Chapter 54 The Fragrance of Mother-of-Pearl (Seventeen) He had never kissed her before, but now he was kissing her…
Meanwhile, Yu Qi was at home that afternoon, having seen several patients. Just as he was taking a break, Zhang Da suddenly rushed in excitedly. It turned out that the owner of the dagger had been found; his name was Liang Zuyue, and he lived in Shiliqiao. Yu Qi put down his teacup and went with him. On the way, they inquired in detail about Liang Zuyue's identity and family background. Fortunately, Zhang Da found out everything, and it was correct as the Lu family maid had said.
Upon hearing that Liang Zuyue had once been a skilled carpenter specializing in snail shell inlay, Yu Qi slowed his pace, secretly wondering, "Could it be that, just as the fish said, both of these cases are related to that box?"
Hearing this, Zhang Da suspiciously glanced at his expression. "What box?"
He simply shook his head slowly.
When Zhang Da arrived at the Liang family's house, the gatekeeper said Liang Zuyue wasn't home. Fearing he'd escaped, Zhang Da grabbed the gatekeeper by the collar and dragged him out, shouting, "Where has he gone?!"
The servant hurriedly shook his hands, "I don't know, Master went out early this morning, either to meet friends or by the lotus pond."
Yu Qi glanced at Zhang Da, signaling him to let go, and then asked the servant in a deep voice, "Which friends does your master often visit? And where is your family's lotus pond?"
The servant first gave the addresses of two households: "These are two friends of the master. Our lotus pond is in Daliu Village."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Da frowned. "Daliusun? Why does that sound so familiar?"
Yu Qi smiled and said, “It’s a familiar name. The other day when we were boating on the river, we came across two tributaries. The one on the upper right is Xiaorong Village, and the one on the upper left is Daliu Village.”
That makes sense. Presumably, on the night of the tenth, Tang Chengguan was drowned in the lotus pond of Daliu Village by Liang Zuyue, and then his body was thrown into the river at dawn. The body floated downstream and was only retrieved from the river at Guanyue Bridge. It's just unknown what the connection is between these two. Tang Chengguan, a petty thief, shouldn't have any dealings with the flower merchant Liang Zuyue. The only connection is that box, which may have been made by Liang Zuyue.
As Yu Qi was pondering this, he heard the servant scratching his head and muttering, "I don't know what day it is today, everyone's come to see my master, and none of them seem to be here to discuss business—"
"Is someone else looking for you?" Yu Qi lowered his eyes slightly, then raised them again. "Is there a girl who looks about seventeen or eighteen?"
The servant nodded. "There was also a boy of the same age. The two of them looked like a celestial couple. They also asked for the address of our lotus pond, and we have just found it."
Needless to say, it must be Jiu Li and Du Zhong. Neither of them could even kill a chicken since they were young, and Du Zhong even had a leg injury. How dare they go looking for the murderer all by themselves? They are too bold!
Yu Qi frowned and quickly pulled Zhang Da, saying, "You take some men to the place he mentioned to search for Liang Zuyue, I'll go to Daliu Village!"
Zhang Da was about to reply, but the other person had already run far away and could no longer hear him.
Meanwhile, Jiuli and Duzhong turned onto the river and boarded a boat to travel upstream. Upon arriving at Daliu Village, they entered the village and asked around. Everyone knew of it, and soon they found the two lotus ponds that Liang Zuyue had rented. Looking around, the lotus flowers in the ponds were in full bloom, like a blazing fire in the setting sun. Following the path in the middle, a patch of afterglow was shining on the two houses in front of them, which was a bit dazzling if you looked at it for a while.
The two called out twice under the eaves, but no one answered. Jiuli saw that the door to the main house was half open, so she pushed it open and looked inside. "Is anyone there? Is anyone there? Is the owner home?" After a while, there was still no response, so she turned to Du Zhong and said, "I'll go in and take a look. You go and look in that room."
With a creak, she gently pushed open the door and entered the room. Though simply furnished, it was very clean. A square table stood facing her, and a set of chairs and a table against the wall, upon which rested some exquisite tea utensils. To the right, bamboo poles formed a partition, leading to what appeared to be a small bedroom. She peered into the bedroom; there was only a four-poster bed. As she was about to leave, her eyes caught sight of something beside the pillow. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was her mother-of-pearl inlaid box!
Just as she picked up the box, she suddenly heard Du Zhong shout from the west room. She hurriedly went outside, only to find a man with an expressionless face standing at the door, gradually approaching her.
Liang Zuyue was in his early thirties, tall and slender. His indigo robe, though somewhat old, was impeccably clean. His skin was so pale it seemed sickly, and his eyes were empty and cold, giving him a melancholic air. However, to be fair, his looks and physique were indeed superior to Shen Zhi's. Women are easily captivated by beauty, and this applies to men as well. Therefore, the person Lu Yan'er actually wanted to marry was him.
Jiuli watched as he dragged the unconscious Du Zhong to the foot of the bed, the rope wrapping around the bed frame again and again, binding him tightly. He was still unconscious, his head slumped over the edge of the bed. She herself was tied to the floor at the head of the bed, feeling both fear and anxiety, but she refused to show it on her face.
Liang Zuyue picked up the mother-of-pearl box from the ground and examined Jiuli. "I heard that Tang Chengguan is a thief. All the things he sells are stolen. I suppose he stole them from you?"
Judging from his tone, it was clear that all those things had fallen into his hands. Jiu Li's mind raced, and she smiled ingratiatingly at him, "If you like them, I'll give them all to you."
To her surprise, his expression suddenly changed, and he fiercely brandished the box in front of her, declaring, "This was originally mine! It's mine!"
"Alright, alright, it's yours, it's yours." Seeing how quickly his expression changed and how volatile his emotions were, Jiu Li wondered if he was a madman, so she had no choice but to go along with him and say, "I didn't know it was yours. I just accepted it when someone gave it to me. Please don't blame me."
Who gave it to you?
Fearing she might implicate Guan Youjun, she concealed his name, saying, "A friend who owns a pawnshop."
"A pawnshop?" He straightened up, looking at the box in his hand and pondering.
Jiuli tilted her head and looked at him. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know this box was so important to you. If I had known earlier, I would have returned it to you long ago."
He turned his back and sneered twice, then slowly turned his head back. "You've got some nerve. Give it back to me? You don't even know me, so where are you going to give it back to me?"
"Practice makes perfect, isn't that how friends get along?"
"Little girl, what's your name?"
Seeing that his attitude seemed to have softened, Jiu Li quickly smiled and said, "My name is Yu Jiu Li. My family owns a pharmacy. Please let us go. My uncle will definitely reward you handsomely. He's rich. He'll give you as much as you want!"
"Who said I want money?" His expression turned sharp again. "You think I'm greedy for wealth?! Do I look like one?!"
She was startled and quickly shook her head, "No, no! You look like an upright and honest gentleman!"
But these words seemed to displease him as well. He leaned closer and gave her a sinister smile. "Upright and honorable? How can you tell? Let me tell you! The more righteous a person is, the more they like to put on a gentlemanly act!"
Jiuli glanced fearfully at his face, realizing that his words were clearly self-deprecating. She knew this man was full of contradictions and she shouldn't flatter him. She immediately changed tactics, feigning pitifulness. With a flutter of her eyelashes, she produced a large tear. "Please let us go. If I don't go home soon, my family will be worried."
He stared intently at her tear-filled eyes for a while, then suddenly dipped a finger in one of her tears, looked at his finger and smiled, “You look just like her when you cry.”
"who?"
"The warbler."
Jiuli blinked, thinking of what her aunt had said about him being a devoted man. This Cuiying must be his deceased wife. Could it be that he had become somewhat neurotic because of the shock of his wife's early death? She was afraid that she might say something that would upset him, so she didn't dare to speak.
"How old are you?" he asked.
Seventeen.
He smiled nostalgically, "When Cuiying married me, she was the same age as you. She was very eloquent and often comforted me, saying it wasn't that my skills were bad, but that those people were blind to the value of a piece of gold. She often said that my snail-studded shells were better than those that were presented as tribute, and that one day I would definitely make a name for myself. It's ridiculous, she didn't know that I had changed professions and was now a gardener instead of a carpenter. But if she saw the lotus flowers in the pond outside, she would definitely praise me and say that the flowers I planted were more beautiful than those planted by others! We were husband and wife for ten years. If she hadn't died young, we would definitely have grown old together. It's a pity that the old saying about beautiful women being short-lived comes true; the more beautiful a woman is, the shorter her life is."
Before she knew it, the sky had darkened. The room was dark, but she could still see his hunched back and dejected expression. Jiu Li's heart skipped a beat, and her eyes darted to the ground in a panic. At that moment, she wished she weren't pretty.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" He turned to look at her.
"I'm imagining what Lady Cuiying looks like; she must be as beautiful as a fairy!"
This seemed to please him, and he nodded with a smile. "Indeed, she is a fairy—" He paused, his smile turning sorrowful and sinister, "Fairies shouldn't live in this world. Everyone in this world is bad. Even I am bad."
Just as Jiuli was wondering how to respond, Du Zhong opened his eyes with a cry of pain, feeling a sharp pain in the back of his head. He tried to raise his hand to touch it but couldn't. He then realized that he was tightly bound with hemp rope, and his hands were tied behind his back to the bed frame. He couldn't move.
He struggled twice in vain, then turned his head and saw Jiu Li tied up at the other end. He panicked and glared at Liang Zuyue, shouting, "Why are you tying us up?! Let me tell you, release us right now! We are government officials!"
Jiuli closed his eyes, nearly fainting from anger. What was he talking about the government at this critical moment?! A criminal who had killed two people was a fugitive, whether he wanted to or not. Why would he be afraid of the government?
As expected, Liang Zuyue calmly put away the sorrow on his face, looked down at him and smiled, "You don't need to say it, I saw it a long time ago. These past few days, the yamen has been investigating the cause of death of that little thief and Lu Yan'er. I knew that sooner or later they would find out about me. But what I didn't expect was that Wang Shanfeng would send two young men and women who are powerless to kill chickens."
Hearing from his tone that he seemed to harbor considerable hostility towards Lord Wang, Jiu Li hurriedly said, "We are not under Lord Wang's command! We have nothing to do with him!"
"Then who are you working for?"
"I'm not doing this for anyone else, I'm just looking for my jewelry."
Liang Zuyue turned around and picked up the box from the windowsill again. He opened it, took out the red agate bracelet inside, and slowly walked over with a smile. He bent down and put it on Jiuli's wrist. "You've found it. You can rest in peace now." He then untied the ropes that were binding her to the bed frame.
But her hands were tied behind her back with another rope. Jiu Li struggled and asked, "What do you want to do?"
Du Zhong hurriedly shouted "Help!" but before he could finish, Liang Zuyue picked up a stick and knocked him unconscious with a thud. Jiu Li was so frightened that he dared not shout anymore and just kept backing away, saying, "Don't kill us. I don't want the things anymore. I promise I won't mention a word about you to anyone."
“Only the dead don’t talk nonsense, otherwise why do you think I would kill Lu Yan’er?” Liang Zuyue said as he stepped forward, twisted her arm, and covered her mouth with one hand. “With such a beautiful couple as nourishment, my lotus flowers will surely bloom more profusely and more beautifully.”
He then led Jiu Li outside to the pond. The sky was dim, the moon was rising, and the edge of the pond blended seamlessly with the night, a dark and terrifying sight. Jiu Li couldn't swim at all, and with his hands bound, he was truly crying, shaking his head and scattering tears everywhere. But Jiu Li was no match for him; his mouth was firmly covered, and he couldn't utter a sound.
"I'm doomed," the thought had barely crossed her mind when Liang Zuyue shoved her into the pond. A splash followed, and water rushed into her ears. She thought of ducks swimming and desperately kicked her legs underwater, but her body slowly sank. The water gradually rose above her head. The pond seemed bottomless; she sank deeper and deeper, growing darker and darker. She swallowed a lot of water, but the suffocation only worsened. Realizing she was truly going to die, she closed her eyes in utter despair.
Suddenly she heard a splash above her head. She looked up and saw that the bright moon on the water had shattered. Yu Qi was swimming towards her from the white, broken moon.
In the darkness, she felt a wet, warm mouth pressed against her lips. A breath, like a seductive rope, gradually drew her soul back. She opened her eyes and saw Yu Qi's forehead pressed against hers, his mouth blowing air into her mouth. She felt her heart gradually swell up under his breath, and she felt lightheaded, unsure whether she was alive or dead.
Seeing him about to lean in, she immediately closed her eyes. He took a deep breath to the side, then leaned down and breathed into her mouth. The moment his lips touched hers, she wished the moment would stop, feeling that no moment, however dangerous, could be as thrilling as this.
After a while, Yu Qi finally felt her tongue move, like a fish's beautiful tail, gently gliding across his lips. Suddenly, his blood rushed to his head, and he stood up, staring at her eyelids. He wrapped his arms around her neck and shook her a few times, "Fish, fish! Fish!"
Fearing she might give herself away if she pretended to faint any longer, Jiuli slowly opened her eyelids, her eyes darting across his face. Suddenly, she propped herself up and buried her face in his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying out, "Uncle!"
He was secretly smiling to himself. He had never kissed her before, not even when they were children, but now he was glad he hadn't. It was as if this moment was the perfect time, just right. He had not only drawn her soul back but also unlocked a certain key in her heart.
She sobbed in his arms, initially afraid he would scold her for faking it, but when she touched his wet body, she realized how frightened she was and actually shed tears.
Yu Qi could only pat her head repeatedly, saying, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm here."
Her face was streaked with tears and water, which gradually turned into sobs. "Why did you suddenly come here?"
Yu Qi sighed deeply, "Wouldn't the consequences be unimaginable if I didn't come? What about Zhong'er?"
She quickly peeked out from his embrace, her eyes wide with terror, "They're still inside!"
Turning his head, he saw Liang Zuyue lying on the ground. Yu Qi picked up the rope he had taken from her and walked towards Liang Zuyue. "I knocked him unconscious. You go save Zhong'er, and I'll tie him up."
Jiuli originally wanted to kick Liang Zuyue a few more times, but because she was in a hurry to see Du Zhong, she had to stop for the time being. She got up and dragged her wet clothes into the house. Du Zhong was still lying on the bed frame with blood streaming down his forehead. Jiuli untied the ropes for him, called him a few times but he didn't wake up, so she went to the outer room and poured a cup of cold water and splashed it on his face.
There happened to be a boatman in Daliu Village, so Yu Qi chartered the boat, tied Liang Zuyue up, threw him onto the boat, and sent him to the yamen that very night. Liang Zuyue woke up as soon as he boarded the boat. After a moment's thought, he realized that he had just turned back to go into the house to drag the boy out and throw him into the pond when someone suddenly appeared in the darkness and struck him on the back of the head, causing him to faint. When he woke up, he found himself on a boat.
Just then, an oil lamp shone in front of him, revealing the boy's sinister smiling face. "Heh heh, you're dead too. Let's settle our score in the King of Hell's palace!"
Liang Zuyue turned around blankly, and there was the girl beside him, a few strands of wet hair clinging to her pale face. She was approaching him, saying, "I'll make you pay with your life!"
He suddenly chuckled coldly twice, looking at Yu Qi diagonally opposite him, "This must be the King of Hell?"
Du Zhong kicked him from across the table, yelling, "I'll kill villains like you!"
Unmoved, he suddenly burst into laughter, tilting his head back against the cabin wall. "If there really were a hell, that would be great, then I could see Cuiying."
Jiuli, fearing that Yu Qi might not understand, deliberately sat down next to him and whispered in his ear, "Cuiying is his deceased wife."
Yu Qi didn't care, only that she was still dripping wet. He pulled her to the stern of the boat and said, "Wring your clothes dry." He then squatted down to wring her skirt.
She was wringing out her shirt, and he was soaking wet. He always put her first, and she had always taken it for granted. But now, she felt a different kind of joy, as if he were crawling at her feet, like a man who had become a woman's devoted subject.
The boat slowly rocked into the middle of the valley, and the lights around gradually increased. Yu Qi's profile gradually became clear in the myriad lights. She looked at him and suddenly understood something: it wasn't that she didn't want to get married, but that she didn't want to marry anyone other than Yu Qi.
She was startled by this sudden thought, her gaze darting around him several times.
Yu Qi noticed and glanced down at her. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"It's nothing." She blinked a few times, then shook her head with a smile.
Looking ahead, I gradually felt my heart become lost and adrift amidst the myriad lights. Marrying Yu Qi—this was a thought I should never have entertained! To say it aloud would invite scorn and condemnation.
However, she still glanced at him with a glimmer of hope, just in case he thought the same thing as her.
Yu Qi glanced at her, his expression suddenly turning cold. "How dare you and Zhong'er go to Daliu Village? Didn't you ever think that if Liang Zuyue really killed Tang Chengguan and Lu Yan'er, would he be afraid of killing a couple more?"
Jiuli snapped out of her daze and stuck out her tongue. "I didn't think about all that at the time. I just wanted to know the truth."
Her delicate pink tongue darted in and out deftly, reminding him of the time he had breathed into her mouth by the lotus pond. Although it was out of necessity to save her then, the thought now warmed his heart. He clenched his fists behind his back, still scolding her in a stern voice, "Is your curiosity really that strong? You'd even risk your life?"
She smiled sweetly, took a step closer to him, and grabbed his arm with both hands, pleading, "Please don't scold me, just because I almost drowned."
"Some mistakes you can't make, do you realize that?"
Because she felt guilty at that moment, she sensed a deeper meaning in his words, so she let go of his hand and remained silent.
Yu Qi raised his voice slightly, "Did you hear me or not?"
"I heard you." She snorted at him and turned to crawl back into the cabin.
"return!"
He scoffed at her, and she reluctantly walked back, lowered her head, and straightened her posture, saying, "I heard you, I won't do it again next time."
Seeing that she finally showed some remorse, Yu Qi softened his attitude. "I don't necessarily want to teach you a lesson. If something happens to you, what will the old lady do? What will I do? The Yu family raised you all these years, not so that you would take your life for granted."
She nodded, then looked up after a while, saying, "I won't die. I still need to take care of you and the old lady until the end."
Yu Qi sneered, "It's enough to deliver it for the old lady; I don't need to."
She naively thought, "That's true. If they're going to die, they'll die together. Neither of them will see the other off in their final moments."
After speaking, she came in, kicked Liang Zuyue, and then sat down at a distance. Du Zhong came over and whispered, "Hey, I just asked him, but he won't say anything."
"Ask him what?"
"Ask him why he killed Tang Chengguan and Lu Yan'er."
Jiuli glanced at him and said, "Nonsense, he would naturally not admit to something that could be life-threatening."
Du Zhong shook his head. "No, he admits to the murder, but he won't say why, as if he has something he can't say."
If he dares to confess to murder, what else wouldn't he dare to say? Jiu Li stared at Liang Zuyue, secretly observing him. Thinking of what he had said in the pond house, always rambling and incoherent, could he really be a little crazy?
The boat docked at Quzhong, and Yu Qi, having somehow hired a carriage, took the man to the yamen. Just then, Zhang Da had sent men to search the entire city overnight for Liang Zuyue, but without success. Unexpectedly, Yu Qi brought him to the yamen. He hurriedly went to the gate, ordered his men to summon him back to the yamen, and then invited him inside.
Yu Qi glanced back at the carriage road and said, "We're not going in. You interrogate him. If you find any of Yu'er's things in his house, we'll come to collect them tomorrow."
Before long, they returned home, and it was nearly midnight. Yu Qi ordered Xiu Zhi and Yu Qing to boil water for Jiu Li to bathe. However, even after the bath, Jiu Li continued to sneeze one after another. The old lady had already gone to bed. The old lady was a light sleeper, and Yu Qi was afraid of waking her up, so she covered her mouth every time she sneezed.
Yu Qi had also finished showering and was sitting by the round table in the outer room, watching to see if she showed any signs of illness. Afraid of being scolded by him, she quickly took her hand away from her mouth and waved it in the air, "I'm fine, I'm alright, I'll be fine after a good night's sleep."
Yuqing went to the outer room and asked Yuqi, "Should we brew some medicine and give it to him first?"
Yu Qi named a few herbs and told Yu Qing to fetch them from the front. He then came over the screen and touched her forehead. "Go to bed and sleep. You can take the medicine when it's ready."
Just as Jiuli lay down, he heard Du Zhong squeak in the next room, presumably Xiuzhi was applying medicine to the wound on his forehead.
Yu Qi either didn't want to hear it, or he was furious when he did, his face turning ashen, and his gaze towards her became both infuriating and laughable.
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Author's note: Thank you for reading.
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