Unless I Beg You To?

Once Qi Zhaoyuan had said those menacing words, everyone looked a little wary. Only one person had a different expression on his face.

Gao Zhuo looked straight at Qi Zhaoyuan, “You’ve just come?”

He took a few steps forward and glared at the other man, “She’s passed on for ten days and you’ve JUST come?!”

Qi Zhaoyuan raised a brow and glared back angrily, “That’s none of your business!”

Gao Zhuo grabbed hold of Qi Zhaoyuan’s collar and the veins on his forehead bulged, “She was your WIFE!”

Qi Zhaoyuan’s expression did not flinch and his voice was a little sarcastic, “That’s right. She was MY wife!”

“Since you know that, you shouldn’t have left her here!”

“That’s my family’s business! None of yours!”

“She was pregnant with your child! She was five months pregnant! Don’t you know how tired she would be from such a long journey? Are you an animal? You failed to take care of your wife, didn’t care about your offspring and allowed her to die here?!”

“She was happy to!”

Their argument was fiery and they didn’t seem to run out of nasty things to say to one another. They refused to back down and Gao Zhuo’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets from glaring at Qi Zhaoyuan. In the end, Gao Zhuo was so angry, he punched Qi Zhaoyuan in the face.

Qi Zhaoyuan wasn’t going to stand there and allow someone to hit him like that. He immediately retaliated and they started fighting each other.

“You’re the one who brought this upon her! If not for you, she wouldn’t have died!” Gao Zhuo threw punch after punch at his opponent. Even though his opponent blocked every punch and he failed to hurt him, Gao Zhuo persevered with clenched teeth, “Or maybe you’re the one who killed her!”

“You said you were going to take good care of her, but what happened in the end? Just because she only gave birth to a daughter after you had been married for a few years and this one was a girl again? So you couldn’t stand it and decided to kill her?”

Gao Zhuo was probably too angry to think about what he was saying. Qi Zhaoyuan was no pushover either. He blocked most of Gao Zhuo’s punches and punched Gao Zhuo several times instead.

“You couldn’t stop thinking about my wife, huh! But it’s too bad, she never cared about you! Before getting married, she didn’t have any feelings for you, and after getting married, she still didn’t! Feeling indignant about that? Jealous about that? There’s no fucking point! She’s MINE! She was my wife when she was alive, and she’s my ghost even when she’s dead!”

As they yelled at each other, they continued to throw punches at one another. Blood spurted everywhere and the sound of fists hitting flesh and bone kept resounding in everyone’s ears.

They looked like they were going to hurt each other pretty badly at this rate.

But nobody pulled them apart and nobody dared to.

The bodyguards who had accompanied Qi Zhaoyuan remained standing by the side quietly with no expression on their faces. Judging from their behaviour, their employer’s will was top priority. As long as he wasn’t getting killed, nobody moved. But if someone tried to persuade them to stop fighting or join the fight, the bodyguards would take action.

And that would make the already messy situation even messier.

Governor Li clutched his forehead and was full of regrets.

He seemed…to have gotten this whole thing wrong.

Before this, he had thought that this case was a great opportunity for him to claim credit, to achieve amazing results. A chance to bring himself and his family glory. He had gone round to gather all sorts of information and he thought that he had everything under control. He was determined to seize this chance. But when he looked back now, it seemed like his sources of information were problematic… Everything seemed to be incorrect. Too many unforeseen things had happened. He could vaguely sense an unusual danger in the air.

This case could be an amazing opportunity, but it was more likely that it was one hugeass trap.

It looked like it was going to be impossible to control all these people and reach a conclusion that pleased everyone without any protest.

So, instead of holding onto it…why not fling it to someone else?

But who?

Governor Zhang? Nah, that fellow was a sly one too. He might have taken it earlier before so many details were exposed, but things had come to this. If he tried to get rid of the case now, Governor Zhang would be able to tell that he was at his wits’ end and was desperately trying to wash his hands off the case. Governor Zhang was no fool. Besides, Li Guangyi was the one who snatched this case out of Governor Zhang’s hands in the first place.

Magistrate Wen…wouldn’t do either. He might agree to take it, but he was only a local magistrate and was too low in rank. If something happened, he wouldn’t be able to bear all the responsibility and it would eventually implicate him as the prefectural governor. Who else would dare to take this on?

Wait. There was one more.

The surveillance commissioner, Zhao Zhi!

He was of high standing, at a sufficiently high rank and was also allowed to interfere in prefectural matters!

Wasn’t he a man who refused to admit defeat and still thought highly of himself? Wasn’t he happy to watch things blow up and watch others get into trouble?

In that case, he was going to transfer the mess to Zhao Zhi! That way, he would become the one watching things blow up instead!

He was going to watch how Zhao Zhi could possibly handle this mess and crack the case!

Also…

There was one more thing.

Governor Li’s eyes trembled slightly as he smirked inwardly.

He was the prefectural governor after all and he was still responsible for a case within his jurisdiction. If Zhao Zhi was capable enough to more or less solve the case, then wouldn’t he be able to take the case back the way he gave it?

In any case, he had to get rid of a messy case. But he was going to make sure good things landed on him!

It took just a few seconds for Governor Li to analyse the entire situation.

He had weighed the pros and cons and decided on what to do next.

Once he was done thinking, he spun around and told his subordinate to look for Zhao Zhi. When the subordinate returned and told him that Zhao Zhi was in a room nearby watching the show, his eyes widened. He wasn’t sure if he ought to be angry or happy.

This Zhao Zhi was truly someone who loved chaos! Things had become so serious, yet he continued to just watch from a nearby room?!

He picked up his robe and ran toward the room where Zhao Zhi was supposed to be in.

Song Caitang fell into deep thought when she noticed what Li Guangyi was doing.

She wasn’t far from Zhao Zhi’s room and there was no point watching the two men argue and fight, so she decided to silently retreat and take a few steps forward to reach a window where she could both look into the room and hear the voices inside.

“Your Excellency!”

Governor Li fell to his knees the minute he entered the room and reached for Zhao Zhi’s robe dramatically, “Please, save me!”

He was a man who was very willing to throw his pride away.

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow. He did not put his teacup down even as he moved his long leg and avoided Governor Li’s hands, “What are you talking about, Governor Li? I don’t understand at all.”

This expression and tone of voice didn’t sound unusual, but for some reason, Governor Li could sense that there was just something a little strange about him today.

His request wasn’t going to be accepted so easily.

And just as he had expected, after he said that Qi Zhaoyuan had arrived and started punching Gao Zhuo, Zhao Zhi remained calm and unaffected, “I saw that.”

“If they continue fighting like that, someone might end up dead…”

Zhao Zhi dug an ear nonchalantly and didn’t even say “I saw that”.

“They’re fighting over the Mrs. Qi-Yun murder case…”

“And so?”

“Everyone involved in the case are either aristocrats from Bianliang, or they’re from prominent local families, so they’re all of extremely high standing. I’m afraid that my post is too lowly to keep them under control, so I would like to ask that you take over this case!”

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow slightly, as though he was a little interested, “Are you begging me?”

Governor Li felt bitter but he had no choice but to kowtow, “That’s right, I’m begging Your Excellency to take this case!”

“I don’t want to.”

Zhao Zhi’s response was quick and merciless, “You’re doing a pretty decent job, so why don’t you hang in there? I think you can do it.”

Governor Li nearly burst into tears. Begging didn’t work?

“What…what must I do for you to…”

“Don’t you know what I want?” said Zhao Zhi as he fluttered his eyes with a knowing smile on his face.

Governor Li looked out of the window and was stumped for just a little while.

Oh, right…this surveillance commissioner loved watching chaos.

And because he wanted to see more chaos, he didn’t want to take the case!

Sweat poured down Governor Li’s face as he continued to find ways to persuade the other man, “Actually, if we don’t crack the case, that’s all the chaos we’ll get. If we crack the case, it’ll become even more chaotic!”

He went on, saying that even though the clues were few, but the satisfying feeling of finding a valuable one was priceless, then saying that it was fun to play a game of wits with the killer, because it was like playing riddles. He continued saying that it was tough because the authorities were known figures while the murderer was hiding from them, but if Zhao Zhi could catch the murderer despite all that, he would be hailed as the most intelligent man in the world! Wouldn’t that be interesting? Also, the expression on the murderer’s face when they were caught would definitely be very exciting to watch! And the web of people tangled in between the case, digging out their tragic pasts and secrets, would be sooooooo fun!

Zhao Zhi waited until Governor Li had exhausted all attempts, then stroked his chin, “Hmm. That does all sound very interesting.”

“So you’re going to take the case?”

“Nah. It’s too troublesome. I don’t want to be involved.” Zhao Zhi refused again.

Governor Li nearly puked blood at his response.

But he couldn’t get angry now and had to continue persuading him patiently like he was coaxing a child, “Or, why don’t I do this – I’ll tell everyone to obey your orders strictly and not get in your way at all, so you can do whatever you want.”

“And you?”

“Including me!” Zhao Zhi seemed to be wavering, so Governor Li persevered on, “No matter what happens to the case, I promise not to intervene!”

“Unless I beg you to?”

“Yes! Unless you, the surveillance commissioner, begs me to personally!”

Song Caitang went on to hear Zhao Zhi lead Governor Li to use his imagination to agree to a pile of conditions that even Zhao Zhi himself had never mentioned. In order to make sure Zhao Zhi took the case, Governor Li even wrote everything down on a piece of paper and stamped it with his own seal.

All of this happened especially quickly. It was incredible to watch.

Song Caitang observed Governor Li’s expression from start to finish. Zhao Zhi had been manipulating him right from the start, but he had failed to notice at first. And even after he noticed it, he had no choice but to go along with it because of the circumstances he now found himself in. It was the only way to get Zhao Zhi to take over the case.

Governor Li was definitely going to regret all of this.

Once she was done thinking about Governor Li, she started thinking about Zhao Zhi.

This was a man who had orchestrated such a big mess without anybody noticing at all.

She couldn’t tell how he managed to achieve this, but thanks to him, she had a very good excuse to step in. An excellent chance to prove herself.

As long as Zhao Zhi took the case officially, she could intervene and fight for a chance to look at the body!

She was determined to get her chance to look at Yun Nianyao’s body today!