129 — Madam Wang Collapses

The sun shining in made each person’s shadow extra long and thin.

When Madam Wang came closer, Song Caitang believed that her emotions were real.

Regardless of what happened back then, how her daughter was lost and why the family did not continue to search for her, Madam Wang had felt guilty and tormented all these years. She wanted to know what had happened to the poor child who was not fated to be her daughter, she wanted to see her daughter again. She was still very optimistic and hopeful.

She was optimistic perhaps… because she dared not think of the worst that could have happened to her daughter.

Unfortunately, many things in the world did not go as planned.

Song Caitang lowered her gaze and sighed quietly.

This thought had probably occurred to Wen Yuansi too as he softened his voice, “You can, but you might feel sad about it.”

Madam Wang’s heart nearly stopped but she did not dare to interject and allowed Wen Yuansi to go on.

Wen Yuansi started, “Miaoyin Court—”

Pak! Mi Xiaowen slammed the table hard.

The family had faced trouble after trouble. First, the authorities decided to look into the unsolved case of his mother, then Mi Gaojie was implicated in the case of the female corpse fished out of the river. Everyone was very tense and was very wary of any news that came from outside the family. Any local would know what Miaoyin Court was. That was a large boat where courtesans both sold their artistic performances and their own bodies!

If his daughter ended up getting entangled with such a place, she couldn’t have come to a good end!

Mi Xiaowen’s mind instantly went to the worst case scenario.

His family was one who already decided it was too disgraceful to search for a four year old daughter who was lost, so they couldn’t possibly allow themselves to be associated with a prostitute!

“It’s true we lost a daughter, but she’s already dead! She couldn’t have grown to this age! And she definitely couldn’t have anything to do with that Miaoyin Court! Magistrate Wen, you must have made a mistake somewhere!”

As he spoke, Mi Xiaowen glared sinisterly at his wife to warn her to watch her words.

When Madam Wang heard the words “Miaoyin Court” and realized what Wen Yuansi was possibly going to say next, she trembled violently. But she caught her husband’s glaring and wiped her tears with trembling hands, “That’s… that’s right… my daughter has already died… she couldn’t have grown to this age… and allow herself to be violated like that… the Mi family does not have such a daughter…”

Song Caitang stared quietly at Madam Wang, “Madam Wang, please think carefully. Did you lose your daughter back then? Or did she die?”

“We lost her… and after she was lost, she died!” Madam Wang’s eyes were bloodshot and her lips were bleeding from how hard she bit on them, “There were so many wild beasts in that forest, so after one night… my daughter was only four at that time, so she must have died there!”

Wen Yuansi sighed, “Madam Wang, do you think the heavens can’t hear what you’re saying right now and that you’re perfectly safe? Has it never crossed your mind that your very own biological child might have been cursed to death by you?”

These words made Madam Wang freeze instantly. She didn’t even dare to cry.

Song Caitang was surprised.

This man was not only capable of being gentle and considerate, but he was good at knowing when to stab a knife deep.

The people of this era were very superstitious and believed in all sorts of supernatural things. If Madam Wang had been cursing her own daughter all this time and she found out that her daughter had really died, then Madam Wang would definitely suffer a breakdown and they would be able to ask more questions.

She did not hesitate any further and took a step forward, staring steely at Madam Wang as she said, “On the 16th day of the 7th month, a female corpse was found in the Qingling River. After some investigation, the authorities confirmed that she was a courtesan at Miaoyin Court, Yuetao. Yuetao was quite young, barely 16. She was sold to the boat at four years old, trained with other older courtesans until she was 12, then officially became a full fledged courtesan at 13. Her back, on her left shoulder blade, has a flame-shaped birthmark.”

“Every detail matches your daughter.”

With each sentence Song Caitang uttered, Madam Wang took one step back. By the last sentence, she relied on two maids to stop herself from collapsing onto the floor.

But all that wasn’t the most horrifying part. The most horrifying part was…

Mi Gaojie was one of Yuetao’s customers!

Her own son wanted to sleep with her own daughter!

“No… no… NO!! This can’t be true! This can’t be true!” wailed Madam Wang loudly. She couldn’t accept this.

“Whether it’s true or not, the authorities have already made it clear to you and I’m sure you know deep inside if it’s true. When you chose to stop searching for your young daughter back then, you knew very well what sort of fate she might meet,” Wen Yuansi did not pull any punches, “If you still think of yourself as a mother, then cooperate with us and identify the body so that we can crack the case and she can rest in peace. That way, you won’t think about her day and night, and you won’t be tortured by your guilty conscience for the rest of your life.”

Madam Wang’s lips moved, but she couldn’t get any words out.

Mi Xiaowen slammed the table again and emphasized on one point, “So, she’s already dead! Since she’s already dead, then stop making things difficult for others, Magistrate Wen!”

“It is precisely because she’s already dead!” Song Caitang raised her voice as she kept her eye on Madam Wang, “You’ve not done anything for her while she was still alive, and now, she’s dead! This is the last thing, the only thing you can do for her. Are you sure you don’t want to do it?”

Madam Wang finally caved in.

“I will go! I will go and identify the body… my daughter, my daughter…” she wailed.

This time, Mi Xiaowen remained very quiet.

He did not slam the table, neither did he fling a teacup to the floor. He only said quietly, “If you walk out of this door, then don’t come back. The Mi family,” his voice became low and unfeeling, “does not produce women who are tainted, and will definitely not produce any women who have anything to do with a murder case.”

His voice was low and calm, but it was a real threat.

In other words, if Madam Wang dared to walk out of the house and actually identify Yuetao as their daughter, he would repudiate her!

Everyone knew what was going on by this point, so there was no point in trying to hide it. So, he decided on the spot to never acknowledge Yuetao as his daughter!

Madam Wang suddenly burst into tears.

Her family was not an outstanding one and had done well all these years only because she had married a more powerful husband. After getting married, she gave birth to four children, her daughter being the youngest. Her three sons were already adults, of which two of them were already married with children. If she were to be repudiated, her children would be disgraced too.

Mixed emotions filled her heart as she struggled to decide what to do. After letting out a few more loud wails, she fainted.

Mi Xiaowen narrowed his eyes, “Why are you standing there? Bring her back to the room now!”

The maids hurriedly carried Madam Wang out.

Song Caitang and Wen Yuansi exchanged glances. What a pity.

It was obvious that Yuetao was definitely the daughter Mi Xiaowen and Madam Wang lost, but the family was not cooperative… there was nothing they could do about it now, so they had to leave that for another time.

Just then, a servant came in to say that Mi Gaojie had arrived.

What a time to arrive. He came just in time to see his mother being carried out unconscious and became extremely anxious. He dashed into the living room and asked Mi Xiaowen, “Father! What’s happened to Mother? Why is she being carried out like that?”

Mi Xiaowen was still angry and pushed him aside, “The magistrate is here! Behave yourself!”

Mi Gaojie immediately stood up straight, then bowed to Wen Yuansi.

This was the first time Wen Yuansi had seen one of the suspects from Yuetao’s case. It was Song Caitang’s first time too.

Mi Xiaowen wasn’t the nicest guy on the planet and his deep nasolabial folds made him look rather unpleasant, but his general face shape and features were fine. He wasn’t ugly. Madam Wang had large eyes and a high nose, so while she looked a little tired and stern, and had a slightly more squarish face than most women, she wasn’t ugy either.

But this Mi Gaojie…

His face was a combination of his parents’ worst features. His eyes were long and narrow, his nose was fat and stubby, and his jaw was huge. It was impossible to say he wasn’t ugly.

Perhaps he knew that he was ugly too, so he would always smile at others in order to make himself look more approachable. But if he didn’t do that, then… oh well.

Being born with an ugly face wasn’t his fault, but having an ugly face usually tainted what other people thought of him.

Wen Yuansi went straight to the point, “Do you know that you have a younger sister?”

Mi Gaojie was 19 this year and was four years older than Yuetao, so he was already eight years old when the family lost Yuetao and he could remember her, “Yes, I do. We lost her when she was four and we couldn’t find her.”

“Then, do you know that this younger sister of yours is already dead?”

“She’s really dead?” Mi Gaojie was shocked as he glanced at Mi Xiaowen, “So, my parents weren’t lying to me…”

Song Caitang figured that Mi Xiaowen and Madam Wang had explained their actions to their children the same way Madam Wang had tried earlier, by saying the little girl had been eaten by wild beasts and things like that.

So, Mi Gaojie didn’t know his younger sister was Yuetao? He really thought his younger sister died a long time ago?

Song Caitang stared at Mi Gaojie’s expression to see if he was lying.

But Mi Gaojie was standing a distance from her and his face did not face her when he spoke, so she wasn’t really sure.

“Do you hate Yuetao?”

Mi Gaojie was a little surprised to hear that name at first, followed by disgust as he snorted, “Why are you also talking to me about that slut? The authorities have already questioned me about her. I merely argued with her that day and didn’t do anything else. I was having fun drinking and partying, and didn’t notice who she was flirting with. I wasn’t the one who slept with her that night either, so who cares if she’s dead or alive? She’s just a whore who’s been ridden by thousands of men, so why should I take her seriously?”

“Shut up!” Mi Xiaowen slammed the table hard and glared viciously at his son, “You won’t die from saying a little less!”

It was clear that even though Mi Xiaowen didn’t want to acknowledge Yuetao as his daughter, he couldn’t really stand hearing his own son saying such filthy things about her.

“HAHA! HAHAHA!”

Madam Sun laughed so hard, tears were rolling down her cheeks. But her voice was chilling, “Rules, rules, your family is always about following the rules. These are the sort of rules you have! You lost your daughter and didn’t care, leaving her to whatever fate might befall her, so that she could end up in an incestuous relationship with your own son! Is that what you wanted? Does this make you feel great about yourselves? Would our ancestors feel happy and praise you for doing a good job? For doing the right thing?!”

Mi Gaojie was confused at first, but slowly began to put two and two together. His face paled and his voice trembled, “Second Aunt, what… what are you talking about? What’s this you’re saying about a brother and sister? Who’s the brother? Who’s the sister?”

Was it… was it the same as what he was thinking?!

Madam Sun snorted, “Who else could it be? Who was questioned in the courthouse today?”

She felt disgusted and couldn’t stand listening to any more of this, so she waved her handkerchief and walked out of the living room.

Mi Gaojie’s eyes widened as he stared helplessly at his father, “Father, what Second Aunt just said… you mean, Yuetao…”

“You don’t have such a younger sister!” shouted Mi Xiaowen, “Take care of your own belt and pants and nothing scandalous will happen!”

Wen Yuansi cleared his throat and everyone fell silent again. He asked Mi Gaojie, “Do you have anything to do with Yuetao’s death?”

“No, I don’t,” Mi Gaojie shook his head vigorously, “She’s a prostitute, so I didn’t have to take her seriously. If she were my younger sister, I definitely couldn’t have… my younger sister went missing when she was only four, and she used to whine cutely at me and always saved yummy food for me…”

Mi Gaojie looked a little glum as he wiped away some sweat.

Wen Yuansi went on, “I heard that most of the disagreements between Yuetao and Wenxiang revolved around you.”

“That’s not true!” Mi Gaojie denied it immediately, “I admit, Yuetao was a little bit different toward me and kept trying to stick to me, but she’s not my type, so I never went near her. Besides, I didn’t have enough money…”

He stole a glance at Mi Xiaowen, “I like Wenxiang. Wenxiang isn’t like the others. She’s clever, she knows what I’m talking about. But because Yuetao keeps getting in the way, we didn’t get to… they both work for the same boat and they’re both popular, so they’ve got plenty to quarrel about that has nothing to do with me! I’m the unlucky one – because of Yuetao, I couldn’t get either and didn’t get to sleep with anybody…”

His son’s words were getting unsavory again, so Mi Xiaowen coughed violently a few times to stop him, “I’ve heard about the female corpse found along Qingling River, but that has nothing to do with my mother’s case. And from what I know, the person-in-charge of that case isn’t you either, Magistrate Wen. Don’t you think you’ve crossed the line by asking my son about that case? If there’s nothing else…”

He was clearly trying to chase them out now.

Wen Yuansi had spent his fair amount of time in these circles, so he could adapt easily and knew how to get things done. Even if he had crossed the line, he wasn’t going to let Mi Xiaowen gain the upper hand, so he said, “Whether the cases are related or not will depend on the evidence that the court finds. Squire Mi is not part of the investigation team, so you can speculate all you like, but saying things irresponsibly isn’t a very good thing to do. When your daughter went missing 11 years ago, it was because she went to a neighboring province with your mother to pray at a temple. During this time… whether there was anything that happened that could have led to a murder, or anything that might affected the present – you can go ahead and speak irresponsibly, but the court will look at the evidence.”

Those words rendered Mi Xiaowen speechless.

But he really had had enough today.

He had enough!

He decided to just insist, “You’ve seen how things are in my family, and how difficult the case has been for them. You’ve asked everything you should have, and if it’s not enough, you can summon them to the courthouse again. My family is too lowly to keep someone as important as yourself here, so I hope you can forgive us for that!”

Wen Yuansi felt a little bad for staying now.

If he had a clear suspect and an arrest warrant, he could bring the suspect back to the courthouse for questioning. But when the case was still being investigated and nobody was a confirmed suspect yet, then it would be best if the possible suspects were cooperative and he would be able to gather sufficient information. But since the suspects weren’t cooperative…

There was nothing he can do.

He ended up getting forced out of the place along with Song Caitang.