Lu Chang soon brought the case files and placed them on Ming Shu’s desk.
The thick stack of papers carried the weight of thirty-seven lives from the Jian Family… Ming Shu didn’t immediately open the files. She placed her hand on them and took a deep breath with closed eyes. Once these files were opened, her last shred of false hope would be completely shattered.
Lu Chang didn’t leave, sitting down beside her and saying: “The files are somewhat complex. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me directly.”
After speaking, he gently covered her hand with his, hoping to offer some warmth, but she quickly withdrew her hand, opening her eyes to say: “Thank you.”
The files were gently opened. The documents inside were very carefully organized. On top was Master Gao Shicai’s confession, followed by his autopsy report, death scene investigation, records of his death during the journey to the capital including everyone’s testimonies, General Cao Hai’s investigation along the route, Gao Shicai’s background information, and more. After that came Lu Chang’s list of suspicious points and deductions about Gao Shicai’s death… Just the files on Gao Shicai alone filled dozens of pages.
Ming Shu took out Gao Shicai’s materials and set them aside, then looked further.
Below were materials about assassination attempts on her and Lu Chang in Bianjing – the assassins’ backgrounds, testimonies, attack processes, etc., all organized with perfect clarity. Following that was Zhou Xiuqing’s separate file, kept independently as she was the most important witness.
The files were arranged chronologically, with more recent events placed toward the front and earlier events toward the back.
The pursuit at Cloud Flower Mountain and the Jian Family massacre were at the very end.
Ming Shu sorted through them one by one, finally picking up that case file.
The case involved too many Jiangning officials, making the materials extremely complex. Just the autopsy reports alone numbered thirty-seven…
“Ming Shu… perhaps don’t look at this one first.” Lu Chang tried to stop her.
The first file she picked up was the Jian Family’s list of deceased and those thirty-seven autopsy reports.
Nothing in these case files could be more cruel than this document.
Ming Shu hadn’t read the details, but her eyes were already red again – the first name on the list of deceased was Jian Jinhai.
Her father.
The string of names that followed were all former Jian Family servants. Most of these servants had been personally selected by her mother when she was alive or were her mother’s attendants. Her mother had a Buddha’s heart, loving to help poor families. Many of the household servants were homeless people she had taken in… Though the Jian Family wasn’t a scholarly household, they treated their servants well. These people had received kindness and remembered it well, watching Ming Shu grow up, and treating her like family. From childhood, Ming Shu hadn’t maintained strict master-servant distinctions. The Jian Family had few members, and these people were all her family.
Now, her family members had all become light, weightless names on a list, each stabbing her heart like a knife.
Lu Chang’s attempt to stop her wasn’t successful – she still stubbornly picked up the autopsy reports. The first one she opened was again her father’s.
After reading just two lines, she couldn’t continue. Breathing rapidly, she pressed the entire stack of papers against the table, her whole body trembling as she used all her life’s strength to hold back tears that were about to burst forth.
Jian Jinhai’s face appeared in her mind with the autopsy report, and then because of this report transformed into a corpse…
“Were they all… burned to death… by fire?”
Her voice, thick with congestion, trembled as it rose.
“No, most died from a single fatal cut. The fire was set afterward.” Lu Chang took the stack of papers from her hands. “Ming Shu, don’t look anymore. I’ve gone through these autopsy reports countless times. The only suspicious point is that Little Dragonfly and the others should have been with you on Cloud Flower Mountain that day…”
“Yes, I discovered Concubine Zhou’s affair with another man and suspected her son wasn’t my father’s flesh and blood, so I took Little Dragonfly, Mother Ying, and three Jian Family guards up Cloud Flower Mountain.” Ming Shu slowly sat back in her chair, trying to calm herself as she recalled that night’s events. “I had thought the man involved with Concubine Zhou would at most be a minor official. How could I have known his background was so extraordinary, far beyond what our Jian Family could handle.”
Such shameful matters shouldn’t have been her concern, but the Jian Family had only her and her father left. Finally getting a Concubine Zhou, who turned out to be harboring ulterior motives and doing dishonorable things involving the Jian Family’s succession – if she didn’t investigate personally, who could she trust?
That day at Water Immortal Temple, she had bribed a maid to spy on the conversation inside. She was already extremely surprised by the people she saw, then hearing their schemes made her even more shocked. She immediately planned to leave Cloud Flower Mountain and rush back to Jiangning County that night. But who could have expected that upon leaving, they would be discovered by the other party’s people who, fearing they had overheard secrets, gave the order to silence them?
“That day I brought… Little Dragonfly, Mother Ying, and three guards… to protect me, they all… all…” Ming Shu’s eyes filled with that night’s terrifying battle, blade light falling beside her, blood dyeing her vision red.
She closed her eyes. Mother Ying and Little Dragonfly’s voices seemed to still ring in her ears, calling “Young Lady run, run…”
Five lives were exchanged for her survival as she rolled down the cliff.
“Ming Shu, why don’t you rest a while?” Lu Chang gently offered a silk handkerchief.
“I’m fine.” Ming Shu didn’t take his handkerchief, using her sleeve to wipe her eyes roughly.
Lu Chang placed the handkerchief on the table beside her hand and continued: “Then that confirms it. Those five people died on Cloud Flower Mountain, yet their names were recorded on the Jian Family case victim list. The killers must have wanted to erase evidence of the Cloud Flower Mountain incident and dispose of the five bodies, so they bribed officials to falsely register them on this victim list.”
This point was mentioned in Gao Shicai’s confession, and the involved Jiangning officials had also confessed.
Ming Shu nodded and reached for the materials and testimonies of other involved people from Jiangning County.
“Ming Shu, what exactly did you see and hear at Water Immortal Temple?” Lu Chang asked the most crucial question.
Ming Shu didn’t look up, recalling while speaking: “The man involved with Zhou Xiuqing was indeed Gao Shicai. I heard them plotting about my family’s property, talking about that night’s robbery, but…”
Here she suddenly looked up, a flash of shock passing through her eyes, but she stopped speaking, quickly putting down the materials in her hand to look through Zhou Xiuqing and Gao Shicai’s files instead.
“But what?” Lu Chang asked.
Ming Shu moved quickly but didn’t stop questioning: “That witness you mentioned to me before, was it Zhou Xiuqing?”
Lu Chang nodded: “Yes. She was first confined by Gao Shicai, then luckily escaped and hid in Jiangning. Third Prince’s people found her and planned to bring her back to the capital for questioning, but unexpectedly there was an accident on the way, and she was taken by Tang Li’s people. Zhou Xiuqing must have known something, but unfortunately…”
“Unfortunately what? Where is she? Tang Li told me you made a deal – if you agreed to help her, she would hand Zhou Xiuqing over to you last night. But she died without giving the signal, did you not find Zhou Xiuqing?”
Although Lu Chang had impersonated the Third Prince on the platform, Tang Li’s people shouldn’t have discovered this. But before dying, Tang Li had also mentioned that without her signal, they wouldn’t find Zhou Xiuqing.
“We found her.” Lu Chang sighed heavily at her words. “I never counted on Tang Li handing her over. Before that, I had already secretly arranged for people to investigate Zhou Xiuqing’s whereabouts. Having you help me act, agreeing to her demands, was just to make her lower her guard, thinking her scheme had succeeded, so she would tell me their purpose sooner and I could plan how to deal with it.”
Tang Li thought she could manipulate and use him, so he used her arrogance to probe their true purpose from her words. Then he pretended to agree to persuade the Third Prince to ascend the platform for blessings, setting up the platform plan, all to maximize contact with Tang Li while having people secretly monitor her every move, deducing Zhou Xiuqing’s whereabouts from this – after all, no matter how cautious a person is, as long as they need to pass messages outside, there will be traces to follow.
Two days before the Ullambana Festival, Lu Chang had already narrowed down the area. By the day of the festival, while pretending to wait for her news about releasing the person, he had already arranged people for a secret rescue.
This plan had been going very smoothly, however…
“However what?” Ming Shu asked urgently.
“The person was successfully rescued, but on the way back, they were ambushed. Zhou Xiuqing was killed by an arrow through the heart.” Lu Chang clenched his fists as he spoke.
All their efforts had come to nothing.
Ming Shu’s breath caught as she stared at him for a long time before asking: “Was Zhou Xiuqing… the only remaining witness?”
“If there was another culprit behind Gao Shicai, then among all witnesses, perhaps only Zhou Xiuqing could have proven this person’s existence. But she’s dead.”
Ming Shu’s hand on the table gradually curved into a claw, then clenched tightly.
After a moment of silence, she suddenly lowered her head and frantically opened Gao Shicai’s case file, flipping through page after page, then opened Zhou Xiuqing’s file, followed by other witnesses’ testimonies…
“Ming Shu, I’ve reviewed all these testimonies. No witnesses or evidence can prove who the second culprit is.”
Lu Chang had read every page in these files not just dozens but hundreds of times, yet no matter how many times he went through them, he couldn’t find a single flaw.
Gao Shicai’s confession took responsibility for all crimes. All accomplices related to this case – Gao Shicai’s private soldiers, Jiangning County clerks, runners, and garrison troops guarding the city – all identified Gao Shicai. Even the bandits who had broken into the Jian Family home that day had been pursued and scattered by Jiangning garrison troops. The only bandit leader who had contact with the murderer had already been beheaded during capture.
If not for Zhou Xiuqing’s kidnapping, Ming Shu’s brush with danger, and Tang Li’s words, plus the missing stolen silver, even Lu Chang might have believed Gao Shicai was the only culprit.
The only certainty was that Gao Shicai definitely couldn’t be unconnected to this case, but whether there was another person behind him… this was what they urgently needed to know.
Zhou Xiuqing could have broken this deadlock, but now she too was dead.
Ming Shu ignored Lu Chang’s words, taking out everything she wanted to examine and reading each page carefully.
The materials were extensive and extremely complex. It was very difficult to read and digest everything at once, but Lu Chang understood she couldn’t possibly rest now. Though she appeared calm, that pain and hatred were merely suppressed in her heart. She desperately needed to do something to relieve this suffering that made her feel worse than dead.
He could only quietly keep her company.
Time gradually passed, and night silently fell. Lu Chang lit the sheepskin lamp on the desk, poured out her untouched cold tea, and replaced it with warm tea.
Madam Zeng already knew about Ming Shu’s condition. She had wanted to come to see Ming Shu personally, but Lu Chang felt Ming Shu wasn’t in the mood to see anyone right now, so he persuaded his mother not to come. Instead, Madam Zeng had made porridge and sent it over with Qing Yao.
“Ming Shu… take a rest.” Lu Chang couldn’t help speaking up after seeing her press her fist against her stomach for the umpteenth time.
“No need.” Ming Shu didn’t look up.
“Mother made porridge. Have some before continuing.” Lu Chang brought the porridge over.
“I don’t want to eat.” Ming Shu turned another page, showing no sign of stopping.
Lu Chang stirred the porridge – its temperature was just right. He said: “You haven’t eaten anything since yesterday. The case files won’t run away, but if you don’t eat something, I’m afraid you won’t be able to continue…”
As he spoke, he gently pulled at her arm, but Ming Shu forcefully shook off his hand, saying sharply: “I said I won’t eat, stop bothering me!”
Bang—
Before her words finished, there was the harsh sound of breaking porcelain.
The bowl of porridge in Lu Chang’s hand had been knocked to the ground. Lu Chang stood by the table, letting out a stifled groan as his brows furrowed, his left hand reaching back to touch his right shoulder blade.
Ming Shu came to her senses and realized what she had done. She finally put down the case files and quickly stood up, instinctively saying: “Brother…” but as soon as she started, she corrected herself, “Master Lu, I’m sorry.”
“I’m fine…” Lu Chang leaned against the desk, his brows still tightly knit as if suppressing something.
Only then did Ming Shu notice his poor condition – a sickly pallor, eyes struggling to stay alert, forehead covered in fine sweat…
“Sit down first.” She helped him to a chair, hearing his labored breathing. “Is it from last night’s injury?”
Last night for that final distance, he had held her as they fell sideways, smashing the offering table. Though the height wasn’t fatal, injury was unavoidable. Her impulsive action just now must have aggravated his wounds.
After a moment, when the pain in his chest and back had eased somewhat, Lu Chang said: “I’m fine, just some minor injuries that will heal in a few days.” He took her hand in his. “I’ll have them bring another bowl of porridge. Please have some.”
Ming Shu tried to withdraw her hand, but he held it firmly, so she nodded: “Alright, fine.”
She hadn’t seen Lu Chang eat either.
Lu Chang called Qing Yao to clean the floor and bring more porridge. Ming Shu sat down beside him again, temporarily drawing her attention away from the case files. After watching him give instructions, she said: “You say falling from the meditation platform was a minor injury; standing in for Third Prince was a small matter… You’ve shouldered so much for me, I… thank you.”
“As long as you don’t blame me for bringing you to the capital without your consent.”
“In that situation, if you hadn’t brought me to the capital, would there still be a Jian Ming Shu in this world today?” Ming Shu recalled everything that had happened recently, each event as vivid as yesterday. She stood up and said, “I can never repay this life-saving debt. Master Lu, please accept Ming Shu’s bow…”
Lu Chang immediately grabbed her, showing traces of anger: “What are you doing?”
He didn’t want to dwell on these matters under such circumstances, but she…
If not “Assistant Governor,” then “Master Lu,” and now she wanted to bow to him…
“Ming Shu, though your time accompanying me to the capital wasn’t long, in your heart, is there truly nothing left but gratitude?”
Ming Shu couldn’t complete her bow, nor could she answer his question.
She was just someone with no relation to him, even her form of address required careful consideration before she could speak it.
They weren’t siblings, so calling him “Brother” wasn’t appropriate. They were no longer the previous Lu Chang and Jian Ming Shu, so that “Brother Lu” could no longer pass her lips. As for his name… that carried a special intimacy, making it even more impossible for her to address him directly.
Besides “Master,” she didn’t know how else to address him, just like his question.
She had no answer and didn’t want to think about it.
Qing Yao’s appearance broke Ming Shu’s silence. She walked around the table to take the two bowls of porridge from Qing Yao and placed them on the table, saying flatly: “Let’s eat.”
Lu Chang didn’t pursue the question further and ate with her.
Neither spoke again, both mechanically eating about half a bowl as if completing a task. Then An Lai suddenly appeared outside the room, hovering, wanting to enter but not daring to come in.
“Aren’t you going to call him in to ask?” Ming Shu knew he was looking for Lu Chang.
“No need, it must be Uncle Wei sending someone to find me.”
This afternoon, An Lai had already come four or five times. Lu Chang naturally knew what it was about, but he had instructed that no one was to disturb him and Ming Shu, so An Lai didn’t dare enter.
Ming Shu had eaten enough and pushed her bowl away, then gathered the scattered case files back together, asking him: “Can you manage?”
“If you can endure it, how could I not?” Lu Chang countered.
“Then let’s go.” Ming Shu stood up.
“Where?”
“I’ll accompany you to see Uncle Wei, to resolve the Ullambana ceremony matter.” Ming Shu said. After all, no one understood Tang Li’s plans better than she did, and since Tang Li’s scheme also involved Zhou Xiuqing and was related to the Jian Family case, she had to go no matter what.
As night fell, rain started again. The lights lit in the rainy night not only illuminated the slippery road but also revealed the needle-like slanting raindrops. Lu Chang and Ming Shu each held an umbrella as they walked out. Ming Shu walked quickly, not even bothering to avoid puddles, stepping right through them. Lu Chang followed behind her, watching her figure wrapped in the rain.
She didn’t like holding umbrellas, always complaining they were heavy. Previously, whenever it rained and he was nearby, she loved to hide under his umbrella, showing her small willfulness, smiling, and refusing to leave. Though willful, she only ever shared his umbrella – she never did this with anyone else. She was very clear about the distance between people.
Back then, Ming Shu’s smile was like her name, a curved crescent moon.
In the future, would such smiles ever appear on her face again?
Thinking of this, Lu Chang felt an indescribable pain in his heart.
Ming Shu noticed nothing, but she suddenly stopped, looking at someone hurrying back through the rain ahead.
General Cao Hai had no umbrella as he hurried through the rain. His face was heavily beaten by the rain, so he roughly wiped it with his palm. Seeing Lu Chang and Ming Shu, he quickened his pace to meet them.
“You’ve come at the perfect time, I’m here on the Commander’s behalf to fetch you. If you don’t hurry to the Great Xiangguo Temple, the Third Prince might come to get you himself. Quick, hurry!” Seeing them both, General Cao Hai was overjoyed and added, “Lady Lu… are you well…”
“My surname isn’t Lu, it’s Jian.” Ming Shu’s voice was slightly cold.
“Jian…” General Cao Hai paused before reacting, “You’ve remembered?”
“Yes!” Ming Shu said flatly.
“That’s wonderful news!” General Cao Hai was delighted. Rain gathered on his face and ran into his eyes, making him blink in a somewhat comical manner. “Have you remembered anything?”
Lu Chang’s brows furrowed slightly. Just as he was about to interrupt their conversation, he heard Ming Shu reply: “No, besides Gao Shicai and Zhou Xiuqing, I didn’t see or hear of any third person.”
She spoke with absolute certainty, making Lu Chang’s brows furrow even deeper.