The Feng household was in chaos, but the area near the bridge hole was unusually quiet.
Gu Jun sat by the fire, hugging his knees. The firelight reflected on his face, making the fine hairs seem like they were dusted with gold, overly tranquil and soft. He lowered his eyes, using a thin, long branch he had broken off to draw in the dirt.
Lin Yue hung his clothes on a branch near the fire. As he approached and saw this scene, he sat down next to Gu Jun. Without speaking, he warmed his wet hair by the fire, watching Gu Jun draw some strange symbols before finally asking, “What are you doing?”
Gu Jun looked at the simplified characters on the ground and said, “Practicing writing.”
Lin Yue: “Practicing writing?”
Lin Yue’s gaze swept over the characters on the ground and said, “The characters from our hometown are quite interesting.”
Gu Jun said, “Characters from our hometown? What do you mean?” He showed a bit of confusion appropriately.
Lin Yue looked into his eyes and asked, “Then what are you writing?”
Gu Jun replied, “Characters, isn’t this how everyone writes? Did I get it wrong? … I don’t know many characters. My mother only required me to learn how to manage the household.”
Lin Yue found his own suspicion amusing and said, “What did you write? Read it to me.”
Gu Jun said, “Thunder and rain.”
“You listened quite carefully outside the bookstore. I thought you just stood there for a while and then went to chat with the umbrella seller.” Lin Yue took the branch from his hand and wrote the characters for “thunder and rain” neatly above what Gu Jun had written.
“This is the correct way to write it. Thunder and rain.”
Gu Jun repeated it, broke off another branch, and wrote it again. He was a bit clumsy but very earnest.
Lin Yue twirled the branch in his hand, watching him write it several times until the characters were neat and he could read them fluently. With a firm grip, the branch stopped, and he slowly said, “If you want to study, I can teach you.”
Gu Jun’s eyes lit up, and his voice suddenly rose, “Really?”
Lin Yue: “In a lifetime, learning more is never wrong. Besides, I’m not always by your side. You need to understand what benefits you and how to protect yourself in dangerous situations. Books are like medicine; reading them well can cure ignorance.”
As Lin Yue said this, a familiar feeling flashed through his mind, as if someone had said this to him before, but he couldn’t remember who.
The lady beside him didn’t answer. He looked up to see her pursing her lips, showing displeasure.
Lin Yue laughed, “I’m not abandoning you, just stating facts. There will be times when I’m not by your side.”
Gu Jun’s mood turned from cloudy to sunny, and he felt warm all over again.
The fire was too intense.
Lin Yue felt a bit hot, leaned back, half of his face sinking into the gray night, cooling his body and mind. He said, “I’ll teach you some more characters. Tomorrow, when we get the money, I’ll borrow some books suitable for you and teach you.”
Gu Jun nodded vigorously.
Lin Yue stood up, found a bright spot, and wrote down the complex characters he had seen along the way from memory.
Gu Jun showed a sly smile, almost instantly reining it in, and ran to his side to study seriously.
.
The Feng household.
Servants were huffing and puffing as they washed the blood-stained ground. Madam Feng looked displeased, covering her nose with a handkerchief, signaling the doorman to take the bulging sack at her feet out the back door and throw it far away.
A concubine clung to Feng Laotou’s arm, her eyes filled with terror, her legs trembling.
Madam Feng glanced at this scene from the corner of her eye and glared at the concubine, saying, “Tonight’s matter stays buried in your stomach!”
The concubine couldn’t utter a word for a long time, finally stammering, “O-okay!”
Madam Feng was very dissatisfied, saying, “You go with the doorman. By the way, throw the stuff away, but bring the sack back. It cost a lot of money.”
Concubine: “I…”
Feng Laotou said, “If you’re told to go, then go. Don’t dawdle.” He was no longer in the mood for such things and returned to his room with a flick of his sleeve.
The concubine’s eyes filled with tears, “Yes.”
Madam Feng also returned to her room afterward. She said to her dowry maid, “Foolish idiot, couldn’t even leave when coaxed, just got hit a few times and fell onto the edge of the flower bed. Luckily, she didn’t die, or it would have been unlucky.”
“Throwing her out, she probably won’t survive.”
“It’s not like she died in our house. Every grievance has its source, every debt its owner. Either find the person responsible or the one who sent her here.”
Madam Feng took off her outer clothes and lay on the bed, telling her personal maid to remind her to tell Feng Laotou tomorrow that they could use Zhao Niangzi’s matter to control Lin Yue and make him work for them.
What’s the point of having talent if it can’t be used for oneself?
.
The firewood burned fiercely, the flames changing shape with the night wind, crackling.
A few sparks flew out, hitting the ground. In the latter half of the night, it quieted down, as did the fire, which gradually burned out.
When it was completely extinguished, the sky began to lighten.
Gu Jun suddenly got up, looking at Lin Yue. The environment was gray, making it hard to see the details of the other person, but he could make out his silhouette. He was sleeping upright, hands placed on his abdomen, a very proper and calm sleeping posture.
Gu Jun put on his cloth shoes, tiptoed to his side, and gently called his name.
No response, still asleep.
Gu Jun quietly left, heading to the water pool.
Looking around, seeing no one, he found a spot with deep grass, stepped on the edge a few times to make sure it wouldn’t give way, tied up his hair, took off his clothes, and splashed the pool water to wash his body.
He hadn’t sweated or gotten dirty, so he wasn’t really unclean.
But he used to wash every day, and now it was at its limit. Whenever possible, he would wash.
After carefully washing, Gu Jun brushed the water off his body, touched his chest lightly, feeling the fine pain of a dark bruise, and picked up his clothes.
Having washed, regardless of whether his previous clothes were clean, he felt a bit awkward, holding them for a moment before putting them on, wrapping his skin that had gotten goosebumps from the cold.
The sky brightened a bit, and in the distance, a piece of clothing fluttered by.
Gu Jun returned to the bridge hole, Lin Yue still asleep. He squatted by the extinguished fire, absorbing the nonexistent warmth, then tucked his hands into his sleeves, standing on the ground with the complex characters, reading them one by one.
Last night, he had memorized them over and over, and before falling asleep, he recited them in his mind. A hundred or so characters, he remembered them perfectly.
A slight noise came from the front.
Gu Jun looked up and smiled, “Husband.”
“Mm.”
Lin Yue responded lowly, turning his face away.
Gu Jun found it strange, pounced over, and got close to his face, almost touching his nose.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Lin Yue: “What’s wrong with me?”
Gu Jun said, “You’re avoiding me.”
Lin Yue raised an eyebrow, “Why would I avoid you?” He closed his eyes, seemingly not fully awake.
Gu Jun observed him for a while, unable to find a reason for him to avoid him, assuming he was still not fully awake, in a daze, his soul not yet returned, causing a misunderstanding. With his doubts cleared, he stepped aside.
Lin Yue squinted for a while, then got up.
After washing up, they filled a bamboo tube with stream water and headed to the county town.
.
The concubine and the doorman didn’t return until dawn, both going to wash up, waiting for Madam Feng to summon them.
At dawn, Madam Feng summoned them, asking how the matter was handled.
Both answered that it was handled.
Madam Feng asked, “Is the person dead?”
The doorman replied, “No.”
Madam Feng frowned.
The doorman added, “But in the wilderness, without treatment, she’ll die soon.”
Madam Feng said, “No one saw you, right?”
The doorman quickly said, “No.”
Madam Feng looked at the concubine.
Under her lowered eyelids, the concubine’s eyes trembled slightly, and she replied softly, “Rest assured, Madam, no one saw.”
“Alright, you may go.” Madam Feng said. Feng Laotou also got up at this time, ordering someone to go to the city gate, see Lin Yue, and bring him over. Madam Feng took this time to tell Feng Laotou her thoughts from last night.
“Opportunities don’t come twice. Use Zhao Niangzi’s matter to control Lin Yue…”
“Control him for what?” Feng Laotou asked.
Madam Feng said, “Naturally, to use him for our benefit. Don’t you want to rise up? He surely has ideas. Such a person with a weakness, quick-witted, will handle things properly, much better than your brothers.”
Feng Laotou said, “Talk about him, but why belittle my brothers?”
Madam Feng, exasperated, said, “Do you want to rise up or not?”
Feng Laotou said, “Of course, I do.”
Madam Feng said, “Then listen to me…”
Meanwhile, as soon as Lin Yue and Gu Jun entered the county town, they were spotted by Feng family’s servants, who asked them to follow.
Today, there was a lot of work at the construction site, starting early. Lin Yue asked them to inform the old craftsman that he would be late, then took Gu Jun to the Feng household.
Visiting for the second time, they were familiar with the way.
When Lin Yue and Gu Jun arrived at the Feng household, Lin Yue was again invited to the study by Feng Laotou, while Gu Jun stayed in the main hall, entertained by Madam Feng.
Gu Jun thought it would be the same as last time, where he just needed to have some tea and snacks, wait for Lin Yue to come out, and then leave.
The snacks and tea here were good, and he was happy to stay for a while.
Unexpectedly, after some small talk, Madam Feng asked if he knew Zhao Shuilai.
Gu Jun almost dropped his snack, maintaining his composure, he said, “I know.”
Madam Feng said, “He’s missing.”
Gu Jun feigned surprise.
Madam Feng sighed, “I know you did it, but it doesn’t matter. He was asking for trouble, and it’s only right he got what he deserved. Last night, Zhao Shuilai’s wife came, asking what Zhao Shuilai had asked my husband to do… We’re in this together, so naturally, we couldn’t tell her. Who knew Zhao’s wife would hit her head on the edge of the flower bed and die.”
Gu Jun listened carefully to her words, repeating them in his mind, and said, “Zhao’s wife… died from hitting her head?”
Madam Feng was getting impatient waiting for his response. Lin Yue’s wife seemed to react a beat slower than normal, and her speech wasn’t quite right. She suppressed her emotions and said, “Indeed.” She pointed to the flower bed on the left side of the front yard, “She died right there.”
Gu Jun felt a sourness rising in his throat, putting down the snack, unable to eat anymore.
Madam Feng said, “Now we’re all in the same boat, no one can escape, we must support each other. I say, if it weren’t for your family, we wouldn’t be involved in a murder case. Don’t forget that. Lin Yue is capable, if he has any doubts, as his wife, you should persuade him, don’t let him stray.”
Gu Jun didn’t respond.
Madam Feng said, “Lin’s wife, are you listening to me?”
She hadn’t even asked Gu Jun’s name, directly using Lin Yue’s surname, adding a ‘family’ in the middle, calling her Lin’s wife.
Just like she called Zhao Shuilai’s wife.
She herself had introduced herself as Madam Feng, wanting to be called Madam Feng—Feng Fengshi, the first Feng being her husband’s surname, to show which family she belonged to, and the second Fengshi being her original surname.
In daily life, married women are called by their original surname plus ‘wife’, unmarried women, or if it’s unclear whether they’re married and they look young, are called ‘little lady’, ‘girl’, or ‘miss’.
In this place, ‘little lady’ is more common, but it’s different elsewhere, each place has its own customs.
This is what Lao Huo told him.
Madam Feng should be called Feng’s wife, only officials’ spouses can be called ‘madam’.
She’s breaking the rules, but this place is far from the capital, everything is in disarray, no one cares, so she calls herself that, and she’s not the only one, nor the first to do so.
Gu Jun learned this later, but now he knew Madam Feng was digging a pit for him and Lin Yue.
—She was half-threatening, half-pretending to be close, forcing him to become a lackey, persuading Lin Yue to work for the Feng family wholeheartedly, without pay.
In other words, sucking them dry.
What does it mean that the Feng family got involved in a murder case because of them? It was the Feng family who agreed to let Zhao Shuilai come after them.
If the Feng family hadn’t agreed, how would Zhao Shuilai have died, and how would Zhao’s wife have come to the Feng family and lost her life? Ultimately, it was Zhao Shuilai’s own fault.
Madam Feng blaming the victim is laughable.
Did Zhao’s wife kill herself? Gu Jun suspected the Feng family did it, such a family would do anything to achieve their goals.
Lin Yue working for the Feng family for free?
What a joke, do they even deserve it?
Facing Madam Feng’s pressing questions, Gu Jun said, “My husband and I have nothing to do with Zhao Shuilai’s disappearance.”
Madam Feng said, “Understood.”
Gu Jun said, “I’m telling the truth, my husband and I really have nothing to do with Zhao Shuilai’s disappearance. We haven’t seen him for many days.”
Madam Feng tried to find a flaw in Gu Jun’s expression but failed. His face showed nothing but grievance and the anger of being wronged. She said, “Zhao’s wife is dead, so it has nothing to do with you, and the consequences are all on the Feng family, is that right?”
Gu Jun said, “Madam Feng, I’m just an ordinary woman, not very knowledgeable, I don’t understand anything. My husband makes all the decisions at home and outside, whatever he says goes, I listen to him.”
Madam Feng forced a smile, “Lin’s wife, that’s not right, husband and wife are one, you can’t rely on Lin for everything, people eat grains, energy is limited, if you wear him out, how is that good?”
It made sense, if it wasn’t to trap them.
Gu Jun kept insisting he wasn’t knowledgeable, didn’t understand anything, and refused to agree to Madam Feng’s request to persuade Lin Yue.
Madam Feng got angry as she spoke and stopped talking to Gu Jun.
Gu Jun was happy to be free.
After this, he didn’t hold back, with a vengeful mindset, he ate a plate of snacks, drank two cups of tea, and finally took two autumn pears and a handful of roasted sunflower seeds, stuffing them in his pocket.
Was he here to freeload?
Madam Feng coldly stared at Gu Jun.
Gu Jun looked at her, reached out his evil claws, and grabbed another handful of roasted sunflower seeds, stuffing them in his pocket.
Madam Feng, worthy of being Madam Feng, still kept her composure, didn’t order the maid to take away the plates of fruits and seeds, just said to him:
“Country bumpkins from outside the city, really can’t be presentable.”
Gu Jun smiled, taking all the roasted sunflower seeds from the plate.
Madam Feng: “…”