Guan Qing Working Behind The Scenes

Song Caitang’s question made the room fall silent again.

Everyone could not help but glance at the rest of the group, their gazes filled with suspicion.

There were two possibilities, but the second one was definitely much more likely.

But who did Liao Xingjian go out and look for?

Who brought the almonds? And how did they get Liao Xingjian to eat them?

It must have been someone he trusted, or this happened for some very special reason…

But when each of them described what happened when they last saw the victim in the other room just now, nobody mentioned anything about this!

If they weren’t guilty, of course their statement wouldn’t have anything about this, since they wouldn’t have known. But the killer…

The killer must have been lying!

Who is it? Who in the world could it be?

Xi Rui was the most agitated among the group. “Who in the world killed my Xingjian! WHO!”

She looked like she was going to lose it again, so Ye Nan waved some servants over to hold her down.

Zhuang Qingyu looked a little puzzled and asked Song Caitang, “But if… if Xingjian died from poisoning, how do you explain the dagger in his chest?”

For once, Xin Yongwang was actually on the same page as Zhuang Qingyu. He took a step forward and narrowed his eyes, “Regardless of the true cause of death, I’m sure there was another person in the room at that time.”

He was more inclined toward a slightly different conjecture. Besides the actual killer who poisoned Liao Xingjian, there was someone else who was also trying to kill the man.

But Song Caitang shook her head. She was very confident that was not the case. “The dagger in the victim’s chest was not a result of a stabbing by someone else.”

That threw everyone into confusion.

Ye Nan asked, “Miss Song, you mean…”

“The dagger was stabbed into the chest at a very low and slanted angle. Based on the average height of an adult, including the heights of everyone here, it’s very hard for one to achieve that angle. The wound is not deep and not fatal, very little blood was lost, and he would probably have felt very little pain, so I would say we can ignore the dagger altogether. All of us went to take a look at the study earlier, and I’m sure everyone still remembers what you saw. Do you remember the floor beneath the victim’s desk?”

Song Caitang scanned the group and spoke in a slightly gentler voice, “The floor was a mess. Papers, brushes and ink all over the place, the drawers overturned, as well as some stains. Based on my conclusion after inspecting the body, the victim must have struggled violently as the poison took effect, which made him push many things on the desk onto the floor, and he eventually collapsed on the floor, leaving those stains behind.”

“Besides writing tools, the drawers also contained things like a pair of scissors, a small knife and other similar objects. I’m not surprised that a dagger would be among the things inside.”

Ye Nan suddenly understood what Song Caitang was driving at. “So, you’re saying that this dagger could have fallen out when Xingjian knocked the drawers over and… it happened to land in his chest?”

Song Caitang nodded. “That’s right.”

She was a forensic scientist, so every conjecture had to be based on facts. The dagger in the chest looked scary, but when she considered the angle, the direction, the depth of the wound and how hard the dagger had to be pushed in order to create the wound, plus the height of all the suspects and the scene of the crime, she was very certain that her conclusion was correct.

Xin Yongwang furrowed his brows.

“In other words, regardless of which way the victim died, it had nothing to do with this dagger at all…”

If it had nothing to do with the dagger, then his guess about a second murderer in the room could not be true.

“I am the expert when it comes to inspecting dead bodies and I will tell you everything that the body tells me, as well as match these clues with any actual evidence found to reach a logical conclusion. But,” Song Caitang turned to look at the group with her bright, black eyes, “I will need to rely on everyone else here to help with finding more clues and more details.”

“If almonds were involved, there would be traces somewhere. Also, the victim ate roasted almonds. So, we need to know where the almonds came from, where they were roasted, if anybody else was involved in the roasting, if anybody saw it happen… if we go down this direction and check with every single servant here, including any areas that might normally be hidden from sight, we might glean something from it.”

Song Caitang explained what needed to be done very clearly, then turned to sew the body back together.

Her dissection skills were incredible, her analysis of the case was quick, accurate and to the point, she based everything on only concrete evidence and could think on her feet. Yet, she was not proud, did not care for recognition, and gave her best without trying anything funny, even though she had been threatened and forced into doing this…

It was hard for anyone to put her down.

Ye Nan immediately told Xin Yongwang to do what Song Caitang said earlier, and to quickly arrange for a place for her to stay. The poor woman had been brought here against her will and was made to do so much complex work all at once, so she must have been feeling high strung the whole way and needed a good place to rest.

Guan Wan continued to diligently write the autopsy report.

Song Caitang’s head was bent, her lashes casting a shadow on her eyes. The needle in her hand moved continuously in complete silence as the sun shone on her from the side.

After she had sewn the internal organs together, she placed them back where they belonged, then continued to put the blood vessels, veins and other tissue layers together.

The skin was the last layer.

Stitch after stitch was made in an organized and neat fashion.

When she was done sewing up the body, Song Caitang used a soft cloth rinsed in warm water to wipe the body down.

“I’ll do it.” Ye Nan took the cloth from Song Caitang. She placed the cloth on Liao Xingjian’s body and slowly began to wipe away the bloodstains on his body. “There’s… nothing more I can do for him.”

There was great sadness in Ye Nan’s eyes, like the sky when it rained. But she did not cry. She gently and slowly wiped Liao Xingjian’s body as though she was doing something that was extremely important and sacred, but also as though she was fulfilling a promise of sorts.

Song Caitang had seen all sorts of reactions in an autopsy room before, so she didn’t say anything and turned aside to remove her dirty gloves and gown, then washed her hands.

Even after she had done that, Ye Nan was still wiping the body with trembling hands.

Song Caitang knew that Ye Nan would take care of the body from here on, so she waved at Guan Wan and they both walked out of the room together.

A maid was already waiting for them. She bowed and said, “The guest rooms have already been prepared, please come with me.”

Song Caitang and Guan Wan went with the maid to where they were to stay.

It was a compound with an outer area and an inner area. It wasn’t very large, but it was intricately designed and felt like the Classical Gardens of Suzhou. Everything had been very well prepared.

Food was already on the table in the dining room, and it looked delicious.

After they washed their hands, rinsed their mouths and waited for the cutlery and all that to be served, the servants took their leave and Guan Wan was finally able to breathe a big sigh of relief.

They had been so busy all day and surrounded by so many unfamiliar people without any space to catch their breath. So, even though an entire table of delicacies had been placed before them, neither felt like eating.

Song Caitang patted her cousin’s head. “No appetite?”

Guan Wan nodded honestly. “I’m not hungry.”

“There’s no need to force yourself. If you feel hungry later, you can always get them to cook for you.”

Guan Wan widened her eyes. “Really?”

“Yup,” Song Caitang smiled, “Don’t worry, Wan’er. We’re very important and useful guests to them, so they wouldn’t dare to do anything to offend us. Even if you decide that you hate everything on this table and flip the table, then tell them you want a brand new table of food, they’ll do it.”

Guan Wan tilted her head to stare at the table of food. She DID really feel the urge to flip the whole table.

So what if these people were being polite hosts now? These people had practically kidnapped and forced them to be here!

That was NOT polite at all!

Her face crumpled as she suddenly thought of her older sister.

Song Caitang also thought of Guan Qing at the same time and whispered, “Don’t worry, Eldest Sis… won’t abandon us.”

Of course Guan Qing wasn’t going to abandon them. She was doing everything within her means to locate them and was too busy to even go home. She kept sending instructions to her subordinates, which made the trade caravans and even the lowest rung of workers in the stores busy all day long. Within two days, she had barged into Cao Zhang’s house and pressed him against the wall no less than five times, which was very good entertainment for the Green Gang members.

The Green Gang was in charge of any trading routes along the water, so they had all sorts of boats for different purposes. They had steady ships, quick sailboats and their skiffs were as fast as arrows. If the current and wind were in their favor, these skiffs could definitely cover the entire river in a day.

It did not take Cao Zhang too long to find out what happened. There was really a mole in his own gang who allowed someone else to come in and do this!

The gang had their own rules on disciplining their members. But the one who dared to scheme against the gang was not going to get away either!

And so, in a small county about a city away, Mao San was enjoying his time with a prostitute when someone grabbed him from the back and dragged him out of the room.

“Who are you?”

Cao Zhang sneered. “I should be asking you that. Who made you bold enough to plot against the Green Gang, the gang that belongs to me, Cao Zhang?”

When he heard that the leader of the Green Gang had come to apprehend him personally, Mao San was too frightened to speak properly. “I… I… don’t know… what… you’re… talking about…”

Cao Zhang was not a patient man. A small, sharp knife appeared in his hand and he sliced off one of Mao San’s ears.

“AHHH!” Mao San screamed as he clutched the bloody spot where his ear was and knelt on the floor where his ear lay. “I… I really don’t…”

Before he could finish his sentence, his other ear got sliced off too.

Mao San’s teeth chattered in fear, but he suddenly mustered up the courage as he yelled back, “How dare you behave like this! Do you have no regard for the law of the land?”

Cao Zhang scoffed as he lifted Mao San off the floor. “You really want to talk to me about the law of the land when you’re in my gang’s territory?”

The next thing Mao San lost was his finger.

Mao San finally caved in. He fell to his knees again and tears and mucus covered his face. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk…”

After Cao Zhang got back, he told Guan Qing everything he had found out.

During this time, Guan Qing had also found the mole on her side. She narrowed her eyes and glared icily at Cao Zhang. “What’s happened to that Mao San? You let him go?”

“You think I would do that?” Cao Zhang raised an eyebrow. “Of course I killed him.”

Guan Qing gave him a pleased nod. “A bastard who plans to get other people killed doesn’t deserve to live!”

But when she thought about the mole she caught on her side, she got angry again. “He said that he just wanted to earn a little money on the side and the other party promised the two girls will not be in danger, that the two girls will disappear for just a few days and will be sent back after that. Bullshit! He thinks the girls will be safe just because the other party said so? Would you believe me if I said I could chop your head off and put it back later? How can one believe everyone blindly and live to this age? He thinks I’m stupid? He thinks I’d believe that?”

Now that she knew the mastermind was the Night Sanctum, Guan Qing wasn’t going to stand around and do nothing. She picked up her skirt and started marching out. “I’m going to save them!”

Cao Zhang blocked her way. “The Night Sanctum is a very powerful group of people and a major sect in the martial arts world. You will not be able to fight them, and you will not be allowed inside their territory.”

Guan Qing pushed him aside and continued walking. “I’ll hire someone!”

Cao Zhang stopped her again firmly and his tone was harsher now, “Who are you going to hire? Everyone in the martial arts world is connected and communicates with each other. If someone outside this world like yourself tries to hire one of them, guess what they’ll do? Do you think they’ll do what you say? Or do you think they’ll tell the Night Sanctum about it first?”

Guan Qing glared at him. “Fine! Then I’ll hire—”

“Hiring one of those blacklisted assassin groups will not do either,” Cao Zhang held Guan Qing’s shoulders tightly, “The rules of this world are very different from how you run a business. If you create a feud with the Night Sanctum because of this, things will really get out of hand!”

Guan Qing glared furiously at him. “But THEY are the ones trying to start a feud with me!”

“Calm down!” Cao Zhang pressed Guan Qing against the wall and stared straight into her eyes. His voice grew softer and was a little gentle now, “Calm down and think carefully – why did they even do this in the first place? You’re very clever, so I’m sure you’ll get it…”

Guan Qing was a strong willed person, but she was more willing to give in if you approached her gently rather than harshly. If Cao Zhang continued to argue with her, she would get into a shouting match with him. But when Cao Zhang suddenly spoke gently to her, she didn’t feel so angry anymore…

She had gone into such a frenzy because she was very worried about the two girls. But once she calmed down a little and thought about the situation more objectively, she got it.

They had already reached this conclusion much earlier on. There must be a good reason why the Night Sanctum wanted the two girls, but did not demand money, and also did not hurt them.

Her younger sister was practically unknown to the outside world, but her cousin was famous for her abilities.

She raised an eyebrow slightly and her eyes reflected the light like a group of stars in the dark night sky.

“Somebody in the Night Sanctum… died?”

Cao Zhang’s voice was a little hoarse. “On the 14th day of the 9th month, on the night before the wedding of the Young Mistress of the Night Sanctum, the groom died.”

Guan Qing got it now.

Without a groom, you couldn’t have a wedding. And this happened the night before the wedding too. Even ordinary people would want to find out how this could have happened, never mind a major martial arts sect.

“Someone died, but instead of reporting it to the authorities, they kidnap my cousin?” Guan Qing snapped sarcastically. “Is my family a bunch of pushovers?”

Cao Zhang’s hand had been suspended in the air for a long time, and he finally dared to bring it down to pat Guan Qing’s head gently. “Don’t be afraid.”

Guan Qing pushed him aside disdainfully and walked confidently to the table to pour herself a cup of tea. Her stance and the sideway glance she threw him was not one of a shy and timid girl, but of a domineering woman. “You think I’m some sheltered little girl?”

Cao Zhang didn’t know what to say to that.

He quietly put his hand down.

This woman did not understand the concept of shyness at all.

And she didn’t seem to understand flirting either.

Forget it.

Cao Zhang walked to the same table and poured himself a cup of tea as well.

Since Guan Qing wasn’t going to show him any pity, he could only pity himself.