Estimating that the young male courtesan must have already pushed all responsibility onto Song Yan—otherwise the Wang family wouldn’t have become so furious as to start fighting with Song Yan—Yang Qing unhesitatingly agreed with Old Master Chen’s idea. Keeping the person alive would only lead to loose lips. He had never intended to let this young courtesan live anyway. Since the Wang family had already bitten down on Song Yan and wouldn’t let go, whether the young courtesan died sooner or later made no difference at all.
He had someone find out the jailer’s home address and personally paid a visit, claiming to be the jailer’s friend. He presented extremely generous gifts and proposed taking the jailer’s son together to a teahouse to wait for the jailer to return from roll call.
He was generous with his spending and dressed quite respectably. He also clearly stated the jailer’s name and whereabouts, so the jailer’s family had no suspicions. They waved their hand and let him take the person away.
Yang Qing didn’t actually intend to do anything to the child—he was merely preparing for any contingency. Although there was no one in this world who didn’t love money, and he felt that since the jailer could accept silver from the Song family, he could also accept his silver, in all matters it was always more reassuring to prepare two backup plans, wasn’t it? He sat in a famous teahouse three streets away from the yamen, leisurely and patiently playing games intermittently with the jailer’s four or five-year-old son. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long. In just half an hour, the jailer arrived panting and wiping sweat, looking as if some vicious dog were chasing him from behind.
Yang Qing smiled imperceptibly, bent down to ask the jailer’s son: “Little Tiger, shall I have that older brother take you to the back to look at fish? You can pick one that’s big and plump, and we’ll steam it to eat, yes?”
Little Tiger looked at his father. Seeing his father’s iron-blue face remain silent, he naturally took it as consent. With a cheer, he immediately ran off following Yang Qing’s servant, only calling out “Father” to the jailer once.
The jailer watched with an iron-blue face as his son ran off with pattering steps. He turned back to look at Yang Qing’s leisurely, composed expression: “Who are you? What exactly do you want?” The weather was hot, he had run too urgently all the way, and because he wore black constable’s uniform, his body carried a faint sour smell.
Yang Qing waved the feather fan in his hand, pointed to the seat opposite, and invited him with a soft laugh to sit: “You can rest assured—if I wanted to do anything detrimental to your esteemed son, why would I foolishly visit your home, and specifically have someone wait for you outside the prison to send you a message once you came out? The weather is hot—drink some cold tea to cool down.”
The jailer glanced at him, boldly placed his saber on the table, and indeed strode over to sit on the stool. He picked up the cup and drained the cold tea in one gulp. After a moment, he wiped his mouth and stared seriously at Yang Qing, asking: “Then who exactly are you? Why did you come to my home looking for me for no good reason?”
Yang Qing naturally refilled his cup and looked at him, not answering but instead asking: “To be frank, I heard that something happened to the Wang family and someone died, and now the murderer is locked in prison?”
The jailer looked at him suspiciously, frowning as if very vigilant, and asked: “How do you know?”
Yang Qing said nothing, but smiled and clapped his hands. A person dressed as a servant who had been standing behind him came forward and handed him a box. He placed this box on the table and gently pushed it toward the jailer: “This matter has already spread throughout the city—naturally I know. Inside here—” Seeing the jailer’s gaze fixed firmly on the box, the smile on his face deepened. He lightly opened the box’s clasp: “Inside here are fifty-tael banknotes, three thousand taels in total. Please count them.”
Three thousand taels! Even though Yingtian Prefecture was prosperous with abundant opportunities for profit, this number still startled the jailer so much that he jumped up entirely. He stood up and retreated a few steps, looking at Yang Qing: “What are you doing?!”
“Young Master Wang is dead. The Wang family must be wishing that the Song family’s boy who killed him would pay with his own life, right?” Yang Qing smiled as he looked at the jailer: “I heard the Song family’s steward has already bribed you? How much silver did he give you? Name your price—I’ll give you double. You just need to do one thing for me—”
The jailer seemed stupefied, staring blankly at Yang Qing, unable to utter a single word. Yang Qing immediately followed up: “You help me kill that young male courtesan who was with Young Master Wang and Song Yan that night, along with the servant beside him. With your capabilities, this shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Three thousand taels of silver are right here on the table. After the deed is done, there will be another generous reward—”
That box sat on the table, now wide open, the fifty-tael banknotes nearly burning the jailer’s eyes. After a long while, he finally calmed down and looked at Yang Qing, asking: “What Young Master Wang?”
The servant behind Yang Qing felt this jailer was clearly somewhat slow-witted and couldn’t help but interject: “The one from last night, the Young Master Wang who died on the pleasure boat! Didn’t you later go retrieve his body and carry it to the yamen?!”
The jailer’s gaze didn’t move from the box. He stared blankly and shook his head: “What Young Master Wang? The person who died yesterday wasn’t Young Master Wang at all!”
What?! The servant grew anxious: “What nonsense are you spouting?! Last night there was such tremendous commotion precisely because Young Master Wang died and the Wang family got into a fight with the Song family! Didn’t you receive silver from the Song family as a bribe?!”
The jailer was even more confused. He retreated a step, finally moving his gaze toward the frowning Yang Qing, and shook his head one last time: “The person who died yesterday wasn’t Young Master Wang at all! It was someone who was serving Young Master Wang and his party at the banquet. Who said it was Young Master Wang who died?! If Young Master Wang had died, wouldn’t Jinling City be in complete chaos right now?”
Yang Qing abruptly stood up. He had already vaguely sensed something was wrong. After restraining his inner anxiety for a long time, he asked: “Then why did you arrest Song Yan?!”
“You mean Young Master Song?” The jailer scratched his head, somewhat puzzled: “At the time on the boat, besides him there was only Young Master Wang. Although both of them have noble status, they both had suspicion, so naturally both had to be arrested. As for you saying I received a bribe from the Song family—I did receive it, but the Song family’s servants were afraid he’d suffer in prison, so they asked me to send in a few quilts and some food. The Wang family sent things too.”
Yang Qing could no longer maintain his previous breezy, carefree appearance. For a moment, his mind couldn’t process what was happening, and he shouted in a lost voice: “You’re talking nonsense!”
The servant stood dumbfounded. When he finally reacted, his face was also pale with shock. What was going on? According to the plan, Young Master Wang should have died, and the young male courtesan and Song Yan should have been arrested. How did it suddenly become that a different person died? Then who exactly was the dead person?!