Chapter 36: Chapter 35 Buried with the Dead_1
Lu Tong donned her veil and left the Zuli Tavern, with Yin Zheng greeting her from outside.
She approached Lu Tong’s side and whispered, "Miss, the silver notes have all been handed over to Lord Cao."
Lu Tong nodded, "Good."
The Lord Cao of Kuaihuo Tower, originally a scoundrel by nature, had somehow found fortune and climbed into the favor of nobility, enabling him to open a gambling house on Qinghe Street in the southern part of the city.
Lord Cao started out by lending money at the gambling house and accumulating interest. With a naturally bold nature and now with a noble patron backing him, he cared little for others. When Lu Tong visited the gambling house, Lord Cao had not failed to notice Yin Zheng cheating to set up the situation, but when Lu Tong handed over the two thousand taels in silver notes that Yin Zheng had won to him, he was more than willing to do Lu Tong this favor.
Lord Cao only wanted silver, and he didn’t care about the underlying currents and legal disputes. Besides, whoever was able to open a gambling house in the southern part of the city must have a powerful supporter behind them. Even if Wan Quan brought the Ke Family into it, Wan Fu was, after all, just a servant of the Ke Family.
A mere servant was truly insignificant in Lord Cao’s eyes.
Information about Lord Cao was something she learned from idly chatting with Du Changqing in the clinic. He used to be a wastrel, familiar with every brothel and gambling house in Shengjing. His casual mention of Lord Cao, however, was something that Lu Tong kept in mind, which led her to set up this trap and ensnare Wan Quan.
Now that Lord Cao had received a hefty sum of silver, it was easy for him to do Lu Tong a favor by detaining Wan Quan, saving Lu Tong a lot of trouble.
Yin Zheng, seeing that the carriage they had called for had arrived, hurriedly helped Lu Tong into the carriage.
After several turns around the streets of Shengjing, Lu Tong and Yin Zheng changed carriages a few times to ensure no one was following them before leisurely returning to the clinic.
In the clinic, Du Changqing was leaning over the medicine cabinet watching the rain. Seeing the two return, he raised an eyelid and complained, "Doctor Lu, you’re out and about even in the heavy rain, aren’t you afraid of getting your shoes wet?"
As Yin Zheng put away the umbrella, she glanced at him, "There haven’t been many people coming to the clinic these days to buy medicine tea, and Shopkeeper Du alone is enough. Accompanying the mistress for a walk is just right to admire the rain in Shengjing."
Du Changqing laughed twice, "Quite the refined taste. If you really want to enjoy the rain, why not go to Yuxian Tower in the southern part of the city? The view there with the river and willows from the upper floors is enveloped in mist during rain; the river water turns a shade of green. If you were to sit inside a painted barge, with a boatwoman strumming a few tunes on the lute, drinking some warm wine, and ordering a dish of goose fat rolls, that would be true worldly pleasure..."
He spoke as if intoxicated, but when he looked up, he found no one in front of him. Only Ah Cheng pointed to the inner room and winked at him, "They’ve gone in."
Du Changqing said irritably, "How rude, at least listen till the end when someone is speaking!"
At that moment, Lu Tong was truly not in the mood to listen to Du Changqing’s boasting.
Passing through the small courtyard and entering the room, Yin Zheng helped Lu Tong take off her rain-drenched clothes and change into a plain greyish-blue thin silk robe, then took the wet clothes under the eaves to wash.
Lu Tong sat down at the desk.
In the old bamboo pen holder on the desk, there were two wolf-hair brushes slanting, with inkstone and ink placed in front of the window.
These were things that Yin Zheng found in the camphor wood cabinet in the room, presumably leftovers from the previous occupant. Sometimes Yin Zheng would write in front of the window, with the silhouette of plum branches and accompanied by the wind and moon, quite pleasing.
Lu Tong seldom wrote.
Most of the time, she ground medicine in the yard, but today she sat at the desk, took out paper and brush, dipped the brush into the ink, and wrote the character "Ke."
The handwriting was different from Yin Zheng’s delicate small seal script. It was not graceful but rather rough and unrestrained.
Lu Tong gazed at the "Ke" character, momentarily lost in thought.
Her father was a Teacher, and all three children in the Lu Family had their studies personally initiated by him. Lu Rou’s handwriting was gentle, leisurely, and elegant. Lu Qian’s characters were strict in structure and powerful. Only Lu Tong wrote with reckless abandon, displaying emotions spontaneously.
Her father was always infuriated by the calligraphy she submitted, the more he punished her, the wilder her writing became, and the more wild it got, the more punishment she received. Therefore, Lu Qian secretly found a copy of calligraphy from a renowned practitioner, Master Cheng, and sneaked it to her, saying, "This is Master Cheng’s calligraphy, full of odd shapes aiming for novelty, it suits you better than any other. Write properly; don’t scribble anymore to avoid dad’s constant scolding. It’s vexing to hear."
Lu Tong flipped through the copybook, which indeed was to her liking. She practiced over and over until the pages were nearly worn through. Only later did she learn of the value of that copybook—it cost a whole silver tael. To save money for the book, Lu Qian had copied manuscripts for a wealthy classmate for half a year.
Lu Tong looked at the black character on the white paper.
The copybook had long since been lost, but now as she wrote, the handwriting was still as it had been back then.
She silently observed it for a while, then picked up the brush again and added the names "Grand Preceptor Qi" and "Trial Court" after the "Ke" character.
Today, she had seen Wan Fu. Although he had held back some information, it was clear that the entire context of the incident was now quite straightforward.
In the thirty-seventh year of Yongchang, after the Awakening of Insects in March, Lu Rou unfortunately encountered violation by a son of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion at Fengle Building.
Fearing the power of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion, the Ke Family suppressed the matter. Even hoping for advancement, they became vile to the point of confining Lu Rou at home, slandering her with lunacy.
But Lu Rou was not one to suffer in silence. Having faced such a calamity, she was determined to seek justice and was unwilling to be imprisoned as a madwoman within Ke Mansion. Thus, she wrote a letter and sent it to Changwu County, asking Lu Qian for help.
For some reason, Lu Rou’s letter came to Ke Chengxing’s knowledge, and at the same time, the Ke Family discovered that Lu Rou was pregnant. In June of the same year, people from the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion pressured the Ke Family, which led to the Ke Family, or rather Ke Chengxing, killing Lu Rou to silence her. Otherwise, there was no way to explain why the people from the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion came over the day before and the next day Lu Rou drowned herself in the pond, and not long after her death, the Ke Family’s pottery business was valued by the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion.
All these actions seemed more like the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion was threatening and enticing, trading Lu Rou’s life for the rise of the Ke Family.
Not long after Lu Rou’s death, Lu Qian entered the capital, first confronted the Ke Family about Lu Rou’s death, and not long afterward, Lu Qian was clapped into jail, with Lord Fan, the Judicial Commissioner, charging him with crimes.
Lu Tong drew a heavy circle around the words "Trial Court".
Lu Qian must have uncovered something, otherwise he wouldn’t have inexplicably shouldered such a charge. It looked as if because of Lu Qian’s actions, both his father and mother were implicated.
The clues discovered by Lu Qian must be very important...
Lu Tong clenched the brush tightly.
The people of Changwu County said that Lu Qian received the news of Lu Rou’s death in March, yet at that time Lu Rou was clearly still alive. Who bribed, or should we say misled, the neighbors of Changwu County—who had such tremendous power?
Could the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion alone really cover up the sky with one hand?
A trace of coldness flashed across the depths of Lu Tong’s eyes.
Yin Zheng finished washing and hanging the clothes and came inside, noticing the words Lu Tong was writing on the paper, and couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback. After hesitating for a while, Yin Zheng finally spoke up, "Miss, today you saw the servant of Master Ke. If he’s willing to work for you..."
"...are you planning to reveal the truth to exonerate the Lu Family?" Yin Zheng asked.
"Exonerate?" Lu Tong murmured softly as she looked out the window.
The season was nearing summer. Today there was rain, the sky not as clear as usual, the clouds dark like overturned ink, with the faint sound of thunder rolling.
She looked up, her cold, dark eyes reflecting the heavy clouds, seemingly flashing with malevolence.
What use was exoneration?
What good was the truth?
Lu Rou was slandered, refused to suffer in silence, desperately sought justice, and ended up drowned in the cold pond, her spirit scattered.
Lu Qian, grieving for his sister and carrying a sense of justice, ignored the world’s indifference and sought evidence himself, but ended up with his reputation completely destroyed, dying without ever having unveiled the truth for all to see.
And her own parents, who lived as good people all their lives, met with such a tragic fate of annihilation.
Could revealing the truth really lead to exoneration?
Even if they were exonerated, could it ensure that those people would receive their just deserts?
Since Grand Preceptor Qi could buy off the Ke Family and the Trial Court, maybe he would buy off the judiciary in the future, or perhaps through his connections with the imperial family, even if the truth was revealed, with the Emperor’s protection, he wouldn’t be sentenced to death. He would be detained for three to five years at most and then released, with everything taken lightly.
But the lives of the four members of her family would not come back.
Why should it be that way?
Why should the lives of the powerful be more valuable than those of commoners?
Why could they kill a whole family of four and still act as if nothing had happened?
Lu Tong said, "No, I don’t plan to exonerate."
Yin Zheng looked at her, evidently surprised.
The young girl appeared slender and fragile. Her slightly damp black hair hung over her shoulders, and in the face of the cold wind and fine rain, she seemed like a wisp of cloud drenched by the rain, easily dispersed.
She lowered her head, gazing at the wild brushstrokes on the paper, slowly crumpled it, and then burned it by the lamp.
The paper quickly turned to ash, then was carried away by the wind.
"My sister is already dead."
Lu Tong murmured, "I want him to accompany her in death."