YangYue clenched his fists tightly until the crackling of his bones was heard, “Let her board the boat alone… Someone must’ve bothered her! She… she… I… I…”
Gui’Er was worried, “Now what? Should we report this to the officials?”
YangYue stood still for a long time, then took a deep breath and said, “Right now, she’s more important. I’ll go and invite Doctor Shen to take a look at her.”
While saying that he looked at Zhai Lanye in worry, then hurried back to the clinic, and asked the servant the current location of Doctor Shen. After Doctor Shen finished treating a patient, there was no time for him to return to the clinic, sinceYangYue urged him to the Zhai’s residence at once.
While doctor Shen was examining the pulse of Zhai Lanye, YangYue stood on the side of the bed to observe him.
“She’s just faced an unexpected trauma, temporarily losing herself and feeling distressed. She also has a congenital heart artery disease, therefore her pulse is weak…”
Impatiently waiting for Doctor Shen to finish his words, YangYue asked frantically, “Can you help? She will be fine, right?”
“It’s certainly possible to treat her, but because of her illness, her heart is very weak, it must be treated for a long time, therefore you must be careful not to let her suffer through pain or extreme happiness.”
Doctor Shen ordered the clinic’s servant to open his medical bag; he took out a long silver needle, then pinned it once in the philtrum point above the mouth. YangYue’s entire body seemed to be able to experience the pain, his fingers held the bed frame tightly enough to scrape the wood out.
*[Philtrum point = The centre of your upper lips, goes above a little, but it’s still under the nose, TN]
Following that procedure, a drop of blood fell and Zhai Lanye let out a small groan, her eyes moved and she finally regained consciousness.
“Miss…” Gui’Er held her hand.
Zhai Lanye slowly looked at her, her soft chin trembled a little, tears rolled down… Hearing her little cry, YangYue couldn’t say anything, and could only look at her blankly, without moving at all.
Doctor Shen said, “It’s good that she’s crying. Next time, in a situation like this, if you don’t know how to use a silver needle, you can also slap her hard on the cheek… No need to panic like this.”
The last sentence was addressed to YangYue.
YangYue looked at Doctor Shen, immediately falling silent. His lips moved a little, but still he did not say anything.
Doctor Shen laughed while patting his shoulder, ordered the clinic servant to clean up his bags, then the old lady walked them down and out the door.
Zhai Lanye was still crying and the more she cried, the sadder she became. It seemed that she was going to use all the remaining energy of her body for crying.
“Miss… Miss…” Gui’Er said softly on her side.
YangYue just stood there in silence, feeling that her sobs were finally letting her draw out her sorrow, as if her frail heart had just been broken.
He continued to stand there without uttering a single word, then he turned and left.
***
Jinxia was enjoying a second meal today. At noon, when lunch hour had arrived, the post station servant had come again carrying a box of food. She’d thanked him more than once when she had received it. She’d opened the box placed on the table: it was pigeon soup, fried tofu, mushrooms and white rice.
That menu turned out to be more lavish than before. If she had known that Yangzhou would have been so kind in taking care of an injured official, she would’ve created some minor illnesses from time to time to enjoy the treatment. While thinking about it, Jinxia drank the soup with satisfaction.
Someone knocked on the door.
Did they come to take the dishes already? She got up in surprise, but when she opened the door, it was YangYue.
“Da Yang, why are you here? The master…” She saw that YangYue’s expression was wrong, and she suddenly became nervous, “Is there something wrong with Master’s injury? Is it serious?”
“Father is fine.” YangYue came in with a dull face, “…I saw Ms. Zhai, she’s not fine.”
Hearing that the master was okay, Jinxia let out a sigh of relief, and said, “What’s wrong with Ms. Zhai?”
YangYue stopped in front of the grating rack and stood up straight with a very ugly face. Jinxia kept asking questions, then he said in a low voice, “I also don’t know, but seeing her condition, it seems like she was bothered by someone.”
Jinxia was taken aback, then asked: “Who is bothering her? Her father is the brother-in-law of Yangzhou’s prefect, who has the guts to dare to bother her?”
“I heard it was a Young Master from the Capital.” YangYue’s voice was frozen through the cold air.
From the capital, and he doesn’t care about the brother-in-law of the Yangzhou’s prefect. Just by using a knee, Jinxia could already figure out who it was.
Although Lu Yi’s character was sometimes a bit immoral, he didn’t seem to be the type that used violence to harass women. She thought about it for a moment, then pulled YangYue to let him sit down, “I can help you.”
In this matter, YangYue knew that he could not be reckless, but he couldn’t find any clues based on his thoughts, in addition he couldn’t ask his father for help, so he could only come for Jinxia’s advice. After taking a deep breath, he began to tell her all the things that had happened after meeting Gui’Er at the clinic.
After listening to him, Jinxia’s eyebrows tightened, she looked at YangYue and said, “I know what you’re thinking, but that person is not Lu Daren. Last night, Lu Daren took Sha Xiuzhu out to find some people. When he came home, we were all attacked and Sha Xiuzhu was kidnapped. The enemies caused a lot of injuries, therefore he had absolutely no chance to go and disturb Ms. Zhai.”
“Kidnapped by someone?” YangYue asked.
Jinxia did not lower her voice, she only gestured to YangYue with her eyes, and he immediately understood.
“I was also hit by a sword and I’m currently under treatment…. Don’t tell the master, okay?” Jinxia told him.
YangYue just realized that her left arm was a little strange. He creased his forehead and said to her, “Is the wound bad?”
“It’s fine, it’s just an external wound. After all, the post station has been very attentive to this injured officer, they keep sending me food. I even got to eat a whole pigeon by myself for the first time!” Jinxia said proudly and pointed toward the small pile of bones on the table, “If I knew you were coming, I would’ve saved you some.”
“It’s fine.” YangYue felt a little relieved, but he doesn’t want to eat at the moment, “So you think this problem…”
“Ms. Zhai got on a boat, and the female maid was not allowed to go along…” Jinxia felt it was a bit strange, “But, she’s a weak woman, with a charming face, yet her family allowed her to sail on her own, don’t you find it strange? That day when we visited her boat, although we only met her and her maid, on the ship, beside the boatman, there were also other four to five servants. Her family took care of her very well, because she’s the bait to catch a golden turtle… How could they easily let her be bothered by others?”
YangYue was also confused, and unable to make any guesses at all. He could only listen to her quietly.
“Therefore, there are two possibilities about the people on the boat. One, her family was also on the boat, then her being bothered by others wouldn’t be possible. Two, the person on this boat had to be very important to Zhang’s family, and even if she was being bothered, it would be worthed of something.”
Hearing this, YangYue’s veins bursted out of his hand, and he slammed down on the table.
Jinxia couldn’t stop him, but she felt the legs of the table shaking, so she hurriedly said, “Brother, calm down! I’m not done talking… These are just speculations, but based on the description of Ms. Zhai you depicted, I don’t think she was being bothered.”
“But, with her face like that, how could it be…”
“I know, listen to me! She must have faced a tragic trauma. Based on what the doctor said, she’s distressed right? If she was abused, the maid should’ve noticed it while changing her clothes, but the maid never mentioned it at all. Second, you and Doctor Shen are both men, and she doesn’t display fear when being near you two, then it’s not the right supposition either.”
YangYue looked at her suspiciously, “Really?”
“Yes!” Jinxia poured tea for him with one hand, “Brother, right now your condition is in a state of confusion, be careful or else the master will be angry at you.”
“So, who exactly was she meeting?” YangYue still asked.
Jinxia asked him back,“Why don’t you ask her?”
“I thought she was… How could I ask about such a thing?”
“Oh my stupid brother, you’re afraid she could be offended, then became panicked by yourself, what is wrong with you? We are Constables, we first must understand the problem before we can handle a case.” Jinxia thought about it, “How about I go and ask her?”
“Fine, but if she doesn’t want to tell you, you can’t use violence on her, don’t hurt her and don’t scare her.”
“I know, my arm still hurts, how could I possibly hurt her? I will take it easy and just ask questions.”
Jinxia freshened up herself, then followed YangYue to where Zhai Lanye lived, but unexpectedly the door was closed tight, and it took a long time for a servant to come and open it a bit.
Looking at YangYue through the crack of the door, the servant recognized him and said with a cold tone, “My master had severely scolded us for letting outsiders inside, don’t come here again!” The door was immediately closed and locked.
YangYue was furious, but no matter how much he knocked on the door, no one came to open it again.
“Da Yang…”
She heard the crackling noises coming from YangYue’s first, the veins were clearly visible on his hands. Jinxia was about to stop him, but she was pushed to the side. At that moment, YangYue was mad, a completely different person from his usual self. He started banging on the door.
“Da Yang!” Jinxia said, anxious, “…You will scare her like this!”
Upon hearing this, YangYue stopped his banging, silently stood still and after a short period of time, he stepped back, walked to the corner of the wall and crouched down, his hands wrapped around his head, his fingers gripping his hair tightly.
Jinxia had never seen him like this before. She walked over and touched him cautiously, whispering, “Da Yang, don’t be like this.”
YangYue raised his head, his eyes were full of sadness, “…I can’t do anything, I can’t do anything for her.”
Jinxia couldn’t think of any way to help him, she could only crouched down next to him, in a daze.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, the sky had darkened… Feeling worried that it would rain, Jinxia reminded YangYue, “Shouldn’t you go back to your father? You were out for so long, he will definitely become suspicious.”
Thinking about his father, YangYue stood up with difficulty, rubbed his face harshly, until it was red, he looked back at the door, then dragged his feet to the clinic.
Feeling uneasy, Jinxia accompanied him back to the clinic. Due to the unhealed wound on her arm, she didn’t dare to go in and see Yang ChengWan. She stood by the wall, and after hearing YangYue answer Yang ChengWan’s questions, she felt relieved and went back to the post station.
Not knowing whether it was because she still had a fever, Jinxia felt her head hurt and her vision getting blurred. After walking for a while, before entering the post station door, she leaned against a willow tree to rest.
Not far from the corridor, there were two servants chatting. She was curious about their conversation, hence she raised her ears and listened to them.
“…Where’s the money? There were pigeons and chickens.” A servant asked.
Then the other one answered, “Don’t worry, Lu Daren has already left two taels of silver, that’s enough, and we can use the rest to buy wine for us to drink.”
“How did that girl get hurt? And why is Lu Daren so attentive and caring for her?”
“Who knows! Aiyo…! Let me go see if the chicken soup is ready…”
Jinxia had listened to every word and finally understood. All of a sudden she felt stupid, thinking she should’ve realized this before. She was just an ordinary officer… Although injured, at most the kitchen would just provide porridge, why would they bother cooking pigeon soup, spinach and beef?
It turned out that it was Lu Daren who gave them the money, but he never mentioned it to her.
A willow branch appeared before her, waving back and forth, it reminded her of Lu Yi’s previous actions: helping the master treat his leg, bursting at midnight in her room thinking she had been attacked; in the Taohualin forest, he helped her escape and now he was giving money to the kitchen to provide her with good food… Although he was always showing a sour face, and he didn’t care about others feelings when he spoke, his actions were indeed for the sake of others.
While thinking, she walked slowly towards her room. She had not yet entered the courtyard, when she heard someone shouting behind her.
“Constable Yuan!”
Vol 13: Chapter 1
Hearing this voice, Jinxia frowned, but had to put a smile on her face before turning around, respectfully saying, “Liu Daren.”
It had been several days since they came to Yangzhou, but there was no progress with the case at all. Although Liu Xiangzuo was calm by nature, every day that passed made him restless and irritated. Yang ChengWan had already been taken by Lu Yi for treatment, and he couldn’t interfere with that matter, but beside him there were no more experts. In front of his eyes was Jinxia who was walking slowly, looking very relaxed… That made him a little annoyed.
“Let me ask you, why did you come to Yangzhou?” Liu Xiangzuo asked with a light voice.
Jinxia heard the annoyance in his tone, she lowered her head and her gaze, “To find the one hundred thousand taels of silver.”
“It’s been days, have you had any leads?”
“Reporting, Daren, not… not yet.”
Hearing her words made him even more angry, “Let’s not mind the injured Head Yang, but those of you, who are his subordinates, should be more diligent, yet every day you’re just lazing around and not progressing at all. How can you be responsible for the Palace? ‘Eating the emperor’s food, you must share the emperor’s suffering’. Even if you have never read a book, you must know this rule!”
“Daren’s words are indeed correct, Beizhe deserves to die.”
He was angry, Jinxia would not be stupid to confront him, instead she just followed his words.
“Last time you said Zhou Xian had a lover, so why didn’t you ask her?”
“The lady is a foster child of the brother-in-law of Yangzhou’s prefect. I’ve visited there a few times, but have constantly been turned away.” Jinxia said truthfully.
“Brother-in-law of Yangzhou’s prefect… This…” Liu Xiangzuo was stunned for a moment, “But we must think of another way. Her house should have maids, kitchen servants, a lot of people! You can interrogate them to find something related to her! You can’t meet the lady because she’s in her room, but are you saying you can’t meet these people too?”
“Daren is right.”
“Well, hurry up, then!”
In the sky, thick dark clouds hung low, bringing the sound of thunder. It seemed a heavy rain would have fallen soon.
Jinxia heard the sound of thunder and awkwardly asked, “Right now?”
“Of course! Do you know how much time you’ve wasted? While investigating a case, you must forget about sleeping or eating and work all the time regardless of day and night. Act like a LiuShanmen a little, you lazy creature, you should be sacrificing your life for the country and the emperor, can I count on you?”
Jinxia took a quick glance at Liu Xiangzuo’s big belly, and sighed, “Liu Daren is right, Beizhe will go right away.”
“Liu Daren.”
Holding several scrolls of case files in his hands, Lu Yi came from the corner of the corridor, faced Liu Xiangzuo and greeted him.
Jinxia looked up at him, surprised for a moment, not knowing why this person seemed to have just jumped out of her mind.
“Oh… Lu Jingli,” Toward this one person, Liu Xiangzuo’s attitude could be too condescending or too exalted, “Because of the case, these days had been difficult for you.”
“How can Daren say that? The purpose of my arrival is to assist, so it’s only appropriate.” He turned towards Jinxia, his face looked unhappy, “Constable Yuan, I happened to be looking for you.”
“Does Daren have an order?”
“Regarding Sha Xiuzhu’s kidnapping last night, I still have a few questions I want to ask.” Lu Yi eyebrows furrowed.
Now it was Liu Xiangzuo who was stunned, “Sha Xiuzhu was kidnapped last night?”
Lu Yi nodded his head, “That’s right, Daren. Last night some members of JinYiWei and I took Sha Xiuzhu out. On the way, we were attacked and several officers were also injured.”
“These criminals are quite bold, is Lu Jingli alright?”
“Beizhe is fine, thanks for Daren’s concern, but unable to arrest these criminals. I am uneasy.”
“Of course, these criminals really do not care about the law, and their actions are out of control…” Liu Xiangzuo turned to face Jinxia, “Since you were there at the time of the incident, you should do your best to help arrest the criminals. Lu Jingli already said so, hence you should go.”
“Those… maids, servants, kitchen servants…?” Jinxia asked.
“Just leave it for tomorrow.”
“Beizhe understands.”
Lu Yi also paid respect to Liu Xiangzuo, “Beizhe will resign first.”
“Please go ahead, no need for the formality.” Liu Xiangzuo hurriedly responded.
Jinxia followed Lu Yi from behind, full of suspicions, thinking whether it was possible that the whole scheme had been found out… Did he find something that indicated that night was unusual, and want to settle it with her?
She was feeling uneasy but continued to walk until they reached the courtyard of Lu Yi’s room. After passing through the moon-shaped door, Lu Yi stopped his steps and coldly said, “Where have you been? Who did you fight with?”
“None!”
“Your wound is already open, still saying none?”
Lu Yi squinted his eyes and looked at her left arm.
Up until now she didn’t notice but when Jinxia looked down at her arm, she spotted some bloodstains on the sleeve of her robe. No wonder it felt extremely painful, and she thought it was the effect of the medicine she took! She supposed that maybe it was when she tried to block YangYue and she was pushed aside, hitting the wall and causing the wound to open again.
“Oh, this… I wasn’t careful and bumped into something earlier.” She could only say that.
Lu Yi seemed about to say something, but he restrained himself, took a small bottle from his pocket and gave an order, “You go in first, I will help you treat the wound.”
“No need, I can treat it myself.” Jinxia hurriedly said, reaching out her hand to take the medicine from his hand, “…Really, I can even bandage a back injury.”
“…” He glanced at the medicine in her hand, “Are you willing to use this medicine now?”
“This is Daren’s good intention, Beizhe doesn’t dare to refuse.” Jinxia looked at the medicine, laughed and said, “Besides, Beizhe has also thought carefully ‘lots of lice don’t bite, lots of debts no need to worry.”
Lu Yi was silent for a moment.
The girl entered the room, closed the door and left him outside.
Lu Yi looked at the closed door, shook his head, lifted his shirt and sat on the fence post of the courtyard. A moment later, there was the sound of a bottle being placed on the table, then he heard Jinxia groaning. If one had listened carefully, they would have heard that she was trying really hard to endure the pain while breathing heavily. Lu Yi didn’t usually see her try to act this tough… her personality could make others laugh at and be angry at the same time.
The sound of thunder passed through the roof of the room, the raindrops fell on the rocks in the garden with a sound loud enough to be heard.
Thinking about it, she found it strange: the medicine that Lu Yi gave her had a fragrance, when she applied it on the wound, it immediately felt soothing cold, and very comfortable. Jinxia tidied up her clothes, and as soon she stood up, she realized that she was in Lu Yi’s room. She opened the door in a hurry and saw Lu Yi sitting on a fence post…
“Daren, Beizhe deserves to die, I momentarily forgot and thought this was my room.” She apologized, while stealing glances in order to catch his expression.
Lu Yi looked at her for a moment, and said slowly, “This wound, is it worth it?”
Jinxia felt those words were a little strange. At the moment, she didn’t know how to answer and could only pretend not to understand the question, “Oh?”
Lu Yi stood up, straightened his sleeve, and asked again, “I asked you, your arm is suffering from a strike of a sword, is it worth it?”
“It’s worth it, of course it’s worth it.” Jinxia answered with a smile, “It’s to serve Daren, this is no problem, just a minor injury.”
Hearing that, Lu Yi ignored her, snorted coldly, lifted his foot, and walked inside the room.
Guessing that his mood was not good, Jinxia hesitated for a while outside the door, then shouted, “If there are no more orders from Daren, Beizhe will leave…”
Before she could finish her words, she was cut off by a cold voice coming from inside the room.
“Come inside, I have something to ask.”
There was no other way, Jinxia walked back into the room, seeing Lu Yi sitting beside the elephant table, pouring tea.
“Daren, you don’t need to do this, let me do it,”
Seeing his displeased expression, she instinctively tried to please him. Jinxia reached her hand out, but as soon as her thumb touched the handle of the teapot, Lu Yi pulled it back.
“Calm down a little.” He glanced at her with displeasure, and said in a deep voice, “Sit!”
Jinxia did not dare to fight back, she sat down right away and felt confused: if he found out that there was something wrong with her on the night Sha Xiuzhu was kidnapped, she would have been punished right now, yet he was still telling her to sit down.. It should have been more appropriate to kneel, right? But if he didn’t know it, then what was the cause for his expression to become dark and his words fierce?
Even though she sat down politely, her mind kept on wondering if there were any flaws that night that would have made her guilty. While still observing Lu Yi’s expression, Jinxia became even more anxious.
“You, there really isn’t anything you want to report to me?” Lu Yo sipped a little of his tea and looked at Jinxia.
“Beizhe doesn’t know what Daren wants to hear…”
Jinxia hated this kind of questioning the most. When she was a child, her mother always liked to ask her sternly, ‘do you have nothing to say to your mother today?’. It made her uncomfortable, as if her mother already knew everything, so she had to say everything honestly, then got a fat beating.
Lu Yi raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Right! There is an important matter that I need to report to you.” Jinxia decided to use Zhai Lanye’s problem. She said in a loud voice, “Ms. Zhai is in trouble!”
“What trouble?”
“Beizhe doesn’t know the exact problem, I only know that last night she boarded on a boat to meet a young master from the Capital. After returning from that trip, something was off: she became silent and unconscious all night long, not listening to anyone around her. The maid was so panicked that she went to Doctor Shen, but then she met Da Yang…” She paused for a moment, then said again, “Da Yang knows that Daren is very fond of Ms. Zhai, so he went to take a look on your behalf…”
“Meeting her on my behalf?” Lu Yi said mockingly.
Jinxia laughed happily, then said, “Doctor Shen pinned Ms. Zhai with a needle, then she regained her consciousness, but still didn’t want to speak, just kept on crying. According to Daren, do you think she was harassed by someone?”
Lu Yi seemed to be conflicted in his heart, he only gave a little cold laughter for a moment, but didn’t say anything.
“Daren, could it be that Daren already knows about this?” Jinxia saw his gestures and guessed, continuing to ask, “Who was the person on the boat?”
“Someone I don’t want to meet, but must meet.” Lu tightened his eyebrows, seeming like he wasn’t going to add more to his words. Instead he just looked at Jinxia, “You ran out because of this problem?”
“I don’t know if this has anything to do with the Zhou Xian’s case, I want to investigate to make it clear… So I can report to Daren.” Jinxia added.
“Don’t pay attention to Ms. Zhai.” Lu Yi simply ordered, “That’s not something you can intervene on.”
“…Oh.”
Jinxia was suspicious, but could only say that.
Lu Yi frowned and said, “Go back. If you’re injured, worry about taking care of the injury, I’m also going to see Head Chief Yang.”
“Oh…”
Jinxia agreed, then got up and left, starting to think to herself, ‘This means Lu Yi knows the person on the boat, he also knows about the relationship between Ms. Zhai and that person, then how much does he know about this Zhou Xian case?
“Wait!”
Lu Yi called out for her from behind, handing her a green oil-covered umbrella. Without saying a word, he turned back and walked into his room, then locked the door.
“Thank you, Daren.”
Jinxia said right away, not knowing whether he heard it or not.
Inside the room, Lu Yi’s forehead creased while listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella that was slowly moving away.
YangYue clenched his fists tightly until the crackling of his bones was heard, “Let her board the boat alone… Someone must’ve bothered her! She… she… I… I…”
Gui’Er was worried, “Now what? Should we report this to the officials?”
YangYue stood still for a long time, then took a deep breath and said, “Right now, she’s more important. I’ll go and invite Doctor Shen to take a look at her.”
While saying that he looked at Zhai Lanye in worry, then hurried back to the clinic, and asked the servant the current location of Doctor Shen. After Doctor Shen finished treating a patient, there was no time for him to return to the clinic, sinceYangYue urged him to the Zhai’s residence at once.
While doctor Shen was examining the pulse of Zhai Lanye, YangYue stood on the side of the bed to observe him.
“She’s just faced an unexpected trauma, temporarily losing herself and feeling distressed. She also has a congenital heart artery disease, therefore her pulse is weak…”
Impatiently waiting for Doctor Shen to finish his words, YangYue asked frantically, “Can you help? She will be fine, right?”
“It’s certainly possible to treat her, but because of her illness, her heart is very weak, it must be treated for a long time, therefore you must be careful not to let her suffer through pain or extreme happiness.”
Doctor Shen ordered the clinic’s servant to open his medical bag; he took out a long silver needle, then pinned it once in the philtrum point above the mouth. YangYue’s entire body seemed to be able to experience the pain, his fingers held the bed frame tightly enough to scrape the wood out.
*[Philtrum point = The centre of your upper lips, goes above a little, but it’s still under the nose, TN]
Following that procedure, a drop of blood fell and Zhai Lanye let out a small groan, her eyes moved and she finally regained consciousness.
“Miss…” Gui’Er held her hand.
Zhai Lanye slowly looked at her, her soft chin trembled a little, tears rolled down… Hearing her little cry, YangYue couldn’t say anything, and could only look at her blankly, without moving at all.
Doctor Shen said, “It’s good that she’s crying. Next time, in a situation like this, if you don’t know how to use a silver needle, you can also slap her hard on the cheek… No need to panic like this.”
The last sentence was addressed to YangYue.
YangYue looked at Doctor Shen, immediately falling silent. His lips moved a little, but still he did not say anything.
Doctor Shen laughed while patting his shoulder, ordered the clinic servant to clean up his bags, then the old lady walked them down and out the door.
Zhai Lanye was still crying and the more she cried, the sadder she became. It seemed that she was going to use all the remaining energy of her body for crying.
“Miss… Miss…” Gui’Er said softly on her side.
YangYue just stood there in silence, feeling that her sobs were finally letting her draw out her sorrow, as if her frail heart had just been broken.
He continued to stand there without uttering a single word, then he turned and left.
***
Jinxia was enjoying a second meal today. At noon, when lunch hour had arrived, the post station servant had come again carrying a box of food. She’d thanked him more than once when she had received it. She’d opened the box placed on the table: it was pigeon soup, fried tofu, mushrooms and white rice.
That menu turned out to be more lavish than before. If she had known that Yangzhou would have been so kind in taking care of an injured official, she would’ve created some minor illnesses from time to time to enjoy the treatment. While thinking about it, Jinxia drank the soup with satisfaction.
Someone knocked on the door.
Did they come to take the dishes already? She got up in surprise, but when she opened the door, it was YangYue.
“Da Yang, why are you here? The master…” She saw that YangYue’s expression was wrong, and she suddenly became nervous, “Is there something wrong with Master’s injury? Is it serious?”
“Father is fine.” YangYue came in with a dull face, “…I saw Ms. Zhai, she’s not fine.”
Hearing that the master was okay, Jinxia let out a sigh of relief, and said, “What’s wrong with Ms. Zhai?”
YangYue stopped in front of the grating rack and stood up straight with a very ugly face. Jinxia kept asking questions, then he said in a low voice, “I also don’t know, but seeing her condition, it seems like she was bothered by someone.”
Jinxia was taken aback, then asked: “Who is bothering her? Her father is the brother-in-law of Yangzhou’s prefect, who has the guts to dare to bother her?”
“I heard it was a Young Master from the Capital.” YangYue’s voice was frozen through the cold air.
From the capital, and he doesn’t care about the brother-in-law of the Yangzhou’s prefect. Just by using a knee, Jinxia could already figure out who it was.
Although Lu Yi’s character was sometimes a bit immoral, he didn’t seem to be the type that used violence to harass women. She thought about it for a moment, then pulled YangYue to let him sit down, “I can help you.”
In this matter, YangYue knew that he could not be reckless, but he couldn’t find any clues based on his thoughts, in addition he couldn’t ask his father for help, so he could only come for Jinxia’s advice. After taking a deep breath, he began to tell her all the things that had happened after meeting Gui’Er at the clinic.
After listening to him, Jinxia’s eyebrows tightened, she looked at YangYue and said, “I know what you’re thinking, but that person is not Lu Daren. Last night, Lu Daren took Sha Xiuzhu out to find some people. When he came home, we were all attacked and Sha Xiuzhu was kidnapped. The enemies caused a lot of injuries, therefore he had absolutely no chance to go and disturb Ms. Zhai.”
“Kidnapped by someone?” YangYue asked.
Jinxia did not lower her voice, she only gestured to YangYue with her eyes, and he immediately understood.
“I was also hit by a sword and I’m currently under treatment…. Don’t tell the master, okay?” Jinxia told him.
YangYue just realized that her left arm was a little strange. He creased his forehead and said to her, “Is the wound bad?”
“It’s fine, it’s just an external wound. After all, the post station has been very attentive to this injured officer, they keep sending me food. I even got to eat a whole pigeon by myself for the first time!” Jinxia said proudly and pointed toward the small pile of bones on the table, “If I knew you were coming, I would’ve saved you some.”
“It’s fine.” YangYue felt a little relieved, but he doesn’t want to eat at the moment, “So you think this problem…”
“Ms. Zhai got on a boat, and the female maid was not allowed to go along…” Jinxia felt it was a bit strange, “But, she’s a weak woman, with a charming face, yet her family allowed her to sail on her own, don’t you find it strange? That day when we visited her boat, although we only met her and her maid, on the ship, beside the boatman, there were also other four to five servants. Her family took care of her very well, because she’s the bait to catch a golden turtle… How could they easily let her be bothered by others?”
YangYue was also confused, and unable to make any guesses at all. He could only listen to her quietly.
“Therefore, there are two possibilities about the people on the boat. One, her family was also on the boat, then her being bothered by others wouldn’t be possible. Two, the person on this boat had to be very important to Zhang’s family, and even if she was being bothered, it would be worthed of something.”
Hearing this, YangYue’s veins bursted out of his hand, and he slammed down on the table.
Jinxia couldn’t stop him, but she felt the legs of the table shaking, so she hurriedly said, “Brother, calm down! I’m not done talking… These are just speculations, but based on the description of Ms. Zhai you depicted, I don’t think she was being bothered.”
“But, with her face like that, how could it be…”
“I know, listen to me! She must have faced a tragic trauma. Based on what the doctor said, she’s distressed right? If she was abused, the maid should’ve noticed it while changing her clothes, but the maid never mentioned it at all. Second, you and Doctor Shen are both men, and she doesn’t display fear when being near you two, then it’s not the right supposition either.”
YangYue looked at her suspiciously, “Really?”
“Yes!” Jinxia poured tea for him with one hand, “Brother, right now your condition is in a state of confusion, be careful or else the master will be angry at you.”
“So, who exactly was she meeting?” YangYue still asked.
Jinxia asked him back,“Why don’t you ask her?”
“I thought she was… How could I ask about such a thing?”
“Oh my stupid brother, you’re afraid she could be offended, then became panicked by yourself, what is wrong with you? We are Constables, we first must understand the problem before we can handle a case.” Jinxia thought about it, “How about I go and ask her?”
“Fine, but if she doesn’t want to tell you, you can’t use violence on her, don’t hurt her and don’t scare her.”
“I know, my arm still hurts, how could I possibly hurt her? I will take it easy and just ask questions.”
Jinxia freshened up herself, then followed YangYue to where Zhai Lanye lived, but unexpectedly the door was closed tight, and it took a long time for a servant to come and open it a bit.
Looking at YangYue through the crack of the door, the servant recognized him and said with a cold tone, “My master had severely scolded us for letting outsiders inside, don’t come here again!” The door was immediately closed and locked.
YangYue was furious, but no matter how much he knocked on the door, no one came to open it again.
“Da Yang…”
She heard the crackling noises coming from YangYue’s first, the veins were clearly visible on his hands. Jinxia was about to stop him, but she was pushed to the side. At that moment, YangYue was mad, a completely different person from his usual self. He started banging on the door.
“Da Yang!” Jinxia said, anxious, “…You will scare her like this!”
Upon hearing this, YangYue stopped his banging, silently stood still and after a short period of time, he stepped back, walked to the corner of the wall and crouched down, his hands wrapped around his head, his fingers gripping his hair tightly.
Jinxia had never seen him like this before. She walked over and touched him cautiously, whispering, “Da Yang, don’t be like this.”
YangYue raised his head, his eyes were full of sadness, “…I can’t do anything, I can’t do anything for her.”
Jinxia couldn’t think of any way to help him, she could only crouched down next to him, in a daze.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, the sky had darkened… Feeling worried that it would rain, Jinxia reminded YangYue, “Shouldn’t you go back to your father? You were out for so long, he will definitely become suspicious.”
Thinking about his father, YangYue stood up with difficulty, rubbed his face harshly, until it was red, he looked back at the door, then dragged his feet to the clinic.
Feeling uneasy, Jinxia accompanied him back to the clinic. Due to the unhealed wound on her arm, she didn’t dare to go in and see Yang ChengWan. She stood by the wall, and after hearing YangYue answer Yang ChengWan’s questions, she felt relieved and went back to the post station.
Not knowing whether it was because she still had a fever, Jinxia felt her head hurt and her vision getting blurred. After walking for a while, before entering the post station door, she leaned against a willow tree to rest.
Not far from the corridor, there were two servants chatting. She was curious about their conversation, hence she raised her ears and listened to them.
“…Where’s the money? There were pigeons and chickens.” A servant asked.
Then the other one answered, “Don’t worry, Lu Daren has already left two taels of silver, that’s enough, and we can use the rest to buy wine for us to drink.”
“How did that girl get hurt? And why is Lu Daren so attentive and caring for her?”
“Who knows! Aiyo…! Let me go see if the chicken soup is ready…”
Jinxia had listened to every word and finally understood. All of a sudden she felt stupid, thinking she should’ve realized this before. She was just an ordinary officer… Although injured, at most the kitchen would just provide porridge, why would they bother cooking pigeon soup, spinach and beef?
It turned out that it was Lu Daren who gave them the money, but he never mentioned it to her.
A willow branch appeared before her, waving back and forth, it reminded her of Lu Yi’s previous actions: helping the master treat his leg, bursting at midnight in her room thinking she had been attacked; in the Taohualin forest, he helped her escape and now he was giving money to the kitchen to provide her with good food… Although he was always showing a sour face, and he didn’t care about others feelings when he spoke, his actions were indeed for the sake of others.
While thinking, she walked slowly towards her room. She had not yet entered the courtyard, when she heard someone shouting behind her.
“Constable Yuan!”
Vol 13: Chapter 1
Hearing this voice, Jinxia frowned, but had to put a smile on her face before turning around, respectfully saying, “Liu Daren.”
It had been several days since they came to Yangzhou, but there was no progress with the case at all. Although Liu Xiangzuo was calm by nature, every day that passed made him restless and irritated. Yang ChengWan had already been taken by Lu Yi for treatment, and he couldn’t interfere with that matter, but beside him there were no more experts. In front of his eyes was Jinxia who was walking slowly, looking very relaxed… That made him a little annoyed.
“Let me ask you, why did you come to Yangzhou?” Liu Xiangzuo asked with a light voice.
Jinxia heard the annoyance in his tone, she lowered her head and her gaze, “To find the one hundred thousand taels of silver.”
“It’s been days, have you had any leads?”
“Reporting, Daren, not… not yet.”
Hearing her words made him even more angry, “Let’s not mind the injured Head Yang, but those of you, who are his subordinates, should be more diligent, yet every day you’re just lazing around and not progressing at all. How can you be responsible for the Palace? ‘Eating the emperor’s food, you must share the emperor’s suffering’. Even if you have never read a book, you must know this rule!”
“Daren’s words are indeed correct, Beizhe deserves to die.”
He was angry, Jinxia would not be stupid to confront him, instead she just followed his words.
“Last time you said Zhou Xian had a lover, so why didn’t you ask her?”
“The lady is a foster child of the brother-in-law of Yangzhou’s prefect. I’ve visited there a few times, but have constantly been turned away.” Jinxia said truthfully.
“Brother-in-law of Yangzhou’s prefect… This…” Liu Xiangzuo was stunned for a moment, “But we must think of another way. Her house should have maids, kitchen servants, a lot of people! You can interrogate them to find something related to her! You can’t meet the lady because she’s in her room, but are you saying you can’t meet these people too?”
“Daren is right.”
“Well, hurry up, then!”
In the sky, thick dark clouds hung low, bringing the sound of thunder. It seemed a heavy rain would have fallen soon.
Jinxia heard the sound of thunder and awkwardly asked, “Right now?”
“Of course! Do you know how much time you’ve wasted? While investigating a case, you must forget about sleeping or eating and work all the time regardless of day and night. Act like a LiuShanmen a little, you lazy creature, you should be sacrificing your life for the country and the emperor, can I count on you?”
Jinxia took a quick glance at Liu Xiangzuo’s big belly, and sighed, “Liu Daren is right, Beizhe will go right away.”
“Liu Daren.”
Holding several scrolls of case files in his hands, Lu Yi came from the corner of the corridor, faced Liu Xiangzuo and greeted him.
Jinxia looked up at him, surprised for a moment, not knowing why this person seemed to have just jumped out of her mind.
“Oh… Lu Jingli,” Toward this one person, Liu Xiangzuo’s attitude could be too condescending or too exalted, “Because of the case, these days had been difficult for you.”
“How can Daren say that? The purpose of my arrival is to assist, so it’s only appropriate.” He turned towards Jinxia, his face looked unhappy, “Constable Yuan, I happened to be looking for you.”
“Does Daren have an order?”
“Regarding Sha Xiuzhu’s kidnapping last night, I still have a few questions I want to ask.” Lu Yi eyebrows furrowed.
Now it was Liu Xiangzuo who was stunned, “Sha Xiuzhu was kidnapped last night?”
Lu Yi nodded his head, “That’s right, Daren. Last night some members of JinYiWei and I took Sha Xiuzhu out. On the way, we were attacked and several officers were also injured.”
“These criminals are quite bold, is Lu Jingli alright?”
“Beizhe is fine, thanks for Daren’s concern, but unable to arrest these criminals. I am uneasy.”
“Of course, these criminals really do not care about the law, and their actions are out of control…” Liu Xiangzuo turned to face Jinxia, “Since you were there at the time of the incident, you should do your best to help arrest the criminals. Lu Jingli already said so, hence you should go.”
“Those… maids, servants, kitchen servants…?” Jinxia asked.
“Just leave it for tomorrow.”
“Beizhe understands.”
Lu Yi also paid respect to Liu Xiangzuo, “Beizhe will resign first.”
“Please go ahead, no need for the formality.” Liu Xiangzuo hurriedly responded.
Jinxia followed Lu Yi from behind, full of suspicions, thinking whether it was possible that the whole scheme had been found out… Did he find something that indicated that night was unusual, and want to settle it with her?
She was feeling uneasy but continued to walk until they reached the courtyard of Lu Yi’s room. After passing through the moon-shaped door, Lu Yi stopped his steps and coldly said, “Where have you been? Who did you fight with?”
“None!”
“Your wound is already open, still saying none?”
Lu Yi squinted his eyes and looked at her left arm.
Up until now she didn’t notice but when Jinxia looked down at her arm, she spotted some bloodstains on the sleeve of her robe. No wonder it felt extremely painful, and she thought it was the effect of the medicine she took! She supposed that maybe it was when she tried to block YangYue and she was pushed aside, hitting the wall and causing the wound to open again.
“Oh, this… I wasn’t careful and bumped into something earlier.” She could only say that.
Lu Yi seemed about to say something, but he restrained himself, took a small bottle from his pocket and gave an order, “You go in first, I will help you treat the wound.”
“No need, I can treat it myself.” Jinxia hurriedly said, reaching out her hand to take the medicine from his hand, “…Really, I can even bandage a back injury.”
“…” He glanced at the medicine in her hand, “Are you willing to use this medicine now?”
“This is Daren’s good intention, Beizhe doesn’t dare to refuse.” Jinxia looked at the medicine, laughed and said, “Besides, Beizhe has also thought carefully ‘lots of lice don’t bite, lots of debts no need to worry.”
Lu Yi was silent for a moment.
The girl entered the room, closed the door and left him outside.
Lu Yi looked at the closed door, shook his head, lifted his shirt and sat on the fence post of the courtyard. A moment later, there was the sound of a bottle being placed on the table, then he heard Jinxia groaning. If one had listened carefully, they would have heard that she was trying really hard to endure the pain while breathing heavily. Lu Yi didn’t usually see her try to act this tough… her personality could make others laugh at and be angry at the same time.
The sound of thunder passed through the roof of the room, the raindrops fell on the rocks in the garden with a sound loud enough to be heard.
Thinking about it, she found it strange: the medicine that Lu Yi gave her had a fragrance, when she applied it on the wound, it immediately felt soothing cold, and very comfortable. Jinxia tidied up her clothes, and as soon she stood up, she realized that she was in Lu Yi’s room. She opened the door in a hurry and saw Lu Yi sitting on a fence post…
“Daren, Beizhe deserves to die, I momentarily forgot and thought this was my room.” She apologized, while stealing glances in order to catch his expression.
Lu Yi looked at her for a moment, and said slowly, “This wound, is it worth it?”
Jinxia felt those words were a little strange. At the moment, she didn’t know how to answer and could only pretend not to understand the question, “Oh?”
Lu Yi stood up, straightened his sleeve, and asked again, “I asked you, your arm is suffering from a strike of a sword, is it worth it?”
“It’s worth it, of course it’s worth it.” Jinxia answered with a smile, “It’s to serve Daren, this is no problem, just a minor injury.”
Hearing that, Lu Yi ignored her, snorted coldly, lifted his foot, and walked inside the room.
Guessing that his mood was not good, Jinxia hesitated for a while outside the door, then shouted, “If there are no more orders from Daren, Beizhe will leave…”
Before she could finish her words, she was cut off by a cold voice coming from inside the room.
“Come inside, I have something to ask.”
There was no other way, Jinxia walked back into the room, seeing Lu Yi sitting beside the elephant table, pouring tea.
“Daren, you don’t need to do this, let me do it,”
Seeing his displeased expression, she instinctively tried to please him. Jinxia reached her hand out, but as soon as her thumb touched the handle of the teapot, Lu Yi pulled it back.
“Calm down a little.” He glanced at her with displeasure, and said in a deep voice, “Sit!”
Jinxia did not dare to fight back, she sat down right away and felt confused: if he found out that there was something wrong with her on the night Sha Xiuzhu was kidnapped, she would have been punished right now, yet he was still telling her to sit down.. It should have been more appropriate to kneel, right? But if he didn’t know it, then what was the cause for his expression to become dark and his words fierce?
Even though she sat down politely, her mind kept on wondering if there were any flaws that night that would have made her guilty. While still observing Lu Yi’s expression, Jinxia became even more anxious.
“You, there really isn’t anything you want to report to me?” Lu Yo sipped a little of his tea and looked at Jinxia.
“Beizhe doesn’t know what Daren wants to hear…”
Jinxia hated this kind of questioning the most. When she was a child, her mother always liked to ask her sternly, ‘do you have nothing to say to your mother today?’. It made her uncomfortable, as if her mother already knew everything, so she had to say everything honestly, then got a fat beating.
Lu Yi raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Right! There is an important matter that I need to report to you.” Jinxia decided to use Zhai Lanye’s problem. She said in a loud voice, “Ms. Zhai is in trouble!”
“What trouble?”
“Beizhe doesn’t know the exact problem, I only know that last night she boarded on a boat to meet a young master from the Capital. After returning from that trip, something was off: she became silent and unconscious all night long, not listening to anyone around her. The maid was so panicked that she went to Doctor Shen, but then she met Da Yang…” She paused for a moment, then said again, “Da Yang knows that Daren is very fond of Ms. Zhai, so he went to take a look on your behalf…”
“Meeting her on my behalf?” Lu Yi said mockingly.
Jinxia laughed happily, then said, “Doctor Shen pinned Ms. Zhai with a needle, then she regained her consciousness, but still didn’t want to speak, just kept on crying. According to Daren, do you think she was harassed by someone?”
Lu Yi seemed to be conflicted in his heart, he only gave a little cold laughter for a moment, but didn’t say anything.
“Daren, could it be that Daren already knows about this?” Jinxia saw his gestures and guessed, continuing to ask, “Who was the person on the boat?”
“Someone I don’t want to meet, but must meet.” Lu tightened his eyebrows, seeming like he wasn’t going to add more to his words. Instead he just looked at Jinxia, “You ran out because of this problem?”
“I don’t know if this has anything to do with the Zhou Xian’s case, I want to investigate to make it clear… So I can report to Daren.” Jinxia added.
“Don’t pay attention to Ms. Zhai.” Lu Yi simply ordered, “That’s not something you can intervene on.”
“…Oh.”
Jinxia was suspicious, but could only say that.
Lu Yi frowned and said, “Go back. If you’re injured, worry about taking care of the injury, I’m also going to see Head Chief Yang.”
“Oh…”
Jinxia agreed, then got up and left, starting to think to herself, ‘This means Lu Yi knows the person on the boat, he also knows about the relationship between Ms. Zhai and that person, then how much does he know about this Zhou Xian case?
“Wait!”
Lu Yi called out for her from behind, handing her a green oil-covered umbrella. Without saying a word, he turned back and walked into his room, then locked the door.
“Thank you, Daren.”
Jinxia said right away, not knowing whether he heard it or not.
Inside the room, Lu Yi’s forehead creased while listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella that was slowly moving away.
