He had seen it!!
Yan Sanhe couldn’t conceal the joy in her heart.
“When did you see it? On what occasion was she wearing it? Also, was this garment made by the Tang family’s embroiderer, or was it a gift from someone?”
A barrage of questions exploded like firecrackers in Tang Jianxi’s ears.
“Miss Yan, I can only answer one of your questions. I don’t know the rest.”
“Go ahead.”
“That day.”
That day?
It must have been the day the Tang family was raided, when Tang Zhiwei transformed from a pampered daughter of heaven into a prisoner.
Yan Sanhe asked, “Did she use this outfit as burial clothes because she was reminiscing about the beautiful past?”
Tang Jianxi moved his lips but couldn’t speak.
“Fine!”
Seeing she couldn’t get more information, Yan Sanhe could only take a step back.
“When we came up the mountain, I mentioned to Master Tang that Jingchen’s heart demon is a sound of gongs. When you were with the Tang family, did you hear any gong sounds?”
“Don’t opera performances use gongs?”
“Besides that?”
Tang Jianxi frowned and shook his head, indicating there was nothing else.
“For Tang Zhiwei, watching opera was an ordinary, commonplace matter. This couldn’t possibly be her heart demon.”
Yan Sanhe considered for a moment. “Master Tang, based on your understanding of Jingchen, what could she obsess over to the point of becoming a heart demon?”
Tang Jianxi looked bewildered again.
“Master Tang, let’s continue with nodding and shaking heads.”
Yan Sanhe asked, “In the later years when Tang Zhiwei was at the Jiaofang Bureau, you often went to see her—did she ever mention that heartless man?”
Master Tang shook his head.
Yan Sanhe: “Did you ever take the initiative to mention him to her?”
Master Tang nodded.
Yan Sanhe: “Was she willing to listen?”
Master Tang sneered coldly. “Do you think I made that poisonous vow carelessly?”
So that meant after the Tang family was raided and Tang Zhiwei entered the Jiaofang Bureau, Lu Shi disappeared completely from her life—he couldn’t even be mentioned, right up until her death.
Yan Sanhe slowly rose. “It’s very late. Master Tang and Madam Tang should rest early.”
“Not asking anymore?”
Young Master Pei was anxious—they hadn’t learned anything yet!
“What I heard today is enough. I need to think it through.”
As Yan Sanhe stood up, she glanced at Young Master Pei and was the first to walk out of the study.
Young Master Pei felt that glance from Yan Sanhe meant he should quickly follow. Just as he was about to call Xie Wushi, Xie Wushi bowed to Tang Jianxi and strode after her.
“Hey, wait for me!”
…
Yan Sanhe hadn’t gone far—she waited just a few zhang away.
Once everyone gathered around, she immediately said in a low voice:
“If my deduction is correct, Jingchen’s heart demon should lie between the Tang family’s case and the heartless man. Setting the case aside for now, regarding this person Lu Shi, I want to hear what Third Master and Young Master Pei have to say.”
Xie Zhifei: “It’s not convenient to talk here. Come, let’s go back to the room.”
They returned immediately—to Yan Sanhe’s room.
Though it was already the second quarter of the chou hour and Zhu Qing and the others still had injuries, not one person was willing to leave.
The matter actually involved old Censor Lu Shi?
This was damn rare indeed!
Young Master Pei personally brewed tea. “Xie Wushi, your back is injured. Let me speak!”
“I’ll speak. I know a bit more about Lu Shi.”
The first sentence from Xie Zhifei’s mouth startled Yan Sanhe.
“If you had to choose one upright official, one good official from the capital, Lu Shi wouldn’t step forward, and no one else would dare.”
“My goodness, an upright official?”
Li Buyan exclaimed, “This person is truly two-faced and duplicitous—a complete hypocrite!”
These words struck everyone’s hearts.
If he weren’t a hypocrite, how could he have remained completely unscathed after Tang Qiling’s downfall and the Crown Prince’s fall, even climbing step by step to the high position of a second-rank official?
“He started from the lowest position in the Censorate, never married, never had children. His home is a small three-courtyard residence with just three to five loyal servants.”
Xie Zhifei continued, “During festivals, while other second-rank officials’ residences have endless streams of visitors, his gate is always cold and deserted.”
Yan Sanhe: “Why?”
“First, no one dares give him gifts. Second, even if you presented all your family wealth before him, he’d accept it with his front foot, then turn it over to the national treasury with his back foot.”
Xie Zhifei smiled bitterly. “The next day he’d impeach you before the Emperor with a charge of bribing court officials.”
“Listen, listen—truly upright indeed.”
Li Buyan’s lips curled with disdain. “You should know that upright people can’t climb to second-rank official positions.”
“You’re absolutely right!”
Xie Zhifei was too lazy to argue with Li Buyan and went along with her words. “But he had the ability to gain the Emperor’s favor and trust.”
Yan Sanhe: “Is it true that he studied under Tang Qiling?”
Xie Zhifei: “I really haven’t heard about that. I only know he was very accomplished in his studies when young—I believe he placed as Third Scholar.”
“Third Scholar?”
Young Master Pei was shocked. “Lu Shi was actually Third Scholar? Quite brilliant!”
Yan Sanhe: “What about his background?”
“He’s from Jinling Prefecture. I heard his birth mother was a concubine. One New Year’s Eve, my brothers and I were patrolling the streets when we saw him strolling with a servant.”
Xie Zhifei recalled that chance encounter. “I dismounted and asked him, ‘Old Censor, why aren’t you going home for the reunion dinner?’ He replied with four words: ‘No one to reunite with.'”
“No one to reunite with” meant Lu Shi had virtually no contact with the Lu family.
Yan Sanhe asked again, “What about his temperament?”
Xie Zhifei pondered. “Does ‘disowning all relations’ count as temperament?”
Yan Sanhe: “It counts!”
Xie Zhifei: “Does ‘impartially enforcing the law’ count as temperament?”
Yan Sanhe: “That counts too!”
Xie Zhifei: “Does ‘forging ahead through obstacles’ count as temperament?”
Yan Sanhe didn’t quite understand. “How do these four words ‘forging ahead through obstacles’ apply?”
“Think about it…”
Xie Zhifei: “Anyone he sets his sights on faces certain death, right?”
Yan Sanhe: “Yes.”
Xie Zhifei: “Since it’s death either way, wouldn’t some people refuse to accept this and fight for a way out?”
Yan Sanhe: “Yes.”
Xie Zhifei: “Frame him, turn on him, even kill him—wouldn’t that create a way out?”
Yan Sanhe: “Right.”
“So our old Censor has, to my knowledge, been imprisoned at least twice. As for assassination attempts…”
Xie Zhifei shrugged. “Those are too numerous to count.”
“Well, his life force is strong and his fate is hard!”
Li Buyan: “He must have expert protection, right?”
Xie Zhifei: “Expert or not, I really don’t know, but he’s lived perfectly well until now.”
Li Buyan sneered coldly. “This fully illustrates one problem.”
Xie Zhifei: “What?”
“Good people don’t live long, but tortoises and bastards live for a thousand years.”
Li Buyan smiled. “Third Master, don’t you agree?”
Agree with what, you damned contrarian brute! Get lost!
Xie Zhifei’s mouth twisted with anger. “Yan Sanhe, do you have anything else to ask?”
Yan Sanhe gave Li Buyan a warning look. “His reason for not marrying—does Third Master know?”
Listen—this is the proper speaking attitude a normal, good young lady should have.
Xie Zhifei’s twisted mouth straightened again. “I’m not entirely clear on the real reason, but I heard that area of his suffered some injury—he’s not quite functional, similar to a eunuch.”
“Good heavens, you’ve heard so much!” Young Master Pei thought to himself how he didn’t know any of these things.
“What office am I in, and what office are you in?”
Xie Zhifei narrowed his light-colored pupils. “Oh right, I recall he’s not young this year.”
Yan Sanhe: “How old?”
Xie Zhifei: “Either fifty-six or fifty-seven, definitely not yet sixty.”
Yan Sanhe calculated with her fingers and was greatly shocked.
“He’s actually more than ten years older than Jingchen?”