Episode 254

The tension between Lu Yuxue and Wei He’an was extremely odd. They were not close enough to do anything for one another, but they didn’t seem like complete strangers either. They seemed to have some common understanding, some sort of implicit agreement…

But what was it? Why?

Song Caitang couldn’t figure it out.

Wen Yuansi’s eyes suddenly widened as a possibility hit him. “Could it be that these two had previous contacted one another or even talked about working together because of people important to them?”

He didn’t say it out loud so Qi Yan didn’t get it, but Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi immediately exchanged knowing glances.

The people important to these two would be…very likely to be Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi themselves.

Wei He’an seemed to be trying to get close to Song Caitang for some reason, and he even looked like he was flirting with her. As for Lu Yuxue, everyone knew her obsession with Zhao Zhi.

Sitting down to talk about working together wouldn’t be something out of the question.

But that would have nothing to do with the case. Also, they didn’t have any concrete evidence to prove something like this. It was just a guess.

After Wen Yuansi dropped that possibility, he focused his attention back on the case. “In any case, the one who raped Fourth Missy Gan cannot be Lu Yuxue.”

Lu Yuxue was a woman, so how could she have done that to another woman and leave semen behind? That wouldn’t be possible for sure.

“Yup,” Song Caitang agreed, “and it wouldn’t be Madam Wei either.”

Madam Wei was a woman too, so she wasn’t capable of doing this.

“Madam Wei was too busy anyway. The family was throwing a big party, so as the mistress of the family, she had to entertain and take care of guests, she had to make sure the party was going smoothly, and she had to set up that trap for Lu Yuxue and Wei He’an. Each aspect would have needed so much effort and energy. To find an accomplice to commit murder and clean up the mess after that – I’m not saying she’s not capable enough, but I don’t think it would have been physically possible.”

Zhao Zhi nodded and added, “It wouldn’t be Gan Zhixuan either. While he was blinded by the possibility of becoming super wealthy and successful, plus he did have grievances toward his mother and might have thought about killing her, he wouldn’t choose to do it this way. At most, he would have poisoned her only.”

He grew up without a father and was brought up solely by his mother, so he was emotionally very attached to Fourth Missy Gan. Even if he lost his mind, he wouldn’t do something so depraved.

“Besides, if he really wanted his mother dead, he wouldn’t have to actually kill her.”

Qi Yan was confused. “Why not? You mean she’d still die even if no one physically attacks her?”

“Yes.” Song Caitang closed her eyes and sighed. “Fourth Missy Gan lived for nothing else but her son. She was willing to die for her son once, so she would be willing to die a second and a third time. She would never say no to that.”

Fourth Missy Gan was much smarter than her silly son. If Gan Zhixuan sincerely wanted her dead, she would realize it and might decide to kill herself to make her son happy.

Back in Luanze, she was even willing to kill herself and take the rap for her son even though she wasn’t entirely sure if he was guilty or not. If her son really wanted her dead, she might really agree to kill herself. She would just be very sad about it, that’s all.

“It’s not Lu Yuxue, it’s not Madam Wei, it’s not Gan Zhixuan. Then we’re only left with four people,” Qi Yan counted off his fingers. “Zeng Deyong, Sang Zheng, Qiu Wenkang and Wei He’an.”

“Out of these four, one poisoned her and one raped her. Who could it be?”

Song Caitang looked down. “I keep having this feeling that Zeng Deyong and Sang Zheng are very odd characters in this case. It feels like something doesn’t match up, but I still can’t put my finger on it.”

“You don’t have to worry about Qiu Wenkang, he’ll come looking for me in no time,” said Zhao Zhi as he looked at her.

“What about Wei He’an?” Qi Yan got a little anxious. “What about him? His part in the case is weird too. Does he have any major feud with Fourth Missy Gan?”

Wen Yuansi reminded him, “Don’t forget, this case includes what happened in the past. A lot of the suspects are connected to what happened five years ago, but Wei He’an was not in Qingxian five years ago.”

Of course Qi Yan hadn’t forgotten. After all, he was doing all of this for his uncle. He wanted to find out how his uncle died and his uncle’s body, as well as what really happened five years ago. This case looked like it was merely the death of a rich man’s concubine, but it was actually connected to something that happened in the past and many other characters. Everything seemed hazy initially, but now..

It was a lot clearer.

This case was very likely linked to what happened five years ago!

“In that case, we can strike Wei He’an off the suspect list. The murderer is either Zeng Deyong, Sang Zheng or Qiu Wenkang!”

Song Caitang nodded. “But why did Fourth Missy Gan have to die? When we met her in Luanze, she was willing to give in to her son in all things except when it came to searching for his biological father. She absolutely refused to budge on that matter. Why? Why did she say that if Gan Zhixuan ever finds his father, the two of them would surely die? Is it purely because she thinks that someone like Madam Wei would never allow them to exist?”

“Or could it be…”

“Perhaps she knows some secret that could be a threat,” Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes. “If she continued living elsewhere under some other name without saying anything, she might have been allowed to live. But the minute she reappeared and was seen by others, then whoever felt threatened by her had to kill her.”

But what was the reason for doing so? What secret could it be? Did it have anything to do with Jing Yan? Did it have something to do with the person Lin Feizhou from the previous case was looking for? And was it also connected to what happened in Beiqing Mountain 18 years ago?

Wen Yuansi raised a bold conjecture, “I have a feeling that Jing Yan and Fourth Missy Gan’s cases are actually the same, in that they have the same killer. We just need to find the link, narrow the suspects down to one person, and we’ll be able to solve both cases.”
“That’s not all.” Zhao Zhi tapped the table with his knuckles.

Song Caitang glanced at him. She knew what he meant. “Perhaps when we dig this carrot out, we’ll get the dirt that comes with it. We’ll find answers to the things that happened in the past too.”

Like the person Lin Feizhou was looking for. Why did he carry the same symbol as Jing Yan? And what happened back on Beiqing Mountain 18 years ago?

Zhao Zhi continued, “Fourth Missy Gan wanted to pawn off Jing Yan’s jade pendant back then. She found a pawn shop but changed her mind and didn’t pawn it in the end. Where is this pendant now?”

That would be another big clue.

The other thing was, Jing Yan’s body was still nowhere to be found and they had no clue where to start searching either. Finding his body would help them in the case.

Wen Yuansi sighed. “It’s a pity that we couldn’t find more evidence from the victim’s body, like any skin, blood, or fabric under her nails.”

Scratch marks would be visible on the attacker’s body and they would have some clues as to what the attacker wore too.

But they didn’t find any of these.

“It’s alright!” Qi Yan was greatly encouraged by how everyone was working hard on the case and felt rather confident. He slammed the table hard and declared loudly, “We have power in numbers! Our individual efforts and sharing of information have yielded so many clues and conjectures! We’ve already gotten half the picture together and we just need the other half! We just have to work a little harder and we’ll get there!”

“You’re right,” Zhao Zhi agreed with Qi Yan for once and even patted his head. “Alright, we’ve been very busy for the past two days and it’s been hard on everyone. Let’s all go home and rest first. We’ve got a tough battle ahead.”

“Once I get more information out of Qiu Wenkang, I’ll gather everyone again.” As he spoke, he glanced at the sky and smiled before giving the other three a confident smirk. “I’m quite sure it’s coming soon, so you won’t get a lot of time to rest.”

Song Caitang and Wen Yuansi nodded. “Alright then.”

Qi Yan yawned. “I’m off then.”

As Zhao Zhi had expected, the fact that the head administrator to the crown prince’s residence was involved in a murder case, it carried a lot of implications for those who might stand to gain or lose from it. These people would have realized it was their chance to make an attack.

Prince Ling and the crown prince were like fire and water. After many years of infighting, Prince Ling had lost and was grounded by the emperor. But now, he had just been released and had been waiting for the chance to prove his prowess. The chance had come, so of course, he was going to create chaos.

Prince Ling was excellent at executing methods that brought others down. He went around spreading rumors among people of various ranks, went up to the crown prince to antagonize him, acted like an obedient and considerate little cat in front of the emperor and the empress, but proved to be authoritative and intelligent in front of the royal officials…

Because he had been grounded for so long and he hadn’t seen the emperor and empress during this time, he behaved a lot more endearingly toward them. It was rare to see him like this, so the royal officials were also in good spirits. Everyone was happy.

From the looks of it, the crown prince seemed to have lost this round.

And for some reason, the officials in Prince Ling’s camp decided to interfere with Fourth Missy Gan’s case, saying that it was their job and they wanted to work together to help the commandery prince crack this case.

Then…of course, piece after piece of information and evidence were dug out. Qiu Wenkang was suddenly found to have all sorts of motives, a full timeline of how he could have committed murder and what methods he could have used appeared from thin air. It was as though Qiu Wenkang was confirmed to be the killer!

Qiu Wenkang was terrified and quickly ran to look for Zhao Zhi that same night. “Commander Prince Zhao, please save me! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

Zhao Zhi had been waiting for him to come. He didn’t even tell him to get up and just left the man kneeling on the floor. He got his servants to serve him tea and he sipped it slowly. “So, what’s going on?”

Qiu Wenkang did not dare to complain and explained everything while kneeling.

“I did…get to know Fourth Missy Gan from before. Five years ago, I went to Qingxian to run an errand for the crown prince and happened to run into Fourth Missy Gan, who looked a complete mess because she was desperately on the run. She knelt before me and kowtowed several times, begging me to save her.”

He sighed with regret and looked very upset at this point. “I didn’t know who this woman was, whether she was a spy or not, who her family was, whether she had ulterior motives… You know that my father died when I was very young and my widowed mother had a hard time bringing me up, so I know how tough it could be for someone like that. Fourth Missy Gan had a child with her and I knew she must be having a hard time, so I decided to help her.”
Zhao Zhi asked, “You saw her son, Gan Zhixuan?”

“I didn’t,” Qiu Wenkang shook his head. “She was alone at that point in time. I asked her why she was on the run and she said that someone had made life difficult for her and might be trying to kill her. If she didn’t quickly return to get her child and leave, her child would be in danger. She also said that she didn’t have a husband and it was tough being a widow, and that she usually didn’t beg others for help but she was really at her wits end, so she had to beg me for help.. I noticed that her clothing was very coarse and plain and she clearly wasn’t very young, but even so, she was still very pretty and would certainly have invited a lot of unwanted attention, so…”

Zhao Zhi took a sip of tea, then motioned to him to carry on.

“I was travelling in an official’s carriage, so the journey went without a hitch and I sent her back to where she was staying. She did have a child hiding inside, it was a boy and he looked like he was eleven or twelve. But he was focused on reading and didn’t notice me at all. I found out much later that the boy was Gan Zhixuan.”

Zhao Zhi said, “And then?”

Qiu Wenkang went on, “Then…the next day, I saw her bury a corpse in the yard.”

“Bury a corpse?” Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes. “Whose?”

Qiu Wenkang’s head hit the floor quite hard as he kowtowed and he spoke earnestly, “I really have no idea! That’s all I know! I didn’t want to go near or find out who it was since it concerned someone’s death, so I just pretended I hadn’t seen anything. The next time I saw Fourth Missy Gan, it was at the banquet…”

“I only found out that same day that Fourth Missy Gan was actually the count’s concubine who had escaped previously and returned just two months ago… I really just happened to overhear Zeng Deyong speaking to her. I don’t know anything else and I never wanted to know any more than this!”

Zhao Zhi swirled the tea in his cup and stared intently at Qiu Wenkang. “Since you’re afraid of trouble, why did you rush over to the room when you found out someone had been murdered?”

Qiu Wenkang swallowed his saliva. “I’m…just like anybody else, my curiosity was piqued when I heard about a murder…”

Zhao Zhi scoffed with a mocking look on his face.

This Qiu Wenkang was still hiding something from him.

“Since this has nothing to do with you, you are completely innocent, everything that happened before this is insignificant to the case and it’s fine if you told someone else, why did you refuse to talk before this?”

Zhao Zhi glared very icily at Qiu Wenkang.

“Because…five years ago, I felt that something was amiss…” Qiu Wenkang’s brows were furrowed tightly, as though he was very conflicted. But he finally gritted his teeth and decided to say it. “When I travel with the crown prince, I always walk in front of him and I’m quite sensitive to any murderous intent around us. I kept feeling like some things that happened then was targeted at me. I’m the crown prince’s administrator, so anything targeted at me is basically targeted at the crown prince. This is a very severe matter and I didn’t dare to let my guard down.”

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow but did not interrupt.

Qiu Wenkang was on the verge of turning his own teeth to powder at the rate he was clenching them. He finally uttered, “I also think I saw someone incredible. I think he might have been an Eagle Guard…”

Zhao Zhi’s pupils constricted suddenly.

An Eagle Guard would be someone who reported directly to the emperor. They represented true loyalty and absolute power. Only the emperor could give them instructions.

Why would such a person be involved in this case?