Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 6 Desire
Seeing the matchmaker's behavior, the servant knew that she was involved in the matter, so he became even more ruthless, kicking her away and scolding her.

"Look closely, is it a person or a ghost?"

The matchmaker collapsed to the ground, trembling. She clearly remembered that when she dressed the young woman, the woman's body was ice cold.

How could it be a person?

With a sudden surge of determination, the matchmaker raised her hand and slapped herself.

The matchmaker immediately winced in pain.

Oh dear, it's all true. Looking at the fierce-looking constables around her, the old woman rubbed her eyes and then carefully examined Xie Yuyan from head to toe.

"Do you understand now?" Chen Ju stepped forward and asked in a deep voice.

The matchmaker's lips trembled as she hurriedly said, "I understand, I understand, it's...it's a person..."

No one knows how guilty the matchmaker was when she said that last word. Could it be that she was really old and couldn't even tell the difference between the dead and the living?

"Then tell me how the Xie family instructed you to harm people?"

They should have taken the woman in for interrogation, but the timing was good, so Chen Ju spoke up. He was also very anxious because he hadn't gotten anything out of the Xie family. He decided to prevent the old woman from seeing any members of the Xie family and trick her into telling the truth.

"Harm people?" The old woman hurriedly waved her hand, "Even if I had the greatest courage in the world, I wouldn't dare to do such a thing."

Chen Ju snorted coldly: "The Xie family has already admitted it, and you still dare to argue."

"Guards," Chen Ju waved his hand, "take this old woman away and sober her up."

The servant responded and was about to drag the matchmaker away.

The matchmaker was terrified: "Sir, this old woman has been wronged! This young lady died as soon as she was in my hands..."

As the matchmaker finished speaking, she closed her mouth and swallowed.

"Drowned my foot! The person is right here, perfectly fine."

She can stand, she can walk, and she can even laugh...

That smile made the matchmaker's heart tremble.

The matchmaker raised her hand and slapped herself again. She should have known better than to be greedy for those twenty strings of cash and do such a business.

"This young lady was kidnapped and sold. She died of illness on the way, so... so her body was sold. The old woman saw that the young lady was beautiful, and since the Xie family wanted to buy a female corpse, she became greedy and spent five strings of cash to buy her and then sold her to the Xie family."

Chen Ju snorted coldly: "Didn't you see the marks on her neck?"

How could the matchmaker not have seen it? It was because the person she was looking for suddenly refused to sell the body. She couldn't very well steal it from the grave. The Xie family had a lot of face to save; they couldn't possibly take a buried body there. Besides, the Xie family was in a hurry, and the Yang family might change their minds. After thinking it over, she simply decided to take care of it.

Thinking of being buried with Yang's sixth son, and publicly claiming to be Xie's tenth daughter, she had made all the necessary arrangements. What could possibly go wrong?
But then, the most unlikely thing happened.

The matchmaker recounted all of this in one breath.

Where are the kidnappers?

The matchmaker cheered, thinking that as long as she helped the yamen catch the kidnappers, her crime would be less serious.

"It is Jiao Da, who often travels around Daming Prefecture. He lives in Hejia Village outside the city and does some small business on weekdays."

Without Chen Ju giving any orders, the constables immediately went to arrest the man. They made a trip inside and outside the city and returned in no time.

Chen Ju breathed a sigh of relief. With Jiao Da caught, the case should be clear. He turned around and saw Zhang Shi comforting the young lady.

What Chen Ju didn't see was that Xie Yuyan's gaze went past Zhang's shoulder and went straight to the matchmaker.

The matchmaker felt a chill run down her spine when that gaze swept over her. Even though she knew the young woman wasn't dead, for some reason, she felt... that the person in front of her was a ghost.

"Have you never helped with kidnapping or trafficking?"

The young woman's voice drifted into her ears, and the matchmaker immediately broke out in a cold sweat. She had never abducted or sold anyone, but she had made a few connections and had noticed some suspicious signs.

She could easily bluff her way out of these guilty consciences if asked by others; she was adept at speaking human language to humans, but as for ghosts… she had never learned how to speak ghost language in her entire life. The matchmaker's strange behavior caught Chen Ju's attention, and the young lady's question reminded him of something.

“Take her away for questioning,” Chen Ju said. “Don’t even think about leaving here until you get a clear answer.”

Interrogating the matchmaker and summoning Jiao Da would take some time. Xie Yuyan and Zhang went back to their room to rest, and soon Yang Qin was brought over as well.

“The clerks in the government office were all very nice. They asked me a few questions,” Yang Qin said, “but they didn’t mention the arson.”

Inspector He did not reveal what he had said.

This made Yang Qin admire Xie Yuyan even more; she was the smartest person he had ever met.

Xie Yuyan looked at Yang Qin: "If Inspector He asks you what you want later, what will you say?"

Yang Qin thought carefully: "What if I said I would join the army like my brother when I grow up? I heard that Inspector He also led troops on the frontier. Maybe he would like that?"

Xie Yuyan shook his head.

Yang Qin opened his mouth, his face full of surprise: "Wrong?"

Xie Yuyan said, "How old are you this year? It will take at least ten years before you can join the army. By then, not only will Inspector He not remember you, but you might not even know where he is. You haven't even fully grown yet, so it's impossible to teach you martial arts. Even if you wait two or three years and manage to get General Chen to teach you, wouldn't those two or three years be a complete waste?"

Yang Qin had never heard of these things before. Realizing that Xie Yuyan was teaching him, his eyes lit up: "Then what should I do?"

"Do you like reading?" Xie Yuyan reached out and pinched the corner of Yang Qin's clothes, which still had ink stains that hadn't been washed off. "If you want to pass the imperial examinations in the future, you can mention it to Inspector He."

“That inspector doesn’t seem to be a pure brute; perhaps he can find you a gentleman.”

Yang Qin subconsciously looked at Zhang Shi. When Zhang Shi heard the words "pass the imperial examinations," she thought of Yang Mingsheng, and her eyes reddened. She thought she would never hear those words again, and that her late husband's expectations and wishes would never be fulfilled.

Now the woman has spoken out.

With a slight sob in her voice, Zhang said, "We are a merchant family, and it is extremely difficult for us to participate in the imperial examinations."

Xie Yuyan said calmly, "Since it's only 'difficult' but not impossible, why give up?"

Zhang was even more astonished, almost unable to suppress her emotions. She covered her face with a handkerchief, barely managing to hold back the sobs that threatened to burst from her lips. Ah Lang had said the exact same thing before. Now Zhang believed that the young woman's arrival at her home was due to the protection of her late husband and sixth son.

After Xie Yuyan waited until Zhang and her son calmed down, he said to Yang Qin, "What you can get your hands on immediately is the best. If you want to get on Inspector He's side, you have to use his connections. That way you'll get his protection."

"Is it really that simple?" Yang Qin had always thought that it would take a lot of effort to get these things.

"The easiest way to quickly build a relationship with someone is to ask them for help. Once you owe them something, you'll have a good relationship with them. If they can't help you with your request, you'll naturally miss the best opportunity."

"Today we have broken ties with the second branch of your clan. Only by letting the second branch know that you have been in contact with Inspector He will they not dare to act rashly. You are an orphan and a widow with nothing. It would be too slow to change your situation on your own. It would be better to seek help from others."

Yang Qin was a smart child. He had suffered hardships and lived a miserable life in the clan with Zhang Shi, and had witnessed the coldness and warmth of human relationships. Therefore, he could understand what Xie Yuyan was saying.

Zhang wiped her eyes and said, "My son and I owe you a debt of gratitude."

Xie Yuyan said, "Since I'm going to stay in the Yang family, I can also benefit from Qin'er doing these things well. It's not a matter of who owes whom."

This was the first time Zhang and her son had ever heard of someone refusing to repay a debt of gratitude.

"My wife is a good person."

Xie Yuyan smiled silently. She had said so much, laid bare her schemes before them, yet they still thought she was a good person? Perhaps no one in this world was more foolish than them.

After a moment of silence, Yang Qin couldn't help but point out the window again: "Why is my wife staring at that spot?"

Xie Yuyan said, "If someone gets close and tries to eavesdrop, they will block the light from there."

As soon as Xie Yuyan finished speaking, the sunlight that had been casting on the ground disappeared, leaving a shadow. Yang Qin's eyes widened.

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(End of this chapter)