Qiu Shidong’s demeanor was respectful: “These people are Boss Qiao, Madam Qiao, Boss Ma, Madam Ma, Mr. Wen, and Miss Qiao’s personal maid, Tao Hong. Two years ago, in the eighth month, the Baixing Bookstore was on the verge of closing. Miss Qiao brought her maid Tao Hong to take over the bookstore and kept me, a commoner, on as the manager.
The bookstore was very small, poorly managed, and always unable to make ends meet, so the wages it could offer were meager. Over the years, the clerks we hired came and went, came and went again. Only I stayed on through it all.”
Yan Tongshu’s expression was composed: “How did you come to recognize Wen Zhengshen?”
Qiu Shidong lowered his head: “Over the past two years, Mr. Wen often came to the bookstore to meet with Miss Qiao in the back room, so I knew him. The bookstore was originally rented, but later Miss Qiao and Young Master Ma planned to go into business together, so they pooled their money to buy it. Not long ago, Miss Qiao passed away. Tao Hong, the maid, came to tell me the bookstore could no longer operate, ordered me to close it, sell off the books and paintings cheaply, and then leave on my own.”
At this point, Tao Hong was so terrified her legs gave way. She kowtowed repeatedly: “Spare my life, Prefect Yan, I beg you, spare my life! It was my momentary greed, my heart blinded by avarice. I beg you, Prefect Yan, spare my life!”
Wen Zhengshen collapsed limply to the ground.
Yan Tongshu struck the judge’s gavel: “Confess honestly now!”
Tao Hong: “I’ll confess, I’ll tell everything.”
Through tears, Tao Hong revealed the truth, almost exactly as Yan Tongshu had deduced, only with slight differences in detail.
Qiao Qingqing had been innocent and vivacious since childhood. The Qiao family was fairly well-off, so she naturally grew up spoiled, unable to endure hardship and willful by nature.
At thirteen, Qiao Qingqing’s body developed, and her extraordinary beauty became more apparent. Her parents’ hearts stirred.
With a daughter so beautiful, if they could add more learning and give her a reputation as a talented woman, she could marry into an official family. Then the Qiao family would rise from the lowest rank of merchants.
So Qiao Qingqing’s parents paid a hefty sum to hire a teacher to instruct her. Practicing calligraphy was extremely arduous. Qiao Qingqing couldn’t bear the hardship and cried every time, but her parents, who had always doted on and indulged her, refused to relent this time. Qiao Qingqing could only complain while studying.
One day, Qiao Qingqing was at the street with Tao Hong, choosing jewelry and mumbling complaints about her parents. Wen Zhengshen happened to be next door buying cheap ink. He heard her and, momentarily indignant that she didn’t cherish the precious chance to learn, argued with her a few rounds, reducing Qiao Qingqing to tears.
Qiao Qingqing was so beautiful. A beauty crying with pear-blossom tears—how pitiful. Wen Zhengshen felt sorry for her. He coaxed her, saying that if she really didn’t want to do those difficult lessons, she could have her maid bring them out to him, and he would do them for her.
Qiao Qingqing wiped her tears and asked him: “R-really?”
Wen Zhengshen nodded and smiled indulgently: “Yes, really. As long as you bring them out, I’ll do them for you.”
After that, almost all of Qiao Qingqing’s homework was done by Wen Zhengshen.
At first, Wen Zhengshen had some trouble imitating Qiao Qingqing’s writing habits and immature handwriting, but before long, he could pass off fakes as genuine. From then on, Wen Zhengshen pretended that ‘Qiao Qingqing’s’ calligraphy and painting skills were gradually improving through study. Meanwhile, Wen Zhengshen developed the ability to write and paint in two different styles.
Qiao Qingqing’s calligraphy and painting progressed rapidly. Her parents were very pleased and gave her a lot more silver as a reward. Qiao Qingqing would then invite Wen Zhengshen to dinner to thank him.
The turning point came when Qiao Qingqing’s parents saw her ‘improved’ paintings and saw profit in them. They threw money around to invite various people of some repute in the painting world to boast about Qiao Qingqing’s work. Qiao Qingqing was beautiful, and such a beauty who could paint, and paint not badly, naturally caught people’s eye. More and more admirers flocked to her.
At first, a painting by Qiao Qingqing sold for five taels of silver. Gradually, the price rose to twenty taels.
People didn’t necessarily like Qiao Qingqing’s paintings, but they definitely liked Qiao Qingqing, this stunningly beautiful talented woman.
As the profit changed, Wen Zhengshen’s mental balance was upset. He grew jealous and resentful of Qiao Qingqing. Why, he thought, were his paintings, while the same, impossible for him to sell, while Qiao Qingqing was so easily celebrated? He began to think of destroying Qiao Qingqing, and subtly left his own style name hidden within the paintings.
Qiao Qingqing had little worldly experience and was young. Wen Zhengshen was seven or eight years older. Taking advantage of his drunkenness, he coaxed Qiao Qingqing into bed. Afterwards, he cried and knelt, apologizing to her, saying he loved her, that he would take responsibility for her, and when she turned sixteen and he passed the imperial examinations, he would come to propose. Qiao Qingqing wept and asked him: “You’re not fooling me, are you?”
Wen Zhengshen quickly raised his hand: “I swear, if I betray you, may heaven strike me down.”
Seeing Wen Zhengshen’s sincere attitude, Qiao Qingqing believed him.
From then on, every so often, Qiao Qingqing would be coaxed into giving herself to him, and they rented the failing Baixing Bookstore to carry on their affair in the back courtyard.
After much more time passed, the Ma family used dishonest means to steal a major deal that the Qiao family had already finalized, making Qiao Qingqing’s mother ill from anger. Qiao Qingqing saw this and felt deep pain. When she met Wen Zhengshen, she cursed the Ma family in the bookstore, calling them shameless, treacherous, mean and despicable.
Wen Zhengshen had already gotten to know Ma Tianci by then.
Tao Hong didn’t know what grudge Wen Zhengshen bore against Ma Tianci, but Wen Zhengshen took the initiative to say to Qiao Qingqing: “Qingqing, since the Ma family has been unkind, we don’t need to be polite with them either.”
Qiao Qingqing pouted: “How can we be impolite? Even my parents can’t do anything to them. Apart from cursing, what else can I do?”
Wen Zhengshen lay sideways on the bed, smiling: “What the Ma family treasures most isn’t their business, but their son, Ma Tianci.”
Tao Hong came in with fresh tea.
Wen Zhengshen toyed with Qiao Qingqing’s hair: “I know Ma Tianci. He’s a stupid, simpleminded fool who’ll blush for half a day if a woman so much as touches his hand. Here’s what you do—go and flirt with him. You’re so beautiful, I guarantee he’ll fall for you.
When the time comes, we’ll think of a way to trick him out of the capital. Then take all the silver on him, leaving him penniless, to suffer hunger and hardship outside for several days. Then have someone send word to the Ma family to come collect him.
By then, Ma Tianci will surely be thin and starved. Boss Ma and Madam Ma will absolutely be heartbroken. Maybe they’ll fall ill too, like your mother, and lie in bed for days.”
Qiao Qingqing’s eyes rolled: “This plan of yours is good. Hah, serves them right for bullying my parents! We’ll make that Ma suffer for ten or so days out there. We won’t leave him much silver, just two taels. Let him be out of town for ten days—unable to eat his fill, unable to dress warmly, unable to come back. He’ll be miserable.”
In Qiao Qingqing’s eyes, her expenses were all covered by the family. Her monthly allowance of three taels wasn’t even enough, and she felt hard up. Two taels for ten days, having to buy clothes, food, and rent an inn, seemed utterly miserable.
But in Tao Hong’s eyes, it was entirely different. She changed the tea, silently complaining to herself: Two taels would be enough for her entire family to live for two months. To live on it for just ten days, with three meals a day, enough to eat and drink with meat and clothes, how could anyone starve? Young miss truly had no idea of the suffering of common folk.
Clearly, Wen Zhengshen was also stunned by Qiao Qingqing’s naivety.
He rubbed Qiao Qingqing’s face with a sly, insincere smile. “Let’s do it your way.”
Then the two discussed it for a while and devised a plan.
On the day of the painting and calligraphy gathering, Ma Tianci was lured over as expected. Later, Qiao Qingqing arranged to meet Ma Tianci. The Qiao and Ma families were enemies, so the meeting was extremely awkward.
What followed was exactly as Ma Tianci had said: Qiao Qingqing deliberately teased him.
After Ma Tianci left, Qiao Qingqing laughed with Tao Hong, calling him a clueless fool.
Later, Wen Zhengshen, claiming to be Ma Tianci’s friend, passed along news of Ma Tianci to Qiao Qingqing, and the two began to meet by “coincidence” often.
Ma Tianci genuinely liked Qiao Qingqing and gave her many gifts.
Qiao Qingqing, uncomfortable after receiving so many, returned the favor with many gifts of her own.
And the love letters signed with Qiao Qingqing’s name that Ma Tianci had collected were all secretly written by Wen Zhengshen.
Eventually, their secret affair was discovered by their parents. Afraid of punishment, Qiao Qingqing did not dare tell the truth and shifted all blame onto Ma Tianci.
After that, Ma Tianci, at Wen Zhengshen’s invitation, went to Hongwen Temple to burn incense, and the two met again.
They stood in silence.
Ma Tianci was sincere toward Qiao Qingqing, and Qiao Qingqing’s heart ached when she saw the whip marks on his body from his family’s punishment.
They sat and talked for a while before parting.
Afterward, Qiao Qingqing wanted to let things go, but Wen Zhengshen was unwilling to give up. He stole Qiao Qingqing’s bellyband and sent it to Ma Tianci.
This time, Ma Tianci could no longer suppress his feelings. He went to find Qiao Qingqing, and their old flame reignited.
Qiao Qingqing had originally wanted to let it go, but Wen Zhengshen provoked her: “Don’t tell me you’ve actually fallen for that fool?”
Qiao Qingqing retorted stubbornly, “Not at all! I don’t like someone who harmed my parents like that.”
Pushed by Wen Zhengshen, half reluctant and half willing, Qiao Qingqing continued her romance with Ma Tianci.
In the end, the truth could no longer be hidden; the scandal broke out.
Afraid that her parents would discover Wen Zhengshen’s involvement, Qiao Qingqing made up many lies, blaming everything on Ma Tianci. Her father then locked her up.
Tao Hong quickly went to find Wen Zhengshen, and Wen Zhengshen went to find Ma Tianci.
Ma Tianci was slow, dull, and simple-minded. He had just been punished by his parents and was still scared; his heart was pounding. He was afraid, timid, and dared not truly defy his parents. So he made excuses and refused. Wen Zhengshen provoked him: “A weak woman dares to defy her parents for you, while you hesitate and cower. You’re no man at all! If you don’t go, I’ll spread word of the ‘brave deeds’ of young master Ma far and wide tomorrow, so everyone can ‘praise’ you properly!”
Ma Tianci gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and finally made up his mind. He stole some family silver, grabbed a bundle of clothes carelessly, and followed Wen Zhengshen to rescue Qiao Qingqing.
Wen Zhengshen had prepared incense to knock out the Qiao servants. With Tao Hong as an insider, the two escaped smoothly.
What happened after that, Tao Hong did not know.
By the time she heard news of Qiao Qingqing and Ma Tianci again, both were already dead.
Tao Hong had been hesitating about whether to tell Qiao’s parents the whole truth when Wen Zhengshen found her. He mixed threats with bribery.
Wen Zhengshen said, “Tao Hong, think carefully. You work for the Qiao family. You helped your young lady carry on a secret affair and cheat behind their backs. If these things come out, do you think the Qiao family will let you off? And besides… Tao Hong, only you and Qingqing know where the deed to the Baixing Bookshop is hidden.
If you expose what happened between Qingqing and me, that deed will belong to the Qiao family. But the deed to the Baixing Bookshop has not yet been transferred. It’s in your hands now. If the Qiao family never finds out, it’s yours.”
Under the combination of threat and temptation, Tao Hong’s heart was swayed. The bookshop deed was valuable, and terrified of it being stolen, Tao Hong had kept it hidden on her body at all times.
Tao Hong knelt on the ground, her voice hoarse, her forehead bleeding from knocking it against the floor: “Prefect Yan, every word this servant has said is true, without a shred of deception.”
By now, Qiao’s mother, who had regained consciousness, was already in tears. “My poor Qingqing!”
She pointed angrily at Tao Hong: “You servant girl! What has the Qiao family ever done wrong to you? How could you collude with outsiders to harm my Qingqing like this!”
Ma Tianci’s parents were furious, grinding their teeth, wanting to take the Qiao family to task. But according to Tao Hong, it was their dishonest business practices that had made Qiao’s mother ill. Besides, Qiao Qingqing had only wanted to trick Ma Tianci into going to another place, leaving him with just two silver pieces for “meager” expenses—so he could endure ten days of hardship. In the end, it was just a little girl’s small prank.
But now both of them were dead, and that was utterly despicable!
The two glared fiercely at Wen Zhengshen—he was the real culprit, the one most guilty and wicked!
Yan Tongshu looked toward Wen Zhengshen: “Do you have anything more to say?”
Wen Zhengshen stammered, “I… I…”
His eyes panicked. “This… a secret affair is just a secret affair! On what grounds do you accuse me of murder!”
Yan Tongshu’s tone was icy: “I only ask you this: do you admit to what Tao Hong said or not?”
Wen Zhengshen yelled hoarsely, “So what if I admit it! We only had a secret affair. I only wrote letters for her and played a little joke. On what grounds do you accuse me of murder?”
Yan Tongshu scolded, “Foolish.”
Wen Zhengshen replied, “Prefect Yan, even if you are the prefect, you cannot convict someone without evidence.”
Yan Tongshu’s expression turned solemn: “Tao Hong just said that all of Qiao Qingqing’s schoolwork was written by you, including her calligraphy and paintings. Every love letter sent to Ma Tianci was also written by your hand.”
Wen Zhengshen objected, “So what? Even if I wrote them all…”
Suddenly, he was struck as if by lightning, frozen in place.
“It seems you’ve finally understood,” Yan Tongshu said, holding up Qiao Qingqing’s last suicide note. “To fabricate the illusion that Qiao Qingqing tried to flee and Ma Tianci killed her in a fit of rage, you deliberately left behind a suicide note in Qiao Qingqing’s own handwriting.
In her own handwriting! Qiao Qingqing’s personal handwriting! I ask you: all of Qiao Qingqing’s writing was done by you as a substitute. Her calligraphy was never properly practiced; her handwriting differs from yours. So who wrote this suicide note?”
Yan Tongshu placed the note on a tray for the officers to show Wen Zhengshen clearly: “The suicide note you personally wrote to cover up your murder has become your very crime of murder!”
Yan Tongshu said angrily: “Qiao Qingqing was a rich man’s daughter. Ma Tianci was a young master who could neither carry heavy loads nor do menial work, yet for eloping with Qiao Qingqing, he frantically called for a doctor, brewed medicine, and took care of her. Amid her illness, Qiao Qingqing was physically and emotionally fragile. Added to that, her own biological father gave her poison and ordered her to kill herself. In comparison, although Ma Tianci was slow-witted, he was sincere toward her.
I speculate that on that day, Qiao Qingqing, heartbroken and disappointed, was moved by Ma Tianci’s genuine kindness. She indeed had second thoughts and was unwilling to drag Ma Tianci down. She wanted to explain things clearly to him and send him home. That enraged you. In a fit of anger, you strangled Qiao Qingqing with a belt. Afterward, seeing the mess, you turned your thoughts and concocted a poisonous scheme to frame Ma Tianci.”
You took out the poison from Qiao Qingqing’s body and, after Ma Tianci returned, poisoned him to death. You swapped your own belt onto Ma Tianci’s body to stage a suicide scene. But you killed in haste and framed in haste, so many details were not carefully thought through. Thus, you’ve been observing in secret, watching how the Qiao and Ma families would handle the aftermath. If they reported the case to the authorities, you would flee; if not, you would successfully escape, then prepare for this year’s imperial examination.
“So what!”
Trembling with fear, Wen Zhengshen blurted out recklessly: “I was jealous of Qingqing. I resented Ma Tianci. I envied their privileged backgrounds and hated their oblivious, unworldly airs. She was stupid enough to think two taels of silver wouldn’t last ten days. How ridiculous.
And that Ma Tianci—when I told him this year’s rice paper had gone up in price and I couldn’t afford it for my studies, you know what he said? He said, ‘Why not use last year’s paper? Though last year’s paper suffered from the disaster and isn’t as good as this year’s, it’s still usable.’
Hah, last year’s paper. What a classic case of ‘why don’t they eat cake?’ He had absolutely no grasp of people like me, who have to economize every single sheet, leaving nothing leftover! So I hated them! I hated their naivety, their self-righteous kindness when they gave charity, their unworldly arrogance that everything they had was earned through their own effort, the way everyone they met would call them ‘young master’ to flatter them.
That’s why I didn’t just want to trick Ma Tianci into leaving the capital—I wanted to trick Qiao Qingqing out too. I wanted to throw them both somewhere far away, penniless! I wanted to see if, without money and without their parents’ support, they could still be so pure, naive, and kind forever! Prefect Yan, aren’t you curious?”
“You beast!”
Ma’s father and mother cursed in unison, lunging to beat Wen Zhengshen.
Mindful of what had happened earlier with Qiao’s mother, the constables quickly held them back.
Yan Tongshu remained calm, asking, “Is that all?”
“Yes, that’s all!” Wen Zhengshen stood up, his face twisted like a fiend. “I wanted to throw them into the same situation as me—I just wanted to see how long their innocence and sweetness could last! I only wanted to trick them away; I didn’t kill anyone! When Qiao Qingqing died, I wasn’t even at the scene!”
Yan Tongshu stated firmly: “You were.”
Wen Zhengshen frowned. “Didn’t you say Qiao Qingqing died on the eighth? That day, I was attending lectures at Maple Forest Pavilion—all the scholars in Bianjing can testify.”
Yan Tongshu: “Do you know why Qiao Qingqing was said to have died on the eighth?”
Wen Zhengshen opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Yan Tongshu shook his head. “You yourself don’t know why the authorities determined her death was on the eighth, do you?”
Wen Zhengshen: “What do you mean?”
Yan Tongshu’s voice grew harsh: “I said from the start—Qiao Qingqing and Ma Tianci died on the same day, not the eighth.”
Wen Zhengshen staggered, crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
Yan Tongshu’s gaze cut through all pretense: “Qiao Qingqing died on the same day as Ma Tianci. That’s why you fled in panic, why you wondered during your arrest why I asked about the eighth, and why you so readily confessed in the first court session. You thought you had slipped away clean.”
Yan Tongshu paused, picking up Ma Tianci’s medical records. “In the kitchen at the death scene, I found the medication Qiao Qingqing had been taking—two leftover doses. I sent Pearl to Harmony Hall to check Ma Tianci’s purchase records.
Ma Tianci was a young master and couldn’t decoct medicine himself, so the first two times he ruined the brew and had to get more from Harmony Hall early. But the last two times, this didn’t happen.
His last purchase record was on the eighth. The doctor prescribed five days’ supply, two doses a day. Only two doses remained in the kitchen—one day’s worth. If Qiao Qingqing had died on the eighth, where did the rest of the medicine go?
On the eleventh, Ma Tianci bought two bowls of tofu pudding and said he’d buy more in the future. Why would one person buy two bowls of tofu pudding alone? If Qiao Qingqing had already died on the eighth, and Ma Tianci knew he was guilty and ready to atone with his life, why would there be any ‘future’?”
Wen Zhengshen: “B-but… didn’t the authorities say Qiao Qingqing died on the eighth?”
Yan Tongshu: “The decomposition of Qiao Qingqing’s body did match a death on the eighth, but…”
Everyone held their breath, watching Yan Tongshu.
Yan Tongshu glanced around the room. “...a corpse’s degree of decay isn’t determined by just one factor. Ma Tianci’s room shared a wall with a neighbor—an illegal dye workshop. Without government approval, operating in a residential area, they secretly dyed cloth, marked it with the Qian Silk Shop label, and sold it at high prices—counterfeiting for profit.
Dyeing requires repeated boiling and soaking in plant ash and lime, which raises the indoor temperature. It rose much higher than room temperature. Qiao Qingqing’s body had been placed in a wardrobe. Under high heat, the wood of the wardrobe would crack faster, and the corpse would decompose more quickly. When the body was examined, it misled the coroner into incorrectly judging the time of death. That’s also why the wardrobe in Ma Tianci’s room had cracks, while the one of the same material in Qiao Qingqing’s room remained intact.”
Wen Zhengshen went limp, all spirit drained from him.
“It’s over… it’s completely over…”
He muttered endlessly.
Slap!
The wooden gavel echoed once more in the silent courtroom.
Yan Tongshu demanded: “Now, confess the truth about the murder.”
Wen Zhengshen smiled as if insane: “Just as the Prefect deduced.
On the twelfth, Qingqing sent Ma Tianci away and suddenly told me she wanted to go home. She said that even her own biological father had given her poison and urged her to die, but the man she had toyed with had treated her sincerely. She said Ma Tianci was clumsy and reckless but had burned his hands trying to decoct medicine for her.
She felt she had gone too far—that just because of a business feud between their families, she had wanted to toy with him and hurt him. She decided to go home and let him go home too. She didn’t want to drag him down anymore.
I had struggled so hard to trick them into eloping, to convince them to leave Bianjing by boat in a few days. My wish was about to come true. Just a little more…
That foolish woman—she wanted to give up! I had been so intimate with her, and yet she fell in love with Ma Tianci! Why? Why! Heaven is so unjust—it gives everything good to Ma Tianci! Loving parents, a wealthy home, a woman’s genuine affection. Ma Tianci is just an idiot. If I hadn’t provoked him, he wouldn’t even have had the courage to elope. When his parents questioned him, he even twisted the truth and shifted all the blame onto Qingqing.
But that foolish woman still fell in love with him. Why? I don’t understand! Why?! I tried to stop her, and she fought back desperately. She defended Ma Tianci so fiercely. By the time I came to my senses, Qingqing was already dead—dead by my hand.
Terrified, I called out to her, tried to revive her, but she had already stopped breathing. I had no choice. In for a penny, in for a pound…”
Speaking of not stopping when one should, Wen Zheng’s face turned exceptionally fierce and vicious, like a vengeful ghost born of resentment. "Right, not stopping when one should—I hid her body in Ma Tianci’s wardrobe, took the poison from her, and waited for Ma Tianci to return. I told him that Qingqing had left gently. Guess what Ma Tianci’s reaction was?"
