Chapter 16: The Kind Are Often Taken Advantage Of

The hunchbacked courier, clad in a raincoat of straw, braved the downpour to approach. Huan Zhen and his two companions remained inside, avoiding the rain, while Wang Ge balanced a basket on her head and followed the courier around the crumbling walls to inspect the damage. When their inspection was done, the courier said, “Don’t worry, lightning never strikes the same place twice. You’ll have to wait for the rain to stop before the courtyard wall can be repaired. Make do for now.” He noticed that a great deal of soil and stone had fallen into the pigsty and, with a careless gesture, instructed Wang Ge, “After the rain, clean out the entire pen. If the pig dies, you’ll pay for it!”

Wang Ge, hearing this last remark, raised her voice and asked, “So if that bolt of lightning just now killed the pig, you’d still have me pay for it?”

“Outrageous!” Wang Tian emerged holding a plank over his head, indignant. “You call yourself an official? You just said lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice. Would you dare stand here and test that yourself? If you and the pig are both struck dead, I’ll pay for you in the young lady’s stead. How about that?”

“You brat!”

“Old cur!” Wang Tian swung the plank at him.

It happened too quickly for anyone to react.

Wang Ge was not about to let her ally brawl with the courier. She charged forward, basket on her head, and rammed into the courier.

Behind Wang Tian, Huan Zhen grabbed hold of the plank.

The result: the courier, clutching the basket, tumbled into the pigsty, nearly dragging Wang Ge in with him.

It’s over! Wang Ge looked to Huan Zhen for help—she could no longer pretend not to know him. “Gentleman, what should I do?”

Huan Zhen, still holding the plank, soothed her gently, “It’s all right. I’m here.”

By now Wang Tian and the courier were flinging clumps of mud at each other, hurling insults. Wen Shizhi, however, noticed there was something off between Huan Zhen and the young lady.

Huan Zhen normally disliked speaking to strangers, especially women. Did they know each other? When did they meet? Where? Ah, this trip was worthwhile after all—how intriguing!

“You brat! Just you wait!” the courier shouted, unwilling to suffer further humiliation. He clambered out of the pigsty from Wang Ge’s side, cursing as he fled.

Wang Tian laughed triumphantly.

Huan Zhen told Wang Ge, “Go back without worry.”

Wang Tian thumped his chest. “With us here, you have nothing to fear!”

“Thank you, gentlemen.” Wang Ge bowed to him and then to Wen Shizhi at the gate before leaving the courtyard and returning to her own.

“Iron Wind!” Huan Zhen called out, and Iron Wind slipped down from the roof. “See to this matter.”

Wang Tian cast an envious glance at Iron Wind, then went back inside. Wen Shizhi exhaled in relief. When traveling, nothing is more troublesome than dealing with persistent petty officials—having a retainer handle things made everything easier.

Iron Wind left to carry out his orders, thinking to himself: No wonder the young lady looked familiar—she was the one we ran into at Jia Household Village.

After sitting in her room for half an hour, Wang Ge saw another courier come to inspect the wall, but he did not disturb her. She felt a bit more at ease, though she could only smile wryly. Why do the poor so often seem humble? Because only humility allows them to survive. If those young gentlemen hadn’t intervened, the courier would have seized every opportunity to order her around.

The crux of it was, she knew well that the more submissive she appeared, the more she would be bullied. But could she resist?

She absolutely could not!

This was the courier’s territory—if he wanted to make her life miserable, he had countless ways to do so. If she wanted to eat and lodge here for free, she had no choice but to humble herself.

Such is the deadlock of the common folk.

Therefore, she must pursue the path of the artisan! And her younger brother must study! Only by advancing on both fronts could they break free from this deadlock.

Thinking of Liu Xiaolang’s warning and the lessons she had learned during the artisan selection, she resolved not to be arrogant again. How could she use her limited materials and tools to craft something that would force the examiners to take her seriously?

Night had already fallen. Flashes of lightning illuminated the thin windows pasted with coarse fabric. The rain beat down more heavily.

The air in the room grew ever more humid and stifling. Wang Ge opened the door to get some fresh air, gazing at the night sky, bright one moment, drenched in darkness the next. As another flash lit her face, a faint smile played at her lips—she had an idea of what to make.

Next door, the three young men paid no mind to the dreadful thunder, continuing their discussion about the insights gained from their investigation along the crime scene route during the day.

Wang Tian said, “Let me speak first! Why don’t we go into town to investigate the magistrate’s death? We might even follow the clues and find the missing Lady Jiang!”

Huan Zhen replied, “Because my uncle has already taken office and is investigating just that.”

Wang Tian scratched his head. “Oh, so if we don’t look into that, there’s nothing else for us to do.”

Wen Shizhi said, “It’s not just that! If we enter the county office, we’ll have no control over ourselves. Magistrate Huan might accuse us of meddling and send someone to chase us out. Don’t you think the death of Lady Meng is actually the root of this whole case? Following the trail as Ah Tian suggests, that very trail might lie in Lady Meng’s death!”

Lady Meng was the wife of the County Magistrate.

Huan Zhen said, “The path we investigated today is the only way to the Temple of Nuwa. The main road is wide, with no overhanging branches. Lady Meng must have been attacked as soon as she entered the side path. According to the official record, only her face suffered severe trauma, and her nostrils contained blood and bits of flesh, which proves she was repeatedly scraped by branches while unconscious—during which blood and flesh from her face were drawn into her nose.”

Wang Tian exclaimed, “That stretch of brambles, with all those signs of cutting, marks the full distance from Lady Meng’s last moments! Hmph!” He slapped his knee, seething. “Those sons of the County Magistrate were fools! In their rage, they cut every bramble branch, destroying the crime scene!”

Wen Shizhi lamented, “What a pity about those nearby peach trees. They must have been in full bloom that day! ‘Peach blossoms young and radiant, aglow with beauty’—yet forced to witness a tragedy.”

Wang Tian interrupted, “Enough with the poetry! Even if we can’t find more evidence, I’m sure the killer was the County Magistrate. He murdered his wife for the sake of his concubine, Mistress Chang. Jiang’e cried out for her mother, and he, fearing for his reputation, hid her away!”

Wen Shizhi countered, “Then who killed the County Magistrate? Why not suspect Jiang’e killed her father, then fled or took her own life?”

Wang Tian declared, “So, there are two killers! For Lady Meng’s murder, the County Magistrate and Mistress Chang both benefited. But Mistress Chang is just a woman—she couldn’t have done it. It had to be the Magistrate. As for the Magistrate’s death, who gained the most? Whoever did is the second killer… Oh no! Huan, your uncle took over as Magistrate—could it be he…”

Thud!

Huan Zhen kicked Wang Tian off the bed. “How can you say such things?”

“Ow! The water’s coming in!” Wang Tian’s trousers were suddenly soaked, and he jumped back onto the bed, shouting.

Huan Zhen opened the door and looked into the courtyard. “It’s not flooding—the threshold is leaking.”

Wen Shizhi fumed, “The officials at this posthouse ought to be impeached! The buildings everywhere are in disrepair, the couriers bully the weak—if the upper beam is crooked, how can the lower ones be straight? Isn’t that so, Huan?”

Wang Tian, not catching the hint, grunted his agreement.

Huan Zhen also missed the implication, but suddenly a thought struck him. “Peach grove?” His eyes gleamed. “Lady Meng died when the peach trees were in bloom. If, as the cart turned onto the path, she heard someone outside calling out that the peach blossoms were opening, she would surely lift the curtain to look! No, that can’t be right…” He reconsidered. “There was a cart with the servants following behind. Even if the driver didn’t notice the carriage veering into the brambles, wouldn’t those in the rear cart have seen it?”

Wen Shizhi sighed, “Too much time has passed to judge anything by the tracks.”

Wang Tian wrung water from his trousers. “If only we could find the cart Lady Meng rode in, perhaps we could discover some clues.”

Huan Zhen shook his head. “The County Magistrate burned that cart long ago. Had it not been illegal, he’d have slaughtered the oxen too… Oxen…”

Wen Shizhi echoed, “Oxen?”

Wang Tian said, “Oxen can’t talk—what could we possibly find out from them?”