Episode 105

Now that he realized he had walked himself into a dead end without any hope, Lu Shen’s gaze was vacant and he no longer cared about anything. The authorities didn’t have to use any tactics. He was willing to answer any question they threw at him.

This part was passed to Wen Yuansi to handle.

Wen Yuansi was best at gently coaxing details out of anyone’s mouth, and could even comfort the person at the same time.

Lu Shen slowly started recounting what he knew about Lu Guangzong’s conduct.

Lu Guangzong was really not a good guy at all. Just like the rumors floating around, he had really dabbled in a lot of illegal, unethical and immoral deeds…

Song Caitang was a little disappointed. She had thought that Lu Guangzong was that rarely found upright official.

“Where is your father’s money hidden?” Wen Yuansi finally came to the most important question.

Lu Shen’s face was ashen and his smile was bitter, “If I knew the answer to that, would I have come to this?”

It seemed like that was all they were going to get out of the man.

The rest of the work was still under Wen Yuansi’s care. There were many details to be taken care of and many clues to follow up on. Lu Shen was Lu Guangzong’s son after all, so he did know quite a bit. If they checked all the clues given carefully, they might be able to trace it to the killer.

Qi Yan was especially interested in this part.

He was excellent at thinking out of the box and digging for dirt. Lu Shen seemed to know a lot of scandalous stuff, so it would be loads of fun getting him to spill the tea!

Song Caitang, on the other hand, went to the backyard with Zhao Zhi.

“You said there’s a problem with this place?”

She looked at the yard, which was practically an entire park in itself. This estate was huge because it was on one side of the mountain. The yard was really scenic as it contained every type of landscaping feature imaginable. Giant rocks, fake mountains, fancy bonsai and more - it was really grand and luxuriously set up, but it also made it really difficult to find anything.

If Lu Guangzong had really hidden something here, it was going to be hard to find it. The soil alone was going to take ages to dig up.

Zhao Zhi had been very adventurous as a child and had gone to the houses of many aristocrats to look for hidden rooms, compartments and traps, so he had plenty of experience in this aspect. Before Song Caitang arrived, he had already found a few such places, including the hidden basement used to hide the servants.

He pointed out a few places to Song Caitang, then said, “The problem is…” he took out the rectangular stone that he got from Manager Liu that his men had delivered to him, “this thing doesn’t fit anywhere.”

The use of this stone would reveal the most important thing they were looking for.

The appearance of that man in black the night before made Zhao Zhi have a hunch that the stuff that Lu Guangzong had hidden had to be here.

Song Caitang paused to think, “Why don’t we call Loo Zhong over and ask him?”

She’d always felt that this man’s actions didn’t always match his words.

On the surface, he seemed fine. He was very loyal and protective of his employer and it seemed hard to find fault with him. But he also seemed wary all the time, and his counsel wasn’t always just that. His words were sometimes reminders or hints.

For example, Loo Zhong had suddenly appeared when she and Qi Yan were stalling him. The things that Loo Zhong said were meant to help Lu Shen calm down and take a step back. It was a hint at Lu Shen that something had happened to this house and he had to quickly settle it. The house was more urgent.

Loo Zhong probably knew a lot. Also, both Lu Guangzong and Lu Shen trusted him a lot.

So, who was he loyal to in this case?

Was he Lu Guangzong’s closest subordinate who didn’t know about Lu Shen’s plan? But if that was the case, how would he know about this house and what happened to it, and hint at Lu Shen to take care of it?

Song Caitang couldn’t make any sense of it.

And on top of all that…

“But this man is very sharp. He might not cooperate with us.”

“Whether he cooperates or not isn’t important.”

Zhao Zhi raised a finely trimmed brow and smiled faintly. He knew there was a problem here, so he wasn’t leaving until he got to the bottom of it. Even if he had to overturn the soil inch by inch, he was determined to find what he wanted. If someone in the know was cooperative, it would only serve to reduce the amount of time he had to spend on this place. So, even if Loo Zhong wasn’t cooperative, it didn’t matter. It would just be tougher on everyone.

He snapped his fingers and commanded his men to bring Loo Zhong over.

“Do you know where Lu Guangzong has hidden his money?”

Loo Zhong looked surprised, then he smiled sadly and said, “Sir, that is quite the question. I’m only a butler. How would I know my employer’s deepest secrets?”

“You really don’t know?”

“I really don’t know.”

“If you don’t know, then why did you drop a hint at Lu Shen to settle the problem here?” asked Song Caitang.

Loo Zhong looked even more puzzled, “Miss Song, when did I do such a thing? Everything I’ve done is within the scope of my job. My job is to be loyal, to do the work as well as I can as long as it benefits my employer…”

He was prepared to explain his actions in a noble fashion, but Zhao Zhi cut him off as he said dryly, “Not willing to tell us? If you don’t spit it out now, it will be too late.”

Loo Zhong bowed politely but his smile was a little stiff now, “Surveillance Commissioner Zhao, I really have no idea…”

“Men, take him away.”

Loo Zhong got cut off again, which made him a little angry now.

Song Caitang nearly burst out laughing.

This was a man who was very good at dodging the question and saying a lot of words without meaning anything. Trying to argue with him would only make yourself feel frustrated. So, when Zhao Zhi cut him off just like that, it made Loo Zhong feel annoyed instead.

Not bad.

Song Caitang wasn’t great at finding hidden spaces, so she wasn’t able to help Zhao Zhi too much in that aspect. So, she started making full use of her imagination to point out all sorts of possibilities in hope that it would give Zhao Zhi new ideas.

“What about the roof beams? The roof looks pretty high, so do you think it would contain a hidden attic?”

“What about the bonsai? Only this area has huge pots of bonsai, and there’s no pattern to the distance between the pots or the number of pots clustered together. Or is there a pattern I haven’t noticed?”

“Many people seem to enjoy tampering with the fake mountains and rocks.”

“Or maybe that sculpture? This fish sculpture looks really huge and really suspicious too.”

Zhao Zhi didn’t mind Song Caitang pointing out random possibilities. Sometimes, just listening to her and considering her ideas really did help him see things in a different light.

The roof, for example.

He didn’t discover anything in the beams, but he did find something in the large stomach of a decorative animal sculpture that formed part of the roof.

A records book.

Evidence of corruption.

There was nothing special about the bonsai, but the area between the bonsai and the fake mountains contained a very well-hidden catch. It revealed a secret room that was built underground. The space was huge and was filled with calligraphy and art pieces, but still no cash.

They searched for six hours, from morning till the afternoon, and found everything except cash.

Where in the world could the money be?

Zhao Zhi glanced at Song Caitang, who was drinking tea as she rested.

Perhaps she was really thirsty. She drank two cups consecutively. The tea wet her lips, reflecting the sunlight as though they were ripples on the surface of a lake.

The surface of a lake…

Zhao Zhi turned to look at the weird, fat koi fish stone sculpture Song Caitang had pointed out earlier.

He looked at the reflection of the sculpture in the water, and it seemed a little…

Others might have found it a beautiful sight, but it was pure trauma to someone who was afraid of water like Zhao Zhi.

He frowned and called for someone, “Go down into the water and look at whether there are any small holes, especially near that sculpture.”

Song Caitang was surprised, “You mean, it could be IN the water?”

Zhao Zhi did not say anything. His face was grim.

He had assumed that it was too difficult to build something in the water to hide stuff, but doing that would also have made it hard for anyone to find it.

The bottom of the water was covered in mud and lotus plant roots, so it was really hard to find anything down there. But Lu Guangzong might have purposely done it this way…

“I didn’t find anything!”

“Keep searching!” Zhao Zhi’s lips were tightly pursed as he yelled for more men to come over, “Go down and help him search!”

After goodness knows how long, one of the men burst through the surface of the water and yelled, “Found it! We’ve found it! It’s just next to the sculpture!”

Zhao Zhi threw the rock to the man, “Use this!”

That moment seemed to last an eternity.

Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi stood by the side and watched the water together. Their expressions were grim, but their eyes sparked with anticipation.

BOOOM!

A rumbling filled the air as the ground beneath them began shaking. Song Caitang was caught off guard but Zhao Zhi reached for her in time to stop her from falling.

She didn’t have the time to even throw him a grateful glance as her eyes remained fixed on the water.

It was happening!

Something exciting was definitely about to happen!

The water splashed wildly, then…started sinking rapidly.

A slit at the bottom of the pond seemed to have cracked open and the water was gushing in desperately. The water rushed in very quickly at first, then slowed down to reveal all the men who had been searching the pond, then the entire bottom of the pond that was now left with lots of lotus plants and mud.

“The water hasn’t dried up. THIS is the real pond!”

Now that the pond didn’t have anymore water, Zhao Zhi wasn’t afraid and leaped in. He didn’t care how filthy it was and just squatted down to start digging at the mud, flinging it aside as he dug deeper and deeper.

Gold glittered beneath the mud.

The gold color was a little…dull and blackened, but it was definitely gold. These were all pieces of gold!

Song Caitang stared in utter disbelief at what she was seeing.

Lu Guangzong had built a double story pond. Or rather, a triple story one.

A middle layer was a shelf that was used to hide his riches. He had exchanged all his cash for gold pieces and hidden it here. The top layer was always covered with water, while the layer below the shelf remained empty. When needed, he just needed to use that rectangular rock to activate the mechanism so that the water would flow from the uppermost layer to the bottommost one, and he could access the gold in the middle.

What a genius idea!

“Dig it!” Zhao Zhi’s lips were tightly pursed and his stare as deep and dark as the ocean at night, “I want to know how much money Lu Guangzong has hidden here!”

The answer to that question was…

An uncountable amount of money.

He had barely enough men to get everything out. Even after they had dug out enough to fill up a few dozen boxes, they were nowhere near done.

This middle section was really large, so it was going to take quite a long time to get everything out. The pieces right on top were a little dirtied by the mud, but the rest were very clean and new as they sparkled brightly in the sun.

The gold all over the ground reflected the sunshine so brightly, one might go blind.

Outside the house, so many people had gathered to peek at what was going on, and the sight of the gold nearly made them drench themselves from how much they were salivating.

Song Caitang fell into deep thought as she stared at all the gold.

How corrupt did one have to be in order to get so much money?

And the old man just hid everything in the pond and didn’t intend to use it?

That didn’t seem right…

As she thought about the other things that happened before this, a possibility struck her. She frowned slightly and said, “Do you think Lu Guangzong was in cahoots with someone else? Would there be one more place like this elsewhere?”

“At Tianhua Temple,” Zhao Zhi’s eyes were narrowed and he looked terrifying, “Lu Guangzong was very, very uptight about that thing he lost.”

Song Caitang nodded. Lu Guangzong had claimed that An Pengyi had stolen something of his, and he had flown into a terrible rage because of it.

Could that item be…a key of sorts, like that rectangular rock?

If the money was not meant Lu Guangzong’s personal stash for his own use and there was someone else he worked for or worked with, then there was definitely more than one such hiding place.

Song Caitang looked at Zhao Zhi with some worry in her eyes.

They might have inadvertently stumbled upon something really serious here.

“Don’t be afraid,” Zhao Zhi looked back at her. A glint seemed to flash in his eyes, “I don’t care who they could be and what they’re trying to do – I’m going to make sure I get them!”

He turned and yelled, “Where’s Loo Zhong? Bring him here!”

His men escorted Loo Zhong back out. His expression was a little conflicted as he stared at the ground covered in gold pieces, and while he did look shocked…

…his shock seemed more like a pretense. It looked fake. He was too agitated to act properly.

Compared to his shock, he looked more dismayed, as though that was his money that was being dug out of the pond. His breathing quickened, his pupils contracted and he looked really indignant.

It was obvious enough for anybody to understand his expression, not just Song Caitang who was well versed in micro expressions.

The power that gold had over people was truly amazing.

“You knew about this,” Zhao Zhi stared steely at Loo Zhong, “Not only did you know about this, but you also wanted even more. Why?”

This time, Loo Zhong did not make full use of his glib tongue. He refused to talk and looked away. He wasn’t going to answer Zhao Zhi.

He was cornered and was afraid that anything he said would only make things worse, so he decided to just not answer any questions. The authorities were in charge of investigating the case, so they could find answers themselves. He wasn’t going to help them.

Zhao Zhi snorted at the butler’s response. He called a servant over and whispered a few instructions to him.

The servant ran off in a hurry.

Before long, Wen Yuansi and Qi Yan escorted Lu Shen out.

Lu Shen’s eyes reddened when he saw the entire ground covered in gold. Strength suddenly filled his arms as he pushed aside the guards holding him down and ran toward Loo Zhong. He grabbed the butler by the collar and punched him in the face.

“You knew about this! So, you knew everything but you refused to tell me! You even hinted to me that the money was in the study and that I should search it! How could I have been so blind! Why did I trust you?!”

After that first punch, he threw a second punch.

“So, Miss Song was right after all! You’re a liar! A conman! I was fooled by you! What about my father? Was he fooled by you too? Don’t you dare think that I have nothing on you! I didn’t want to tell anyone about this because you’ve always been loyal, but your little lover out there is seven months pregnant, isn’t she? I’m not stupid! Guess what I’ve done in secret?”

Loo Zhong’s expression suddenly changed dramatically.

He glared at Zhao Zhi, and Zhao Zhi responded by raising an eyebrow and threw a smug smile back at him.

Loo Zhong got it now.

He shut his eyes, then stared at Lu Shen again like he really wanted to slap this young man.

He didn’t know what Zhao Zhi got Wen Yuansi to tell Lu Shen, but it was obvious that the authorities had said something to agitate Lu Shen so that Lu Shen would slip up and turn Lu Shen against him! This stupid Lu Shen didn’t even realize he was being used!

There were some risks he could afford, and there were some…he couldn’t.

He had no choice but to admit his guilt.

Loo Zhong was a very decisive man. If he didn’t want to talk, he would never talk. But once he changed his mind, he would go ahead and do what was needed without looking back.

He fell to the ground with a loud thud and kowtowed three times to Zhao Zhi, “I’ll speak! I’ll tell you everything, but my child must not die! Please promise me you’ll protect my child!”

Zhao Zhi looked at Wen Yuansi. Wen Yuansi nodded.

Zhao Zhi agreed to the request, “We’ll do that. Now, speak.”

Loo Zhong calmed down a little, then glared hatefully at Lu Shen as he hissed every word, “That’s right, I’m not from Zhending or anything like that. That bandit incident that got me employed by Lu Guangzong was all orchestrated by me. I purposely wanted to get close to Lu Guangzong and gain his trust because I wanted to find a chance to kill him. Because…he’s my enemy!”

“He killed my entire family!”

Loo Zhong proceeded to tell them about something that happened very long ago. He was from Taiyuan, not Zhending. Back then, Lu Guangzong was ordered by the emperor to take control of the water channels in Taiyuan, but the people there were causing trouble and a rebellion could happen anytime. In order to get the results he wanted and be rewarded by the emperor, he killed a whole bunch of people and used that to make the people too afraid to rebel. He even made use of his power to make it look like this happened because the people had offended the gods, which made the people fall in line. The authorities said that these deaths were inevitable, while the people were glad that these deaths had happened.

But while the people were all happy, thinking they were safe now, the ones who died were not relatives of these people. The ones who died were all Loo Zhong’s family members!

Loo Zhong gnashed his teeth, “I, Loo Zhong, swore that I would take revenge. He killed my entire family, so I was going to destroy his. The filthy money he had earned from doing such things is rightfully mine!”

“But Lu Guangzong was too much of a cautious man. I had to work for more than ten years in his household in order to finally work directly for him…”

Lu Shen bellowed as he swung his fists again, “So, you were the one who killed my father! You were the one who killed my father!”

Loo Zhong was very strong and pushed Lu Shen to the ground before Lu Shen could hit him. He snorted, “Stop pretending. Don’t you hate your father very much too? Didn’t you always wish he were dead? He’s dead now, so shouldn’t you be very happy?”

Wen Yuansi slammed a palm on the table, “Loo Zhong, were you the one who killed Pacification Commissioner Lu?”

“No!” Loo Zhong kowtowed again, “I admit that I’ve always wanted to kill him and I thought about it for a long time. I’ve been planning all this time and if this hadn’t happened, I would have started executing my plan around now. But I didn’t! Someone killed him before I could!”

He said these words very sincerely.

He was admitting to having a reason to kill the man, but he said he hadn’t committed the crime.

Was he telling the truth?

Song Caitang glanced at Zhao Zhi.

They needed more evidence. Without actual evidence, they couldn’t throw Loo Zhong into jail and interrogate him no matter how suspicious he seemed.

Just when the tension in the air was at its highest, something else came along.

The sound of a horse galloping resounded loudly from beyond the house, coming closer and closer to the house.

A man rode the horse right into the yard, hopped off, then fell on one knee to report, “Fourth Missy Gan has left a suicide note behind, saying that she’s the killer and has thrown herself into a lake to kill herself and escape punishment!”