You Hate Him Too, Don’t You

The sun shone in quietly through the window and illuminated the hall. The weather in April was already quite warm, but for some reason, the temperature inside still seemed rather cold.

The whole hall fell silent again when Pang Qian’s name was mentioned.

Song Caitang quickly noticed something amiss with the look in Fourth Missy Gan’s eyes.

She wasn’t the only one who noticed. Zhao Zhi and Wen Yuansi noticed it too.

Zhao Zhi glanced at Wen Yuansi. He nodded and called her out, “Madam Gan, do you have something to say?”

Fourth Missy Gan glanced down as she gently bit her lower lip with her white teeth and paused to think. After she seemed to have decided that it was better not to hide what she knew, she said softly, “When I left with Zhixuan, we walked through the dark alley behind the pub, I spotted someone and I think it was Vice Governor Pang…“

“No, no, I can’t say for sure that it was him,” Fourth Missy Gan waved her hands about, “I only saw a man’s back view dressed in an official’s clothes and didn’t see his face. That person just looked very much like him but I can’t be sure if it’s him… that’s why I didn’t dare to say so earlier.”

After she finished speaking, Qi Yan rubbed his chin and said, “That reminds me… what I saw that night was also just Vice Governor Pang’s side profile and the very, very familiar official dress.” He waved his fan slowly and tilted his head to think, I’ve met with him in the capital before and I saw that side profile very clearly. I definitely think it’s him. But his face…“

He spun around and smiled brightly at Wen Yuansi and Zhao Zhi, “Actually, I didn’t see his face either… Hahahaha…“

This time, Zhao Zhi’s hands didn’t even tremble in hesitation. He picked it up and flung his teacup at Qi Yan’s face.

It was impossible for Qi Yan to dodge this attack, but thankfully, he had a folding fan in hand.

The cup fell to the floor and the water destroyed the fan, but his face was completely unhurt and dry.

Qi Yan was very proud of his reaction and threw the damaged fan in his hand aside and took a new one out from his pocket.

What the…

Did this guy have something for fans?! How did this skinny guy wear something fitting and hide so many fans in his pocket without it showing? Did he have a treasure trove of them in some other pocket?!

Qi Yan fanned himself and remained fairly calm, “It was at night, so it’s a bit difficult to see anything clearly and the fact that I saw this much is already laudable. The government is very particular about the formal workwear of each official. There are seamstresses and embroiderers specially employed to make these clothes, any damage to them must be reported and the source of materials and threads are strictly controlled. Who else would wear this particular set of clothing beside Pang Qian himself?”

“There’s no need to think. The person who appeared that night must have been Pang Qian! Lu Guangzong was transferred out from the capital city and became the local pacification commissioner, taking a position that Pang Qian had eyed and worked hard toward for a long time. Of course Pang Qian would hate him. Lu Guangzong’s reputation has always been excellent. Anyone who’s met with him would say he is a good man and he did not start a feud with anyone. Yet, all of a sudden, in such a short time, Lu Guangzong’s reputation was attacked, then he disappeared and subsequently, his body was found. Who would have a motive to kill him? Who would be the most suspicious?”

He used the back of his fan handle to hit his palm with each point he made and he seemed very certain of his guess, “The murderer could very well be him!”

Unlike Zhao Zhi and Wen Yuansi, Qi Yan wasn’t part of the investigation team and could say anything he wanted. Even though he didn’t have any evidence whatsoever, he dared to utter this bold guess out loud.

These words shocked everybody in the hall.

Even Ling Qianqian’s eyes were wide as she covered her little mouth with her hands. She stared in shock at her cousin, as though she was surprised by Qi Yan’s overly excited and dramatic performance.

“Was it Pang Qian?! Pang Qian killed my father?!!”

A man suddenly came running in from outside with loud and heavy footsteps. Lu Shen was here. He was followed by his butler, Loo Zhong, who tried to pull Lu Shen back several times but was unsuccessful.

As the son of the victim, Lu Shen was rather agitated when he heard that there was a possible suspect. His eyes were red as he clenched his teeth, “Was it him!”

Zhao Zhi frowned, “Why are you here?”

Lu Shen was still very agitated and ignored Zhao Zhi’s question as he continued shouting, but Loo Zhong did not dare to do the same. He quickly greeted Zhao Zhi politely and smiled ingratiatingly as he explained, “We should not be here today, since you are questioning the people connected to the case. But my Young Master has been feeling very restless and uneasy, and he doesn’t even have any appetite to eat. He snuck out of the house while nobody was watching and came here to eavesdrop on the questioning process… the other members of the family don’t know what to do with him either, so they sent me here to explain things. My Young Master has no ill intent and isn’t here to interrupt the investigation and he definitely isn’t trying to take away the Old Master’s body. I hope both of you can be understanding toward him.”

Wen Yuansi glanced at Zhao Zhi. Zhao Zhi did not say anything, so after pausing to think, he nodded and said, “There are some details I would like to ask both of you regarding Commissioner Lu’s disappearance, so it’s not entirely inappropriate for you two to be here.”

Loo Zhong bowed gratefully, “Thank you, Magistrate Wen!”

Meanwhile, Zhao Zhi had already sent someone to fetch Pang Qian. He gave the instruction immediately after Qi Yan had made mention of the man’s name, since he figured that Pang Qian could probably make his way here very quickly.

Wen Yuansi took a moment to think, then asked Lu Shen, “You didn’t know when your father went missing and you also didn’t know that he had reappeared?”

Lu Shen glowered at the people outside the hall. He stopped being so worked up after he heard that someone was going to fetch Pang Qian. Sadness overwhelmed him again, “That’s right… I’m such a bad son. I didn’t know anything.”

“When did you discover that your father had gone missing?”

“On the 20th day of the 3rd month.” Lu Shen hung his head, so nobody could see his expression, but they could hear the grief in his voice. “The day before, my father had given me a harsh scolding because I had made a mistake at work. I was very frustrated and in a foul mood, so I argued with him. The next morning, I went to his room to greet him but he wasn’t in. The servants said that he had left the house with some of our more senior servants.”

“Such things have happened before. When my father is unhappy, he wouldn’t quarrel with you or scold you. He would go and stay at his mountain manor for a few days to cool down. Since he was so angry, I didn’t dare to bother him and didn’t ask about his whereabouts.”

“When he failed to return after five days, I started to get worried and went up to the manor, only to find out from the servants there that my father had not gone there at all. I was completely flummoxed.”

“But no matter how hard I searched, I simply couldn’t find any traces of my father. The servants with him disappeared as well. They seemed to have disappeared into thin air, so I began to suspect something was wrong and quickly reported it. Later on, we discovered that his study had been ransacked… Magistrate Wen knows about that.”

Wen Yuansi nodded, “Commissioner Lu returned on the 10th and went to the pub, but he didn’t send you any message? You didn’t know he was there that day?”

“No, he didn’t,” Lu Shen was on the brink of tears, “I don’t know why my father didn’t contact me. Was it because he was still angry with me and disappointed in me? It wasn’t just me – my entire family had no idea that he had returned on that day and went to that pub!”

Before long, Pang Qian arrived.

He marched in with his hands folded behind his back, as though he was rather puzzled as to why he was asked to come here.

But when Wen Yuansi said that someone claimed to have seen him at the pub that night, he exploded.

“That never happened! I wasn’t at that pub at that hour!”

He denied everything.

Everyone was surprised as they looked strangely at Pang Qian, Qi Yan and Fourth Missy Gan.

Two of them claimed they saw Pang Qian there, but Pang Qian said he hadn’t gone there…

Who was lying?

Wen Yuansi was more meticulous and picked up on the phrasing of Pang Qian’s answer, so he asked, “You weren’t at that pub at that hour. So, what time were you there?”

Pang Qian’s voice was low and scratchy, “I went there to drink in the afternoon, but I had already left by evening time, so I didn’t know that Lu Guangzong had gone there and I don’t know why he would go there either!”

Qi Yan used his fan to cover his face as the corner of his eyes shifted upward slightly, “You could have left in the evening, then… come back after that.”

Pang Qian’s face was red from anger, “I know what you’re trying to imply. But I wasn’t there that night, so it doesn’t matter how many times you claim that’s true!”

Zhao Zhi tapped the table with his fingertips, “Have you lost your work clothes before? Do you have the right number in your possession?”

Pang Qian didn’t know why Zhao Zhi was asking him this question, but he answered it properly anyway, “I did not lose any of them and they’re all at home. I just checked this morning when I took a bath, so the number is definitely correct.”

“And you dare say it wasn’t you?!”

Lu Shen couldn’t hold himself back anymore and ran over to grab Pang Qian by the collar, “You’re the one who killed my father, right? You never liked him and you wanted to do him in! You wouldn’t have let such a chance escape! So much for thinking that you would respect the law even though you’re jealous! I didn’t think you would be such a vicious man, Vice Governor Pang!”

Pang Qian was even angrier than him and punched Lu Shen in the face, “Your father’s dead and I can understand that you’re feeling very upset. But don’t forget who you are and just go around biting everyone like some dog!”

Blood immediately gushed out of Lu Shen’s nose, but he refused to let go of Pang Qian, “Stop pretending! If it wasn’t you, who could it have been? Who would have been able to wear your work clothes? And you just said that you hadn’t lost any!”

Pang Qian immediately scanned the hall to find that while everyone was looking at him, only Fourth Missy Gan avoided his gaze and the expression on Qi Yan’s face wasn’t quite right. He realized what was happening, “Was it the two of you? You said you saw me?”

Fourth Missy Gan trembled and didn’t dare to speak, but Qi Yan was willing to take responsibility for what he said, “That’s right. I saw you there in your work clothes that night.”

“You must be blind!” Pang Qian flew into a rage, “Like I said, I was there only in the afternoon and left in the evening, and I did not go there again in my work clothes. I didn’t know that Lu Guangzong was there at all!”

Lu Shen was still holding onto his collar and refused to let go even after he got punched. Pang Qian was furious and glared at Lu Shen, “Are you dumb or do you think I’m dumb? If I really wanted to kill someone, would I have worn the clothes that only I would have?!”

But Lu Shen merely scoffed, “Don’t act stupid now! Everyone knows you have a lot on your mind all the time. The military governor has given you so much work, yet you’ve been able to settle everything properly and you’ve accumulated so much goodwill. Of course you aren’t stupid! You must have realized that doing it this way would look especially dumb and nobody would believe you would have done such a dumb thing, so you did it this way on purpose!”

“You hated my father, you killed him!”

“My father was such a good man, why did you have to do that? It was the emperor who transferred him here, he didn’t know you had been preparing for it for such a long time! My father didn’t deliberately snatch this position from you! Besides, even if he did, my father has more than enough experience, so you should have accepted that he was a better candidate and set your sights elsewhere. Why did you target my father? Moreover, my father was already so old and was ready to retire soon, so he wouldn’t be the pacification commissioner for long and you could have taken the position after that. Why were you in such a hurry?!”

Lu Shen sounded like he was in pain as he spoke, making the atmosphere somber and filled with sadness.

But Pang Qian burst out laughing, “Your father? A good man? There are no good men in this job and you know it! You think a truly good man could have made it to such a high position with ease? You think I’ve been mean to him? You’re wrong! You’re SO wrong! He’s the one who’s been mean to him! He’s the one who’s always picking on me and can’t wait for me to die!”

“That’s nonsense! It was you! You were jealous, angry, hateful…“

“Stop pretending in front of me, Lu Shen! We’ve all known each other for so long! We all know what each of us is really like!”

Pang Qian’s gaze was steely as he peeled Lu Shen’s fingers off him one by one. He scoffed and pointed at Fourth Missy Gan, “It’s partly her own fault that she has landed in this state with such a reputation, but did she deserve that? If that wonderful father of yours hadn’t done that more than ten years ago, would she have had to carry such a poor reputation until today? Your father didn’t seem lecherous and didn’t really do anything, but every word he said and every unexplainable action he carried out was on purpose!”

“And him!” Pang Qian pointed at Niu Baoshan, “His son went missing, and it’s true that it wasn’t within Lu Guangzong’s jurisdiction. But Lu Guangzong intervened in other matters that weren’t his business, yet he refused to care about this one. Did he do that because he knew that he wouldn’t stand to gain anything from it? Lu Guangzong was a smart man and always had the big picture in mind. He always checked beforehand if what he was doing was of benefit to himself and he would pretend to work very hard at it only after confirming it was! This is a human life we’re talking about here! Is Niu Baoshan really wrong to hate him?”

“And what about you? Do you really trust your father that much? You really have no grudges against him? Your father has been weighing down on you and didn’t let you climb the career ladder, so you actually hate him very much, don’t you?”

Pang Qian stared straight at Lu Shen, his eyes gleaming as though he could pierce through the darkness and read what was in another’s mind, “Did you look forward to your father’s disappearance from a long time ago so that you could make use of his connections to rise? Did you, Young Mr. Lu?”

Lu Shen’s face was red from anger, “Nonsense! I did no such thing!”

Pang Qian was done arguing with Lu Shen. His gaze moved past Fourth Missy Gan and landed on Qi Yan.

“I understand Madam Gan’s situation. But what about you? Why do you want to frame me?”

His gaze glimmered and he looked a little curious, “In the capital, you’re well known for causing absolute chaos. What’s going on now? You’re finally tired of sitting still and you’ve created a case by murdering someone? Do you get a kick out of framing someone else and making the authorities go on a wild goose chase?”

Upon hearing these words, Qi Yan folded his fan shut with flourish. There was a frostiness in his gaze, and the light on the side of his face made only half of it clear, while casting a shadow on the other side. He no longer looked as playful and cheeky, and seemed very aloof now.

His voice was also rather deep now, “Vice Governor Pang, like the old saying goes, a man’s mouth often causes his downfall. You’d better be careful.”