No Resemblance

Was there anything special that happened when Lv Mingyue was a child…

Lv Mingyue seemed rather curious about this as well, so she turned to look at Madam Liu. “Was there anything, Mother?”

Madam Liu hurriedly waved her hands about. “She was just brought up like any girl and taught the usual things. Nothing in particular happened at all. Just that when she was very young…” She glanced at Lv Angui, “she fell very ill and nearly didn’t make it.”

Lv Angui caught her glance and let out a long sigh. “That was a really terrible time. Children are more susceptible to illness, no matter how well you take care of them. When Mingyue was four, she caught a cold and was ill in bed for nearly a hundred days. She simply couldn’t seem to get any better and she was so skinny, she was practically just a bag of bones. It was an old friend who managed to find an old, wandering doctor, and it was this doctor who managed to heal her…”

His expression was filled with the love and helplessness a father would have toward his daughter in times like these. His expression and words matched perfectly.

But Lv Mingyue seemed to suddenly become uncomfortable. She pursed her lips slightly, shut her eyes, then let go of Madam Liu’s arm. She was no longer as clingy.

Madam Liu was a little panicky and tried to pull Lv Mingyue back into her embrace again, but she only stretched her arm out halfway before retracting it.

As if to cover up her movement, she retracted her arm and used the handkerchief she was holding to wipe her eyes as she let out a long sigh.

Song Caitang was talking to Lv Angui and didn’t notice any of this, but Zhao Zhi saw it all.

“So, where’s that old, wandering doctor?”

Song Caitang was thinking that since Lin Feizhou was suffering terribly from the effects of some poison and didn’t have much longer to live, a miracle doctor would be what he needed right now. Could he have done all this for the sake of this?

Lv Angui shook his head. “When he came to treat Mingyue’s illness, he was already very old and had trouble walking. Now… he might have already passed on, I think? Besides, such doctors move about and they don’t settle down anywhere. I’m not trying to be uncooperative, but I really have no idea where he is or even where he could be.”

Zhao Zhi suddenly piped up, “What about your old friend?”

Lv Angui blinked. “Old… friend?”

Zhao Zhi smiled faintly. “The old friend who found you this wandering doctor.”

“Oh, you’re asking about him.” Lv Angui sighed. “That old friend of mine was ill fated. He went missing during a flood the next year, so I’ve erected a cenotaph for him in the mountains in his memory.”

“I see.”

“You’re asking about this because…” Lv Angui sounded a little cautious now.

By this time, Song Caitang knew why Zhao Zhi was asking these questions. “Did the wandering doctor or this old friend leave anything behind for you?”

Lv Angui responded immediately, “No.”

Zhao Zhi asked, “Neither of them?”

Lv Angui’s response was certain. “No.”

Song Caitang looked at Lv Mingyue.

Lv Mingyue was now sitting properly by herself. She was a little stunned when she met Song Caitang’s gaze, but she said, “I was very young then and I don’t remember anything, but my parents don’t hide anything from me. If these two people had left anything behind, I would definitely have known about it.”

Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang exchanged glances, then asked Lv Angui, “Did you and your wife know that your daughter was seeing Lin Feizhou?”

Lv Angui looked at his daughter, who had silently bowed her head, then at Madam Liu. He shut his eyes. “We… knew.”

Madam Liu sighed. “Every daughter has to eventually get married after they come of age. I’ve been trying to find a good man for her over the past few years, but unfortunately, we’ve not been able to find someone suitable. This Lin Feizhou was an orphan and had no familial support, but my husband and I checked up on him before and found that he was a really nice, young man. He was sensible, polite and motivated, talented but classy, and Mingyue liked him so much, so… we thought, why not? If he passed the exams next year, that would be best. But even if he didn’t, that’s no problem. Our family is rich enough to support a son-in-law who has to study and cannot work.”

Zhao Zhi asked, “Did both of you ever come into contact with Lin Feizhou and talk about their marriage? Did he ever request anything from you?”

Lv Angui shook his head. “All I ask for is that my daughter will be able to lead a peaceful and healthy life, that she and her husband would live in harmony with one another and love each other for the rest of their lives. I didn’t impose too many rules on them. When my daughter went out to meet with that boy, my wife and I would close our eyes and pretend we didn’t know. Getting to know one another a little more is good for them too. We know our daughter wouldn’t do anything to cross the line. Lin Feizhou was talented, but he was also principled and had some pride in him, so he never accepted help from anyone. My wife and I didn’t want to push him too hard and hurt a young man’s pride, so we secretly prepared the dowry and things for the wedding, plus we didn’t tell anybody else. We were going to wait until Lin Feizhou finished his exams. I’ve also observed him in secret, but I’ve never actually met with him. He has also never requested anything from either of us.”

Song Caitang looked at Lv Mingyue. “What about you? Have you made any requests before?”

Lv Mingyue nodded.

She was so smitten with Lin Feizhou, so when they were together in private, she would definitely let some things slip.

Song Caitang asked her, “Have you ever taken a look at your own dowry? Your parents dote on you dearly, so they must have prepared a lot of things for you.”

It took a while for Lv Mingyue to understand what Song Caitang was driving at. “Are you saying… he wanted my dowry?” She widened her eyes and nearly burst out laughing. “How can that be? He was so talented and had a bright future ahead of him. What’s this little bit of money to him? He’d have plenty of it in the future.”

“Did he know about your dowry or not?”

Song Caitang placed her teacup back onto the table and stared straight at Lv Mingyue. She wanted Lv Mingyue to give her a straight answer.

Lv Mingyue frowned. “He knew.”

Lin Feizhou was definitely not a student who had come to the capital to take the imperial examinations. He had a motive for getting close to Lv Mingyue. If it wasn’t for money or her, then it could have been a particular item.

Song Caitang continued thinking as she asked Lv Mingyue, “Did he often reflect on life with you, or talk about the past?”

“He was a student, so… if he didn’t reflect on matters and express his thoughts on it, how could he possibly write good poems?”

Song Caitang’s gaze flickered. In other words, he did.

“Then did you tell him about your past? Did he tell you that he wanted to know about your past and what happened when you were a child because he wasn’t there during that part of your life and really wanted to hear you speak about it?”

This time, Lv Mingyue was really shocked. “You… How did you know about this too?!”

Did this woman eavesdrop on them or something?!

Song Caitang exchanged glances with Zhao Zhi. This was definitely the direction they should take.

“What did you tell him? Which incidents in the past, which deepest impressions and anything to do with your dowry,” Song Caitang looked steely at Lv Mingyue, “tell us everything.”

But Lv Mingyue didn’t know where to start.

Lovers often exchanged sweet nothings and talked about anything under the sun without thinking about it. She couldn’t remember what she said at all.

Song Caitang had no choice but to try and help her by asking her about a few incidents she could recall best. She asked her about Lin Feizhou’s expression, what he said, how he reacted to her…

In the end, Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi still couldn’t figure out exactly what Lin Feizhou might have wanted, but the direction of the investigation was now clear. They just had to dig harder now.

“On the day of the ritual at Zhaoze Temple, you asked Lin Feizhou to go with you,” Song Caitang suddenly thought of something else and asked Lv Mingyue more discreetly, “Did you put on any blusher or lipstick?”

Lv Mingyue looked a little confused as to why Song Caitang would ask her this, but she still responded honestly, “No, I didn’t. I was sincere about praying to Buddha about my marriage. Wearing thick makeup or bright colors is disrespectful to Buddha.”

Song Caitang nodded.

So, the red patch on Lin Feizhou’s lips were not a result of kissing Lv Mingyue.

The victim was a swindler, so he would have had a good plan and would not do anything for no reason. He was going out with two women at the same time, and he made sure Lv Mingyue knew about the existence of the other woman. That meant that there was a good reason for making sure Lv Mingyue knew about her.

“When we last saw each other, you mentioned someone with the surname Zuo,” Song Caitang looked straight at Lv Mingyue. “You knew that Lin Feizhou was seeing another woman with the surname Zuo?”

It would have been better if she hadn’t brought this up. Lv Mingyue instantly burst into tears and wailed, “It was that girl who kept harassing Feizhou! It was one-sided! Feizhou is a man with dignity, so he wouldn’t be tempted by power and money! It was that woman! She must have killed him because she couldn’t have him! That’s right! It was her! It must have been her!”

After that, she collapsed back into Madam Liu’s arms again and continued to wail, “I’m sorry… I was in the wrong… if I wasn’t so rebellious… maybe things wouldn’t have turned out like that… I’m sorry…”

Madam Liu hugged her tightly and started crying too. “You’re my good daughter, I won’t blame you for any of this… you didn’t do anything wrong… you didn’t… we’re just ill-fated…”

Lv Mingyue really broke down this time, so it was impossible to ask her any other questions.

But when this mother and daughter cried next to one another, it looked like the mother was much more resilient compared to her daughter. Their personalities were quite different.

And when Song Caitang looked harder…

They didn’t seem to resemble each other either.

Song Caitang just casually uttered some words of consolation, “It’s alright, Mrs. Lv. Your daughter is still young, so maybe after another two years, she’d become as resilient, brave and infallible as you are.”

In her profession, sometimes they had to confirm a body’s identity and look through lists of missing persons. This was a fact that came in handy from time to time. A mother and daughter might not look alike right now, but the mother might have looked exactly like her daughter when she was her daughter’s age.

Lv Mingyue was still very young, after all.

Madam Liu’s handkerchief suddenly fell to the floor.

As though she couldn’t keep the struggling Lv Mingyue still.

“She… looks like her maternal grandmother, my late mother. My mother had such eyes when she was younger…” Madam Liu was trembling slightly and her voice cracked as she spoke. She helped Lv Mingyue to her feet and started trying to help her daughter walk back to her room. She didn’t turn around, didn’t look at Song Caitang or Zhao Zhi, and didn’t let them see her face. “Be good, my dear, let’s go. Let’s go back to the room and rest well, everything will be fine after a good nap…”

But Lv Mingyue was crying so hard that she had trouble breathing properly. She looked like she couldn’t walk. Or perhaps she didn’t want to leave.

Lv Angui seemed like he couldn’t take it anymore and lost his temper. “Enough! That’s quite enough!”

Lv Mingyue instantly stopped crying. She bit down hard on her lower lip and her face was pale. “I’ve… embarrassed you, haven’t I?”

Lv Angui didn’t say anything.

Lv Mingyue’s eyes widened in anger. “Then chase me out of the house! Why do you keep me here? Just throw me out! Go ahead!”

Madam Liu quickly waved a few maids over to carry Lv Mingyue back to her room.

Lv Angui quickly bowed toward Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang with an apologetic look on his face. “I’m sorry you had to see what a mess this house is in, perhaps…”

There was no way Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang could ask anymore questions. “We’ll come another day.”

After they left the Lvs’, Song Caitang said to Zhao Zhi, “There’s something odd about this family.”

She couldn’t put her finger on which part was odd. There was nothing fishy about their background, the way they spoke and did things made sense, and Lv Mingyue was just an ordinary young woman who carried herself like a daughter of such upbringing. There was just something strange in the atmosphere.

What was Lin Feizhou eyeing? What did he want from Lv Mingyue?

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes. “I have a feeling that this family has some unspeakable past.”

Lin Feizhou had come for that reason.

There was something in that past that had been sealed away. Something that could possibly cause great chaos.

Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang had been fairly efficient in carrying out their side of the investigation already, but they hadn’t returned for too long when Qi Yan came running in.

“There’s really an issue with that Zuo Xiuwen’s home!”

Qi Yan plonked himself down on a chair and drank half a pot of tea at one shot before wiping his mouth and continuing, “His family shipped in some seafood not too long ago and his daughter, Zuo Shanshan, had gone to Zhaoze Temple the night before the ritual to cook, saying that she wanted to offer this food to Buddha…”

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow. “Offer this food to Buddha?”

Qi Yan chortled as he threw them a cheeky look. “Offer to Buddha? She clearly offered them to Lin Feizhou’s stomach!”

Song Caitang’s autopsy report stated clearly that Lin Feizhou’s stomach contained undigested abalone and sea cucumber, which meant that he had eaten some just before he died. But it would have been impossible for him to have eaten any, considering his economic situation and where he was.

But to conclude just based on this…

Of course, Qi Yan had other evidence on hand. He had a secretive look on his face as he whispered, “I also found love poems in Zuo Shanshan’s room, and it’s Lin Feizhou’s handwriting! I remember where they are, so if you search the house, Brother Zhi, I’ll find them for you!”

These two were in a relationship, plus the fact that her household did order abalone and sea cucumber. Surely that was enough evidence!

“Zuo Shanshan is quite an impressive girl. She kept this under wraps so well, not even her parents know about it!”

Song Caitang recalled her impression of Madam Yu. Madam Yu clearly looked like a clever and capable mistress of her own household. Would she really have not known at all?

Zhao Zhi tapped a finger against the table. “Anything else?”

“Anything else?” Qi Yan protested loudly, “Brother Zhi, you’re overworking me! One or two isn’t enough, and now you want a third?!”

Zhao Zhi rolled his eyes. “Get to the point.”

“But of course I’d have more than just that!” Qi Yan had a smug look on his face. “I also found out about something else, but nobody can really confirm it, so it may or may not be true. Apparently, Zuo Shanshan and Ji Yuanjia’s parents discussed their potential marriage!”

“Do you think Ji Yuanjia could have gone to talk to Lin Feizhou because of Zuo Shanshan? Then for the sake of her son, Madam Gu decided to…”

Qi Yan looked smug and eager to share juicy gossip, but he seemed angry too. Zhao Zhi knew him well, so he noticed the anger immediately and asked, “How has this Ji Yuanjia offended you?”

“He snatched my cakes away!” Qi Yan scoffed furiously. “The ones that Tangtang’s cousin made! They were so fragrant and so tasty! That Ji Yuanjia is so skinny, as though he’s never eaten before, but he just took one whiff and he knew that cake was good stuff, and he just snatched it right out of my hands!!”

“Anybody who snatches my food can’t be anything good! I’ve decided! He’s definitely the murderer! Ji Yuanjia’s the one who did this!”

Qi Yan was literally hopping mad.