Chapter 102: A Mouth Full of Lies

Huan Zhen gave a faint smile. How should he put it?

When he and Ren Suzhi had first assumed that Jia Qin must have been pushed into the well by someone, the next step was to narrow down the murderer on that basis.

That would naturally put Wei Shi, the widower, and Wang Zhu under suspicion first.

The latter two could vouch for one another. After hearing the splash, the widower had gone out with Wang Zhu, and by then Wei Shi was already at the well. The widower was old and frail, poor on his feet; Wang Zhu was short and thin. Even if the two had joined forces to kill Jia Qin, it would not have been easy, and during the attack Jia Qin would surely have cried out for help.

So for the moment, the widower and Wang Zhu could be set aside as suspects.

Although Huan Zhen knew the truth of Jia Qin’s death, when it came to investigating a case, he was serious. If Ren Suzhi would not question Wei Shi again, then he would. He simply felt that something was off about her.

If this woman truly loved her son so dearly, how could she bear to let his body lie exposed through an entire night? At the very least, she should have covered Jia Qin with a straw mat.

Ren Suzhi did not waste words with Wei Shi. He asked directly, “Wei Shi. When your son fell into the well, where were you?”

“I-I was inside the room, my lord. Has the killer who harmed my son been found? Wuwu... My son died wrongfully. He must have been pushed into the well, he must have been...”

As Wei Shi broke into loud sobs, Huan Zhen turned slightly and glanced at the widower’s doorway. Wang Zhu hurriedly shut the door and sat back down obediently beside the old man, no longer daring to eavesdrop.

Ren Suzhi asked again, “Inside the room where? By the doorway? On the bamboo couch?”

“What does my lord mean? Huh? Is my lord suspecting me?” Wei Shi’s eyes widened, her voice sharpening. “My lord should not be questioning...”

“Shut up!” scolded Shan Ying. “Do you need to teach my lord how to conduct an investigation? Answer when you are asked!”

Wei Shi looked at Shan Ying in grief and indignation, then at Ren Suzhi, Huan Zhen, and Cheng Shuang standing beside the corpse. Her cheeks began to tremble visibly. She clenched her teeth, lowered her head, and sniffled, “To answer my lord, I-I was lying on the bamboo couch at the time.”

Ren Suzhi had seen this pitiful act many times before, and pressed on relentlessly. “You said that Jia Qin went out because he heard movement outside. After he left, was the door closed or open?”

“It was definitely shut!” Wei Shi raised her face; her disheveled hair, tears, and snot coated most of it.

“Since the door was tightly closed, how did you know someone had fallen into the well?”

“There was a sound when someone fell! A splash. It was very loud.”

“Was there?” Ren Suzhi surveyed the surroundings. Huan Zhen understood at once and immediately had Cheng Shuang help him remove the stone from the pulley, binding it tightly with hemp rope. A long length of rope still hung from the end.

Then Ren Suzhi signaled Shan Ying to lift Wei Shi, and the three of them went into the mother-and-son’s room.

“Cheng Shuang! Five breaths from now!” Ren Suzhi called, then closed the door. The three walked to the innermost bamboo couch.

Five breaths later, Cheng Shuang pushed the stone into the well.

The sound was not nearly as clear inside the room. Shan Ying dragged Wei Shi out, and she began to defend herself. “I remembered wrongly. The door really was closed then, just not tightly. Besides, it was freezing outside, and my son had gone out. Of course I would worry. Even if I heard the slightest noise, I would have come out to see!”

Huan Zhen smiled. “Reasonable. Wei Shi, I have one question. That wound at the corner of your son’s eye—was it there before, or was it from striking the well?”

“From striking the well! It must have been from striking the well!”

Cheng Shuang returned in confusion to the corpse. Where was there any wound at the corner of Jia Qin’s eye?

Ren Suzhi knew better than anyone what injuries the deceased bore. He immediately understood, and felt a chill of grief for the dead. Wei Shi had stood by her son’s body several times, her sorrow as a devoted mother so moving that one could almost feel it firsthand. It had all been an act. She had never looked carefully at Jia Qin’s face at all, perhaps... had she not looked at it in the least? Had she deliberately avoided looking? Because of guilt? Fear? Some taboo?

None of those reasons was normal.

Could it be that this woman had not spoken a single truthful word from beginning to end?

He gave a cold laugh. “Wei Shi, I will give you one last chance. Tell the truth. Since you heard the sound of someone falling into the well and came out, why did you only call out your son’s name and not try to save the one who had fallen? The widower and Wang Zhu have already testified. It was only after you saw Wang Zhu that you panicked, realized the person who had fallen was your son Jia Qin, and then dropped the bucket into the well. Wei Shi, on these two points alone, you cannot escape involvement in this case!”

“I... I, no, it has nothing to do with me. I-I remember now, my lord, I remember now. It was like this: I suspected someone had fallen into the well. After I came out, I was in a hurry and slipped, and that was why I called my son to help me up. When the widower and Wang Zhu came out, I had just gotten up. I, I... I... I was... Yes, at the time I truly did think, what if it were Wang Zhu who had fallen into the well? That, that would be normal, wouldn’t it? As a mother, I would rather it were someone else who fell in than my own son! So when I saw Wang Zhu there, I knew the one who had fallen was my son A-Qin.”

While Wei Shi was making excuses, Huan Zhen had Cheng Shuang help lift the stone out of the well and untie the hemp rope. He said, “Your Lordship, there is no need to question her further. This woman has a guilty conscience and nothing but lies in her mouth. She is absolutely involved in Jia Qin’s death! I will bind her together with Jia Qin right now and make her stay day and night at her son’s side. For every day she refuses to tell the truth, she will be made to look at her son for that entire day and see whether she feels any shame! If she dares not open her eyes, we shall prop them open with sticks!”

Shan Ying praised him. “Excellent idea!”

“Aah...” Wei Shi was dragged away by Shan Ying, terrified out of her wits and screaming incessantly. “I didn’t lie, aah... I didn’t lie, didn’t lie, aah... Don’t tie me up, don’t tie me up, don’t tie me—don’t tie me! I’ll say it! Wuwu... I’ll say it, I’ll say it...”

As soon as Shan Ying loosened his grip slightly, she scrambled forward on hands and feet to Ren Suzhi and confessed, “I was stupid. This is my punishment. I was the one who first heard Wang Zhu outside. I knew that after the New Year the widower would drive my son and me out, wuwu... My son and I had no money or provisions. Where could we go? When I saw a layer of snow already piled outside, a wicked thought suddenly came to me: if Wang Zhu accidentally fell into the well and drowned, perhaps the widower would keep my son and me to support him instead. Wuwu... After my son went out, I was restless and kept pacing by the door. It was dark outside. From my room, I couldn’t see the well. That made me even more anxious! So when I heard the sound of someone falling into the well, for some reason I became terribly frightened and immediately went out. I didn’t see my son, and I didn’t see Wang Zhu either. I didn’t know what to do. At that moment I thought, perhaps A-Qin pushed Wang Zhu into the well, got scared, and ran away, so I called for him. Wuwu... But then, then Wang Zhu came out. Oh heaven... aah...”

By the time Huan Zhen finished recounting this to the Iron Wind brothers, he sighed in emotion. “This woman’s cruelty is rare in the world. As for Jia Qin’s falling into the well, no suspicious points can be found at all. It can only be judged that he slipped and fell himself.”

At that moment, the three of them saw the Wang family setting off firecrackers in the courtyard outside. All the children were making a racket, but only Wang Xing calmly held his father’s hand, standing farthest from the pile of firecrackers.

Huan Zhen nodded with satisfaction. He extended his left arm, clenched his fist with the back of his hand facing up, and teased Iron Thunder, “Guess how many hooked clasps there are.”

Iron Thunder did not hesitate. “Two.”

“Then they’re yours.” There really were two.

Iron Thunder took them and found they were silver hooked clasps, delighting him greatly.

Wang Xing had excellent eyesight. Pointing ahead, he cried out, “Great-grandfather, great-grandmother, it looks like Young Master Huan and Uncle Tie are there.”

Wang Dalang said, “Go on.” Wang Xing broke into a run, calling, “Brother Huan!”

“Ah Xing.” Huan Zhen took his hand and came forward to bow to Old Wang and Grandma Jia, exchanging New Year greetings.

Crack! Pop!

The firecrackers burst. Wang Erlang tossed in more and said happily, “Just now we saw the lords from the Waterside Pavilion passing by, and we were still wondering why we hadn’t seen Young Master Huan.”

Wang Xing said, “Mm. There was also someone tied to an ox cart, with his mouth bound too.”

Huan Zhen did not want to speak about the case, since it would inevitably involve Wang Zhu. “Ah Xing, it has been a long time since I last tested your studies. Recite the Li Ren chapter from the Analects.”

“Yes.” Wang Xing loved reciting books the most. He hastily stood straight, hands clasped behind his back, and recited clearly, word for word: “The Master said: To dwell in ren is beautiful... If one chooses not to abide in ren, how can one attain wisdom?... In matters of wrongdoing, people are always of a kind with their own group... The gentleman understands righteousness, the petty man understands profit...”

By then, Ren Suzhi and the others had already left Jia She Village.

On both sides of the road, the wild grass grew deep.

Wei Shi suddenly struggled hard and began to make muffled cries.

Ren Suzhi ordered Shan Ying to untie the knot at the back of her head. Wei Shi knelt and begged, “My late husband is buried by the roadside. Please, my lord, let me bid him farewell.”

The end.