Madam Sun Goes Mad

“One more thing.”

Before ending the meeting, Song Caitang reminded everyone to look out for something else as well, “The things inside Yuetao’s body made her different from the other victims, so that’s something to note. If we find out where those things came from, we’d find the killer.”

She didn’t talk about where those things had been found, but everyone knew which things she was talking about.

Qi Yan called the killer an animal in his heart, then sighed. “But those gold and silver beads and pearls are things that anybody can get their hands on and they’re not specially marked. You just need to be rich enough to afford them.”

Zhao Zhi tapped on Qi Yan’s head with his knuckles, “That’s why we need to go on a search.”

If every piece of evidence had markings and they could ascertain who the killer was quickly, they wouldn’t have had to spend so much time trying to crack this case.

Wen Yuansi sighed too. “We still haven’t been able to find a reason why Yuetao was special.”

“Well, we’ve managed to sort a lot of stuff out, so we can start eliminating suspects.”

Song Caitang held up her teacup, her lashes lowered as she looked down. “Two victims in this serial murder are connected to the Mi family and it might look like someone taking revenge on the family, but the other victims are not related to the Mi family. The killer picked Wenxiang and Yuetao not because of their family background.”

It was because of their occupation.

The fact that they were courtesans.

Song Caitang reminded the men, “Initially, I wondered if this was a copycat murder, but nobody really cares about the lives or the disappearance of a courtesans. But court officials barely know anything about such a case, never mind other people.”

Unlike modern times, news and information traveled very slowly in this era. If very few people knew about such a case, the chances of a copycat were very low.

Zhao Zhi tapped the table with his knuckles, “This case is not isolated within Luanze. The bodies in the mortuary do not all come from this prefecture. That would help us to narrow down our suspects. Fuliu is a pimp for Miaoyin Court who’s in charge of training the courtesans, so he’s spent pretty much all his life in Luanze. I’ve checked and confirmed he’s never left Luanze before.”

So, he was not likely to be the murderer.

Wen Yuansi picked up from there, “The Mi family has lived in Luanze for a few generations now. The oldest brother’s family has barely stepped out. Mi Gaojie only went to the capital for a short trip some years ago, and has spent the last few years in Luanze. I got that from the Mi family servants.”

If the servants weren’t lying, then it was unlikely that Mi Gaojie was the man they were looking for.

They were only left with a few. Yu Mingzhi, Fan Zishi, Zheng Kanghui, Liu Zhenghao.

Song Caitang’s fair fingers rubbed the rim of the teacup absentmindedly. “The killer started ten years ago and never stopped in between… I feel like this killer is quite reckless, as though he’s got someone to fall back on, so he doesn’t have to fear the consequences…”

In that case, Yu Mingzhi was also not likely.

Yu Mingzhi had some money and connections, but he did not hail from a well to do family to begin with. He had gotten this far in life through his own hard work, so he had no such backer.

“Of course, we still have to investigate each person.”

They just had to make sure they knew what they were looking for and be clear about what was important.

Qi Yan slapped his forehead, “I’ve totally forgotten! I’ve been watching these few young masters over the last few days. Liu Zhenghao and Zheng Kanghui are polite and well behaved because they’ve been well brought up in strict families. But Fan Zishi… he’s always the one in charge of making sure everyone’s happy and he’s constantly smiling during gatherings, but when he’s home, he often loses his temper and his servants say his temper is quite poor, so… could he be the killer?”

After all, the killer was such a cruel and violent person. It would be terrifying if he never displayed any of it normally.

Song Caitang shook her head.

Psychopath killers could not be evaluated by their usual everyday behavior. People who were usually nice and friendly weren’t necessarily sincerely nice and friendly.

However…

“Fan Zishi is a very resourceful person and he has a lot of information on hand,” Song Caitang gave her opinion, “He might not be the killer, but he might have seen something or he might know something.”

Zhao Zhi stood up. “I’ll take note of that.”

Song Caitang reminded them of one more thing, “These men are all well known, rich young masters from influential families of high standing. It might be hard to conduct investigations.”

If they were just asked a few non-invasive questions to assist the investigations, they would probably entertain you. But if you were asking questions because you suspected them, these guys were probably not going to accept that sort of treatment.

Qi Yan stood up too and unfolded his fan with great flourish. “That’s not a problem. Don’t worry, Little Tangtang! If we can’t go by the proper way, we could always take the back door, remember? Have you forgotten my nickname? I’m the guy who can hear more things than people have said! The “young man made from ink” who blends into the night sky as he balances on the beams of houses! That’s me! I can also…”

He posed as if he were stealing something, complete with a sneaky look on his face. He looked pretty hilarious.

Song Caitang wasn’t sure if she ought to encourage him by laughing. Instead of being the well brought up young master from a prominent family, he would rather be someone like this, and he seemed very proud of it too.

“Watch your words!” Zhao Zhi whacked Qi Yan on the head.

Qi Yan immediately switched from Little Tangtang back to Miss Song. “We’re off then, Miss Song.”

Wen Yuansi stood up too. “Since Wenxiang was also a daughter of the Mi family, I’m going to Miaoyin Court to take a look at the belongings in her room to see if there’s anything that can confirm her identity as such.”

They were all people who prioritized effective work practices over useless formality, so she didn’t hold them back and stood up to bid them farewell too. “I’ll go to the mortuary to see if I’ve missed anything out.”

They had gathered quickly for a productive discussion and went separate ways just as quickly without wasting any time or feeling awkward about it.

Song Caitang’s autopsies had been thorough and she hadn’t missed anything out, so she didn’t gain any new insights after a second round of inspection. She sat down in front of the small pile of jewelry and went into a daze.

There were no markings on the jewelry at all. Who on earth could the murderer be?

As expected, Zhao Zhi ran into issues. He was from the royal family, so the young masters had to cooperate with him at least on a surface level. But they were unwilling to talk about the case in depth.

Without any evidence, they could not arrest the men nor search their houses.

Wen Yuansi, on the other hand, gained quite a bit!

He had gone to Wenxiang’s room to check out her belongings. While he didn’t find anything that could help to crack the serial murder case, he came across an old stalk of small flowers made from pearls.

The flowers were tiny and it was an old fashioned design, plus the pearls themselves were also yellow. But the silver stopper bead that acted as the calyx to the flower had the emblem of the Mi family engraved on it.

He had asked the Mi family servants about what actually happened on the day the family abandoned Madam Sun’s daughter. They told him that they had dressed her in high quality clothing and put such pearl flowers in her hair…

There was no need to make any further guesses. Wenxiang was definitely Madam Sun’s daughter!

The Mi family still had no idea, and Madam Sun was still grieving over what happened to her daughter back then.

There was a flicker in Wen Yuansi’s eyes. This was a good opportunity.

An opportunity to agitate the murderer into confessing!

Song Caitang got the news from him and since she had nothing else to do, she went with him to the Mi family residence to be a witness to the whole process.

Wen Yuansi might have lost patience with the case, plus this new fact would definitely be a real shocker to the family, so he felt that he had to use what he had without beating around the bush in order to get the best results. So, when he got to the residence, he didn’t check if this was a good time to sit down and discuss the matter or not. Since everyone was in, he immediately called out to Madam Sun and fished Wenxiang’s stalk of pearl flowers out of his pocket.

“Madam Sun, take a look. Do you recognize these pearl flowers?”

No mother would forget their own children, and her memory of what happened on the day they abandoned Wenxiang remained very clear even after so long. These were the flowers she had personally put in her daughter’s hair…

“Where… where did you get this from?”

Madam Sun grabbed the stalk with trembling hands as tears poured down her face. “Where did you get this from!”

“I’ve already done a thorough investigation of this whole thing. There were two homicide cases in Luanze recently involving courtesans. One of them, Yuetao, died during the Ghost Festival. Her birthmark matches the description given, so she has been confirmed to be the daughter of the eldest son of the family. The other one, Wenxiang, died during the Double Seventh Festival. This stalk of flowers was found in her room.”

Wen Yuansi stared straight at Madam Sun. “Madam Sun, Wenxiang was the daughter you abandoned 12 years ago.”

Madam Sun was in shock. “You said you found my daughter, but… my daughter… is dead?”

Wen Yuansi continued, “Wenxiang never forgot who she was and where she lived. She was so close to home, yet she never even thought of trying to come back. Madam Sun, what did you do? What made her so afraid to even harbor a little hope that her mother would take her back?”

Madam Sun shook her head as she took several steps backward. She stepped on her own skirt and fell in a rather inelegant manner.

Perhaps it was too painful. Just too painful. She suddenly cried out loudly, “Why didn’t she think of looking for her mother? Because her mother abandoned her! Her mother… threw her away! She was not wanted by her mother, so… she didn’t want me either…”

“AAHHH! Why! Why did you have to fall sick? Why did you get smallpox…”

Madam Sun’s face was a little dirty after falling, but she was crying too hard to care.

Wen Yuansi’s heart did not soften at this sight and he even continued to pour salt into her wound, “And would someone recover so easily from smallpox?”

Not only did the little girl recover, but she recovered with no scars whatsoever and even became a courtesan, a job that required a girl to meet common beauty standards of the day.

Wen Yuansi paused for a while to let her think before saying, “Your daughter only had ordinary chickenpox back then. She would have recovered after a few days.”

“Ordinary chickenpox, recovered after a few days…”
“Ordinary chickenpox, recovered after a few days…”
“Ordinary chickenpox, recovered after a few days…”

These words seem to have stabbed Madam Sun in the lungs. Perhaps the sudden and painful reality of what happened was too much for her to take and she urgently needed a way to let it out, plus she remembered some things, so she immediately dragged Auntie Huang out from the crowd of servants standing behind.

“My daughter didn’t get smallpox, so why did you say it was smallpox?! Were you trying to harm her?! The family has been so good to you, yet you tried to harm one of ours?! Has your conscience been eaten by a dog?!”

It happened to be the death anniversary of Madam Liang, so everyone was in the house. Auntie Huang was quite old already and had spent some years in quiet retirement after Madam Liang had passed on, so she was no match for a younger person. Madam Sun’s pulling and shoving as she yelled at her made her nearly fall several times, but she didn’t dare to fight back since she was still considered a servant to the Mi family, so she was in a fairly pitiful state.

“Second Madam, please, please spare me – I wouldn’t dare to do such a thing, I wouldn’t dare to! I’m just a servant who only follows what she’s told to do! Why would I want to harm the family’s descendants? What would I get out of it? It really wasn’t me…”

Madam Sun looked to one side and noticed Madam Liang’s ancestral tablet on the table.

“You only follow what you’re told to do, you only follow what you’re told to do… so, it was her!!”

She ran over, picked up the tablet, threw it on the floor and started stepping on it. “Was she the one who told you to do that?!”

Madam Sun’s actions made everyone gasp.

That was Madam Liang’s ancestral tablet! How could she do such a disrespectful thing!

Madam Wang instructed the servants, “Hold her down!”

The tablet was not very sturdy, so it broke after Madam Sun stepped on it a few times. But it wasn’t enough. She grabbed hold of Auntie Huang again and started pushing the old woman’s head toward the floor. “Was it you?! Was it YOU?!?!”

“My daughter was perfectly fine, and I purposely took great care of her precisely because I was afraid she would fall sick, and my girl was very well behaved and careful too. We hadn’t done anything that could cause this, yet she fell sick and ran a fever! You were the one who did this to her, weren’t you?!”

“It was so hard to get a doctor because we were in the midst of travelling. I sent out so many people to find one, but none of them could find one. But when you went to find one, you found one almost immediately, and the doctor said confidently that it was smallpox. Actually, you knew it wasn’t and you were deliberately lying to me, right?!”

“That old woman immediately went into a fit when she heard that my girl had smallpox! She threw her cup onto the ground and yelled at the servants to carry her away! I was wondering how she could have come to a decision so quickly. So, it’s because it was premeditated? She wanted to get rid of my daughter right from the start?”

“That old woman never hid anything from you, and she got you to do everything for her! Was this one of those things too?! My girl was innocent! Why did the old woman hate her so? Why?! WHY!!!!”

Madam Sun was furious, so both her screaming and pushing were completely out of control and the servants couldn’t really hold her back properly. Auntie Huang was about to collapse, so she cried for help, “First Madam, help! Help!”

Madam Wang was just recovering from a severe illness, so her face was visibly pale and her body was clearly still very weak, but she couldn’t allow this mess to continue. She shouted, “Madam Sun! The spirits of our ancestors are watching! How dare you behave like this! Stop it right now!”

“I’m not going to stop!” Madam Sun refused to let go of Auntie Huang’s hair even as the servants continued trying to pull them apart and retorted, “You can stand there and not feel anything, but not me! That old woman schemed against my daughter and sold her! You don’t understa…”

Madam Sun suddenly stopped herself and burst out laughing, causing more tears to roll down her cheeks. “Have you forgotten? You’ve got a daughter who was sold off by this old woman too! Your pretty little girl was only four then! She was lost after a trip to the temple with that old hag! You said that you were keeping a close eye on her too, remember? So, how did she get lost? And why did you stop looking for her after just searching for a short while? The old woman didn’t want to let you look for her, and she told your husband not to do that too, right?”

“She’s the one who was behind all of this! She had planned everything right from the start! All those rumors in the family are true! She wasn’t some nice old madam! She was an old witch!”

Madam Sun was smiling, but there was a sadness in her eyes, “Our daughters… the children of the Mi family never had to worry about what they would eat or wear and they should have grown up in luxury, yet they ended up at such a filthy place…”

“Mi Gaojie… hahaha… he’s the oldest grandson, blood relative to the two girls, he’s excelled at nothing except his obsession with sleeping with his younger sisters! He shamelessly tried everything! Madam Wang, are you happy to see what’s happened to your son and daughter? Are you?”

“Are you especially, especially glad that you’ve married into this family? If you hadn’t married into this family, such a wonderful thing would never have happened to you!”

Pfft! Madam Wang spat a mouthful of blood out.

But Madam Sun wasn’t done. She pointed at the sky, “Old hag! Madam Liang! Was this what you wanted to see? You did so many wicked things just so that your grandchildren would commit incest? Are you happy now?”

“Did the other ancestors praise you for what you did? Did they see how a brother and sister nearly ended up in bed together? Would they even dare to look at such a thing?!”