Zhu Ankang didn’t deny it. He nodded, his expression numb.
Sun He, who had been silent, said, “I wrote the lyrics.”
An Dexing smiled. “Ghost sister was my idea.” Since he prided himself on being smart, he looked up at Su Yunkai with a smile and said, “How did you know that we were avenging ah’Wan?”
“There were grapes planted in ah’Wan’s house, but ah’Wan died half a year ago and ah’Wan’s father died three months ago. The grapes had matured before, judging by the time, but there wasn’t a single grape on the ground. It could be seen that someone had come there before.”
“It could’ve been a playful child.”
“There were no grapes on the ground, but there were seeds. If it was a thief, they wouldn’t eat the grapes there calmly. Therefore, it must’ve been someone who knew the place well. Someone who knew they weren’t in danger of being found out. When we entered her house that day, Zhu Ankang opened the door with the key. At first, I had thought the keys were kept with the village head.”
Zhu Ankang paused before finally speaking, “The key was not given to me by ah’Wan. They were entrusted to me by her father before he died.”
He was eager to explain, because he didn’t want it to be misunderstood that he had an unclear relationship with ah’Wan, which would ruin her reputation.
Su Yunkai could tell. For him to be so protective after her death, he must’ve been even more so when she was alive.
Zhu Ankang was silent again and then said, “I want to know how you guessed that we were the ones who robbed the escorts and made up the nursery rhyme.”
The villagers had forgotten to talk and create the usual uproar. They felt everything inconceivable and they were shocked.
Su Yunkai said, “I asked your siblings where the nursery rhyme came from first. While they said various things, everything led to two locations: next door and the village entrance. The An family was next door and the Sun family was at the village entrance. You probably thought that if it was spread among children, no one could find the source.”
An Dexing nodded. “My mistake.”
“Before, I thought the nursery rhymes were just to cover up the robbed treasure. However, once the robbery event appeared, I found it strange. The agency only escorted one cart of goods. Why did the mountain bandits rob the goods when there were so few? Besides, there were ten escorts at the time. This means the mountain bandits must’ve come prepared. So why didn’t they appear at a better time? What’s more, I questioned the other escorts who were there that day. The mountain bandits only pursued Yang An. They did not hurt the others.”
An Dexing smiled. “And?”
“Throughout this past half-month, villagers have been poisoned. It seemed like it was more for the purpose of scaring them rather than truly harming them. Therefore, I thought that in order for them to so conveniently, undetectably, and accurately poison people, they couldn’t have been outsiders. I also knew that there was more than one. Otherwise, it would be too obvious. Moreover, the treasure in the tree hole was not light. Judging from the traces of dragging, there were at least two people. “
Zhu Ankang was still expressionless. Sun He was as silent as ever. Only An Dexing looked at him with interest.
Su Yunkai continued. “The villagers wanted to cut down this unlucky tree, but the village head wouldn’t allow it. Later, it was you who proposed to build a fence for the banyan tree, and it was you who went to rebuild the fence higher. Obviously, this evidence isn’t enough to prove that you are the people who made up the nursery rhyme, but they were clues.”
An Dexing said with a smile, “My lord, you are right. Our purpose was to keep the banyan tree and the treasure in the tree hole.”
“What’s more, ah’Wan was not a performer, so she wouldn’t sing in front of everyone. The only people who probably might’ve heard her sing, other than her father, were her good friends, you three, because she grew up with you and completely trusted you.”
Not only did they all have a good relationship with her, they also all respected her. Otherwise, Zhu Ankang would not have cared so much about the fact that she was a girl. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have stood so far away when they walked on the small roads together. Su Yunkai looked at Zhu Ankang from time to time, who carried an expression totally different from the other two.
All of them did these things out of their love for ah’Wan. However, perhaps only Zhu Ankang had feelings that were not merely platonic.
Sun He suddenly asked, “But how do you know that ah’Wan killed herself because of Yang An?”
Su Yunkai replied, “Ah’Wan and her father depend on each other for livelihood. She is filial and kind. However, when her father ordered her to marry someone else, she suddenly resisted. It must’ve been because she liked someone else. However, even though ah’Wan’s father didn’t push her too hard, she still committed suicide. There was only one explanation. The person she liked abandoned her. You have a good relationship with Miss ah’Wan and I suspected that you were the people who hid the treasure. Why would you the three of you do something like that when your behaviors are normally law-abiding? Later, I went to check up on Yang An’s life and background. I learned that he was also from Yuanzhou. Finally, I fully connected the two things. It was not until I learned that Yang An had a family and that the mountain bandits were only targeting Yang An that I could be sure that ah’Wan had hung herself because of Yang An.”
The chill of the cold truth seeped into their hearts. Even the villagers remained silent.
An Dexing suddenly sneered. “It was my mistake for having been unable to kill Yang An. If It weren’t for a lack of money, I wouldn’t have just found some mountain bandits myself. Unfortunately, he has lucky karma and he unexpectedly only hurt one arm, surviving. Hey, Yang An, didn’t you say in front of ah’Wan that as an escort, you would lose your life for the mission? Why did you run away on your own? You ran quite fast. We couldn’t even catch up.”
His voice was full of mockery. Yang An didn’t have a response and couldn’t retort.
Su Yunkai added, “Your original purpose wasn’t to take away the goods, but if you hadn’t robbed them, the government could easily discern your purpose, so you simply took it away. You didn’t expect that the five vases in the box contained other treasures, treasures that couldn’t be sold or used easily. You could only find another place to hide the treasure. That place was the banyan tree.”
The audience subconsciously glanced under the banyan tree, where half of the fence had already been removed. They saw the empty hole.
“People come and go under that banyan tree all the time, so you made up the nursery rhyme to drive away those who come to stay under the tree. However, the village head, your grandfather was always adamant about ignoring the superstitions. No matter how many times he walked and sat under the tree, nothing happened to him, unlike everyone.
Zhu Changrong heard this. He didn’t know what to say. He also didn’t know which feeling prevailed: comfort or anger.
Looking at the three affectionate and righteous young men, Lord Xu sighed. “You are not bad in nature. You wanted to avenge Miss ah’Wan, but the method was too extreme. If you had really killed Yang An, what would you do in the future?”
“What we would do…” Zhu Ankang’s expression was cold and his voice was even colder. “Ah’Wan’s life is gone. She has no future. If we don’t avenge her, how do we account for her loss? Yang An betrayed her, causing her to suicide. Since the government will not take care of this kind of thing, are you telling us to let him get away with it?!”
Lord Xu sighed, “The three of you consider ah’Wan to be one of your best friends. She felt the same. If misfortune really did occur to all of you, for her sake, she wouldn’t be able to close her eyes peacefully in the underworld.”
“There is no underworld…” Zhu Ankang resisted the sobs crawling up his throat and said, “If there were, ah’Wan would have come back to ask for his life. If we had known earlier that she had died for Yang An, he would not have lived to this day. “
Zhu Ankang glared at Yang An; the fire snakes in his eyes seemed as if they wanted to devour Yang An alive.
Su Yunkai was silent for a while before he said, “The three of you didn’t actually want to kill Yang An. You just wanted to teach him a lesson, otherwise…you would’ve taken advantage of the many opportunities while the escort agency was in the village.”
“No!” It was Yang An who roared out the words. Yang An knew that the government would punish him severely and that his life could no longer be spared. At this time, he didn’t care if another charge was added. “That day, when I heard that a group of unidentified people lived in the village, I came to investigate at night. I found out that it was Lord Su and the others. I was afraid that my deeds would be exposed, so I planned to attack one of you.”
Ming Yue felt a chill. “That night, the person who followed me was you?”
Yang An nodded. “It was me. While I was following her, I noticed that someone else was following her too, so I hid myself midway. I found out that the person was Zhu Ankang. Following a girl in the middle of the night! How do you explain that? How could that be out of good intention?”
Now that she knew who it had been, Ming Yue was able to release a sigh of relief after two days of fear. Although there were still doubts in her heart, at least she didn’t feel chills down her spine whenever she thought about it.
Su Yunkai said, “Your purpose was to harm people, but Zhu Ankang wanted to kidnap Ming Yue and let her disappear for a while.”
Zhu Ankang, who was tired at his heart and had no intention to explain it, raised his head to look at Su Yunkai. He was surprised; he didn’t understand how Su Yunkai could know.
“The day the three of you mentioned building a higher fence, no one saw any of you afterwards. You were actually all still in the village. It was just that the fence was so dense that the inside could not be seen from the outside. You were aware that the stolen goods under the banyan tree were not safe, so you wanted to move them away, but it was very difficult with the villagers coming and going. It just so happened that Ming Yue had left, so one of you followed her in an attempt to commit a kidnapping. When all the people in the village were out looking for her, you took the opportunity to transfer the chest. Who knew that you would find Yang An also tracking her.”
Yang An angrily said, “My lord, how can you say that he just wants to kidnap, not to kill?”
Su Yunkai cast a cold glance at him, “Because you also said that you hid midway, but he followed Ming Yue to the doctor’s house and even turned back with her until we met with her. There were so many chances and it was easy to deal with a girl who didn’t know martial arts in the wilderness. Why didn’t he do it?”
Yang An wanted to say more but found that he had nothing to say. He couldn’t prove that Zhu Ankang had the intention of killing people.
To the side, Ming Yue had thought of something strange. “Since they wanted to kidnap me, why didn’t they do it in the end?”
Su Yunkai had already guessed some of this, but he was not completely sure, so he looked at Zhu Ankang. Zhu Ankang looked up, glanced at Ming Yue, and said, “When she went to see the doctor, the villagers had already been called to search for her. I didn’t need to do anything more, as my needs were already fulfilled.”
Ming Yue was not stupid. She frowned and said in a quiet voice, “But at that time, you had been following me. How could you have known the villagers were looking for me?”
Zhu Ankang paused and didn’t say more. An Dexing smiled. This time, there was no teasing in his smile. Instead, his smile bore a sort of brotherly feeling. “Ah’Wan was the same age as you and roughly the same height.”
Su Yunkai and Ming Yue suddenly understood that Zhu Ankang had likely thought of ah’Wan and didn’t have the heart to kidnap her.
However, breaking the law was still breaking the law, and robbing the escort convoy was still subject to the law.
But it was not a death penalty, which Ming Yue thought was a good thing. Whether there was an underworld or not, at least ah’Wan could rest peacefully, as her three friends had not ended up in a terrible place.
Sun He had already stood up, dusted off his clothes, and said calmly, “We hid the treasure in the corn field one mile to the west of the village. Are we going to dig up the treasure or head directly back to the yamen?”
He was too calm. On the contrary, Su Yunkai and Lord Xu, who were officials, felt that it was a pity for the three of them. They knew that the truth would destroy them after it came out, but they still revealed it.
When Yang An and the three people were taken away together, Zhu Ankang went to Su Yunkai’s side, said “thank you” in a very quiet voice, before being escorted away by the yamen officer.
As the arrested left the village, the villagers looked at each other, before staying silent and scattering. Not long after, under the prosperous banyan tree, only Su Yunkai and his party stood. Everything suddenly seemed very desolate.
Now that there was no one around, Ming Yue asked, “Earlier, what did Zhu Ankang thank you for?”
Su Yunkai said, “He is thanking me for not saying another thing in front of everyone.”
“What thing?”
“Ah’Wan should have been pregnant at that time.”
Ming Yue was surprised, “What?”
“Zhu Ankang said that ah’Wan was filial and cheerful. Her mother died early and she grew up with her father. I don’t think such a girl would leave her father to commit suicide for the sake of a man who had a family and deceived her feelings. Perhaps she found herself pregnant. Therefore, for the sake of her reputation and to prevent her father from being criticized, she chose to commit suicide and take the secret to the grave.”
Ming Yue was shocked, “But how were you able to guess this?”
“When I went to Miss ah’Wan’s house that day, there was a pair of small silver bracelets for a baby in her room. She may have thought that Yang An would marry her, so she bought the bracelet with joy. She didn’t expect that she had met such a heartless person.”
Ming Yue bit her lip, feeling a rising hatred. “How sad she must’ve been…No wonder Zhu Ankang hates Yang An so much.”
Su Yunkai sighed. “If Zhu Ankang had known at that time, he would not have let ah’Wan do something stupid like that.”
Ming Yue paused, “Zhu Ankang didn’t know at the time? Then when did he discover it?”
“Probably when her father died. Do you remember? His funeral was arranged by Zhu Ankang. For ah’Wan’s father to have given Zhu Ankang a key to their home . . . I think that act of trust is sufficient to prove how much he trusts Zhu Ankang. It would not be surprising if her father was the one who told him about it.”
Bai Shui said in a vicious voice, “That Yang An is really a piece of trash! If he didn’t like her, why did he touch her? If he liked her, why ruin her? If I was Zhu Ankang, I wouldn’t be able to swallow this anger.”
These were words that were spoken out of anger. Of course, they weren’t meant for anyone in particular. However, when Qin Fang heard it, they went directly to his heart. It was as though she was saying these words to him.
Before returning to Damingfu, Qin Fang felt that it was necessary to solve the matter between himself and Bai Shui. He still felt that they were always very awkward with each other. The awkwardness probably came from the fact that they had not solved their affairs properly.
The officers in the county yamen divided into two groups: one to escort the prisoners and the other to dig up the stolen goods.
The four waited under the tree; they didn’t feel comfortable about interrupting by returning to the Zhu family. Earlier, when Ming Yue saw Zhu Changrong leave, his always straight back appeared to be bent, weak, and tired.
As she thought about it, the youngest grandson of the Zhu family came and handed over a teapot, saying, “Grandpa said that you all must be thirsty, but it’s inconvenient in our house right now so he won’t call you over to sit down.”
The four people were surprised. That Zhu Changrong…was indeed a man who had been on the battlefield and stayed in the barracks. In other words, he was able to distinguish between private and public affairs and had a clear idea of whom to love and whom to hate. If his grandson was wrong, his grandson was wrong. Zhu Changrong didn’t place any fault upon the person who exposed the matter. However, he was Zhu Ankang’s grandfather. Therefore, emotionally, he couldn’t accept Su Yunkai and his party anymore. This teapot felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds, holding it in his hand was as though it was pressing on his heart.
“Tell your grandfather that your big brother won’t be away for long. In a few years, he’ll be back.”
The child nodded slightly and said no more before leaving.
The four couldn’t drink the tea, even if they were truly thirsty. They hadn’t forgotten that they had just sent his grandson to prison. Although it was for good reason, the cause of the case was dishonorable. After a long time, Su Yunkai said, “Let’s all have a drink.”
Qin Fang whispered, “Do you think he poisoned it? After all, we just arrested his grandson.”
Bai Shui couldn’t help but glare at him. “Only you would think this way. I trust the village chief.”
With that, she poured a cup and drank it all in one go. Seeing that, Qin Fang really worried that he would see her coughing out black blood in the next moment. Before he could react, Su Yunkai and Ming Yue also poured some tea calmly.
At last, he understood why Bai Shui always called him a coward. Not only was he cowardly, he also had dark thoughts.
After drinking the tea, the four sat under the banyan tree and waited for Lord Xu to return.
The banyan tree’s roots were staggered about and rooted into the ground. Even if the strong wind blew, it was hard to shake. A hundred years later, even if the tree was still there, the village might no longer be. Sometimes, people were just small specks in the universe.
After waiting for about an hour, Lord Xu finally came back. He seemed to have run too fast; he was flustered and panting. “My lord, the stolen goods have been found. Probably after being bumped back and forth, the vases broke and…and mixed with the other things in the vase.”
Su Yunkai asked, “What was in the vases?”
Lord Xu gasped, “Gold! Lots of gold! At least two hundred taels.”
Even Qin Fang, who was born in Kaifeng and grew up in the family of a duke, was surprised. “Two hundred taels of gold? Who was the patron? Why didn’t they try to seek it after losing so much money?”
Su Yun’s eyebrows twisted lightly. There was another case.
.
A Hint of Spring 