The Ke mansion was especially lively these days.

In a few days, it would be Lady Ke’s (Madam Qin’s) birthday. Unlike the previous Lady Lu who came from humble origins, Madam Qin’s father was a Proofreader in the current Imperial Secretariat.

Though Secretary Qin’s official position wasn’t prominent, it still placed him above the common folk. For a merchant family like the Ke’s, forming a marriage alliance with such a family was like finding a treasure.

Thus, everyone in the Ke household was particularly accommodating and eager to please this newly married first lady. Preparations for her birthday banquet had begun half a month in advance.

Granny Wan had spent the day arranging ingredients for the sweet dishes to be served at the birthday banquet, while Wan Fu was busy distributing utensils and finalizing Master Ke’s guest list. When they both returned to their quarters after their busy day, it was already late at night.

Wan Fu called for Wan Quan to bring him a cup of water. After calling twice with no response, Granny Wan came out from the bedroom saying, “Quan’er isn’t in the room.”

Wan Fu’s brows furrowed as he cursed, “So late at night, and he’s out carousing again!”

“Maybe he was delayed by something,” Granny Wan made excuses for her son. “He’s not a child anymore, you shouldn’t always restrict him.”

“This good-for-nothing is spoiled rotten because of you!” Wan Fu was somewhat angry, muttering “a doting mother ruins her son” before undressing and climbing into bed to sleep.

When they woke the next morning at dawn, Granny Wan accompanied their young daughter to use the chamber pot. She sleepily glanced at the room next door and saw Wan Quan’s bed empty, with no sign of him.

He hadn’t returned all night.

Granny Wan felt uneasy. When Wan Fu woke up, she couldn’t help but mention this to him. Wan Fu angrily said, “He must be spending the night in some courtesan’s bed. He’s becoming increasingly dissolute. When he returns, I’ll beat that degenerate within an inch of his life!”

After waiting another half hour, as the mansion’s maids and servants gradually rose to begin their work, Wan Quan still hadn’t returned. However, a familiar doorman came by and slipped Wan Fu a letter, saying, “Someone left this at the gate this morning, asking me to give it to Uncle Fu.”

Wan Fu took the letter and, for some reason, suddenly felt uneasy. He quickly returned to his room and opened the letter. Granny Wan, curious, asked while combing their young daughter’s hair in front of the mirror, “Who’s the letter from?”

She asked once, but after a long while received no answer from Wan Fu. When she looked up, she saw Wan Fu’s face had turned pale, his lips trembling slightly, as if he’d been struck by lightning.

Granny Wan was startled: “What’s wrong?”

Without a word, Wan Fu hurried into the inner room and began frantically searching through the storage chest. The chest was kept at the bottom of the wardrobe, storing winter clothes, and was rarely opened. Now the chest was open, the clothes inside thrown into disarray, and the bottom was empty.

Granny Wan, who had followed him into the room, asked, “What are you doing? What happened?”

Wan Fu felt around the bottom of the chest a couple of times, his face growing even paler, his lips trembling with rage as he said, “That wretched son… that wretched son!”

Granny Wan was completely confused: “Just tell me what’s going on!”

Wan Fu raged: “That fine son you raised snuck out last night and stole the two thousand taels of rent money I was keeping for the master to gamble at the Kuaihuo Building. Not only did he lose it all, he now owes three thousand more. They’ve written demanding money, saying they won’t release him until the silver is paid in full!”

When Granny Wan heard this, she was thunderstruck. She alternated between cursing her unfilial son for such outrageous behavior and cursing the Kuaihuo Building for being ruthless predators, then crying about her miserable fate. Finally, Granny Wan looked anxiously at Wan Fu: “Husband, think of something quick, Quan’er can’t stay there forever!”

Wan Fu’s face was already as yellow as gold paper from anger, and hearing Granny Wan’s crying and fussing made him even more furious. Yet he was also worried about his son – he had only one son and one daughter, and though his son was worthless, he still carried his blood.

But the amount owed now was simply too much. Though he was Master Ke’s servant, the Ke family only paid one tael of silver per month in wages. In the past, there had been opportunities for extra income, but since Madam Qin had arrived, it had become much harder for servants to get such benefits.

Forget three thousand taels – even if he sold everything he owned, he couldn’t gather a thousand taels.

Moreover, Wan Quan had misappropriated Master Ke’s two thousand taels…

The crying of his wife and young daughter in the room gave Wan Fu a headache. He gritted his teeth and said, “They want me to come to the Kuaihuo Building to get him. I’ll go and beg them first, see if they’ll give us some time.”

Granny Wan nodded repeatedly.

After taking a few steps, Wan Fu turned back to instruct: “Stop crying! That worthless son used the master’s rent money, but it hasn’t been discovered yet. Don’t spread this around, find a way to cover it up. If this gets out, I won’t be able to protect him!”

…

Wan Fu found an excuse, saying he needed to leave the mansion to buy some paper backing needed for Master Ke’s shop, and asked Ke Chengxing for half a day’s leave.

Having received Ke Chengxing’s permission, Wan Fu hurriedly left.

With his mind full of worry and anger, he headed straight for the Kuaihuo Building. Just as he reached the entrance, a young servant stopped him, saying the owner was waiting to meet him at the teahouse next door.

Wan Fu went to the teahouse the servant had pointed out.

The teahouse was called Zhuli Pavilion, located at the end of Qinghe Street. Though situated in the bustling market area, it offered tranquility amidst the chaos, with its bamboo grove. The tea room was set within the bamboo grove, elegant and quiet, with all furniture made of purple bamboo. Looking through the carved window lattice, the courtyard was filled with quiet breezes and green pines and bamboo.

Wan Fu entered and saw the elegant room was quite spacious, with a table by the window on the far left. On the table sat a pot of lotus heart tea, two celadon gaiwan cups, and emerald bean cakes arranged on a red-lacquered gold-traced plum blossom tea tray, the colors perfectly matched.

It seemed they were specifically waiting for him.

There was no one else in the room, and Wan Quan wasn’t here.

Wan Fu had just sat down at the table when he heard a woman’s voice: “Master Wan has arrived.”

Already nervous, the voice startled him, and he instinctively looked for its source. He then noticed that on the right side of the elegant room, behind a hanging blue gauze bamboo curtain, there was a shadowy figure.

Someone was sitting behind the curtain.

After his moment of panic, he gradually calmed himself and said, “I dare not call myself a master. Miss is…?”

“Your son owes me three thousand taels of silver unpaid. I had no choice but to ask Master Wan to come discuss the matter,” the person said slowly.

Wan Fu’s heart tightened.

The voice from behind the curtain was quite strange. It seemed to be a woman’s voice, but whether due to the room’s acoustics or something else, the speaker’s voice was muffled and hoarse, as if roughened by sand, making it impossible to determine their age.

He looked around and tentatively asked, “May I ask how Wan Quan is now…?”

“Rest assured, Master Wan, he is well,” the voice replied calmly. “Your son is currently in a safe location, waiting for Master Wan to bring money to redeem him.”

Wan Fu felt slightly relieved and, after hesitating for a moment, said with a placating smile, “Miss is kind to let my unfilial son play around. However, our family is poor and cannot produce three thousand taels of silver at once. Could you perhaps give us some time? Let me take that unfilial son home first, and when we gather the silver, we’ll bring it to Miss. How about that?”

Hearing this, the room fell silent for a moment.

As Wan Fu’s heart wavered anxiously, he heard the person behind the bamboo curtain speak. She said, “Master Wan has thought it through well. You wouldn’t be planning to take him back first, then use the Ke family’s influence to forcefully default on the three thousand tael debt, would you?”

Wan Fu’s heart sank – he had indeed considered this. Though the Ke family weren’t officials, they now had some connection to the Grand Tutor’s mansion, which carried enough weight to intimidate people.

At that time, there was a chance they could default on the debt.

Before he could speak, the person behind the curtain laughed softly, their laughter carrying a hint of mockery: “Let’s not even discuss whether you could default on the three thousand tael debt. Even if you could, if Master Ke discovers the two thousand taels of private funds your son misappropriated, I fear he wouldn’t escape the death penalty.”

Wan Fu immediately lost color.

Since Madam Qin had arrived, this was all of Ke Chengxing’s private funds. If Ke Chengxing discovered this, how could Wan Quan escape?

But… how did this woman know that Wan Quan had misappropriated the master’s private funds?

Something flashed quickly through his mind, but before he could grasp it, he heard the other person speak again.

She said: “Master Wan, let’s skip the small talk. I want to ask you a few questions. If you answer well, I’ll tear up the debt note right in front of you. The debt between your son and me will be settled.”

Hearing this, Wan Fu’s eyes lit up. Too preoccupied to dwell on the earlier oddities, he quickly said, “Please ask, Miss.”

The figure behind the curtain raised their hand and lifted a tea cup to drink, their sleeve brushing across the table surface with a rustling sound that made one’s heart uneasy.

In the silence, the woman spoke.

She asked: “Was the Ke family’s previous first lady, Lady Lu, killed by your master?”