All Seated Down

Wen Yuansi’s words were direct and would not have caused any sort of misunderstanding, but Zhao Zhi still took offence and was very unhappy about it.

He had allowed this smiling, wily fox to defeat him!

Zhao Zhi really felt indignant and even felt a little aggrieved. He and his girl were truly in love with one another and there were many things that he wanted to announce publicly and boast about, anxious to make sure the whole world knew about them. But there were also certain things that he wanted to hide from others and enjoy for himself. His girl said that she liked him, but she had told someone else that instead of him!

She liked him, so shouldn’t she have told him? Why did she tell someone else instead!

He was so angry! As though he had missed seeing an entire line of enemy soldiers along the border!

As the feeling of indignation spread through his mind, he overlooked the other perspective. As someone who liked Song Caitang as well, Wen Yuansi must have been so hurt and upset when she told him straight in the face that she liked someone else and not him.

The noble Prince Ping failed to find a good comeback to his rival in love, so he could only do his best to maintain composure and stop himself from losing his temper. He tensed up and said, “She’s such a wonderful person, so she deserves love from everybody in the world. But she only needs me by her side.”

“What others can do, I can do too; what others can’t do, I can do too. I can fulfil all her needs by myself, so there’s no need for anybody else to come near her. She doesn’t need it either!”

Wen Yuansi’s lips twitched.

Being too complacent was a problem that needed to be fixed too.

“Your Highness—”

“Oh! Everyone’s here too!”

Before Wen Yuansi could complete his sentence, a loud and excited voice interrupted him. He turned to find a familiar face behind him.

Qi Yan was here.

Of all the times to come, Qi Yan had to arrive at this point. And worse still, he had come with a loud voice and ready to party.

Wen Yuansi was speechless. He was very angry, but he had been interrupted and it was not appropriate to continue this topic anymore.

Zhao Zhi did not look too happy either. He was now forced to stop his argument with Wen Yuansi, so it made it seem like he had lost this round!

One man smiled faintly and the other narrowed his eyes. Either way, they did not look friendly and made the atmosphere very awkward.

Qi Yan looked to his left, then to his right. He couldn’t see anything that would have made them angry, besides…maybe himself?

He scratched his head and was rather puzzled. “Did I say something wrong?”

But he had just arrived and only said hello, so he couldn’t have said anything wrong!

Zhao Zhi and Wen Yuansi both glanced at Qi Yan from the corner of their eyes. Qi Yan immediately hugged himself and shuddered. Should he get down on his knees and beg them to spare his life?

A date for two had suddenly become a rowdy group party. And clearly…nobody had any intention of leaving.

There was now no outlet for any of Zhao Zhi’s romantic ideas or emotions. He quickly glanced sadly at Song Caitang in the distance, then decided, “Since we’ve been so fortunate as to have run into each other here, why don’t we talk about the case we have? I happen to own a house nearby too.”

If he wasn’t able to enjoy the day, nobody else was going to either! He wasn’t letting them have any fun! Time to work!

“But…” Qi Yan was a little unwilling. It had been a long time since he got to relax and the flowers were so beautiful today too. How could he abandon the scenery for work? That didn’t sound reasonable.
But Wen Yuansi nodded and said with a smile, “That sounds great. Please lead us there.”

Qi Yan nearly burst into tears. He suddenly felt like he was too miniscule an existence. Did he seriously miss something just now? What was going on?

Why wasn’t Zhao Zhi even looking at him? And Wen Yuansi too! How could he just agree and walk away? Qi Yan hadn’t agreed to this!

Once the men had reached a decision, a servant immediately ran to Song Caitang and Old Madam Li to tell them about this matter.

Song Caitang looked at Old Madam Li.

The older lady was in good spirits and didn’t seem tired despite walking so much. But she was much older and should not tire herself out too much. Since they had already admired the flowers here, it was a good idea to head for Zhao Zhi’s villa to rest. Besides, the house was quite large and was full of pomegranate trees in bloom as well. Nature was pretty, but sitting in his house to view the blossoms sounded nice too.

“I’m getting a little thirsty too, so the timing is just right. Old Madam Li, would you be so kind as to come along with me so that I can quench my thirst?” she smiled as she asked Old Madam Li for her opinion.

Of course, Old Madam Li knew that Song Caitang secretly wanted her to rest, so she smiled broadly and replied, “Sure. I’m certain Prince Ping would make sure his house is properly taken care of and would be fully furnished as well. I’ll go boil some soup and let you youngsters enjoy my amazing cooking skills!”

And so, they moved from the outdoors to indoors.

Old Madam Li didn’t want to do boring things like the younger ones planned, so she brought her own maids around the huge estate, looked at all the flowers, then headed to the kitchen when she got tired, resting while picking out ingredients to cook…

The sun shone brilliantly and a warm breeze blew as the group of four sat beneath the fiery red blossoms of a pomegranate tree.

The three-legged incense burner gave off a faint fragrance and the teacups on the table were filled with refreshing tea.

Four of them sat around the table and the air was a little stiff.

Even though Song Caitang was right next to him, Zhao Zhi still felt a little annoyed inside. He rubbed his temples and said, “Come, let’s begin.”

The group was even quieter after he said that.

They were supposed to sit here and discuss the case, but…what about it?

The earlier murder cases had all been closed and any remaining questions pointed to what happened 18 years ago, but this whole thing was too mysterious, they didn’t have any new insights and their investigation had slowed to a crawl. There wasn’t really anything new to talk about.

Zhao Zhi realized this problem as well. He had so many subordinates and access to so many resources, yet he had failed to get new information. How could he expect the rest to get anything significant? Besides, if there was any significant information out there, someone would have told him by now. They wouldn’t just keep it to themselves until he asked about it.

He had no choice but to talk about himself.

He started recounting the relevant events in his past that weren’t too sensitive to talk about.

For example, he talked about his household’s butler, Zhao Zhong.

“All of you know by now that I had been fed Millet’s Dream and lost a portion of my memory.”

Qi Yan knew about this and was not surprised, but he had not actually heard Zhao Zhi talk about it before. He was curious about it and immediately sat up to listen quietly.

Wen Yuansi had no idea, but after interacting with the group for a long time combined with his excellent observation skills, he figured out that Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang knew each other from before but they had both forgotten. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have treated each other like that when they met in Luanze.

But he was indeed surprised to hear that it was because Zhao Zhi had been fed Millet’s Dream.

“I’ve found out how it happened. It was because I saw my butler, Zhao Zhong, meet with someone secretly and their behavior was suspicious. I followed them secretly but was discovered…”

Zhao Zhi pointed out a few important things as he spoke.

One was the person Zhao Zhong spoke to. The man was wearing ordinary clothes and didn’t look different from any person on the street, but he had no facial hair at all and his mannerisms made it obvious that this man was a eunuch.

The second thing was what they were talking about. Zhao Zhi had been too far from them and had not overheard the conversation for too long, so he hadn’t picked up anything useful. He only noticed that they mentioned something about a master, or someone they were reporting to and working for.

Perhaps it was because he was younger and less careful, or that the other party was very wary of their surroundings because they were meeting in secret, but either way, Zhao Zhi was soon discovered.

He felt pain in the back of his neck as someone knocked him unconscious.

He had no idea who did that to him. He woke up again in his own room.

After that, he was fed Millet’s Dream and forgot all of this.

The time between the Zhao Zhong’s secret meeting and his consumption of Millet’s Dream had been no more than three days.

Because he had not overheard anything especially classified or terrifying, he was only suspicious. But many things during that period, so he didn’t dig deeper and missed his chance.

Wen Yuansi raised an eyebrow slightly and asked slowly, “Does…does Consort Ping know about this?”

These past events included what was happening within Zhao Zhi’s household, so Zhao Zhi did not elaborate too much. But Wen Yuansi was a sensitive man who could think very deeply. It didn’t take much for him to figure out the implications of this matter.

When he recalled how Zhao Zhong and Consort Ping had reacted to the earlier cases, he had his own opinions about it, but it wasn’t nice to ask Zhao Zhi directly about these things, so he could only ask this simple question.

Zhao Zhi…sincerely could not decide if he ought to continue being angry about what happened earlier, or if he ought to thank the other man for being considerate, so he just pursed his lips and did not speak.

Song Caitang looked at Wen Yuansi, then at Zhao Zhi.

She couldn’t see the undercurrents between the two men, so when Zhao Zhi did not respond, she thought he was purposely trying to act cool and aloof. But she knew the answer and the answer wouldn’t cause any serious problems, so she answered on his behalf, “Consort Ping either doesn’t know at all, or she doesn’t know enough.”

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have remained out of danger for so many years and even stick a foot into the salt shipping business.

Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi had talked about this at length before and came to the same conclusion: Consort Ping definitely did not know any of the deep seated secrets. In order to protect herself and Zhao Zhi, she must have paid a price.

Wen Yuansi looked at Song Caitang and was surprised by what he understood from her reaction.

So…Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi had become so close without him realizing it.

Zhao Zhi had shared everything about what was going on in his family with her, things that nobody else knew about. And she was happy to listen to him and even talk about it with him.

“Humph,” Zhao Zhi scoffed quietly as he stretched one arm out and rested it on the back of Song Caitang’s chair. The possessive and domineering nature of this action was so clear.

Wen Yuansi’s expression made him so happy. He suddenly felt so clever for deciding not to respond to him directly. Song Caitang answering on his behalf had an even better effect on the other man!

Qi Yan suddenly felt like…he shouldn’t be here.

It was a table with four people seated, but he seemed to be invisible and completely useless.

His existence wasn’t worth a single thing.

All three men were distracted and only Song Caitang was focused on this topic. She frowned slightly as she paused to think for a moment. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. Since the Eagle Guards were dispatched, it means they must have gathered quite a bit of information by now. Why is the emperor still so careful? Could it be that…this person is right by his side?”

Everyone fell silent.

Qi Yan was the first one to gasp as the implications hit him. “That would make this matter a very serious one!”

Someone right by the emperor would be someone very powerful.

Song Caitang was making an extremely bold guess.

But while it was bold, it was a good point to consider.

“Since the people involved are all court officials, then regardless of whose camp they’re in, they must be connected somehow,” Wen Yuansi looked down at the table. “If we find this commonality, we would make a breakthrough.”

Song Caitang added, “As for the child born 18 years ago, it will be hard to find the child or the mother. But what about the midwife? There aren’t that many people who could do that job.”

Zhao Zhi tapped his knuckles against the table. “No woman can give birth in complete silence. If we can’t get anymore information about the people and situation on Beiqing Mountain, then we should expand our scope to the area around it.”

They were all clever people, so after they shared their thoughts, looked at the same problem from different perspectives and raised questions, they could resolve questions and sort their thoughts out. Sitting down to discuss like that was always better than having to think about it by themselves.

They knew all the key people in this case, but a problem slowly surfaced.

They were about to enter very deep and dark waters. There were some trying to get things done secretly, some who wanted to know the truth, some trying to prevent the former from finding out and getting rid of evidence in the process…

As the four of them continued their discussion beneath the bright red flowers, their expressions grew more and more solemn. In the kitchen in the distance, Old Madam Li was having lots of fun with all the maids.

When she saw the glum looks on the four young people at the table outside, she even laughed merrily.

Qingqiao was confused. “Old Madam Li, aren’t you…aren’t you worried?”

She was now a much more quick thinking maid and she could understand the love triangle her Young Mistress was in. To her, Zhao Zhi running into Wen Yuansi like this today was a big, big problem!

But Old Madam Li replied, “It’s so nice to be young.”

Qingqiao blinked. “What?”

Old Madam Li’s smile broadened.

Time was never gentle to people. Everyone had to learn eventually how to get through tough times themselves. Everyone would go through difficult things in life at some point. Song Caitang and Zhao Zhi had gone through a difficult past before. If they couldn’t survive it, then they would perish. If they could get through it, then they would mature.

Going through difficult relationships and emotions was nothing to be afraid of. All of them were youths in their prime, so they would only help each other to become a better version of themselves. She was glad that her grandson had met wonderful people at such a critical point in his life, and she looked forward to him becoming a better man in the future.

Even if they couldn’t become family, they could become close friends for life. How many people could say they had such friends? Of course it was something to be happy about.

When enough time had passed, she would be gone and these young people would no longer be young. But when they look back on their past, they would not be filled with pain and suffering, but gratefulness and great relief.

That made for a truly wonderful life.