Beijing Five
Behind the mourning hall was a rather spacious open-air courtyard, originally shared by several families within the compound. Aside from the Wang family, the other two were in-laws who had moved out three months prior, so recently only the Wang family had lived there. There were several such courtyards in Chunfengli, all closely connected.
In the center of the yard was a well. Aruo and the others had helped Shuxian fetch water a long time ago, so they had a memory of this well. Just now, remembering the children's talk of the well being sealed, she had an idea and hurried over to take a look.
"Strange, it wasn't like this before. Why is it covered up?" Above the well mouth, a two-centimeter-thick stone slab covered the well mouth tightly. Aruo walked around the well mouth and found that there was almost no trace of water around the well. "Has it been a long time since it was used?"
Aruo tilted her head and thought, it seemed that as Shuxian's belly grew, Master Wang had simply gone to the next yard to fetch water after class. Because the well in this yard was sunken, fetching water required climbing several steps, which was not very convenient. She seemed to have heard later that the well had been drained or something, and no one came here to fetch water anymore.
A strange thought came to her mind. Aruo gritted her teeth, lifted her skirt, and pushed the stone with all her strength. After a while, it moved a little bit. "Who put such a heavy stone there? Is the well really dry?"
"Aruo, what are you doing here?" Cai Xin didn't see her in the mourning hall, so she went to look for her and walked in from the side of the yard and asked curiously.
"Xiao Caixin, you're here just in time. Come over and push it together." Aruo quickly called people over.
Cai Xin didn't ask why, but just lifted her skirt and without hesitation, she pushed hard. The two of them finally pushed the stone aside. Cai Xin took a breath and asked, "Why do you want to push this stone away?"
"Is there really no water?" Aruo leaned over the well and looked down, pointing in surprise, "Cai Xin, look, is the bottom of the well dry?"
The two looked into the well. The well in the residential building was not deep, and the ripples on the water could not be seen in the insufficient light. Instead, something could be vaguely seen moving in the dim and almost black bottom of the well.
"What is that?" He wasn't seeing things; something was moving, and it looked quite large. Aruo rubbed his eyes and leaned halfway out of the well.
"Aruo, be careful, don't fall." Cai Xin saw her anxious look and quickly pulled her clothes, "There are things we can't get up, let's go find someone to help."
It was almost noon, the clouds became thinner, and the sun shone through the clouds, casting its shadow on the backs of the two people looking down.
"Oh my God, that's a child!" The two of them moved to the side to let the sunlight shine down. Aruo saw clearly what was squirming in the well and exclaimed in surprise.
"What?" Cai Xin moved closer and could vaguely see a big red swaddling cloth embroidered with auspicious patterns at the bottom of the well.
In the mourning hall, Su Zirui's gaze locked with the dejected Wang Chen, quietly awaiting his response. His imposing presence was undeniable. His gentle tone gradually became cold and sharp as his questions deepened.
"She...she is not dead, she will not die...that person said that she will come back...as long as I hand her over..." Wang Chen held his head in panic, his eyes were not clear at all, as if he was in confusion, just repeating over and over again that she would not die.
"What should I hand over?" Su Zirui asked in a deep voice as a thought flashed through his mind.
"As long as we hand it over, Shuxian will be able to come back..." Wang Chen ignored his question and muttered.
"She's dead. She was kidnapped." Su Zirui said coldly, "Her body is behind you now."
"No—she's not dead! That person said she would come back, as long as... as long as she succeeds..." Wang Chen's eyes suddenly brightened, and he stood up shakily as if filled with strength, walking towards the coffin behind the incense table. "Yes, as long as she succeeds... Shuxian will come back."
Success? Su Zirui began to have some ideas, "What can make her come back?"
Wang Chen ignored them and continued to mutter to himself, "As long as I hand it over and they succeed, Shuxian will come back to me... Yes, as long as they succeed..."
Su Zirui narrowed his eyes slightly and suddenly asked, "Where did you hide the child?"
Wang Chen froze, his hands resting on the incense table, staring at the grapes Su Zirui had placed on the table without saying a word. Beili and the others were startled when they heard this, and subconsciously placed their hands on their swords.
"Wang Chen, where did you hide the children you stole? Or should I ask, where did you keep the child you took from your wife's womb?" Su Zirui had originally just wanted to trick him, but now he felt certain. With a quick glance, Beili silently stood in front of Old Cai and Aunt Song. The others quickly stood guard at the door and windows, cautiously on guard.
"I didn't—" Wang Chen suddenly came back to his senses with a crazy look in his eyes, as if he had become a different person. "Shuxian is my wife, and the baby in her belly is my child. I didn't kill her!"
"Then why did you steal those children?" Su Zirui pressed on, not missing a single change in his mood. Once he confirmed that the person before him was no longer a victim but a suspect, he wasn't so polite.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Wang Chen's expression grew increasingly gloomy, his eyes wild, but his tone grew increasingly calm. "Today is the seventh day after my wife's death. If you have finished paying your respects, please leave and don't disturb her peace."
"You're lying!"
A clear, woman's voice rang out from behind a curtain at the side of the mourning hall. A person dressed in white hurried in, clutching a red ball, her delicate face a picture of suppressed anger. Another woman in plain clothes walked beside her, protecting her with outstretched arms like a hen protecting her chicks.
"Wang Chen, you don't know? Then why was this child thrown into the dry well?" Aruo lifted a corner of the red swaddling clothes, revealing a child's face with eyes closed, not knowing whether he was sleeping or something else.
"No——" Wang Chen was shocked and angry. He suddenly swept the things on the incense table and flashed towards Aruo.
"Aruo--" Cai Xin was hit by the incense burner. She felt pain and subconsciously moved to the side, exposing the person she was protecting.
With her eyes wide open, Aruo subconsciously leaned over to protect the baby in her arms. Unable to react to the attack that was already before her, she stepped back defensively. It was too late—
At the critical moment, a figure in indigo suddenly flashed in, and a sharp palm wind separated Wang Chen's hand. Su Zirui put his arm around the woman's shoulders, spun her around to slow the strong wind, and slapped Wang Chen with his backhand.
"Hide well!"
As his vision turned, Aruo had been pushed to the edge of the beam in the hall. Wang Chen was hit by a palm and fell beside the coffin. He staggered to his feet, kicked the incense table away, and started fighting with Su Zirui who came with a sword.
"Oh my God, Master Wang actually knows martial arts?" Beili exclaimed in surprise. They hadn't noticed it before.
Wang Chen's moves weren't particularly advanced, but they were powerful, and his punches had a certain air of authority. With the case still unclear, Su Zirui didn't want to use a killing move, so he could only hold him back and wait for an opportunity.
"Cai Xin, are you okay?" After Aruo stood still, he immediately found Cai Xin who was being helped up by Lao Cai, and shouted at the two people who wanted to come to her, "Don't come over, the master is targeting the baby in my arms!"
Wang Chen wanted the baby she was holding. If they came over, they would enter the attack range. A Ruo gestured for them to escape first and carefully observe the situation. As expected, Wang Chen's moves were all directed at her. A Ruo held the baby tightly in her arms, not knowing whether to find an opportunity to escape or to hide obediently.
Before she could even think, Su Zirui had already gained the upper hand, kicking Wang Chen away with a whirling kick. Wang Chen landed heavily in the center of the mourning hall, spitting out a mouthful of blood. The long sword slashed through the air, the tip of the sword pointing directly at Wang Chen's throat.
"Tell me, who is that person?" Su Zirui asked the core directly.
Wang Chen's eyes were bloodshot, and he glared at Aruo fiercely, "Give it back to me... That can bring Shuxian back..."
With two whooshing sounds, two hidden arrows flew in from outside the mourning hall one after the other. Su Zirui reacted extremely quickly and spun his sword to knock one of them away. The arrow head was knocked off and deflected to the side.
"Ah—" The cold arrow shot towards her, and Aruo only had time to cover her face and turn sideways. The next moment, the arrow passed in front of her, and the back of her hand was in great pain. "Crazy Su!"
She couldn't see where the arrow came from, but she could clearly see that Su Zirui's sharp arrow was deflected towards her. Aruo looked over with hatred, only to see Su Zirui kneeling on one knee beside Wang Chen, with a gloomy expression.
Wang Chen fell to the ground, with the arrow halfway stuck in his back, which showed how strong the arrow was. Su Zirui looked at his neck and raised his eyes, his eyes fierce.
Noticing the woman approaching, her expression had changed from indignation to fear. Su Zirui stood up expressionlessly, "Didn't I tell you to hide? Why are you running over here?"
Does this mean she asked for it? Aruo was furious. She had only come over to listen to what Wang Chen had to say when she saw the outcome was already decided. And if she had just stood there, who knew if there would be a hidden arrow shot at her?
"Su Feng, am I against you?" After being thrown into the pond and scratched for no reason, Aruo was really angry. "If I hadn't reacted quickly and blocked it with my hand, it would have been my face that was hurt! What grudge do I have against you? If my face is ruined, can you afford to compensate me? Can you take responsibility?!"
In an era without sanitary napkins, there was no technology for plastic surgery or skin resurfacing to remove scars. How tragic would the fate of a woman with a disfigured face be? Forget getting married; even just leaving the house would be subject to discrimination and attacks! The most hateful thing was that the person in front of her acted as if blaming her for moving around, frowning with disdain, as if she were pestering him for something.
"You came here suddenly!" Su Zirui said unhappily. He didn't care about her recklessness, not to mention that if it weren't for him, Wang Chen would have been enough to kill her hundreds of times. How could she still be alive and making a fuss here?
"You didn't say you were going to throw a hidden weapon at me!" Aruo felt completely wronged. Her dark eyes shone with anger, and her eyebrows, stained with a faint red, were astonishingly beautiful. Unfortunately, no one was paying attention to this at the moment.
"What do you think?" Su Zirui was extremely annoyed. There had just been a significant development in the case, but the witness and the murderer had died. He was already feeling annoyed, but the man in front of him ignored his bloody hand and argued with him instead. It was completely puzzling.
"I haven't thought about it yet." The back of her hand was burning with pain. Aruo hadn't thought about the next step. But dear mother, she wanted to beat up the man in front of her. "But you will definitely not be able to escape the medical expenses!"
After all, you just want money?
Su Zirui couldn't resist the urge and rolled his eyes rudely. He took out some silver from his belt and threw it into her arms. "Is this enough?"
His contemptuous tone made Aruo blush with anger, and the anger in her dark eyes was about to burst out. But now was not the right time to argue with him, so she simply took it away. "I didn't ask for it, it's what you should give me."
Being rich is not a big deal! This is her medical expenses, it's compensation, it's too cheap for him! As a poor person, Aruo could only glare at him fiercely. She couldn't get angry about the money at all.
"Aruo," Caixin, Lao Cai and others ran in from outside, "Are you okay...ah, you're hurt!"
Aunt Song immediately took Aruo's hand, frowning slightly, "The wound is quite deep, which shows that the force was quite strong. Fortunately, there is no poison."
"Auntie, please help take a look at this child first. He hasn't moved." Aruo endured the pain and motioned Auntie Song to look at the baby in her arms.
Aunt Song opened the swaddling clothes and examined it carefully. At this time, Beili and Xu Tian came running in from outside with their men, "Sir, we didn't catch up."
"The archer was very good at light work. Beili and I chased him for a while but then we couldn't catch up." Xu Tian looked guilty.
"Doctor Song, this child?" Su Zirui nodded and asked Aunt Song.
"It's okay, he just drank some tranquilizing soup or something and fell asleep, that's all." Aunt Song took the child and patted his butt. The baby tilted his head and rubbed it impatiently.
"That's great..." Cai Xin wrapped her handkerchief around Aruo's hand and finally relaxed. "I didn't expect Master Wang to know martial arts. We've known him for so long, but we had no idea."
Aunt Song and Old Cai looked at each other and shook their heads. "We didn't notice this. He usually has trouble even carrying water."
"Sir, this is Master Liu's grandson." Beili checked the child's swaddling clothes and said affirmatively, "Look, this is the Liu family's pattern. I saw it on Master Liu's sleeve."
Some famous families in the capital always like to make some marks to show their uniqueness. Among them, the noble families are particularly fond of using floral embroidery as their symbols. Except for the peony that represents the king, several flowers with good meanings have been used.
Su Zirui was silent for a moment, then nodded and arranged the aftermath.
Wang Chen was taken away to the coroner for a detailed examination. Issues after his death also needed to be followed up. Who killed him? Was the child in Liang Shuxian's belly murdered? The other two children, no, including the one taken away by Liang Shuxian through caesarean section, the whereabouts of the other three children were unknown. All these had to be properly arranged.
Of course, this child must also be taken away and returned to the Liu family.
"Aruo, are you okay?" Cai Xin didn't care what those officials did. She held Aruo's hand and was about to cry.
"You won't die, let's go. There's nothing good left here." Aruo patted her shoulder and looked back at the mess in the mourning hall. Only the coffin was still quietly placed in the inner room, which looked extremely sad.
Old Cai nodded at them and took his apprentice to clean up the mess. He would arrange the burial. Aunt Song insisted on bandaging Aruo and left with them.
"Hey, Aruo, it turns out Sister Xian's birthday is around the same as yours." Cai Xin looked back at the mourning hall and saw the overturned memorial tablet on the ground. It listed her beloved wife, Wang Menliang, and the time of her birth. Aside from the year, her birth time was almost identical to Aruo's.
Aruo waved his hand nonchalantly, "Don't look at it, my hand hurts."
"What are you two dawdling about? Hurry up, the bleeding can't be stopped." Aunt Song slapped the two of them in annoyance and dragged Aruo away.
Su Zirui glanced at their leaving figures, his eyes deep, shook his head and turned to ask Lao Cai about some past events of Wang Chen.
The sun slowly sets in the west. After people come and go, the three-partitioned courtyard gradually blends into the night. The wind blows from the courtyard, and the whole courtyard has an eerie silence.
The night enveloped the sky, and lights were lit in every household in the spring breeze. The sound of voices intersected from time to time, all discussing the Wang family of today and the Wang couple in their memories of the past.
The sighs of the crowd seemed to tell the whole life of the person in the topic.
……………… …………………… ……………………
Two days later.
"The case is solved?"
Aruo almost dropped the soy milk in her hand and stared at Xu Tian in disbelief.
Xu Tian understood why she looked so unhappy, but he still said honestly, "Yes."
Thinking back to when he heard about it this morning, he was also quite surprised. Xu Tian later learned that after the Liu family found their grandson, they excitedly reported to the court that the case had been solved... They were not without frustration. His master, on the other hand, remained calm, saying simply, "Since Master Liu said it was solved, then it was solved."
"But, hasn't Sister Xian's child been found yet? And there's also her killer, and don't she have two other children?" Aruo was indignant. Minister Liu's grandson wasn't the only victim.
"We solved the missing case of Minister Liu's grandson. Wang Chen is dead, and there are other people who will look for the other two children." That was all Xu Tian could say. The higher-ups had their own ideas, and he had been a prison official in the capital for so many years that these things were commonplace.
Aruo was so frustrated that she banged her head against the table. This world was disgusting. She missed the world with abundant information, legal freedom to express opinions online, and a society with fair and strict laws. She used to think that online trolls were too extreme, but now she just wanted to become a keyboard warrior and blast these corrupt officials to death!
"How come Master Wang suddenly knows martial arts? Have you checked it out?" Aruo was puzzled. There were obviously many mysteries in the case, so how could it be closed just like that?
"His hometown runs an escort agency. It's not surprising that he's good at martial arts, but he's a scholar." Xu Tian revealed some non-confidential information to comfort her.
Even so, that didn't mean anything. Aruo was concerned about whether Master Wang had truly stolen the baby. Was his concern for his wife and child truly fake? It couldn't be. She saw the Wangs every day, and the warmth and affection between them was real... So what had happened?
"Where is your master? Won't he do anything?" Aruo looked up. Su Zirui had vowed to give Liang Shuxian justice, but now it is like this?
Xu Tian frowned. "The adults are also in trouble. We will continue to track down the whereabouts of the three children. Anyway, don't worry about this matter."
Is it because the other three children are from ordinary families?
A flash of contempt flashed across Aruo's eyes. As expected, the madman surnamed Su only spoke nicely. If she had known earlier, she would have investigated it secretly on her own... If it weren't for him, she might have been able to observe Master Wang for a few more days and slowly find clues.
Actor Zhang told her that Minister Liu was a frequent visitor to Furong Tower and had a good relationship with Huan Niang... Damn, who knows if they are in the same group!
Aruo was so angry that she slammed the table, and the wound on the back of her hand burst open instantly. The severe pain made her eyebrows twitch, and she couldn't help but curse.
"By the way, Aruo, this is the gold wound medicine specially prepared by the imperial physician for the Ministry of Justice. Aren't you injured? Take it and use it. It is very effective for external injuries." Xu Tian saw that the back of her hand was still wrapped in gauze, and took out a small bottle from his arms.
"Thank you..." Aruo, who was hit by reality, thanked him weakly and stuffed the bottle into his arms.
Xu Tian looked at her casual look and hesitated to speak, "That really is good medicine."
Aruo was still cursing Su Feng with all her heart. She waved her hand indifferently and didn't listen to what he said at all.
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