Prepared To Die

Steam and the fragrance of tea filled the quiet private room of the teahouse.

Instead of answering the important questions he was asked, Niu Baoshan merely smiled mysteriously. The surveillance commissioner, Zhao Zhi, and the coroner, Song Caitang, had asked very specific questions, so even Qi Yan, a man who was extremely poor at analyzing cases, realized what all this must mean.

He slammed the table with one hand and pointed at Niu Baoshan with bulging eyes, “You know Lu Guangzong’s secret!”

“You know what he’s hiding and what he wants!”

Niu Baoshan continued to smile and kept quiet.

The investigation had been sent on a wild goose chase, and despite finding the killer, the killer was still in control of the whole situation…

Zhao Zhi was really angry now.

He didn’t hit anyone or curse at anyone. He only gripped the empty teacup in his hand hard.

When he relaxed his hand again, the cup had turned into a pile of white, ceramic powder that disappeared with the wind.

“You learned many tricks from your friends – guess whether I can find out who these friends are?”

Niu Baoshan was definitely prepared to die. He had done so much and never thought of running away. But was it true that he really had no other cares in this world? Was there really no other person he cared about?

Not necessarily so.

Niu Baoshan’s smile faded and his gaze grew sinister as he looked at the white powder flying off the table.

“Surveillance Commissioner Zhao, I don’t think you should be like this.”

“I don’t need a murderer to worry about me.”

The atmosphere was beginning to change.

Song Caitang placed her teacup on her table with a soft clink, “Isn’t your aim to completely ruin Lu Guangzong’s reputation and make everyone curse him? You’ve taken 99 out of a hundred steps already and this is the final step. Are you sure you want to stop here?”

She looked straight at Niu Baoshan, “If the truth is revealed, you would be able to take ultimate revenge.”

Niu Baoshan broke into a smile, “It seems impossible for me to refuse a request from Miss Song… fine, I’ll say it.”

Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi exchanged glances.

Niu Baoshan’s response was probably only half true. He was waiting for a satisfactory way to move on to this part.

He wanted to admit his guilt, but he was proud of how he had done it, so he wanted to tell them all about it and he wanted to boast about it. But Zhao Zhi wasn’t having any of it and that made him angry. At the same time, he didn’t dare to get into a conflict with Zhao Zhi.

Zhao Zhi was too powerful and capable.

Moreover…

Niu Baoshan did not intend to keep this a secret in the first place.

Once again, the two of them had worked together perfectly.

Qi Yan was confused by how Niu Baoshan immediately became cooperative, but looking at Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi did not give him any answers either…

But that didn’t matter! The most important part was coming!

“I can only say what I know,” said Niu Baoshan after pausing to think, “I will not insert my guesses or anything that could mislead you. I don’t want anybody else to lose their lives for nothing like my son did.”

Song Caitang said, “Please go on.”

“Madam Gan’s backstory is an unusual one.”

Niu Baoshan lowered his gaze. He was starting with Fourth Missy Gan, “Her man probably hails from a prominent family in the capital. I don’t know who it is, but I sensed this while following Lu Guangzong. Lu Guangzong did not know either at first, but later on… I guess he found out.”

“But he didn’t tell anybody about it, as though he wanted to hang on to this information and possibly make use of it in the future.”

Qi Yan was naturally drawn to gossip and got excited, “Who is it?!”

“I already said, I don’t know who it is.”

Niu Baoshan glanced at him from the corner of his eye, then went on, “Lu Guangzong did not say who it was but he knew. I followed him for a long time and became very familiar with him. His behavior after finding out proved this point.”

“Fourth Missy Gan is a clever yet foolish woman. I say she’s clever because she’s managed to survive this long all by herself with a son in tow. She’s managed to get through a lot of dangers, so she’s definitely not some useless woman. During her interaction with Lu Guangzong, she seems to have realized that Lu Guangzong knows who she is, but she didn’t expose him. She had a hold on him too, so they could keep each other in check. She knew that I hated Lu Guangzong too, so whenever I cursed at her, she would tolerate it, but also secretly encourage me to investigate Lu Guangzong and hinted that Xingzu’s death had something to do with him.”

“My son’s death is like a demon in my heart that torments me all the time. I initially hated Fourth Missy Gan only for not remaining a widow and seducing my son. But she turned out to have a hand in my son’s death!”

At this point, he looked gratefully at Song Caitang, “That was revealed thanks to you, Miss Song.”

Song Caitang sighed and closed her eyes slightly, “So, the person who appeared at Fourth Missy Gan’s gate that day was indeed you. You were the one who threatened her and forced her to throw herself into a lake.”

“That’s why I say she’s foolish.”

Niu Baoshan scoffed, “For her son’s sake, she’s willing to tell any lie. I used the fact that I had seen her son talk to Lu Guangzong before he died to threaten her and she immediately came clean. 11 years ago, my son did go to the temple with her, but they weren’t alone. She had brought her son, Gan Zhixuan, along! Gan Zhixuan was young, but already very ambitious. He wanted a father with money and despised my son, and he learned how to poison people despite being only four years old! My son didn’t know anything about that poisoned cookie! Gan Zhixuan was the one who coaxed my son into eating it!”

“My son eventually died at Lu Guangzong’s hands, but that woman and her son had a part to play too! I couldn’t possibly let her off!”

Niu Baoshan snorted, “Her son felt guilty about it and didn’t dare to let his mother know; his mother had worked so hard to support him but her son did not appreciate it. This mother and son had issues to begin with, so you can’t blame anybody for that. When I said Gan Zhixuan was the killer, she believed me immediately. She clearly knows what she gave birth to!”

“She doesn’t dare to tell her son who his biological father is, so that is clearly a big secret in itself. If she reveals his identity, they won’t get a good life in return. They’d get killed. It’s so meaningless to live such a miserable life, so I set up a way for her to get away from it all. Wasn’t that a great idea?”

He eyed Song Caitang “But you saved her.”

“You are my benefactor, so since you managed to bring her back to life, it means that it was not time for her to die, so I did not dwell on this matter anymore. She will suffer in the future anyway.”

Qi Yan piped up, “She will suffer in the future? But she’s been rescued and the mother and son can live happily ever after…”

“A naïve rich man’s son,” Niu Baoshan laughed, “Just you wait. That Gan Zhixuan is a good for nothing. He’ll stop for a while because Fourth Missy Gan nearly drowned herself, but after some time, he’d definitely work on looking for his father again and create trouble for his mother. He’s not going to stop until he ends up getting his mother killed, I tell you.”

After he was done talking about Fourth Missy Gan, Niu Baoshan paused and looked at Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang, “I’m not talking about her because I have any personal vendetta against her. I just want to tell you both that Fourth Missy Gan’s man, or Gan Zhixuan’s biological father, is definitely either connected to Lu Guangzong in some way, or is of use to Lu Guangzong. Otherwise, Lu Guangzong wouldn’t pay so much attention to this matter.”

Unfortunately he couldn’t do so much by himself. Following Lu Guangzong was already tough enough, so he couldn’t conduct any investigation on Fourth Missy Gan at the same time.

Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang exchanged glances as they thought more about what Niu Baoshan just said.

Lu Guangzong was hiding a big secret with great implications, so if Fourth Missy Gan’s man was connected to him or was of use to him, this mysterious man must be a big shot. They had to be very careful when investigating him, because they wouldn’t want to raise the alarm.

“I heard that you guys dug a pond out of the Lu family’s private villa at the foot of the mountain. There was stuff hiding in there, right?”

Qi Yan got a shock and pointed at Niu Baoshan, “How did you know!”

Everything had been kept a secret! The whole place had been sealed off and everyone present was not allowed to talk about it! How did Niu Baoshan find out?

But he realized his mistake immediately after he had blurted out those words.

He should not have said that.

If Niu Baoshan had merely been trying to sound them out, then he had just given the answer away.

He looked up to meet Zhao Zhi’s rather menacing glance, and clasped his hands together to beg for pity. He knew he shouldn’t have done that…

Niu Baoshan had really been trying to sound them out. He broke into a smile when he got the answer, “That’s because I know Lu Guangzong has a private villa somewhere that also has a huge pond…”

Qi Yan’s eyes grew even wider, “Where is it!! You mean Lu Guangzong is hiding more gold elsewhere?!”

“Don’t get all anxious,” Niu Baoshan sipped his tea slowly, “Do you know why he hides his stuff in the water?”

Qi Yan answered, “Of course it’s to keep it a secret! So that nobody will be able to find it!”

Niu Baoshan wagged his finger, “No, there’s one more reason. It’s to make it easy to transport.”

Zhao Zhi got it immediately, “You mean… his money will be transported elsewhere via water channels.”

Song Caitang’s mind also immediately connected it to one thing, “The Green Gang.”

If you wanted to transport something via water channels without letting anyone know about it, she couldn’t think of anybody else who could accomplish this feat besides the Green Gang.

But the current leader had risen to this position very recently and was still trying to get special approval from the authorities. Would he have known about this?

And if he knew, what was the point in making Manager Liu so antsy?

Perhaps… Cao Zhang had no idea and Lu Guangzong was trying to find a way to speak with him. And because this matter had not been settled, a lot of gold ended up accumulating in the pond.

Qi Yan suddenly rubbed his palms, “Oho! Didn’t Lu Guangzong ask to meet with Cao Zhang on the day he died? It might have been about this matter!”

The other three at the table rolled their eyes at him.

That was very obvious. Did he have to get so excited?

Qi Yan felt like going home.

These three weren’t humans.

They were too smart to be human!

Zhao Zhi tapped the table, “Who would this money be sent to?”

“No idea,” Niu Baoshan shook his head, “That was all the information I could get.”

“What about the handkerchief? Surely you can tell us what you wrote on it now?” Song Caitang looked at Niu Baoshan and spoke in a quiet and gentle manner, “You must have guessed why Lu Guangzong did not go home despite looking a complete mess, why he was sitting in the pub and what he wanted to do.”

Niu Baoshan shook his head, “Actually, I’m not very sure either. He’s been hiding all that gold and some secret, so he definitely has to contact the other party. I remember seeing the word ‘return’ somewhere before, and it seemed like a code word of sorts. So I thought I’d just try writing it on the handkerchief. And it really worked. Lu Guangzong refused to let go of the handkerchief when he saw it and didn’t even seem to notice the overwhelming smell. He fainted with that handkerchief in hand and I didn’t have to do anything at all.”

Song Caitang frowned slightly. They were still clueless about why he was there.

“But he was definitely waiting for someone that day. Someone else besides Cao Zhang,” Niu Baoshan’s gaze dimmed and he spoke very slowly, “Because he was holding onto a small sandalwood box. The one my son made.”

“Even after Cao Zhang had left, he was still waiting. But that person did not turn up. He was probably very anxious and restless, so he allowed Gan Zhixuan to hold him back at the bathroom and talked to him..”

Niu Baoshan continued recounting what happened, “I didn’t have a lot of time to get this done, but I didn’t want to miss the chance. I had to kill Lu Guangzong. When I killed him, I sensed that someone had seen me and I think that person followed me for a while. But I don’t know who it was. That person probably knows martial arts.”

“At that time, I was very dismayed because I thought I would be exposed immediately and I wouldn’t be able to carry out the rest of my plan. But nobody reported me the next day, so… I continued to follow my plan step by step… until today.”

The word “return”…

Zhao Zhi had a follow up question, “Were you the one who wrote the word ‘return’ on the inner wall of the eastern city gate?”

“The eastern city gate?” Niu Baoshan shook his head with a confused look on his face, “There’s that word there too? I don’t know anything about that.”

He did not look like he was acting.

If he wasn’t the one who wrote it… then it must have been someone else.

Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang exchanged glances. It would have been the person Lu Guangzong had been secretly in contact with!

It might be the person receiving the gold pieces!

“Where’s the box?”

“Right here.”

Niu Baoshan carefully retrieved an intricately carved sandalwood box from his sleeve and even tenderly wiped it with his hand, like it meant the world to him, “The things my son made were solid and could last a long time.”

He touched it a few more times like he was bidding it farewell, then pushed it across the table, “Everything I found is inside.”

Zhao Zhi opened the drawers to find that they were all filled with papers.

The handwriting was a bit messy, but still legible. Records of what happened when Niu Baoshan followed Lu Guangzong were written on these papers, including dates, places and what he had discovered. A lot was noted down, including the address of that private villa with a large pond that he mentioned earlier.

There were also some correspondence that Lu Guangzong had with some people. They didn’t look like secret letters and the content looked fine so far, but if Lu Guangzong really had accomplices, then these letters… could be evidence in the future.

“Thank you.”

Song Caitang thanked Niu Baoshan very sincerely.

Niu Baoshan shook his head, “Actually, I wanted to carry this box to my grave, but I think it would be more useful to both of you.”

Qi Yan looked through the papers, his eyes widening with each page, “Why didn’t you pass these to the authorities directly? These are such important papers! If you had handed them over earlier, none of this would have happened!”

“And why should I?”

Niu Baoshan snorted, “I worked so hard and risked my life to gather all this. Why should I just hand it over to the authorities? What could you have done? Help me kill Lu Guangzong? That’s impossible. You would only have protected him as a fellow official. And even if there was an upright official willing to bring him to justice – why should he receive all this without putting in any effort?”

“Humans are all like this. They don’t cherish what they can obtain easily.”

“Take Lu Guangzong’s son, for example.”

His smile became a sneer when he thought about Lu Shen, “Lu Guangzong had done a lot for his son, but his son didn’t appreciate any of it. All he thought about was how to prove he was capable, how to get more money, how to make his father disappear without having to mourn him, because he would not be able to become an official anymore if that happened. Lu Shen doesn’t understand that proverb – even the most ferocious of tigers would not eat its cub. Lu Guangzong was a wicked man, but he was good to his son. He had already sent money to the capital to make sure Lu Shen would have a smooth sailing career there.”

He had finished saying everything he wanted to in one go. He threw his head back and finished all the tea in his cup.

“I’ve finally said everything.”

He looked even more relaxed than before, and his smile was even more sincere than before.

“Miss Song, promise me one thing. Never change, alright?”

These words had come out of nowhere. Before Song Caitang could understand what he meant, she had a bad feeling about this.

And she was right. Black blood immediately dribbled out from Niu Baoshan’s mouth and his face turned pale rapidly.

“My son… was a good boy,” he whispered before collapsing hard onto the floor with a loud thud. His limbs convulsed as he started bleeding from every orifice… then he stopped breathing.

These symptoms…

Zhao Zhi immediately pried Niu Baoshan’s mouth open and understood what happened, “He’s consumed poison!”

Song Caitang didn’t want to give up on him, so she rolled up her sleeves and got ready to try and save him, “Make him vomit!”