Mistakes (Part 6)
The sky remained a cool color, and the air was damp; a wind had quietly begun to blow.
As soon as she came out of the dressing room, she got into the carriage and urged the driver to hurry home. But as if God was deliberately working against her, the carriage suddenly stopped moving and her head hit the hard wooden board with a "bang".
She didn't care about the pain; she jumped down and ran home. The aroma of the street didn't affect her at all. But she was too anxious and didn't notice the faint footsteps behind her.
Forgetting all decorum, he rushed into the hidden little door in the mansion, took out his key to unlock it, but couldn't get it right no matter what he did.
After finally getting it aligned, she used too much force when pulling out the key, and the sharp edge of the key cut a long gash in her palm.
She didn't see it, and as soon as she entered the house, she closed the door tightly. By then, her throat was already a little sore. She fumbled to light the candle, and the warm, pale yellow light filled every corner of the room.
Her body trembled twice before she dared to look at the ranking above, her eyes tracing the words on it.
"General Yu Xingyan of the Nebula."
In her mind were images of her mother leading her to comfort refugees; of her mother riding a warhorse and charging away; and of her mother returning from the battlefield and whispering in her arms.
"Mother!" Chen Zhuangmu cried out, then knelt on the ground with a thud. "I...I..."
A sharp pain shot through her heart, her throat tightened and she couldn't make a sound. She felt like she couldn't breathe, and her mind was blank. She used her hands to support herself on the ground and stood up to hug her mother's memorial tablet.
"Mother. I'm so unfilial." Her tears streamed down her cheeks, staining the memorial tablet clean and shiny. "You're right here beside me... yet I don't visit you often..."
Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, and she had only one thought in her mind.
She held the memorial tablet and cried for a long time. When she couldn't cry anymore, she just stared blankly at the tablet. Several times she wanted to say, "Mother, come and see me," but she was afraid of disturbing her mother.
She simply swallowed her words and quietly held the memorial tablet with strands of her mother's hair on it.
Chen Zhuangmu didn't believe that a piece of wood with a few words written on it could be a memorial tablet, but there were strands of her mother's hair inside. The thought that she hadn't visited her mother often in all these days made her heart ache.
The candle was almost burned out, and the light in the room dimmed accordingly, casting a soft glow on her.
Chen Zhuangmu glanced at the candles and realized that a lot of time had passed. She sighed and carefully placed the memorial tablet on the table.
She lit the incense, kowtowed three times solemnly, cut out the candle wick, and then left the room.
Before this, Chen Zhuangmu felt a void in her heart. She didn't believe that a few words carved on cold wood could represent her mother, but now it was different. Her mother was now living with her in this mansion.
It was as if her mother always had her back, giving her the energy to do anything.
As I walked along the bluestone path, lost in thought, I suddenly heard a noise from my left.
He turned his head abruptly and found a person climbing over the wall. His court robes bloomed like a flower with his movements, and with his face in the background, even the vermilion color seemed less vibrant.
Chen Zhuangmu had no mind to appreciate the scene. She hurriedly turned her back and wiped the tears from her eyes and face with her palms. Only when she felt that she had wiped them clean did she turn around and look up at him.
Zhao Yi stood in the same spot, without moving an inch.
"What use is this wall to you?" Chen Zhuangmu walked towards him.
Her red eyelids and eye sockets were the first thing that caught his eye, and her voice seemed to come from her nose. This sight made him feel a little sore and conflicted.
For a moment, he forgot why he had come, and asked, "You've been crying?"
These words caused her eyes to widen in surprise, and she hesitated several times but couldn't utter a single word.
Zhao Yi emerged from the base of the wall, but instead of walking towards her, he gradually walked out of the courtyard along the bluestone path. Not hearing any movement behind him, he stopped and said, "Come on, I have something to tell you."
They arrived at the pavilion in the middle of the lake. The people around them were used to Zhao Yi's sudden appearance and pretended not to see him.
Chen Zhuangmu poured him a cup of tea and asked, "Any clues?"
He quietly took a sip and put it down, noticing a different look in her eyes than before—more stubborn, persistent, and eager.
As business partners, he shouldn't have meddled in other people's business, but his impatience made him throw that principle to the back of his mind, and he asked instead, "What's wrong with you?"
These words made Chen Zhuangmu frown, purse her lips and remain silent for a long time before finally saying, "It's nothing."
A silence fell between them; alarm bells rang in one's mind, while the other naturally looked back into the past.
"We couldn't find any connection between that string of rice dumplings and Xiao Zhong," Zhao Yi said first.
She gave a soft "hmm," then added with certainty, "That just proves he must have a deep connection with this thing. It has totems from a previous dynasty... Is it possible...?"
She looked back at Zhao Yi, but he frowned and avoided the topic, saying, "This is not good news."
If this is true, the entire nation will likely have to pay a heavy price. The Qun Kingdom has only been established for forty years, and many places still retain the customs of the previous dynasty. If the capital city not only has this ornament but also hides other things from the previous dynasty, the consequences will be unimaginable.
“In prison, I met an old man.” After a moment’s thought, she continued, “The information I bought in Tong City was that the night before my birthday, the seven guards who were guarding the city all died mysteriously. That’s why I wanted to copy the roster. There was a man named Wang Chong on it. The mysterious man told the old man that Wang Chong killed his son, but I think he was just a fugitive. The old man believed the mysterious man, disguised himself as a peddler to get close to Wang Chong, and killed him when he had the chance.”
Zhao Yi remained silent, staring at the cup of tea as if deep in thought.
“I felt that the old man was also strange, so I asked Li Chu to investigate. The old man was an assassin when he was young. After his left leg was crippled, he was kicked out of the department. He simply gave up his life of crime, settled down in the village, got married, and became a farmer. Later, his wife passed away, and only he and his son were left in the family.”
She rarely spoke so much. By the time she finished speaking, the tea in her cup was empty, so Zhao Yi poured her another cup.
“A string of bright red triangular rice dumplings was hanging on the mysterious man’s carriage.”
The aroma of tea filled the air, and the rising steam enveloped them, blurring their vision and obscuring the sounds in each other's eyes.
"Who do you think this person is?" Zhao Yi stared into Chen Zhuangmu's eyes through the ethereal heat, only to see her laugh with contempt, which was particularly irritating.
At their first meeting, he only intended to extract information from her and then give her some small favors, thus ending their collaboration. Unexpectedly, she outsmarted him, leaving him somewhat surprised and eager to investigate.
Later, when she was repeatedly harassed by others, he remained aloof, observing whether she had the qualities to cooperate with him long-term.
But during this process, he discovered that Shen Zhuangmu was beautiful, enthusiastic, and upright, and that her path was completely different from his own. So her contemptuous smile pierced his heart.
"Is the deputy envoy still unwilling to treat me with sincerity? You are adept at maneuvering in the court and can rival Xiao Zhong. Don't you know more than I do?" Ultimately, she needed his information.
Zhao Yi suddenly burst into laughter, his eyebrows and eyes sparkling with tiny starlight, as if he hadn't been the one being talked about.
He nodded lazily and said, "Those were all guesses, I have no evidence." He paused, then added, "I feel it's not Xiao Zhong."
"Where to begin?"
He touched the teacup. "Intuition."
"..."
"He's a cautious and meticulous person, why would he deliberately reveal this totem at this time? And why would he need to let that old assassin kill Wu Chong?"
She couldn't understand her series of questions, but now that she analyzed it, Xiao Zhong was indeed extremely wicked and a major threat.
The old man was going to make a decision today, so Chen Zhuangmu told Zhao Yi to go back first. Besides, she hadn't asked for leave and had rashly skipped work, so she would have to make up for it when she got back.
Li Chu has been away from her for the past two days, and she doesn't know where she's gone to play. She didn't send anyone to look for her and went to Dali Temple alone.
Dali Temple Prison
She saw the old man again. The damp environment was eroding his joints. His eyes were tightly closed, and a look of pain appeared on his face. Hearing the noise, he slowly opened his eyelids.
Seeing that it was Chen Zhuangmu, he unusually refrained from cursing. Instead, he grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth, and said, "Little girl, you're here again. It's a good thing that I can talk to you before I die."
He changed his posture, leaning against the wall with his hands completely down, exuding an air of fearlessness, and said, "Go and investigate me. People in this line of work are wary of their own kind. The person who told me this news that night had an eagle embroidered on his left arm, with a big beak but no teeth."
A drop or two of water fell to the ground, making a crisp tinkling sound in the dim environment. "That's all I know. I beg you, little girl, just give me a quick and painless cut."
"Your final outcome will be determined by the law."
Da Qun has a rule that anyone who is of advanced age shall not be harmed except for those who commit murder, in which case the offender shall be beheaded.
After she finished speaking, she wanted to leave, but then she couldn't bear to, so she said again, "I will tell the executioner to sharpen the blade."
Having said that, Chen Zhuangmu turned and left the Dali Temple prison.
During this time, she had become very familiar with the layout of the Dali Temple and realized that the Jiageku was located in an inconspicuous corner of the Dali Temple. Such careful placement must be because a bad case had occurred there before.
Now that she has the right to enter and exit the storeroom, she has achieved her initial goal.
The guard, seeing it was her, opened the door respectfully without asking any questions and let her in.
Chen Zhuangmu started by searching through the time frame, and finally found the day before her birthday. However, she discovered that there were many cases on that day, but they were all civil cases, such as whose chicken ate whose rice, and there were no murder cases.
Her brows furrowed tightly, unable to understand why those six households hadn't reported the case. Three years ago, the Grand Commandant was powerful, and many people took advantage of him to bully the weak, but these six people should have had nothing to do with them.
Based on his current experience, Shen Zhuangmu believes that no matter what, a police report must have been filed, but it was either withdrawn or the two sides reached an agreement on some terms. After all, money can make the devil turn the millstone.
Chen Zhuangmu gently brushed away non-existent dust from her palm, thinking that she had to sneak off to the Ministry of Justice, because what she was looking for wasn't there.
Shen Zhuangmu thought it was inappropriate to tell Zhao Yi about going to the Ministry of Justice. She planned to wait until the Court of Judicial Review handed the case over to the Ministry of Justice and then have Li Chu take him there.
After waiting for several days without seeing Li Chu, Chen Zhuangmu couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
Today, by sheer coincidence, new clues have been discovered in the case that are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Dali Temple. We are organizing these clues and handing the case over to the Ministry of Justice.
Shen Zhuangmu took on the errand on the pretext that "she had nothing to do." This time, she wasn't alone; there were also two clerks. Not to mention how to avoid the clerks, the Ministry of Justice's defenses were so tight that not even a fly could get in.
The left and right sides have already taken on this job, so things will work themselves out.
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