54 — New Problem

The victim was someone who liked her things to be neat and clean, and also to be coordinated in a harmonious manner. That three-legged table that was only half a palm wide looked like a piece of décor, but it probably wasn’t just a display item.

Song Caitang had made very careful observations of the room. As long as the display item was able to hold something, it would definitely be holding something. This round table was small and inconspicuous, and it didn’t look out of place on the shelf. But based on the victim’s usual habits, something must have been placed on top of this tiny table before.

And now there was nothing on it. Someone must have taken it away.

Zhao Zhi hadn’t noticed that at all, “Yun Nianyao liked to take care of her own things herself. She was very bored after getting pregnant but didn’t like to go outside, so she would clean these display items inside her room every day to pass the time and treated it as exercise. She didn’t let her maids touch these things at all.”

That was why Yuzhu, her head maid, hadn’t noticed this either.

“So, only the victim and the one who took it away would know what this was…” Song Caitang focused her gaze on Zhao Zhi suddenly and paused, “Or, you would know too.”

Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes, “Me?”

Song Caitang’s gaze was calm, “This case is strange in many, many ways.”

It felt as though there was a veil covering it, hiding some special secret nobody else knew. Everyone was hiding something and refused to tell anybody about it. The suspects were connected to each other in a very odd way, and then Qi Zhaoyuan agreed to the autopsy shortly after arriving…

“You quietly did your own investigations first, then you set up this whole thing to force Governor Li to give the case to you. Why are you so anxious to crack this case? Is it really only because it’s your responsibility to do so?”

This man was the king of chaos from the capital, a capable man who was looked upon favourably by the emperor, a man who had killed thousands in battle along the country’s border. Had he come all the way to Luanze and snatched the case from the prefectural governor just because he liked doing detective work?

She didn’t think so.

Zhao Zhi frowned slightly. He looked at Song Caitang’s clear eyes and didn’t speak.

Wind blew in from the window, bringing in the faint smell of almond flowers.

The entire room was silent.

“Surveillance Commissioner Zhao, if you’re not honest, you can’t crack this case,” said Song Caitang with a smile as she straightened her sleeves, “I’ve proved myself several times now. You mean it’s not enough to gain your trust?”

“I…”

Zhao Zhi was about to speak when someone yelled from outside, “Your Excellency!”

He rubbed his temples, then looked at Song Caitang, “I have to attend to something else now, I’ll look for you later.”

And he left just like that.

Song Caitang couldn’t believe it.

This was NOT the time!

But at the same time, she gleaned a lot today. She thought through what happened earlier and was very pleased.

She was carrying out her plan one step at a time. Her future was bright!

She didn’t have anything to do in the afternoon, so she finally had the time to visit Guan Qing.

After checking her over carefully, Song Caitang still asked, “Are you alright?”

“You know, if you worry so much when you’re so young, you’ll have a lot of white hair.” As always, Guan Qing poured Song Caitang a cup of tea while instructing Chunhong to bring some of Song Caitang’s favourite snacks, while also not forgetting to throw in a snide remark, “If you become ugly, I won’t want you anymore!”

Song Caitang laughed, “I guess you’re alright.”

“Excuse me, do you know who I am? How could anything happen to me?” Guan Qing sighed as she looked at Song Caitang’s smiling face, “I’m being serious here. Being sad hurts the lungs and missing someone hurts the spleen. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Song Caitang knew that Guan Qing was talking about the autopsy.

Guan Qing couldn’t bear to see her push herself so hard and was worried that she would become too exhausted and fall ill.

Song Caitang cast her gaze downward. There was a slight ripple in her tea as a breeze blew past.

“You’re not bothered that I’m in this line?”

Being a coroner was her dream and she would never give it up. She didn’t think she was inferior to anybody either. But in this era, this society saw the coroner’s job as a despised one. There were societal rules that she couldn’t ignore.

Guan Qing blew at the bubbles floating on her tea, “I’m a merchant and I’m handling the business personally, so I’m also focused on money all day – you weren’t bothered by that either.”

She spoke in a very nonchalant manner, as though she was talking about which dish was more delicious.

Song Caitang was a little taken aback.

It was true that merchants back in the day…weren’t glamorous figures.

In the hierarchy of jobs of this era, the highest were court officials, then farmers, then labourers, then merchants. Merchants were ranked right at the bottom. Merchants were able to earn money, but they faced limitations in various situations and were not welcome by many. Nobody was really bothered if a married woman hired a manager and their workers to manage a business so that she could have some income of her own, but if an unmarried woman managed a business herself, her reputation would suffer from dealing with money and having meetings with other bosses all day.

“I saw how you were able to move around in that room where the body was laid and scared the wits out of those grown men who are supposed to be court officials – I thought you were really impressive?” Guan Qing put her teacup cover down a little too hard, “It’s very hard for women to live in this society. As long as others insist on taking issue with you, then no matter how good you are, you’re always in the wrong. If you’re good enough to make everyone around you shut up, nobody would dare to take issue with you and you’d be perfectly fine. Since you’ve chosen to do this, then focus on it and become good at it! Don’t say things to discourage yourself!”

“I’m a merchant, so I’ve sworn to become the best. You’re a coroner, so make sure you become the best in the world!”

Song Caitang blinked once, then blinked again. She stared at this domineering Eldest Sister of hers and went into a daze.

Eldest Sister was so bold! A heroine among women!

But these words…

Was Guan Qing saying these things because she thought that Song Caitang was feeling inferior?

But she really wasn’t feeling inferior. She was just trying to take into consideration the environment she was in and was worried that her family would be affected by her work. That’s why she asked this question. She didn’t expect Guan Qing’s response to be so…heartwarming.

Song Caitang felt her heart melt.

In her previous life, she was an orphan with no family. Was this how it felt to have family?

But Guan Qing wasn’t done. She stared icily at Song Caitang and said, “I’m not worried that you’re in this line. I’m afraid you might not be good enough at it! Song Caitang, remember this clearly – there’s always someone better out there, sure. It’s fine if someone else is more capable. It’s also okay to fall down sometimes. But if you don’t learn from your mistakes, if you don’t hang in there, if you are petty and refuse to learn, if you’re afraid your heart will waver and you cannot finish this race well, if you fail to crush everyone else beneath your feet – I will not forgive you!”

“You chose this path, so if you dare to back out, I’ll be the first one to slap you!”

Woah.

That was certainly in line with Guan Qing’s character. Even her words of encouragement sounded so scary.

But then…

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I’ll walk down this path well.”

She had come here on the shoulders of giants. She had plenty of experience, could make good arguments and possessed sufficient knowledge. If she still couldn’t use these to her advantage and achieve something, she should be ashamed of herself.

“I’m glad you know.” Guan Qing paused for a moment, then made a face, “I know what you’re worried about. I’m really fine.”

She told Song Caitang what happened earlier and how she had retaliated against that Mr. Wang and got her things back.

“You don’t have to worry about family matters. I guess someone must be very disappointed that my reputation hasn’t been ruined…”

Guan Qing held her teacup steadily with a resolute look in her eyes, “I’ll be sure to make her even more disappointed.”

“She only knows how to fight over petty matters. Does she think that once she gets rid of the capable one, she’ll get what she wants and become capable?” Guan Qing shook her finger, “No, no, no. She’ll get destroyed and eaten by those who are truly capable.”

Did that woman think that running a business was easy? Just check the books daily, have a meeting with the managers and she could earn money without doing anything?

That was too naïve of her.

The dangers and chaos of the marketplace was way beyond her imagination.

“Whatever she’s capable of is the thing that will help her to survive. Why doesn’t she understand that…”

At the end, Guan Qing sighed quietly, as though she felt like it was such a pity.

Song Caitang had been quietly listening to her all this time, but when her gaze happened to drift, she suddenly noticed something.

“Eldest Sister, the last time you came to Tianhua Temple…that was the 8^th day of the 2^nd month. Did you stay in this residence as well?”

“Yes, I did. Perhaps it was because I last came very recently, so the monk who received me remembered me and allocated the same residence as the last time.” Guan Qing tilted her head, “Why do you ask?”

Song Caitang pointed to the tall camphor tree outside the yard, “If you look out of Yun Nianyao’s residence, you can see that tree too.”

Guan Qing stared at Song Caitang for a few moments with a worried look on her face, “Your sense of direction is incomparably poor…are you sure you can do a good job as a coroner?” She pointed in the northeast direction, “If you walk out from the side gate of this residence, you’ll reach the VIP zone in less than 15 minutes.”

“It’s so near?”

“Uh huh.”

Song Caitang furrowed her brows as she paused to think for a while before asking Guan Qing, “Did you see anything that night?”

Guan Qing shook her head, “I didn’t go out that night and I only heard about what happened the next morning.”

“You slept soundly the whole night and didn’t hear any commotion?”

“I didn’t hear any commotion, but I didn’t sleep through the night,” said Guan Qing, “I drank a bit too much soup at dinner and woke up in the middle of the night.”

“Did you see anything?”

“No. It was too dark and too cold, plus I was very sleepy, so I didn’t notice anything…”

After chatting with Guan Qing for a while, Song Caitang was relieved about some things, but had new questions about other things.

But it didn’t matter. All the problems would eventually be resolved.

In the evening, Wen Yuansi appeared first instead of Zhao Zhi.

Wen Yuansi said he was here to talk about a case, but it wasn’t the Yun Nianyao case. It was the Ximen Gang case.

He went straight to the point, “There’s something strange about An Pengyi.”

Song Caitang had heard about what happened earlier from Qinxiu already, “So, Governor Zhang didn’t throw him in jail according to Pacification Commissioner Lu’s request?”

“He’s connected to the case, so his situation is quite special. We’ve decided against imprisoning him and decided to watch him secretly instead.”

And once they started watching him, they realised something was wrong.

Wen Yuansi frowned slightly, “He’s in a relationship with Ma Sanniang, and it seems like they’re trying to keep it a secret.”

“Ma Sanniang?” Song Caitang’s expression froze for a second, “Wasn’t she with the victim, Ximen Gang?”

“That’s exactly why this whole thing is very strange.”

If romance was involved, then the Ximen Gang investigation might have to switch directions.

Wen Yuansi wondered out loud, “Could Ximen Gang have…”

“No,” Song Caitang sounded certain, “the person who killed Ximen Gang had to be someone with a similar stature and strength to himself. An Pengyi is too skinny, so he can’t be the killer.”

Because of physical limitations, there would definitely be a difference in the level of strength between a very skinny person and a muscular person. If they got into a fight, the skinny one wouldn’t be so silly as to fight the muscular head on. They would find some other method that required brain rather than brawn. And if their level of martial arts was too far apart, then there was no point in fighting each other head on. Other methods would work better.

There was no need to examine Ximen Gang’s body again. An Pengyi could not have been Ximen Gang’s murderer.

Wen Yuansi frowned even harder, “But this case…”

“Where’s the oldest one, Shi Qun?” Song Caitang asked suddenly.

Wen Yuansi replied, “We’ve already sent a wanted notice out for him, but we’ve not found him yet.”

“Shi Qun is not local and his face is unfamiliar to most. The authorities have taken so much effort to hunt him down, yet they haven’t been able to find him…”

There was a slight flicker in Song Caitang’s eyes and Wen Yuansi suddenly realised what she was saying, “You mean…”

“If you can’t find a man who’s alive, then look for one who’s dead,” said Song Caitang, “Look for Shi Qun’s corpse.”