Perfect Encounter - Chapter 53.1
PROOFREAD BY AFREANA
Chapter 53.1
Young Master Min calmly looked at Zhao Jiahua’s corpse in front of him. Liu Ze stood by gloomily.
“I coerced her to say it. She had a lover and wanted to leave with him, but she knew I would not let her go. The Xu Matchmaker told her some things about our matter, but she did not know what it was precisely, only that I had some illegal activities. After the Xu Matchmaker’s death, she felt there was an opportunity. The matter of An Ruochen escaping from her home and reporting to the authorities caught her attention. She wanted to use An Ruochen. Therefore, she made a false impression to attract An Ruochen’s attention and wanted to let her deal with me. This way, she could take advantage of the chaos to escape.”
“Did you kill her yourself?” Young Master Min looked at the strangulation marks on Zhao Jiahua’s neck.
“This was the only way.” Liu Ze’s voice sounded a little sad though still calm. “We can’t be dragged down by the bitch.”
“What did she say to An Ruochen?”
“Nothing much, just that I forced her to marry me, and that the Xu Matchmaker implied that I’m not as good as I appear to be. She had no evidence, and her words were not credible, so she was just saying something flimsy to provoke An Ruochen’s attention.”
“What about her daughter?”
“Speaking of this, this is what makes this woman evil. She said she killed her daughter just to frame me. She couldn’t say what evil I had done, so she had to make something up. She did it herself and fabricated some incidents. If something happened to me, she would have fled, seized my family property and then gone to her lover.” Liu Ze turned his head to look at Mr. Xie and said with hatred, “Tell me, is she not extremely vicious? I hate that I didn’t realize it at first.”
“A woman from the world of pleasure, you still expect her to be innocent?”
Mr. Xie’s words struck Liu Ze hard in the heart. He had never mentioned Zhao Jiahua being a courtesan from outside the county to Young Master Min.
“Young Master is right.” Liu Ze respectfully bowed his head.
Zhao Jiahua’s origins, only the Xu Matchmaker knew. He expected that she would not dare to talk about it elsewhere. But now it seems that she has told it to this Young Master Min.
In the beginning, Young Master Min said he needed a woman who could move around inside the city to make friends with various families, so he introduced the Xu Matchmaker to him. But as for what exactly she did, he did not know. The Xu Matchmaker was good at gambling and greedy for money, something that could be used to control her. Young Master Min did not allow him to appear but recruited the Xu Matchmaker himself.
Although Liu Ze usually had dealings with the Xu Matchmaker and ordered her to help with various things, but he never heard the Xu Matchmaker mention Young Master Min. He couldn’t ask because Young Master Min didn’t allow it. He guessed the Xu Matchmaker might not know they were working for the same person.
Now when he thinks about it, he has some regrets. He shouldn’t have stopped prying for fear that the Xu Matchmaker would reveal him to Young Master Min. The Xu Matchmaker reported everything about him to Young Master Min, and he knew nothing about it. This thought made him uncomfortable in his heart. Young Master Min wasn’t the one who recruited him. He had promised to cooperate with people in high positions of power. As a result, after working for Young Master Min as instructed, he felt he was being less appreciated. Young Master Min often showed his disapproval and kept many things from him. To this day, he felt it increasingly hard to endure.
But Liu Ze still pretended nothing had happened and continued: “I will take care of the government side. I’ll say she accidentally suffocated the child when they were napping together. For fear that I would blame her, she pretended that someone had kidnapped the child and reported it to the authorities as such. After returning from the courthouse, she felt guilty and blamed herself. She became depressed and fell ill. She began to talk crazy. Last night, her guilt overcame her, and she hanged herself. The suicide note explains everything, but she was so crazy that she did not say where she hid the child’s body.”
Young Master Min said nothing, only looking at Zhao Jiahua’s corpse.
Liu Ze added: “The restaurant is closed for half a month. I have to do the funeral of my wife. An Ruochen will not be able to hear anything here. After a long time, she will check elsewhere.”
Young Master Min finally responded this time – he nodded his head.
“Don’t worry. I’ve always done everything you’ve asked me to do. I’m not the Xu Matchmaker. I’ve never asked for more than I can. Even to her death, the matchmaker wasn’t aware that I know you.” He didn’t even ask Young Master Min if he had anything to do with the death of the matchmaker. There is no need to ask because he is not stupid.
“I’m relieved.” Young Master Min said, “Then you should take care of the aftermath. We won’t contact you for now.”
Liu Ze respectfully agreed. He went out to confirm that no one was there and let Young Master Min leave quietly.
Liu Ze returned to the house, looked at Zhao Jiahua’s miserable pale corpse, and gently stroked her face. “If you had stayed obedient, there would have been no need for this.”
Meanwhile, the story goes that Lu Daniang rushed to the An House and asked to see the second girl, An Ruoxi. The reply was that the second young lady was napping and would not see any guests. Lu Daniang was neither anxious nor annoyed but told the gatekeeper to inform her again that Steward An had entrusted her to deliver a message to the second girl of the An family. If the second girl confirms that she is unavailable, she would go back and return the message to Steward An.
The gatekeeper whined but did not dare say anything and returned to the house to report.
An Ruoxi was indeed napping. Awakened by the maid to hear about this, she almost lifted her bed. Very good, very good! She thinks An Ruoxi is a soft persimmon! An Ruoxi quickly combed her hair and changed her clothes, then met with Lu Daniang in the guest room with a frosty face.
“Daniang is doing well now. You’ve climbed up to the eldest sister and became an errand worker.”
Lu Daniang smiled: “It is also thanks to the blessing of the second girl. The eldest girl called me this morning and said she met the second girl yesterday. She said she knew how much you care for me and gave me a chance to thank you.”
An Ruoxi’s face sank. Is she coming to satirize her?
Lu Daniang continued: “So, I said I would come here today. Coincidentally, the eldest girl misses the snacks made in the kitchen at home. Her mouth is so hungry that she wants to eat them today. I don’t know if you know what she likes, but I’d like to ask you to pick a few pieces and send them over to her. She said her maid was not very good at talking, and the way the yesterday’s message was passed had annoyed the second girl. Since I happen to be coming over today, I offered to pass the message to you instead.”
An Ruoxi clenched her fist. Yes! That girl was not able to speak! Once she opened her mouth, An Ruoxi wanted to slap her several times. In contrast, Lu Daniang talked smoothly but hid needles inside.
Yesterday, An Ruochen said she did not ask her to serve tea or use her as a maid. Does she want to make up for it today?
An Ruoxi gritted her teeth and held back from cursing.
Lu Daniang added kindly: “I suppose this snack is not a big deal. If you are busy, you should not send it. The eldest girl won’t do anything to you. After all, you don’t live together anymore. Maybe she remembered the old days and said so in passing. I’ll tell her that the second girl is sick and inconvenient by the request. How about it?”
She’s even cursing her for being sick!
An Ruoxi gritted her teeth: “I’ll send it! It’s just a few pieces of snacks, right? I know what my eldest sister likes to eat! Please deliver the message to the Eldest Sister and tell her to wait!”
She said the last four words forcefully as if what she wanted to send was not snacks but a knife.
Lu Daniang paid no attention to it and went away at once.
Without waiting for Lu Daniang to go far, An Ruoxi cursed. Slut, bitch, etc. She slapped the table and kicked the chair. Lu Daniang ignored her and hurried to the Purple Cloud House to deliver the message.