TWWDS - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

In the evening, Li Yi and Li Yao finished their work for the day and headed home, bringing with them several river mussels they had dug from the channel for free.

The two made their way back to Mingsi Hall by a route they knew well, only to discover, to their surprise, that several horses were tethered outside the usually quiet gate and that numerous unfamiliar faces were coming and going inside.

Li Yi glanced at her elder sister and whispered, "Has someone from Miss Chao's family come?"

Li Yao asked, "Why do you ask that?"

Li Yi replied, "I've always thought Miss Chao must be no ordinary woman. Perhaps one day, someone will summon her home to inherit the family estate."

Li Yao said, "..." It made no sense, yet somehow she could not bring herself to refute it.

The two gathered their courage and went inside. Among the strangers they had never seen before were many people bearing weapons, which naturally made the sisters uneasy. Only when they saw Chao Qingxiu, still composed and calm as ever, did they gradually begin to relax.

Li Yao asked, "Who are these people, Miss?"

Chao Qingxiu replied, "Guests. They're staying here for a few days."

Reassured by Chao Qingxiu's answer, Li Yi and Li Yao went to the kitchen to prepare the mussels. Seeing how laboriously they were struggling to cut the shells open, she took the kitchen knife from one of them, ran the blade along a seam, and split the mussel open with effortless ease.

Li Yao boiled a pot of hot tea, then said, "I'll go and ask whether the guests would like to have supper with us."

Chao Qingxiu nodded and said, "All right. We ought to do our duty as hosts."

Li Yao went off to ask them. On hearing her offer, Yan Kaixian and the others thanked her but, without exception, said there was no need to trouble her.

People of the martial world seldom ate food from unknown sources while away from home. Of course, what concerned Yan Kaixian and the others was not that. They looked chiefly at the bare state of Chao Qingxiu's home and felt there was no reason to put their host to any extra expense.

Ruan Shifeng said politely, "There are so many of us here. It would be truly improper to trouble you." Then she added, "I know some good places to eat in the city, and I have already asked them to send food over."

Sure enough, before long, people from Cai's, Wang's, and Lin's arrived one after another with their deliveries.

After the repeated knocking finally exhausted Chao Qingxiu's patience, she simply opened the front gate wide enough for anyone to walk straight in.

She was not worried about encountering a thief. Most of those staying here possessed martial arts, and if anyone with evil intent truly came to the door, they would merely give the county magistrate's office a new example of righteousness to commend.

Though the new guests knew one another, they kept conspicuously separate when ordering their deliveries, each unwilling to dine with any of the others, as though none of them wanted to share a pot.

One of the waiters knocked on the open front door, stepped inside, and, smiling broadly, offered the gathering a respectful bow. "Thank you, honored patrons, for your patronage. The shop steward sent me to deliver a bottle of Peach Blossom Wine..."

As he spoke, he took out a white porcelain bottle filled with Peach Blossom Wine, no larger than his palm.

Before he had even finished, Xiao Xiangyu suddenly went pale and cut him off. "No need! Take all that liquor away!"

The waiter froze on the spot, looking thoroughly bewildered. Seeing the stern expressions on Xiao Xiangyu and the others, he gave a couple of awkward laughs and bowed repeatedly. "Yes, yes. I'll take it away at once. I hope you will not take offense."

Xiao Xiangyu's expression eased slightly, and she waved toward the waiter. "Whoever acted in ignorance is not to blame."

Tian Changtian suddenly said, "Of course, whoever did not know is not to blame. But what about those who did?"

His words were unmistakably pointed. The courtyard fell silent once more.

Xiao Xiangyu composed her expression and looked at him coldly. After a moment, she said, "Of the people standing here, who did not know about it back then?"

Chao Qingxiu, who was also standing there and was, moreover, the lessee of this residence, said nothing. She lifted her head and studied the sky, as though the view above her had suddenly become exceedingly fine.

Though she would very much have liked to insist that she knew nothing, this was hardly the moment to lodge a sarcastic objection...

Yan Kaixian and the others had ordered their meals separately. Apart from the people each had brought with them, none was willing to share a table with anyone else, yet all politely invited Chao Qingxiu and her two companions to join them for supper.

After weighing her options, Chao Qingxiu finally decided to mooch a meal off Ruan Shifeng.

Unlike the others, Ruan Shifeng carried a Six Doors waist badge. In other words, after the Zizhuo Gang's late leader died, she had joined the Six Doors. During their previous encounters, the others had refused to discuss what had happened back then, and only Ruan Shifeng had briefly recounted a few events from those days.

Chao Qingxiu reflected that when Ruan Shifeng had asked why she rented Mingsi Hall, she might also have suspected that Chao Qingxiu had some connection to the Zizhuo Gang.

If Ruan Shifeng truly meant to sound her out, she would reveal something about those events. Chao Qingxiu might use that as a starting point to learn more about the situation, while avoiding any forbidden ground.

After they had finished their meal, Li Yao and Li Yi went off to attend to their duties. Chao Qingxiu remained, sitting with Ruan Shifeng and chatting idly. When she saw how pleasant the night was, she got up and strolled through the back courtyard to walk off her supper.

Ruan Shifeng said, "Actually, before I came here, I had already heard your name."

Chao Qingxiu guessed, "Was it from Deputy Magistrate Han?"

Ruan Shifeng nodded. "When I came to Gaofang Prefecture, of course, I had to call at the county magistrate's office. When I met Deputy Magistrate Han, she praised Miss Chao in the highest terms. I admired her greatly, too."

Chao Qingxiu replied, "I do not deserve such praise. Deputy Magistrate Han has been too generous."

Ruan Shifeng said nothing. After a moment, she suddenly asked, "Does Miss Chao now stay in the room in the middle of the back courtyard?"

Chao Qingxiu raised her eyes to Ruan Shifeng, as if searching for the hidden meaning in her question, and only then replied politely, "I do."

Ruan Shifeng explained, "Please do not misunderstand. The late Gang Leader did not die in her bedchamber. She fell victim to foul play at another's hands while resting in her study."

Chao Qingxiu considered this and asked, "Could someone have suddenly barged in and murdered Gang Leader Shangguan?" She immediately added, "This matter concerns the internal affairs of the Zizhuo Gang. I have said more than I should."

Ruan Shifeng shook her head and replied, "Once, this was a secret within the gang, but now it is not. The late Gang Leader was badly wounded while fighting someone and spent every day sitting in meditation to recover. Years earlier, Third Lady Xiang of Suwen Manor had come to treat her. She said that the late Gang Leader had encountered a serious problem while training in her youth, which had left the inner breath in her body highly unusual. Whenever the late Gang Leader suffered a severe internal injury, she had to keep every drop of wine from her lips while recovering. Otherwise, her vital energy and blood would seethe, and she would certainly die."

Chao Qingxiu said, "The Gang Leader Shangguan at that time must have been a meticulous person. She would never lightly have gone against a physician's instructions."

Ruan Shifeng said, "The late Gang Leader was actually a little childlike in some ways. If someone told her that a particular dish would help her recover, she might leave it alone even after it was brought to her. Even when it was brought, it would often have to be taken away untouched. But if she was told not to touch something, she absolutely would not. That afternoon, when we went to pay our respects, we found her seated in a chair, her eyes staring wide and her mouth reeking of wine. On the table was an empty bottle of Peach Blossom Wine, a specialty of Gaofang Prefecture."

Chao Qingxiu recalled what had happened earlier and nodded slightly. "No wonder."

Ruan Shifeng gave a bitter smile. "At first, I thought she was merely sitting in quiet meditation in the study, until I saw the fresh blood around her nose and mouth..." She closed her eyes and shook her head, as if trying to scour the memory from her mind completely, then said, "There had already been some discord within the gang. Normally, the late Gang Leader lived alone at Mingsi Hall and refused to let anyone attend her. Meals were only delivered to her door, and even when we wished to visit her, we could do nothing more than call in the morning and evening to report the gang's important business. Even if there was an urgent matter, we still had to ask at the door three or four times before she would agree to see us."

Chao Qingxiu's gaze shifted slightly. "There must have been many people in the Zizhuo Gang's headquarters at the time. It may not have been someone inside this house who did it."

Ruan Shifeng replied, "Miss Chao does not know, but although there were many people at headquarters, only the few of us knew the details of the late Gang Leader's injuries. At the time, we found a palm mark left by Dazheng Palm beneath her sleeve." She added, "When I went to pay my respects that morning, I had not yet seen that palm mark."

Dazheng Palm was the signature martial art of Shangguan Hui, the late Gang Leader of the Zizhuo Gang. The old woman was already well past her youth and had no disciples, so she had passed on her secret technique to the gang's most trusted members, intending to choose someone suitable from among them to carry on the Zizhuo Gang.

Chao Qingxiu said, "Since a palm mark was left behind, comparing it would reveal who had left it."

She knew that Ruan Shifeng and the others had not chosen to make that comparison at the time; there had to be a reason. By raising the point, she was merely opening a subject and giving Ruan Shifeng an opportunity to continue.

Ruan Shifeng said, "The palm mark left by Dazheng Palm can be either large or small. The one beneath Gang Leader Shangguan's sleeve had been left on the wooden desk, and the lines of the palm could not be made out."

Chao Qingxiu said, "I see."

Everyone who had learned that art was a key member of the gang. They suspected one another and could not work together to manage the organization. In the end, they went their separate ways.

Chao Qingxiu suddenly asked, "Since the members of the gang suspected one another, were they all at headquarters at the time?"

Ruan Shifeng replied, "Yes. Because the late Gang Leader was injured, everyone, myself included, was summoned back to headquarters." She then accounted for them one by one. "By custom, at least one of the gang's hall masters or Guardians had to remain at headquarters. It was Third Brother Tian's turn to keep watch. Second Sister Yan had been inspecting branch offices outside the city, and ten days before the late Gang Leader died, she hurried back to the gang to act as her Guardian. There was also Fourth Brother Yue. Before this, he had let private business interfere with his duties, and the late Gang Leader had rebuked him and sent him away. After receiving word, he traveled night and day to return, arriving five days before Second Sister Yan. As for me, I had gone to the Wulin Alliance on official business. On my way back, I met Younger Sister Xiao at a branch office. She was a Branch Chief and did not dare abandon her post without authorization. But when she heard the late Gang Leader was ill, she was determined to return and see her. She fell in behind my horse, and she and Second Sister Yan arrived back in Gaofang Prefecture moments apart."

The more she spoke, the quieter her voice became. By the end, she no longer seemed to be telling Chao Qingxiu what had happened, but had sunk into the past itself.

Chao Qingxiu stood beside Ruan Shifeng with her hands behind her back. After a while, she asked, "Did you enter government service only after this, Chief Constable Ruan?"

Ruan Shifeng came back to herself and nodded. "Yes. I was filled with grievance at the time and thought that if I gained experience in the Six Doors, I might perhaps avenge the late Gang Leader. Even now, I still do not know who did it."

Chao Qingxiu said, "The fact that all of you have kept Gang Leader Shangguan in your thoughts for so long must mean that she was a truly remarkable person."

Ruan Shifeng's expression softened with nostalgia. "The late Gang Leader was a very interesting woman. Normally, she was stern and forthright, but in private she was great fun. When I had only just joined the Zizhuo Gang, I once saw her disguised as an ordinary commoner, wandering the streets and drinking with other people. She recognized me as a member of the gang, gave me a roast chicken leg, and made me keep the whole affair secret..."

By the time they had finished talking, the hour of the Dog had arrived. Ruan Shifeng stopped where she stood and gave Chao Qingxiu a slight bow. "It is late now, so I will not trouble you with memories from years ago."

Chao Qingxiu inclined her body in return. "Very well. You should also get some rest early, Chief Constable Ruan."

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