Chapter 12: She Was Dead

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Finally, Gou Shi got her wish when the three coffins from the Su family were carried up the mountain. The group that had been guarding the Su family and helping out had all left, and she felt her chance had come.

In fact, she had been eager since the day they brought the bodies back for the funeral. However, Wu Renpin had stayed in her room that entire day, seemingly in a good mood. She cautiously served him and had to forcibly suppress the dark thoughts in her heart.

It wasn’t until Wu Renpin dressed her in mourning clothes, tied a mourning headdress on her head, and had her stand with her back to him while repeatedly calling out “Yueniang” behind her that her desire to kill this woman reached its peak.

After seeing Qin Yueniang off, with no more ties binding her, Su Yunqing felt much more at ease.

That night, Su Yunqing patrolled under the courtyard wall, then hung an empty water bucket on the door bolt and lay in bed fully clothed, clutching a dagger. She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in many days.

This night was destined to be no different.

Shortly after the sound of the night watch drum faded from the door, the water bucket hanging on the bolt suddenly fell to the ground and rolled beside her bed. She quickly got up, opened the door, and listened carefully in all directions.

Sure enough, a heavy and suppressed low moan came from the horse stable in the front courtyard’s side room. Confirming the direction of the sound, she raised her dagger and slowly followed the string toward it.

The closer she got, the clearer the sound became. It was obvious the person was trying hard to restrain himself, but the painful wails were chilling to the bone.

There was wind but no moon, and the courtyard was silent except for that hellish sound.

Guided by faint starlight and her intimate familiarity with her own courtyard, she easily circumvented obstacles and steps until she reached the stable.

The person was in so much pain that he had lost all awareness of his surroundings, focusing all his strength on suppressing his screams.

That was until Su Yunqing pressed the dagger against his neck.

“Don’t move. There’s a bear trap under your foot, meant for wild beasts. The more you move, the tighter it clamps.”

Hearing her voice, the man panicked and begged with a sob, “Please help me, I feel like my foot is ruined. This is your home, so you must have a way, right?”

“So you know this is my house?” Su Yunqing asked calmly. “Why are you sneaking into my home in the middle of the night? Speak!”

“I—I...” He began babbling incoherently.

Under the weak starlight, Su Yunqing stared into his eyes. “Do you have a grudge against my family? Or did someone send you? If your answer satisfies me, maybe I’ll consider helping you.”

The man, sweating cold with pain, pulled out a fire striker to light something, but Su Yunqing snatched it away. She lifted his chin with her dagger and enunciated each word, “First, answer, my, question.”

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“All right, all right, I’ll tell you. After I finish, will you please release me? You have to promise.”

“Promise?” Su Yunqing sneered. “That depends on my mood. Or you can stay silent until the steel spikes pierce your leg bones.”

Seeing no other option, the man hurriedly said, “It’s Mistress Gou from the Wu Qianhu household. She paid me to kill you and Madam Su.”

“Why does she want us dead?”

“How should I know? Please, help me release it—I can’t hold on much longer.”

Ignoring his pleas, Su Yunqing said slowly, “Besides sending you to kill us, did she do anything else?”

The man hesitated briefly before saying, “Nothing else, nothing else...”

“You’re lying.” Su Yunqing kicked the bear trap hard. The man trembled violently in pain. “If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll cut off your head.”

“All right, all right, I’ll tell you. There was also... arson...” The word came out so faintly that Su Yunqing almost didn’t catch it.

She lifted his chin, suppressing the urge to plunge the dagger into his throat, and grit her teeth to ask, “So you’re the one who set the fire?”

“Yes, yes, I am. If you let me go, I can help you kill Mistress Gou and avenge you.”

“Is that so?”

“I swear, every word is true. If I lie, may lightning strike me. Please, help me release this trap.”

“How much did she pay you?”

“F-five taels of silver.”

“Five taels?” Su Yunqing sneered. “You burned down my home and took three lives for five taels? How much did she pay you to come kill us tonight?”

“Also five taels.”

“Hahaha, our whole family’s lives are worth just ten taels of silver...”

“Please, I beg you, release me. I’ll help you kill her, and I won’t ask for a single coin, ah...”

With a dull thud, the man collapsed.

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Su Yunqing sheathed her dagger, grabbed a piece of wood that had survived the fire, and struck him repeatedly on the head until he made no more sound and she was utterly exhausted.

She stepped back, tossed the wood aside, and sank to the ground. She spat out a mouthful of saliva onto the bloodied flesh that had burned her home for five taels of silver, taking the lives of her beloved grandfather and two brothers.

She sighed, pursed her lips, and blew a stray lock of hair from her forehead. After resting briefly, she stood and walked toward the water jar in the courtyard, intending to draw water to wash her hands, only to find the jar nearly empty.

Leaning her hands on the edge of the jar, she sat in a daze for a moment before grabbing two buckets and stepping outside. Leaves rustled in the night wind as she followed the steps of memory, crossing every familiar brick stone toward the Ganlu Well.

The next day, Zhu Bo swept the area in front of the Su family gate, hoping to see how the mother and daughter were doing, only to find the gate tightly shut, secured with a large copper lock.

Some said a carriage had come a few days before and that they must have left with it; the courtyard was a ruin and no longer suitable for habitation.

Others said they had taken a boat south in the dead of night.

Still others whispered that the fire was suspicious, fearing the imperial court intended to wipe the Su family out completely, and that the surviving mother and daughter had been secretly arrested by the Imperial Guards.

In any case, the Su family became a tacitly understood, unspoken topic among the townsfolk.

Only Doctor Ma knew that the Third Miss would not leave, but even he could not guess where she had gone.

Seven days after the Su family closed their doors, a young man arrived in town. He wore coarse linen robes of a dull tan color, carried a black bamboo hat on his back, and his hair was casually tied into a bun atop his head, secured with a bamboo pin.

Seeing the Su family gate locked tight, he asked everyone he met where the family had gone, only to receive the same answer without exception: “Dead. The Su family is wiped out!”

No one dared touch the subject. Some said they feared he might be a rival’s envoy sent to avenge; some simply wanted to shut him up with a single phrase; others genuinely believed the Su family was gone.

After many inquiries, the young man sat desolately by the unfamiliar yet familiar stone lion at the gate, silent for a long while.

Refusing to give up, he stood and lightly leapt over the courtyard wall, landing beside the large water jar inside. All he saw was scorched blackness; every building was a ruin, not a door or window remained intact, though the jar still held half its water.

He raised his sword and gazed at the translucent blue gem on the hilt, murmuring, “She’s dead...”