318 — Guilty

When it came to trying to locate a person, the best was to send out as many people as possible. As long as one sent enough people out and they did their best to search carefully, they would find at least some traces.

And that was because no human or thing could really vanish into thin air.

But despite Zhao Zhi and his team’s best efforts, the number of people sent out and how many possibilities they had come up with, they came up with nothing.

No matter how hard they tried, they simply could not find Song Caitang.

The other party had clearly come prepared. They had done a lot of homework and had crafted an extremely complex and detailed plan. Each time the team found a possible lead, the clues would quickly hit a dead end. It was as though they could follow a horse carriage down a road until the horse carriage suddenly took a turn and the rest of the road was missing. Nobody would be able to tell where the carriage would have gone.

This happened so many times.

“This person knows exactly where to cut the clues off,” Zhao Zhi’s brows were tightly furrowed. “It’s as though this person is very familiar with the way we do things and knows the sort of logic we would follow. Or perhaps…”

Another thought struck him, which made him narrow his eyes.

Wen Yuansi shut his eyes and sighed before helping Zhao Zhi to complete his sentence, “Or perhaps the other party isn’t familiar, but they know someone who is. The one who is familiar informed this person, or even took part in this matter themselves.”

That meant they ought to take a look at even the people right beside them.

The two men exchanged very solemn glances.

Qi Yan arrived at this juncture.

Anxiety was written all over his face, as though he had discovered something terrible. When he saw his two companions in the room, he breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly shut the doors and windows tight. He said in a low and nervous voice, “Remember the design for the box with secret drawers? Nanny Sun, who is always by the empress’ side, has a copy of that too!”

Zhao Zhi’s gaze turned frosty. “Tell us exactly what is this all about.”

Qi Yan gulped and slowly recounted what happened.

He had come across this matter by accident.

He was great at gleaning gossip and hung out with a lot of people, which included others like himself: they were ignorant when they were young, fantasized about being an amazing thief, stole a bunch of very valuable items before, and knew way too many secrets within rich and prominent families.

This group had grown over the years and everyone usually targeted a different group of people or a different location. Qi Yan used every connection he had to get information out of the people he knew and didn’t know without revealing what he was trying to get at, even those he hadn’t even seen before in his life. And that was how he came across this matter.

No matter how old a palace maid was, or whether she was married or not, some of them would have existing family members. And if she was a favored maid and a capable one, she would be able to bring resources and protection to her family, so she would be greatly revered among her family members.

Nanny Sun was one such person. The things her family did and said basically represented what Nanny Sun would have approved of.

And what she would have approved of often also represented what her employer approved of.

Qi Yan bit his knuckles nervously. “Coming at a time like this, I’m afraid…”

He didn’t say what he was afraid of. He felt it was not appropriate for him to say it out loud.

But Zhao Zhi snorted and said it on his behalf, “It’s not just at a time like this. We’ve also begun to suspect the empress with regard to that traitor we’ve been looking for!”

“Regardless of whether it is that traitor case, or Miss Song’s disappearance, I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Even if it’s not the empress, it’s connected to her somehow,” Wen Yuansi’s voice and gaze looked equally confident.

If this was where things were going, then it was very obvious.

While they were making plans and setting traps for others, others were doing the same to them!

The whole mess in the palace just happened the day before and Song Caitang went missing today, and it had been planned so meticulously. It must have been planned a long time ago.

The cases thus far had brought the team closer and closer to the truth and they had been digging for more information all this time. The other party was getting nervous and was wary of them. Kidnapping Song Caitang might be a warning.

Wen Yuansi clasped his hands together and bowed his head to think. “But why are they getting so antsy now? We haven’t found any concrete proof and we still don’t have any idea who is the person behind all of this. They could take action much later.”

After all, this action had not only served as a warning to the team, but had also exposed themselves in the process, allowing them to confirm what they had not been sure about earlier.

“People become antsy either because they can see trouble ahead, or something big happened and they had to deal with it but couldn’t,” Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes. “If this person wanted to warn us, scare us, kill one of ours or handicap us somehow, it wouldn’t take much on their part. But to actually kidnap someone, clean up the tracks and make sure we can’t find her – that’s very inefficient and yields very little result. My guess is that the other party needs Song Caitang for something else.”

So, even if this was just to threaten the team, bully them or to just distract them for the time being, as long as the major problem they were facing was not settled yet, Song Caitang’s life would not be in danger.

That was probably the only “good” news thus far.

All three men let out a sigh of relief at the same time.

Wen Yuansi let out a worried sigh, “But if the person who kidnapped her is someone with a lot of influence, then it’ll be hard to find this hiding place.”

If the other party had enough money and power, they could use any location they wanted, including those that the team would never have thought of.

Qi Yan didn’t feel so anxious anymore after he had told Zhao Zhi and Wen Yuansi what he knew and they had analyzed the situation for him. He asked, “What were both of you talking about earlier? The only thing I heard was that there might be a mole among our people?”

Wen Yuansi immediately turned to look at Zhao Zhi.

There was one person who was the most suspicious among them.
Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes, then stood up with a start and headed for the door. “I’ll go myself!”

Who would be most familiar with them, especially Zhao Zhi’s personality and way of handling matters? When it came to where he went, which route he took, what he was doing at what time, besides Song Caitang, who was closest to him, not even Wen Yuansi had any idea. But his household was an exception.

Zhao Zhi was the head of the household and a prince now, so even if he was too busy to live at home, he still had to go back every day to handle all sorts of matters. While nobody knew exactly what time he would arrive at the house, as long as he didn’t keep his activities a secret, one could make an educated guess.

Lu Yuxue.

This girl did not always have good intentions, but she was very clever and picked up hints quickly.

She wasn’t like that in the past. She had always been gentle, well-mannered and never crossed the line. When did she change?

But until now, Zhao Zhi did not think that he was wrong to decide not to kill Lu Yuxue for the time being. He had sensed trouble from her, but he spared her not for old times’ sake, but because she hadn’t done anything that deserved death yet. Also, he needed her to lure out the person behind her.

If the other party had revealed a little about themselves already but his girl still went missing, he could only blame himself for not doing a better job.

And now, some things could be explained more clearly.

For example, there were occasions that had nothing to do with Lu Yuxue, but she was always nearby and always found a reason to come close. Perhaps she was being instigated by someone else!

…

This time, with a clear direction in hand, Zhao Zhi was able to search more specifically.

In no time, he found traces of Lu Yuxue.

Every time they hit a bottleneck or a loss of leads, Lu Yuxue had been there.

Was it just a coincidence? Probably not!

Zhao Zhi had an answer to his questions, so after taking a moment to reorganize his thoughts, he immediately returned to his house and marched into Lu Yuxue’s residence.

When Lu Yuxue heard from her servants that Zhao Zhi had arrived, she ran out to greet him. “Cousin, you’ve come to visit me!”

She picked up her skirt as she ran and smiled brilliantly, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

Zhao Zhi did not speak and just walked past her to head inside the house.

Lu Yuxue’s mood wasn’t affected at all. She ran after Zhao Zhi and even made tea and brought snacks herself. “Cousin, try these pastries! I remember you liked these pastries the most!”

Zhao Zhi watched as she flitted in and out of the room like a butterfly among flowers and did not stop her. It was only after she had brought the tea and snacks and stood with a huge smile on her face that he asked, “Do you know that Song Caitang has gone missing?”

Lu Yuxue nearly dropped the tray she was holding.

She was still smiling, but her smile was a little stiff now.

“Cousin…since you’re here, then let’s not think about such unhappy matters.”

She suddenly became nimble again as she quickly poured Zhao Zhi a cup of tea and served snacks on a plate.

Zhao Zhi did not take the tea from her and just stared straight at her. “You don’t seem surprised at all.”

“Why wouldn’t I know? Song Caitang suddenly went missing and the Guans have turned the entire city upside down, as though they’re afraid that someone might still have no idea.”

Perhaps she noticed that Zhao Zhi wanted to talk about this and would not respond to anything else, so Lu Yuxue went with it. Her smile faded slightly and she sat down across the table from him with a slightly cold expression on her face. “Just like the old saying goes, flies don’t go after eggs that aren’t already cracked. There are so many women in Bianliang, including young, unmarried ones like her. Why is everyone else fine except her? The Guans are lowly merchants, alright. They don’t understand how things work. Instead of suppressing any news of something so shameful, they make sure everyone knows that she’s gone missing. It’s fine if they can’t find Miss Song. But what if they find her? How is she supposed to live?”

Everything she said pointed out how this was a blow to Song Caitang’s reputation. She was hinting that when a woman went missing for so long, they might have been deflowered. The Guans should not add fuel to the fire and Song Caitang should be too ashamed to live. Such a woman should not get married and any man with some brains should quickly wash their hands off her. It was terrible for a man to be cuckolded.

And after all that, she even concluded, “That’s why it’s best for women to just stay at home and take care of the home. If you always go out and walk around, you might fall down one day.”

Zhao Zhi suddenly leaned forward slightly as he raised an eyebrow.

“I’m saying, you don’t seem surprised at all that I’m here.”

Lu Yuxue was not stupid. She was stunned to hear his words.

She might have gone overboard.

“I didn’t expect you to be more focused on something else instead,” said Zhao Zhi in a slow and deliberate voice, his knuckles hitting the table at the same speed as he speech. He didn’t hit the table hard, but each knock was like a knock on her heart. “You thought that by saying these things to make me angry, you could mislead me? Lu Yuxue, are you underestimating me?”

Lu Yuxue clutched her handkerchief and her eyes trembled before she bit her lip. “What are you talking about, Cousin? Xue’er doesn’t understand.”

Zhao Zhi snorted. “When someone keeps talking about other things and tries to mislead the listener with all sorts of unnecessary explanations – most of the time, when a criminal does that, it is with only one aim in mind. They’re trying to cover up what they’ve done, but the more they try, the worse things become. Tell me, Lu Yuxue, why aren’t you surprised that I would eventually look you up about Song Caitang’s disappearance? What have you done? Why are you so guilty?”

“I haven’t done anything,” Lu Yuxue shook her head repeatedly and began to tear up. “I’m really innocent! I did run into Song Caitang and it was not a pleasant encounter, but you know that we seem to naturally not get along with one another and we can’t become friends. I did argue with her over something small, but my aunt has taught me how to behave since I was a child, so I couldn’t allow commoners to watch us quarrel and I quickly walked away. When Song Caitang left and where she went, I have no idea at all! You can’t suspect me just because I’ve argued with her before!”

“Before you came, someone else came to ask me about what happened and I didn’t say anything because I found it embarrassing, because I don’t think this encounter counts for much. Song Caitang’s disappearance really has nothing to do with me, so there was no need for me to explain anything! If I really wanted to do something bad to her, why would I allow others to see me quarrel with her? Wouldn’t that be very detrimental to myself? Judging from your attitude earlier, I was afraid and got nervous, so I said all those…I suppose things that you don’t like to hear. But that’s just a natural response to this sort of situation. You often question others during the course of an investigation, so you can understand, right?”

Lu Yuxue watched Zhao Zhi’s expression as she spoke.

Of course she would never underestimate her cousin. She held him in such high esteem. That was why she thought of him all the time and placed him as her first priority. Every time she had the chance to talk to him, she made sure she was fully focused on their interaction and not distracted by anything else, hoping that he might notice her, hoping that he would look at her a little more.

The sun shone brightly and lit up the floor, like gold pieces. But it did not move or shift and just stayed on the floor quietly without providing any warmth.

It was so bright, it didn’t seem natural.

Zhao Zhi remained silent for a while before speaking again.

He stared at her as though he was staring at a stranger, “I can understand criminal cases, but I never understood you.”