Chapter 3: I Am Here to Collect a Debt

Madam He gradually fell into a deep sleep.

Yuetang yielded her place to the maid, stepped out of the main chamber, and looked up at the ink-black sky before strolling along the deserted corridor toward the small garden.

Hualin appeared behind her and handed her a pill: "Was the heat for today's first dose of medicine sufficient?"

Yuetang twisted open the wax shell, chewed the pill, and looked toward the long house not far away: "It still needs one more furnace of fire."

Hualin nodded. He lowered his head and retreated.

There was no moon in the sky; it remained pitch black.

It was like all those dark, windy nights that harbor murderous intent.

Yuetang raised her hand to touch the scar beneath her hairline behind her ear, pushed aside the flower branches, and stepped into the garden.

……

Only one oil lamp was lit in the long house.

Zhang-shi had been worn out by the torment. After her screaming voice turned hoarse, she collapsed into a corner.

Her heart was filled with terror, for she could not imagine that He Xu was truly dead—that he had died just like that, right under her nose!

Though she was jealous and hated his debauchery, she had never wanted him to die!

If he died, she would become a widow!

She was also afraid; now, not only was he dead, but she had become a murderer!

The He family would demand her life in retribution!

What was she to do?

Zhang-shi came from a humble background. In the past, she hadn't even owned a decent piece of jewelry. It was only three years ago that her status rose, and she became a young mistress, taking charge of the household finances. Thousands upon thousands in wealth passed through her hands, and she began to enjoy a life of luxury she had never known before!

Yet, after only three years, she was to be executed as a murderess. How could she be reconciled to this?!

"Let me out!"

But there was no sound outside the door; the servants had retreated from the courtyard as soon as she was locked in.

They found her noisy—they actually dared to find her noisy!

"Creak—"

A slight sound suddenly came from beneath the back window.

She jumped in alarm and turned around!

She saw that the window, which had been bolted shut, was now open. A figure leaped lightly into the room, landed, and curled her lips at her.

Zhang-shi scrambled up!

"Lin-shi?... It’s you, you bitch!"

Yuetang strolled into the room: "Your spirits are still quite high."

"I’m going to kill you!"

Zhang-shi’s voice distorted as she shrieked, grabbing a vase from nearby and hurling it.

The He family’s false accusation was detestable, but this bitch was even more so!

If it weren't for her, He Xu wouldn't have argued with her; if they hadn't argued, the He family wouldn't have used it as a pretext to pin a motive for murder on her!

And if it weren't for her, Madam He wouldn't have been incited to insist that she was the killer!

This cunning, vicious vixen!

Yuetang reached out and caught the vase, simultaneously slapping her across the face.

Zhang-shi was stunned by the blow!

Yuetang patted her cheek: "Be good, don't make a noise."

Zhang-shi’s expression changed abruptly.

Yuetang lowered her hand and produced a tablet.

When Zhang-shi saw the tablet, her expression shifted again: "A duty token issued by the Imperial City Guard!... How do you have this?!"

The one currently in charge of the Imperial City Guard was the Marquis of Guangling!

Yuetang said: "Three years ago, on the night the Zhang and He families performed that great service for the Marquis of Guangling’s estate, the Prince of Duan, who originally held the Imperial City Guard, also died in the palace. Subsequently, the position of Commander of the Imperial City Guard was taken over by the Marquis of Guangling.

"It is also because of this that the powerful Marquis of Guangling’s estate leaped from a declining noble house back to a position of nobility that no one dared to disrespect.

"—I am naturally a person of the Marquis’s estate, which is why I have this token."

Zhang-shi was somewhat flustered.

She couldn't help but look at the back window that had been opened in such a bizarre fashion. Given the height of the window and the position of the lock, it was indeed not something an ordinary person could do.

While she was stunned, Yuetang had already walked up to her: "A few days ago, someone tipped off the Marquis, saying that your father secretly hid a batch of jewelry that Princess Yongjia carried with her, and later gave it to you as part of your dowry. The Marquis sent us to the He family to investigate whether this was true."

Zhang-shi snapped back to reality: "That’s not true!"

Yuetang curled her lips: "Then, after your father performed that great service and received a reward of thirty thousand taels of silver, did he not share any of it with you?"

Zhang-shi gripped the back of a chair: "That, he did. But that money was given to me by my father fair and square—"

Yuetang smiled slowly: "How much did he give?"

"Three thousand taels!"

"And what else?"

"Nothing else!"

Yuetang gradually withdrew her smile.

Without her smile, she looked like a spider lily blooming in hell.

Zhang-shi shuddered.

Yuetang took another step toward her, less than a foot away: "In that bag of jewelry, there was a gold lock engraved with characters, prepared by Princess Yongjia and her husband for their child who had just turned one hundred days old.

"It was a gift they prepared together for their child. It was also her only remaining thought of her child.

"Your father, your father-in-law, and your husband not only despicably and shamelessly plotted against her, but they also slaughtered her child right before her eyes, and then snatched away her only remaining thought of that child.

"Does jewelry stained with the scent of blood look good when worn?

"After slaughtering so many of the Princess’s servants and attendants, and forcing her to jump off a cliff, can you spend that reward money with a clear conscience?"

She pressed her face right above Zhang-shi’s.

Zhang-shi retreated in a panic: "You, how do you know about this gold lock?!"

Not only did she know that the He and Zhang families had murdered Princess Yongjia three years ago, but she also knew that the Marquis of Guangling had instigated it!

Even the Marquis of Guangling didn't know about that batch of jewelry, yet she knew everything—what kind of gold lock was inside, and the details of its origin!

Yuetang didn't speak, only looked at her and smiled.

Zhang-shi was terrified to the core!

She retreated again, bumped into a table, and fell to the ground. She tried to crawl up, supporting herself with both hands, but Yuetang suddenly reached out. In the blink of an eye, her cool fingers locked tightly around Zhang-shi’s throat!

Yuetang looked at her and chuckled: "No matter what was taken, anyone who took it deserves to die!"

As the laughter faded, her free right hand grabbed Zhang-shi’s disheveled hair.

Zhang-shi, weighing over a hundred catties, was lifted into the air and flew toward the table in front!

There was no time to react to anything.

There wasn't even time to scream.

Her temple struck the corner of the table squarely, and blood gushed out from her seven orifices in a frantic rush!

"Actually, I didn't come for an answer," Yuetang patted her cheek again, "I came to collect a debt."

Zhang-shi’s eyes widened, and her mouth hung open, but both went limp and slack halfway through.

The person had been struck into a corpse, yet the rosewood table placed against the wall hadn't moved an inch.

Outside the room, it remained quiet; even the wind was still, just like that midnight filled with ambushes.

Yuetang stepped over the trickling blood of the corpse and walked slowly to the chest against the wall.

She opened the lids one by one and reached inside to grope around.

A nanmu wood box carved with twin phoenixes was unearthed from beneath the folded clothes.

She stroked the lid a few times, and it popped open. A brilliant golden light spilled out first; two exquisite red-gold eight-treasure longevity bracelets lying on silk cloth emitted a shimmering glow in the lamplight.

She slipped the bracelets onto her wrists and shook them gently.

A black shadow leaped in through the half-open window. He looked at the corpse on the floor, then at Yuetang, and finally at the bracelets on her wrists. He bounced on the spot and clapped his hands lightly: "Didn't I say you were thin? Look at these bracelets; you even complained they were too tight back then!"

It was precisely because they felt tight that they had been casually taken off and left in the carriage.

Yuetang took off the bracelets and exited through the window the way she came: "Clean this up. Find that gold lock."