to prove herself, she even reached out to touch the dog's blood and sniffed it. She indignantly declared, "Mr. Liu, are you trying to see if I'm a ghost? It's broad daylight. If I were a ghost, could I walk openly in the street with a shadow beneath me?"
The crowd began to murmur. As if she felt the commotion wasn't enough, she added, "We're all in business. Fair competition is the key. Normally, my shop's business is better than Mr. Liu's. I understand if you're unhappy, but you can't spread rumors that I'm a monster. Do you think people will shun me and your business will pick up? You're too naive. Everyone has eyes to see."
Her words, instead of helping, caused the crowd to erupt. They hadn't realized there was this underlying tension between the two. But it made sense. Before Miss Li opened her shop, people bought from Liu's shop. However, since the Li family's shop offered fair prices and good quality, they stopped patronizing Liu's shop thereafter. Mr. Liu's jealousy was understandable, but resorting to such underhanded tactics was unacceptable.
Liu Baishi saw people pointing fingers at him, unable to explain himself. He knew no one would believe him if he told them the truth. Especially after the incident with Li Jinyu, there had been whispers behind his back. But all these years, no one had ever directly accused him of being ungrateful. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation, and his mind went blank. He started to feel dizzy. If it weren't for his attendant supporting him, he would have collapsed.
The steward of the Xu family, hiding in the crowd, saw how useless Liu Baishi was and hurried back to report to Master Xu. Although Master Xu didn't hold much hope for him, knowing his limited capabilities, which was why Liu's business hadn't progressed further over the years, he still cursed him as a good-for-nothing.
A few days later, as Wu Caiwei was leaving her home, the steward of the small tavern rushed to her, his voice choked with sobs, "Mistress, you must go quickly! Something has happened at our small tavern."
Wu Caiwei comforted him as she hurried towards the tavern. As she reached the entrance, she saw a family dressed in ragged clothes carrying a corpse and blocking the doorway. Without looking, Wu Caiwei knew what was happening. Someone had probably gotten drunk and died at her establishment, and the family was there to cause trouble.
As expected, the family members, upon seeing her, rushed forward agitatedly, intending to strike her. Fortunately, the steward reacted quickly, blocking Wu Caiwei and pushing her aside. This push caused the middle-aged woman to fall to the ground, wailing, "Everyone, look! The wine at this small tavern is problematic, and it killed my husband! I just wanted to teach her a lesson, and they pushed me down. I can't go on living like this."
Wu Caiwei ignored her and went to the corpse, intending to lift the cloth covering it. The middle-aged woman immediately rushed forward and loudly questioned, "What do you want to do? You killed my husband, and now you want to expose his body to everyone, not even letting him rest in peace?"
Wu Caiwei finally looked up, her gaze calm as she watched the woman's outburst. The deceased's relatives also looked at her with indignant eyes. Wu Caiwei felt no sympathy for the person lying on the ground. She knew her wine well; with her special processing, it usually wouldn't kill anyone, but it depended on how much they drank.
Initially, the onlookers were neutral. Although the troublemakers claimed their family's wine was the cause of death, they knew in their hearts that many people died from drinking each year. They often bought wine from Li's tavern to treat their husbands and had never encountered any problems. In fact, their husbands even said Li's wine tasted good and didn't make them too drunk, and it had never caused trouble. This was the first time.