Tragedy

The thought that hit their minds was simply too terrifying, so Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang had to be careful when talking about it. They both looked gravely at Wen Yuansi and said, “Tell us what happened in greater detail.”

Qi Yan scratched his head. “What are you guys talking about? Why can’t I understand?”

Zhao Zhi threw the case notes to him to keep him quiet. Qi Yan just needed to shut up, find something to do and not interrupt.

Qi Yan sulked. He really wanted to joke around, but the atmosphere in the room was clearly not right for jokes. Song Caitang didn’t seem to be on his side either, so he pouted and sat down again.

The cases had been merged and Wen Yuansi wasn’t an obtuse person. He had read through both files and he did feel like there was something amiss. When Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang reacted that way, he immediately started thinking hard about the connection between the two cases and it hit him almost instantly.

He sat down to think seriously for a long time before telling the story in detail.

“Madam Sun’s daughter was abandoned. Not dead.”

“Madam Liang has already passed away for four years, so the scene of the crime and its surroundings won’t yield much result, and I decided to widen the scope and questioned the family servants several times. This part is definitely confirmed.”

Wen Yuansi’s eyes glimmered slightly. “At that time, the older Madam Liang had just passed away. Madam Liang led the women of the family back to Luanze from the capital and they ran into both heavy rains and strong sun. Madam Sun’s daughter had a poor constitution and fell sick. She contracted smallpox.”

“Smallpox?!” Qi Yan’s eyes widened. “That’s a terminal disease!”

Zhao Zhi tapped a finger on the table. “So that’s why they gave up on her.”

If one contracted smallpox, they were as good as awaiting death. The family did not want to catch it from the little girl and die with her, so they hardened their hearts and decided to just abandon her.

Song Caitang narrowed her eyes. “That’s also why they’ve kept it a secret and lied that the girl died on the way back.”

Whenever there was a smallpox infection cluster, everyone would curse and blame the patient zero. The Mi family didn’t dare to say that one of theirs had smallpox, so they came up with stories like the little girl got lost in the forest or that she got attacked by wild beasts.

Wen Yuansi nodded. “That’s right. Even though Madam Sun felt bad and went back to search for her daughter but did not find her daughter’s body, she did not dare to talk about it, because she was already certain in her heart that nobody can survive smallpox. Even if someone kidnapped the little girl, she wouldn’t live long.”

Zhao Zhi suddenly frowned as he recalled something. “There were no cases of smallpox in the capital and the neighboring states 12 years ago.”

Smallpox was one of the most feared illnesses of the time. If a case was reported, the courts would track it closely. But if there were no records of any cases…

“So, what Madam Sun’s daughter caught wasn’t smallpox,” Wen Yuansi sighed quietly, “It was just ordinary chickenpox. She would have gotten better with time.”

But the Mi family didn’t know and treated it as smallpox.

When it came to scandalous affairs like these, Qi Yan became especially astute. “Why do I feel like there’s something fishy here? They were in a hurry, but the weather was terrible, the time of the year was terrible, the little girl contracted smallpox and had to be abandoned… all of this couldn’t be a coincidence, right?”

He looked toward Wen Yuansi, “Who was behind all this? Someone’s concubine? Or the other two daughters-in-law?”

Wen Yuansi shook his head. “After digging some more, this clue, as well as the disappearance of Madam Wang’s daughter, both seem to be connected to Auntie Huang.”

Auntie Huang was the one closest to Madam Liang. She had served Madam Liang for many years and her name was synonymous with loyalty.

Song Caitang raised an eyebrow. “Madam Liang?”

If that was the case, then both Madam Wang and Madam Sun would have a motive for killing their mother-in-law, and it would be a really strong motive too.

Madam Sun was quite an emotional character too.

“Madam Liang has already passed away for too long so it’s impossible to investigate,” Wen Yuansi shook his head. “I couldn’t find any evidence to prove that this has anything to do with her, and even Auntie Huang avoided talking about this matter. She was not willing to give me straight answers.”

It was one thing to interrogate criminals and another to just question the people connected to the case. Without sufficient evidence, the officials could only question them and not force them to answer questions. If Auntie Huang was not cooperative, there was nothing Wen Yuansi could do.

Song Caitang suddenly asked, “Do the Mis have other daughters from the same generation?”

Wen Yuansi nodded. “Yes, they do.”

“What are they like?”

“They’re very obedient.”

But it was hard to say if Wenxiang and Yuetao were obedient or not. Yuetao, in particular, was only four years old and would be too young to do anything out of line. Why was the family willing to keep the other daughters, but not these two?

Was Madam Liang really the one behind this?

Or… was she covering up for someone else?

Song Caitang quickly glanced at Wen Yuansi when she reached this point.

Wen Yuansi seemed to have reached the same point and nodded slightly to indicate that he knew what to do next.

The coordinated way they looked at one another caused a strange atmosphere to form in the room.

Qi Yan stared at Wen Yuansi, then at Song Caitang.

They seemed so good at this…

What idea hit them this time?

Zhao Zhi tapped loudly on the table to break the silence. “Either way, these two girls basically knew each other.”

They now understood why the two courtesans were so willing to help one another. They didn’t have concrete evidence to prove it, but based on what they knew so far, this had to be the only conclusion.

Wenxiang was seven years old when it happened, so she would have memories of the people around her. She was sent back to Luanze after a short period of training, and must have been shocked to see Yuetao.

Yuetao was only four when she arrived at Miaoyin Court. She was young, and the pimps were teaching her all sorts of other things, so she might have forgotten some of what her life was like before Miaoyin Court, but with a few hints, she would certainly remember an older cousin she grew up with.

Qi Yan sighed heavily. “Then why did they compete with one another so fiercely? Wouldn’t it have been nice if they could just show love to each other?”

They wouldn’t feel so guilty either.

“Because it was not allowed,” said Song Caitang quietly.

Wen Yuansi explained, “Where a group of people are gathered, cultural norms and rules will exist. There will be different hierarchies. Those at the higher position would not want subordinates to like one another and be nice to each other. The more their subordinates compete, the more they push and shove, the more chances the leader would get to prove their leadership abilities. That’s why the same person could be nice to you on one day, and nasty to you on another day. It’s all about maintaining that power balance.”

Zhao Zhi glanced at Wen Yuansi, then said calmly, “People assess others by how much they can get out of them. If they see hope in you, they’ll put you on a pedestal, they’ll give in to you and they’ll praise you all the time. Once that vanishes, you’d realize that the luxuries you once enjoyed were not real after all.”

Qi Yan was speechless.

He was a young master from an influential family himself, so of course he understood this much about people. The problem here was connecting all of this to the case!

Also, why was the atmosphere in the room so strange?

Wen Yuansi was still speaking relatively normally. Many men liked to show off a little, after all. But what was going on with Zhao Zhi? That tone and expression seemed a little too deliberate!

Was he trying to pick a fight? Wen Yuansi said something impressive, so he had to match it or sound even more impressive?

The two men did not even look at each other. They didn’t approve of the other party, but they didn’t put each other down either.

This feeling…

Qi Yan suddenly felt like hugging himself. Why did it feel so cold in here?

The sun was blazing out there.

He instinctively looked toward Song Caitang.

He was hoping that she felt the same way as him, but she thought that he was too dumb and still didn’t get it after what the two men said. She looked at him as though she was showing concern for an idiot and went on to explain.

“Wenxiang had not risen the ranks yet, so even though she wanted to protect Yuetao, she couldn’t do that at all. Their environment would not allow this to happen, and it would expose her weakness. Any sign of weakness could potentially bring her down. She had no choice but to make it look like she was trying to eliminate the competition because that made more sense in their context. That way, she could delay Yuetao’s career path.”

“But Yuetao… had seen for herself what a brothel was really like. Her older sister was protecting her, but she wasn’t going to just sit there and watch her sister sacrifice for her. They had to both become strong and influential in their own right. They had to prove that they were valuable, that they could make loads of money. That way, they would earn some respect in the brothel and live the most comfortably they could within the boundaries of a brothel. At the same time, they would also be able to increase the number of choices they had in life.”

They couldn’t get away from the brothel. Even if they managed to escape, they would be two lost girls with nothing to rely on. Their families were as good as dead from the moment they had been abandoned.

They had only one path in front of them.

And once they started going down that path, there was no turning back.

“Wenxiang and Yuetao were both intelligent and strong young ladies. In order to support one another, they put in their greatest effort and resilience.”

Song Caitang’s voice was very soft by this point.

The room remained silent for a long time.

Even Qi Yan couldn’t find the words to say and just kept sighing.

Suddenly, Qi Yan slapped his palm with his folding fan as a thought hit him. “So, Wenxiang and Yuetao knew right from the beginning that Mi Gaojie was a blood relative?”

Zhao Zhi threw him a glance. “Oh wow, you’re clever for once.”

Mi Gaojie was a customer and there was no reason to reject him outright. He refused to take any hints and kept pestering Wenxiang, despite being insulted multiple times. He seemed bent on sleeping with his cousin, even though he didn’t realize it at that time… the two girls had no choice but to put on an act.

It was impossible to find out how the two girls felt with regard to this.

Qi Yan wished he could grab hold of Mi Gaojie and punch him in the face. “So, this grown man didn’t know anything?! How can it be! His younger sisters recognized him, but he didn’t recognize either of them? Is he dumb???”

Zhao Zhi scoffed and stared at Qi Yan like he was an idiot.

It was as though he was saying, “Don’t you already know what the Mis are like? The men of the Mi family are all born dumb!”

Wen Yuansi explained in greater detail, “More than a decade ago, the empress, for the sake of ensuring the purity of women, pushed for educating and bringing up girls separately from the boys. Many rich and influential families adopted this practice. The Mis, and our pacification commissioner, Commissioner Liu, are the two families that practice this most strictly.”

“So, for the Mis and the Lius, if they have a boy, he can stay at home. If they have a girl, she has to move into the needlework workshop of the family and live under the care of the nannies and aunties there while a teacher will teach them needlework. They get to play with the other girls from their family once a week within the workshop, and they get to see the rest of the family only once a year during the festive season. Other than that, they are not allowed to leave the workshop until they get married.”

That was why the boys in the family would not be familiar with what their female cousins looked like. Besides, they had only seen each other at such a young age, so he might not recognize them after they had all grown up. Plus, makeup could make a person look completely different.

And all courtesans were heavily made up.

“On top of that, when they were born, the older Madam Liang was still serving the empress in the palace. The younger Madam Liang brought the women of the family with her and stayed in the capital in order to maintain this relationship. Mi Gaojie remained in Luanze with his father.”

Most girls paid attention to detail, so they would remember how much older Mi Gaojie was, and even if they couldn’t recognize him, they only needed his name and his parents’ names, and the two girls would know who he was.

That also carried a second implication.

Song Caitang frowned. “12 years ago, on that journey back from the capital, the journey where they abandoned Wenxiang. Yuetao was there too.”

She was only four and didn’t really understand a lot, but the arguments and strong emotions between the adults must have left a deep impression on her.

So, when she was lost and the family did not come looking for her, she probably already realized that her parents didn’t want her anymore…

…And she didn’t think she could ever return to them again.

Qi Yan flung his fan onto the table angrily. “The two girls worked so hard, helping their parents by keeping their true identity a secret, didn’t say anything even after recognizing Mi Gaojie, yet did their best not to commit incest. But the Mis didn’t know anything about this! These… the Mis are fucking assholes!”

Zhao Zhi glared at him. “Qi Yan.”

It was a reminder to watch his speech.

Qi Yan knew Song Caitang was in the room and he should not be hurling vulgarities, but the Mis were truly awful people! Scary people!

Only the two girls were upright and intelligent, yet they died so young and so tragically!

“I’ve heard about such things more than once or twice. And even those chastity plaques put up by that Commissioner Liu – those are awful too! Is this really the right way to bring girls up? And after putting in all that effort, we get a bunch of useless men? I’m afraid Her Majesty is…”

Wen Yuansi interrupted him immediately, “Qi Yan, watch your words!”

The emperor of the day was always right. If one spoke out against them, they could get into a lot of trouble!

Qi Yan pursed his lips, scoffed and turned his head the other way. “Look at that cousin of mine and her terrible temper. Her words are nasty and she likes to bully others now, but she was very obedient and adorable when she was a little girl too. But she was forced into the needlework workshop when she became of age and slowly turned into what she is today…”

“After being repressed for so long, she needs to vent her frustrations. The family gives in to her so that she’d listen to them, since she’d obediently return to the workshop once she’s done venting her anger… she’s still young now, but if she continues being like this, she’s going to grow up completely useless!”

Were the values that the empress promoted really good ones?

Zhao Zhi snorted. “Well, she’s the empress, so she’s supposed to be the, you know, mother of the nation.”

The room fell silent again.

This was the first time Song Caitang heard Zhao Zhi make any mention of the palace.

And it seemed like he didn’t like the empress very much.

She knew a little about the monarchy. She knew that the empress was the official wife of the current emperor, but she had no children. The birth mother of the crown prince died at a young age, so the empress took in the young crown prince as her own son and taught him herself.

Her self-sacrificial ways were greatly lauded by the people.

But based on Zhao Zhi’s tone, it sounded like there was more to this story than the people knew about.

Zhao Zhi didn’t want to continue on that topic, so he returned to the case, “I’ve already investigated the ways in which the two girls competed with one another. Every time Wenxiang and Yuetao fight and set each other up, one of them would definitely stand to gain in the end. But not this time, since both of them ended up dead. Something must have gone wrong somewhere.”

Wen Yuansi added, “I’ve read the notes carefully, and I believe Wenxiang had deliberately snatched that Double Seventh Festival event from Yuetao. Yuetao did not seem particularly surprised by this.”

Wenxiang viewed this event as a very important one and put in a lot of time and effort to prepare for it. Apparently she had spent a really long time just making perfumes.

Yuetao fell asleep with the window open and fell sick the next day. She had a cold, so her eyes were red and swollen, and the first thing she did when she left the room was to curse Wenxiang. Her behavior seemed completely normal and natural, but looking at it now, she had probably been merely pretending.

Song Caitang’s gaze flickered slightly and she made a bold guess, “So… could it be that they had guessed who the killer was?”