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Under the Power - Chapter 20

Published at 27th of July 2022 06:14:54 AM


Chapter 20

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The building structure was made of wood, facing both north and south. They came in from the backyard in the north direction and they had to go around the building to get to the main entrance door facing south. On the door a copper padlock was neatly installed. 

In the past, when Jinxia encountered such setbacks, it was a piece of cake to get rid of them, but now, next to her was Jingli Daren and she didn’t want to look too ‘diligent’.

“The door is locked,” She respectfully said, “Daren, how about we come back tomorrow?”

Lu Yi didn’t seem to hear her at all, and commanded: “Open it. Don’t make any noise.” 

Jinxia was helpless. Following Lu Yi’s order, she pulled out an item from her belt: a long, thin silver needle bar. Then she bent down to align with the keyhole, poking it lightly again and again. After a ‘click’ sound was heard, the copper lock opened.

Lu Yi, who had been watching her the whole time, asked: “This technique of unlocking was taught by Yang ChengWan too?”

“Definitely not,” Jinxia defended her master right away. “In prison, there was a detainee; no one ever came to visit him, he didn’t have any silver, he also liked to drink. Every few days, he asked me to buy him a pot of wine and teached me unlocking skills in exchange. I thought this skill wouldn’t hurt, so I accepted. I studied for half a year but then he was beheaded, so my studies were incomplete.”

While talking, she pushed the door a little and she slipped inside. After Lu Yi entered the room, she closed the door tight again. 

From the tone of her voice, a little melancholy, he would not know whether she was saddened by the loss of the prisoner or because her studies were incomplete. Lu Yi looked at her with the help of the moonlight, but then, before being caught, he turned his gaze and examined the surroundings. 

Opposite from the door was a long table with a red horseshoe shape, on the top of which was a large, empty tray and behind the table the wall was painted with palace figures. All of them were common items. 

On the left, after bypassing that wall with painted palace figures, a jet-black wooden staircase led to the second floor. 

As soon as Jinxia stepped on the stairs, a creaking sound was heard and each step was another squeak. If these disturbing sounds had been heard during the daylight, they would have been seen as natural, but now, in the middle of a quiet night, they sounded terrifying. 

Her body became tense and her eyes were heavy and dry. She blinked several times. 

Lu Yi also blinked his eyes, but stared straight at her. 

Jinxia took a deep breath to clear her head and she slowly stepped back, step by step, until she aligned herself with Lu Yi, who was going up. 

“He seems to be up there. It is said that a ghost who died unjustly is the most vicious, we better not disturb him. Let’s hurry and go as fast as we can!” She wanted to squeeze through him, whether Lu Yi would walk out or not, she just wanted to leave regardless.

Lu Yi’s vision was much sharper than Jinxia’s. Lu Yi did not move at all, he held her hard instead, looking at a pair of green eyes and said: “That’s a cat.”


“Hah?” Jinxia was silent for a moment, then she turned her head again, still unable to see clearly, her mouth mimicked the verse of a mouse, “Squeak..squeak..”

“Meow, meow, meow.”

The green eyes responded eagerly. The cat lowered its body, the bushy tail swaying left and right in the air. 

Jinxia let out a sigh of relief. 

“Now, can you let go of my hand?” Lu Yi said in an unpleasant tone. 

Jinxia turned her head, only then she saw that she had unconsciously held Lu Yi’s collar in a tight grip. She loosened it at once, then realizing that Lu Yi’s robe was messed up, she apologized and helped him clean up. 

“It’s indeed a body full of sublime spirits.”

Lu Yi sneered at her, brushed Jinxia’s hand off and went upstairs without looking back.

The cat jumped down from the railing, not afraid of strangers at all, continued to meow, and walked back and forth between Lu Yi’s feet. Jinxia, looking at the cat with attention, noticed a yellow-orange coloured skin, a fat body and a big head. The animal’s fur was all thick and neat.

“Is this Zhou Xian’s cat? Because it missed its owner, so it stayed in this building without leaving?” Jinxia followed up the stairs, and took a guess, “Could Zhou Xian’s spirit be in him?” 

The fat cat tried hard to rub its head under Lu Yi’s shoes. The young man did not like it and lifted his legs pushing the cat aside. The fat cat was determined to rub his head again, this time, even harder. 

“You see, he’s trying to seek justice with you.”

Jinxia seemed to have read the fat cat’s mind. 

“Why are you so sure this Zhou Xian’s case is an injustice?” Lu Yi asked. 

Jinxia paused, realizing that her mouth had said ‘a ghost who died unjustly’, and now said, ‘seeking justice’. Even though she said those words carelessly, they were already indicating her personal view on the case. 

“I just guessed it.” She tried to dodge.

Lu Yi nodded his head, “It turns out the way that Liu Shanmen handle their cases is by guesses and assumptions.”

“Hey! You…” Jinxia got annoyed and  said irritated, “How can that be called an assumption? The river repair funds, it was his full responsibility. In this world, are there people as stupid as him who takes stones to throw them at people but let them at his own feet? If indeed Zhou Xian embezzled the funds, he should’ve already escaped, why would he hang himself?”

The fat cat meowed under Lu Yi’s feet, as if it was agreeing with her words. 

Lu Yi raised his eyebrows and said. “You don’t think he committed suicide because he wanted to avoid punishment?” 

“I…” 

Jinxia had only half opened her mouth when she heard  someone shouting furiously downstairs in a harsh voice: “Who? Who’s upstairs?”

The person in charge of managing this official’s house was an old man in his sixties, his voice turned out to be quite loud, but his steps were slow. Jinxia heard his voice. He appeared in front of them after a while with one of his trembling hands holding the lantern. 

The fat cat murmured, swaying its thick tail, and jumped forward. The old man picked up the cat and hugged him. 

“Old Uncle, is this your cat?” Jinxia pulled out the badge and showed it, then she asked, “What did you feed him for him to become this fat?” 

“He eats a mixture of rice and pork everyday, and twice at night.”

“What! Twice a day! Pork mixed rice!” Jinxia snarled out loud, looking at the cat with envy and resentment. 

“You two came to investigate the case?” The old man brought his lantern closer to the badge and he saw the word ‘LiuShanmen’ on it. “Why wasn’t I informed? How did you come in here?” 

“I don’t like other people interfering when I investigate a case.” Lu Yi explained. “Are you the guardian of this officer’s post station?” 

The lantern was dim, so the old man could not see Lu Yi’s Fei Yu Fu [Flying Fish Uniform] for a moment. Jinxia, to make him understand, clarified, “This official is JinYiWei Jingli, Lu Yi, Lu Daren.” 

Upon hearing those five words, JinYiWei Jingli, the old man put the fat cat down straight away and passed the lantern in Jinxia’s hands. He then faced Lu Yi and said, “Beizhe, Wang Chi, greeting Lu Daren.” 

“This house has been under your supervision all this time?” Lu Yi asked.

“Yes.” 

“When did Zhou Xian start living here?”

“Who? You mean the director of the Department of the Occupation Waterworks Bureau, Zhou Daren. Yes, it was after the winter had passed when he moved in.” Old Wang sighed, “I wouldn’t have thought he would hang himself.” 

The cat was too heavy and affectionate with people. Jinxia was finding it difficult to hold the lantern and try to get the cat down from her shoulder at the same time. 

“Tell me what happened from beginning to end.” Lu Yi commanded.

The old Wang had told that story several times already, but he was talking to Lu Yi, who had the status of JinYiWei Jingli. Furthermore Lu Daren’s manners were so firm and demanding that he didn’t even dare to refuse. Therefore he told the story again from the beginning until the end with as many details as possible. 

“That night, Zhou Daren came home only once, his expression was not good. The steward said to me that the bamboo cage heater was not warm enough, and asked me to add a heating iron container. Then I went back to sleep until early morning. I noticed that the windows upstairs were open: thinking that Zhou Daren was awake, I went upstairs to take a look and found Zhou Daren hanging on a wooden block from the ceiling.”

The old Wang pointed over Jinxia’s head, the latter raised her head, looked over the wooden block and in a hurry moved herself a few steps to the side. 

“If he really hanged himself, there should be a small stool that he kicked. Besides the sound of the stool falling had to be heard! This floor is made of wood, therefore the sounds definitely shouldn’t have been small and you didn’t hear any movements?” Jinxia pointed out. 

The old Wang awkwardly pointed at the fat cat: “Ahu often bumps into things, I’m used to hearing them, so when I heard some noises, I didn’t give too much importance to them.” 

Ahu heard his name called, he meowed and wagged his tail in a good mood. He brushed himself around Jinxia’s neck, making her tickled. 

“Where is the stool?” Jinxia asked.

“There.” The old Wang gestured her to look at the round stool that was knee-high with curved legs, “I remember that it fell to the side.”

Because of the cat’s fur, Jinxia had already sneezed twice; unable to withstand the weight of the animal, she quickly gave Ahu back to old Wang, then half-crouched she used a lantern to shine on the rounded stool where she found a small indentation on its edge. She then passed the lantern over the floor to examine it. 

“Didn’t the steward hear anything either?” She asked in surprise. 

“This steward had caught a fever for two days. At night he would sleep right away after taking the medicine. In the morning, I had to call and wake him up.” 

Until now, Lu Yi had only been standing on the side, it was not clear what he was thinking about the story. After a while he asked: “Ever since Zhou Xian lived here, how often did he ask for a heating iron container?” 

“It was the first time, on that night.” 

“Was that night very cold?” 

“That night, after it rained, it became quite cold. Moreover, when Zhou Daren returned home, his robe was wet, making him tremble like a leaf.” 

“He didn’t ride the horse carriage?” Jinxia asked in wonder. “Or bring an umbrella?” 

The old Wang tried his best to remember: “I thought it was also strange, Zhou Daren had always used a horse carriage before… That night, for some reason, no horse carriage took him home.” 

Lu Yi turned around and looked at the window, then asked: “That morning, how many windows were open in the room?” 

The old Wang came forward and opened two windows on the north west side: “It’s these two.”

As soon as the windows were opened, more and more wind blew in. Ahu, feeling uncomfortable, meowed twice, then arched its body on old Wang’s arms. Lu Yi walked closer to the window, then looked out. Although the moonlight was bright, it was still hard to see anything, only the uneven shape of a building could be discerned. 

“Also Zhou Daren used to open this window.” Old Wang didn’t understand the reason either. 

Jinxia opened several windows facing south and looked out as well, and she was pleasantly surprised: “This side turned out to be facing the flower garden in the backyard, the view is quite good!” 

The old Wang laughed: “That’s right, the view is pretty good, underneath there is a peach tree, it’s currently blooming flowers.” 

“It seems that Zhou Xian wasn’t a person who loved flowers, he wasted the spring’s colour.” Jinxia turned her head and walked to the study desk with three drawers. She opened them: everything was empty. She sometimes was not surprised, all Zhou Xian’s letters and files had been confiscated by the police. The bookshelves were also empty, only the brush holder, an ink container and a rinse water container were left.

“The stuff on this table, have you ever touched them?” 

Old Wang shook his head: “No, after the police arrived, this door was locked since then, I’ve never come here afterward.” 

Jinxia touched the ink container with her finger, tried hard to rub it, then she examined it with the utmost attention: on her finger there was only a small trace of ink left, and the rinse water container was clean and dry. 

“What?” Lu Yi asked.

“Looks like Zhou Xian didn’t leave any last letter.” Just as she finished her words, Jinxia thought of something and she raised her lantern to shed light on the wall: every part of it brightened up. She started to inspect it with attention…

Old Wang didn’t understand what she was doing, but Lu Yi did. 





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