Episode 230

Eighteen years ago. Beiqing Mountain.

Every word carried the smell of blood and made everyone think of a distant past.

Even if you hadn’t witnessed what happened back then, there were records. They existed in the gossip among the people as well as the stories told by those who were educated.

That was a time that sounded exciting, but nobody missed.

Because it was a cruel time.

“This Lv Mingyue was born 17 years ago, but because she was the descendant of a bandit, the family refused to accept her. She was sent to a farmer’s family and they gave the family a lot of money, so the farmer’s family treated her like treasure.”

Qi Yan fanned himself as he described what happened 18 years ago and paced the hall slowly, as though he was some storyteller in a shop or something. He was good at capturing their attention.

“Who would have thought? Our honorable Mr. Zuo failed to have children for some years after getting married. He had so much fatherly love that had nowhere to go. Of course it would all go to the very young Lv Mingyue, right? But a jerk is a jerk, he’s one without any true morals or ethics. After he had children with his beautiful wife, he threw this farmer’s daughter to the back of his mind.”

“After some years, Mr. Zuo seemed to have completely forgotten about this matter. But the young child from back then had already grown into an adult”

“Lv Mingyue was doted on and sheltered by her farmer parents from a young age and grew up without a hitch. The Lvs had to shift house several times because of her, changing their names along the way as well. They made sure they took good care of her and their only wish was for her to grow up well so that they could marry her off to a good man… A young lady who grew up under such circumstances would be a naïve and ignorant one. She would think her life was perfectly normal. She knew that these farmer parents weren’t her real parents, so of course she would want to know about her real parents. And if she wanted to know more about them, she would have to search for them. Unfortunately…”

Qi Yan grinned at Zuo Xiuwen. “Mr. Zuo didn’t want anybody else to know about the existence of this daughter. Otherwise, how would he continue hiding the truth of what happened 18 years ago? What if someone digs it out?”

“There’s one more thing. A bandit is a bandit, so they commit arson, murder, robbery and other evil things, and end up offending a huge number of people, so there’s always someone who’s back for revenge. I’m afraid this Lin Feizhou was one of them…”

After he finished saying this with a grin, he fanned himself lightly as he walked around Zuo Xiuwen. “Am I right, Mr. Zuo? Did I leave anything out? Would you like to add to it?”

Madam Yu couldn’t stop crying. She pointed a trembling finger at Zuo Xiuwen. “That Lv Mingyue was really your… your…”

“She was not!” Zuo Xiuwen flew into a rage. “It wasn’t me! You have no evidence! This is just your conjecture! You are all out to get me, so you’re stooping to despicable means! Zhao Zhi, how very impressive!”

Zhao Zhi stared expressionlessly at him. “Then, could you explain why we found one of your men at Beiqing Mountain three days ago when we went to dig out the corpse supposedly belonging to the leader of the bandits? What were you trying to do? If I had arrived one day late, would I have failed to find the coffin and body of the leader of the bandits?”

“That was just…”

“Are you going to say it was just a coincidence?” Qi Yan leaped forward and stared at Zuo Xiuwen. “The only way for others to not know what you’ve done is to not do it in the first place. If there are too many coincidences, then it’s not a coincidence at all.”

Zuo Xiuwen looked like he was about to have a breakdown. He stared at the glittering sunlight shining on the floor and felt the glare hurt his eyes. He clenched his fists and his lips trembled, “You can’t prove it… you don’t know anything…”

“Oh?” Qi Yan made a funny face and spoke in a clownish manner, “Are you looking down on our coroner?”

He looked at Song Caitang as he moved his fan quickly. His back was straight, his eyebrows about to fly off his face from that smug look he had. “Miss Song here is someone who can dissect bodies and inspect bones in order to speak up for the dead. She’s a coroner whom even the Lord of Hades has to treat kindly. There’s never been a coroner like her. And you dare to suspect our words?”

“How long the person in the grave has died, what they did before they died, what they liked, what they hated, what hobbies and habits they had, which year they got badly injured, whether that was a superficial injury or if bones were fractured, when they fully recovered, and even what they might have looked like based on their skull – Miss Song can tell you everything!”

Qi Yan glanced at Zuo Xiuwen. “Do you need Miss Song to list out everything for you?”

Song Caitang finally broke her silence, “There’s an autopsy report.”

Qi Yan immediately jumped on it. “Oh yes! There’s an autopsy report! Bring it here right now and show it to Mr. Zuo! Let him read it carefully in its entirety!”

Zhao Zhi added, “Bring in the information we collected from Zuo Xiuwen’s hometown too.”

Qi Yan slapped his forehead. “Yes, yes, bring everything here! Let’s see what else this leader of the bandits has to say for himself!”

Zuo Xiuwen was really caught by surprise. He had just been summoned to the court and Zhao Zhi had already done such a thorough investigation!

How did he do it?

He had done it in such a short time too.

And without anyone realizing it at all too!

Zuo Xiuwen couldn’t think of a way to defend himself anymore.

He couldn’t help but think, was everything that he had worked so hard to obtain, was everything that he had suppressed himself and tolerated so much for to gain… was it all going to disappear just like that?

Zuo Xiuwen swallowed hard. He felt like his legs were going to give way.

Song Caitang put her teacup down. Her voice was like the warm spring rain, the clear stream water in summer, “As a man, you would have been ridiculed if you weren’t vicious enough, so I can understand why you chose to do this. There are some things that must be buried forever. If others do not know and do not try to find out, everyone will live in peace. But once someone starts trying to find out, you cannot let them live. Lv Mingyue suddenly came to you and wanted to know about her real parents. You had real fatherly love toward her for a period of time in the past, but you still felt that you ought to kill her. But you also had to confirm how much she knew and whether she had told others about this… So, you did your best to sound her out, to make her visit you at the secret house, to talk to her often. In the end, you confirmed that she didn’t know much and had never told anyone else about this before, and that’s when you decided to kill her.”

Actually, Zuo Xiuwen had been very smart. In order to protect himself, he had just admitted that she was his mistress so as to confuse everyone and make it impossible for anyone to suspect they might actually be father and daughter. And because of Lin Feizhou’s death, he found out that they were lovers. He had also honestly said that Lv Mingyue mentioned she had some dowry that she had never told anyone about, including Lin Feizhou.

His reactions had been quick and he was able to ensure that he would not be suspected.

“Unfortunately, no matter how clever you are, you’re still a little less clever than someone else.”

Song Caitang’s gaze fell on Li Zhengzhi.

Zuo Xiuwen looked at Li Zhengzhi as well. It was hard to say if it was because he suddenly figured something out, but his eyes were a little glazed over.

Song Caitang went on, “Li Zhengzhi helped you to kill Lv Mingyue, didn’t he?”

Zuo Xiuwen trembled all over.

At this point, Li Zhengzhi finally smiled and spoke for the first time today, “What do you mean by that, Miss Song?”

Song Caitang lowered her gaze and smiled. “You don’t understand what I’m saying? That night, you knocked Lv Mingyue out, carried her to the pagoda, wore specially made women’s embroidered shoes to create footprints that only went toward the balcony but did not return, threw Lv Mingyue down, then went over the banister and landed one floor down, walked out of the pagoda and took your shoes off.”

“You’re someone who led the troops to smite the bandits, so even if you aren’t a martial arts expert, surely you’re capable of doing this much, right?”

Li Zhengzhi smiled faintly. “What a wild imagination you have, Miss Song. If you decided to switch careers and became a novelist or a playwright, I’m sure you’d have a lot of fans.”

Clearly, he wasn’t going to admit what he had done. Song Caitang could see that, but she didn’t get angry and turned toward Zuo Xiuwen instead. “Mr. Zuo, could you tell me why these embroidered shoes ended up coming from one of your shops? Did you… prepare them for Mr. Li?”

Zuo Xiuwen really looked like he was about to collapse. “When Lv Mingyue died, I wasn’t there! I have an alibi! None of this has anything to do with me!”

Song Caitang went on, “But you were the one who personally got someone to make these shoes in order to keep it a secret. What happened to those shoes? Who did you give them to? For what purpose?”

Zuo Xiuwen had no answer to that.

“You said you didn’t know that Lin Feizhou existed, you were sure that Lv Mingyue had no idea who you really were, and she never mentioned you to anybody else. In that case, you could have just killed Lv Mingyue. Why did you have to kill Lin Feizhou and put yourself in such a dangerous position?”

Song Caitang’s eyes gleamed intelligently, her expression calm, her voice tinged with a sigh. “Mr. Zuo, were you misled by someone else? Walked into another person’s trap?”

“Just look at the two murder cases we’re discussing right now. You’re the biggest suspect, while someone else will get away unscathed.”

Zuo Xiuwen’s nostrils flared and his breathing quickened. The way he stared at Li Zhengzhi now carried some vengefulness and anger.

Song Caitang caught sight of that, so she went on, “Someone else misled you by proposing a win-win situation, a plan where everyone could get away. You wanted Lv Mingyue dead, he wanted Lin Feizhou dead. So, why not work together? And you took him up, didn’t you?”

The truth was plain for all to see. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how all of this could have happened. Zuo Xiuwen’s teeth were chattering and he looked ready to spill the beans.

Song Caitang looked at him and spoke even more quietly and slowly, “According to the first plan, he was the one who would deal with the people surrounding the place. You were not involved in that and you were only in charge of killing the man. He picked a good time, made sure that everyone who ought to be there was there, you took the knife he gave you, you killed his enemy, Lin Feizhou, then you passed the knife to Lv Mingyue. The rest would be left to him to deal with, including the discovery of the murder and the murderer. But Madam Gu appeared from nowhere and messed up your plans. Only one person ended up dying. But the other person had to die too. So what now?”

“You helped him kill Lin Feizhou, so you asked him to kill Lv Mingyue for you and he agreed to it without question. At that time, did you feel like your attitude wasn’t the best and you owed him a favor, so you were even more willing to listen to him and go along with anything he said?”

“But after that, you definitely regretted it. Because Lin Feizhou and Lv Mingyue were actually real lovers, but he didn’t tell you. You merely thought he had magically managed to make them appear together. And because of this relationship, it made you seem like a good suspect for Lin Feizhou’s murderer. Your only consolation was that Lv Mingyue had left a suicide note behind, so the case could be ruled a suicide and you would not be accused of being her killer.”

“But now, every piece of evidence found in these two cases have been traced back to you. He’s left a back door for himself. Mr. Zuo, you trusted him so much and you’ve left the planning of all these things to him because his words and actions have proved reliable. Yet, this is actually how he has treated you. Are you really willing to allow him to make use of you like this? Are you really not angry about it?”

Zuo Xiuwen really couldn’t control himself this time. He slammed his palm hard against the wall, causing a crack to appear in the window frame. “ARGHHHHH! Li Zhengzhi! You’ve laid a trap for me! You made me walk into a trap!”

Li Zhengzhi’s expression was distant. “You’re the leader of the Beiqing Mountain bandits who’s committed so many crimes and killed countless people. The truth is clear for all to see and the evidence against you is damning. How could you say that I laid a trap for you? In what way?”

Until now, he remained calm and even threw Zuo Xiuwen a look of disdain before bowing slightly toward Zhao Zhi respectfully. “My lord, the court is filled with people with all sorts of motives and politics can be messy. We have to be careful at all times, even if we’re dealing with colleagues or good friends, because if we say something carelessly, it could be misconstrued by someone else and we could be found guilty of something we never intended. The consequences are worse when it comes to an enemy in politics.”

“Mr. Zuo and I have never seen eye to eye on anything and we’ve never been on good terms, never mind trust each other. Why would we agree to commit murder for each other?”

Zuo Xiuwen glared at Li Zhengzhi. How dare this man draw the line like that!

“Stop trying to convince them otherwise! You can’t wash your hands off this matter!”

Li Zhengzhi kept his eyes on Zhao Zhi and looked fairly earnest too. “My lord, you have been in a high position for many years and I’m sure you can understand this. Regardless of whether it’s because we’re charging ahead too quickly or we have too much time on our hands, we all might be careless and forget to look at where we’re going. Sometimes, just one tiny little stone could make us trip and kill us… This case seemed complex, but once you delve into the details, everything becomes clear. Everything is connected to Zuo Xiuwen, but it has absolutely nothing to do with me.”