Treason and rebellion are both capital crimes warranting extermination of entire clans, yet the Manor Guards only surrounded the residence without entering. Could this mean...
Zeng Xinyu stood up and bowed with clasped hands. "My eldest son's crimes are unforgivable. This old man and his wife failed in parenting and deserve equal punishment. However, my younger son has never been involved in family affairs. I beg the young lady to show us an official approval to save his life."
"Father..."
"Silence."
Zeng Xiangyan bit his lower lip, for the first time despising his own uselessness. He could do nothing, not even knowing how to exonerate his family.
The Zeng family's values were actually upright. Hua Zhi once again felt this was such a pity. She rose as well and said, "Before his death, your eldest son made a deal with me - his private savings accumulated over the years in exchange for his family's safety. The head of the Seven Constellation Bureau has agreed. But you should understand, Master Zeng, that once involved with treason and rebellion, it's not easy to extricate oneself."
Zeng Xinyu's heart stabilized, but he could no longer stand steadily. Trembling, he supported himself on the chair arm to sit down. Even if it meant severe losses and losing everything, as long as lives were preserved, there was still possibility to start over.
"What does my Zeng family need to do? Please instruct us, young lady."
"I dare not command. Since your eldest son had dealings with the Chao Li Tribe for many years, I wish to search his study, bedroom, and other places he frequented. Even the slightest discovery would benefit Daqing. I beg your understanding for any offense caused."
"This old man understands. When it concerns the Chao Li Tribe, no amount of caution is excessive."
This was exactly the effect Hua Zhi wanted - first overwhelming them with heavy blows, then having subsequent arrangements follow her rhythm.
"Please both of you think carefully - did your eldest son ever say anything unusual to you? These could all be clues." Hua Zhi turned to look at the steward waiting nearby. "Has the madam arrived?"
"Yes." The steward stepped aside as a woman in plain white robes with a clean face prepared to enter. But Hua Zhi stood up. "Please provide me with a quiet room, Master Zeng. I wish to speak with the madam alone."
Master Zeng glanced at his daughter-in-law and, seeing no reaction from her, could only say, "Steward, take the young lady to the small parlor."
"Yes."
The madam remained silent throughout the journey, not speaking even when only the two of them remained in the room.
Hua Zhi wasn't surprised. As the person sharing his bed, she might know things the Zeng father and son were unaware of. She wasn't in a hurry, slowly organizing in her mind all the matters concerning Jin Yang. After quite some time, she heard the woman across from her ask softly, "Is he dead?"
"Dead."
The woman's face was unexpectedly calm, as if she had long anticipated this outcome.
"He didn't sleep all last night. I stayed with him, listening to him say many things - probably more than he'd normally say in a whole year. There were things I'd already forgotten, but he remembered what I was wearing when we first met, remembered I wore a pair of green jade earrings, remembered every word I ever said to him, remembered how nervous I was during our wedding when he carried me on his back that I gripped his neck... He remembered everything."
The madam even smiled - a happy, shy smile that still carried some girlish charm. Quite beautiful. Hua Zhi thought Zeng Xianglin must have loved seeing this smile very much.“For three years after I married into the family, I failed to bear a single child. My mother-in-law sent several maids into our chambers, each one exceptionally beautiful. I had already prepared myself for him taking concubines, but he sent them all back. He said our home was too small to hold more than one wife. At that time, I was so blissful, thinking no woman in the world could be luckier than me.”
Hua Zhi listened quietly without interrupting.
“He wasn’t content being confined to Jin Yang. He wanted to go to the capital. He said a small city like Jin Yang would always remain just that—a small city—never becoming a true capital. He decided to make a trip to the capital to see for himself. So full of ambition and high spirits, how could he have known that what awaited him was a living hell? We only thought he was delayed by some matter and would return a little later. When he came back gravely ill, we assumed it was exhaustion. Only I knew his body was covered in wounds—not a single patch of unbroken skin except on his face. Even… down there was a bloody mess. After that, we never shared a marital bed again. His injuries had damaged him fundamentally.”
The lady lowered her head and meticulously straightened her sleeves. “Later, I didn’t know what he did outside. He never spoke of it, and I never asked. I simply continued being his wife as before—loving him, respecting him, holding him when he was weary, serving him food when he drank, leaning against him when he was sorrowful. That was all I could do. I couldn’t help him at all with matters beyond these walls.”
The lady looked over. “I’m telling you this because this morning, before he left, he said if he didn’t return and a young woman named Hua Zhi came calling, I should speak freely and answer any questions she might have, to the best of my knowledge. And this—he asked me to give it to you. I’ve been staying in the servants’ cleaning courtyard all along, with the account books tied to stones. If it hadn’t been you who came, I would have sunk them in the well.”
Hua Zhi took the two ledgers handed to her and flipped through them. The top one was an account book recording the officials he had bribed over the years and the amounts. With this evidence, convictions could be secured.
As for the other… Hua Zhi grew more alarmed the more she read. This was actually a ledger involving the entire Jin Yang! It clearly detailed how much silver Jin Yang City produced annually, how much ended up in officials’ pockets, how much he took, how much the noble families divided, and how much the Chao Li Tribe received from him!
Running her fingers over the ledger still warm from body heat, Hua Zhi looked at the lady. “Did he have any requests?”
The lady shook her head. “He only said all his things are at the horse racing track—useful and useless alike.”
“Understood.” Hua Zhi lowered her gaze to the ledgers. Perhaps Zeng Xianglin had truly been driven to ambition and genuinely hoped the Great Qing and the Chao Li Tribe would clash in a life-and-death struggle. Yet, from his preparations with these ledgers, it was clear he hadn’t been very confident about today’s outcome. It also showed he… had a conscience. Deep down, he still held a sliver of hope for Great Qing.
“I made a deal with him, promising to protect the Zeng family. Please accept my condolences, my lady.”
“I will follow his arrangements.”
Since he said everything was at the horse racing track, Hua Zhi saw no point in wasting effort at the Zeng residence. She rose to leave, but seeing the lady who seemed to have lost her very soul, she ultimately couldn’t harden her heart completely. “I will have someone bring the eldest young master back.”
The lady lifted her head, a gradual light returning to her eyes. She stood and bowed deeply to Hua Zhi.
Hua Zhi accepted her gesture of respect and asked gently, “Where is the Zeng family’s ancestral home?”
“Chengping County.”"There is no longer a place for the Zeng family in Jinyang. Once matters here are settled, the Zeng family should move back to Chengping. Whether it's guarding his spirit or taking care of his family, one must be alive to do these things."
The lady of the house looked up in a daze. She hadn't planned on living—with no children to tie her down, her parents being cared for by her elder brother and his wife, she saw no reason to go on. The Zeng family hadn't paid her any mind, yet an outsider had seen through her.
Live for her husband?
Yes, she must live for her husband. Her in-laws were frail and advanced in years, and there was still an unmarried younger brother-in-law. If she were gone, who would manage the family affairs?
She needed to live a few more years, at least until her brother-in-law married. She would have her husband wait for her a few more years.
The lady bowed again, looking up with a smile. "Thank you for the reminder, miss."
Hua Zhi returned the courtesy and turned to leave the room.
PS: Third update. Thank you to the reader with phone number ending in 3834 for your generous tip—you've spent too much. Also thanks to other readers for your tips. I see all the tips and comments—Kongkong remembers them all in my heart. Thank you, everyone. Please choose a nickname—many of you are using phone numbers, which makes it hard to address you properly.
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