Episode 95

Madam Zhang had always been good at battles fought within the home, an expert in how she ought to speak and what she ought to do at the right time in the right place. She spoke so earnestly, as though she felt truly sad and hurt, and had the expression to match her words. She seemed to really mean what she said, and anybody who saw or heard her would start crying.

Most of the time, she preferred to control the situation from behind the scenes, but she couldn’t do that today. Everything was working against her now so she had to give this fight everything she had.

It didn’t matter if she ended up embarrassing herself with this act. As long as she could get past today, she’d be able to find her dignity back later!

But Guan Qing wasn’t buying it. She looked at the pretty garden around them and had an aloof look in her eyes, “From the day one is born, things can happen anytime, and there are risks everywhere. There are people who die from choking on their own rice, even. Aunt, if you are so fearful of everything, then you’re not burdening others. You’re just burdening yourself.”

Madam Zhang choked on her tears and couldn’t respond in time.

Guan Qing continued, “The Guans have been merchants for years and we’ve run into so many dangers. Which one of them wasn’t serious enough to destroy our business and our family? But we managed to pull through. The Guans have never been afraid of crises. If we run into trouble or danger, we just need to get through it!”

“If you don’t even have enough guts to go through such situations, then I’m afraid the Guans might have trouble taking care of you.”

These words not only shocked the crowd and made some of them applaud inwardly, but Madam Zhang’s heart nearly stopped and her soul nearly left her.

What did Guan Qing mean by that?!

Was she going to throw her out?!

Guan Qing was a young woman who had to eventually get married and move out sooner or later! What right did she have to say such things! How dare she!

“Oh dear, you don’t look too well. I think your old ailment is acting up again, so you’d better head home. The Gaos and Miss Ling are all understanding people and wouldn’t blame you for leaving early.”

Guan Qing waved her hand and her head maid, Chunhong, came with a few older maids who immediately took hold of Madam Zhang and marched out toward the gate. There was no room for protest or negotiation.

Madam Zhang had already embarrassed herself enough today and there wasn’t anybody else at the party who would help to stand up for her. She had no choice but to swallow her pride and save whatever dignity she had left, “I… I just did it for your good… Eldest Young Mistress, you should be careful…”

As she attempted to make herself look better, her heart trembled at the same time.

All these years, she had thought that she had done a fairly good job. Besides failing to have any say over anyone under Madam Bai and not being involved in the stores owned by the family, she thought her position as mistress of the household was firm. Every instruction she gave was carried out and every servant in the house would obey her.

But today, Guan Qing had delivered her a slap in the face.

Guan Qing was able to mobilize the servants of the household anytime, even if the instruction was to haul her away!

It seemed like she had been blind all this time after all…

After Guan Qing sent Madam Zhang away, she turned to Manager Liu with an indifferent look in her eyes and warned him, “You know what sort of person I am. I have done this today to protect the Guans, not you, Liu Gui. Seeing that you’ve worked a few decades for us, I will not pursue this matter further. But if you dare to do this again… I’m sure you know what I would do.”

Manager Liu clenched his fists, but dared not look up at Guan Qing’s face.

“As your employer, I will give you one last piece of advice,” said Guan Qing in an unfeeling voice. “I’m sure you know what you ought to be doing. If you still have any goodness left in your heart, then you’d better come clean with the authorities.”

Guan Qing settled everything cleanly, then pulled Song Caitang to one side. She instructed her younger cousin to be careful and cautious several times before letting go of her, “Alright, run along now.”

Song Caitang turned to see what Guan Qing was looking at and saw Zhao Zhi walking over.

Guan Qing waved to her, then left with Chunhong without saying a word.

Song Caitang looked at Zhao Zhi. This man had chosen a rather strange time to appear.

Zhao Zhi looked intently at her as he said in a deep voice, “I thought you would ask me for help.”

“That never crossed my mind, actually.”

Guan Qing had done a good job of settling the issue, and she realized she didn’t actually need to help only after she had already walked up to Guan Qing. Of course, if Guan Qing wasn’t able to settle it properly, she had her own ideas on how to handle the matter. She had really never thought of asking Zhao Zhi for help at all.

But that wasn’t important right now. The information they gleaned from what happened earlier was more important.

It was obvious that Manager Liu had something on hand that he could use to threaten Lu Guangzong. It wasn’t just what he had seen with his own eyes, but a physical piece of evidence that could back up his words. This evidence was very important, so he guarded it very carefully.

Cao Zhang knew about this item, or perhaps… Cao Zhang knew everything already, but chose to watch silently and wait to see how the case would progress.

“Why not…” Song Caitang suddenly looked Zhao Zhi up and down, “Why don’t you try getting your hands on this thing?”

As for how to get hold of the item… the implied meaning of her words was clear.

Manager Liu was hiding this item like it was a secret, so he wouldn’t hand it over. How else could one get hold of it? By observing the man and eventually stealing it from him, of course.

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow. “I’m not a thief.”

Song Caitang threw her hands up, “Then… I have no choice but to trouble Qi Yan.”

Zhao Zhi fell silent.

A moment later, he scoffed and said, “He’s connected to this case and a murder suspect no less. How could I allow him to come in contact with evidence? Forget it, I’ll do it.”

Song Caitang raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think it’s below you anymore?”

“It’s a small matter,” Zhao Zhi arched an eyebrow to eye her with a sly glance. His tone was insinuating too, “Looks like you don’t understand me well enough, Miss Song.”

Song Caitang admitted it readily, “I agree. We’ve only known each other for a little more than two months and we don’t see each other often. It’s not possible for me to understand you well.”

Zhao Zhi’s expression fell instantly.

Song Caitang suddenly felt that bullying Zhao Zhi was a very interesting activity.

She wasn’t sure exactly what secrets he was hiding in his heart, but used her words to render him speechless, and to watch his expression fall in an instant as he glared hatefully at her, yet dared not beat her up because she was a woman…

It was really fun.

But while it was fun to tease him every now and then, if she did it too often or for too long, he would definitely get angry.

So, she quickly went back to what they were talking about earlier, “Of course, it would be best if Manager Liu hands it over himself…”

“Hurhur, he won’t say anything.”

Those weren’t Zhao Zhi’s words. It came from someone standing not too far from them.

Song Caitang looked over and almost didn’t recognize the man. It was actually Niu Baoshan.

Niu Baoshan’s hair was combed neatly, his beard was properly shaved and he was dressed in a set of clean clothes that looked similar to the servants of the Gao household. Besides that gloomy look in his eyes, he looked great and didn’t look like the disheveled drunkard he was before this. If she didn’t take a close look, she wouldn’t have recognized him.

The Gaos had thrown an extremely lavish party today and had an unusually large number of guests, so they wouldn’t have enough servants in the house. Song Caitang spotted the buckets that Niu Baoshan was carrying and guessed that he had been hired to help out.

But even if he was a hired hand, the Gaos would have some procedures and requirements for hiring too. Based on the way Niu Baoshan behaved not too long ago, he should not have been hired.

Niu Baoshan’s gaze remained on Song Caitang’s skirt hem for a long time before he slowly turned to look at Zhao Zhi. His words seemed to be implying something else, “He won’t say it.”

They immediately understood that Niu Baoshan definitely knew something.

But Niu Baoshan did not intend to stick around. He quickly picked up the buckets again and walked away from them.

These were harmless words and they had no other evidence on hand, so the authorities couldn’t take Niu Baoshan in for questioning, and couldn’t even make any trouble for the Gaos at their party.

Zhao Zhi pushed the branch in front of them aside and started walking, “Come, let’s go elsewhere to take a look.”

The two of them walked away from the flower beds and walked along the cobblestone pavement, Zhao Zhi in front and Song Caitang behind. They were a short distance apart, but the atmosphere was friendly and they were well coordinated.

Ling Qianqian watched them as she stood beside one of the gates within the house. Flames seemed to burn brightly in her eyes and she gripped the willow branch next to her so hard that it broke.

A few moments later, she used a handkerchief to wipe her hands, then turned to walk back to the party, “Let’s go!”

Zhao Zhi tried to look for Cao Zhang.

Just like Song Caitang, he too, felt that Cao Zhang knew something. If possible, he wanted to sit down and have a chat with him.

Unfortunately, Cao Zhang didn’t want to be treated as a spectacle anymore. He moved very quickly through the complex streets. Zhao Zhi could have followed him if he were alone, but it was impossible to take Song Caitang along, since she didn’t know martial arts.

She was about to signal to Zhao Zhi to go ahead without her when she heard two familiar voices.

“What’s wrong, Young Mr. Lu? Don’t want to pretend anymore? Or you can’t pretend anymore? Then again, your dad’s dead but didn’t leave anything for you. It’s only normal for you to feel frustrated and angry, and vent it on anybody you meet.”

“Pang Qian! My father’s already dead! Watch your words!”

There were two people connected to the case. Pang Qian, who hated Lu Guangzong for taking the position he had been eyeing for a long time, and Lu Guangzong’s son, Lu Shen.

“Young Mr. Lu, it’s not easy to survive in public service. Besides making sure you pretend to be a good and obedient person, you have to remember one more thing – only the children who cry get milk to drink. If you want to be an official of significant rank and you want to climb this career ladder, then you should just say so. Don’t grit your teeth and keep it inside. If you do that, you’d feel terrible, and I’d feel terrible from seeing you like that.”

Pang Qian seemed very happy to mock Lu Shen, perhaps because Lu Guangzong had done the same to him and he wanted to get back at the old man through his son. His voice was filled with sarcasm and nastiness, “At least the money your dad left behind is enough to buy your way up several positions. So stop complaining that you’re poor, it’s meaningless.”

“What in the world are you talking about?! If I really had money, I would have had—”

“Hurhur,” Pang Qian snorted, “Young Mr. Lu, I’d advise you to become a little better at schemes and pull your socks up. You’d better look for what your dad left behind, or someone else will benefit instead!”

Lu Shen was so furious, he stopped talking to Pang Qian and stormed off.

The butler who knew how to do everything, Loo Zhong, had no choice but to approach Pang Qian with an apologetic look on his face and said deferentially, “Old Master has passed away and that has affected Young Master’s mood very badly, so he says and does things that he may not mean. I hope you won’t be offended.”

“It doesn’t matter to me. That bloody old man is finally dead, and I’m feeling great about that!” Pang Qian’s gaze landed on Loo Zhong and he scoffed, “Butler Loo, was it? Lu Guangzong deserved to die a long time ago. All of you knew that. His one death has brought happiness to the rest of us. That’s a good thing! Why should I take offense?”

Song Caitang felt like there was something going on here. It seemed like everything that these people said had hidden meanings.

She poked at Zhao Zhi’s waist, then leaned over and whispered, “We need to watch this Pang Qian and the butler.”

Zhao Zhi glared at the slim, fair finger she had used to poke him with some unhappiness, “I’m going to follow Cao Zhang and Manager Liu.”

“Ask Wen Yuansi to come over then. He’s best at dealing with these people…”

But after some thought, Song Caitang looked at Lu Shen’s disappearing back and narrowed her eyes, “Do it fast, I can take this chance to do something.”

Zhao Zhi looked at Lu Shen’s back as well and raised an eyebrow, “Are you thinking of…”

Song Caitang smiled, “That’s why I need you to act now, Surveillance Commissioner Zhao.”

“Zhao Zhi.”

“Huh?” Song Caitang was confused. Why did he suddenly state his own name?

Zhao Zhi pursed his lips and his jaw was tense, “My name is Zhao Zhi, not Surveillance Commissioner Zhao.”

What in the…

“Alright then, Zhao Zhi, please act as quickly as possible. Will that do?”

He finally nodded, “Sure.”

“And for Madam Gan’s side…” Song Caitang made special mention, “I’m worried that Qi Yan won’t be able to handle it by himself. If you’ve got the time, I think it’d be good for you to take a look.”

This series of incidents had made her think through new details more carefully and she suddenly had the strange feeling that the way Fourth Missy Gan was hiding and protecting the secret she knew was not what they should be taking note of. Perhaps she was behaving like this to distract or dilute some other details…

If that was the case, then they would have guessed her motives wrongly and it might be difficult for Qi Yan to find out anything from her.

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow slightly. He was clearly confident of his own abilities, but he purposely sounded nonchalant, “Giving all the work to me, huh?”

Song Caitang laughed, “Capable ones always get more work.”

Zhao Zhi seemed pleased with these words, or perhaps he was pleased with her attitude. His expression relaxed, “You’re alright by yourself?”

“Lu Shen doesn’t know any martial arts, after all,” Song Caitang was calm and used Zhao Zhi’s words on him, “You’ve not seen all of my capabilities yet too.”

Zhao Zhi glared at her.

Her eyes reflected the sun, “I’ll find out everything about Lu Shen!”

He stared at her long and hard before speaking, “Be careful then.”

“Don’t just stand there! Hurry up and get cracking!”

He grit his teeth, “Song Caitang, you shouldn’t be so rude!”

“Who was the one who said I didn’t have to be so polite, huh? Surveillance Commissioner Zhao?”

He stormed off.

After he had left, Song Caitang started preparing for what she intended to do.

She got Qingqiao to find out where Lu Shen had gone, what he did, who the people around him were, what his expression was like, what he had said and so on.

Once she had more or less figured out Lu Shen’s mood, she started thinking about what she wanted to do next.

She then got Qingqiao to describe the landscape and scenery around them and picked a slightly more secluded corner where Lu Shen often walked past. She hurried over and settled down at a stone table.

Qingqiao also told her that Loo Zhong was occupied with speaking to Wen Yuansi and would come over later.

Her arrangements were working out nicely.

She smiled as she told Qingqiao to get her a pot of tea from the Gao family servants.

The tea had just been served when Qingqiao came running over and nodded vigorously at Song Caitang.

She knew that her chance was here.

So, she let out a long and quiet sigh as she sat on the concrete stool.

“I already told them that I know how to dissect bodies and it would help the authorities to crack the case. It’s not easy to crack the case just like that…”

She seemed to be speaking to her maid, but she also seemed to be murmuring to herself. Her voice was filled with a loneliness and stubbornness that nobody could understand, “If I don’t do this, what else can I do? I’ve got to make sure others notice me and know that I exist. I don’t want to be just another ordinary person…”

Song Caitang had chosen these words carefully.

She had studied interrogation techniques, including micro expressions and other ways of leading the other person. These came in handy today.

As someone who grew up in his father’s shadow, she could guess what was going through his mind. His recent behavior had added to that.

A similar predicament and similar opinions would resonate with him.

As a woman, she also seemed harmless and weak, so Lu Shen wouldn’t be as wary and would be more willing to talk.

As for whether the resonating was happening… she had to wait and see.

She had wanted to do this a long time ago, but the work had been split up very clearly and she didn’t get the chance to do so. She was pleasantly surprised to find that she was now in the perfect position and place to do this.

If she could squeeze a couple of tears out at this point, it would make for a more dramatic effect, but…

She stared sadly at her handkerchief. She didn’t have the same talent as Madam Zhang and couldn’t get a single tear out.

So, she put more effort into the way she spoke, “If others can do it, why can’t I? Just because… I’m a woman?”

When she got to this point, she noticed Qingqiao blinking unnaturally.

Excellent. Lu Shen had taken the bait.

Lu Shen stopped walking and sighed quietly as he looked at Song Caitang’s back, as though he felt the same way.

Song Caitang fell silent for a while and started speaking again when he was about to walk away, saying in a confident voice, “Even if I end up losing, I want to just give it a shot!”

Lu Shen had a conflicted look in his eyes as he looked at Song Caitang again. He couldn’t seem to make himself walk away.

He had recognized her already, but he didn’t expect her to actually feel so much like himself. Everything she said really resonated with his heart… she must surely understand him!

But why was it Song Caitang? Why this particular woman?

Song Caitang didn’t need any hints from Qingqiao and knew her chance was here.

She stood up and casually turned around. When she saw Lu Shen, she pretended to be surprised, “Young Mr… .Lu?”

Lu Shen seemed a little awkward as he looked at her.

Before this, he had railed rudely at her because he didn’t want her to cut his father’s body open, and felt that he had gone a little too far that day. If they didn’t cross paths again, he wouldn’t feel bothered. But the things that Song Caitang just said really struck a chord with him, so he felt bad now.

He nodded, then turned to walk away.

Her words stopped him.

“I don’t think you’re the one who caused Commissioner Lu’s death.”

Her words were spoken slowly and quietly, but they seemed as heavy as a hammer, nailing Lu Shen to the ground immediately, “You… .”

There was no need to act like she was sad and miserable anymore. She was more confident now and her smile seemed warm.

She pointed at the stone table, “You seem rather tired. Why don’t you sit down and have some tea?”

Lu Shen hesitated for a moment, then walked over.

Song Caitang’s heart calmed down.

Once he was willing to sit down, she would have made 50% progress.

As for the other half…

That would depend on how she read his psyche and micro expressions!