Cang Lan Dao - Chapter 40.1

Chapter 40.1 

Luo Wanqing is a doctor; what are you? 

She spoke with too much frankness, without the slightest bit of timidity, as if it were true. Xie Heng stared at her. In the past, this kind of sincerity would always deceive him, but now, he had the witnesses and proved that she tried to ambush him. If she was only Liu Xiniang, how could she, a salt peddler, have such deep internal qi and grow so quickly, and why would she repeatedly contact the Feng Yu Pavilion; why did the Feng Yu Pavilion try to assassinate her tonight? Why was she interested in Xie Heng when she entered the Inspection Department, and why did she eavesdrop on his conversation with Li Guiyu? 

Did she do it because of Li Guiyu? He didn’t believe a word of it. Although the person who went to Yangzhou to investigate hadn’t returned yet, to say that she, a salt peddler who had been in the Jianghu for many years, was willing to risk her life to spy on the Third Prince for the sake of a girl she hadn’t known for a long time and even went up to the mountains to listen in on his conversations, what kind of a saint was she? He didn’t believe it. 

Xie Heng stared at her silently, and all his emotions slowly calmed down in her persistent deception. “If swearing means something, what am I doing building the Inspection Department for? Wouldn’t it be better for me to build a Taoist Temple and take people in to swear?” Xie Heng said, straightening up. 

Luo Wanqing did not make a sound. She understood that her explanation had no weight now. Tonight, she and Xiang Sizi ambushed Xie Heng, and she helped Xiang Sizi escape. This matter, no matter what, could not be justified. But she couldn’t admit that she was Zhang Jiuran because she wasn’t. If she had admitted this identity, not to mention that she would have found trouble for herself, Xie Heng might not have done anything. Zhang Jiuran was full of blood debts, and according to the law of the Inspection Department, it was enough for her to die 10,000 times. Even if Xie Heng didn’t let her die, then at least he would let Zhang Jiuran become the Qin family case key witness; this she couldn’t do. 

“Young Master,” Luo Wanqing lowered her eyes, combing through everything, and calmly said, “Are you so sure because of the person that Third Highness sent?” 

Xie Heng heard this and turned his eyes to look at her, “What other arguments do you have?” 

“Young Master set up a preconceived idea that I am a killer, so if Third Highness gives a random person to identify now, Young Master will believe it.” Luo Wanqing calmly pointed out Xie Heng’s problem. 

Xie Heng’s movements paused, listening to Luo Wanqing’s inquiry, “When I was taught in the Inspection Department, I clearly remembered that when the Inspection Department investigates a case, it will first assume that the other party is guilty and exhaust all means to track down the clues, but when judging the case, it will depend on the final evidence. But, Young Master now,” Luo Wanqing lifted her head, staring at Xie Heng fixedly, “Isn’t it somewhat against this principle?”

Xie Heng’s movement lurched, looking at this woman who did not half retreat before him. Her gaze was clear and cold, calm as if she was not the one who might be sent to the torture rack at any time now. 

“Apart from this person sent by the Third Highness,” Luo Wanqing questioned, “What evidence does Young Master have to prove that I am Zhang Jiuran?” 

Yes, there wasn’t any evidence, and there were even many details that could prove that she wasn’t Zhang Jiuran. But if she was not Zhang Jiuran, who was she? Who else in the Feng Yu Pavilion could kill Zhao Yuyan, who could walk silently to his side, and who could be tortured like this without revealing any hint of weakness? 

“Tonight, you teamed up with the Feng Yu Pavilion to ambush me; how do you explain?” Although he knew asking this wasn’t meaningful to Luo Wanqing, Xie Heng still decided to give it one last try. 

When Luo Wanqing heard this, she frowned and only asked, “Why would Young Master think that I and the Feng Yu Pavilion set up an ambush on you?” 

Completely denial. Xie Heng saw and understood her attitude. Her heart was extraordinary if she could insist on denying it to this extent. Knowing there was no point in pushing further, he thought momentarily, softly laughed, and nodded, “Yes. Indeed, there is no solid evidence; you are not Zhang Jiuran.” 

Luo Wanqing listened to these words but did not feel any relaxation. She looked at Xie Heng and saw the other party raise his eyes to look at her, “So, you must not be interested in who killed Zhang Jiuran’s father, Zhang Qiuzhi, five years ago?” 

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing did not dare to show any emotion. If she was Zhang Jiuran, she couldn’t be indifferent at this moment. But Zhang Qiuzhi’s death — Thinking of the woman who had given her everything and was now lying quietly like the living dead, she could not open her mouth to refuse. 

Xie Heng observed her expression, turned around to fetch a lamp, and called to someone, “Qing Ya.” 

The person outside the door heard the voice and pushed the door in. Xie Heng beckoned toward Luo Wanqing, “You come with me.” 

Luo Wanqing got up and followed Xie Heng, walking in front with a lamp, and heard him say, “I’ll show you this dossier from five years ago.” 

Luo Wanqing raised her eyes at the words, understanding that this was Xie Heng’s new strategy to force a confession. She calmly lowered her eyes, listening to Xie Heng slowly say, “Five years ago, when the Cui Family rebelled against the country, many things happened at the border. One of them was that Cui Qingping’s shadow guard had pretended to be a rich merchant and sent an item from the border to Yangzhou, escorted by an ordinary armed escort. The escort’s name was Zhang Qiuzhi, and he had a son and a daughter. The daughter, Zhang Jiuran, is eighteen, and the son, Zhang Jiuxian, is fifteen. He originally retired, but because his daughter suffers from a strange disease, he resumed receiving this order.” 

Xie Heng opened the door of the Treasure Pavilion, leading Luo Wanqing up while faintly said, “The payment for this escort is not cheap; it is ten times higher than an ordinary order, and the person who delivers it is extraordinarily secretive, and only Zhang Qiuzhi knows about it. However, on the day they entered Yangzhou’s territory, the escort team was ambushed; all of them died, and the things they were escorting also disappeared.” 

“Snatched by those people?” Luo Wanqing heard that Zhang Qiuzhi’s death wasn’t an ordinary robbery. That thing that had been transported thousands of miles from the border to Yangzhou was the real reason for Zhang Qiuzhi’s death. But what was that thing, and who was supposed to receive it in Yangzhou? 

“After that, a rich merchant arrived at the official government to sue, took out the paperwork, and proved that he was the rich merchant who asked Zhang Qiuzhi to deliver the goods. Now that the goods were missing, Zhang Qiuzhi needed to pay compensation. Because the amount was huge and Zhang Qiuzhi’s family couldn’t afford to pay it back, the officials colluded with the rich merchant to seize all of the Zhang family’s property, which included the Zhang Mansion. But actually, that rich merchant was a fake.” 

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing violently clenched her fists, thinking of when Zhang Jiuran was forced to be displaced; she couldn’t help but utter, “It’s a fake?” 

“The one who placed the order was Cui Qingping’s shadow guard, and that shadow guard died long ago in a battle at the border. From the Cui’s family, only Cui Qingping survived and returned.” 

Xie Heng beckoned, “Come here, hold the lamp.” 

Luo Wanqing took the lamp from Xie Heng’s hand, illuminating him as he searched out the file in the vast files. Xie Heng’s expression was calm, and he said lightly, “I went to check the rich merchant’s paperwork later on; it’s fake.” 

“What about the official government?” Luo Wanqing asked, “What about those who helped embezzle the property?!” 

Xie Heng moved, casting a sidelong glance at her, saying lightly, “All dead. The Feng Yu Pavilion killed everyone handling the case shortly after. We found these documents using every means possible.” 

Luo Wanqing froze and then realized, yes, if they weren’t dead, Zhang Jiuran would have followed the trail to find them. Otherwise, why would she have been lied to for so long? 

“After that, his family was kicked out of the mansion. A son, a daughter, and their mother lived on the streets. For treating the daughter, the son and the mother begged everywhere and tried everything they could. Finally, one day, because Zhang Jiuran did not want to drag her family down, she sold herself on the street. A man bought her, and they disappeared. Since then, no one has ever seen the Zhang family again.” 

Saying that, Xie Heng found a dossier. He took it out and handed it to Luo Wanqing, calmly saying, “Later on, I set up the Inspection Department. When I looked into the case of Cui Clan at the border up to Zhang Qiuzhi, I found that the case was strange. What was the item that Cui Qingping had Zhang Qiuzhi escort? Who killed Zhang Qiuzhi? Who was the fake rich merchant, and where did the Zhang family members go? In all of these cases, I only have one clue, which is back then, a young official revealed to the Ministry Justice that Zhang Jiuran had once told the officials that she had pulled out a broken blade from her father’s abdomen, which she handed over. Yet neither the officer nor the dossier ever recorded this broken blade.” 

Luo Wanqing took the dossier. Xie Heng placed the lamp on the tabletop, signaling Luo Wanqing to sit and look at it. 

Luo Wanqing took the dossier and sat down. Inside was a detailed account of the case related to Zhang Qiuzhi, and the portraitist even drew two portraits of the Zhang family in accordance with the verbal description. On the portraits were the eighteen-year-old Zhang Jiuran and the fifteen-year-old Zhang Jiuxian. Unsure whether it was because of the oral description depicting them; she wasn’t certain about Zhang Jiuran, but Zhang Jiuxian and Zhang Yiran didn’t resemble each other. She quietly looked at the portrait as Xie Heng pulled out a chair and sat across from her, faintly saying, “Years later, Zhang Jiuran appeared again, and I heard it from Qin Jue’s mouth. This junior brother of mine and I are not familiar with each other. When I met him, he was already in prison. From his mouth, I got the news that the Feng Yu Pavilion had bought Zhang Jiuran, and she had become an assassin. She always carries the broken blade she did not give to the government back then to search for the murderers. Qin Jue drew that broken blade for me, and it just so happens that I recognize it.” 

Luo Wanqing heard the words and already understood what Xie Heng was about to say. She calmly raised her eyes to look at Xie Heng. 

Xie Heng gazed at her and faintly said, “It came from the Empress’s mother’s clan, the Wang Clan. Then, coincidentally, I also confirmed a message from Li Guiyu that the Feng Yu Pavilion belongs to the Empress. In other words, Zhang Jiuran, for many years, has been working for her enemy.” 

Luo Wanqing didn’t say anything.