Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Madam Wang’s slap landed with brutal force, and a clear handprint instantly appeared on the left side of Lu Xian’s face.

He knelt on the floor, clutching his cheek, yet edged closer to Ren Fengjue’s feet. “Lord Ren, every word I said is true. I would never dare deceive you in the slightest!”

Ren Fengjue glanced at Yu Lang beside him.

Yu Lang understood at once and turned to the maids standing frozen off to the side. “What are you still standing there for? If the Prefect’s Wife ruins her health in a fit of anger, can any of you bear the blame?”

Hearing this, the maids had no choice but to step forward together, support Madam Wang, and guide her back down into a chair.

Without a change in expression, Ren Fengjue picked up the hot tea on the table and took a sip, lightly tapping the tabletop with his other hand. “I imagine Mr. Lu knows the circumstances behind the murder of Liu Shi and her children from Yan County.”

“Tell me. Why did Prefect Zheng strike at the three of them?”

Lu Xian had been waiting for him to ask. He could not get the truth out fast enough. “This matter began a year ago…”

A year ago, while Zheng Daoyuan was drinking at a banquet in Zuihua Restaurant, a chance glance across the street caught his eye. He found himself captivated by the woman running a pastry shop in the market opposite.

Her every smile and frown bore an uncanny resemblance to his first wife, Liu Shi, who had died of illness more than ten years earlier.

Of course, Madam Wang was the second wife he had married after entering officialdom.

But from the moment Zheng Daoyuan saw that smiling face, he could no longer drive it from his mind. After sending someone to inquire into the woman’s identity, he was even more startled.

Her surname was Liu as well.

He believed it was Heaven taking pity on him, specially granting him this fated encounter to make up for the regret in his heart.

And so, despite knowing full well that Liu Shi was already another man’s wife, Zheng Daoyuan still resorted to certain methods to make her aware of his existence.

Concealing his identity, he would quietly visit the shop whenever there were no other customers. Posing as an ordinary patron, he bought one of every pastry she had available.

Then he would take the opportunity to exchange a few words with Liu Shi.

After several such visits, he became a familiar customer.

Because he was so much older, Liu Shi regarded him as an elder. Her way of addressing him changed from “sir” to “Uncle Zheng.”

Her tone was always warm, her smile blooming like a flower.

For a time, the powerful prefect felt as if he had returned to the days when he was still a poor scholar studying by lamplight, with his first wife beside him, asking after his comfort and well-being.

Gradually, that was no longer enough for him.

He became desperate to bring this gentle, virtuous woman home and hide her away in his inner residence.

But “seizing another man’s wife by force” was not something a proper fourth-rank official could do. Moreover, in the eyes of the common people, he was still an upright and incorruptible good official.

So, after learning that Liu Shi had taken her son and daughter back to Yan County to visit her maiden family, he devised a scheme and bribed the Zhou family’s coachman, Li Ah Da.

On the road back to the capital, Ah Da used drugged smoke to knock the mother and children unconscious, then delivered them straight to a residence Zheng Daoyuan had prepared in advance.

At first, Zheng Daoyuan intended to cut off all contact between Liu Shi and the outside world, then slowly keep her confined like a caged canary.

Once enough time had passed, after she had enjoyed wealth and luxury and come to understand the “depth of his devotion,” she would naturally submit to him willingly.

That had been the plan, but he was far too impatient. He could hardly wait even a moment.

That very night, Zheng Daoyuan could not restrain himself and revealed to Liu Shi both his identity as prefect of Shuntian Prefecture and his intentions.

But after Liu Shi learned the truth, not only did she refuse him, she kept insisting that in this life, she acknowledged only Zhou Zigui as her husband…

This left Zheng Daoyuan overwhelmed with frustration and rage.

He was a dignified prefect. How could he be rejected by a common woman?

In that instant, he could no longer care about propriety, nor did he remember his so-called plan.

There was only one thought in his mind-he would have her.

Only, in the end, he had underestimated Liu Shi’s chastity and courage, as well as her feelings for her husband, Zhou Zigui.

So, with Zheng Daoyuan closing in on her step by step, she pulled her son and daughter tightly into her arms and leapt out the window to escape.

But she did not know that outside the window was a lake.
To prevent her from escaping, Zheng Daoyuan had deliberately arranged for her to stay first in the waterside pavilion by the lake.

The lake water in winter was icy cold and unfathomably deep. It had also been night. If someone jumped in, they would be gone before anyone could fish them out.

When the three bodies were recovered, Zheng Daoyuan felt a chill sink through his heart as well.

A grave mistake had already been made. In that case, he might as well see it through.

He ordered clean clothes to be put on the corpses, then had the coachman Ah Da take them in the middle of the night and throw them off a cliff on the road from Yan County back to the capital.

After that, everything followed naturally.

Zhou Zigui reported the case to the authorities and the bodies were found. The coachman Ah Da was arrested and imprisoned.

Officials throughout Yan County had long since been bribed into compliance. The coroner in charge of examining the bodies accepted a hefty payment, so he naturally followed Ah Da’s confession and muddled the matter through.

They had thought that would be enough to leave no trace and deceive everyone.

Who could have expected that a case already closed would be dug up again?

Even in death, Zheng Daoyuan was probably unable to understand who had leaked the secret…

After listening to Lu Xian recount the entire case, everyone in the hall wore different expressions.

Only Madam Wang, unable to believe that the husband she had always respected could have done such a thing, was overcome with emotion. She fainted on the spot from sheer fury and was helped away by the maids.

Ren Fengjue’s expression was grim as well, anger stirring in his heart.

For a case like this to happen right under the Imperial City’s nose-and to have been caused by a fourth-rank official-was truly a disgrace to the court.

“What you just said will be entered into the case file as testimony. If any of it is false or concealed, you know the consequences, don’t you?”

The moment he said this, Lu Xian understood. He hurriedly knelt and knocked his head hard against the floor. “Every word I have spoken is true. If there is any falsehood or concealment, I submit myself to your punishment, my lord!”

Ren Fengjue asked again, “Then Zheng Daoyuan suddenly dying in his study last night-you truly know nothing about it?”

Lu Xian replied, “At the time, I had been ordered out on an errand. I left around seven to nine in the evening and only returned to the residence this morning. The gatekeepers and servants can all testify to that.”

Ren Fengjue swept his gaze over the servants nearby. “Which of you was on duty at the study last night?”

A young manservant stepped forward, trembling. “Replying to my lord, it was… me.”

“You said the body was discovered around midnight. Before that, do you know what was happening around the study?”

The manservant hastily dropped to his knees and explained, “His Excellency the prefect usually did not allow us to enter the study to attend him. He was also very considerate toward the servants and said that on such a cold day, we could wait for orders in the small side room. We were only to go in if we heard movement.”

“I… aside from going to the privy once in the middle, I did not leave my post at any other time.”

“And with His Excellency’s usual habits, he would normally ask for tea about once every half hour.”

“But last night, after Mr. Lu left, there was no sound from inside the study at all.”

Ren Fengjue fell silent for a moment, then asked the steward, “Is everyone in the residence present? Is there anyone who has not come?”

The steward hesitated slightly before replying, “All the servants are here. Only… our young master. He… likely cannot receive guests.”

Everyone knew that Zheng Daoyuan had a foolish son. Because of an inborn deficiency, his mind was underdeveloped; though he was now over twenty, he was still like a small child.

Ren Fengjue nodded and asked no further. He rose and was just about to head toward the study when a commotion sounded outside the hall.

It seemed someone had forced their way in despite attempts to stop them.

“Who are you? The Ministry of Justice is handling a case. Unrelated persons are not permitted inside.”

“Take one more step, and don’t blame us for being impol-”

Before the warning could be finished, it stopped abruptly for reasons unknown.

Everyone looked over in surprise and saw a young woman walking in slowly, followed by a Daoist priest.

Xia Ximo’s gaze swept across the hall before finally landing on Ren Fengjue.

“I fear this case may not have been done by human hands. With you alone, I’m afraid you won’t be able to solve it.”