Xie Zhaoxue personally took the people to visit the nearby neighbours and asked them one by one. But no one heard abnormal movements last night.
Even if it were a human, it was impossible to kill so many pigs silently. What’s more, this action didn’t seem like a person’s doing.
He stood in the sunlight, his eyebrows tightly knitted, and although there was no expression on his handsome face, it still showed seriousness.
Zhong Wenjin watched from the side; there seemed to be nothing they could do about this matter, and suggested, “Why don’t we go back first? Then let the bailiffs conduct a second inspection.”
His words interrupted Xie Zhaoxue’s thoughts. He somewhat felt that what he said made a little sense, and Xie Zhaoxue nodded faintly.
“Thank you, Lord Xie.“ Ding Ziyun didn’t know that the two of them were discussing leaving. She walked over with two cups of tea and stopped in front of Xie Zhaoxue, “You guys have worked hard on the case. Have some tea.”
Xie Zhaoxue subconsciously wanted to refuse, but suddenly felt a bump on his shoulder. It turned out Zhong Wenjin had taken two steps forward; he slightly squeezed him away and held out his hand to take the two cups of tea. He laughed and said, “You came just in time. This Young Master had happened to be thirsty.”
As he said that, he tilted his head and poured it into his mouth. He never thought that the tea would still be a little hot, which made Zhong Wenjin, who had always liked to drink cold tea1
, end disastrously.
He spat out the whole mouthful he drank, “Oh my God! It’s so hot!”
Ding Ziyun was robbed of the two cups of tea. She was still a little confused at first. But seeing that Zhong Wenjin had gotten scalded, she was scared and said, “Your Excellency, please forgive me. It’s my foolishness. I didn’t tell Your Excellency that it was hot tea.”
She hurriedly wanted to step forward to make some amends but saw Xie Zhaoxue on the side one-up her. He took out a jinpa and wiped the tea that was sprayed on Zhong Wenjin’s collar, while he took the cup of tea from his hand and handed it to Ding Ziyun.
“No one is going to snatch it from you. Why are you in such a hurry to drink it?” Xie Zhaoxue rebuked him.
Zhong Wenjin’s eyes burst into tears from getting scalded, and he said in so much agony that he did not want to live, “Is it the season for drinking hot tea?”
“Didn’t you feel the temperature when you held the tea?” Xie Zhaoxue wiped the tea that had spread all over his chin and neck. But his collar was already soaked, and he couldn’t wipe it dry. So he took back the jinpa.
“I didn’t expect it to be so hot!” Zhong Wenjin only felt the pain in his entire mouth fade away. He had no sense of feeling at all.
“I’ll go and pour some cold tea for the Lords now!” Ding Ziyun then remembered that she hadn’t assisted him.
“Forget about it. Don’t go.” Zhong Wenjin waved his hand. It was no use going now. His tongue was already numb.
Xie Zhaoxue took a closer look at Ding Ziyun this time, only to find that she was the girl who was forced to jump from the He Yue House by Zhong Wenjin before. Thinking of Zhong Wenjin rushing over to snatch the two cups of tea, he looked at Zhong Wenjin coldly and said faintly, “What goes around comes around.”
When Zhong Wenjin heard this, he pretended not to understand what he meant and glared at Ding Ziyun, “You are so clumsy. Hurry up and leave! Don’t be an irksome presence here!”
Ding Ziyun didn’t know that he was Zhong Wenjin. But she was still afraid of his identity. So she hurriedly collected the cups and got into the house.
“Let’s go.” Xie Zhaoxue said.
“Going back to the yamen?” Zhong Wenjin asked hurriedly.
He glanced at Zhong Wenjin’s collar and said, “Going back to Xie Mansion.”
Zhong Wenjin had been living in Xie Mansion for a while. In addition, he had often lived and played at Xie Mansion since he was a child. So it was just like living in his own home. He had no sense of being a guest and said happily, “Okay, okay, let’s go home.”
Leaving behind the bailiffs who continued to investigate the case, Xie Zhaoxue and Zhong Wenjin left first.
At that time, after Liang Yanbei left the palace, he walked on the roadside.
He walked slowly, his black and gold cloak loosely hanging, and he was quite slack, eliciting frequent side glances from passersby.
Liang Yanbei’s reputation in the capital was quite resounding. Although he had just come from Jin Ling at the beginning of the year, when he walked on the street like this, seven out of ten people knew his identity.
He felt hungry as he walked, and he planned to fill his stomach before going to the academy.
He found a noodle shop, ordered some food, and finished eating. But just as he paid the copper coins, he heard a noisy sound coming from the street.
Liang Yanbei looked to the side and saw on the wide street a crowd of people who had gathered at some point. Among them, a woman was struggling and crying, and her wrist was grabbed by a strong man.
The man said fiendishly, “Your father lost in gambling, so he pawned you off to me as my wife. If you know better, you will follow me and avoid being subjected to physical pain!”
“Let me go! Let me go!” The girl stomped on the ground and cried, “If he lost money gambling, you should look for him. What does it have to do with me?!”
“A dutiful child is obliged to pay their father’s debts. That is the heaven’s law and earth’s principle2fig. right and proper / right and unalterable / a matter of course!” The man crushed the girl with his strength. Seeing that more and more people were gathering, he planned to drag her away by force.
The girl suddenly moved forward and bit the man’s wrist. This time, the bite seemed to be so fierce that the man screamed and slapped the woman in the face with his backhand, knocking her to the ground.
“Stinky bitch! You dare to bite me? I will take advantage of the large number of people here today to teach you a good lesson!” The man spat and rolled up his sleeves, ready to slap the girl with one hand and then the other.
The people around them pointed at him, righteous indignation filling their breasts. But seeing the man’s strong physique, no one dared to rashly rush forward to stop him.
The man grabbed the girl’s long hair, and he was just about to drop his fist that was raised high. But he heard someone shout, “Stop!”
Liang Yanbei silently took back his footstep from mid-air.
This shout was so abrupt and towering that it startled many people. Even the man stopped his fist and looked towards the source of the sound.
They saw a young man in a blue-white long coat, and in addition to that, he wore a long velvet robe. His face was pale and a little sickly, and there were several strong servants following him.
With a gentle look on the young man’s face, he said to the man, “How can you commit a violent crime on the street in broad daylight?”
Seeing that the other party seemed to be of extraordinary status, the man did not dare act rashly. He threw the girl’s hand away and said, “This Young Master, you don’t know anything. It was this girl’s father who lost the money in the gambling and gave her to me as security for the debt. Therefore, this girl is my wife now. If she is not obedient, I will naturally teach her a lesson.”
The Young Master frowned slightly, “If you are gambling, why do you use people as collateral?”
“There is a lot to it. If her father can’t come up with the money, he will give his life. Now that he doesn’t want to use his own life, he can only use his daughter’s life.” The man said as if it were a matter of course.
Hearing this, the girl secretly scolded her father for being a bastard and cried to the Young Master, “This Young Master, please save this servant3humble self-reference by young female! I am willing to work like a cow and a horse4fig. to work extremely hard to repay you!”
Liang Yanbei looked at the Young Master and thought that it was really a narrow road for enemies5fig. rivals inevitably cross paths.
This young man was none other than the eldest Young Master of the Zhong family, Zhong Wenting.
He raised his hand to the male servant next to him, “How much silver does this girl’s father owe you? I will pay it back for him.”
When the man heard that the Young Master in front of him wanted to pay him back the money, he immediately put on a flattering smile, “Young Master is truly a great charitable person. If you add the interest too, he owes me a total of ten taels of silver.”
Zhong Wenting showed a cold smile, “Ten taels of silver for one life.”
The male servant behind him gave him the silver very nimbly. The man took the silver and thanked Zhong Wenting again, happily. He praised him profusely before leaving with perfect satisfaction.
The girl was still kneeling on the ground. Seeing Zhong Wenting turning around to leave, she hurriedly got up to catch up with him and begged, “Young Master, you saved this servant’s life. This servant is willing to follow the young master for the rest of her life, even if it is just to be a maid.”
“There is no shortage of people around me. You go. You go back and remind your father not to gamble.” Zhong Wenting said gently, with no emotion in his voice.
“Young master, if you refuse to take in this servant, this servant will be put up as collateral again even if I return home. Instead of this, it is better to end this life as soon as possible.” The girl smashed the cracked pot6write oneself off as hopeless and act recklessly.
There were blatant threats in these words. When others heard them, they all thought: Girl, you are too greedy. Someone saved you out of kindness, but you turned around and actually threatened him.
However, Zhong Wenting was not angry because of this. Instead, he stopped and looked at her sideways, “Do you really want to go back with me?”
“I hope the young master can be a good person till the end.” The girl said tearfully.
“Then follow me.” Zhong Wenting nodded a little, stopped talking, turned around, and left. The girl wept with joy, wiped away her tears, and hurried to follow.
Everyone sighed incessantly and dispersed.
“This older Young Master of the Zhong family is indeed a good person with a soft temper.” The owner of the noodle shop sighed.
When Liang Yanbei heard “soft temper”, the appearance of Wen Chan first came to his mind. He then asked, “Has the Young Master of the Zhong family always been like this?”
“That’s right.” The boss said while packing up the dishes and chopsticks he had just eaten with, “In the Zhong family, the eldest Young Master and the fourth Young Master are the most famous. The eldest son is cultured, gentle, and civil. He looks calm wherever he goes. In fact, he has a good heart and has saved countless people like today.”
“But the fourth son is a little overlord who is determined to make trouble. Not only is he irritable, but he doesn’t argue with logic, and he has to beat people at every turn. Why is there such a big difference between them, even though they are both members of the Xie family?”
The boss had unknowingly expressed the thoughts of many people in the capital.
Liang Yanbei thought for a moment and said, “Maybe the fourth Young Master also has a cultured and refined side?”
Even he found it funny after saying it.
After Liang Yanbei left the noodle shop, he went to the academy to study seriously. He went home at noon. After a few simple words with Liang Jun, he went to the yamen to find Xie Zhaoxue, but he made the trip for nothing.
But he also heard the bailiffs talk about the situation of the case reported this morning. After listening, he said, “When your Young Lord Xie comes back, you should find all the files related to this case in the case reported a few days ago and show them to Young Lord Xie.”
The bailiff noted Liang Yanbei’s words.
He had run around all day. And in a blink of an eye, it was sunset again, and the sky was dark.
Liang Yanbei looked at the setting sky that was about to descend behind the hills in the distant sky. Suddenly, he smiled, turned his steps, and ran to the palace again.
“The sun has set, and it’s time to go to bed.”
However, what Liang Yanbei never expected was that when he bypassed the heavy guards of the palace and quietly came to Xiyang Palace, the owner of the palace would be sitting on the couch obediently, as if waiting for him.
Liang Yanbei looked at Wen Chan, “Was Your Highness waiting for me today?”
Wen Chan did not answer but raised his head slightly, pointed at the ground, and then showed a pure and harmless smile.
Liang Yanbei, who was still immersed in this smile, looked down, and he was greatly disheartened.
Why was there a quilt on the ground?
Translator’s corner
Thank you so much for reading the chapter. If you liked my translation and wanna support me, you can comment down your thoughts or send me a Kofi.
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