Chapter 48 The Fragrance of Mother-of-Pearl (XI) Lu Yan'er.
Thanks to Youjun's patience, she waited in Jiuli's house for more than an hour without showing any impatience. She always had a slight smile on her face and didn't talk much, but she never made the conversation awkward. The topics she talked about always piqued Jiuli's curiosity.
As Jiuli chatted with her, she gradually realized why everyone said she was amazing, and even she couldn't bring herself to dislike her. However, if she were to say she liked her, there was still a lingering unease in her heart, not only because she felt that Jiuli wanted to become her "aunt," but also because of the cause of Guan Zhan's death.
Glancing at the sky outside the window, it was getting late. Jiuli seized the opportunity to say, "I wonder when Uncle will finish his work. If Aunt has something to say, why don't you tell me? I'll talk to Uncle later."
As if speaking of the devil, Yu Qi happened to walk in. You Jun smiled and nodded at him, "Mr. Yu, are you done with your work?"
Yu Qi nodded in return, "I have a few important patients to attend to, so I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, young lady."
"It doesn't matter, I have some free time today anyway."
Upon hearing this, Jiu Li feared that the old lady might wake up and hear that she was there, and that she would have to stay. So she suggested that the small hall in the front yard was cooler and invited her to talk there.
Youjun, naturally following the host's lead, sat down and said, "Miss Tang sent someone to tell me this morning that, around the evening of the tenth, that little thief surnamed Tang you mentioned went to the Lu family, and Miss Lu bought a coral bracelet from him. Yu'er, do you have this in your jewelry box?"
Jiuli nodded. "There is a coral bracelet, but I didn't see it, so I don't know if it's mine. But who is this Miss Lu?"
"She was also a girl from a family in Quzhongxing Courtyard."
"How much did she spend on the bracelet? I want to bring the money to her."
Youjun laughed and said, "I don't know either, but I think that now that the item is in Miss Lu's hands, if we ask for it back, she'll probably try to extort more money. If we want to get it back without spending a penny, that's fine too. We can go with the yamen officials tomorrow."
Jiuli shook her hands, "Forget it, forget it, the girl paid for it too."
Youjun took a sip of tea and said casually, "She knew it was stolen goods and still bought it; that's her fault."
"The coral bracelet is fine, but what about my red agate bracelet? Have you seen it?"
"I haven't heard of that. I'll go ask Miss Lu later."
Jiuli turned to look at Yu Qi's expression. Yu Qi, thinking that he needed to call Zhang Da, said, "It's getting late, let's go tomorrow. Thank you for making this special trip, Miss Guan."
Strangely enough, Youjun waited for half a day and finally saw Yu Qi, but before he could speak, upon hearing this sentence, she got up to take her leave.
Jiuli saw her out, and when she returned, she was still a little confused. Did she have feelings for Yu Qi? It seemed like she had come all this way just to talk about this, or, as she said, to see her?
She tossed and turned all night, pondering for half the night but still couldn't figure it out. It seemed that the whole thing between Youjun and Yuqi was just her making wild guesses, so there was no reason to blame either of them.
An anxiety and restlessness made it hard for her to sleep, so she got up again and went to light the candle on the dressing table, which was mostly burned out. As she flicked the tinder in her hand, it was as if she saw a person standing in the mirror!
Who is it?!
She turned around abruptly, but the room was empty. Looking in the mirror, everything seemed normal. A dim candle burned on the table, and the room was deserted after the party was over. Miss Lu listened carefully to the sound of the gong; it was past midnight. She was about to retire for the night, but a faint, alluring scent of sandalwood lingered in the room, seemingly possessing a captivating power.
But she was still preoccupied with it, so she went to the bedside, opened the chest, took out the small square box with mother-of-pearl inlay, placed it on the kang table, turned around and sat down, leaning over the table to admire it. The fragrance was coming from this box, and she smiled contentedly, gradually becoming intoxicated by a terrifying dream of getting rich.
The next morning, Yu Qi was in the shop discussing matters with Feng Qiao when Jiu Li came out yawning. He noticed that her eyelids were slightly puffy and guessed that she hadn't slept well the night before, so he said, "If you're sleepy, stay home and sleep. I'll go to the Lu family with Zhang Da and the others."
Jiuli not only refused, but was also very unhappy. "No way! I have to go! How can a case be abandoned halfway through? If we can't catch the murderer or get my things back, I won't be able to eat or sleep in peace!"
Although he knew she had this adventurous and thrill-seeking nature, her sudden outburst of temper early in the morning was nothing more than an excuse to vent her frustrations. He knew perfectly well that it was because of Guan Youjun's visit to his house yesterday. Although he didn't comfort her, he didn't hold it against her. Instead, he smiled good-naturedly and told A Xiang to go to the street and hire a carriage.
As soon as the two sat down in the carriage, Jiuli couldn't stay awake any longer and slumped onto his shoulder to doze off. He didn't wake her when they arrived at the yamen gate, letting her sleep for another two or three quarters of an hour until the wind blew the curtain and a ray of sunlight jumped onto her eyelids, finally waking her up.
When she woke up, the sun was already high in the sky; it had only just begun to rise in the west when she left. It shouldn't have taken this long to get here from home, especially by carriage. She remembered that Yu Qi had deliberately let her sleep a little longer, and she didn't feel resentful towards him anymore. She wiped her mouth and asked, "Where are Brother Zhang and the others?"
"I haven't gone to call them yet."
"Then hurry up and don't delay."
After she finished speaking, she jumped out of the car and walked to the gate. The guards at the gate already recognized the two of them. Without waiting for instructions, they greeted her with a smile and went inside to invite someone.
Before long, Xu Bai and Zhang Da came out, and the four of them went to the song and found Miss Tang first. They asked Miss Tang for the address of the Lu family. Miss Tang said, "The Lu family is hidden in a small alley and is very difficult to find. Since Miss Guan gave the order, I can't help but go all the way and lead you there."
He personally led them to the Lu family compound. After much searching and turning in an alley, they finally found it, only to find the gate tightly shut. Jiu Li knew the ways of the place; at this time, most people in the brothels were still asleep. Therefore, he was too embarrassed to disturb them with loud noise, so he only knocked lightly a few times, and a maid came to open the door.
The maid recognized Miss Tang and exchanged a few pleasantries. Miss Tang said, "I heard that your young lady has a few things she wants to sell, and they want to buy them, so I brought them here to take a look."
The maid invited the five people into the house and said to Miss Tang with a smile, "Our young lady is still sleeping at this time. She hates being disturbed, so I dare not call her. If you guests are not in a hurry, please have a cup of tea and wait a while. The young lady should wake up in a little while."
After the tea was served, the maid went about her business. Jiuli looked around carefully and saw that although the house was small, it was fully equipped with all the necessary furnishings and furniture, and several paintings and calligraphy by contemporary celebrities hung on the walls. She was just surprised to see the old woman. In such households, there was usually a matriarch in charge. She had seen the matriarch from the Tang family the other morning; why wasn't the old woman from the Lu family coming out to greet the guests? Did she perhaps assume they weren't customers and therefore not see them?
She quietly asked Miss Tang about it, and Miss Tang replied with a smile, "The Lu family doesn't have a mother. Two years ago, Lu Yan'er redeemed herself from her mother's hands and rented this house to start her own business."
"I see," Jiu Li nodded in understanding.
After finishing a bowl of tea, Lu Yan'er still hadn't gotten up. Just then, the maid came to refill the hot water, and Miss Tang said with a smile, "Why isn't your young lady up yet? Is there perhaps a guest in the room?"
The maid laughed and said, "There were no guests at all. We just had a small gathering at home last night, and it ended before midnight. They should be awake by now. Please sit a little longer, and I'll go upstairs to check on them."
They hurried up the stairs at the west corner outside, and after a short while, a sudden scream startled them awake. Reaching the eaves outside, they saw the woman tumbling and scrambling down the stairs, pointing upstairs, trembling, "Dead! Dead! Someone's dead!"
Yu Qi's expression changed. He lifted his robe and rushed upstairs. He saw that the bed in the side room was draped in gauze curtains, and a pair of women's legs were hanging on the ground inside thin gauze skirts. He went over and pulled back the curtains. The woman was lying on her back on the bed, her face was purplish and swollen, her eyes were slightly bulging, and her tongue was sticking out.
He withdrew his hand, turned to the group of people who had come in after him, and said, "Strangled to death."
Jiuli hurried to the bedside, picked up a pink handkerchief from the floor, and looked at the bruises on Lu Yan'er's neck. She said with certainty, "She was strangled to death by this long handkerchief."
Yu Qi nodded, and then he and Xu Bai slowly walked around the room to check. There were no signs that the room had been disturbed. There was a jewelry box on the dressing table, which Yu Qi opened and found some gold and silver jewelry, as well as a red coral bracelet with nine carp. There were two chests stacked on the couch, which were for storing clothes, and he went over to check them.
A moment later, Zhang Da summoned the maid and questioned her: "Did no guests stay overnight last night?"
The maid's face turned pale with fright, and she could only shake her head, "No, no. Although a family came to our house to host a banquet yesterday afternoon, they left before midnight. The guests all went home, and I had to carry a lantern to see them off."
Xu Bai beckoned to her, "Come in and see if anything is missing."
She hesitated to go in, but Zhang Da scolded her before she lowered her head and came in to look. After checking several important places, she shook her head and said, "Nothing is missing."
Yu Qi stood in front of the bed and said, "The murderer wasn't after money."
When Jiuli went over to take a look, besides some clothes, there were several ingots of silver weighing fifty taels each neatly arranged in the corner of the two large chests, totaling three or four hundred taels.
She casually rummaged through the clothes, stirring up a fragrance that made her frown slightly. Seeing two slightly larger sachets in the box, she picked them up and sniffed them carefully, something seemed amiss.
Zhang Da was still asking the maid, "After the guests left, has anyone else come?"
The maid nodded firmly, "After the guests left, the young lady came upstairs. Old Han and I tidied up downstairs for a while and boiled some water. I brought the water up to help the young lady wash up, and then I went downstairs to sleep."
"Who is Lao Han?"
"Old Han is the cook in charge of cooking. He went out to buy groceries a long time ago, so he's not home right now."
Zhang Da walked to the window and looked down. His aunt followed him. "The kitchen is downstairs in this house. Old Han usually sleeps in the kitchen. I sleep in the small room across the street. Look, the gate is right next to us. If someone knocks on the door in the middle of the night, Old Han and I won't miss it."
"Did you forget to bolt the door last night?"
The maid stamped her foot. "No way! I bolted the door myself last night. I didn't drink any wine. I wouldn't have forgotten to bolt the door!"
There was another hinged window on the wall behind, which opened onto the dressing table inside the screen. Yu Qi went over and pushed the window open, revealing a narrow passageway underneath. It seemed that the back door of the kitchen opened down there. Not only were there many things piled up haphazardly against the wall, but there were also several piles of firewood stacked high.
He said calmly, "The murderer climbed up from here."
Xu Bai also came to look. "The murderer climbed in through the window, and nothing was stolen. Could it be that he came specifically to kill someone?" So he went to the outer room and asked the maid, "Does your young lady have any enemies? Or has she had any recent disagreements with anyone?"
The maid thought for a moment and shook her head. "No, I have been serving you ever since you rented this house and started your own household. I have never known that you have any enemies. If you were to ask about two years ago, I would not know."
Miss Tang entered the room, mustered her courage, and glanced quickly into the screen. She said, "Lu Yan'er is a good-natured girl. She always greets even the most difficult customers with a smile. We girls admire her. It's rare to see someone so patient. If she weren't so good-tempered, she wouldn't have earned enough money to redeem herself in just a few years. Her price wasn't low, and she redeemed herself when her business was booming. Just think about it, it must have cost at least five or six hundred taels of silver."
Since this topic has come up, Xu Bai couldn't help but ask, "Did she have any grudges with the madam because of her redemption?"
“There will be some resentment, but that’s common in our brothel. The adults don’t really think that we girls and the madams can be like mother and daughter, do they?” Miss Tang laughed self-deprecatingly, then shook her head. “But there’s no need to kill someone over this. Besides, it was two years ago. They’ve already settled the payment.”
Xu Bai nodded, his gaze sweeping into the screen. He saw Yu Qi standing in front of the bed looking at the corpse, while Jiu Li dropped the clothes in the trunk in front of the bed and walked towards him.
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Author's note: Thank you for reading.
I had something to do today, so the word count is a bit low. Sorry!
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