Chapter 36

The vermilion gates of the Guan Residence were tightly shut. Three-foot lengths of white silk hung high from two bamboo poles, fluttering overhead and making the gloomy sky look even eerier. Sun Yong and A-Bao wailed and recited their grievances numbly. Meng Zhou scanned the faces of the onlookers: suspicion, excitement, malice...

"Let's use the back entrance." Meng Zhou patted the distracted Afu to bring him to his senses.

Old Madam Guan stood just behind the gates, leaning on her cane. Cheap paper money landed on her, its weight negligible, yet it instantly crushed this woman who had single-handedly supported the family for decades.

She dismissed the servants and leaned shakily on her cane, grief filling her eyes as tears fell soundlessly. She stared fixedly at the two gates. Beyond them lay hell, an abyss from which there was no return.

Meng Zhou walked to her side and called softly, "Old Madam."

"You... you're here." Guan's mother drew a deep breath and asked in a barely audible voice, "Out there... is it Jiasheng?"

Meng Zhou's eyes reddened. He could not bear to look at her. "I don't know."

The family letter tucked against his chest seemed to burn faintly. Meng Zhou did not know whether it still meant anything now.

If the person outside really was Guan Jiasheng, then even if his corpse was now rotting and unrecognizable, looking more like an impostor than Meng Zhou did, he was still her biological son. The dead could not speak, but the living could defend themselves. If Meng Zhou twisted black into white, how would he be any different from those who had hunted Guan Jiasheng? He would not stop Guan's mother from acknowledging her son, much less prevent a heroic soul from returning home to rest.

Meng Zhou looked around the Guan family courtyard. Since the old madam had driven Sun Yong and his grandson out, his days at the Guan Residence had been the best since his transmigration. The old madam treated him as she would Guan Jiasheng and required him to find the true culprit for her son. Beyond that, she imposed no restrictions.

Thinking that this might be the last day he set foot in the Guan Residence, Meng Zhou finally took out the letter and handed it to the old madam.

In the letter, Guan Jiasheng first asked whether his mother had been well lately, then explained that he had encountered a thorny matter. But his grandfather and mother had taught him from childhood that a gentleman had things he must do. As the head of a prefecture, he had to plead for the people, sacrificing himself without thought for his own safety. The waters in Suzhou ran deep; his mother need not reply.

Yan Xiang's wife and Guan's mother had been close friends before marriage, so at the end, Guan Jiasheng asked his mother to inquire on his behalf whether the court knew about the bloody garden case he had reported in his memorial.

It was only a few short lines, but by the time the old madam finished reading, she was sobbing too hard to speak. She had always been strict with Jiasheng, hoping he could carry on the Guan Clan's glory. Thinking back now, she had been strict in abundance, but never a loving mother. Guan Jiasheng had grown up swiftly, like every generation of the Guan Clan's successors. The most unconventional thing he had ever done was insist on taking a provincial post with his wife. Old Madam Guan was consumed with regret. If she had paid more attention to Guan Jiasheng's life and discovered sooner that Sun Yong behaved disgracefully for his age, Guan Jiasheng would not have chosen to leave the capital in silence because a son should not speak of his father's faults.

Guan's mother carefully folded the letter and put it away, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes.

She asked Meng Zhou, "Do you want to hide?"

Meng Zhou shook his head. "I'll go and look with you."

Meng Zhou supported Guan's mother as the guards opened the gates. The shifting air instantly swept the paper money piled against the threshold into the courtyard, where it scattered across the ground behind them.

Sun Yong's wailing stopped for an instant, then resumed. "Jiasheng, open your eyes and look! You're at your own gates, but you can't get in. Guan Zhongping! Do you have any humanity?"

The dark coffin sat right before her. Guan's mother stumbled, but fortunately Meng Zhou caught her in time.

Guan's mother hurled her cane heavily to the ground. "Tear off their mourning clothes!"

The guards froze for a moment before registering her order. Even Meng Zhou was stunned.

Chaos immediately erupted. Sun Yong and A-Bao lay on the ground, writhing about, and the guards had to expend considerable effort to strip off their mourning clothes.

As soon as their clothes underneath were exposed, the crowd exclaimed in surprise. They were actually wearing festive bright red.

Continuing to mourn dressed like that was plainly rather comical. Sun Yong sat on the ground and cursed Guan Zhongping, his vulgar abuse fouler than that of a street thug.

"Since all the neighbors are watching, I, Guan Zhongping, will make things clear today. Sun Yong, twenty-five years ago, I reached an agreement with you. The Guan Clan would keep you fed and clothed for the rest of your life, and you would play the role of Jiasheng's father."

"Sun Yong, you are nothing but a servant I, Guan Zhongping, hired! But your greed knew no bounds. You secretly beat and berated Jiasheng, drugged him and ruined his future, then brought your illegitimate son A-Bao into the Guan household, intending to seize the Guan Clan's property. You have no conscience!"

"Do you deserve to mourn Jiasheng? Do you? Drive these two bastards away!"

Her words frightened Sun Yong until his face turned ashen. As he was dragged away, he kept glancing in a certain direction. Meng Zhou followed his gaze, only to see a figure flash past.

He was shocked by what Guan's mother had revealed, and even more astonished by her change. Family scandals must not be aired in public. Even after knowing her for only a few days, Meng Zhou could tell that it was not blindness on her part, but concern for the Guan Clan's reputation that had made her tolerate Sun Yong again and again. In one stroke, she had broken the creed she had lived by for the first half of her life. It was not just a slap in Sun Yong's face, but a blatant slap in her own.

Those words seemed to have exhausted all her strength. She pointed at the coffin laid across the entrance and breathed out two words: "Open it." Then she covered her eyes with a trembling hand, hiding her streaming tears.

She was Guan Zhongping, the Guan Clan's only daughter. When had she ever been so disheveled before outsiders?

Even the air went still, save for the heavy scrape of the coffin lid being moved. Meng Zhou looked past the dumbstruck crowd and saw Chu Huaiyin, who had been standing there for an unknown length of time.

Their eyes met, and Chu Huaiyin nodded at Meng Zhou, telling him not to worry. Whatever opening the coffins revealed, he would protect his little cat.

There were two coffins, one behind the other.

When the front coffin was opened, it revealed a decomposing female corpse, dead for about a month, with dirt from the burial pit scattered around it. Days of jolting transport had left the body close to falling apart. But however much it had changed, the clothes and hair ornaments, along with the composition of the soil by her feet, all showed that she was Liao Yunlan.

Meng Zhou and Afu had buried her with their own hands. How could he fail to remember?

Dizziness and nausea overwhelmed him. Meng Zhou bent over, bracing his hands on his knees, and took a long while to recover. When he raised his head, his face was covered in tears.

Guan's mother looked toward Meng Zhou. Meng Zhou closed his eyes briefly, and Afu said, struggling to hold back his sobs, "It's Madam."

Guan's mother abruptly sank to the ground.

Meng Zhou waved for them to close the coffin and open the other one.

"Opening a coffin is profoundly disrespectful. Let Lord Guan be laid to rest." Someone in the crowd took the lead in shouting.

"Yes, yes..."

Meng Zhou had a feeling that the other coffin might not contain Guan Jiasheng. If both bodies were genuine, why place Liao Yunlan's in front? Unless they had failed to find Guan Jiasheng's body. Once Liao Yunlan's corpse was identified, someone would stop them from opening the other coffin.

This was only speculation. Meng Zhou would respect the old madam's wishes in everything.

Sure enough, that shout swayed Guan's mother. She hesitated for a long while, but finally said, "Open it."

As soon as the coffin was opened, Afu was the first to lean over and look. Afterward, he cried and laughed at once. Meng Zhou took a closer look. The corpse they had found somewhere to make up the numbers was a head shorter than Guan Jiasheng.

Only then was Guan's mother helped over. After confirming it was not her son, she fainted.

The Guan Residence had to arrange Liao Yunlan's funeral. Having witnessed this farce, the onlookers all understood that someone had tried to use Guan Jiasheng's wife's corpse to falsely claim Lord Guan was an impostor. They sighed over it for a while, then gradually dispersed.

Chu Huaiyin came to Meng Zhou's side and clasped his icy fingers. "Did that frighten you?"

This time, Meng Zhou did not stubbornly deny it.

In the ruined temple, Guan Jiasheng had still been clinging to life. When the physician Meng Zhou found said, "I'm no divine physician. There's no saving him," he suddenly remembered that he still had a medical book by a so-called divine physician on him. He showed it to the physician, who did indeed find a way to prolong Guan Jiasheng's life.

"I'll only be giving it a try. Whether he lives is another matter. Even if he does survive, he'll probably remain unconscious for decades."

That physician was obsessed with medicine. Meng Zhou tore the medical book in half and traded half of it to him: he was to care for Guan Jiasheng. A year later, if Guan Jiasheng was dead, Meng Zhou would pay him for his trouble. If he was alive, Meng Zhou would also give him the other half of the medical book. The physician still tried to bargain, wanting all the medical knowledge immediately, but Meng Zhou stood firm. With no other choice, the man pouted and helped Meng Zhou bring Guan Jiasheng down the mountain.

Old Madam Guan knew about this as well.

What Meng Zhou had feared most just now was that Guan Jiasheng had been found. After all, Guan Jiasheng was in the small town at the foot of the mountain, and the physician's family had no powerful connections. A single search would turn him up.

Fortunately, that physician had proved dependable after all.

"I will grant Liao Yunlan the title of titled lady and have the Ministry of Rites help arrange her funeral. Don't shoulder everything yourself." Looking at Meng Zhou's pale little face, Chu Huaiyin did not know how to ease the ache in his heart.

"Get a good night's sleep tonight." Chu Huaiyin still felt uneasy. "Come into the palace with me. I'll watch over you myself."

Meng Zhou: "..." Don't. My belly won't stand inspection.

"This subject must keep vigil for his wife."

Chu Huaiyin was so angry his liver hurt. Can't you stop acting in front of me? He suddenly remembered their first meeting. He had asked whether the person who had performed the wedding rites with Wang Junyang was the original bride or Meng Zhou, and Meng Zhou had said it was him.

I haven't even touched anything yet. How have Wang Junyang, Lady Lin, and whoever else already taken all the benefits?

No.

"I'll find someone of a similar build to take your place." Chu Huaiyin allowed no argument.

With Meng Zhou infuriating him like this every day, he had to find a way to win a round back and make Meng Zhou understand that deceiving the sovereign came at a "price." An occasional lie was one thing, but he could not simply spout them whenever he opened his mouth.

Truly... an especially grand ambition.

Author's note:

Meng Zhou: I heard you haven't gotten any benefits at all???