Chapter Eight – Fishing Up a Corpse

Inside the house, Qingfeng placed the plate of grilled meat on the table and asked Xuan Yue, “Master, don’t you think that village girl was a bit strange?”

“Just because she grilled a plate of meat?”

“Yeah. I feel like a village girl from the mountains wouldn’t know how to use citrus leaves to enhance the aroma of meat. And she even used a stone slab to grill it—that’s such a unique cooking method. How could a village girl have come up with something like that?”

“Don’t tell me you’re suspecting again that she was sent by His Majesty as a spy?” Xuan Yue chuckled lightly. “I already told you, she’s from Yushou Village, and she explained her situation.”

“What situation?”

Xuan Yue briefly told Qingfeng what Wen Lan had told him.

“Her family wanted to marry her off to a widower in his fifties?” Qingfeng didn’t quite believe it. “That’s too far-fetched. I mean, she’s got such delicate and pretty features—probably one of the best-looking girls in that little mountain village. Her parents must be mad to try to marry such a flower-like girl to a man that old.”

“Was the widower rich?” Qingfeng asked.

Xuan Yue couldn’t be bothered with this kind of gossip. He cast a sidelong glance at Qingfeng with his narrow phoenix eyes, signaling him to shut up.

Qingfeng gave a sheepish laugh. No one understood his master’s temperament better than he did. For anything that didn’t catch his interest, his master always maintained a “none of my business” attitude.

But Qingfeng was still curious, so as he poured tea for Xuan Yue, he continued asking, “Master, aren’t you even a little curious? Didn’t it strike you as odd that a young girl, even if she’s running away from a marriage, would follow you home without hesitation? She wasn’t even afraid you might be a bad guy.”

Xuan Yue lifted the teacup and slowly sipped from it, ignoring him.

“Unless…” Qingfeng shot him a meaningful look. “Unless that girl’s fallen for you. Maybe she wants to marry you?”

Pffft! Xuan Yue nearly spit out his tea.

“Nonsense.” He set the cup down with a sharp thud.

Qingfeng’s grin widened. He felt he might’ve stumbled upon a way to help the old madam solve a pressing worry.

“Master, I’ll go to Yushou Village tomorrow to ask around about her background.”

Xuan Yue didn’t respond. He simply picked up one of the meat strips and began eating.

As he chewed slowly, he had to admit—the meat really was delicious.

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The next morning, Qingfeng indeed headed out early for Yushou Village.

Yushou Village was so named because of the Yushou River that ran beneath Mount Yunchong. The villagers who lived along the river named their settlement Yushou Village.

The village had several dozen households. Most villagers lived by growing rice and raising silkworms. The wealthiest family was the Meng family, who were silk merchants, followed by the Yin family, who traded rice.

When Qingfeng reached the edge of the village, he saw a large crowd gathered in a black mass along the riverbank. At the front stood an elderly man, giving instructions to several strong men in the river.

“Erwa, Qiuzi, be thorough in your search. See if that girl from the Lin family really jumped into the river.”

The men in the water responded, and with long poles, they began poking around the river bottom, as if trying to pull something up.

On the riverbank, among the crowd, a few women were helping to hold up a middle-aged woman who was sobbing so hard she looked ready to faint.

“Madam Lin, don’t cry. Maybe your Furong didn’t jump into the river after all,” one of the women tried to console her.

But the more they comforted her, the harder she cried. She choked out, “That damned girl, if she really did jump into the river, it’d be a relief. I’m just afraid she’ll come running back after wandering around like a madwoman for a few days. Where will our Lin family’s face go then?”

“…”

“…”

The women standing beside her didn’t know how to respond. They exchanged awkward looks, their expressions turning a little odd.

Nearby, a few other village women were clearly there just to watch the drama. They neither joined the consoling nor helped with the search. Instead, they stood off to the side with handfuls of sunflower seeds, munching and gossiping.

“If I were that Lin girl, I’d have thrown myself into the river too,” one of them said. “Tried to climb up the social ladder by marrying into the Meng family, didn’t work out, and in the end, she was supposed to marry Old Crooked Wang. Just look at that crooked mouth of his—” She covered her mouth and giggled.

Another woman chimed in, “Exactly! That little thing always acted so proud just because she had a bit of looks. Thought she was some kind of fairy. Tsk. Last year, when I took my son Asheng to propose marriage, she slammed the door in our faces. And now? Who would dare marry her? Who knows what she’s been doing with that Meng boy.”

“She’s probably a tramp. Disgraceful! Honestly, the Lin family shouldn’t even bother looking for her. If she’s dead, so be it.”

“They have to look. I heard Old Crooked Wang gave their family two loads of rice as a bride price. If she’s really dead, they’ll have to return it.”