Sweet Fermented Rice Balls

Back at the huge, main hall of the temple, the scripture-chanting ceremony had ended. Guan Qing held the hand of her headmaid, Chunhong, as she walked out of the hall and returned to her room.

She sat down on the soft cushion and relaxed her knees, which were stiff from kneeling. After taking a warm cup of tea, Guan Qing finally sighed quietly and asked, “Was anyone following us?”

Chunhong shook her head, “There were too many people, so I couldn’t see clearly.”

Couldn’t see clearly, huh.

Guan Qing tapped her slim finger against the table and lowered her gaze. There was a sly glint in her eye, “Then go according to my previous plan.”

Chunhong quickly poured her another cup of tea, “Yes, Young Mistress.”

“Have you found someone?”

“Yes, exactly as per your instructions. The price has been settled, too.”

Guan Qing smiled faintly. Her smile in the sunshine made her look as pretty as a flower.

But this flower had thorns. One had to be careful around her.

“Let’s begin then.”

“Yes, Young Mistress.”

Guan Qing watched as Chunhong packed one set of her own clothes and left the room cautiously. She picked up her teacup and sipped it at a leisurely pace with no expression on her face.

It wasn’t hard to think of a way to make life difficult for an unmarried woman. After living together for so many years, she didn’t need to think too hard to figure out what plans Madam Zhang had.

The handkerchief she had lost the last time was probably going to be a problem.

Perhaps “lost” wasn’t an appropriate term. It had been stolen from her, really.

But if Madam Zhang could set up a trap, she could too.

Thanks to the societal rules of that era, the things of a young, unmarried woman must never fall into the hands of anybody outside the home. Once a man gets hold of an item belonging to such a woman, her reputation would be sullied and it would be very easy to spin some terrible story from there. If nobody knew about it, you could secretly ask for the item to be returned and close the matter. But if someone wanted to blow the matter up, then it was hard to say what would happen in the end. You could very well end up having to settle your marriage and marry some man who appeared from absolutely nowhere.

And because your reputation was sullied, your husband’s family might not respect you even if you came from a prominent family and brought a lot of dowry with you.

Guan Qing had never made any marking on her hair accessories or handkerchiefs, but anything that was expensive would possess some unique characteristics. The more expensive it was, the more attention it attracted and everyone knew where it was from. Everyone would notice and recognize it even after you wore it just once. And if a man suddenly appeared with one of those items, you had to admit that thing was yours, and everyone’s imagination would go wild.

Guan Qing was 17 this year. She was not married and was not engaged either. She handled the family business and dealt with money all day. As a woman, dabbling in such matters already damaged her reputation. She didn’t really care, actually. If her reputation was poor, so be it. But she had a younger sister who wasn’t married yet, and now, she had one more Song Caitang on her hands…

She had to be more cautious and go the extra mile to make sure things turned out well.

Chunhong carried Guan Qing’s clothes and snuck into the next room where a woman was already waiting.

This woman’s height and figure was similar to Guan Qing’s and after she wore Guan Qing’s clothes, she looked almost the same from the back. Anyone not familiar with Guan Qing would not be able to tell the difference. Once she donned a long veil and walked out holding Chunhong’s hand, anyone would immediately think that this woman had to be Guan Qing.

Chunhong nodded after she was done dressing the woman, but did not walk out of the room with her. Instead, she ran out by herself and went around the route leading to the mountains.

She didn’t try to keep a low profile at all as she told some people she didn’t like to go away and got some men to remove suspicious looking people from the route. She only returned to the residence after she was satisfied with what she saw.

The way she behaved made her look like she was clearing the way because her Young Mistress was coming out for a nice walk.

If anybody was keeping tabs on Guan Qing, they would have noticed what Chunhong was doing.

After that, Chunhong emerged with “Guan Qing” to come out for a walk. As she had expected, someone came to block their way.

Chunhong had been assigned to Guan Qing from a young age, and she was both clever and loyal. She nearly burst out laughing when she saw who had come, and pressed hard on “Guan Qing’s” arm to signal for her to keep walking.

The man kept trying to get close to them and looked really pervy. The more “Guan Qing” refused to speak and avoided him, the more excited he became. He took out a handkerchief and a gold hair pin, then came pouncing toward them with a smug look on his face.

He felt that he was really getting a good deal today!

So what if she was clever and good at handling the family business? She was still going to end up becoming his just like that!

But in the end, while the young lady kept moving away, the maid got angry and kept screaming and screaming, attracting the attention of the temple guards.

He couldn’t believe it. Her Young Mistress’ reputation was at stake and instead of shutting up, she actually attracted attention?!

Tianhua Temple’s management style was very different from other temples. They had mostly eminent monks who were masters in scriptures and the like, and while they had monks trained in martial arts, they were not many in number. To protect the temple grounds against criminals, other than the monks’ own residences, most of the temple grounds were protected by guards they hired from an agency.

The agency might send male or female guards, and the monks would pay them according to how much work they had done.

Tianhua Temple was a very reputable temple and it was hard to get a chance to see any of their monks. This temple had plenty of money and placed a lot of importance on hiring the best guards. If anything that could hurt the temple’s reputation happened, the guards didn’t care who you were or which family you were from. They would capture you first and talk about the rest later.

The temple had many female worshippers, and the wives and daughters of aristocrats would also come here to worship. Lechers were not tolerated at all and you were lucky if the guards didn’t beat you to death on the spot!

The man who had tried to block their way got a smelly sock stuffed into his mouth, was given a good beating, then tied up and carried to the room where the firewood was kept. They would deal with him after reporting the matter…

An hour later, Chunhong returned to report to Guan Qing.

“Look at that smile on your face. I suppose it went well.” Guan Qing poured out some tea into a cup, then pushed it toward her own maid, “Moisten your throat with this.”

Chunhong did not refuse the drink and drank it in one go, “Thank you for being so considerate toward me, Young Mistress! I was really thirsty!”

Guan Qing glared at her, “Who says I was being considerate toward you? I was afraid that others would laugh at me if you left the room in this state. How could the head maid of a prominent family’s daughter walk around with such dry lips!”

“Yes, of course, it is my fault for getting my lips so dry!”

Chunhong knew Guan Qing’s temperament best and didn’t mind how her words often did not match her actions. After she finished drinking her tea, she recounted what happened.

Guan Qing’s lips curled upward slightly, “So, it’s him.”

Chunhong replied, “It’s really someone connected to Mrs. Fu and First Madam Wu!”

“He’s been captured?”

“Yep! He’s been beaten up and locked inside the firewood room!”

“What about my things?”

“I’ve gotten them back. I’ve also paid the woman and taken the clothing back. She wouldn’t dare to speak of this to anyone.”

Guan Qing paused to think for a while, then stood up, “Come, let’s go pay that brave young man a visit.”

Inside the firewood room, the “brave young man” had his hands and feet tied so tightly, his back was arched backward. He couldn’t sit, couldn’t stand, and couldn’t even lie straight. His nose and face were swollen and there were traces of blood all over himself. He was a tragic sight to behold.

“Mr. Wang.”

Guan Qing walked toward him. There wasn’t a speck of dust on her and her stance was aloof. Even the soles of her shoes were spotless.

She squatted in front of him and smiled, “Can we have a good chat now?”

Earlier on inside the corpse examination room, Qinxiu couldn’t take it halfway through the autopsy and ran outside to vomit. Song Caitang finished the rest all by herself.

She was familiar with the process but it was tiring to do everything on her own.

Just as she was about to remove her protective overcoat, a pair of hands stretched out toward her, “Don’t do anything! I’ll do it!”

She turned around to see that Qingqiao had returned.

Dimples appeared in Qingqiao’s round cheeks as she grinned at her Young Mistress, “Young Mistress, just go sit down and take a rest, I’ll clear up everything else!”

She helped Song Caitang to wash her hands, then helped her to the nearby table before moving on to the tools. She washed all the knives and scissors, wiped them dry, placed them properly inside the box and closed the box. Finally, she put out the burning herbs in the ceramic pot.

Song Caitang could see that Qingqiao was doing a good job, and she was rather tired, so she just left that part to Qingqiao. She turned to look closely at the autopsy report that Wen Yuansi had taken down for her and left on the table.

Wen Yuansi’s handwriting was very pretty. It was clear that he must have taken a lot of time and effort to practice writing. His strokes were smooth but bold and manly at the same time. It was elegant, lively and magnanimous. Lovely to look at.

His report was written in great detail and he didn’t miss anything out. He had written everything down very seriously.

Song Caitang finished reading the whole thing carefully, then took her seal out and stamped it.

Qinxiu returned after everything had been cleared and Song Caitang walked out with Qingqiao, who carried her box of tools.

While it was true that she hadn’t managed to endure her very first autopsy experience, she wasn’t completely useless. She walked toward Song Caitang and whispered what she had heard earlier to her.

She had walked past the room where Zhao Zhi was questioning the rest and overheard a lot of things.

“…they’re talking about the sweet fermented rice balls now.”

Qinxiu bowed her head and helped Song Caitang to straighten her slightly crooked sleeve.

Song Caitang looked intently at Qinxiu’s lowered gaze, “The sweet fermented rice balls, huh…”

“That’s right.” Qinxiu asked, “Does Young Mistress want to go over and take a look?”

The word “cousin” had been dropped and Qinxiu addressed her as “Young Mistress” now.

Interesting.

Song Caitang raised her eyes to look up at the sky, “No need. Let’s go back to the residence and have a meal.”

Meanwhile, Zhao Zhi was done sorting out the sequence of events surrounding Yun Nianyao on the day she died. He continued to ask each person what they did on that day.

He got all of them to tell him what they did that day and what time they did them.

The sweet fermented rice balls were mentioned during this process.

Madam Ji was the one who had made them.

“I was thinking…” she threw a quick glance at Gao Zhuo, “you haven’t been eating well lately and you’ve grown thinner. Drinking too much is bad for health and isn’t nutritious. Sweet fermented rice balls are a little alcoholic, so I thought you might like to eat them.”

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at her, “When did you make them? When did you give them to Gao Zhuo?”

“It was after sunset. I didn’t take note of exactly what time it was. I sent them to him once I had finished making them…” Madam Ji glanced at Madam Ge and her face reddened a little, “I ran into Mrs. Lin on my way. I was afraid that she might ask me questions, so I gave her a bowl.”

Zhao Zhi looked at Madam Ge, “Did that happen?”

Madam Ge nodded, “She was walking very quickly. I didn’t even get the chance to ask how she was when she took a bowl out of her box for food and pushed it into my hands. She turned and left and didn’t respond even when I called after her. I couldn’t even return the food to her.”

“You didn’t return the food to her, so…”

“So I ate it,” Madam Ge smiled faintly, “I actually like this dessert very much.”

Zhao Zhi nodded, then looked at Gao Zhuo. He was obviously asking, how about you?

Gao Zhuo scoffed, “So that’s what the box contained.”

“You didn’t eat it?” Madam Ji looked terribly hurt.

“Not only did I not eat it, but I also didn’t even open it and threw outside the door.” Gao Zhuo seemed to hate Madam Ji very much and didn’t even bother being polite with her, “And even if I opened it, I wouldn’t eat it. Wine is wine, rice is rice, soup is soup. What are sweet fermented rice balls? They’re sweet! They don’t carry the burn of alcohol at all and they’re so sweet! Which man would like eating that?”

He seemed to be reminded of something and turned to look intently at Qi Zhaoyuan, “I’m sorry, I didn’t watch my words and I’ve said things that hurt you.”

Qi Zhaoyuan grinded his teeth, “My household makes this often because my daughter likes eating it!”

Gao Zhuo raised his voice, “When will you stop using someone else as an excuse for the things that you do? Will it kill you to speak the truth?”

“I’m speaking the truth!”

“If you’re speaking the truth, then admit that you love eating sweet fermented rice balls!”

Qi Zhaoyuan was furious, but he pressed a finger on the area between his brows and tried to speak calmly, “I am very upset about what’s happened to Yaoyao and if I pick a fight with you, she will be very upset. I’m trying to be nice to you, so don’t go overboard.”

The veins on Gao Zhuo’s forehead bulged, “She died here – that’s YOUR fault! You’re the one who did this to her!”

“I was still in the capital on the 8^th! How could I have done this to her? I’ll hold you responsible for such words!”

“Who knows what sort of schedule you had? You might have purposely set up a smoke screen in order to secretly do something criminal!”

When he saw that the two men were ready to fight each other again, Zhao Zhi glared at both of them and doused their fury with his authoritative stare. He turned to look at the other people in the room, “What about the rest? Did anyone know about this?”

Everyone shook their heads and said that the act of sending Gao Zhuo dessert was something Madam Ji had done on her own. Furthermore, she had purposely tried to avoid detection, so none of them knew anything about this.

“Sweet fermented rice balls are good for pregnant women, I think?” Zhao Zhi suddenly made this remark out of nowhere and looked at Madam Ge.

Madam Ge nodded, “If a pregnant woman is in good health, she can eat anything that doesn’t have adverse effects. Sweet fermented rice balls are good for supplementing and strengthening the spleen, so they can eat some.”

Zhao Zhi tapped his fingers on the table, “What about Yun Nianyao? Did she like eating this?”

This question…

Madam Ge shook her head to say that she didn’t know, then turned to look at Yuzhu.

Yuzhu was a little stunned, as though she couldn’t understand how the topic had reached this point. But she didn’t dare to not answer, so she paused to think, then said, “Madam doesn’t particularly like this, but she doesn’t particularly hate it either and she’s never asked us to make it for her before. When she visited others and was served this dessert, she did eat it and did not avoid it. In recent years, because Young Mistress likes eating it, Madam started eating it more, but I wouldn’t say she likese it.”

The room fell silent again.

Just then, Coroner Sun suddenly remembered something and glared at Yuzhu, “In your earlier statement, you said that on the night of the 8^th, you saw a shadow in the branches on the trees outside the yard and it looked like someone was peeping…”

That was also why he had suspected Gao Zhuo! Why didn’t she mention this at all?

Yuzhu’s expression fell and she became angry, “That day, you kept asking and asking, and it was so annoying! I only said that a night breeze blew and the shadow of the trees began to move, so I subconsciously turned to look at them and one of the shadows resembled a person’s shadow, but I wasn’t sure if I had seen correctly! But you insisted that it was so, and you even continued to say that the shadow was swaying because the person had been drinking and couldn’t sit still! How could I argue with that! You can make conjectures all you like, but if it’s something I didn’t actually see for sure, I wouldn’t dare to say it!”

But Zhao Zhi was suddenly reminded of the cloth he and Song Caitang had found in the trees that day.

Perhaps someone had really been walking about in the night…

A young man in simple robes appeared at the door. Zhao Zhi nodded at him and he ran in quietly to whisper some things into Zhao Zhi’s ear.

The victim’s shoes had been found, and they were on the foot rug of the victim’s own rom. The back of the heel area looked like they had been slightly rubbed off.

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly.

So, it was true that Yun Nianyao had been dragged across the floor when she died!

He scanned the entire room. The atmosphere was so quiet, it felt cold and solemn. Everybody’s expression was slightly different. Some were calm, some were nervous, some were very displeased, and some…were hard to tell for sure.

Among these people, someone had lied and someone had kept something from him.

He had roughly sorted out the timeline and he was done questioning each of them. Trying to probe further was meaningless because he wouldn’t get any answers if he asked questions in front of everyone like this.

Zhao Zhi waved his hand, “We’ll stop here for today, so please return to your residences. If I need anything from you, I will visit you personally. I hope you will be willing to cooperate.”

Everyone nodded.

On his way out, Zhao Zhi glanced at Wen Yuansi.

Wen Yuansi didn’t know why Zhao Zhi looked at him and Zhao Zhi just walked away without saying anything. He pondered it for a short while, then left with Governor Zhang.

Many things had happened today and he had to discuss with Governor Zhang on their next step.

Once the two of them had left, Zhao Zhi stepped out from the shadows he had hidden himself in. He raised his brows slightly with a faint smile as he turned toward Song Caitang’s residence.

Song Caitang was eating.

All her food was taken care of by Old Madam Li. The old lady was worried that she might be exhausted from work and also knew that she didn’t mind any sort of food, so besides preparing some plain vegetables, she made sure to include meat in every meal.

Among the dishes today was one that had pig liver in it.

Song Caitang was used to it, but most people would lose their appetite after witnessing an autopsy, especially when they saw meat, or worse, internal organs…

Zhao Zhi’s expression didn’t flinch and he even ordered Qingqiao about like they were familiar with one another, “Get me another pair of chopsticks.”