Chapter 61 Reconciliation

The heavy rain continued throughout the night.

The next day, in the bedchamber of Second Master Song of the Song residence in Yangzhou.

Early in the morning, servants were already waiting outside for Second Master Song to wake up.

Around the *chen* hour, movement finally came from the room of the concubine Second Master Song had spent the night with.

The pageboy who had been waiting patiently immediately instructed someone to announce his arrival inside.

When he arrived, Second Master Song was being dressed and washed by a young and beautiful concubine.

Standing at the doorway, the pageboy spoke in a rush, reporting, "Master, the Fifth Young Master did not return at all last night... And the dozen or so thugs he took with him have all vanished without a trace... First thing this morning, I sent people to search all the places the Fifth Young Master might have frequented. We checked four or five locations, but found nothing... He has gone missing..."

Second Master Song still had his eyes closed, looking as though he had not yet had enough sleep.

He had a face full of fleshy jollies, was short of stature, slightly plump, in his late forties, and dressed in luxurious, expensive garments.

Hearing the pageboy's report, he showed not the slightest concern, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"He must have gone off somewhere to fool around. Why make such a fuss? Is this really worth coming to disturb me so early in the morning?"

The pageboy hurriedly pleaded, "No, please forgive me, Master, please forgive me. The Fifth Young Master didn't go off to fool around last night... It's just that..."

The more he spoke, the more panicked he became, sweat streaming down his forehead. After all, what Song Lian had set out to do last night was hardly a glorious endeavor.

Annoyed by his stuttering, yet growing somewhat more attentive, Second Master Song opened his eyes, glanced at the man, and told him to start from the beginning.

Only then did the pageboy recount the whole sequence of events in detail.

"...At first glance, it was a young woman living alone. After nightfall, the Young Master took those dozen men to her residence, and had me wait beforehand at a designated courtyard... But I waited past midnight, and the Young Master didn't return, nor was there any movement until dawn. Feeling uneasy, I went over to the woman's residence. When I got inside, not only were the young woman and her maid gone, but the pair of siblings who originally lived there had also vanished without a trace... After making inquiries, the neighbors said they heard the sound of horses in the middle of the night, suspected to be troops. At first, I figured military personnel had nothing to do with our Young Master, so I didn't pay much attention. But then, when I went to look for those dozen thugs at four or five of their homes, they all claimed the men never returned. When I thought back on those military men, I, I..."

Second Master Song grasped the implication, and by now he was fully awake.

His good-for-nothing son had actually gone to seize a citizen's daughter by force last night!

Since military men were involved, could he have been caught red-handed by the authorities?

Was he currently being detained at the yamen?

Second Master Song clasped his hands behind his back, his eyes rolling thoughtfully.

With the previous Military Commissioner and the Prefect, he could easily smooth things over. But not anymore; the current Prefect acted with extreme caution and had to look to Lu Zhi for cues.

What an illustrious family background Lu Zhi possessed.

They certainly could not afford to provoke him.

Yet, if his precious son was truly being detained by the officials, he had no choice but to go and see the Prefect in person.

Pondering this, Second Master Song summoned his personal pageboy and asked, "Has there been any movement outside? Has anyone come looking for me since morning?"

The pageboy replied, "Master, no one has."

Second Master Song found this somewhat strange. He had people on his payroll inside the yamen. With a matter of such magnitude, logically speaking, even if the Prefect didn't send someone to inform him, that insider should have sent him word.

The more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt, and an inexplicable, ill-omened premonition suddenly gripped his heart.

Without waiting any longer, he immediately went to the yamen.

The Prefect granted him an audience.

Because of his younger brother, who served as the Imperial Son-in-law in the capital, the Prefect had always treated him with great courtesy.

Without beating around the bush, Second Master Song smiled ingratiatingly and brought up his son.

However, the result caused the smile on his face to instantly freeze and vanish.

"There is no such matter."

Emerging from the yamen, Second Master Song's complexion was noticeably paler, his expression stern, wondering if that pageboy was simply useless and had messed things up.

Therefore, upon returning to the estate, he summoned the man for a rigorous re-interrogation and dispatched men far and wide to search for him.

Yet three days yielded nothing.

His son had truly vanished.

By the fourth day, Second Master Song was so anxious that every bush and tree looked like an enemy soldier.

And it was on this very day that Song Lian was found.

Unfortunately, he was found in a potter's field.

The instant he laid eyes on the corpse, Second Master Song's eyes split with rage, a surge of burning fury overwhelming him, and he nearly fainted. While wailing in agony, his eyes bloodshot, he vowed to hack the murderer into ten thousand pieces to avenge his son. On that very same day, the dispatched men discovered the identity of the young woman living in that small residence.

The subordinate who came to report spoke with extreme caution, revealing her identity: "Master, she is the Military Commissioner's woman."

Second Master Song's pupils dilated instantly, his eyes widening. For a long time, he stood motionless, fear and hatred sharing equal weight.

Gradually, hatred eroded the fear, and he clenched his fists fiercely.

He should have realized it sooner. Aside from the Prefect's yamen, who else could mobilize dozens of soldiers?

In whose hands did the military power of the fourteen prefectures of Huainan rest?

"Lu Zhi, you killed my son, we are irreconcilable enemies!"

Second Master Song trembled all over, his face ferocious, gritting his teeth so hard the lingering sound seemed to fan the flames...

*******

The Military Commissioner's Residence.

After resting for two days, Yan Xi's constitution gradually recovered.

By the third day, she was finally able to get out of bed.

For the past two days, she had not seen Lu Zhi.

The man had returned to the estate and was present every night, but he had not come to her room.

Yan Xi had no desire to see him either.

Yet on this third day, contrary to her expectations, the scoundrel graced her with his presence.

Yan Xi was drinking medicinal broth at the table.

Hearing the movement, she glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw him. The young girl slowly lowered her soup bowl, no longer able to drink.

Lu Zhi strolled in leisurely, just as before—half-smiling, expressionless, neither flushed nor pale, completely unhurried. He looked neither afraid of Second Master Song's revenge nor embarrassed that his misdeeds were now known, unmasked, and thoroughly exposed by irrefutable evidence she had discovered.

Yan Xi did not even look at him.

The room was quite quiet. The other maids wisely withdrew, leaving only Qinglian and Taohong behind.

The atmosphere grew frosty until the man finally spoke.

"Hah..."

He let out a light laugh, lowering his gaze to look at her. His expression remained unchanged—tinged with sensual heat, yet laced with coldness.

"Don't go out recently. You're so smart, you shouldn't need me to teach you..."

Yan Xi couldn't help but retort, "I wouldn't have thought there was anything you could be afraid of..."

Hearing this, the man raised an eyebrow, looking immensely disdainful and utterly arrogant as he drawled, "Would I be afraid of him?"

Yan Xi knew he wouldn't be afraid of him. So self-important, cutting down gods if they blocked him and Buddhas if they stood in his way, fearing neither ghosts nor deities—how could he fear a mortal?

It was just that, apart from Second Master Song, he was inevitably bound to offend Song Yu, the Marquis of Huaiyin.

In recent years, Song Yu held immense power and was a favored confidant of Li Yin.

Offending him naturally brought no benefits.

Originally, he didn't have to resort to taking a life.

Yan Xi asked, "Why must you go to such lengths?"

Lu Zhi slowly paced forward, stepping close to her, lowering his gaze as he arched an eyebrow: "For the short term, you won't dare to run away again..."

Yan Xi had been meeting his gaze, tilting her small face upward, listening quite earnestly for his reply, never expecting him to utter such words with a smile curving his lips.

Then, Lu Zhi burst out laughing, a genuine sound of amusement.

For the first time, Yan Xi felt he was somewhat morbid.

The young girl immediately averted her gaze.

At that moment, hearing him speak so casually while toying with the thumb ring on his hand, he seemed to pick up the thread of conversation offhandedly.

"No one else is allowed to touch you, no one is allowed to hurt you, no one is allowed to frighten you—not even a fraction..."

Yan Xi slowly clenched her hands tight, very naturally recalling the words he had spoken when he caught her on the boat after her escape.

He had said she was his.

Yan Xi raised her eyes to meet his gaze once more.

This time she did not refute him, nor did she talk back, letting him say whatever he pleased.

Since she could not leave right now, matters having reached this point, she had only one final path left—to wait half a month, or a couple of months.

Confronting him was living; living in peace was also living.

She might as well live in peace.

Pondering this, she temporarily changed her mind.

It would be better to use this incident and this stepping stone to superficially reconcile with him, so as to bide her time and watch how the situation unfolded.

Thinking thus, she softened her tone and asked meekly, "Do you... like me that much?"

The question came so abruptly that Yan Xi had no mental preparation. The moment she asked it, her face flushed red.

Yet she saw the man stop toying with his thumb ring, lifting his eyelids slightly to look at her. For just a fleeting second, the corners of his mouth twitched, but he looked away without answering.

Yan Xi involuntarily clenched her hand again, picked up the soup bowl from the table, averted her gaze once more, and resumed drinking.

At that moment, someone came from outside to report, "Master, Second Master Song has hired a hundred or so assassins."

Lu Zhi gave a light scoff, replying lazily, "Understood."

Moments later, he cast a lingering look down at the young girl, turned, and left.

The moment he stepped out, Qinglian went to latch the door.

Upon returning, Taohong had already blurted out, "What does he mean? The young miss gave him a stepping stone and he refuses to take it; she asks him a question and he refuses to answer! First, he makes a huge fuss, going so far as to deceive the Duke and disregard the consequences just to take the young miss away; second, when the young miss runs away, he chases after her like a madman; third, he kills Song Lian for the young miss's sake, forging a blood feud with Song Yu. The young miss even offers him a way to smooth things over, asks him a question, and he..."

Taohong finished in one breath, dying of anger.

Qinglian remained silent, but her thoughts were identical to Taohong's; she too had seen through the young miss's intention of a superficial reconciliation.

Yan Xi offered no reply.

Truth be told, she hadn't cared much to know the answer; she was merely steering the conversation toward reconciliation and talking it out...

Yet if forced to acknowledge the answer, she knew it in her heart.

It could hardly be called liking; he simply wanted to keep her clutched in the palm of his hand, delighting in making her his caged bird...