Chapter 112

Chapter 112: When the Engagement Failed, He Killed the Whole Family

Yu Zhi Yi’s fingers moved fast, and the copper coins flipped up and down with her motions so quickly that no one could see them clearly, only streaks of afterimages.

You Bing Yue’s eyes grew darker, and Du Zi Heng also looked shocked.

Putting everything else aside, just this finger skill alone proved she knew how to use hidden weapons.

Before long, Yu Zhi Yi stopped. Some color had drained from her pretty face, but her eyes shone bright.

She looked at Steward Ma and spoke calmly: “Wu Liang, you caused sixteen deaths. After you die, you will fall into the Eighteen Levels of Hell and never be reborn.”

This one line made Steward Ma panic inside, but his mind was deep and he showed nothing on his face.

Old Man Zhang was also shaken, yet he still tangled over the name as he asked in a trembling voice: “You mean his name really isn’t Ma Bo Cai?”

Yu Zhi Yi nodded: “Right. That is the false name he took ten years ago after committing a serious crime, to escape arrest.”

She added in a cold voice as she stared at Steward Ma, no, Wu Liang: “He wasn’t found out because the name wasn’t made up from nothing. It belonged to a real person. But that person was dead.”

She let each word drop like a stone: “He killed that man to take his name and identity.”

Wu Liang snapped back with a shout: “Nonsense! Ridiculous! I never did any of this! My name truly is Ma Bo Cai. Please, my lords, see the truth!”

He glared at Yu Zhi Yi, his face full of grief and anger as he barked at her: “My lady, I have no quarrel with you. Why are you harming me like this? I warn you, if you don’t give me an answer today, then when I get out of prison someday, I will go beat the grievance drum. Even if I lose a layer of skin, even if I die under that drum, I will drag you down from office and seek justice for myself!”

You Bing Yue was happy to see Yu Zhi Yi stumble as she sneered: “Serves you right for spewing lies. You hit a wall, didn’t you?”

By now she was already suspicious. Yu Zhi Yi must have come here today to save Old Man Zhang. By accident, her own actions had ruined the woman’s plan. Without catching the thief with the goods, that woman would be in a tight spot. With that woman’s temper, if she had evidence, she would have thrown it down already. The reason she hadn’t must be because she had none. [Let’s see how this woman ruins herself. As for finding evidence later, I can do that too.]

Yu Zhi Yi spoke lightly: “Don’t worry. I’ll let you die understanding.”

She looked at Wu Liang and said in a clear voice: “You are from Chang Xin Commandery, Kao Shan County, North Mountain Village. Your family used to have a bit of property and lived in the county seat, but later your house declined and you had to return to the village to make a living.”

“Most people look down on the poor and resent the rich. When your family fell, many in the village came to your parents to kick you while you were down. You were young then. You heard those ugly words and saw your parents shamed. Hatred took root in your heart.”

“But that alone was not enough to make you kill.”

“What pushed you to slaughter eight people in one night was the broken engagement your family had tried to set up.”

“Your grandfather was close with an old master in the county. When your mother was pregnant and your family still had some money, that man’s daughter-in-law was pregnant too. The two old sirs joked over dinner: if one had a boy and the other a girl, they would betroth the two children.”

“The next year, that family ran into trouble and was about to fall. Your grandfather feared being dragged down. When the other old sir came to borrow money, your grandfather turned him away and said the child betrothal was only a joke and did not count.”

“The two old men had been friends for decades. Your grandfather’s safe choice could be understood, but the other still felt hurt and fell into long sadness afterward.”

“At that time your parents were proud of themselves. They felt they had thrown off a big burden.”

“Years later the situation reversed. That family got through the hard times and rose higher. Your family, because of one decision your father made, fell fast. You could no longer stay in the county and had to return to the village.”

“Now your parents remembered the child betrothal. They took you to the other family and hoped they would accept it for the sake of your still cute face, so you could use the marriage to leech off your new in-laws.”

“But the other family’s old sir had already died from years of sadness. They would not agree. They mocked you and drove you out.”

“You, still young, remembered that shame. For years afterward, you kept hearing people say your family had no vision, that it was good the young lady’s family refused you, and so on.”

“Soon after, word came of that young lady’s wedding.”

“People said she was engaged to the son of a well-known local squire. It was a clear step up. The mockery against you grew louder.”

“After one night of drinking, you got into a fight. The other person used your broken engagement to insult you. He said you were useless and had a nasty temper, no wonder the young lady despised you. Drunk and raging, you took a knife, went to the county seat, slipped into the young lady’s house, and killed her family of four, plus four servants.”

Hearing Yu Zhi Yi tell the story as if she had seen it with her own eyes, Wu Liang was terrified inside. But he was used to wearing a mask. Even though his heart was a storm, he forced his face to stay calm. Because he was so tense, his face turned stiff as he stammered: “W-what are you talking about? None of this is real!”

Yu Zhi Yi ignored his quibbles and turned to the constables as she said evenly: “This was a major case in that area, and the killer has been on the run the whole time. The Ministry of Justice should have the file. You should know whether this is true.”

The constables were already shaken. The case was indeed important to the Ministry of Justice, and because it was so vile, the ministry had watched it closely. But the killer was cunning. After the murders, he vanished and had not returned home in years. There was nowhere to look.

A constable nodded by reflex and answered in a low voice: “There really is such a case.”

Yu Zhi Yi went on: “After you killed them, you sobered up. You saw the bodies all over the floor. Even with your hard heart, you were badly scared. You knew that if the truth got out, you would die without a burial place. You didn’t dare go home. You took some silver from the young lady’s house and found two clean sets of clothes. After changing, you fled in the night.”

“You were lucky. That year, Jiang Prefecture had a flood. Many refugees moved north. You happened to meet them.”

“When you met that group, it was already the last batch. There were only five people left, and one of them was a scholar.”

“That scholar was Ma Bo Cai.”