Chapter 34: Chapter 33 Clue_1
"Was Lady Ke, Lu Tong’s first wife from the Ke Family, murdered by your Master Ke?"
Wan Fu was taken aback, almost jumping up from his chair, and exclaimed, "How could that be possible?"
The mysterious person behind the curtain spoke softly, "In that case, she was murdered by someone from the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion."
Upon hearing this, Wan Fu looked up sharply, "How do you know about the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion?"
There was a silent stillness all around.
Suddenly, Wan Fu realized where that hint of peculiarity in his thoughts had come from. He turned to look at the light aqua bamboo curtain, wishing he could clearly see the person behind it, and asked, "Who are you?"
This person had come asking about Lady Lu and mentioned the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion in the conversation. Recalling that Wan Quan, although often insensible, would not just casually lose thousands of silver taels.
But it would be different if someone had led him into it.
The other party had clearly come prepared, perhaps setting this entire stage solely for this moment.
"You intentionally lured Quan’er to Kuaihuo Tower to incur a huge debt, you want to target the Ke Family?" Wan Fu gritted his teeth, "Who on earth are you?"
Behind the bamboo curtain, Lu Tong looked down at the teacup in front of her and laughed sardonically.
Wan Fu was the servant Ke Chengxing trusted most. According to Nanny Wan and Yin Zheng, just before Lady Qin entered the door, the Ke Family had replaced a batch of servants, especially those in Lu Rou and Ke Chengxing’s quarters.
Wan Fu was the only one who remained.
Though no longer young, this servant was loyal and kept tight-lipped. Perhaps for this reason, after Lu Rou’s death, Ke Chengxing still kept him close.
Lu Tong began to speak slowly, "Wan Master, who I am is not important. What matters is that your young master’s safety now depends entirely on you." Her voice was beguiling, "You just need to answer the question, and the debt note of three thousand taels can be voided. If you refuse to answer..." She sighed, "Wan Master might as well look down and see what is in the drawer."
Wan Fu subconsciously looked down to see a flat drawer in the black lacquered square table. When he pulled it out, he found a snow-white silk handkerchief inside. Wan Fu opened the handkerchief and suddenly cried out, almost rolling off the chair.
On that snow-white silk handkerchief lay a bloody severed finger!
"Quan’er!"
A wail escaped Wan Fu’s throat, and tears streamed down his face like broken pearls as he cradled the severed finger and wept bitterly.
As he sobbed in uncontrollable grief, the voice from behind the curtain spoke again, "Wan Master, please don’t cry. Have a closer look."
Wan Fu froze for a moment, then looked carefully, and suddenly cheered, "Wait... Quan’er has a black mole on his little finger, but there’s no mole on this finger. This isn’t Quan’er’s little finger!"
The person behind the curtain spoke with a chuckle, "Wan Master’s love for his son is touching. It was just a little joke I played on Wan Master earlier. This severed finger belongs to another young master from Kuaihuo Tower who defaulted on his gambling debts."
"Wan Master may not be aware of the rules of Kuaihuo Tower. For a debt of a hundred taels, one finger is cut off. Your young master owes three thousand taels; even with fingers and toes cut off, there would still be a thousand taels unpaid."
"Now, I’m negotiating with you here. My people are still watching over Young Master Wan. If we can’t come to an agreement, once an incense stick has burned down and I haven’t returned, they will have no choice but to follow the rules of Kuaihuo Tower."
The person behind the curtain asked, "I’m quite curious, actually. I wonder whether Wan Master is more loyal to Master Ke, or does he love his son more?"
Wan Fu’s face turned ashen.
If previously he harbored any hesitation, contemplating how to parley with this person, giving evasive answers, now he had no desire to stand his ground. That severed finger had destroyed all his defenses, sending him into complete disarray instantaneously.
If Wan Quan really had his fingers and toes chopped off, he would become a cripple!
Defeated, he looked toward the person behind the curtain, "Miss, what exactly do you want to know?"
The room fell silent for a moment.
After a short while, the voice from behind the curtain sounded again, "I need you to tell me how Lady Ke, Lu Tong, really died."
Upon hearing this, Wan Fu was shaken, his gaze flickering before he measured his words, "Lady Ke fell ill..."
"It seems Wan Master no longer wishes to talk to me." The person behind the curtain stood up decisively, ready to leave.
"Wait!" Wan Fu hurriedly called out to her, bit his lip, and then said, "Actually, I don’t know anything. At the time... at the time I wasn’t inside."
The movements of the person behind the curtain paused briefly, then they sat back down.
Wan Fu heaved a sigh of relief, but then sighed again, "That was already the year before last."
In the thirty-seventh year of Yongchang, not long after the New Year, and shortly after the Awakening of Insects, Wan Fu followed Ke Chengxing to the shop to deliver New Year’s gifts.
The Ke Family were merchants, and they used to be quite well-known in Shengjing, but after Old Master Ke’s death, the family’s porcelain kiln business had fallen on hard times. However, a thin camel is still bigger than a horse, and although they were not as prosperous as they once were, they could still get by.
After the New Year, there was always a spring banquet, where various major merchants were entertained.
Ke Chengxing was also obliged to attend such social gatherings.
The venue for these gatherings was the Fengle Building in the south of the city. Ke Chengxing did not have a strong tolerance for alcohol, and he became somewhat tipsy during the meal. Drunk, he sent Wan Fu back to call for Lady Lu to cook some umeboshi osmanthus soup to sober up.
Wan Fu tried to persuade him several times, but to no avail, and had no choice but to return to the Ke family.
Lady Lu, hearing this, cheerfully complied. In the dead of night, she hurriedly prepared the sobering soup and then took a carriage to Fengle Building to fetch him. The staff at Fengle Building said Ke Chengxing was dead drunk, so he had stayed in one of the warm pavilions upstairs to sleep it off. Lu Rou then went upstairs with her maid in tow.
Since Wan Fu was a lad and it was inappropriate for him to follow them, he took the opportunity to deliver the preprepared spring gifts to the firm’s contacts. After all the etiquette was taken care of and the banquet was over, guessing that Ke Chengxing should have sobered up by then, he headed to the warm pavilion upstairs.
There was no one in the warm pavilion upstairs. Wan Fu found Ke Chengxing, who was as drunk as mud, but Lady Lu was nowhere to be seen.
Wan Fu felt panicked at the time and began to search around, only to find Lady Lu in the warm pavilion nearest the end of the corridor.
As Wan Fu recalled the scene of that day, his voice involuntarily shook, "At that time... At that time, Lady Ke was covered in injuries, still bleeding from her forehead. Her main maid, Dan Gui, was lying on the ground, already breathless."
He was terrified and about to shout, when someone staggered out from within. It was a richly dressed young master, looking dazed and indifferent, who merely glanced at him with a chuckle. He had the intention to chase after him but for some reason felt afraid, and at the same time, he heard Lady Lu’s faint cries from the couch, so he decided to attend to her first before pursuing the other matter.
It wasn’t long before Ke Chengxing woke up as well. Knowing that a grave incident had occurred, Wan Fu did not dare delay and hurriedly informed Ke Chengxing. Hearing the news, Ke Chengxing exploded in a rage and was intent on finding the Fengle Building’s proprietor to locate the culprit. Wan Fu needed to watch Lady Lu and did not dare to follow.
The room was very quiet, and the person behind the curtain asked calmly, "And then what happened?"
Wan Fu swallowed, "Master Ke found the proprietor, and soon returned with a very odd expression. He didn’t say much, only told me to quickly take the lady home."
He faintly guessed something but did not dare to ask more, so he brought Lady Lu back to the Ke family. However, Lady Lu’s disheveled and wounded appearance upon her return naturally aroused suspicion. Quiet discussions began in the house.
Afterward, those whispering maids and lads were either beaten to death or sold off.
All mention of the event was strictly forbidden throughout the household, and Wan Fu also did not dare to speak of it.
"How is Lady Lu?" asked the person behind the curtain.
Wan Fu replied, "Lady Ke... Lady Ke has been restless."
Given Lady Lu’s condition that day, anyone would make some guesses. Initially, seeing her barely alive when she was brought back, people thought she wouldn’t survive. Unexpectedly, after some days, she gradually recovered.
But the recovered Lady Lu began to quarrel frequently with Ke Chengxing.
During these arguments, she was extremely loud, even hysterical, repeatedly asserting that the Grand Preceptor’s son had violated her. As rumors started to spread outside, to avoid trouble, Madam Ke ordered people to claim that Lu Rou had breached women’s virtue by attempting to seduce the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion’s son unsuccessfully, and had resorted to slander when rejected.
"As a family like ours, how could we dare go against the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion? If they knew that Lady Ke was speaking nonsense outside, the entire Ke family would suffer," Wan Fu said subconsciously, defending Ke Chengxing.
The person behind the curtain replied indifferently, "Not just that. Master Ke is a man, yet to avoid disaster, he willingly donned the green hat himself. It seems he is prepared to lose face rather than life."
Wan Fu choked and did not answer for a moment.
The person behind the curtain continued to ask, "And then what happened? To avoid attracting gossip, did Master Ke kill Lady Lu to eliminate future problems?"
"No!" Wan Fu hastened to say, "It wasn’t like that."
"At first, the master only confined Lady Ke at home and wouldn’t let her leave, claiming to outsiders she had suddenly come down with madness. But then... later on..." he hesitated.
"What happened later?"
Wan Fu hesitated for a long time before finally speaking, "A few months later, it was discovered that Lady Ke was pregnant."
With a "thud,"
The teacup tipped over on the table, spilling hot tea everywhere and soaking the woman’s frosty white sleeve.
Lu Tong slowly lifted his gaze, "What did you say?"