Chapter 71 Confessing her guilt, she also wanted to kill him.
Upon learning of his eldest son's tragic death in the mansion, Zheng Dayou was heartbroken and reported it to the authorities. The military advisor found a porcelain bottle in Pan Haixia's room containing a pill called "Severing Yang Pill," an extremely cold substance. One pill could sever a man's virility, and two pills could cause kidney failure and death.
As the shopkeeper recounted the incident to others, Wang Yan walked by carrying a bowl of red bean porridge. The woman, dressed in a half-length pleated skirt, froze on the spot, the earthenware bowl in her hand falling straight to the ground, shards embedding themselves in the thick porridge, resembling blood flowing on the ground and staining her dress.
Shen Minghuai, who had just returned from outside, hurried over, took her trembling hand, and helped her sit down to the side. Wang Yan slowly turned her head, gripped the sleeve of the person in front of her tightly, and her eyes reddened, "It's my fault that she was hurt."
If she hadn't meddled, Pan Haixia wouldn't have gone to jail because of Zheng Zhizhang. She clearly meant well... but ended up doing something wrong.
Shen Minghuai gently pulled her into his arms, comforting her again and again. Wang Yan kept muttering to herself, unable to hear anything else; his heart ached as if it were being pricked by needles.
"Wang Yan".
The moment those two words were uttered, it seemed to carry the implication of awaiting judgment, and Wang Yan composed himself upon hearing them.
Shen Minghuai wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and said softly, "Things haven't reached the point of no return yet. I'll find out the truth. There's still time."
Wang Yan bit her lip and agreed, then hurriedly prepared to leave. With Pan Haixia not in the mansion, Zheng Ying'er's situation would likely be even more difficult; she needed to protect her until her mother returned. She had just gotten up when Shen Minghuai forcefully stopped her and pulled her back into her room.
"You've been working too hard lately and need to rest. I'll take care of this. Get a good night's sleep and I'll be back."
Perhaps she was truly exhausted. Coaxed into lying down by Shen Minghuai, Wang Yan quickly drifted off to sleep. When she opened her eyes, she was back there. The scars on her arms bled uncontrollably, soaking the surroundings in a horrifying red. Thick liquid accumulated, and just as she was about to suffocate, she woke up. The room was empty. A liar.
Wang Yan got out of bed, supporting her head, only to find him lying there. She wasn't alone; he was right there. She rushed over, hugged him tightly, and never wanted to let go.
"I don't want to go back to that place. I want you to stay with me forever."
Startled awake, Shen Minghuai knew she was having another nightmare. He embraced the person lying on top of him, hiding the melancholy in his eyes, and said softly, "I'll always be with you."
Shen Minghuai became the private tutor for Zheng Qiuhui and Zheng Ying'er, teaching them to read, write, paint, and play the zither daily. Zheng Qiuhui, usually carefree and averse to studying, especially loved her new tutor, obeying his every word and studying diligently every day. Neither of them had much formal education and knew many characters; Zheng Qiuhui memorized quickly, while Zheng Ying'er couldn't keep up. If it weren't for Shen Minghuai's private guidance, she probably wouldn't even be able to read the *Classic of Poetry* smoothly, let alone understand its meaning.
Wang Yan caught a chill that night, and the wind-cold entered her body. She has been suffering from a runny nose ever since, and cannot be separated from the stove. She has not gone out for many days. Every night, Shen Minghuai tells her about the situation at the Zheng residence as a bedtime story, and she falls asleep without realizing it.
Sometimes, when she woke up in the morning, her palms were still warm. If Wang Yan opened her eyes groggily at that moment, she could see Shen Minghuai's handsome face so close to hers, and she could even see the number of his eyelashes clearly. Whenever this happened, her heart would always feel comforted and at peace.
"I'm going to visit Madam Pan today. Wait patiently for my return."
Upon entering the damp and gloomy prison, the groans and curses of the prisoners filled the air. As the jailer unlocked the door, he slipped the silver into his sleeve and told the prisoner that he only had the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
Pan Haixia, dressed in coarse linen clothes, lay on the bed and asked, "Who are you?"
Shen Minghuai handed over a new handkerchief, "Wipe your hands."
Pan Haixia immediately sat up. "It's the medicine your wife gave me, isn't it?"
Shen Minghuai said calmly, "No one forced you to drug me."
A sly smile appeared on Pan Haixia's beautiful face. "Yes. No one forced me, but she probably wanted to kill him too."
Shen Minghuai clenched his fists and bent down to place the handkerchief beside the bed. "Why kill him when we have no grudge against each other?"
"No grudges or hatred?" Pan Haixia shook her head. "It seems she doesn't dare tell you what kind of beast Zheng Zhizhang really is."
Could it be that Zheng Zhizhang came again while he was away...? Shen Minghuai suddenly frowned, his fingertips digging into his flesh, his expression unchanged, but his whole body was surging with a fierce aura.
What do you mean?
Pan Haixia kindly told him, "The number of respectable women that Zheng Zhizhang has bullied could stretch from the south to the north of the city. Your wife is very lucky."
His clenched fists trembled uncontrollably. Shen Minghuai tried his best to hold onto his remaining rationality, telling himself again and again—Aying wouldn't be so easily bullied—so as not to lose control immediately.
"We both know that this medicine is not fatal. So who killed him?"
“Isn’t the fact right here? It’s that Duan Yang Dan (a type of pill).” Pan Haixia picked up a handkerchief and wiped her face.
Shen Minghuai said coldly, "Then why don't you confess? Is it that you don't want to confess, or that you don't want to confess?"
Pan Haixia threw the handkerchief aside carelessly, "Why should I admit to dying because it wasn't just because of me?"
Shen Minghuai took out a hairpin from his sleeve. "I'll ask you one more time. Who killed him?"
Pan Haixia snatched the hairpin away, glaring at her and shouting, "How could you have Ying'er's hairpin!"
"I am her tutor," Shen Minghuai said casually. "Aying asked me to protect her. I can protect her, and I can also—"
Pan Haixia hurriedly told the truth: she had only used one of the Duan Yang Pills, and the other one had fallen into her rouge and she had thrown it away. As for the cause of Zheng Zhizhang's death, she didn't know either. As she spoke, she was about to kneel down and beg him to spare Ying'er, but Shen Minghuai reached out and stopped her.
“Zheng Dayou will report to the authorities himself and will certainly not help you. Tell me the truth about what happened that day, and I will help you clear your name.”
Pan Haixia asked with some skepticism, "Why are you helping me?"
"You can't be the real culprit."
When Shen Minghuai rushed back to the inn, it was just noon. Wang Yan had finished lunch and was about to take her medicine when Shen Minghuai burst in, his arms wrapped around her so tightly she could barely breathe. She finally managed to break free from his grasp, only to have her face cupped against his forehead as he suddenly began to confess.
"sorry."
Without any preamble, he offered an apology. Wang Yan asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"
Did Zheng Zhizhang bully you?
The problem was quite strange. Looking at his guilty expression, Wang Yan found it even more perplexing. Although Zheng Zhizhang often bothered her with his swollen eyes, it couldn't be considered bullying.
"Do you think I'm someone you can just bully?"
Shen Minghuai seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, his tense nerves relaxing, yet he was somewhat at a loss. He held her head, kissing her forehead, eyes, and cheeks, gazing at her cherry lips for a moment, looking into her starry eyes hidden behind a cloud of doubt, before slowly kissing her. Wang Yan tilted her head back to respond, suddenly remembering that the medicine should be cold. Shen Minghuai held her head, as if scolding her for being distracted. "Never mind, we can reheat it when it's cold."
"So she thought I'd also been harmed by him, which is why she gave her that medicine." Wang Yan nestled in his arms, secretly planning her return home. Pan Haixia was framed; the real culprit should be found soon. Borrowing the Zheng family's account books shouldn't be difficult then. It's just Old Qin…
"Have you tried every method?"
Those who ask for nothing cannot be lured; those who have nothing to lose cannot be threatened. Such people are the most difficult to deal with.
"Why not try the dumbest, yet sometimes most effective, method: be honest with each other?"
They finally found out where Qin Dai would be going during the next ten-day holiday. At the same time, a messenger from the prefectural government delivered a report on the autopsy. The deceased had suffered from urinary retention, frequent vomiting, and abdominal and genital swelling, indicating he had been suffering from an obstructive urinary tract infection and died without treatment.
Shen Minghuai drove straight to the prefectural capital, holding the warrant, and went straight into the signing hall, questioning, "Since she died of illness, why is Pan not released if she is innocent?"
Xue Guifang hurriedly invited him to sit down and had Hu Zi warm the tea and bring it back. She explained to him carefully, "It's not that I don't want to close the case, it's just that Zheng Dayou doesn't believe his son would get this disease. He says there's another cause of death that the coroner can't find out. He's obstructing us openly and secretly, and we're worried about it too."
Shen Minghuai said in a deep voice, "Are we going to fabricate a murderer out of thin air?"
"Absolutely impossible!" Xue Guifang patted his chest and guaranteed that he was absolutely fair in judging cases, never biased, if it was true, it was true, if it wasn't, it wasn't; he would not wrong an innocent person, nor would he let a wicked person go free. There was, however, a method at hand.
Shen Minghuai pretended to serve tea, saying, "Lord Xue, please speak freely."
"As long as you, young master, put in a good word for Zheng Dayou in front of His Highness Prince Wei, getting him to nod his head is just a matter of His Highness Prince Wei's word."
The heir apparent has not yet been decided, and only rumors have circulated, yet this group of sycophants can no longer contain themselves. Shen Minghuai leisurely put down his cup, his eyes half-lowered, and said, "Father and His Highness are of the same ilk. Does Lord Xue mean that the Shen family's words are useless?"
Xue Guifang chuckled twice and replied, "Of course not. It's just that Young Master Shen doesn't hold any official position yet, so his subordinates are bound to be blind and won't recognize him."
Shen Minghuai dusted off his robe and stood up, nodding and smiling lightly. "It seems that although my father has been reinstated, it is merely a formality. The lord feels that the Shen family has lost the emperor's favor, and my status is naturally insignificant. After returning to the capital, I should resign from my post and ask His Highness for permission. How can a commoner like me, Shen, offer advice to His Highness?"
Xue Guifang hurriedly caught up and invited him to sit down. "Young Master Shen, you are exaggerating! Even if I had a hundred more lives, I would not dare to look down on you and His Highness. I will send someone to the Zheng residence to deliver the message. Please wait a moment."
Within an hour, the prefectural government closed the case with the news of Zheng Zhizhang's death. The Zheng residence remained peaceful and harmonious. The white banners that had been hanging for several days were hastily replaced, concubines returned home, dignitaries arrived, and fine food and wine were prepared for a joyous feast.
Shen Minghuai, feigning illness, abstained from alcohol along with Wang Yan. Xue Guifang and Zheng Dayou, on the other hand, drank heartily and chatted happily. As the others gradually left, only the two of them remained in the hall.
At the banquet, Pan Haixia and Zheng Ying'er didn't exchange a single word, but Zheng Qiuhui harbored inexplicable hostility towards Wang Yan. When Wang Yan picked up food, she extended her chopsticks first, and after being reprimanded by Zheng Dayou, she could only glare fiercely at her. She didn't know what the Minister of Revenue was, but Zheng Qiuhui knew that even her father treated her with respect, and though she disliked him, she dared not act rashly.
Wang Yan took Shen Minghuai's arm and went to the garden to find Pan Haixia. Zheng Qiuhui stopped them for no reason and pointed at her, saying, "Take off these clothes."
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Author's note: *Guange disease here refers to kidney failure.
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