Episode 89

After putting together all the information that Qi Yan provided, Song Caitang concluded that Niu Baoshan hated both Fourth Missy Gan and Lu Guangzong. He hated Lu Guangzong not only because Lu Guangzong hadn’t helped to look for his son when he went missing, but also because somewhere inside, he felt that Lu Guangzong had something to do with his son’s disappearance.

That sandalwood box could be holding some secrets.

Qi Yan got even more excited and slapped his thigh, “The killer is Niu Baoshan! I’m sure of it!”

Song Caitang didn’t have the heart to stop him just yet.

“Think about it,” he said as he leaned closer to her, “this matter became something he was so obsessed with, how could he not take revenge? Fourth Missy Gan is a woman, so no matter how formidable she is, there’s only so much she could have done and she couldn’t have killed Niu Xingzu all by herself. At most, she could create some trouble for him. But things are different for Lu Guangzong. He was an official with money and power. He could have done anything he wanted very easily.”

Song Caitang countered his argument with a question, “So, why didn’t Niu Baoshan act earlier or later? Why did he have to do it now?”

“Because he had been suppressing it for so long and he’s finally burst! Besides, he’s only an ordinary citizen, so regardless of what plans he had, he couldn’t get anywhere near an official. Lu Guangzong always had bodyguards and other people around him, so it was impossible to get him alone. He couldn’t kill the man even if he wanted to, so he could only be a nuisance to him.”

“But this time, for some reason, Lu Guangzong was dressed so poorly and went to a small pub. There wasn’t anybody with him and he looked so exhausted, as though he was about to die. How could he pass up this chance?”

“Niu Baoshan decided that he was going all the way…”

Qi Yan drew a finger across his neck.

“Besides, we only dug up Niu Xingzu’s body recently, right? That’s made Niu Baoshan even more upset and feel even more like killing Lu Guangzong”

Qi Yan spoke so confidently, Song Caitang felt a little bad bursting his bubble, “Lu Guangzong died before Niu Xingzu’s body was discovered.”

“Oh…” Qi Yan froze for a moment, then plonked back down to drink his tea, “In any case, that’s basically what I’m trying to say. This was a rare chance and Niu Baoshan was at the pub too, so he decided to strike!”

Perhaps it was a good day today. As they were speaking, Zhao Zhi and Wen Yuansi walked in. Their investigations had yielded some results.

Wen Yuansi smiled and motioned to Zhao Zhi, “Surveillance Commissioner Zhao, you can go first.”

Zhao Zhi never cared about looking polite, plus he held the high rank. He just nodded with a grim look on his face and started speaking.

“Cao Zhang and Manager Liu had some business dealings.”

Song Caitang knew this part. This was the part that was related to Madam Zhang and the Guan family.

Manager Liu had incriminating information about Lu Guangzong and wanted to use that to make money, but Guan Qing did not approve of that idea. So, Manager Liu went to ask Madam Zhang to support him instead and she agreed, so he made contact with the Green Gang. Guan Qing said that the Green Gang dabbled in too many illegal and dangerous activities, so she didn’t want to have anything to do with them. But the Green Gang seemed to have agreed to work together with Manager Liu already.

Guan Qing really didn’t understand why they would agree.

Neither did Song Caitang.

But after hearing Zhao Zhi’s explanation, she understood.

Cao Zhang had agreed to work with Manager Liu because the government had made a new law that affected their shipping business adversely. If they wanted their goods to continue moving in and out of ports as easily and as smoothly as before, they would need an official with authority to write special approval for his gang’s goods. Cao Zhang had just become the gang’s new leader and might have limited resources, or he might not have wanted to get an official to do him a favor and owe him something in return as a result.

In any case, an opportunity presented itself and he found out that Manager Liu had blackmail-worthy information, so he agreed to work together with Manager Liu. Manager Liu could earn big bucks while making sure that Lu Guangzong was also blackmailed into writing that special approval for him.

Qi Yan’s reaction was quick, “If Manager Liu was the one who was supposed to talk to Lu Guangzong, then why was the one with an appointment to meet at the pub Cao Zhang instead?”

Zhao Zhi put up two fingers, “There are two possibilities.”

He didn’t say anything after that and Qi Yan couldn’t figure it out himself, so Wen Yuansi helped to explain things, “One possibility is, Cao Zhang didn’t want to put all his eggs in one basket. He agreed to work with Manager Liu, but he isn’t entirely certain if Manager Liu will get what he wants done, so he needed a backup plan. He came into contact with Commissioner Lu and continued keeping tabs on him.”

“The other possibility,” Song Caitang raised her brows slightly and her eyes flickered faintly, “Lu Guangzong saw through Cao Zhang’s intentions and knew what Cao Zhang really wanted. At the same time, he happened to run into a problem of sorts, and someone on the wrong side of the law like Cao Zhang would be a good candidate for striking some sort of deal.”

Qi Yan started rubbing his palms vigorously, “You’re right! Why didn’t I think of that! You’re so clever, Miss Song!”

Zhao Zhi threw him a sideways glance and continued.

“That night, something did really happen to the Green Gang and Cao Zhang did go back to settle it, but the time he took wasn’t as long as he claimed. According to a source I have, this matter was settled in less than 30 minutes and he left immediately after settling it. The two places aren’t far from one another, and given Cao Zhang’s level of martial arts, if he went back right away after settling the matter, he should have met with Lu Guangzong. But this meeting didn’t happen.”

There was a blank in Cao Zhang’s timeline. Nobody knew where he had gone.

That part was a little strange.

He didn’t seem to have any feud with Lu Guangzong.

But he certainly had the ability to kill Lu Guangzong without leaving any traces.

Song Caitang cupped her chin in her hands to think for a while, then asked, “Do we know what incriminating information Manager Liu has?”

“He’s seen Lu Guangzong in contact with an assassin organization,” Zhao Zhi glanced downward and spoke in a low voice, “The sort of organization with the worst reputation among martial artists, an organization that only takes up awful jobs like murdering people or making life difficult for others, and they never take up any assignments to protect people or goods. Anyone who comes in contact with such an organization is definitely up to no good. Lu Guangzong had an excellent reputation as a government official, so if people were to find out that he was in contact with such folks, it would definitely affect his reputation and future adversely.”

“This isn’t the only thing either. Manager Liu had also witnessed Lu Guangzong hiding something many years ago. He doesn’t remember how many years exactly and didn’t take much note, but he happened to witness something similar this year and thought of that incident, and also sensed something fishy about it. And so, he tried getting close to Lu Guangzong to sound him out, and Lu Guangzong’s expression changed dramatically. That told him this matter could be of use to him in the future.”

“But exactly what secret Lu Guangzong has and what he was hiding, Manager Liu doesn’t know.”

After Zhao Zhi finished explaining this, he frowned as he concluded, “That’s all we have for now. If we want to know more, we’ll have to dig harder.” He looked at Wen Yuansi, “What about you? Did you get anything?”

Wen Yuansi nodded, “I took a closer look at Commissioner Lu’s study. According to the policy he set, only the butler Loo Zhong and his son Lu Shen were allowed to enter when he wasn’t in. The two of them had checked the study and confirmed that nothing had been lost, but I found a secret compartment and it looked like something had been placed inside, and it had been removed recently.”

“But I can’t confirm if the item was taken away by Commissioner Lu himself or someone else.”

“I asked the two of them whether they knew if Commissioner Lu had mentioned losing something or if someone wanted something from him, or if there was something he watched over very closely, but they both shook their heads. Loo Zhong said that the last time Commissioner Lu lost something was three years ago…”

At this juncture, Wen Yuansi sighed, “Based on the description, the ones who stole something from him three years ago was likely to be Shi Qun, Ximen Gang and An Pengyi. So, I went to prison to talk to An Pengyi, but he doesn’t know anything.”

Zhao Zhi and Song Caitang were disappointed to hear that.

While investigating the Tianhua Temple case, Lu Guangzong had grabbed An Pengyi by the collar and railed at him to force him to return something to him. A lot of people had witnessed that.

Lu Guangzong had lost that item for three whole years, yet he remembered what it was and still wanted it back so badly. This item must have been very important.

But out of the three sworn brothers, An Pengyi was the one who was not allowed to be involved in the stealing, so he didn’t know anything…

What exactly could this item be?

Was it something Lu Guangzong had been hiding all this time?

“What about his disappearance?” Song Caitang asked Wen Yuansi, “Did you get any clues about that?”

Wen Yuansi shook his head, “Too much time has passed, so any traces of anyone passing through the roads have disappeared a long time ago. I finally found an eyewitness after some time, but he only saw Commissioner Lu and his entourage going up the mountain, saying that they wanted to do some painting, but that’s all I got. Commissioner Lu’s entire group seems to have disappeared into thin air, and there aren’t any traces of where his servants have gone either.”

Zhao Zhi snorted and said sarcastically, “How could people who are well and alive disappear into thin air without leaving any traces at all? Either someone had already made arrangements to round them up and bring them elsewhere for an agreed price, or they were threatened and sent into hiding.”

Since Lu Guangzong wasn’t the only one who had gone missing, that made things easier. Luanze was fairly big and it was easy to hide one person, but to hide an entire group of people without leaving any traces at all…

“I’ll investigate further! I’m sure I’ll find them!”

Wen Yuansi nodded.

As for Pang Qian, Wen Yuansi did not notice anything strange about his behavior and he didn’t seem suspicious at all. Compared to him, Lu Shen and Loo Zhong seemed a little more suspect. They seemed to be withholding information and there were still many things they did not tell the authorities.

After Wen Yuansi was done with reporting his findings, the entire room fell silent. Everyone was thinking about the details they had just learned and nobody said anything.

“There’s one more thing,” Zhao Zhi broke the silence after a long time. He tapped the table with his knuckles and reminded everyone, “We haven’t found the actual scene of the crime yet. The streets surrounding the pigsty are crowded and busy, so even if the killer had left traces behind, it would have been covered very easily by other people. The people moving in and out of the pub are equally messy and observing the place did not yield anything useful. I’m afraid we’ll have to think very hard about what the killer’s motive was.”

To understand the killer’s motive, they had to first understand the killer’s backstory. Once they knew what happened to this person, what changes in attitude or mindset they had and their habits, then they could make guesses on what might have happened.

Song Caitang nodded. She agreed with this approach fully.

This killer was… very clever.

This person knew this area well and knew how to make full use of it.

What sort of feud did this person have with Lu Guangzong?

What secret was Lu Guangzong hiding?

Was his disappearance connected to his death?

Did the person who caused Lu Guangzong to go missing also kill him?

So far, they seemed to have gotten a lot of details and clues, but the truth only seemed even further away than before, as though it was still shrouded in a thick layer of fog and they couldn’t see what was behind it.

It was as though they had hit a roadblock.

They really needed a breakthrough at this time.

Qi Yan was a creative fellow and recalled something important with the snap of his fingers, “The party!”

The party that was to be thrown by the Gaos!

This was a huge event in Luanze and many people would either be attending or they would be following it closely. The Lus and the Pangs would definitely be there. As for Fourth Missy Gan…

“Fourth Missy Gan is an excellent cook, especially when it comes to braised foods. I heard that the main kitchen of the Gao family has hired her at an especially high rate, and even made an exception to allow her son to attend such an important event.”

He was in charge of finding out everything about Fourth Missy Gan, so he knew their whereabouts and future plans well.

This one event would gather most of the people connected to the case, so it would be more convenient to observe and sound them out at the same time.

The more people there were and the more lively the place was, the easier it would be for the attendees to feel safer and more relaxed, so with some technique, it was easier to sound someone out. Besides, a party like that was meant for networking in the first place, so as long as you took some time to eavesdrop on the conversations, you’d definitely reap something from the small talk and secrets going around.

If that still didn’t work out, you could get the other person to drink and perhaps that person would spill more beans once they were drunk!

Qi Yan had come up with a good plan and had a smug smile on his face as he fanned himself with his folding fan. The words “Praise me for my genius.” was written all over his face and he was like a peacock showing off its feathers as he winked at Song Caitang, “Miss Song, what do you think of that idea?”

Song Caitang smiled faintly, “I’m fine with that, but that party… is actually thrown for Miss Ling’s sake, isn’t it? Aren’t we doing her a disservice by making use of her party like that?”

If things went out of hand, the party wasn’t going to end well.

Also, she really wanted to ask him if Ling Qianqian would be pleased to know that her cousin was making use of her like this.

Qi Yan seemed to have suddenly realized the implications and his eyes widened as he covered his face with his fan, “OH NO! You’re right! We can’t do that! We can’t!”

But Zhao Zhi had already gotten up from his chair, “That’s settled then. The party is happening in two days’ time, so everyone is to attend and do anything they can to get more clues.”

“Nooooo! Qianqian will kill me if she finds out!” Qi Yan ran to Zhao Zhi with a pleading look on his face as he clasped his hands in a begging gesture, “Brother Zhi! Let’s not do this, shall we? Let’s not! Please? For the sake of my younger sister, please…”

His expression and gestures made him look like he was really Zhao Zhi’s younger brother and he sounded very earnest.

Zhao Zhi was touched that Qi Yan was so considerate toward his cousin, but refused to let go of the idea, “No.”

Qi Yan didn’t know how else to convince Zhao Zhi.

The plan was fixed just like that.

Two days later, everyone got dressed and ready for the event.

For some reason, Song Caitang had a feeling that things were going to get exciting at the party.