Episode 109

The secret of Gan Zhixuan’s birth was the one thing that hurt his relationship with his mother.

Gan Zhixuan had been working hard to find out who his father was, while Fourth Missy Gan had been working hard to make sure he never knew.

He had asked her so many times since he was a child, but she never told him. She lied to him, she coaxed him, she frightened him, she tricked him – she had used everything she could to stop him from asking, but none of these methods worked anymore. She eventually stopped trying and just cried.

Each time he asked, she would cry. He couldn’t get any answers out of her, so he had to think of another way.

This became an obsession of sorts to him. A thought he couldn’t put aside.

He had always felt that his mother was hiding a huge secret, something that must never be revealed. Something that no ordinary person could have. His mother was so pretty and was even literate…

He had reason to believe that his true identity was no ordinary one.

His father was probably a big shot.

“I just couldn’t understand. We could have lived a much better life, yet my mother insisted that we stay here and allowed others to curse her and despise her. I don’t care if I’m the son of a concubine or an illegitimate son, I’m not afraid. I’m already an adult, so the cheap schemes of a lawfully wedded wife would not work on me. I can protect myself. I just need a little help, just a little would do, and I would be able to fly high. I could become successful and give my mother a good life, but she refused to listen to me…”

Gan Zhixuan went on and on as he recounted the many arguments he had with his mother over this matter and how upset he felt because of this. His expression and voice was extremely earnest and honest.

“Commissioner Lu’s relationship with my mother was a very odd one. She didn’t seem to like him, but she would look for him if she was in trouble. He didn’t interact with us and despised us, so he didn’t like being in close contact with us. But whenever my mother asked him for help, he would agree to help most of the time. And so…I thought he could be my father.”

“I tried to test him a few times, but he did not admit to it. Later on, he started to figure it out and told me that he knew who my father was, but couldn’t tell me because of my mother.”

Gan Zhixuan glanced cautiously at his mother, his fingernails white from gripping her skirt so tightly, “I was indignant and I would harass him each time I got a chance. But our circles were too different, since he was a court official while I was merely a commoner, so we seldom crossed paths. That day at the pub, I noticed that he was out of sorts and didn’t seem as steady or aloof, so I thought I could get an answer out of him and found a chance to talk to him…”

Wen Yuansi narrowed his eyes, “If that was all, you didn’t need to hide it from us. You could have come to us without your mother’s knowledge.”

“But Commissioner Lu said something that day…” Gan Zhixuan bowed his head again, “He said that he had to attend to a matter and wanted me to do him a favor. If I did it, he would tell me who my father is the next day.”

Wen Yuansi asked, “What did he want you to do?”

Gan Zhixuan looked around, then dropped to a whisper so that only Wen Yuansi could hear, “He told me to go to the city’s east gate after daybreak, go 1.5 kilometers to the left, measure five inches, which is about up to half my calf, and carve the word ‘return’ with a hard rock.”

“What does that mean? Why that particular word? And why 1.5 kilometers left of the gate?”

“How would I know? Those were Lu Guangzong’s instructions!”

“Did you do it?”

“Of course not!” Gan Zhixuan shook his head vigorously, “Lu Guangzong died the next day…and he died so tragically in that pigsty…this matter had to be something way bigger than I could handle! I wouldn’t dare to do it! What if I ended up getting killed too?! I still haven’t fulfilled my dream of giving my mother a good life yet!”

“Besides, since Lu Guangzong was dead, he wouldn’t be able to tell me who my father was anymore…”

Wen Yuansi now understood why Gan Zhixuan had not dared to tell anyone about this.

The young man had been too afraid.

If everything he said was true and he didn’t know who the killer was, then the instructions he had received were definitely very suspicious. It could be something the killer was looking for even. He didn’t dare to tell the authorities, didn’t dare to tell his mother, and perhaps he even kept one eye open at all times, afraid he might say it out loud in his dreams.

He was going to be tormented by this one word for the rest of his life.

If anybody discovered it or the situation suddenly implicated him, he would become very afraid and heavily burdened.

Because of this secret that he had not divulged, he could be silenced by the killer, or the authorities might think he was the killer.

Gan Zhixuan pulled at his hair and his eyes reddened. He was clearly tired of living this way, “I just wanted to know who my biological father is…is that really too much to ask?”

Fourth Missy Gan was so angry, she trembled and hit Gan Zhixuan again and again with her hands, “Why didn’t you tell me! Why!”

Gan Zhixuan put his hands up to protect his head, “I wouldn’t have dared to tell you! Once you start crying, there’s no end to it! There’s no point!”

Fourth Missy Gan bit her lip hard as she stared straight into Gan Zhixuan’s eyes, “After we finished selling the braised meats that day, we left the pub and headed home. You said you needed the bathroom and told me to go back first, but you only returned close to 1 am…where did you go and what were you doing?”

“Oh, you were still waiting for me? Your room was all dark and I thought you were already asleep, so I didn’t go in and tell you that I’d come home.”

Fourth Missy Gan gnashed her teeth, “I asked, where did you go and what did you do!”

“I went to find a hole to poop in…I ate something wrong that night, so I kept having diarrhea. I went to the bathroom in the pub for that reason too. I know myself – it wasn’t anything serious and I would be fine once the diarrhea was over. You always make a huge fuss when I’m unwell, so I didn’t want explain in detail.”

Gan Zhixuan sighed, “I thought I could make it home, but I had to go again before reaching home. My stomach really hurt and it was hard to find a public toilet, so I decided to just wait for a while after each round until I was sure that there wasn’t anymore left before heading home.”

“I could handle that myself, so it wasn’t worth waking you up in the middle of the night, and so I didn’t tell you about it.”

Fourth Missy Gan looked toward the vast lake, then looked down at her drenched self. As thoughts about what happened today filled her mind, a sadness welled up in her heart and she burst into tears. She hugged her knees as she cried and wailed extremely miserably, and didn’t even care about how she looked like to others.

Gan Zhixuan timidly leaned against her as he continued to hold onto her skirt and didn’t say anything as he waited for her to finish crying.

Song Caitang and Wen Yuansi exchanged glances as they both sighed inwardly.

Fourth Missy Gan was clearly feeling relieved that she hadn’t died, and also regret for having tried.

She thought that her son had definitely killed someone and would not be able to get away with it, so she decided to take the rap for him and was even willing to sacrifice her own life to save her son. But in the end, her son hadn’t killed anyone at all and…she had nearly died for nothing.

The miscommunication between this mother and son had resulted in unnecessary doubt and misunderstanding. Someone had used this to mislead them and this was the result.

Someone had used this…

But who?

The killer? Or someone else?

Song Caitang took two steps forward and came to Fourth Missy Gan, “You didn’t know what Gan Zhixuan and Lu Guangzong talked about that night, and you only knew that he had come home very late that night. That alone would not be enough for you to be so certain that he’s the killer. What else happened? How were you so sure?”

Fourth Missy Gan’s crying had subsided, but her voice was still a little shaky, “It was a note…it said that they had seen my son kill someone that night and told me to be careful of my son. How could I do that? My son…would never try to harm me…he’s still young and has a bright future ahead of him…I can’t allow this case to ruin it…”

Song Caitang narrowed her eyes, “Where’s the note?”

Fourth Missy Gan kept her head down, “I took it with me when I jumped into the lake…it’s impossible to find it now.”

She was lying.

Song Caitang’s tone grew severe, “Fourth Missy Gan. What you saw wasn’t a note, but a person. Am I right?”

Fourth Missy Gan froze for a second, then she looked up at Song Caitang and shook her head vigorously, “No, no! It wasn’t a person! There was no such person! It was a piece of paper!”

“Where was it? How did you see it?”

“It was at the corner of my wall, someone had thrown it into my house…”

Song Caitang sighed, slowly squatted down and leaned forward, “Fourth Missy Gan, do you find fooling others very fun? This morning, you went about your day normally and suicide didn’t cross your mind at all, until you went to water your flowers. Your feet were facing the main door, and you saw something. You were so shocked, you spilled water on yourself, and you didn’t realize you were gripping your dress so tightly that you tore it.”

“Who could have made you so frightened? What did this person say to you?”

With each sentence she uttered, she leaned forward a little, causing Fourth Missy Gan to turn a whiter shade of pale each time.

How…

How did Song Caitang know?!

Could she have seen it?

No, that wasn’t possible.

Song Caitang’s eyes beneath her long brows seemed to gleam intelligently. It was as though her eyes, which reflected the lake and the sky, were able to read one’s mind.

Song Caitang was waiting for her reply.

Fourth Missy Gan bit the tip of her tongue hard to calm herself down. She was still trembling, but she spoke as confidently as she could, “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miss Song…I really didn’t see anybody, just a note. That note was at a corner of the wall, next to the door…the words on it were large and I have good eyesight, plus it was in an obvious spot, so I saw it immediately…”

Regardless of what had happened, Fourth Missy Gan’s stance was clear: she wasn’t going to cooperate.

Even though Song Caitang had saved her life.

It was easy to deal with people like Lu Shen and Gan Zhixuan, since a little tempting and threatening made them spill the beans. But Fourth Missy Gan was a much stronger and resolute character, so such methods would not work on her.

Besides, Fourth Missy Gan was still recovering from a near drowning. She had to go home and rest.

Song Caitang and Wen Yuansi had no choice but to give up and talk about this later.

Wen Yuansi had rested enough and regained his energy, so he quickly arranged for the crowd watching to leave while getting his men to see Fourth Missy Gan and her son home.

The sky was beginning to darken.

The icy winds couldn’t blow away the impending darkness.

As Song Caitang watched the Gans leave, she kept feeling like there was an important thought somewhere in her mind, but she couldn’t catch hold of it no matter how hard she tried…

Throughout the entire thing, besides the initial part when they rescued Fourth Missy Gan, Zhao Zhi had remained standing by the side and had not uttered a single word.

Qi Yan quietly walked over, “Brother Zhi, we’re done here, so let’s go back?”

When he saw that Zhao Zhi did not budge and continued staring at the lake, he laughed, “Brother Zhi, are you sad that you didn’t get to dive into the water just now? Then again, you used to swim like a fish in the water. No other man in the capital could swim like you!”

Zhao Zhi didn’t seem to have heard what he said. His brows were tightly knit as he kept his gaze on the water.

Today’s incident had tugged at his heartstrings for some reason.

He knew how to swim.

He was also afraid of water.

But he wasn’t always afraid. So…what made him afraid?

He seemed to have forgotten something.

He felt that open waters were very dangerous, not because he felt that he would drown. He knew that he wouldn’t drown.

The water couldn’t drown him…but it could drown someone else.

These thoughts made his throat dry and his heart palpitate. He almost lost control of his emotions.

He seemed to have forgotten someone.

When did he forget? He didn’t know either.