Song Jiyun paid no mind to his scrutiny, standing composed and poised as she allowed him to look her over. She smiled and said, "Young Master, do you dare make this bet with me?"
"Fine!" The man sneered, glancing at her with a hint of carelessness and arrogance.
Song Jiyun was only afraid he wouldn't agree; whether he was angry or pleased mattered little to her. Upon hearing his response, she smiled and said, "Then I must apologize for offending you, Young Master!"
She gave a slight bow toward the man, then turned and retrieved a slender-necked glass plum vase about an inch tall from a nearby cabinet, sprinkling its contents all over him.
The Shachu was immediately filled with the rich fragrance of osmanthus.
The man sneezed several times in a row.
Suppressing her laughter, Song Jiyun turned and opened a cabinet door near the corner of the wall.
The four-paneled cabinet door revealed a small couch spread with a cool mat, and on the clothes rack hung old women's garments of varying lengths.
"You'll have to make do resting here for a while, Young Master," she said, reaching out to help the man from the chest.
The man twisted away, brushing off Song Jiyun's hand. With an indifferent air, he stepped out of the chest with long strides and sat down on the small couch with an imposing posture, as if he were the master of this place.
Song Jiyun suddenly felt like a little maidservant…
She simply went to brew a cup of tea for the man.
The man said, "No need," but his hands, bound behind his back, kept trying to loosen the hemp rope around his wrists.
The more he struggled, the tighter the rope became.
It must be a double-loop knot.
The man's gaze darkened slightly.
Song Jiyun chuckled softly.
Did he think she had added something to the tea?
She picked up the teacup and drank it all in one go, then remarked as if savoring the tea, "This year's newly harvested Biluochun tea, picked before the Qingming Festival, reserved by the tea farmers themselves. Even tribute tea doesn't taste this good."
What trick was this woman up to now?
He stared at Song Jiyun.
Song Jiyun smiled gently, her eyes and brows radiating joy as she walked lightly to the window and lit the triangular beast-head blue-and-white porcelain incense burner on the long table there.
A faint grassy scent began to waft through the Shachu, mingling with the earlier osmanthus fragrance, creating a somewhat stifling sensation in the chest.
The man held his breath and looked toward Song Jiyun.
Song Jiyun was fiddling with the incense burner.
The man hesitated for a moment but, not being a trained martial artist, had no choice but to inhale a few breaths unavoidably.
Someone knocked on the door.
Song Jiyun went to answer it.
Outside the Shachu, the faint voice of a middle-aged woman could be heard: "…Chief Clerk is leading the team personally… Eldest Master said he hasn't seen any strangers, but those people simply don't believe it… Several constables are personally leading the search, courtyard by courtyard… They'll be searching here soon."
His expression brightened slightly.
A short while later, Song Jiyun walked back in, announcing cheerfully, "Young Master, the people looking for you are here!"
The man lay reclining against the wardrobe, eyes lowered, not even lifting his eyelids.
Song Jiyun blinked and said, "Young Master, your martial skills are formidable. I dare not risk myself, so I must trouble you once more." As she spoke, she actually took out a handkerchief to gag him again.
The man tried to turn his face away to avoid it, only to realize his limbs had gone weak and he couldn't muster any strength.
He opened his eyes wide and stared directly at Song Jiyun.
Song Jiyun spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness, sighing, "The Ruangu San was in the incense burner, and the antidote was in the tea."
Silence filled the room.
Song Jiyun cheerfully extinguished the incense burner and said, "Young Master, I'll go meet your people first."
She closed the cabinet door and walked lightly out of the Shachu.
Soon, the man heard the creak of a closing door. In the dimly lit wardrobe, a golden ray of light seeped through the crack between the doors.
He tried to move, but his body felt as if it had been separated from him. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t even make a sound.
Fortunately, by squinting through the crack, he could see outside.
The man persisted for a long time, but he couldn’t move an inch.
He didn’t know how much time had passed—perhaps half an hour, or maybe just the time it took to drink a cup of tea—when he heard Song Jiyun’s voice: “This is where I keep my clothes, and there’s a bathroom inside.”
He widened one eye.
Song Jiyun walked in, accompanied by a tall, sturdy woman, while teasing a large yellow dog with smooth fur.
“Is this dog called Wangcai? Can I feed it?” she asked the woman following the dog. “I have some meat dates here, brought from Songjiang.”
The woman was the female jailer from the women’s prison. Although she had been ordered to search the inner courtyard of the Song family, Song Jiyun was, after all, the Eldest Miss of the Song family’s second branch, so she remained quite polite. “It usually doesn’t eat food from outsiders, but you can try, Miss.”
Before she finished speaking, the large dog fiercely rushed to a chest inside the Shachu and began barking wildly at it.
The female jailer’s expression turned stern as she glanced at Song Jiyun.
Song Jiyun looked bewildered and asked, “What’s wrong?”
The female jailer replied, “What’s inside this chest?”
“Oh!” Song Jiyun hurriedly opened the chest. “Just some books and porcelain. They were left by my father.”
The female jailer searched through it but found nothing suspicious.
Song Jiyun had already pulled open a wardrobe door and said, “The bathroom is here!”
The female jailer went inside to inspect.
Song Jiyun crouched in a corner of the wardrobe, rubbing the dog’s head as it sniffed around the book chest. “Wangcai, come here!”
She fed the large dog a meat date.
The dog stopped and wagged its tail at her.
By the time the female jailer came out, the dog was happily eating and refused to leave even when called.
Song Jiyun laughed heartily, hugging the dog’s head and saying, “You’re so clever!”
The female jailer hesitated for a moment but ultimately said nothing. With sharp eyes, she opened each wardrobe door one by one, looking around carefully.
Song Jiyun fed the large dog several more meat dates in succession, held it in her arms, and smiled as she glanced toward the crack of the wardrobe beside her.
Two distinctly different gazes intertwined.
Song Jiyun’s smile grew even sweeter.
Holding the dog’s front paws, she waved them toward the wardrobe and said, “Come on, let’s say hello!”
There seemed to be a faint sound from inside the wardrobe.
The female jailer turned around, only to see the Eldest Miss of the Song family’s second branch stroking Wangcai’s head while feeding the large dog meat dates and saying, “You’re so good! How are you so adorable!”
Thinking she had misheard, she turned back and resumed inspecting the wardrobes.
Song Jiyun let out a soft gasp.
The female jailer turned around.
The large yellow dog, huffing and puffing as it ate the meat dates, twisted its head to nuzzle the hem of the Eldest Miss’s skirt. Even after being gently pushed away several times, it continued begging for more food.
The Eldest Miss of the Song family’s second branch blushed and said, “Oh, I’ll give you a basket of meat dates later.”
The female jailer felt a bit embarrassed. She shouted "Wangcai!" and gave Song Jiyun an apologetic smile before pulling the large dog by its collar and heading out.
Song Jiyun grabbed a basket of meat jujubes and hurried after her, also presenting the jailer with a basket of snacks like dried meat. "These were all brought back by my late father from Songjiang. Since we're in mourning, we won't be using them. Please take them as a token of our connection!"
Recalling the rumors circulating in the city, the jailer sighed inwardly. She accepted the basket, thanked Song Jiyun repeatedly, and led the dog away to search the neighboring courtyard.