Continued from the previous chapter →
After sending Hua Tiansheng away, Murong Yunshu tried to recall her memory of last night, which was very vague and clear at the same time.
In her memory, he had recognised her. But why had he suddenly disappeared again? What was this all about? Murong Yunshu couldn't help but have a slight headache as she thought about it.
"Miss, have some tea." In response, Lu-er handed her a cup of tea.
"Mhm." Murong Yunshu accepted the tea and took a shallow sip. Then her brow suddenly furrowed as she stared at the tea inside the cup.
"Is there a problem with the tea?" Lu-er asked nervously.
Murong Yunshu shook her head slowly, and after a long time, she instructed, "Go and call Yun Si Niang."
Lu-er: "Business has been good in the drinking parlour today. I'm afraid she doesn't want to get away from that place." Since Yun Si Niang became the manager of the drinking parlour, she realised the meaning behind the saying, in the broader world, there were people more talented than oneself. If she had to compare Miss' ability to accumulate wealth by unfair means with Yun Si Niang's skill, Miss would be like a minor magician in the presence of a great one. Miss' skill was making money, while Yun Si Niang's ability was robbing money.
"Then close it down and stop doing business. This loss-making business is actually unnecessary." Murong Yunshu responded indifferently.
"......" Lu-er was tempted to say that since Yun Si Niang had joined Jiugua House, she had earned back the money Miss had lost before one could even turn a corner. But Miss shouldn't be interested in making money for now.
*
A short while later, Yun Si Niang threw down the work in her hand and came to Murong Yunshu's study, with complaints splitting her head and covering her face. "Now the jianghu has finally opened itself like a crack jar. Those who sell and buy information are all here eating and drinking. I'm currently busy making money. What's the matter with you?" In the end, she added, "This thing had better make up for the few thousand taels of silver I'm missing out on."
Ancient China Copper Coin
Image Credit | By User 冷玉 on zh.wikipedia - Originally from zh.wikipedia; description page is (was) here (07:06 2004.10.24) ?? 640x480 (34,318??) (?????????????? 2004-10-24), CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Image Credit | By User 冷玉 on zh.wikipedia - Originally from zh.wikipedia; description page is (was) here (07:06 2004.10.24) ?? 640x480 (34,318??) (?????????????? 2004-10-24), CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Murong Yunshu grumpily glanced at her and asked indifferently, "All that coming from your mouth has been about money. Have you somehow fallen into the hole in the middle of the copper coin?"
"I've always been inside the hole in the middle of the copper coin. I've never been out!" Yun Si Niang answered naturally, not even feeling ashamed of being a money-grubber.
"......"
Yun Si Niang added, "You were born late and at a good time. You've been lucky since you were born. You have Murong Mansion in front of you, acting as your face and Chu Changge supporting you from behind. You don't lack money or love, so of course, you won't know the world's hardships. If you were also like me, born without the love of a father and mother, having eaten the last meal but not the next, never having met a good man in your life, then when you reach my age, you will find that nothing is more reliable than silver."
Yun Si Niang spoke light-heartedly, but Murong Yunshu listened with a gripping heart. The loneliness between the lines was something that she could not ignore. It turned out that not everyone could meet their soul mate from the beginning until the end of one's life. Some people had waited for most of their lives, only to find their hearts that grew numb with each passing day. Some did nothing, yet quickly got together with their trueloves for the rest of their life with just one look. She was one of those people who had done nothing, and everything had come easily for her.
At this moment, Murong Yunshu's mind suddenly opened up to a vast panorama. It turned out that the separation from Chu Changge was only a belated ordeal. God was so kind as to let her have faith first and meet the storm later. Compared to Yun Si Niang, who had been floating for half her life and still couldn't see the shore, she was far, far luckier.
"No."
"Then do you believe that once the bitterness ends, the sweetness will begin?"
"I do."
"Then someone will soon pull you out of the hole in the middle of the copper coin." Murong Yunshu said.
Yun Si Niang looked puzzled, "What are you babbling about?"
Murong Yunshu curled her lips into another smile and requested, "Compile a list of the times and places of the people Yun has killed since his debut and bring it to me."
"You still insist that Yun is Chu Changge?"
"I don't only think so," Murong Yunshu's eyes sank slightly, "I'm very sure."
If you say you're certain, you're obviously very certain. Yun Si Niang raised her eyebrows and said, "This is a simple thing. When do you want it?"
Murong Yunshu: "The sooner, the better."
Yun Si Niang: "Fine, I'll get it after the drinking parlour closes tonight."
Murong Yunshu frowned. "I said the sooner, the better."
"That's why I said I'll get it tonight." Yun Si Niang had a 'what else do you want' look on her face.
"Wouldn't it be faster to get it now?" Murong Yunshu asked indifferently.
"......" Yun Si Niang's face was full of black lines. "Big Sister, even the Gods have to strike a few peals of thunder and pull a few lightning bolts before it rains. Do you think I'm a donkey pulling a mill, and I'll move as soon you lash out the whip?"
"In that case......" Murong Yunshu stared at her for a moment, then, in a soft voice, she ordered, "Lu-er, bring me the whip."
The corners of Yun Si Niang's mouth suddenly twitched wildly. "You, you, you......are too inhumane!"
Murong Yunshu's pretty eyes flashed with a look of nonchalance.
"Manager Yun, you've wronged my Miss too much. It's not that my Miss is inhuman. It's just that the light of her humanity doesn't shine through to you yet. In the past, when my Guye was around, she was especially like a human being." Lu-er asserted eloquently in defence of her Miss.
Yun Si Niang first froze, then laughed out loud. "Yes, yes, yes, she especially looks like a human right now too."
Lu-er looked puzzled. Did she just tell a joke? Why was Yun Si Niang laughing so happily?
On the other hand, the corners of Murong Yunshu's forehead jumped slightly. "Just go and bring over the map."
"Oh." Lu-er vaguely sensed that her Master's expression was wrong, but she didn't know what had she done wrong. She just turned around and went to fetch the map.
At that moment, a laughing voice came from the doorway, "Miss Lu-er, these days, without some literary skills, it is best not to open your mouth casually."
Lu-er turned back with a strange look on her face, "Li Gongzi, you are becoming more and more unlike a monk." What kind of monk was he when he had been cheeky all day? He was even the Abbot of the Shaolin. Probably a different species of Shaolin.
"......I've only told you not to open your mouth casually."
"I didn't open my mouth casually. I thought it over carefully."
"......"
"Don't be loquacious. Just bring over the map." Murong Yunshu said.
Lu-er stuck out her tongue in embarrassment. "Yes." Then she made a face at Li Wunai again before flipping out a scroll of paintings from the bottom of the bookshelf――the map Murong Yunshu wanted.
Lu-er took the map, spread it out, laid it on the table, and then retreated to one side.
"What is this?" Yun Si Niang looked at it curiously for half a day before suddenly exclaiming, "Isn't this a section of the Daye Dynasty?"
"Yes." Murong Yunshu said, "You will now draw the locations with a writing brush in the chronological order of Yun's killings."
As if she hadn't heard Murong Yunshu's words, Yun Si Niang stared at the map for a long time before asking with a wry glint, "How did you get such a thing?" Hmph, Murong Yunshu is not a decent man either. This kind of map is not something that ordinary people could have.
Murong Yunshu glanced at her and answered indifferently, "I borrowed it from the Great Inner."
"Borrowed?" Yun Si Niang's voice was unusually high and odd, obviously not believing Murong Yunshu's words.
Murong Yunshu raised an eyebrow and changed the word. "I brought it together with me."
"Brought? You think the Great Inner is your back garden!" If you stole it, just say you stole it. She just jeered at Murong Yunshu's answer.
Murong Yunshu pursed her lips and didn't say anything else.
"The Great Inner is her family's back garden." Li Wunai chimed in.
"......Murong Mansion has spread its claws to the Imperial Palace? How come I didn't hear about it?" Yun Si Niang had a funny expression on her face.
Li Wunai: "This matter has not spread except for a few important court officials and people within the Murong Mansion who know about it. So it's normal for you not to know."
Seeing that Li Wunai was speaking seriously, Yun Si Niang could not help but believe in it for a few moments. "What is so confidential? Tell me." She was selling information for a living and couldn't miss any business opportunity that had potential value. [+]
Li Wunai looked at Murong Yunshu, and seeing that she had no intention of objecting, he continued, "It's not a big deal. It's just that the current child Emperor is her and Chu Changge's son."
"What?!" Yun Si Niang's jaw was so shocked that it was dislocated. Such big news, she had never heard of it! This secrecy was too good, right?! "No, no, no......" Yun Si Niang shook her head repeatedly. "I remember when the current Emperor succeeded to the throne. It was announced that he is 'following after the orphan son of the previous Emperor''......wait......following after the orphan son of the previous Emperor......could it be that Chu Changge is the orphan son of the previous Emperor and is brothers with Hua Lingtian?!"
Seeing that Murong Yunshu and Li Wunai did not deny it, Yun Si Niang suddenly realised, "No wonder, no wonder......at first I thought 'following after the orphan son of the previous Emperor' statement was a bit awkward. The son of the previous Emperor is the son of the previous Emperor. Why do they still need to add the words 'following after'? At that time, I thought the Ministers attempted to purposely make a mystery out of such simple things!"
"Hmm. They did it purposely to make a mystery out of it, but it was not the Ministers' idea." Li Wunai looked at Murong Yunshu and said meaningfully.
"It's time to get down to business." Murong Yunshu said indifferently, not intending to waste time on an already passed topic.
However, Yun Si Niang did not relent. "It is surprising that such a big thing as Chu Changge, being of the royal bloodline, did not come out in the first place. Strange, how strange."
"It's just that you didn't hear about it." Li Wunai rolled his eyes, "The rumours were buzzing at that time. Unexpectedly, you didn't know about it. How can you still be the owner of Gossip House?"
"Uh......" Buzzing? She honestly hadn't heard of it.
Li Wunai: "Rather, the matter of the child Emperor being Chu Changge's son was something few people knew about due to certain people deliberately vaguely wording it to avoid public attention."
Few people knew about it? Does that mean that......this information is worth a lot of money? Yun Si Niang's eyes began to shine, the kind of light that brightly shone when she thought of money.
Murong Yunshu was all too familiar with that greedy expression on Yun Si Niang. She stated indifferently, without even looking at her, "Between money and life, you can only choose one."
"......" Yun Si Niang shrank her neck. "Then it's better to choose life." Alas, why was the child Emperor's birth mother Murong Yunshu? She would have made a fortune this time if it were someone else!
Li Wunai also rolled his eyes at a certain half-aged woman who stunk of copper as he urged, "Let's just go down to business." Can't you feel that someone's patience has reached its limit?
Yun Si Niang smiled resentfully, then picked up a pen and began to draw circles on the map, marking them with 'one, two, three, four'.
She had already filled the map with circles and dots in a short while.
"It's done." Yun Si Niang put down her pen and said, "If you don't count it, you won't know, but when you count it, you'll be shocked. Yun had killed so many people within two years. Almost once a month when he started his killing spree. Strange, why not every day, every ten days or perhaps half a month, but once every month?"
Li Wunai also felt puzzled in every possible way. Chu Changge seldom killed people before. Not because he didn't have a murderous temper but because he didn't care to do it himself, especially since he had married Murong Yunshu, where he had hardly killed anyone. Now, why would he start a killing spree once a month? Just like he was offering a sacrifice.
Just when the two of them were puzzled over it, they suddenly heard Murong Yunshu say——"It's true."
"What is true?" Both of them asked in unison.
"Every time he killed someone, the location was very close to where I was at that time. Sometimes, they were even in the same town." Murong Yunshu answered as she looked at the map.
"And what does that tell us?"
Murong Yunshu: "It means he has always been by my side and never left."
I have always been by your side and never left.
It turned out that last night wasn't a dream. Chu Changge had indeed come.
But, since he had returned, why did he have to leave again? Gone, and gone to where? Suddenly, a light flashed in Murong Yunshu's head, "He's nearby!"
"Who is nearby? You mean Chu Changge or Yun?" Yun Si Niang asked, puzzled.
"It's Yun, and it's also Chu Changge." Murong Yunshu said numbly.
Yun Si Niang: "Why do you think so?"
Murong Yunshu did not answer her question but looked at Li Wunai instead. She was about to ask him what he thought, but she coincidentally bumped into his wandering gaze. Murong Yunshu's phoenix eyes sank slightly, "Si Niang, you go out first."
Although Yun Si Niang was puzzled when she saw Murong Yunshu's unhappy face, she knew that nothing good would come of it. So she cooperated and slipped away. Before she left, she gave Li Wunai a look of 'seek your own luck'.
"Lu-er you go out too." Murong Yunshu said again.
"Oh." Lu-er obediently went out and closed the door behind her from the outside.
In a moment, only Murong Yunshu and Li Wunai were left in the room.
Li Wunai knew that Murong Yunshu must have discovered something and hung his head sheepishly, not knowing how to face her.
After a moment of silence, Murong Yunshu questioned lightly, "You saw him last night, too, didn't you?"
Li Wunai sighed at her words. "You are so clever. You still won't let other people live!"
Murong Yunshu did not care whether he was praising or being sarcastic and continued to ask, "Where is he now?"
Li Wunai, "I don't know."
There was another moment of silence.
"Then......is he doing well now?"
"I don't know." Li Wunai sighed.
"Then what do you know?" Murong Yunshu got a little anxious.
Li Wunai: "I only know that he is currently alive."
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