Chapter 13

Jiang Kai saw Bai Xiuming and strode forward to salute. "My lord, Ji Chan has been brought here."

The Thousand Household Commander's voice was so loud that he all but forcibly drew everyone's attention.

A Chan had no choice but to step forward a few paces and bow. "Ji Chan pays her respects, my lord."

Bai Xiuming looked at A Chan, who stood with her eyes lowered and her manner meek. His fingers unconsciously rubbed the hilt of his saber as he recalled the dossier his subordinates had brought him on the second day of the Flower Festival. Its contents had been quite fascinating.

Seeing Bai Xiuming stare at Ji Chan without a word, everyone else grew anxious, uncertain what had displeased the Pacification Commissioner.

Fortunately, Jiang Kai, who had come along with Bai Xiuming today, was no good at reading the room. Finding the atmosphere a little awkward, he couldn't help calling out again, "My lord, Pacification Commissioner?"

Bai Xiuming shot him a glance, then finally spoke. "Take them aside and question them separately."

"Yes, sir."

Jiang Kai directed his subordinates to take the Zhao Family members to the empty side rooms and question them. As for the remaining members of the Zhao household, he would handle them personally.

He had originally meant to take A Chan away with the others, but Bai Xiuming stopped him.

"Leave her here."

"Huh? Yes." Commander Jiang turned and went back to work.

People moved in and out of the Main courtyard, but everything was busy yet orderly. That Thousand Household Commander, who seemed so careless and rough around the edges, was actually very capable.

Left alone, A Chan didn't panic. After all, she had already been through a scene like this once before.

"Come with me." Bai Xiuming turned and headed for the main room.

A Chan hesitated, then lifted her skirt and followed.

She had barely reached the doorway when the pungent stench of blood, mixed with a heavy fishy odor, forced her to cover her nose and mouth.

Blood was everywhere on the ground. For some reason, it had yet to congeal. Looking at the expanse of scarlet before her, A Chan had no idea where to step.

At last, she couldn't help asking, "My lord, how exactly did my aunt die? Why was there so much blood?"

"She took her own life."

"W-what?" A Chan thought she must have misheard.

Bai Xiuming said flatly, "She cut open her own belly with a dagger and bled to death."

"How could that be? Why would she do that?"

"Good question. That's exactly what I want to ask you." Bai Xiuming looked at A Chan. "Under what circumstances do you think she would do such a thing?"

"I don't know."

"If you can't figure it out, you'll stay here tonight and think about it." Bai Xiuming's tone was gentle.

A Chan felt as though he was deliberately picking a fight with her today. She'd better give him a careful brush-off, lest she really anger him.

But given Lady Xiao Lin's personality, even if something had happened to her, she wouldn't have chosen to take her own life.

A Chan suddenly thought of the large urn she had seen earlier. "My lord, could you tell me what was inside that urn?"

"What was in her belly."

"Something?" A Chan's voice rose several notches.

Bai Xiuming smiled. "You have such a good memory. You should know about Yifu Fish, shouldn't you?"

A Chan did know. Before she had left the mountain, she had heard the elders of her clan tell stories about such things.

Yifu Fish looked almost exactly like ordinary fish. Even experienced fishermen had trouble telling them apart.

Though they were called fish, they were monsters born when the resentment of a pregnant woman who died unjustly lingered and took form. They never attacked people on their own, and posed little danger. Their sole purpose was to produce more of their kind.

Even many human books of strange tales recorded stories of women who caught fish in the wild and ate them, only to return home pregnant. After ten months, they gave birth to something monstrous.

Ate them...

A Chan's heart gave a jolt. She looked up at Bai Xiuming and realized his gaze had never left her face. He had been watching her the whole time.

Why was this man so impossible to sway? A Chan grumbled to herself and decided to take the initiative.

"Does my lord suspect me first every time he comes across a case?"

Bai Xiuming looked away. "I haven't said anything."

A Chan curved her lips. "Oh? Perhaps you don't know, my lord, but your eyes can talk."

A beautiful young woman had teased him with her words, but Bai Xiuming wasn't moved in the slightest. He merely said, "Then can you tell from my eyes what I'm going to ask you next?"

A Chan lowered her eyes and sighed, then answered anyway. "During my visits to Zhao Manor, I often heard people say that my cousin had been very filial lately. Whenever my aunt wanted fresh fish, he would specifically buy live fish from outside for her to eat. Three meals a day, without fail."

From the moment she ate Yifu Fish, it was fated that her aunt would lose her child. But why had Zhao Wensheng done such a thing?

"Was it because my aunt found out she wasn't carrying a human child and couldn't bear it?" A Chan said hesitantly.

But she quickly dismissed the idea. If Zhao Wensheng had deliberately sent the Yifu Fish, he wouldn't have exposed himself by telling her aunt about it. So how could his aunt have taken her own life because of it?

It didn't seem to add up.

"We can ask her good son and find out." Bai Xiuming said this, but didn't move an inch.

A Chan understood. "My lord must have already had his suspicions about all this, right?"

The fact that Zhao Wensheng had sent fish was no secret. Anyone with an interest in the matter could easily find out. The Mingjing Division had investigated so many cases; there was no way they needed an outsider like her to point this out. So there must still be doubts.

"My lord didn't call me here just to hear me talk about my cousin, did you?" she asked tentatively.

"Tell me about the rest of the Zhao Family. What do you think of them?"

A Chan thought for a while. "Let's start with my cousin. My lord probably already knows that my uncle seems to want her to marry Xue Mingtang. She likes him too, and even declared that she would marry no one else. But my aunt disapproved, and the two of them often argued about it.

"Last time we went to the Flower Goddess Temple, we ran into the Xue siblings and their children. My aunt got into an argument with the Xue Family, and it turned ugly. My cousin had another fight with my aunt over it, but later she bought her a jade hairpin and managed to make it up to her."

Hearing her detailed account, Bai Xiuming couldn't help raising an eyebrow. "You're hinting that the Xue siblings are highly suspicious."

A Chan looked aggrieved. "My lord misunderstands me. I only have a few questions. Did Lord Xue try to kill me because I got in his sister's way, or because I'm of Lin Family blood?

"Now that my aunt is dead, it seems I'm the only one left in the Lin Family besides those who were exiled. If I hadn't met my lord, I might not have survived that night either."

She did mean to lodge a complaint, but her questions weren't made up out of thin air.

First Ji Chan's mother had died, then Ji Chan, and now it was Lady Xiao Lin's turn. She didn't know what connected them, but it was all a little too convenient.

She couldn't help wondering how many of the exiled Lin Family members were still alive.

Bai Xiuming gave a derisive chuckle. "You didn't survive because you met me."

"My lord must be joking. Without you, how could I have kept my life?"

"And so?"

"So, my lord, are you really not going to investigate Xue Mingtang? He's far too suspicious."

From hinting to goading to pinning the blame on someone, A Chan's whole routine opened Bai Xiuming's eyes.

At the end, she even added, "I'm only telling the truth. My lord, don't misunderstand."

"I don't misunderstand. I just think you needn't worry that he'll come to kill you."

A Chan looked at him, puzzled.

Bai Xiuming narrowed his beautiful, peach-blossom eyes. "When you told Madam Xue that you and I were closely connected, you should have worried whether I might kill you first."

A Chan: ...

A Chan gave a light cough and said seriously, "My lord, let's get back to the main matter."

Bai Xiuming continued to stare at her, his gaze dark and unreadable.

A Chan avoided his eyes and said through gritted teeth, "Actually, something else happened on the mountain that day. I found it a little strange."

At last, that sentence drew Bai Xiuming's attention away from her.

While he had been staring at her, A Chan had broken out in a cold sweat. Who could have guessed this man had someone watching her?

Fortunately, he didn't seem to care much about her "tarnishing" his reputation.

If he had cared, he would probably have dragged her back to the Mingjing Division and tortured her until every tendon was torn and every strip of skin flayed on the second day of the Flower Festival.

"Go on."

"It was the jade hairpin my cousin bought for my aunt. My lord can send someone to ask Mama Sun and my aunt's personal maid. They both know about it."

As soon as she said it, A Chan realized that since the man had sent someone to watch her, he must already know everything.

But the person monitoring her had only reported what she did and might not have noticed what she was thinking. That left her room to work with.

"What was wrong with the jade hairpin?"

"Actually, I couldn't see anything wrong with it. I just thought the jade was very fine, yet my cousin had only paid five taels of silver for it. It was far too cheap. Later, my aunt told me to go for a stroll, so I went looking for the stall that sold the hairpin, but I couldn't find it.

"The shopkeeper who sold velvet flowers nearby told me that the man had sold my cousin just one jade hairpin, said a few words to her, and then packed up his stall. I found it a little strange."

Bai Xiuming watched A Chan's uneasy expression. He couldn't tell whether she was really afraid or merely pretending for his sake.

Putting aside all the suspicious things about Ji Chan, after their several encounters, Bai Xiuming's impression of her had remained above average.

She was clever, bold, flexible, and very good at knowing where to draw the line.

Unfortunately, those qualities had never shown themselves in the Ji Chan of old.

He shifted his gaze away from A Chan and asked, "Now tell me about Zhao Ming. What do you think of him?"

A Chan thought for a moment. "I've visited the Zhao household several times, but I haven't seen my uncle. In my aunt's eyes, though, he's the best husband in the world."

"How so?"

A Chan smiled. "For a woman, a man who never chases after other women, keeps no concubines or maids in the household, and devotes himself to his wife is already better than most.

"What's more, my uncle has always worked hard to get ahead. His official rank isn't high, but it's enough to satisfy my aunt. I also heard Mama Sun say that in all the years they've been married, whenever they argued, my aunt was always the one to start it, and he was always the one who made it up to her."

"Does that prove Zhao Ming is a good man?"

"Doesn't it?" A Chan's gaze shifted. "Does my lord know something?"