Chapter 328 Relatives

Chapter 328: Relatives

The gates of the Shuntian Prefecture office stood half-open, the last remnants of orange light gilding the ridge beasts on the eaves in dark gold. The stone lions before the steps were hidden in the twilight, their outlines exceptionally cold and hard.

Yamen runners lit the lanterns hanging from the eaves, casting the blue bricks of the ground in half-light and half-shadow. From within the hall came the sudden sharp crack of a gavel, enough to make one's heart tremble.

"Who kneels before the court?" Song Tingzhou, with his thick brows and dark eyes, wore a crimson official robe. He sat expressionless upon the dais, sweeping a scrutinizing gaze over the two people kneeling below.

Li Dun, however bold his lust, was merely an ordinary citizen of modest wealth. The Shuntian Prefecture office was cold and imposing, and the runners treated everyone as roughly as any suspect, whether you were a count's or a marquis's relative.

Song Tingzhou sat above, wielding the power of life and death. Combined with the guilt Li Dun felt from having offended Meng Wan, he was nearly prostrate on the ground, weeping and wailing the moment Song Tingzhou spoke.

"Your Honor, please calm your anger! This lowly one, Li Dun, was instructed by my aunt today at the Count's residence to offend Meng Fulang, but I never laid a finger on your husband!"

The runners on both sides instantly understood—so this brat had the nerve to molest their lord's husband.

A flash of anger passed through Song Tingzhou's dark eyes, but he did not act on it immediately. Instead, he asked in a low voice, "And what relation is this woman to you? Why, with night falling, did you not stay with relatives but instead break into a private home?"

"She... she's my mistress." Li Dun remained prostrate, not daring to lift his head.

"Oh?" Song Tingzhou's expression did not change, but his sharp gaze shifted to the woman Xue Sheng had brought back. "Speak."

Li Dun turned his head and whispered threateningly, "Dare you—"

"Disrupting court order—twenty slaps!" Song Tingzhou could not hear what he said, but seeing him turn his head, he immediately tossed two red tally sticks to the floor.

After half a year, Song Tingzhou had drilled the runners into absolute obedience; they acted without a moment's hesitation.

Two of the runners tossed their batons to their companions. One grabbed Li Dun by the hair at the back of his head, forcing his face up. The other raised his hand high and delivered alternating slaps, left and right.

The strength of a grown man was nothing to joke about. After twenty slaps, Li Dun's cheeks were swollen high, blood trickled from his mouth, and he saw stars.

Song Tingzhou sat upright behind the desk, his expression barely changing throughout. "Now, tell me everything you know truthfully. If there's a single falsehood, this man's fate will be yours."

The woman trembled all over from his imposing, unruffled authority. "Y-yes, my lord."

The entire city of Shengjing was divided into five concentric districts; the fifth was also called the outer city district. She had recently married into a tofu-selling family in the outer district. They weren't wealthy, but through hard work, they could eat their fill and stay warm.

But her husband had gotten mixed up with Li Dun and fallen into gambling. During the day, he no longer stayed home making tofu, devoting himself entirely to the gambling table.

She and her elderly father-in-law kept the family business running. Such small trade earned only hard-earned money, and the early mornings and late nights were exhausting enough. But last winter, her husband had lost all the family's savings at the gambling den.

Her father-in-law had fallen gravely ill from anger, and with no money for a doctor, his condition worsened day by day. After the new year, he was bedridden.

"I bore the burden alone, but my wretched husband never returned. Then, then Li Dun came to my door, saying my husband had sold me to him, and he... he... forced himself on me... forced himself on me..." The woman could not continue. She wept in utter despair, and the shame of admitting before the court that she had been violated by a scoundrel made her wish she were dead.

Song Tingzhou's brows gradually knitted together, but his harsh voice softened somewhat. "If you're innocently caught up in this, I will naturally let you go free. There is no need to fear."

The woman looked up and saw that although the great lord on the dais was cold in bearing, he carried an air of righteousness—not at all like the corrupt officials in folk tales and plays who couldn't tell right from wrong. Her heart, dead as ashes, began to stir with a faint glimmer of hope.

Li Dun, kneeling at the other end, had already been scared out of his wits, and the torture had only made him more terrified. When Song Tingzhou pressed him further, he confessed everything he knew.

How he and his uncle Rong Jiang had lent money at usurious rates in the gambling den, and how, coveting the woman's beauty, he had lured her husband into gambling to coerce a virtuous wife into submission.

How, urged on by Sun Shi, his lust had gotten the better of him, and he had conspired with her to assault Meng Wan.

The state of Yu imposed the harshest penalties for forcing the virtuous into vice, and Li Dun's crimes compounded one another.

Song Tingzhou's brush moved slightly, and on the case file he wrote a single character with strokes like a falling blade: "Execute."

Sun Shi had plotted to drug Meng Wan for her nephew's pleasure. Though the attempt failed, the evil intent was clear and the crime evident. She was sentenced to eighty strokes of the cane and exile two thousand li.

Based on Li Dun's confession, along with the testimonies of Rong Jiang and the gambling den men, Song Tingzhou directly sentenced the five thugs who had killed Zhang Zhuang to execution. Rong Jiang, having participated throughout, was sentenced to one hundred strokes and exile three thousand li.

The entire main branch of Count Chengen's household—husband and wife alike—had been sentenced to heavy punishment. Because of the Shuntian Prefecture's special position, Song Tingzhou had the case files sent to the Ministry of Justice immediately after the trial.

Unless something unexpected happened, these people would be executed within three days.

He released the innocent woman, and Tao Shi handed her a bundle. "Inside are Li Dun's belongings. His Honor said to consider them compensation for you. The jewelry inside—you can break it up or melt it down as you please. Tomorrow morning, His Honor will send a doctor to treat your father..."

Tao Shi was still chattering on when Song Tingzhou led his horse out of the office. Before mounting, he said without turning his head, "If you ever face injustice again, you may come to the Shuntian Prefecture to report it."

The woman knelt and knocked her head against the stones toward Song Tingzhou's retreating figure. "Thank you... Great Magistrate!"

---

Meng Wan didn't know how late Song Tingzhou would return, or whether he would simply spend the night at the office. He lit an oil lamp by the door and went to bed first.

In the middle of the night, the person beside him climbed into bed, carrying the dampness of the night air. Meng Wan groggily pried his eyes open a crack. The oil lamp in the outer room had either burned out or been put out by Song Tingzhou upon his late return.

"Done with the trial?" Meng Wan asked in a hoarse voice.

Song Tingzhou skillfully pulled him into his arms, pressing his damp lips against Meng Wan's. He kissed him until Meng Wan, annoyed, grabbed his ear—only then did he release the man who was about to be fully awake. "Done. Go to sleep."

Meng Wan's breathing immediately steadied.

Song Tingzhou smiled silently in the ink-thick darkness, then pulled the blanket up around Meng Wan and closed his weary eyes.

When Meng Wan woke, the person beside him was gone—which meant there was court this morning.

Zhifan and Zhiye had estimated the time he would rise and had laid out warm water, a toothbrush, and everything else he needed to wash up.

Meng Wan slowly brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth, splashing a few handfuls of still-warm water on his face to shake off the remnants of sleep.

He had risen late, so he ate as the third group of the household. By now, A Yan and Tong'er had already left for school, and Chang Jinhua had eaten with them.

Chu Ci and A Xun's schedules were unpredictable—if a patient came in a hurry, they might leave without even eating.

Meng Wan himself couldn't be bothered to move, so he ate in his own courtyard.

Mountain yam and japonica rice porridge, with a plate of soy-sauce pickled radish—it warmed him from the inside out.

"Fulang, someone from His Honor's hometown has arrived," Gui Cheng announced, coming in from the front courtyard just as Meng Wan finished his first bowl of porridge.

Meng Wan ladled himself another bowl. "From his hometown? Who?"

Except for Xue Sheng, everyone in the Song household had come from Lingnan. Gui Cheng didn't know much about the Song family's situation, so he scratched his neck and said, "They say it's His Honor's maternal aunt and younger cousin."

"His maternal aunt? His younger cousin?" Meng Wan had spent the past few days thinking about Tang Jinshuang and the others' letters saying they were coming to the capital to deliver the account books, so he didn't react at first.

Huang Ye received the guests and came over from the front courtyard. "Fulang, they're from Changping."

The moment Changping was mentioned, Meng Wan suddenly snapped awake. "Ah, I see. Bring them to the old lady's courtyard."

The visitors were Song Tingzhou's maternal aunt and younger cousin—the family from Springwater Town. They were Chang Jinhua's own sister-in-law and nephew.

Xifu Prefecture was one thing; it was so far from Changping, north to south, that even if Chang Jinhua missed home, she knew she could never go back. But ever since they had come back north, closer to Changping, she had been pining for home day and night.

Meng Wan went to her room to tell her that her sister-in-law from the Chang family had arrived. Even if there had been some resentment in earlier years, Chang Jinhua was overjoyed now.

"Then I'll go to the front courtyard to receive her." Chang Jinhua was tending her garden when she heard this, and immediately tossed aside her hoe.

Meng Wan tried to reassure her, "Ye Geer has already gone to the front courtyard to bring them in. Mother, just wait."

Chang Jinhua patted the dirt off her hands, her brows lifting unconsciously. "I can't meet guests looking like this, all covered in dirt. Let me go inside to wash up. Wan Geer, I don't know if your aunt and the others have eaten yet. Set out some snacks and tea for them."

Seeing how genuinely happy she was, Meng Wan smiled softly. "Don't worry, Mother."

While she was changing, he instructed the two senior maids in Chang Jinhua's courtyard, Wei Ying and Yunque, "The guests coming are the old lady's sister-in-law and nephew. They'll definitely be staying at our place. You two stay sharp and make sure no one upsets the old lady."

The two senior maids in Chang Jinhua's courtyard had been handpicked by Meng Wan. Wei Ying was proper and gentle, much like Bi Yun in personality.

Yunque had sharp ears and bright eyes, with a likable, lively energy. The moment Meng Wan spoke, she caught on—this aunt from back home probably wasn't close with the family.

After the weather warmed up in the new year, Meng Wan had started working on the gardens throughout the compound—the pond by the corridor and every nook and cranny of the courtyards.

Chang Jinhua's garden wasn't as big as the main courtyard. Meng Wan had someone bring in fruit tree saplings to plant, and left the rest for Chang Jinhua to do as she pleased, like growing vegetables and radishes.

The gardens in the second and third courtyards were both pretty big. Not only had Meng Wan had pomegranate and osmanthus trees planted in the corners, but in the reception hall of the second courtyard, he'd spent a pretty penny to transplant two golden nanmu trees as the centerpiece of the residence.

Now carts of flowers, trees, and saplings were being hauled into the courtyard along with dirt. The Song household had few servants to begin with, and everyone had been busy planting flowers and trees these past few days.

Aunt Chang clutched an indigo blue cloth bundle as she sat in the reception hall chair. Before long, she couldn't sit still. "Where are all these trees going to be planted? They don't bear fruit—why are they bringing trees from outside to plant in the yard?"

The boy beside her, Yu Geer, sat up straight, but his eyes kept darting around, taking in everything.

The front gate, patrols, horses, and heavy lifting were all Gui Cheng's responsibility. Gui Qian handled outside dealings and communication with the estate head of Muquan Manor, and sometimes handled staffing or went with Huang Ye on big purchases.

He was busy now too, but not as bad off as Gui Cheng. After Huang Ye went to the main courtyard to report, Gui Qian stayed in the reception hall to entertain the guests.

Hearing Aunt Chang's question, Gui Cheng smiled. "Auntie, you may not know—families in the capital often plant these trees. They're called courtyard trees. They're not for fruit, but for looks."

Aunt Chang's heart fluttered with anxiety, but she kept up the air of a third-rank official's aunt, craning her neck to say, "I've seen such things, of course. The rich families in town plant them too—I hear they cost a pretty penny!"

These items had all been bought through Gui Qian's tireless efforts. Meng Wan took a casual approach to such things—if they were available nearby, he'd buy them; if not, there was no need to go all the way to Jiangnan, where ornamental gardening was all the rage, wasting manpower, resources, and money.

He gave Gui Qian plenty of money and let him handle the buying.

Meng Wan's reputation in Xi Wu Prefecture was formidable—there wasn't a young merchant in Lingnan who didn't look up to him. Gui Qian considered it a great honor to be valued by him, and he spared no effort in carrying out Meng Wan's orders.

The second courtyard reception hall was the showpiece of the entire Song household. Gui Qian had searched high and low to find these two eighty-seven-year-old golden nanmu trees.

Now that they were being mentioned, he couldn't help feeling proud.

"Auntie is right. Those pomegranate and osmanthus trees cost only thirty to fifty taels of silver each. The expensive ones are these two golden nanmu trees that bear no fruit. Can you guess how much one of them costs?"

Aunt Chang stared at the trees—large and small saplings casually tossed on the ground waiting to be planted—and couldn't see how they differed from the ones in the mountains back home. Some twisted trees in the mountains were even better looking! Thirty to fifty taels for one of these things?

She swallowed hard, picked up the warm tea on the table, and gulped it down. "How much... silver?"

More than thirty or fifty?

"Gui Qian!" Huang Ye, having overheard part of the conversation, came over and shot Gui Qian a dirty look.

Then he smiled and said to Aunt Chang, "Auntie, please come with me to the old lady's courtyard. She's dying to see you and the young master!"

Yu Geer, who had been sitting still and slowly sipping his tea, perked up, shot up from his seat, and urged Aunt Chang, "Mother, let's go!"

Gui Qian rubbed his nose and watched the three leave, then was dragged off by the ever-busy Gui Cheng to do grunt work.

Aunt Chang had assumed she'd see Chang Jinhua right after leaving the reception hall, but instead she was led into another big courtyard.

The garden being landscaped in the middle of the courtyard was already three or four mu in size, surrounded by streams on all sides forming a small river, plus wooden corridors all around—the whole compound was astonishingly huge.

Aunt Chang's eyes widened as she exclaimed, "My sister-in-law lives in this huge place?"

Huang Ye replied respectfully, "Auntie, this is the main courtyard where the master and his husband live. The old lady lives in the back courtyard—we're almost there."

Yu Geer was quieter than his mother. He unconsciously touched the silver lotus-shaped earring on his ear, his heart soaring.

Walking along the clean, beautiful paths, with lovely, colorful pebbles under his feet—he felt like he was no longer on earth.

Even the emperor couldn't live in anything fancier than this, could he?

This was Shengjing City—the big, beautiful mansion where his cousin, the big official, lived.