Tantai Mingzhu asked coldly, “Compared with what I’ve earned for the Earl of Yuguo’s residence, those amounts are nothing but a drop in the bucket.”
Once, she had thought about living a good life with Ning Yuan.
After all, Ning Yuan was gentle in appearance, refined in bearing, and possessed considerable literary talent. Whenever he put on the act of a devoted lover, he spoke softly and acted with tender consideration. When she was in danger, he had even been willing to kneel and beg others on her behalf. After she recovered from a difficult labor, he had clutched her hand and shed tears again and again, as though he truly loved her.
If she had been just a little more foolish, she might really have fallen for him.
But every time she tried to resign herself to her fate, she would discover countless clues in one place or another.
People could not keep up an act for an entire lifetime.
When Magistrate Jin sought her out and asked where the Earl of Yuguo’s residence kept its secret ledgers, she was not surprised in the least.
After all, although Ning Yuan guarded himself against her and treated her merely as a tool for making money, refusing to let her take part in anything confidential, she still managed nearly eighty percent of the residence’s businesses. How could she possibly fail to notice that something was wrong?
The earl continued tirelessly trying to persuade her, hoping to win back Tantai Mingzhu’s heart.
Tantai Mingzhu had grown tired of listening, and Yan Tongshu had grown tired of it as well. He shouted coldly for him to stop and ordered Dantai Fu to continue his confession.
Dantai Fu lay sprawled on the ground. After catching his breath, he began confessing once more.
After inheriting Tantai Mingzhu’s property, he had received three concubines from people arranged by Ning Yuan. These three women were there both to serve him and to keep watch over him.
Later, he became addicted to a life of sensual pleasures, angered his wife to death, and drove his son and daughter-in-law from the family home.
When Ning Yuan felt that Dantai Fu had reached a sufficient level of absurdity to keep Tantai Mingzhu from growing suspicious, he began spreading word that he was offering a high bride-price to take a concubine.
Dantai Fu pretended to become greedy and began forcing Tantai Mingzhu to marry Ning Yuan as his concubine.
Naturally, Tantai Mingzhu refused. She therefore tried to run away, but during her escape, Dantai Fu ordered the servants to push her down. She broke her hand in the fall, and he locked her in the woodshed without sending for a doctor. In the end, to save her hand, Tantai Mingzhu agreed to the marriage.
However, her injury had been left untreated for too long, and she would never again be able to lift heavy objects.
Once the matter was settled, Dantai Fu began wholeheartedly enjoying a life of drunken luxury. He visited brothels, kept concubines, drank, and gambled, squandering all the wealth that Tantai Sandao and Tantai Mingzhu had accumulated. He also ran up a mountain of debt.
With the gambling house hounding him for payment and nowhere left to turn, he went to extort money from the son he had driven out of the family.
After tormenting his son and daughter-in-law, he fled to the capital.
He sought out the Earl of Yuguo’s residence and demanded money from Ning Yuan, threatening to tell Tantai Mingzhu everything if Ning Yuan refused.
Once, he had gotten into an argument with Ning Yuan in the study. When he came out, he saw Tantai Mingzhu standing at the door.
With an expression that suggested she had heard nothing at all, Tantai Mingzhu asked him what he was doing there.
He brushed her off with a few casual excuses.
Later, the amount of money he demanded grew larger and larger, and his appetite became insatiable. Ning Yuan finally lost his patience.
He simply tore off the last pretense between them and made everything clear.
That day, just as when they had first met, Ning Yuan sat in a chair, graceful and elegant. Looking down at him from above, he said indifferently, “Dantai Fu, do you really think no one knows how Tantai Sandao died?”
Dantai Fu was terrified.
Ning Yuan took a sip of tea and said lightly, “I saw the county coroner’s autopsy report. Afterward, I arranged for the prefectural coroner to examine the body again. Guess what the prefectural coroner found in Tantai Sandao’s brain?”
He raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Dantai Fu, I had the coroner put that needle back in. If you dare push your luck any further, I won’t mind having that needle pulled out again.”
Dantai Fu was so frightened that he fled the study in a panic.
He no longer dared to threaten Ning Yuan. But he still owed the gambling house money. At that point, Tantai Mingzhu took the initiative to find him. Seeing how pitiful he was, she arranged for him to stay at the Earl of Yuguo’s residence and even told him that she would find a way to get the heir to give him money so he could open a shoe-repair shop.
At the time, Dantai Fu began to think that Tantai Mingzhu still acknowledged him as her second uncle.
The money of the Earl of Yuguo’s residence was all earned by Tantai Mingzhu, and the residence could not do without her.
If Ning Yuan died, wouldn’t no one ever find out that he had killed Tantai Sandao?
And if Ning Yuan died, surely Tantai Mingzhu would still take care of her second uncle. Then all the money of the Earl of Yuguo’s residence would belong to him.
His mind was simple. He only wanted a simple solution to his problems, so he decided to kill Ning Yuan and silence him.
Criminals usually repeat the methods that have worked for them before.
Dantai Fu did not know why, although he had been the one to drive the needle into Tantai Sandao’s brain, the coroner had ultimately concluded that Tantai Sandao had died from charcoal poisoning. But he knew that this method of killing was effective and difficult to detect.
So he chose the same method.
He waited patiently for an opportunity. At last, when the Earl of Yuguo’s residence happened to be distracted by a thief, he stole a maid’s shoes, crept on tiptoe to Ning Yuan’s room, and climbed in through the window.
At the time, Ning Yuan had just been poisoned. He had finished vomiting for the first time, and his entire body was weak, while unbearable pain wracked his abdomen.
Dantai Fu knew nothing of this, nor did he know that Ning Yuan could fight. He assumed Ning Yuan was merely a weak scholar. Approaching from behind, he covered Ning Yuan’s mouth and drove a needle into his ear. Then he supported him to the bed, arranged him just as Tantai Sandao had been before his death, and tucked him beneath the covers.
Afterward, he picked up the woman’s shoe lying on the floor, climbed back out the window, carefully closed it from the outside, put on the shoes, and tiptoed away.
He thought he had committed the crime as secretly and flawlessly as before. He never imagined that he would be caught immediately.
Fortunately, he stubbornly insisted that he had only been there to steal something, so his true intentions were not discovered.
Unfortunately, his good fortune ended there.
Dantai Fu confessed. Yan Tongshu ordered someone to take him away, then turned his stern gaze toward Tantai Mingzhu.
“Tantai Mingzhu, everything Dantai Fu said was heard by everyone in this courtroom. You were forced into becoming a concubine. Do you still wish to remain Prince Ning’s concubine? If you do not, I can revoke your status as his concubine here and now. From this day forward, you will have no connection to the Earl of Yuguo’s residence. I will also order the residence to compensate you with a portion of its wealth.”
Tantai Mingzhu stood where she was, silent.
The hope she had already abandoned had come true at the most unexpected moment. For an instant, her mind went completely blank.
A moment later, tears slipped down her cheeks. She fell to her knees.
“This common woman, Tantai Mingzhu, thanks Magistrate Yan for granting her freedom.”
The words “this common woman” already made her attitude clear.
“No!” The earl protested. “Magistrate Yan is renowned for his impartiality, yet you are acting unfairly in this matter. This testimony comes from Dantai Fu alone. How can you simply believe it?”
“Is that so?” Yan Tongshu raised an eyebrow slightly.
Jinbao carried a tray over to the earl.
Yan Tongshu said calmly, “Earl of Yuguo, these are the testimonies of the servants from your residence concerning the time Dantai Fu threatened Tantai Mingzhu. If you do not believe them, I can summon them here for a face-to-face confrontation. Oh, and the very last sheet is the testimony of the county magistrate from that year.”
The earl’s face darkened completely, and the skin on it trembled violently.
He knew it! He should never have allowed an excessively upright hound like Yan Tongshu to get involved!
The Earl of Yuguo’s chest heaved violently as he tried to calm his turbulent emotions with deep breaths. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Since Dantai Fu has finished his examination, and Magistrate Yan has also said that my son was poisoned and murdered, then who exactly is the real culprit?”
He had lost his son and sacrificed his son’s concubine as well. No matter what, he had to catch the murderer this time. Otherwise, wouldn’t the Earl of Yuguo’s estate have suffered a devastating loss for nothing?
“Prince Ning died from poisoning by gelsemium, also known as heartbreak grass. There are two crucial questions that must be answered. First, how did the murderer administer the poison? Second, how did the murderer obtain it?” Yan Tongshu suddenly raised her eyes and looked toward Wang Quan’an, who stood idly to one side, his mind seemingly wandering in the heavens, as though he did not care about anything at all. “Lord Wang, what do you think?”
Wang Quan’an had been living at the cemetery these past few days. He had neither the time nor the inclination to take care of himself. At present, his hair was disheveled, and his chin was covered in stubble.
When Yan Tongshu questioned him, he merely lifted his eyelids listlessly and glanced at her before lowering them again, utterly uninterested. “Whatever. Say whatever you want.”
The little figure in Yan Tongshu’s heart furiously pounded on Wang Quan’an.
She knew it. A seasoned old fox like Wang Quan’an would never let anything slip.
Yan Tongshu called out, “Wang Liang.”
Wang Liang, who had just witnessed the entire spectacle and had not yet recovered, shuddered and stepped forward. “This lowly one is here.”
Yan Tongshu said, “Tell them again what I asked you that day.”
“Yes.”
The hunter Wang Liang once again recounted, in meticulous detail, how Wang Quan’an had purchased the partridges.
Yan Tongshu’s voice remained steady. “Wang Quan’an, you were extremely fussy and particular when choosing the partridges. The Earl of Yuguo’s estate purchased partridges at fixed times and according to a regular schedule. After figuring that out, you observed the situation and determined that Wang Liang would be the one making the delivery that day. Then, while pretending to select the partridges, you gave one of them the poison.”
Wang Quan’an laughed disdainfully. “Ridiculous. Wang Liang happened to catch only two birds that day. Could I have predicted that in advance?”
Yan Tongshu said, “You created the image of a man whose wife had died, leaving him heartbroken and mentally unstable. Thus, at the temporary market, no one would find anything you did strange. So even if Wang Liang had caught only one bird that day, as long as you confirmed it was him, you could have stopped him, pretended to be insane, and pestered him. Administering the poison would have been easy.”
Wang Quan’an remained scornful. “Magistrate Yan, where was I supposed to find the poison? Is this kind of toxin found everywhere? Or did I buy it from an apothecary?”
Yan Tongshu pressed her lips together and said nothing.
Wang Quan’an gave a mocking chuckle and continued, “Am I some kind of god? If I had poisoned the bird back then, how could it have lived for so long? And if the partridge had died earlier, would the people of the Earl of Yuguo’s estate have been insane enough to feed a poisoned, dead bird to their prince? If that’s what happened, then I’d say Ning Yuan wasn’t poisoned to death by the murderer at all. He was secretly executed by the Earl of Yuguo’s estate, and they simply took advantage of the situation.”
Yan Tongshu remained silent.
Seeing Wang Quan’an gain the upper hand, the Earl of Yuguo grew anxious. “Magistrate Yan, when you interrogate other people, you hound them relentlessly and never let up. Why have you gone silent now that it’s Wang Quan’an? Say something!”
Yan Tongshu replied calmly, “I’m waiting.”
The Earl of Yuguo strode forward and braced both hands against the courtroom desk. “What are you waiting for? Are you saying my son died for nothing?”
“I’m waiting for the evidence.”
“Evidence, evidence!” The Earl of Yuguo pointed at Yan Tongshu and roared, “I think you’re merely putting on an act! Yan Tongshu, I truly misjudged you. You’re nothing but a fraud with an empty reputation!”
He turned his head furiously and glared at Wang Quan’an. “Wang Quan’an, if you really killed my son, I will personally send you to hell!”
“Bring me evidence first.” Wang Quan’an raised his chin slightly. “Magistrate Yan, if you truly can’t produce any evidence, then I’ll be leaving.”
Yan Tongshu looked toward the doorway.
The first step was about to arrive.
“Putting on a show.” Wang Quan’an curled his lips in disdain and turned to leave.
Yan Tongshu struck the courtroom table with the wooden gavel. “Wang Quan’an, the case has not been concluded. Who gave you permission to leave?”
Wang Quan’an paid no attention to her and walked straight toward the main entrance. “Come find me when you have evidence.”
Wang Quan’an left arrogantly. But halfway to the door, a figure suddenly appeared in the entrance of the courtroom.
The person was slender, yet she stood there like a wall, blocking Wang Quan’an’s path.
Wang Quan’an’s expression changed slightly, while Yan Tongshu smiled.
The first witness had arrived.
Yu Xiujia seemed to carry an aura of gloom with her. When she stared fixedly at Wang Quan’an, he felt as though a ghost had crawled out from beneath the earth, seized his legs, and was dragging him down.
Even as Yu Xiujia walked step by step into the courtroom, her eyes remained glued to Wang Quan’an.
She knelt respectfully and said, “This servant is Yu Xiujia, an old servant of the Wang residence. I pay my respects to Magistrate Yan.”
“Rise,” Yan Tongshu said.
Yan Tongshu gave the bailiffs on either side a look, signaling them to escort Wang Quan’an back.
Uneasy, Wang Quan’an returned to the courtroom.
Yu Xiujia spoke each word clearly. “This servant can testify that Wang Quan’an possesses gelsemium poison.”
Yan Tongshu raised her brows and played along. “Why do you say that?”
Pain filled Yu Xiujia’s eyes. “Zhong Jinyin was my benefactor. She was also Wang Quan’an’s wife. Seven years ago, in the middle of the night…”
Seven years earlier, Wang Yuyan’s mother, Zhong Jinyin, had come down with a cold. Wang Quan’an brought her a bowl of medicine. Before long, Zhong Jinyin began suffering excruciating abdominal pain. She vomited and struggled to breathe.
At the time, Yu Xiujia had just returned from getting up during the night. She had been assigned to Zhong Jinyin’s courtyard and needed to be ready whenever her mistress summoned her, so the maids’ quarters were right beside Zhong Jinyin’s room.
As she passed Zhong Jinyin’s room on her way back, she heard someone calling for help inside. She cautiously approached, never imagining that she would witness the cruel and vicious side hidden beneath Wang Quan’an’s refined appearance, or see the terrifying, bloody scene with her own eyes.
After seeing that Zhong Jinyin had been poisoned, Wang Quan’an placed the poisoned bowl on the table. Then he crouched beside Zhong Jinyin’s bed and smiled tenderly, thoroughly enjoying her suffering.
“Madam, don’t you like honeysuckle? This poison is called gelsemium, also known as heartbreak grass. It looks very much like the honeysuckle you love.
“I happened to find a single stalk of it among the honeysuckle vines you bought. There was only one. But I have to thank you, because with your painstaking care, it bloomed profusely and spread across a large area. It not only fulfilled your false and shallow affection, but also fulfilled my hatred for you. How wonderful. Don’t you agree?”
By then, the poison had rendered Zhong Jinyin unable to speak. She could only reach toward Wang Quan’an and clutch at his robes, looking at him in grief and despair, as though asking: Why? Why are you doing this to me?
Wang Quan’an laughed with extreme cruelty. “Because you deserve it. Who told you to ruin my marriage with Mei’er? If you had been even a little kinder back then and introduced Mei’er to a wealthy merchant without any problems—just an ordinary, foolish rich man—then perhaps, for Mei’er’s sake, I might have let you die comfortably.
“But you were too vicious. You actually introduced Mei’er to a brute who drank, was diseased, and liked to beat people, causing Mei’er to suffer endless abuse.
“You ruined Mei’er’s and my lives. You made Mei’er and me suffer, so I’ll make you suffer ten times, a hundred times worse than we did. Zhong Jinyin, let me tell you this: I allowed you to bear a child only to make the Zhong family lower their guard. Soon, your father—and the two bastards you gave birth to—they’ll all be going down there to keep you company.”
Wang Quan’an yanked her hand away and flung it aside. He stood up and looked down at her coldly, uttering two words: “Disgusting.”
Zhong Jinyin lay limp on the bed, her eyes staring wide open. She died unable to rest in peace.
Yu Xiujia stood by the window with one hand over her mouth, not daring to make a sound. Only after Wang Quan’an had left did she creep into the room. She nudged Zhong Jinyin, who had already lost consciousness and stopped breathing. Those eyes were still wide open, as though recounting the regret in her heart.
Yu Xiujia burst into sobs, but she knew she couldn’t stay there. She had to leave.
Otherwise, if Wang Quan’an discovered that she was there too, she would certainly not survive.
Yu Xiujia wiped away her tears and hurriedly left, carefully erasing every trace that she had entered the room.
The next day, Wang Quan’an pretended to come and have breakfast with Zhong Jinyin. He ordered a servant to call for Madam. When the servant pushed open the door, she discovered that Zhong Jinyin had already been dead for a long time. Her body had grown stiff.
The servant let out a scream.
Wang Quan’an shoved the maid aside and feigned great sorrow, trembling as he gathered Zhong Jinyin’s body into his arms.
After that, her coffin was prepared and she was buried with great haste. Everything happened as quickly as a gust of wind.
Yu Xiujia was unwilling to let Madam die for nothing, but she was merely a maid who knew nothing and had no ability. She was foolish and had no idea how to avenge Zhong Jinyin.
Wang Yuyan and Wang Mingqin were still young.
For a time, she didn’t know what to do.
Later, through a matchmaker, she met a man who raised pigeons. He was gentle by nature and treated her with great consideration. She learned how to train birds from him.
And so, she began pretending to perform supernatural acts.
On the tenth day of the sixth month of the first year, she bought a great deal of honeysuckle. Taking advantage of the servants’ inattention, she secretly planted it in the residence during the night. The next day, when Wang Quan’an saw it, his expression changed drastically, and he ordered people to dig it all up.
A year passed. By then, Wang Quan’an had forgotten about the matter, so she repeated the same trick.
This time, Wang Quan’an flew into a rage and personally dug up every last honeysuckle plant.
By the third year, Wang Quan’an was prepared.
So she used her skill at training birds, tying strips of white cloth to them and pretending that an aggrieved ghost had appeared to demand vengeance. She frightened Wang Quan’an and Gao Shengmei so badly that they did not dare leave the house.
Then she planted honeysuckle again.
The more Madam had died unable to rest in peace, the more she wanted Wang Quan’an to suffer sleepless nights and constant unease.
The fourth year was extremely difficult.
Wang Quan’an intensified the patrols several days in advance. Even if a ghost appeared, there was no way for her to find an opening.
That was when the Zhong family found Yu Xiujia and told her that Wang Quan’an was close to discovering her. They helped lure him away, and she knelt on the ground and confessed everything.
The Zhong family bribed the guards patrolling Wang Quan’an’s courtyard.
After that, things became simple. She controlled the birds and pretended to be a ghost, frightening Wang Quan’an, while the guards bribed by the Zhong family secretly planted the honeysuckle.
When she planted it alone, she could barely dig shallow holes before burying the roots. With the Zhong family’s help, the guards planted them much deeper. As a result, Wang Quan’an grew increasingly terrified. He believed that Zhong Jinyin had spent several years cultivating her powers and had become far more formidable. He was so frightened that he did not dare approach the area. Last year, he ordered people to burn the entire patch of honeysuckle directly.
Yu Xiujia’s voice choked with emotion. “The day after Gao Shengmei and Wang Chuning’s funerals, Wang Quan’an suddenly returned to the residence and began packing his belongings. The eldest young lady was dead, and Madam was dead as well. I was afraid he intended to harm the young master, so I secretly kept watch over him.
“I saw Wang Quan’an return to his bedroom and take a box from a hidden compartment beneath the bed. The box was filled with dried honeysuckle. He carefully sorted through it three times, picking out anything that looked similar to honeysuckle to make sure nothing had been overlooked. Only then did he put the box back. I thought that the substance might have been the aconite that killed Madam.”
Yu Xiujia broke down in tears. “Madam was a good person. Years ago, when my former husband died unexpectedly, my parents-in-law despised me for being ill. They cursed me for wasting food and drove me out of the house. I begged my way along the roads, and if Madam hadn’t taken me in, I would have starved to death long ago.
“Madam was gentle and considerate toward her husband as well. But what about Wang Quan’an? He was ungrateful and faithless. Madam loved him so deeply. Even when he treated her coldly and scolded her, she would only wipe away her tears and continue making soup for him the next day, continuing to care for him.
“Madam knew that Wang Quan’an was having difficulties advancing his career, so she would even take the initiative to return to her family home and ask her relatives for help. She never complained about a single bad thing Wang Quan’an had done—not even to her own family.
“But what about Wang Quan’an? He was as heartless as a madman. He couldn’t see any of Madam’s virtues at all. He only loved Gao Shengmei—the woman who struck and cursed him, egged him on to plot against his own daughter and son, and constantly demanded money, gold, silver, and jewels from him!”
She had suffered greatly while keeping this secret all these years. Other than the Zhong family, she had not known whom she could trust.
It was only when Assistant Magistrate Zhang of the Kaifeng Prefecture told her that they had found evidence of Wang Quan’an’s murder and would soon be able to exhume it from the grave, asking her to attend the proceedings at the Kaifeng Prefecture, that she finally saw a chance to clear Madam’s name.
Wang Quan’an lowered his eyes coldly and cast Yu Xiujia a sidelong glance. “I never asked her to do anything. She was the one who shamelessly threw herself at me.”
“Did you accept it?” Yan Tongshu asked coldly.
Wang Quan’an pressed his lips together and fell silent.
Yan Tongshu spoke sternly. “Wang Quan’an, I admit that Zhong Jinyin acted without sufficient consideration. She viewed matters too one-sidedly and ruined the relationship between you and Gao Shengmei. But she did not force Gao Shengmei to marry someone else. She did not force you to marry her, either, nor did she force you to accept the benefits offered by her Zhong family.
“If your love for Gao Shengmei had truly been unwavering, her little scheme would never have been enough to harm your relationship.
“She was at fault. She thought too narrowly, acted recklessly, and took matters into her own hands. But what about you? You incited your stepmother and stepdaughter to murder your own daughter. You intended to destroy your own daughter’s chastity. You accepted benefits from your wife’s family while harboring resentment against them, and then poisoned and murdered your lawful wife. Such monstrous evil cannot be tolerated by Heaven or reason.”
Wang Quan’an’s eyes trembled briefly before he quickly regained his composure. “There’s no need for Magistrate Yan to try to trick me. Yu Xiujia is merely a servant. Anyone could have bribed her. Who can prove that anything she said is true? You want to convict me based on testimony alone? Magistrate Yan, this is child’s play.”
“Who says there’s no evidence?”
A loud shout came from outside the door.
Yan Tongshu raised her eyebrows slightly.
At last, they had arrived.
She had almost thought they would take even longer.
Yan Tongshu looked coldly at Wang Quan’an. “This is the hard evidence you asked for.”
