“…I thought she would meet her end at the hands of those bandits. I never expected…”
Wu Yuanqing let out a long sigh, his face etched with regret.
Madam Sun curled her lip. “What’s the use of regretting now? I told you to cut the weeds at the root, but you wouldn’t listen. I told you to collect a deposit, but you wouldn’t listen. You deserve to be swindled.”
“What about the deposit?” Feng Qingsui asked.
“Back then, someone claiming to be the chief steward of the Rongchang Marquis Mansion approached him and placed a large order for Shu brocade. They didn’t pay a single coin as a deposit. I felt it was improper and urged him to demand one.”
Madam Sun poured out the resentment she had bottled up for so long.
“He went to the Rongchang Marquis Mansion and came back telling me that the mansion had no precedent for advance payments—they settled accounts quarterly. Since he hadn’t delivered the goods yet, they couldn’t possibly give him the money.”
“Our shop didn’t have that much Shu brocade in stock. Purchasing the goods required a large sum of silver, and we didn’t have enough cash on hand. He tried borrowing from a money shop, but they refused. So, he turned to loan sharks.”
“I felt the risk was too great and advised him to just give up on this deal. He laughed at me for being timid, saying you can’t make big money without taking risks.”
“And what happened? He bought the Shu brocade, but the Rongchang Marquis Mansion denied it, claiming they never placed an order with him.”
“He showed them the contract, but they said the seal on it was fake and the person who signed it wasn’t a steward from the mansion. They said he’d been deceived.”
“He was dumbfounded. When he went to the Rongchang Marquis Mansion to find the person, they had even invited him in for tea, and the servants had treated that person with great respect. How could he suddenly be a fraud?”
“He didn’t dare report it to the authorities and swallowed the loss, planning to slowly sell off that batch of Shu brocade to repay the debt.”
“But then the shop caught fire, burning all the inventory to ashes. The loan sharks came knocking, forcing him to sell the house, the shop, and the estate.”
“Later, he wanted to make a comeback, but without capital, he couldn’t get started. He struggled to put food on the table, took up carrying loads but injured his back, and has been bedridden ever since…”
“Now we rely entirely on me doing laundry for others to get by.”
After listening, Feng Qingsui offered the couple a piece of advice: “You’d better leave the capital as soon as possible.”
Wu Yuanqing smiled bitterly. “I’ve almost been reduced to a beggar. Surely she should let it go now.”
Feng Qingsui said calmly, “You sold her to bandits, causing her to become a ‘skinny horse.’ Do you think, given her temperament, she would spare your daughter?”
A flicker of panic crossed Wu Yuanqing’s face.
“She… she wouldn’t be that heartless, would she…”
His tone was weak, clearly indicating he didn’t even believe it himself.
Feng Qingsui left it at that.
Cui Que was a person with a heart as venomous as a snake’s, filled with malice. Those who obeyed her were harmed; those who defied her perished.
Before the incident of the stolen purse, her elder sister had taken good care of Cui Que, yet she showed not an ounce of gratitude. Before being taken away for adoption, she even released poisonous snakes into their bedroom.
Wu Yuanqing had adopted her and then sold her. How could she possibly stop at just making them destitute?
At the very least, she would ensure their family was ruined and lives lost.
Thinking of this, a shadow passed through Feng Qingsui’s eyes.
The ruin of her elder sister’s family began with Xiao Yu drowning in the Rongchang Marquis Mansion.
Xiao Yu had been drawn to water since birth. Guided by her brother-in-law, she learned the dog paddle before she was even a year old. By the age of three, her elder sister said she could swim continuously for half an hour.
Even if she accidentally fell into the lake at the Rongchang Marquis Mansion, she could have swum to the shore on her own.
Taking a step back, even if she couldn’t save herself, with so many servants inside and outside the banquet hall right by Moon Lake, would they have been too slow to rescue a child who fell into the water?
That night at Moon Lake, there was even a fireworks display arranged!
Xiao Yu’s death was undoubtedly man-made.
And it was most likely the work of Cuique.
But Cuique was merely an insignificant concubine who, by all accounts, shouldn’t have been qualified to attend the birthday banquet. Staying in the rear courtyard of the Rongchang Hou Shizi, how did she manage to harm Xiao Yu?
And why did she specifically choose the birthday banquet of the elderly Lady Rong to act?
Was it a premeditated scheme, or a spur-of-the-moment decision?
…
Wuhua drove the donkey cart back to Ji Fu. Feng Qingsui was still pondering these questions, so much so that when she got off the cart and heard someone call “Feng Sui,” she didn’t react.
Only when she saw Ji Changqing’s tall, straight figure, standing as firm as a pine tree, did she show a hint of surprise: “What did Second Master just call?”
“I was reciting a poem: ‘The moon carries the clear frost down, the wind follows the fine waves along,'” Ji Changqing replied.
His gaze swept over Feng Qingsui’s face.
Feng Qingsui glanced at the clear moon hanging obliquely on the treetops and nodded. “A very fitting poem.”
“Second Master, enjoy the moon slowly. I’ll return to my courtyard for dinner first.”
She left with Wuhua, while Ji Changqing stood where he was, watching her disappear around the corner of the corridor.
Of the eleven Feng-surnamed girls he had Shi An investigate, four were still unmarried and being well cared for in their adoptive families. Six were already married, and one of their husbands was none other than the former Vice Minister of Rites, Jiang Jiyan.
There was also one named “Feng Sui,” who had been adopted by Jiang Jiyan and his wife, and was now missing.
Instinct told him that Feng Qingsui was “Feng Sui.”
But according to the Charity Orphanage’s account records, Feng Sui was born blind and unable to see—this was also the reason the Charity Orphanage made an exception to allow Feng Xi and Jiang Jiyan to adopt her. Other prospective adopters immediately declined upon hearing that Feng Sui was blind and that the couple who had previously adopted her had both died. Feng Xi, in order to care for her, had consistently refused to be adopted herself. Yet Feng Qingsui’s eyes were perfectly fine, with no issues whatsoever.
Ji Changqing had heard about the Jiang family’s affairs and knew there was something suspicious about their deaths. However, Jiang Jiyan had been imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison for gross disrespect and posthumously labeled as having “committed suicide out of guilt.” No one would risk their life to investigate the deaths of their family.
He wasn’t the Metropolitan Governor; this matter wasn’t under his jurisdiction. Naturally, he had simply listened and moved on.
If anyone would care about the Jiang family’s deaths, it would probably only be Feng Sui, who wasn’t on the Jiang family’s death list.
After Feng Sui was adopted into the Jiang family, she disappeared without a trace after just one month. All follow-up visits from the Charity Orphanage were handled by Feng Xi.
This was, of course, irregular.
But Jiang Jiyan had earned the title of Tanhua (third-place scholar) and used his official career as collateral, assuring the Charity Orphanage that Feng Sui was safe and sound.
Out of respect for him, the Charity Orphanage didn’t pursue the matter.
Ji Changqing thought that Feng Sui had likely been sent somewhere to treat her eye condition over the past few years, which was why she couldn’t show herself.
This would explain why Feng Sui was blind, but Feng Qingsui could see.
After returning to the estate, he deliberately waited outside the stable and, taking Feng Qingsui by surprise as she got off the cart, called out “Feng Sui,” then carefully observed her reaction.
To his surprise, Feng Qingsui showed no reaction to the name “Feng Sui,” and her expression didn’t seem feigned.
Was her acting too good, or had he guessed wrong?
That night, Yan Chi reported to him that after leaving the Charity Orphanage, Feng Qingsui had gone to see a former silk merchant named Wu Yuanqing.
“What did she go to him for?” Ji Changqing inquired.
Yan Chi lowered his head. “That greedy girl stopped me, so I was a bit too far away to hear their conversation clearly.”
Ji Changqing: “…”
He was about to scold him with “What use are you?” when he suddenly remembered he had seen the name Wu Yuanqing somewhere before.
After a moment of thought, it came back to him.