Ink Burns

Chapter 206 Being a Broker (Fatty Chapter)

Shan Yue passed through the Autumn Water Corridor in the inner courtyard of the Marquis of Guanbei and entered the flower hall for afternoon rest. There, she saw Madam Zhou reclining on a chaise longue made of hibiscus silk and satin. Her slender hands were raised lightly and gracefully. Her hands and neck were wrapped tightly in gold foil. She was humming a little tune. It was impossible to tell whether it was the West Chamber or a drunken dream.

The air was filled with the lingering aroma of spikenard and styrax.

Hearing footsteps, Madam Zhou craned her neck and peeked out, greeting Shan Yue with a smile: "You've arrived?"

Then she called out, "Mother Dou—Mother Dou—bring us that set of Jade Complexion Powder, Pearl Cream, and Gold Leaf, and give them to our Madam Xue to use."

Raising her hands to prop herself up and sit up, she noticed that her face was also covered in a glossy white face cream.

Madam Zhou then said to Shan Yue in a coquettish voice, "Don't be so arrogant just because you're young. When it comes to getting old, it always starts with your hands and neck."

Mrs. Zhou seemed to be in a good mood.

Since arriving in Beijing, Shan Yue had the most contact with her. Madam Zhou was like a frivolous and thin sheet of paper, her temperament and mood laid bare on the paper, without any attempt to hide them—when she was in a good mood, she would unconsciously reveal her Jiangnan accent when she spoke.

Shan Yue carefully sat halfway on one side of her chaise lounge, forcing a smile: "Something good has come to visit? You seem so happy."

Even though Madam Zhou's face was covered with a thick layer of pearl frost, her beaming expression was still evident. She glanced around, then remembered that this courtyard was hers; why bother with cowardly pretense? She leaned closer to Shan Yue, her voice drawn out: "The scapegoat has pressed his fingerprint; he'll be released once the Prefect of the Capital completes the formalities—"

Shan Yue remained calm: "What scapegoat?"

Madam Zhou slapped Shan Yue with her gold-leaf-covered hand and clicked her tongue: "What other scapegoat could there be? The murderer who killed your Xue Chen!"

"Not the norm"

“Speak properly—” Madam Zhou patted Shan Yue again, and gold foil drifted into the air.

Shan Yue's gaze followed the strands of gold foil floating and mixed in the dust, and her mind wandered: How many doses of life-saving medicine could this gold buy for a poor family?

"Yesterday, the clerk from the 'Daxing' shop confessed. He admitted that he owed Xue Chen money and couldn't pay it back. Xue Chen kept pressing him, so he resorted to murder." Madam Zhou breathed a sigh of relief. "The process went relatively smoothly. The only problem was that the clerk was actually the nephew of the head of the 'Daxing' shop. That head of the shop has some connections in the capital and isn't one to back down from trouble. He was even willing to run around for his dying nephew. This matter almost didn't go through!"

Will he confess voluntarily, or will he be subjected to torture to extract a confession?
Shan Yue lowered her eyes and smiled gently: "It's just that we're lucky."

"Who says otherwise?! The arm can't twist the thigh! No matter what kind of unorthodox methods he has, he's just a lowly person, yet he dares to take us seriously!"

Madam Zhou had been living in fear for several days. She patted her chest with lingering apprehension and shook her head: "In my opinion, the capital city is becoming more and more unruly. People dare to rebel against anything, no matter how dirty, smelly, or lowly they are. What kind of good people are those who run 'fighting gangs'? If you ask me, my Su-ge'er's quick temper and violent temper are all due to these bad people's seduction!"

"Have you found any trace of the woman who seduced Xue Chen?" Shan Yue asked.

A hint of smugness flashed across her face beneath the thick layer of pearl powder: "Found her. A couple of days ago, the young master secretly slipped away from the Jingzhao Yin to seek revenge. I heard she's a 'Qingfeng' from the Six Ministries, also sent from Songjiang Prefecture—what a reckless young girl, rushing to the capital seeking a future, only to end up begging our son-in-law! Ugh! What bad luck! She even forced Chen-ge to meet the King of Hell!"

Mother Dou brought over the Jade Complexion Powder and gold foil. Just as she took Shan Yue's hand, his hand suddenly pulled away.

"And it was a 'Azure Phoenix'?" Shan Yue asked softly in surprise. "Now it's dead too?"

"He's dead!" Madam Zhou said triumphantly. "You know about the fire at Qiushui Ferry the other day? My son set it! I sent people to ask, and the maids at Xinglin Hall all said they didn't know where that Wei guy had gone—I figured he was either killed or burned. My son timed it perfectly; everyone thought he was still the Prefect of the Capital! Who knew he was so clever, sneaking out to take revenge!"

Madam Zhou smiled with pride: "Now, we have witnesses, physical evidence, and alibis, don't we? The people from the Six Departments aren't so easy to kill. If they really investigate, even the Grand Princess can say that a Prefect of the Capital just happened to step in and take the blame!"

Madam Zhou rambled on about how brave, intelligent, righteous, and lucky her son was, and then she talked about how that damned clerk surnamed Wei deserved to die, how despicable and shameless he was. She also cursed Chang Lin, the Marquis of Guanbei, for neglecting his son—she cursed him softly, not daring to loudly rebuke the head of the household, who had the final say, in the Chang family.

Everything came down to the fact that her son had finally escaped danger and overcome another obstacle.

Shan Yue listened quietly with her head lowered, her hands obediently placed on her knees, allowing Dou Mama to gently take her hand. Dou Mama scooped up a pea-sized amount of Yu Rong powder with her fingertip and applied it to the back of Shan Yue's hand, then rubbed it in with her warm palm. The powder, made from precious medicinal herbs, mixed with delicate and smooth oils, seeped into every inch of her skin, leaving it moisturized without being sticky or greasy.

Mother Dou kindly took her hand and carefully showed her the changes in her skin texture under the nourishment of money: "Your hands are those of an artist. The ink and charcoal have eroded your flesh, so you need to take good care of them. I will add an extra ingredient, Cyperus rotundus, to your Jade Complexion Powder. In less than a hundred days, your hands will be even more beautiful than green onions."

Wealth and status are fucking tempting.

But Shan Yue didn't want to be a person; she wanted to be grass, a "one-year-old rush," growing vigorously regardless of spring, autumn, winter, or summer.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Madam Dou," Shan Yue said obediently with a smile. Madam Dou carried the silver basin out of the flower room.

As soon as Aunt Dou left, Shan Yue smiled and quietly turned her head to look directly at Madam Zhou, who was raising her hand to carefully admire her glossy nails.

Madam Zhou finally noticed Shan Yue's gaze, frowned, and looked up, the slightly dry pearl powder on her face falling off in a flurry: "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I was thinking—" Shan Yue slowly took out a bundle wrapped tightly in satin from her sleeve: "Perhaps I'm seeing things wrong. Young Master Chang is perfectly fine now—this thing, isn't it Young Master Chang's?"

As Shan Yue spoke, she peeled back the layers of satin one by one.

Finally, a lustrous jade thumb ring was revealed.

The thumb ring was very large; it was clearly worn by a big, burly man.

A few drops of blood, now rust-colored, were still splattered on the ring.

Madam Zhou's hand, which had been suspended in mid-air, froze. Her eyes were fixed on the jade thumb ring in the pile of brocade and satin. Ignoring her newly painted nails, she quickly stood up, grabbed the thumb ring in a moment of embarrassment, and opened it to see the familiar, lifelike Taotie!

The gluttonous beast is extremely ferocious, capable of devouring the heavens and the earth, just like Su'er, just like her expectations for Su'er!
Madam Zhou quickly looked up, her eyes darting around anxiously, filled with intense doubt: "Where did this ring come from!?"

Shan Yue remained silent, only raising her hand to the narrow window that let in light, admiring the young and beautiful body.

"Where did this ring come from!" Madam Zhou grabbed Shan Yue's collar, her panic showing on her face without any attempt to hide it. "This is Su Ge'er's treasure, a jade given to him by the Marquis. How did the ferocious beast carved by the craftsman I asked the Grand Princess to find end up in your hands?"

Shan Yue pouted, raised her eyebrows, placed her hands on her knees, turned around, and looked at Madam Zhou face to face: "After the fire at Qiushui Ferry, Xue Xiao came back late and had a strong smell of blood on him. I felt something was wrong. Yesterday, while he was asleep, I found this thing in his pocket."

“Madam, you know that painters have a good eye. I recognized it at a glance. This is Young Master Chang’s favorite item.”

Shan Yue's voice was soft and gentle.

But Madam Zhou felt something was different from usual, but she didn't have time to think about it. She felt as if a bolt from the blue had struck her: "You mean Su-ge'er is now in the Censorate!?"

Shan Yue's eyelashes fluttered slightly, then she pouted and shrugged noncommittally: "I also asked Xue Xiao about this."

"Then what!?"

"He's being held captive right now." Shan Yue chuckled lightly. "He's in the dungeon of the Censorate. Xue Xiao said he caught the young master who was trying to escape to Jizhou to avoid trouble in the back mountains outside the city's eastern suburbs. It took some effort to escort him back to the Censorate."

Madam Zhou's face was stiff and cold, emanating a chilling aura of panic. Her eyes instantly turned red: "What is he going to do! What is that mad bird going to do! My son has never had any grudge against him, why is he kidnapping my son!—I know about the Censorate's secret prison! It's underground in the east of the city! Yao Zao couldn't find the exact location, but he remembered that the punishments inside were cruel tortures inherited from the Shang and Qin dynasties! It's inhuman and bloody! My son is delicate, how can he endure it!?"

The magistrate of the capital used cruel torture to force the common people to submit; it was a sign that Heaven had eyes.

When the paddle hits him, he says, "My son is delicate."

Your son is big and burly, like a rickety cart with a slung over his neck; he is certainly not the kind of person who is "delicate and frail."

Shan Yue smiled almost imperceptibly, her tone the complete opposite of Madam Zhou's. Her voice appeared urgent, but beneath the surface, it carried a leisurely, teasing tone: "Ah? So harsh? Young Master Chang has been pampered since childhood, how could he have ever suffered like this?"

Tears streamed down Madam Zhou's face: "How could it not be!"

"Then why don't you think of a way to save him?" Shan Yue asked in a high-pitched voice, a smile playing on her lips, but her brows furrowed into a deep frown.

"Save? How can we save her?" Madam Zhou looked up in panic, like a drowning person grasping at a straw.

Shan Yue smiled, her demeanor cool and composed: "Of course, you should seek help from Xue Xiao—he holds your son in his hands, and you hold what he wants. I can act as a middleman, connecting you on one end and Xue Xiao on the other. If you cooperate well, Young Master Chang can truly turn misfortune into good fortune."

Madam Zhou frowned, looking at Shan Yue with confusion, muttering, "Cooperation... Xue Xiao, you..."

After a few words had passed through her lips, Madam Zhou seemed to wake from a dream, looking at Shan Yue as if she were a stranger: "You! When did you side with Xue Xiao!?"