130 — Another Corpse

Outside the Mi family residence, Song Caitang and Wen Yuansi exchanged glances for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Wen Yuansi was a little apologetic as he said, “I’m sorry you have to be chased out of the house with me like you’re an awful guest.”

The sun shining through the large tree branches and onto his face against the backdrop of the gray walls of the Mi family residence highlighted his slightly red ears.

That was a rare sight.

Wen Yuansi had always presented himself as a confident gentleman who constantly had a gentle smile on his face. He was seldom put on the spot like this.

Song Caitang enjoyed this brief moment of hilarity.

If it were Zhao Zhi, she would have teased him, since she seldom got the chance to do so. If it were Qi Yan, she would have ignored him, since he would have whined about it instead. But she felt bad when it was Wen Yuansi.

“It’s my fault,” she took the blame, “If I hadn’t discovered this and insisted on asking about it, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Wen Yuansi’s smile widened, “Miss Song did it for me, I mean, for the case. You don’t have to blame yourself like that.”

Before Song Caitang had noticed what he said, or realized what he was implying, Wen Yuansi went on, “Every detail has to be investigated without delay. You did the right thing today. Yuetao’s true identity is fairly important.”

What he said to Mi Xiaowen wasn’t nonsense. If Yuetao’s disappearance was suspicious and someone else, especially Madam Wang, found out about it, that could become a new motive for killing Madam Liang.

When the main topic was a case on hand, Song Caitang became especially quick and alert in her thinking. She knew what Wen Yuansi was talking about, but she shook her head, “That doesn’t sound logical, though.”

She paused to think, then looked at him, “If Yuetao’s disappearance really has something to do with Madam Liang, if Madam Liang had purposely lost her… Madam Wang loves this daughter especially dearly, and she would have wanted to kill Madam Liang when she once she found out. Why didn’t she do it back then, but wait until four years ago when Madam Liang was already severely ill?”

If Madam Wang had only found out four years ago and killed Madam Liang to take revenge, her guilt toward her daughter would have hit its peak. Why didn’t she secretly try to look for her daughter?

As long as she tried, she would leave traces behind.

But the problem was, there were no such traces.

“Perhaps she already knew what happened to Yuetao?” Wen Yuansi immediately shook his head after hearing what he just said out loud, “No, if she already knew what Yuetao’s situation was, she wouldn’t have reacted like that just now.”

Song Caitang nodded.

The emotions that Madam Wang displayed today were completely normal. Her shock, her difficulty in accepting the truth – any mother would have reacted this way. She probably really did not know what happened to Yuetao, so it was hard for her to find out what really became of her daughter, the fact that her daughter was dead, and how she almost got involved with her own brother.

“Based on what we know so far, the biggest motive Madam Wang could have had would be about the family assets, or anything that the eldest son should have inherited.”

They could find a reason why every member in the family might have wanted to kill Madam Liang, but everyone’s motives didn’t seem strong enough to result in murder…

Wen Yuansi frowned, “We have to narrow down the possible motives, find out whose motive was more urgent, which of them had to act that night.”

“I agree,” Song Caitang agreed with Wen Yuansi on this point.

Also, the timing of the investigation of these two cases happened to coincide, and they were actually related like this. Did they have anything to do with one another?

Song Caitang kept feeling like there was a problem somewhere that she hadn’t spotted yet…

After she got home, she accepted the candy her grandmother secretly stuffed in her hands, and ate Guan Wan’s delicious cooking, including the round and plump but almost uniform in shape and size pastries. But none of these things could take Song Caitang’s mind off the case.

There was something odd about the case this time, and she couldn’t put a finger on it. She simply couldn’t stop thinking about the case.

If only she could be part of Yuetao’s case.

If only she was allowed to conduct the autopsy on that body.

But Governor Li was holding onto the case tightly, while Judge Guo had already chosen to be Governor Li’s obedient guard dog, so he made sure to block her way and not allow her anywhere near the case.

She woke up in the middle of the night. The moving waters reflected the moonlight onto the window, and could also be seen in her eyes. She looked down at the tiny flute in her hands but did not blow on it even after she had stared at it for a long time.

If only Zhao Zhi were around.

He was the surveillance commissioner, plus he was royalty and had that overbearing personality. Nobody could stop him from taking over the case if he wanted to.

But he had his own matters to attend to.

Song Caitang kept the flute, then returned to her table. She lit a candle and thought about the case for the rest of the night.

The next day came and went without any new discoveries.

Wen Yuansi did not send her any new information either.

She slumped onto the table and let out a long sigh. It was going to be hard to get through the seventh month.

It was way too hot!

She complained that it was too hot and her appetite was poor, so besides Guan Wan, Qingqiao was doing her best to put anything she could on the table be it fruit, sorbet, or sour plum juice. She tried anything she could get her hands on to alleviate her Young Mistress’ suffering.

But Song Caitang only liked watermelon.

It had been soaked in syrup, so it was cold and extra sweet. Eating a few slices every day was a luxury!

But watermelon was considered a “cooling” fruit in traditional Chinese medicine, so her grandmother believed that eating too much of it would make her ill. So, she instructed the servants to watch Song Caitang carefully and make sure she didn’t eat too much each day. Song Caitang’s watermelon time was time she looked forward to the most and treasured the most.

But today, her watermelon time was interrupted.

Qingqiao came in with a messenger, “Young Mistress, he says a body has been found on a small island within Qingling River, and asks you to go over to take a look!”

Song Caitang got up immediately, “Another dead body?”

“That’s right,” said the messenger politely, “So we need Miss Song to go over to take a look.”

Song Caitang looked at the messenger and narrowed her eyes slowly.

This man was tall and muscular, with strong brows and light footed, so he definitely knew martial arts. But he wasn’t wearing court robes, so he wasn’t from the courthouse.

A murder had occurred, but it wasn’t the court who was summoning her. In that case…

“Zhao Zhi’s back?”

Song Caitang realized she recognized this man. He did not appear very often, however. There were two occasions where Zhao Zhi needed subordinates to get things done, but he didn’t have anyone from the court with him, so he summoned this man.

“That is correct. He’s back,” the messenger replied directly.

“Wait here for a while, I need to get my boxes.”

Song Caitang didn’t notice it herself, but her lips were curling upward slightly.

Zhao Zhi was back, so she could get her hands on the case she wanted and nobody would dare to oust her!

She only wondered what sort of body they found this time.

Qingling River was very long and deep, so there were several small islands along the way. Some were big, some were small, some were visible all year round, while some could only be seen at certain times of the year when the water level was lower than usual.

It had not rained for nearly half a month in Luanze and the weather had been especially hot, so the water level had gone down and a small island that normally couldn’t be seen had appeared.

A fisherman went by and got a terrible shock. There was a dead body on the island!

This island was quite far out and was not easy to spot. The body had been there for so long, it had rotted away. The authorities were called and all of them stood under the blazing sun. None of them knew what to do.

That was when Zhao Zhi appeared.

He waved them away to tell them that he was taking this case.

Governor Li couldn’t just let him do that, so he smiled ingratiatingly as he came over to stop Zhao Zhi from taking the case. Zhao Zhi was playing with a dagger, its blade reflecting the sunshine coldly, “What is it now? Governor Li wants to beg me again like the last time?”

In an instant, what happened with the Tianhua Temple case flooded Governor Li’s memories.

At that time, Zhao Zhi had just arrived and looked like he didn’t know anything, but he had already secretly investigated everything and was just watching from the sidelines. Zhao Zhi used the situation to his advantage, causing a misunderstanding and causing Governor Li to actually beg him to take the case away from him.

Going through that once was enough. Governor Li didn’t want to go through this again!

Zhao Zhi was in fitting clothes, plus he was already much taller and muscular than most men. His belt only made him look even more sharp and handsome. He was purposely showing off, so the sheath of the dagger had been removed, and he was twirling the dagger between his bare fingers. The sharp knife that looked like it could cut hair thrown at it didn’t hurt him at all!

Playing with a dagger like this was dangerous, yet he was playing with ease and doing it so nonchalantly. He didn’t even need to look at his hands…

Governor Li quietly shrank back.

Zhao Zhi said, “When you have nothing else to do, it’s okay to find a bit of fun to entertain yourself with, so we can all relax. But when you’re actually busy… Governor Li, I’d advise you not to add unnecessarily to your plate.”

Governor Li quickly thought through his options.

The pacification commissioner, Liu Qinian, just returned from the capital and told him that he went to meet with the empress, who said that Zhao Zhi was going to be expelled soon, so Governor Li thought Zhao Zhi would not appear again. But Zhao Zhi was still travelling freely now…

Zhao Zhi was a descendant of the royal family, with a military and court rank. As long as these titles were not removed, Zhao Zhi could still lord it over him.

It was easier to just let Zhao Zhi take over rather than try and get Liu Qinian to help. Governor Li had spent enough years in this line of work to understand that.

He let out a long sigh, “Even so, you can’t… just throw Judge Guo into the water either.”

As he gave up his rights to the case, his gaze moved toward Judge Guo, who was sprawled on the ground in the distance, vomiting water with a pale face, as though he was about to die.

“Who said I threw him in?” Zhao Zhi snorted, “He was the one who complained about the heat and wanted to get into the cool waters. So, I got my subordinates to fulfil his wish, that’s al.”

“Isn’t Judge Guo an expert in analyzing cases? He said courtesans only care about having fun and are wild at heart, so they deserve to be abused and perhaps they were the ones who wanted to be treated this way, and they enjoyed it very much and had a good time? He seemed really happy in the water just now, and I’m sure he must have had a good time since he got what he wanted. If you’re worried, you can get someone to ask him how he feels.”

Governor Li gulped.

A good time? Judge Guo looked like he was about to die!

He had seen how Judge Guo had stopped breathing when he was first fished out of the water, and only regained consciousness when one of Zhao Zhi’s men stepped hard on him and forced him to vomit water. Judge Guo choked and coughed so violently, and his face was as pale as a dead body’s. More air came out of him than went into him, and he was still sprawled on the ground, unable to get up. That was a good time?!

For a very short moment, Governor Li actually wondered if Zhao Zhi was doing this to stand up for Song Caitang.

When Yuetao’s body was discovered, Judge Guo had put Song Caitang in a very difficult and awkward position. Zhao Zhi had gotten Song Caitang to conduct the autopsies of the last two cases, and had been fairly protective of her. Plus Song Caitang was quite pretty…

But after thinking about it, Song Caitang was just another ordinary woman and worse, she was working as a coroner, one of the filthiest jobs in the world. Zhao Zhi was royalty, so he couldn’t possibly care for her. Governor Li figured that Zhao Zhi was torturing Judge Guo because of him.

He constantly stood in Zhao Zhi’s way, so he was destined to be disliked by Zhao Zhi!

While he was thinking about these things, Zhao Zhi spoke again.

“I suddenly remembered something. According to my information sources, Governor Li was around when the body was discovered, and you did not react to Judge Guo’s words. I suppose you agree with him?”

The reflection of the blade in his hands and the upward slant of his eyebrows made him look authoritative and threatening even without saying anything like that directly.

“No, no, I do not agree! Please, don’t misunderstand!”

Of course Governor Li didn’t dare to say he agreed with Judge Guo. He didn’t want to be thrown into Qingling River for a “good time” by this King of Chaos!

This country had laws, but they didn’t always work!

Judge Guo looked like he was about to die, but Governor Li knew that as long as he was still alive, and someone asked him about what happened, he would never dare to say anything bad about Zhao Zhi!

Just then, Song Caitang arrived.

Song Caitang was sent to the island on a small boat that Zhao Zhi had prepared for her. When the boat approached the island, the first thing she saw was the deathly pale Judge Guo puking his guts out, followed by Zhao Zhi and Governor Li.

She didn’t know what was going on, but… she was pretty happy to see that Judge Guo wouldn’t be able to make trouble for her.

Zhao Zhi was dressed in fitting clothing as always, and his figure… was always ridiculously amazing, so she couldn’t help but steal a few more glances. Governor Li was exceptionally obedient as he stood next to Zhao Zhi with his arms by his side. He didn’t react at all when she arrived, didn’t try to stop her or block her.

Excellent.

Song Caitang walked toward Zhao Zhi and smiled faintly, “You’re back.”

Zhao Zhi’s gaze glimmered for a moment before he gave a low grunt in reply.

As their gazes met, some sort of emotions seemed to flow between them.

For some reason, Song Caitang was reminded of how she had struggled to decide for several nights whether to blow on the flute or not, only to finally decide against blowing it.

Sadly, the weather was simply too hot.

She only stood there for a while and perspiration began dripping down her face.

Song Caitang was a workaholic, but if she didn’t have to suffer unnecessarily, she wasn’t going to.

They knew each other well enough, so there was no need for small talk.

Song Caitang did not seem overjoyed to see him again after such a long time, and said rather emotionlessly, “I’m going to take a look at the body.”

Zhao Zhi blinked a few times.

What else could he say to that?

“Sure.”

When they got closer, Song Caitang finally understood the atmosphere had been so tense, and why the people around her on her way to the body had remained completely silent and did not talk about the case.