Chapter 9: Men Must Be Magnanimous
“Don’t be nervous, I won’t bully you.” Shang Wan picked up the thin quilt and wrapped Lu Chengjing’s frail body tightly.
Lu Chengjing: Something seems off?
He coughed dryly, forcibly pulling the topic back, and asked with concern, “Where are you and Yuan Yuan living now?”
“Living in Elm Tree Village.” Shang Wan simply told him about the current situation of the four of them, emphasizing Chen San and the others’ matters, and asked, “Did you have a grudge with the Lin Family?”
She intuitively felt that Village Chief Lin’s sudden targeting of them was not just to establish authority, and their only connection to Elm Tree Village was Lu Chengjing.
“No.” Lu Chengjing frowned, “But him deliberately scheming against you all should be related to me.”
This statement was self-contradictory, wasn’t it?
Shang Wan looked at him, “Explain in detail.”
“Qin Cui Xiang, the daughter of Qin Lizheng from Xiao He Village, is the concubine of Li Can, the only son of former Dongning County Magistrate Li Wen Hua. Li Can has few heirs; his principal wife and other concubines all bore no children, only Qin Cui Xiang gave birth to a son for him, who may inherit the family business in the future. And the Qin Family and Lin Family are affinities by marriage.”
“Wait, let me sort this out.” Shang Wan felt the information was a bit overwhelming; she pressed her temples, “You mean the Qin Family blames you for poisoning the former county magistrate, so no one will pave the way for their grandson anymore, and out of resentment, they vent their anger on us through the Lin Family affinity by marriage?”
Lu Chengjing nodded.
Shang Wan was speechless; if they wanted revenge, they should confront directly—why go through such a big detour?
After thinking, she still felt something was off, “Shi Tou didn’t reveal his identity when he went to exchange for grain; how did Village Chief Lin know we are with you?”
Lu Chengjing looked at her unadorned bun, “That silver hairpin has the Lu Family crest engraved on it.”
Shang Wan: “…”
So she had pitted herself?
Lu Chengjing uneasily exhorted, “If one scheme fails, there should be follow-ups; you’re living in the village, so be cautious.”
“Don’t worry about us.” Shang Wan said, “First tell me, how should I get you out?”
Lu Chengjing stared at her face for a while, seeing her expression serious and not feigned, he couldn’t help pursing his pale lips and said lowly, “Besides finding the real poisoner, there’s no other way.”
“Then tell me the county magistrate poisoning incident from start to finish.” Shang Wan grabbed a handful of the person’s messy hair nearby and combed it straight strand by strand with her eyes down.
Lu Chengjing uncomfortably moved his head, wanting to pull his hair back.
“If you move again, it will hurt you.” Shang Wan held on without letting go, urging, “Hurry and speak; those constables will wake up soon.”
Hearing this, Lu Chengjing could only suppress the awkwardness in his heart and narrate the poisoning incident, picking out the key points.
Actually, the matter was simple; the day before yesterday, Lu Chengjing went to Fu Yuan Inn and ran into Li Wen Hua, who invited him to dine together, but who knew the wine was poisoned; Li Wen Hua bled from all seven orifices and died after drinking the poisoned wine, with a horrific death.
And Lu Chengjing, due to his weak body and inability to drink alcohol, luckily dodged the disaster.
There were only the two of them in the side room; after the constables questioned the inn staff and found no other suspects, the charge of poisoning the county magistrate naturally fell on Lu Chengjing.
“Unlucky child.” Shang Wan sighed, “Why did you go to Fu Yuan Inn for no reason?”
Lu Chengjing turned his face away and forcefully yanked his hair back from Shang Wan’s hand, breaking several strands.
Shang Wan: “…”
This tantrum was self-damaging a thousand points.
She carefully recalled her earlier words and reached out to poke Lu Chengjing’s arm, “I take back calling you unlucky child.”
This should make him not angry now, right?
But Lu Chengjing’s face visibly darkened even more, as if someone owed him thousands of taels of silver.
Shang Wan: “…”
Shi Tou’s awkwardness must have been learned from him, right?
“The letter.” Lu Chengjing gripped the quilt tightly with his left hand, his voice somewhat muffled, “I saw that letter.”
What letter?
Shang Wan blinked, and a scene suddenly jumped into her mind.
The sappy love words on the letter paper, the original host’s shy red face and rippling heart in the mirror, and that coy expression of half-refusing half-welcoming.
Damn! Lu Chengjing had actually gone to Fu Yuan Inn to catch her in adultery!
No wonder Shi Tou had been weird with her when he first woke up; if not for that letter, Lu Chengjing wouldn’t have gone to Fu Yuan Inn, and not going to the inn meant he wouldn’t run into Li Wen Hua, and not running into Li Wen Hua meant he wouldn’t take the blame for the poisoning.
And the original host was delayed by Madam Lu’s intentional obstruction, so by the time she went out, the news of Lu Chengjing poisoning the county magistrate had already spread, scaring the original host into fainting on the spot, and the cuckolding operation naturally came to nothing.
“If I say that letter was all fake, do you believe…” Under Lu Chengjing’s stare, Shang Wan pursed her lips, “Alright, you definitely don’t believe it.”
“But I didn’t even get to cuckold you in time?” Shang Wan said righteously, “Don’t dwell on things that didn’t happen; men should be magnanimous.”
Lu Chengjing was amused to anger by this, and Shang Wan immediately climbed the pole, “Hey, you’re laughing, so you’re not dwelling on it.”
“Fine.” Lu Chengjing unexpectedly agreed.
Shang Wan was stunned and carefully sized him up.
He could even tolerate being cuckolded; this might not be a real man.
“You really don’t mind?”
“Mm.” Lu Chengjing agreed again, his expression visibly softening.
Anyway, the woman in front of him wasn’t Shang Wan, so why bother with her?
Shang Wan didn’t understand what Lu Chengjing was thinking, but since he was so generous, could she embrace one on the left and one on the right in the future… cough, off topic; better get to business quickly.
“Who do you think is most likely to have poisoned Li Wen Hua?”
Lu Chengjing stared at her for a long time before spitting out a name, “Tian Sheng.”
Tian Sheng was Dongning County’s county assistant.
Shang Wan was puzzled, “Why do you suspect him?”
“That day he came to the inn with an official document from the county yamen to find Li Wen Hua and happened to witness Li Wen Hua’s poisoning.”
Shang Wan felt this reason was a bit forced, “What if he just happened to run into it?”
“He acted too surprised at the time and accidentally dropped the official document.” Lu Chengjing recalled the scene, “The document fell right by my feet; it was about replacing the master at the county school. Such a minor matter he could handle as county assistant; even if he needed Li Wen Hua’s opinion, it wasn’t so urgent for him to personally run from the county yamen to the inn.”
“So you think he deliberately made the trip to witness Li Wen Hua’s poisoning?”
“Mm.” Lu Chengjing nodded, “Besides him, I can’t think of anyone else.”
“Alright, we’ll investigate this Tian Sheng.” Shang Wan said, lifting her hand to cover Lu Chengjing’s forehead and finding the temperature completely normal.
Lu Chengjing naturally felt the change in his body; his exceptionally dark eyes looked at Shang Wan, “What did you make me drink earlier?”
Shang Wan didn’t blink, “Water.”
Spiritual spring water is water too.
Feeling brushed off, Lu Chengjing: “…”
“The quilt is a bit smelly and thin, but better than none.” Shang Wan stood up and waved at the person on the straw mat, “I’m off.”
Lu Chengjing opened his mouth to say something, but saw a cyan shadow flash before his eyes, then disappear with the sound of the lock falling.
A faint grassy woody fragrance lingered in the air.
Lu Chengjing lowered his head, gripped the thin quilt tightly with his left hand, his eyes hidden in the shadows dark and inscrutable.
