Cen Yu had quite a headache.
The matter of the painter was easy enough to handle.
But if his own parents reported him to the authorities when he was the dignified Prefect of Jingzhao, that would be utterly disgraceful.
So, after temporarily taking the painter into custody and sending the deputy prefect to find the body, he hurried home.
Upon returning to the residence, Cen Yu first went to pay his respects to his parents, only to find his mother tossing a length of white silk over a roof beam.
Cen Yu: "!"
Cen Yu covered the distance in a few quick strides and clung tightly to his mother's legs, shouting angrily at the servants, "Are you all dead?"
The servants looked at one another, unsure for a moment whether they should step forward.
Seeing their hesitation, Cen Yu suddenly understood something.
He said helplessly, "Mother, please don't frighten your son this way again."
With that, Cen Yu let go.
Wen Rui glared at him. "How dare you! You unfilial son!"
Cen Yu walked aside and said calmly, "Then please continue, Mother."
Wen Rui: "..."
She climbed down, trembling, and grumbled, "I'm only asking you to meet her, not demanding your life. That girl is from my maiden family. Can't you trust her?"
Cen Yu said, "I can, I can."
"If you trust her, then go..."
"My lord, we found the body-"
The voice drew closer, and Cen Yu immediately stood up. "Mother, there's business at Jingzhao Prefecture. I'll be leaving now."
Cen Yu went out, Wen Rui's furious voice ringing out behind him. "If you don't go, I really will hang myself here!"
Hearing this, the deputy prefect asked uneasily, "My lord, will your mother be all right?"
Cen Yu shook his head. Seeing his grave expression, the deputy prefect dared not ask any more questions.
The two rode to the back alley.
Quite a crowd had already gathered outside the painter's house, but with the people from Jingzhao Prefecture present, no one dared enter.
After entering, Cen Yu saw Zhuang Qing, Azhu, Lou Yingyu, and Tong Aning all standing before the well.
A body covered with a white cloth lay before the well. Bai Yan knelt before it, sobbing too hard to speak.
Cen Yu asked quietly, "Has the body been identified?"
The deputy prefect said, "Although the body has rotted down to bare bones, there's a gold bracelet on her wrist. Bai Yan said she gave it to Miaoshuang, and she recognizes it."
Cen Yu nodded.
He declared, "Rest assured, everyone. The evidence is conclusive. I will make certain the painter pays for murder with his life."
Bai Yan knocked her forehead hard against the ground and choked out, "Thank you, my lord."
[What a sad affair. Who knows how many others the painter deceived like this?]
[Don't worry, host. Now that the painter has been caught, nothing like this will happen again.]
[Let's hope so.]
Tong Aning looked toward the entrance, and her eyes suddenly brightened. "Eldest Brother, what brings you here?"
Tong Yibin said, "I was out, and Mother asked me to pick you up on the way."
Tong Aning nodded. Her eldest brother's arrival eased some of the dejection she had just felt.
They offered Bai Yan a few words of comfort, and Zhuang Qing said the general's household would take care of Miaoshuang's burial.
Endlessly grateful, Bai Yan stood where she was and watched them leave.
Tong Yibin and Cen Yu exchanged slight nods of greeting. Tong Yibin walked ahead, with Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu following side by side behind him, and Zhuang Qing bringing up the rear with an arm around Azhu.
Zhuang Qing apologized to Azhu repeatedly and said she would make her a bowl of calming soup once they returned.
People from the chancellor's household picked up Lou Yingyu, and Tong Yibin said, "Have a bowl of calming soup when you get home, too."
Looking at her eldest brother's lowered brows, Tong Aning smiled. "Eldest Brother, I'm really not frightened at all."
Tong Yibin was unusually adamant. "You still have to drink it. Also, you were supposed to study medicine today. Doctor Xue has already stamped her foot and left."
Tong Aning: "..."
[I'm done for.]
She defended herself in a small voice. "I didn't expect to be held up this long, either. There was a reason for it, wasn't there?"
She looked at Tong Yibin with bright eyes.
Tong Yibin nodded. Just as he was helping Tong Aning into the carriage, a woman suddenly linked her arm through Cen Yu's.
Tong Aning quickly climbed into the carriage, then poked her head out to watch.
Tong Yibin: "..."
Cen Yu pulled his arm free without mercy. "Why are you here?"
The woman said, "Aunt sent me here to find you."
"You've found me. Go home first."
"What about you?"
"I need to go back to Jingzhao Prefecture."
He still had much to do: interrogate the painter again, investigate the other women who had been harmed...
"Then I'll go with you."
Cen Yu frowned. "What would you go there for?"
The woman bit her lip, looking aggrieved. "If I don't go back with you, Aunt will certainly be angry."
Ultimately, both of them were acting on their parents' orders, with no control over their own circumstances. Why should he take his anger out on the woman before him?
Cen Yu relented.
Tong Aning found it rather curious.
She lowered the carriage curtain and asked, "Is Lord Cen not married yet?"
"Cen Yu is very ambitious. His heart is set entirely on making a name for himself."
"Then how old is Lord Cen now?"
Tong Yibin said, "Twenty-six."
Tong Aning said nothing. Only when Tong Yibin looked at her did she say slowly, "Lord Cen... looks a little old for his age."
Tong Yibin: "..."
The two returned to the residence. Su Zhouyue pulled Tong Aning over, and Tong Siyan brought out the calming soup.
Tong Aning did not know whether to laugh or cry. "I'm really fine."
Su Zhouyue said in a tone that brooked no argument, "You have to drink it even if you're fine."
Who could have imagined that Tong Aning would encounter a murder case just by attending a banquet celebrating a newly acknowledged family member?
Although her daughter had received Heaven's blessings and gained such an ability, trouble arose wherever Tong Aning went, and that still left Su Zhouyue's heart pounding with fear.
"...Oh."
After she finished the calming soup, Tong Yi'an came over and hugged Tong Aning. "I want to sleep with Fourth Sister tonight."
Tong Aning laughed, her voice indulgent. "All right."
Tong Aobai summoned Tong Yibin to the study.
Tong Aobai asked, "How did it go?"
Tong Yibin said, "The other party said that even if our marquis's household doesn't support the crown prince and doesn't wish to become embroiled in this struggle, it doesn't matter. The crown prince won't make things difficult for us."
Tong Aobai considered how much truth there was in those words.
"In any case, we must be even more careful at court from now on."
Tong Aobai knew the crown prince would not hold this against him because the crown prince knew their household had always remained neutral at court, loyal only to His Majesty.
But if their household became involved with any faction and that neutrality was broken, not only would the crown prince come to hate them, the other princes would likely do the same.
Tong Yibin understood this as well.
Looking at his taciturn eldest son, Tong Aobai asked, "Have you found any clues about who is behind Vice Minister Wei?"
Tong Yibin said, "Yes."
Tong Aobai felt reassured.
Tong Yi'an poked her head around the study doorway, her eyes curving into crescents. "Daddy, Eldest Brother, it's time to eat."
Tong Aobai walked over, took Tong Yi'an's hand, and said gently, "All right."
He looked up and saw Tong Aning behind Tong Yi'an. Tong Aning called him Daddy.
Tong Aobai asked, "You're all right now?"
Tong Aning smiled and shook her head.
His face stern, he said, "That painter's crimes are unforgivable."
Who knew whether, with his eyes fixed on those daughters of noble families, he had also set his sights on his daughter?
"Daddy, are you planning to go chop him into eight pieces?"
Tong Aobai snorted, neither confirming nor denying it.
With a daughter holding each of his arms, Tong Aobai thought, What would be wrong with chopping him into eight pieces? If anyone dared harm my daughters, even death by a thousand cuts wouldn't be excessive.
Tong Yibin: "..."
He vaguely remembered someone teasing his father yesterday about being a slave to his daughters, and his father had rebutted it with righteous conviction.
Author's note: