Chapter 13 You can know a person's face but not their heart.
"Arguing? Why are they arguing?" The constable's eyes suddenly sharpened.
Aunt Wang's eyes flickered between light and shadow. After probing several times, she finally mustered the courage to confess: "Doctor Zhou arranged a marriage for my daughter, but Madam Zhou disagreed. The two argued about it for many days, and Madam Zhou sent the girl back to her maternal grandparents' house because of this."
Do you know which family's son he has chosen for marriage?
When asked about this, Aunt Wang fell silent, lowered her head, and stammered, refusing to give a clear answer.
The constable straightened his back and emphasized, "This is a murder case; there's no room for concealment!"
Granny Wang gritted her teeth, as if she had made up her mind, and said, "Yes, it is Liu, the wealthy man from the Ministry of Rites."
The bailiffs continued to press, "Which young master is from Master Liu's family? How old is he?"
“It’s Master Liu himself; he’s thirty-two this year.” Wang Da Niang felt embarrassed for the Zhou family after saying this.
The bailiff stood up in disbelief, paced around the hall twice, then stopped in front of Granny Wang, looking down at her and demanding, "This Miss Zhou is not yet of marriageable age. You're saying that Doctor Zhou wants her to marry off the thirty-two-year-old Master Liu as his second wife?"
Aunt Wang said with a gloomy face, "That's why Madam Zhou strongly opposed it, had a big argument with him, and even complained to me in private."
"Why would Changchun, who was perfectly fine this week, push his own daughter into a pit of fire? Is he short of money?" The yamen runner was completely baffled.
“Chunhuitang has no shortage of patients. He’s considered a wealthy household in our Yong’anfang neighborhood. How could he possibly be short of money!” Aunt Wang, annoyed by the questions, grew increasingly impatient. “Who knows what he’s thinking!”
Yu Mingshu listened silently, as if something was connecting in her mind.
She suddenly asked, "Aunt Wang, didn't you tell my mother before that the young master of the Zhou family would be able to enter the Imperial Medical Academy in the future?"
Aunt Wang was taken aback, then nodded and said, "That's true. I'm not making this up; it's all promised by Doctor Zhou himself."
Yu Mingshu turned to the yamen runner, his tone becoming more respectful: "May I ask if the selection of medical officers for the Imperial Medical Academy is the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites?"
The constable's brow furrowed deeply. "You mean Zhou Changchun betrothed his daughter to Master Liu so that his son could get into the Imperial Medical Academy?"
“This is just my guess,” Yu Mingshu said.
The bailiff paced back and forth in the hall, then bent down and wrote a few strokes in his notebook. After pondering for a long time, he said, "Alright, how much do you know about the Zhou family?"
Aunt Wang said, "That's all. I've told you everything I know."
Memories from a few days ago flashed through Yu Mingshu's mind again. After a moment's consideration, she mustered her courage and asked, "May I ask if Madam Zhou has any external injuries?"
The constable became alert. "Why are you asking this? What else do you know?"
Yu Mingshu said, "On the afternoon of April 16th, my mother was seriously ill, so I asked Doctor Zhou to come to our house to see her. At that time, I smelled a strong smell of blood. He explained that he had just returned from delivering a baby, so I didn't think much of it."
Zhou Changchun was a good doctor with an upright reputation, meticulous and responsible, but just now, Aunt Wang actually said that he wanted to marry his fourteen-year-old daughter to a thirty-two-year-old man. In that instant, the image he had built in Yu Mingshu's mind collapsed.
She didn't want to speculate maliciously about a loving couple, but the scattered clues in her mind pointed to someone she didn't want to doubt.
No bad person would write "I am a bad person" on their forehead. Who can truly know the people around them and what kind of heart lies beneath their skin?
After thinking it over carefully, Yu Mingshu felt a chill run down his spine. The constable said, "The coroner examined the body and found no external injuries. The person drowned."
No external injuries, drowned.
Where did that bloody smell come from?
The constable raised his hand and said, "Alright, if you remember anything else, report it to the authorities immediately."
Yu Mingshu gathered her scattered thoughts and bowed slightly: "Yes, please take care."
After seeing off the officials she couldn't afford to offend, Granny Wang got up with lingering fear, hurriedly said goodbye, and left.
Wu Qiuniang had been helped back to the North Courtyard by Qingque when the yamen runners entered. She only came out now that everyone had left and asked what had happened. Yu Mingshu only said that the government officials had come to inquire.
…
The afterglow of the setting sun enveloped Yong'an Ward, and the crescent moon appeared in the crimson sky. The yamen runners came out of the Zhou family and took Zhou Changchun away.
Zhou Changchun was dragged around, his clothes disheveled, a far cry from his convincing image when he was seeing patients. He kept explaining to the constables, "Sir, there must be some misunderstanding! My wife left the city a few days ago and we haven't heard from her since. I've been looking for her these past few days. How could this be my doing? Someone must have said something. Sir, you can't believe rumors!"
The bailiff shouted sternly, "We have already found the evidence. If you have anything to say, go back and explain it to the legal officer."
The Zhou family's two children chased after him crying, and despite being driven away by the yamen runners countless times, they still refused to give up. Finally, Aunt Wang pulled them to the side of the road with a combination of grabbing and persuasion.
In the streets and alleys, many neighbors stood at their doorways, looking out.
Across the long street, Yu Mingshu's gaze met Wang Da Niang's, and the two tacitly looked away. Watching Zhou Changchun being carried away by two burly yamen runners, Yu Mingshu felt a chill run down his spine.
Such a seemingly benevolent and virtuous doctor, outsiders only thought that he and his wife were a harmonious couple. But Madam Zhou had shared a bed with him for twenty years. Did she ever think that one day she would die at the hands of her husband?
Only after the yamen runners had completely left Yong'anfang did the neighbors dare to approach and peer around at the alley entrance.
Yu Mingshu looked back at the end of the alley as if she had a premonition. She always felt that there was a pair of dark eyes staring at her from there.
The carriage drove in from the alley entrance and stopped in front of the Yu family's gate, blocking the eerie view.
Yu Dan jumped off the carriage, looked around, and seeing everyone whispering among themselves, couldn't contain his curiosity and asked, "Sister, what happened? Why did I see a huge group of people leaving Yong'an Ward?"
Yu Mingshu noticed that his collar was askew, his sleeves were stained with mud, and his clothes were dirty. She took a half step back with some disgust. "The female corpse that you and He Er found outside the city was the wife of Zhou Changchun of Chunhuitang."
Yu Dan gasped in shock, his mouth agape, and after a long while exclaimed, "Won't Physician Zhou be heartbroken?"
Zhao Niangzi, who was sitting opposite, had sharp ears and, upon hearing this, retorted loudly, "What's he sad about? The government officials just searched the Zhou family's house and found out that Madam Zhou died in her own courtyard! Zhou Changchun has already been arrested!"
Yu Dan was incredulous. He grabbed his robe and ran to the other side, exclaiming, "How is this possible? Weren't they always so loving?"
Looking up at the sky, Zhao Niangzi sighed with emotion: "This is what they mean by knowing a person's face but not their heart."
Yu Mingshu followed, then suddenly remembered what the bailiffs had said when they shoved Zhou Changchun. Thinking of Zhao Niangzi's ability to hear everything, he asked her, "Zhao Niangzi, the bailiffs just said they found evidence in the Zhou family's house. Do you know what that evidence is?"
Not only was Yu Mingshu curious about this, but several women around also leaned in to listen.
After a moment of contemplation, Zhao Niangzi, annoyed by Zhao's cryptic behavior, nudged her with her elbow. Only then did Zhao Niangzi gesture for everyone to come closer and whisper, "The constables found Madam Zhou's earring in the water in her courtyard."
Yu Dan was startled and instinctively gripped his sister's sleeve tightly. "I remember now, when we found Madam Zhou that day, she only had one earring left!"
Yu Mingshu was lost in thought, completely forgetting to shake off his dirty hands. "So, Madam Zhou didn't drown outside the city at all, but drowned in her own water vat?"
Everyone looked in the direction of the Zhou family's residence, and a wave of sighs swept through the crowd.
…
On the 20th day of the fourth month of the 19th year of Fengle, at the hour of Si (9-11 AM).
Inside the Jingzhao Prefecture government office, Chen Rusheng, the legal advisor, sat upright in the hall, dressed in a neat official robe, with yamen runners standing on both sides, displaying the emperor's majesty to the fullest.
Two jailers carried Zhou Changchun to the front of the court and forced him to kneel down by pressing his shoulders.
Zhou Changchun usually liked to wear plain-colored fine cloth shirts, maintaining a refined and elegant demeanor. Now, as a prisoner, he could only wear coarse linen prison clothes, and his hair, pulled loose, hung down in a disheveled and unkempt manner. Despite his wretched appearance, his eyes remained calm and undisturbed, showing no fear.
"Zhou Changchun, this government office has examined your wife's body and confirmed that she was dumped after death. The cause of death was drowning, and the location of death was in the Zhou family courtyard. Do you have any objections?"
Zhou Changchun remained silent, staring intently at Chen Rusheng in the hall.
Chen Rusheng raised his voice and asked again, "Zhou Changchun, did you kill him?"
He was met with only endless silence.
It was not uncommon for prisoners to remain silent like this in the history of the Jingzhao Prefecture. Chen Rusheng was very patient and did not get angry, but the yamen runners next to him were not so good-tempered.
The bailiff grabbed a wooden stake and slammed it heavily on the ground, sternly reprimanding, "Zhou Changchun, don't think you can escape punishment by remaining silent! Why was your wife's earring at the bottom of the water vat? And where did the sharp object wound on your left shoulder come from? I advise you to tell the truth! If you continue to play dumb, don't blame Judge Chen for torturing you!"
Perhaps out of fear of the pain of being flogged, or perhaps out of fear of losing his dignity after being tortured, Zhou Changchun's thin lips trembled twice before he finally spoke.
“The Sun family died because of me, but I had no choice.”
His tone was compassionate, and deep wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes. "That night, I returned home from the clinic, exhausted both physically and mentally. Mrs. Sun insisted on discussing our children's marriage with me. We had already argued about this countless times, but she still wouldn't give up."
Chen Rusheng frowned: "Just because of a disagreement, you're going to kill her?"
Zhou Changchun smiled bitterly: "No, she wanted to kill me, or perhaps she wanted to scare me. At that time, she pulled out the hairpin from her hair and stabbed me. I couldn't dodge in time and she stabbed my left shoulder. That hairpin was the betrothal gift I gave her when we got married. When I saw that Madam Sun was determined to kill me, I fought back... During the shoving, her wrist was dislocated, but even so, she still wanted to fight me to the death."
At this point, he painfully supported his forehead and sobbed softly.
"I had no choice but to push her into the water tank."
Seeing this pretentious performance, Chen Rusheng felt disgusted from the bottom of his heart and said in a deep voice, "She is just a woman. With her right hand already dislocated, how could she possibly hurt you again? Why do you have to be so ruthless?"
Zhou Changchun murmured, "I saw that Madam Sun was acting crazy and wanted to bring her to her senses. I lost my composure for a moment."
"If it was an accidental murder, why didn't you report it to the authorities immediately? Instead, you secretly left the city and abandoned the body in the wilderness?"
"Although it was an unintentional mistake, I am still afraid of being punished... I also took a chance and thought I could get away with it."
Chen Rusheng and his deputy exchanged a glance, then asked a few more questions before finally striking down with the ruler.
"Take prisoner Zhou Changchun into custody and adjourn the court."
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