Four Years Ago

The afternoon sun was shining brightly when Song Caitang called for Dong Xin to make her some tea.

She was a VIP of the Night Sanctum and she was in charge of investigating this important case, so there was no reason for Dong Xin to refuse to attend to her.

Dong Xin opened a tin to let Song Caitang look at the tea inside. “Miss Song, how about I make you this tea?”

Song Caitang smiled faintly and nodded. “Sure.”

Her aim wasn’t to drink tea, but to get something out of Dong Xin while she made tea.

She took a really close look at Dong Xin.

Dong Xin was a vain young woman. All maids wore the same uniform, but she cinched her belt an inch tighter than the other girls and her sleeves were a little shorter too, so her waist looked smaller and her fair wrists could be seen more clearly.

She was very familiar with making tea and she looked very elegant while doing it, so she had clearly practiced a lot.

A young woman like that ought to be a bubbly and sweet person, yet her face was entirely expressionless. She did not look at Song Caitang or anywhere else and kept her gaze strictly on the teapot, as though she was feeling very tense.

Tense, but not afraid.

It was as though… she knew this moment would come and she was ready for it.

Song Caitang quickly analyzed the situation.

If this girl had gotten herself prepared for this, it meant that she was right. There was something fishy about Dong Xin!

But that didn’t bother Song Caitang. She could adjust her plan accordingly.

Since Dong Xin knew she was going to ask questions, then Dong Xin had probably tried to guess what questions she would ask and try to avoid having to answer them. But distracting Song Caitang was no easy feat. She was determined to get the information she wanted.

Song Caitang cupped her face in her hands and sat in the sunshine. Her eyes were slightly closed and she smiled as she lazily watched Dong Xin make tea.

When the tea was ready, it was poured into a small cup and placed in front of her. She picked up the cup and took a sip, closing her eyes to taste it for a moment. “The tea’s pretty good. It’s very fragrant.”

Dong Xin stood with her hands folded politely in front of her with a solemn expression on her face as she responded in a robotic voice, “This is a new batch of Sichuan’s best tea this year. It is fragrant with sweet notes at the end. Young Mistress has always liked this tea and she also instructed us to be sure to serve it to our guests.”

Since Dong Xin knew what this afternoon’s chat was about and prepared herself for it, it was pointless beating around the bush. Song Caitang decided to go straight to the point.

“On the 13th day of the 9th month, the night Liao Xingjian was killed, you were on duty. Butler Xu was also patrolling at that hour. It was very late, but you didn’t run into each other?”

Dong Xin immediately shook her head. “No, we did not. The Sanctum is very big and there are many paths going through it. Perhaps Butler Xu took a different route from me.”

“I see.” Song Caitang just smiled and did not pursue this matter further, changing the topic instead, “You’ve lived here since you were a child?”

Dong Xin did not raise her head. “Yes. My parents are servants here too.”

“I’ve noticed that the families of martial artists have different rules from ordinary families. Are there differences in how old one is when they get married? Miss Ye seems to have gone past the age when most women get married. And how about you? You’re not engaged yet?”

It was always easier to talk about the problems that other people had rather than their own problems.

Dong Xin still did not raise her head and did not answer Song Caitang’s last question, but she quickly answered the first one, “Actually, our Young Mistress should have gotten married four years ago.”

Song Caitang cupped her chin in her hand as her lips curled upward slightly.

This girl was not an honest one.

But Song Caitang was merely trying to gather more information. She didn’t mind the way this conversation was going, so she was going to wait for this young lady to spill all the beans.

“Four… years ago?”

“That’s right. Young Mistress’ wedding date was originally scheduled four years ago.”

“Was it because of Xi Rui?”

Song Caitang lowered her gaze and smiled faintly. “I’m really curious about what happened in the past, but it’s my first time here and I don’t know anything. You’ve been here all your life, so you know the rules around here. Would you be able to tell me about this particular matter?”

Dong Xin bowed slightly. “Everyone here knows about what happened and Young Mistress did not forbid us from speaking about it. It’s just that we feel bad for her and we try to be considerate toward her, so we will not casually bring it up for no reason. Telling you about it in such a setting is perfectly fine, however.”

Song Caitang took a leisurely sip of tea. “Tell me then. What happened four years ago? And how did Madam Xi enter the picture?”

“Young Mistress and Mr. Liao grew up together and were so close, you never see one without the other. The elder sect leader was pleased to see them get along so well and arranged for them to get married very early on. It’s true that the martial arts world doesn’t really care about formalities and many do get married later than ordinary people, but Young Mistress is both a woman and the future leader of the sect, so while she has to train herself for her role ahead, she can’t get married too late either, so it was best that she got married before she turned 20. The elder sect leader discussed with both of them and they decided on a date four years ago.”

“Young Mistress and Mr. Liao knew this was going to happen from a long time ago, so they were happy with the arrangement and looked forward to the wedding. Everyone could see how happy and excited they looked. Both people within the Sanctum and anyone who visited never thought anything would go wrong with this marriage arrangement.”

“Five years ago, Mr. Liao had to settle some matters elsewhere and happened to run into Madam Xi, who was being bullied. He had some time on hand and decided to help rescue her. Madam Xi probably fell for Mr. Liao at that time and was really infatuated with him for a long time. But Mr. Liao’s heart was with Young Mistress and wasn’t swayed by her at all. And because her behavior became more and more extreme, he came out personally to shout and scold her, and she eventually left.”

“Four years ago, just two months before the wedding, an urgent but not very dangerous matter cropped up. Young Mistress and Mr. Liao agreed to leave together to attend to this matter, saying that they’d come back and get married after they settle the matter. But they ran into danger and Mr. Liao disappeared after that.”

Song Caitang frowned slightly and the wind blew some strands of hair past her mouth, making her look like she was in a daze. “Disappeared?”

“Yes, he disappeared completely. No matter how hard the Sanctum tried to locate him or how many other sects we asked for help, we simply couldn’t find Mr. Liao.”

“How long did he disappear for?”

“About ten months? Or 11 months? I don’t remember the exact amount of time anymore. But three months after he returned, Xi Rui appeared at our doorstep with her child.”

Song Caitang narrowed her eyes. “So, Liao Xingjian had spent nearly a year with Madam Xi?”

“That’s what Xi Rui says.”

That’s what Xi Rui says? So… Liao Xingjian did not confirm that this was true?

Song Caitang looked straight at Dong Xin.

Dong Xin gave her an answer to those questions immediately, “Mr. Liao said that something happened to him four years ago, so he forgot who he was and there was no way for him to contact the Sanctum. Ten odd months later, he suddenly remembered who he was and his past, so he came back. But he doesn’t remember what happened during the ten odd months, and said it felt like he had just awoken from a dream…”

After understanding what happened, Song Caitang felt that describing the events as a dream sounded about right.

Before falling asleep, he knew who he was. After falling asleep, he forgot who he was. Then, when he woke up again, he remembered who he was, but he forgot what the dream was all about.

Many ordinary people went through this. Regardless of how majestic or incredible their dreams were, whether they had fun or they went through something sad, whether there were gods or demons involved, or whether they had been the hero of their dream, they forgot everything once they woke up. The difference was that while what happened in the dream remained merely a dream, whatever happened to Liao Xingjian was real.

He must have done something during this “dream” of his, but he couldn’t recall at all.

Nothing about this made sense and Song Caitang couldn’t figure it out, but she still gave something as unexplainable as this the benefit of the doubt. For example, she couldn’t explain how she had managed to transmigrate here either. Perhaps it was really possible for a specific environment in these times to occur such that something like that could happen to Liao Xingjian.

“Mr. Liao had completely forgotten what had happened during these ten odd months? He couldn’t remember a single thing?”

Dong Xin paused to think, then said, “He said that he only has some vague memories of what happened. He remembers living with another person, but who that person was, whether they were male or female, what they looked like, what they did together… he doesn’t remember anything.”

Song Caitang touched the rim of her teacup with a finger. “But Madam Xi is able to recount what happened.”

“That’s right. Xi Rui said that they had spent this time together and she went into great detail, describing how they built a house together, went fishing, what they did day to day, how they ended up falling for one another, how they lived their lives blissfully every day, and how… they eventually had a son.”

“Liao Xingjian didn’t feel anything about this?”

“No. In fact, when Xi Rui talked about these things, Mr. Liao even found it repulsive. He thought that Xi Rui was lying, because she had done all sorts of crazy things just to get close to him before. But if she were lying, then how would you explain the child? The boy that Xi Rui brought over looked just like Mr. Liao, as though they were made from the same mold…”

It was impossible for him to say that the boy wasn’t his.

Song Caitang looked down at her teacup.

It was obvious that chaos must have ensued.

The groom-to-be had disappeared for nearly a year, and just when they had barely restarted wedding preparations, a mistress came knocking on the door with a child in tow. Xi Rui was already the sort of woman who went to great lengths to woo Liao Xingjian even though he wasn’t interested. Turning up with his son would have given her a lot of confidence. Of course she would have raised a ruckus.

And Ye Nan would definitely have been badly affected but what happened.

Liao Xingjian’s feelings for Ye Nan were real and it was impossible for their longstanding relationship to fade in such a short time. Regardless of what happened during his “dream”, he certainly still had feelings for Ye Nan even after he had woken up. He was now stuck in the middle and it would be hard to decide what to do.

And so… each of them faced their own pain, had their own thoughts about the situation and made their own compromises.

Liao Xingjian couldn’t let go of Ye Nan and vice versa, while Xi Rui refused to leave since she was finally able to become Liao Xingjian’s partner. Everyone worked around the issue together, forming new, implicit rules as they continued living together in misery.

And that was also why this wedding had been put off until this year.

Even so, Ye Nan still secretly went to ask Liao Xingjian on the night before their wedding if he had any regrets.

Song Caitang didn’t need to ask further questions to figure out these details.

Dong Xin stood up straight with her hands folded in front of her throughout the conversation. Her tone and movement remained the same from start to end, her face and voice expressionless, her head constantly bowed. She looked like she was doing fine.

The room fell silent.

Song Caitang furrowed her brows as she ran through the story again in her mind to see if there could be anything that might incite a murder, or… a loophole that someone else could make use of.

The brilliant sunshine shone in through the window grilles, causing the lotus flower design on the grilles to fall on the side of her face and clothes. As she basked in the sunshine, she suddenly sort of resembled a buddha of sorts.

Intelligent, wise, someone you could not fool or blaspheme.

Because… she knew everything.

Just then, Song Caitang looked up at Dong Xin and Dong Xin’s heart nearly leaped out of her mouth as a thin layer of perspiration formed on her forehead.