The surging crowd made it difficult to reunite after being scattered.
After searching for quite some time, Shen Du finally learned of Zhuyan’s whereabouts from Jiang Langxing.
Jiang Langxing’s awkward expression and stammering speech indicated that this woman had caused trouble again…
Disguised as a young lady from an official family, Zhuyan wore a veil, adding to her beauty and mystery.
Some foreign guests seemed highly interested in Zhuyan, surrounding her and attempting to communicate in broken Chinese.
“Beautiful lady, may I know your name?”
Zhuyan lowered her head and smiled. Judging by his attire, the man before her seemed to be from the Western Region, and his broken Chinese was quite amusing.
Before Zhuyan could answer, another foreign guest quickly said, “I saw this lady first. Why are you standing in front of me?”
He then turned his gaze to Zhuyan. “Miss, though you wear a veil, your heavenly eyes have deeply captivated me. Would you remove your veil and let us glimpse your incomparable beauty?”
“This…” Zhuyan hesitated.
She wasn’t one to panic easily, but facing so many men showing interest in her was somewhat overwhelming.
“Miss, this is my jade fan. Please accept it. Do you have any personal item to exchange, to commemorate our acquaintance?”
The speaker was another newly arrived young man.
Judging by his attire, he also seemed to be from out of town, but his gold and silver ornaments suggested he was from an official family or a young master of sorts.
Before Zhuyan could agree, this young man directly placed the jade fan in her hands.
Zhuyan was bewildered, and before she could recover, the other men also began presenting their tokens to her.
At the same time, they asked Zhuyan for tokens in return, causing her great embarrassment.
“It seems Madam Shen truly has some charm, captivating these foreign young masters,” Jiang Langxing teased from the side.
His words drew Jinglin’s displeasure. “Madam naturally has charm, otherwise why would our Grand Prefect be interested in her? Besides, these young masters should look at themselves. Are they worthy of Madam? Can any of them compare to our Grand Prefect?”
“Is that so?” Jiang Langxing seemed curious about Jinglin’s words. “I heard that Madam was a substitute bride, and on their wedding day, the Grand Prefect even held a knife to her throat.”
As he spoke, Jiang Langxing made a gesture of holding a knife to his throat for Jinglin to see.
Jinglin’s lips twitched, his face somewhat embarrassed. “That… that was because our Grand Prefect didn’t understand Madam. When taking a wife, one should seek virtue, not judge by appearance. Our Grand Prefect hadn’t interacted with Madam before, so naturally, he had to assert some authority between husband and wife.”
“Oh…” Jiang Langxing nodded thoughtfully. “So that’s how it was.”
As the two chatted back and forth, they completely missed Shen Du’s expression, which had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
“Enough.”
Shen Du’s cold reprimand immediately silenced the two.
“Bury these people for me.”
Shen Du’s subsequent order startled the two. Bury them? Had they heard correctly? The Grand Prefect wanted them to bury these foreign young masters.
“What are you standing there for?” Shen Du turned angrily, glaring fiercely at the two, causing Jinglin to shudder.
“Make those people disappear. Do I need to teach you how to do your job?”
Hearing this, the two understood Shen Du’s meaning and hurriedly went to dismiss the young masters.
Jiang Langxing let out a long sigh of relief. It was fortunate he wasn’t under Shen Du’s command, otherwise he might one day be scared to death.
After chasing away the foreign young masters, Jiang Langxing understood Jinglin’s difficulties and approached to tease, “I was wrong. From now on, whatever you say goes. I won’t argue with you about right or wrong anymore.”
Jinglin was surprised by Jiang Langxing’s sudden submission, but when he saw Shen Du’s gloomy face, he understood everything.
He smiled awkwardly but politely at Jiang Langxing, not responding further.
“Madam.”
Zhuyan was still puzzled by the sudden departure of the young masters when Jinglin appeared by her side.
“After all, you are the wife of the Grand Prefect. You should mind your appearance. Even if you don’t care about face, the Grand Prefect does.”
Zhuyan then realized that Shen Du had been standing nearby for some time, and the departure of those young masters was undoubtedly his doing.
However, this meant…
Zhuyan seemed to think of something and quickly approached Shen Du. “I have an idea.”
Shen Du was still brooding over the earlier incident and responded coldly to Zhuyan’s sudden friendliness. “Weren’t you enjoying yourself just now? You have the nerve to come back?”
Zhuyan was at a loss for words, explaining with slight embarrassment, “That was just an accident. I didn’t expect those foreign young masters to be so enthusiastic about me.”
“So you abandoned all female modesty, is that it? Or were you announcing to others that I, Shen Du, treat my wife poorly, leaving you so empty and lonely that you can’t wait for strange men to throw themselves at you?”
Though Shen Du’s words were harsh, they were full of jealousy. Zhuyan was amused by his words.
“Alright,” Zhuyan began to act coy, wrapping her arms around Shen Du’s arm and swaying back and forth. “I know I was wrong. I’ll be more reserved in the future. I’m your wife, and I’ll certainly remain chaste for you. I absolutely won’t have any contact with strange men, of course, except for those male corpses.”
Jiang Langxing nearby was covered in goosebumps. He never imagined this woman had such skills, truly opening his eyes.
Jinglin seemed accustomed to it, completely unmoved by the scene before him. But he knew in his heart that once this woman started acting coy, the Grand Prefect would lose his composure, and even the greatest anger would dissipate.
“Alright, alright.”
Sure enough, Shen Du couldn’t resist Zhuyan’s softening. “What was the idea you mentioned earlier?”
Seeing Shen Du come around, Zhuyan was secretly delighted and quickly changed the subject. “With this sea of people, finding the killer is no easy task. Why don’t we let the killer come to us instead? That way, we can save a lot of trouble.”
Shen Du furrowed his brow. “Go on.”
“Those dead women all had something in common. If I dress in the same style as them, wouldn’t that more easily attract the killer’s attention? Then the killer would naturally come, and you can capture them.”
“That’s an idea,” Jiang Langxing quickly chimed in. “If Madam dresses like the target, the killer will reveal themselves.”
They thought this was a clever plan and that Shen Du would agree, but unexpectedly, he strongly opposed it.
“No,” Shen Du said coldly, startling everyone present. “This plan is too risky. You can’t go.”
After speaking, Shen Du turned his gaze to Jinglin. “Go to Tongming Hall and bring someone back. Have them dress like the target. Be quick about it.”
“Yes,” Jinglin responded and was about to leave when Zhuyan stopped him.
“At a time like this, the killer’s targets are young women. On such a grand Buddhist ceremony day, what young girl from Pingkang Ward wouldn’t be out joining the festivities?”
Zhuyan’s words made sense, but Shen Du simply didn’t want her to take the risk.
“How about…” Jinglin thought of an idea. “We find a suitable person in the crowd?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhuyan gave him a hard knock on the head. “Are you wooden-headed? The people in the crowd are ordinary citizens. How can you ask them to take such a risk? Would they be willing? The killer’s methods are so cruel. If something goes wrong, can you take responsibility?”
Jinglin was rendered speechless by Zhuyan’s rebuke, blaming himself for being rash and speaking without thinking.