Making Moves

Cao Zhang had offered his help and got Guan Qing to handle the parts that didn’t require fighting. They put up a big show that implicated Zeng Deyong and Sang Zheng as well.

People engaged in illegal activity would normally be very careful when working with the authorities and they would conceal as much as they could. But things were very different when it came to a bunch of gangsters and merchants. It was normal for them to go all out if they were angry with such people.

They would already be prepared to fight because they sensed something amiss, so when a fight really broke out, they would not bother to hide their best weapons and moves.

And so, Cao Zhang managed to force someone to use that special mace.

The previous leader of the Green Gang was already dead, but there were many past grievances and possibly sensitive aspects left behind. Cao Zhang used those to set up this trap and threw in Guan Qing’s network to point straight at the route used to ship those suspicious gold pieces.

Part of the secret behind the gold was also revealed.

In order to make sure that this operation ran well, Zhao Zhi did not offer any help. Instead, he made sure everyone knew he was not even in town, so that Zeng Deyong and Sang Zheng would think that Zhao Zhi had nothing to do with this operation and that they could fight in whatever way they wanted.

But actually, Zhao Zhi did not miss a single detail of this operation.

At the same time, Qi Yan was working behind the scenes too. Since Zeng Deyong and Sang Zheng were very busy dealing with Cao Zhang and had no time to take care of anything else, he had the time and space to search for some items.

As someone who had trained himself to do this from a young age, Qi Yan was an expert at sneaking into houses to look for items. This operation had taken a fairly long time, so there was nobody around to interrupt him. If he was still unable to find what he wanted, then he could basically throw his reputation away.

Wen Yuansi stayed back to make sure no other chaos occurred as a result, which was in support of Guan Qing and Cao Zhang.

Zhao Zhi did not need to worry about that side of things and just kept an eye. As long as nothing suddenly went wrong, it was fine. The most important part was to help Qi Yan. Qi Yan needed a long time to look for what he needed. Since everyone knew the owners of the house were out, there would be other people who would try to enter the house too, so Zhao Zhi would help to get rid of them.

Only Song Caitang was bored to death. She had nothing else to do besides accompany Guan Wan at home to cook and eat. If they made too much and couldn’t finish it, they’d go around giving food away.

Finally, everything that needed to be found had been found. The truth was now clear and they could proceed.

On this day, the sun shone brightly, illuminating the colors of spring. It was as though the cold of winter had completely disappeared and everyone was feeling nice and warm.

Zhao Zhi called everyone together and led an army of soldiers with great fanfare to the Count of Peace’s residence.

The commotion was more than enough to make everyone along the streets exchange glances and gossip among themselves, so the count’s household was naturally equally alarmed. Zeng Deyong and Madam Wei rushed out to stop Zhao Zhi.

“Commandery Prince Zhao, what is the meaning of this! How dare you lead soldiers here? Aren’t you afraid I’d report you?!”

“What is the meaning of all this?” Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly as he glanced at the count from the corner of his eye. Both his gaze and his voice emanated frostiness. “You still don’t understand?”

His voice was not loud, but he was clearly implying something.

Their gazes met and the tension in the air rose.

Zeng Deyong’s heart sank as he glanced at Zhao Zhi and his team, then recalled what happened not too long ago, and seemed to realize something…

All of a sudden, he flew into a rage and pointed a finger at Zhao Zhi. “You… You…”

Zhao Zhi scoffed as he pressed down on the count’s shoulders and pushed him aside, then marched into the residence with such confidence and pride, he looked more like the owner of the house than the count. “After pretending for so many years, even if you’re not tired, I feel tired for you!”

Zeng Deyong’s eyes twitched as he ran after Zhao Zhi and attempted to grab hold of Zhao Zhi to stop him. “Stop right there!”

But he was clearly unable to stop Zhao Zhi.

Zhao Zhi sensed someone coming for him, so instead of dodging, he suddenly sped up so Zeng Deyong ended up pouncing onto nothing and nearly landed on his face.

Madam Wei felt embarrassed for him and quickly helped him up. “Slow down, slow down…”

At the same time, she glared at him to tell him to watch his behavior.

But to her surprise, the husband who always listened to her and never questioned her actually ignored her this time. He flung her hand away and continued walking without even turning back to look at her.

He didn’t look the most glamorous, but he looked determined to fight.

She had ever seen him like this before.

Madam Wei was stunned for a moment and suddenly felt a little panicky.

She subconsciously turned to look for Sang Zheng in the crowd.

Sang Zheng… did not look back at her. His deep, emotionless gaze remained on Zeng Deyong and Zhao Zhi’s backs as he picked up his robe and walked into the residence.

It was as though he hadn’t noticed her at all.

Madam Wei’s palms began to sweat. She paled slightly and became even more panicky.

What was happening?

Zhao Zhi had led his team through the front door and the soldiers who had come along guarded the gate, so the atmosphere in the house instantly became solemn and tense. Gan Zhixuan hid behind the door and swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he turned to sneak away, hoping to avoid all of this. But the next thing he saw was Qi Yan waving a folding fan at him and winking at him.

Well, escape was clearly not going to happen.

No matter how afraid he felt, he had no choice but to join the crowd inside the main hall.

Wei He’an had been personally yanked out of his house by Zhao Zhi earlier and he already sensed that something was amiss. He did not say anything and did not have any expression on his face as he just avoided looking at anybody.

Lu Yuxue only had eyes for Zhao Zhi, so all she saw was his movements, his aura, his domineering speech. Everything was perfect to her and she simply couldn’t get enough of it.

She knew this was about the murder case, but she wasn’t afraid at all. But Zhao Zhi never even looked at her once…

After his tall frame disappeared out of sight, Lu Yuxue bit her lip and glared at Song Caitang as though she was ready to kill her.

But when Song Caitang turned to look at her, she had already wiped off that murderous look on her face. Her lips curled upward and her eyes twinkled merrily, as though the one staring at Song Caitang earlier wasn’t her.

Song Caitang smiled back with real peace in her heart.

After all, if looks could really kill, why would anyone need weapons??

There was no point in paying attention to things that didn’t matter. That would just be a waste of time.

Zhao Zhi marched his way into the main hall of the house and sat down with great flourish. He scanned the room and said, “It’s been a long time and it’s high time the case was cracked. The weather’s not bad today, so since everyone is here, why don’t we take the time to have a chat?”

“Who wants to go first?”

His opening speech was too direct and his tone too domineering, so everyone remained silent for a long time.

Even after waiting for a long time, the hall remained silent. Nobody wanted to talk, not even Zeng Deyong, who had been yelling away earlier.

“Not going to talk?” Zhao Zhi set his teacup down on the table noisily as he shot a stare at the crowd. “So, you want me to get the ball rolling?”

The room remained silent.

Zhao Zhi snorted and said, “Fine. We’ll start with Fourth Missy Gan’s death and what happened back then, just to wake everyone up.” Then, he used his chin to point at Song Caitang. “You, come here. Teach them how to talk.”

As the person with the highest authority in the room, there was nothing wrong with what he just did. But the fact that he wanted a woman to do this…

In a patriarchal society, no matter how capable or talented a woman was, it was not appropriate for her to even be present at such a time, never mind speak. That was an insult to all the men here.

The Count of Peace, Zeng Deyong, was particularly riled up by this action. His eye twitched violently as he exclaimed, “What do you mean by this, Commandery Prince Zhao?!” Zhao Zhi had just asked a woman to teach him how to speak? “Are you deliberately trying to put me down? I’m a count!”

“Psh,” Zhao Zhi sounded annoyed, “when I asked you to speak, you refused to. Now that I’ve taken over the speaking, you feel aggrieved. What’s going on now, Count Zeng? Are you very unhappy that I’m the one seated here? Would you prefer the crown prince? Or the emperor?”

Of course, Zeng Deyong didn’t want higher authorities to get involved here, so he quickly bowed toward the palace and said, “It’s just a small matter! How could I trouble His Majesty over such a thing! Zhao Zhi, you’d better watch your words!”

“Then you just have to continue suffering,” Zhao Zhi covered his cup with its lid. He glared hard at Zeng Deyong. “Even if you’re unhappy, you have to hold it in!”

Everyone remained silent, except for Qi Yan, who snorted out loud before glaring at Zeng Deyong. “That’s right! Even if you’re unhappy about it, you have to hold it in!”

Zeng Deyong’s face reddened with anger.

In the past, Zeng Deyong had allowed himself to be embarrassed by his incapability because he didn’t care about all that. He knew what sort of person he was. But today, Zhao Zhi had delivered a hard slap to his face. Of course he was unhappy.

Song Caitang was impressed by what Zhao Zhi just did.

He was doing this on purpose. It was a power move.

The way he took control of the situation with such dominance showed how confident he was. Some people would start getting nervous, wondering why he was so confident. They would think that he must have gotten hold of some very important evidence, or that he knew the whole truth.

The more they thought about it, the more anxious they would become and the more urgently they would try to find excuses to get themselves out of trouble. And the less time and space they had to come up with something, the more likely they were going to slip up.

Slip ups were a good thing for the investigation team.

The hall was very silent, but Song Caitang wasn’t shy like most other women. She had done presentations in front of others many times, so she didn’t even need a draft. She just needed a moment to sort her thoughts out and she could speak with ease.

“Let’s go through what happened that day first.” She looked at Zeng Deyong. “On that day, you ran into Fourth Missy Gan and you told her to serve you that night, correct?”

There was an eyewitness to prove this. Qiu Wenkang.

“That’s right. I’d already admitted to this earlier on. She’s my concubine, so what’s wrong with doing that? Why do you keep asking this sort of question again and again? Don’t you find yourselves annoying?”

Zeng Deyong did not deny it and stared back at Song Caitang. “Don’t you think it’s inappropriate for a woman like you to look into what people are doing in their bedrooms?”

Song Caitang was not affected by his words at all and remained as calm and confident as ever. “I need to confirm this, because it is very important.” She stared at Zeng Deyong, seemingly with a smile. “That means you had a strong desire for Fourth Missy Gan.”

And everyone in the hall knew how Fourth Missy Gan died.

Zeng Deyong immediately narrowed his eyes and spoke more threateningly, “No matter how much I want some, I wouldn’t just do it as and when I feel like it. You’re not deaf and you heard me. I was talking about that night.”

“But if someone had prepared the perfect chance for you, did that mean the time was inconsequential?” Song Caitang turned to look at Madam Wei. “You’re the one who put the aphrodisiac incense in the room, right?”

Madam Wei instantly grew wary and defensive, “Don’t spout nonsense like that! Would I be so stupid as to prepare such incense so that my own husband could sleep with another woman?!”

“You’re not that stupid,” Song Caitang’s gaze remained calm. “That was prepared for someone else.”

Madam Wei yelled back, “That’s nonsense!”

Song Caitang glanced past Lu Yuxue and Wei He’an. “You like Miss Lu very much and you also dote on your nephew, Wei He’an. And you’ve also been working hard to help them get together.”

There was no need to be too specific. Everyone got it now.

Song Caitang was saying that Madam Wei had prepared the aphrodisiac incense to trap Wei He’an and Lu Yuxue, but for some reason, Fourth Missy Gan entered that room instead.

Lu Yuxue had already told Zhao Zhi the whole truth behind this, so she did not have anything to add. She lowered her gaze and remained silent, which meant that she agreed with Song Caitang’s insinuations.

Madam Wei wasn’t counting on Lu Yuxue to defend her, so she turned to her nephew instead. “I never did anything like that! You know that! Tell her!”

This wasn’t even a hint. She was telling her nephew straight up to help her.

But to her surprise, Wei He’an did not say anything. He refused to look at her and folded his hands in front of him as he stood there solemnly in silence.

Madam Wei’s eyes widened and felt like her heart had fallen to the floor.

She couldn’t understand what was going on today. It seemed as though everything was out of her control. Nothing was going the way she imagined it to be!

“Madam Wei, surely you wouldn’t think that by this point, this matter is still a secret and nobody knows about it?”

Song Caitang looked at everyone else in the hall, before throwing Madam Wei a pitiful glance.

Madam Wei really panicked this time.

She instinctively looked at Zeng Deyong, but he was still angry and did not look back at her. She looked at Sang Zheng, but he kept his gaze fixed on Song Caitang and seemed to be deep in thought. She looked at Lu Yuxue and Wei He’an, but both of them were calm and didn’t look surprised at all.

Besides a shocked Gan Zhixuan standing with his mouth agape, not a single person in the room seemed surprised at all!

Did that mean that… everyone knew, except the stupid Gan Zhixuan…

Wait, no! She was clearly stupid too!

Song Caitang quietly went on, “If you did not place the incense there and did not try to trap Lu Yuxue and Wei He’an, then I have good reason to suspect that you were Fourth Missy Gan’s killer.”

Of course, she didn’t think that way at all. She was just trying to scare Madam Wei. And given the way Madam Wei would think…

“I put it there!”

As expected, Madam Wei admitted to it.

There were really no surprises here at all.