Bold Conjecture

Love between two people should be like that.

These eight words accompanied by the flowing moonlight, the billowing of the wind and uttered in a rare moment of gentleness by a man who was always hard and tough… These words and the scenery together could really make one’s soul tremble.

Song Caitang felt her face redden a little.

It seemed like… Zhao Zhi knew a lot about romantic relationships.

She really wanted to ask him if he had gone through an equally passionate and intense relationship since he seemed to understand it so well.

But she sensed some sadness in his gaze.

Those words he had uttered were definitely from his own experience and had been said with great sincerity, but… it also seemed like this romance had not been perfect. He probably had many regrets or perhaps it hadn’t ended well.

Song Caitang paused to think. This man hailed from the royal family, was nicknamed the King of Chaos, and had been a general along the border. He had many identities, his social standing was high and there were a million stories about him spreading through the nation. But none of them involved women.

Zhao Zhi had never been married and he wasn’t engaged to anybody at the moment either.

He was already past 20. Even ordinary families would have tried to find him a partner by now, what more the royal family?

Zhao Zhi…

Had he previously met someone who meant a lot to him?

And because of this person, he went through tumultuous events and created unforgettable memories with her, so he couldn’t accept another person…

Song Caitang bowed her head slightly.

Since this relationship didn’t end well, it wasn’t appropriate for her to ask him about it so casually.

She had even wanted to tease him about it.

Song Caitang put aside all the thoughts running through her brain and stopped herself from wanting to dig deeper into his past. She did her best to bring her attention back to her earlier conjecture and continued to develop it.

If Ye Nan had never thought of abandoning Liao Xingjian and hoped to marry someone else, if Ye Nan’s feelings toward Liao Xingjian were true, but she had also done something to betray him and was feeling guilty about it…

“So, on the night before their wedding, Ye Nan had gone to confirm if Liao Xingjian was serious. She had asked him if he was serious about marrying her partly because she wanted to give him a chance to choose otherwise, but it was also for her to confirm which path she should take. And once she had made her decision, she wasn’t going to have any regrets…”

Her expression suddenly grew solemn as she went back to discussing the case, which stunned Zhao Zhi for a moment.

But it was just for a moment. He stared at her intently, then returned his attention back to the case. He, too, quickly sorted out his thoughts and continued analyzing the case as well.

“They grew up together, got along wonderfully well and were hardly found apart from one another. Everything only changed at that point four years ago.”

Zhao Zhi stroked his chin and looked like he was thinking about many things. “What could have happened four years ago? Xi Rui brought his child back here and Ye Nan did not put up any fight. Ye Nan actually swallowed her pride despite being within her own territory and never did anything that would hurt the peace… Was it purely because Ye Nan is a magnanimous person?”

Clearly, Liao Xingjian was the one at fault. So, why was she feeling so guilty?

Zhao Zhi’s words had pointed toward a different possibility.

Song Caitang narrowed her eyes slightly as an intelligent glint lit up her eyes. Everything she had heard and seen over the past few days popped up in her mind like a slideshow. A new one appeared just as the last one disappeared at an unbelievable speed.

Any mention of four years ago, the look on the faces of everyone whenever this was mentioned, the expressions on both Xin Yongwangs, the things they had said…

All of a sudden, Song Caitang felt like she had the answer. She stared excitedly at Zhao Zhi and said, “I have a bold conjecture.”

“Go on.”

Zhao Zhi’s lips were slightly upturned as he looked at her, his eyes filled with encouragement and admiration as always, as though he was saying to her, “You’re a clever girl, so I just knew you’d be able to do it.”

This time, Song Caitang smiled genuinely. Her smile was bright, filled with confidence and made her come alive, causing her to shine differently in the moonlight.

Zhao Zhi stared at her even more intensely.

Song Caitang did not notice any change in his gaze and continued speaking with a sparkle in her eyes, “Four years ago, Ye Nan and Liao Xingjian had to leave this place to attend to something. Liao Xingjian ran into trouble, had an accident that caused him to lose his memory, so he wandered about, met Xi Rui and we know what happened after that. But what about Ye Nan? They had set off together, so would they have been together when that accident happened? Why does everybody only talk about Liao Xingjian when they mention that point in time, but not about Ye Nan?”

“Is it because nothing happened at all… or is it because they’re deliberately trying to cover up something?”

Zhao Zhi tapped the table gently with his fingertips. “So you’re saying that Ye Nan had also run into danger back then.”

“Perhaps…” Song Caitang stared at him brightly with a knowing look in her eyes, “they had run into the same trouble and ended up the same way.”

Zhao Zhi instantly understood what she was thinking about. “In other words, Ye Nan had possibly also lost her memory, wandered off elsewhere and met someone out there.”

“Someone like… Xin Yongwang.”

Song Caitang ran her finger around the rim of her teacup as her gaze flickered.

Zhao Zhi went into a momentary daze as he watched her slim, fair finger subconsciously go round the teacup. “Your conjecture is very bold indeed.”

“But if we take this bold conjecture to be true, then everything else will make sense.”

Even when she raised her eyebrows slightly, their pretty shape made sure they looked as exquisite as butterfly wings. She was still just as beautiful even though they were talking about a bloody murder.

“Would one Xi Rui and one child really have caused them this much trouble? Martial artists are usually not bothered by social norms and they’re very open about who they owe and who owes them – so why does this whole thing sound more like the family drama of a wealthy family? Their words are filled with subtle attacks on other people, are never to the point, beat around the bush and don’t seem angry at all.”

“The prince of Western Xia did a really good job of acting as Xin Yongwang and his acting had been almost flawless. When he spoke to Ye Nan, he would mention “that year” or “the thing that happened that year” from time to time and looked really sincere when he said he wanted to take care of her, and that’s exactly how he managed to fool Ye Nan into believing he was the real deal. In other words, the real Xin Yongwang must have behaved like this around her all the time before he was swapped. What are these words implying?”

Song Caitang narrowed her eyes slightly as she recalled what she knew about Ye Nan. “Ye Nan is a very resilient and somewhat aloof woman. Her emotions are hardly affected, but every time Xin Yongwang mentions something like that, her expression would shift awkwardly. She would have an expression that doesn’t come out when she speaks to other people. She looks nervous, conflicted and unsure of what to do.”

“The prince from Western Xia had only managed to do this much and hadn’t done anything else. But when we rescued the real Xin Yongwang, besides talking about what happened to him and feeling hateful toward the prince for putting him in this predicament, his first private conversation was with Ye Nan. He asked her, “Have you considered what I talked to you about the last time? Are you still going to marry him?””

“He was looking at her so earnestly, he was just short of asking her if she wanted to marry him. His expression seemed pretty genuine. But he also didn’t seem to notice that Ye Nan looked a complete mess. She had barely escaped a fire, but Xin Yongwang didn’t ask how she was, whether she was hurt or feeling unwell. Instead, he was more interested in whether she would marry him…”

“His actions make it seem like he wasn’t really in love with her. And there was something else in the way he looked at her. It looked like…”

Song Caitang bent her head to think for a moment, but eventually decided to go with this description, “It looked like he was threatening her. As though he knew some weakness of hers and knew she wouldn’t be able to say no. Ye Nan was destined to be his sooner or later.”

It wasn’t hard to reach this conclusion once you put everything together.

Regardless of whether Xin Yongwang’s feelings for Ye Nan were true or not, something must have happened between the two of them and they were hiding something.

So… she loves him, but he doesn’t love her and loves another; she loves another guy but it doesn’t matter because she’s destined to eventually end up with him…

What a cringey drama.

Song Caitang subconsciously hugged herself, afraid that her goosebumps would worsen.

Zhao Zhi looked like he was deep in thought as he slowly tapped the table. “Does Liao Xingjian know something like that happened to Ye Nan? What about Xi Rui? She doesn’t know?”

Song Caitang shook her head very honestly. This was all just a conjecture.

Plus, she had only thought of this because of what Zhao Zhi had said.

But once she had this conjecture and laid out all her thoughts accordingly, everything seemed to make perfect sense.

She was now very certain that Xu Deye and Dong Xin were able to behave so arrogantly despite being mere servants because they knew about this matter. As long as they didn’t cross the line, Ye Nan was willing to let them do what they wanted.

“A pity it’s too late now. We’ll only be able to ask Ye Nan tomorrow.” Song Caitang sighed as she looked sadly at the sky.

“One more thing,” Zhao Zhi tapped the area right in front of Song Caitang. “I think I should remind you about this.”

Song Caitang blinked. “What is it?”

“You said before that you had gone to look at the scene of the crime and you noticed that Liao Xingjian had a habit of writing things down, possibly because he had lost his memory four years ago. If that’s the case, he would have jotted down what’s been happening over the past few years. Did you read through his notes?”

Song Caitang shook her head. “The study doesn’t have everything. Some dates are missing. It might have been lost, misplaced or put elsewhere. I’ve already asked everyone in the Sanctum to help search for them, but I still haven’t heard back from them.”

She sighed heavily about this. That was why she really wished she could have her own assistant to work on this case together with her.

Since she had to rely on someone else unrelated to herself, they could choose to be uncooperative or to put very little effort into cracking the case. That would make things very difficult.

“What if he hadn’t lost it or it wasn’t stolen, but he had hidden them away?” Zhao Zhi suggested a completely different direction.

The victim, Liao Xingjian, had died very suddenly. But everyone described him as a strong, careful and extraordinarily capable man.

Someone like that would know how many notebooks he had and whether he had lost them.

If he hadn’t noticed that some of them had gone missing even though an entire time range was missing, could he have hidden them away on purpose?

His suggestion resulted in more questions.

Why did he hide those records?

Who was he wary of?

He knew someone wanted to kill him?

If the victim had suspects in mind, then that would definitely be of help to the case. Once they found these notebooks, they would be able to crack the case!

Zhao Zhi suggested, “Well, the brightness of the moon and the winds tonight make it a perfect time for a night visit… you wanna try looking for these notebooks?”

Song Caitang couldn’t possibly say no. She stood up immediately. “Sure!”

One knew martial arts and the other didn’t. How they were going to conduct this night visit was very obvious.

He wrapped his large arm around her slim waist and adjusted her position from time to time as they flew. Sometimes their skin would touch slightly and nothing seemed out of the ordinary…

But ever since Song Caitang guessed that Zhao Zhi was holding a torch for someone, she didn’t let her thoughts run wild anymore and didn’t feel stressed at all. They were on official business! Everything was for the sake of the investigation!

Getting all red-faced in front of someone whose heart belonged to someone else was very inappropriate. She wasn’t going to allow herself to do such a thing.

She didn’t like how things felt so ambiguous and awkward, so it was better to just say something.

Song Caitang asked Zhao Zhi, “It’s been a long time since I heard from you – were you very busy?”

Perhaps it was because he was finally holding her in his arms again after nearly losing her, Zhao Zhi got a little bit too excited and accidentally let slip what he truly felt inside, “No. It was because I was afraid.”

“Afraid?”

Song Caitang looked at him in surprise. That was news. She couldn’t believe there was anything that could actually scare this man.

Zhao Zhi bent his head slightly to look into Song Caitang’s eyes that were as clear as the summer sky after the rain. They were clean, bright and reflected nothing but himself. He couldn’t help but tighten his grip around her waist as his voice grew more and more hoarse.

“I was afraid to come into too much contact with this person, afraid that my entire heart and mind would be full of this one person and I would no longer be able to run away…”

During this time, especially when they were investigating the case of the boat courtesans, Zhao Zhi began to think of Song Caitang more and more often and yearned to get closer to her. His instinct told him that he shouldn’t be like this.

Something deep inside his heart told him that someone already had a place here. He had made a promise before that they could only like each other and he was not to fall for someone else.

He didn’t know where this feeling was coming from or who this someone was. But he knew that once he had made a promise, he wouldn’t go back on his word.

So, even though he couldn’t explain this feeling and simply couldn’t remember anything, he continued to respect it even though his head was full of questions.

He had an impression that this someone had said before that she was an easily jealous character, so she didn’t allow him to go near any other women. If a woman threw herself at him, he had to dodge and not even help her up if she fell. She said that he was hers forever and he was not allowed to fall for anyone or have a crush on anyone. He wasn’t even allowed to admire anyone, so it was best for him to just avoid any pretty women he came across…

And all this time, he had kept to his promise.

But then he suddenly met Song Caitang. The more he got to know her, the more he couldn’t pull himself away and he even nearly…

That’s why he ran away.

On that night when he nearly crossed the line, he ran for it without even daring to turn back to look.

Thankfully, some things had already been destined from the beginning of time. The blindfold over his eyes had finally been removed.

This time, he wasn’t going to let this new someone get bullied or suffer in any way.

An intensely passionate gaze formed in the depths of his eyes and he had to do everything he could to stop himself from leaning forward to kiss her.

Song Caitang frowned slightly as she stared at his expression.

Surely she couldn’t be blamed for this? The expression on Zhao Zhi’s face right now would have made anyone misunderstand him!

Was he talking about her?

Was it her?

Was he confessing his feelings for her?!

But Zhao Zhi had hinted to her before that he already had feelings for someone else…

For some reason, she felt her heart race and her face paled a little as well.

Was it like one of those dramas where the main character was treating her as a substitute for an unrequited love of sorts?

Did she look a lot like that girl he liked?!

Zhao Zhi felt terrible when he saw the expression on her face. He gritted his teeth real hard and put on his most aloof expression.

It was better to take it slow. He didn’t want to scare her.

“Did I scare you?”

Song Caitang did her best to remain rational as she asked cautiously, “A little… Zhao Zhi, were you just kidding with me just now?”

Zhao Zhi didn’t say anything, as though he was confirming her conjecture.

She continued to ask quietly, “Then… what brings you to the Night Sanctum?”

“I came to look for someone. Someone I lost for a long time.”

Song Caitang sighed quietly inside.

This man was really hard to read! It was so hard to understand his expressions and tone of voice!

“Did you find them?”

“I did.”

Those two words were said with great certainty, a relaxed tone that was only possible if he had truly resolved the issue at hand.

Song Caitang exhaled slowly. “Glad to hear that.”

Perhaps…

It had nothing to do with her.

This was just all her own imagination.

She wanted to analyze the whole thing from the start to confirm if she was just overthinking it…

But things did not always go as planned. She wasn’t given too much time to think as a shriek suddenly broke the silence of the night.