I Am A Husband Curser, And You Are A Wife Curser. - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Avoidance

The yamen sent personnel to notify the family.

Yang Tongchuan was currently directing the transport of the woman working as a prostitute and the pimp back to the yamen. The body was temporarily placed in the yamen mortuary.

Back at the office, Head Constable Wang called Yang Tongchuan over.

“Tongchuan, this matter involves the Lin family. If you’re feeling uncomfortable, I can give you a few days off. Go home and spend time with your spouse.”

“I’m fine, Constable Wang. It’s been a long time. Besides, I just took leave recently; if I take more, the brothers will start to have opinions.”

“Sigh, Tongchuan, if you’re upset, you must tell me. I feel I’ve let you down regarding the Lin family business.”

“It’s not your fault, Constable. I’m living well now. The child will be born around the first lunar month.”

“Alright. Go ahead and get to work. As for that innkeeper, it’s awkward for me to step in—go tell the boys not to make things too hard on him.”

“Understood. I’ll handle it.”

Yang Tongchuan went to the cells first to settle the instructions regarding the innkeeper. The man would likely pay a fine, receive a few symbolic strokes of the paddle, and be released. However, if the prostitute couldn’t pay her fine, she would suffer—likely receiving a heavy flogging and potentially a facial brand qingmian.

Just as he was finishing up his shift, he ran into someone coming to identify the body: Guard Lin, his former father-in-law.

Since his daughter’s divorce from Yang Tongchuan, Guard Lin had moved the entire family to the neighboring town, even relocating his security bureau. The encounter was incredibly awkward. Yang Tongchuan led him to see Constable Wang.

Guard Lin explained the background. After the divorce, Lin Yujun had married Dong Xingzhi beyond the Great Wall. However, she couldn’t stand the climate or the food there. Before long, she followed Dong Xingzhi’s caravan back to her parents’ home. Dong Xingzhi, doting on her, let her stay with her parents while he traveled back and forth for business.

This time, Dong Xingzhi had returned because he had acquired a batch of furs from the frontier. He wanted to sell them while the roads were still easy to travel, then purchase a batch of tea and silk to take back—turning a profit on both ends.

“He told the family a few days ago that he was coming here to talk business with merchants. Buying and selling usually takes ten days or a half-month, so we didn’t think much of it. We only found out something happened when the yamen came looking for us.”

Guard Lin didn’t yet know how his son-in-law had died; he simply assumed he had been murdered for his wealth.

Yang Tongchuan and Constable Wang exchanged a look, thinking: This is bad. When they searched Dong Xingzhi’s belongings, they found no large-denomination bank notes. Furthermore, the innkeeper hadn’t mentioned him bringing cargo to the inn. Large inns typically have specialized warehouses for merchants to store goods.

Where was the cargo? Where was the money?

“Guard Lin, your son-in-law was a traveling merchant. Why didn’t he have an attendant with him?”

“His regular attendant fell ill and is still bedridden at home. This batch of goods was urgent, so he came out alone.”

“Tongchuan,” Wang ordered, “take some men immediately to track the flow of Dong Xingzhi’s goods.”

“Yes, sir.”

Yang Tongchuan knew that whatever Constable Wang said next to Guard Lin, he wouldn’t say it in front of him to save his old friend’s dignity.

While heading to the west of the city for the investigation, Yang Tongchuan stopped by home to tell Xiang Xi he’d be back late because of a case.

“Don’t save dinner for me, and don’t wait up. Go to sleep early.”

By the time Yang Tongchuan returned home again, it was the following evening, and he had grown a visible stubble. After bathing and shaving, he found that Xiang Xi had already brought his saved dinner into their room.

“Come and eat.”

The family had small mixed fish braised in soy sauce today, with corn cakes pressed around the rim of the pot. Xiang Xi had set some aside for him in advance. Fearing it wouldn’t be enough, he had just used the small stove to fry a plate of eggs with green onions.

“Mm. If I’m late again, you don’t need to go to all this trouble. I can just grab a bite.”

“How can you ‘just grab a bite’ after working all day?” Seeing the way Yang Tongchuan devoured the food, Xiang Xi knew he hadn’t had time to eat properly.

Only after being full and warm did Yang Tongchuan feel like himself again.

“What kind of case was it? Is it the one from the inn where someone took too much ‘medicine’?” Xiang Xi gathered the dishes; he would wash them tomorrow so as not to wake the others.

“What ‘too much medicine’?” Yang Tongchuan realized they were talking about Dong Xingzhi dying on top of a woman.

“Mother went to buy vegetables today, and several neighbors asked if she knew the inside story. Turns out Mother knew less than the neighbors.” Xiang Xi smiled as he brewed a pot of dandelion tea for Yang Tongchuan. Currently, the town rumors were vivid, claiming the man truly died “beneath the peony flower.”

“It’s not that simple.” Yang Tongchuan told Xiang Xi what he had discovered, repeatedly warning him not to tell Mother—he feared her “big mouth” would leak it to the neighbors.

He had visited all the fur traders in town today. He found a merchant who had indeed purchased Dong Xingzhi’s furs and settled the payment in full. The furs were currently sitting in the merchant’s warehouse, waiting for the New Year’s rush.

However, the prostitute insisted she never saw any bank notes, even under harsh interrogation. They visited several private banks piaohao, but no one had seen Dong Xingzhi. The money had seemingly vanished into thin air.

What started as a simple case of “death by overexertion” mashangfeng had now turned into a potential murder-robbery. Even the County Magistrate had inquired about it today.

“We interrogated all the inn waiters today and searched the inn and their homes. Not a single bank note was found.” Yang Tongchuan’s feet were nearly blistered from walking. “And Guard Lin now knows his son-in-law died from ‘the horse-riding wind.’ He’s so angry he doesn’t want much to do with it. He says he’s written to the parents and will wait for them to handle it.”

“Where is this Dong fellow’s hometown?”

“He’s originally from here, but after he struck it rich at the frontier, he moved the whole family there. It’ll take at least a month for them to arrive.”

“How tragic,” Xiang Xi thought. In a month, the body would be decayed; they wouldn’t even see him one last time.

“Xiang Xi, have I told you who this Dong Xingzhi is?”

“Who?” Xiang Xi didn’t understand. Did this man have something to do with him?

Yang Tongchuan felt it was better to hear it from him than from a gossiping neighbor. He told Xiang Xi clearly: Dong Xingzhi was his ex-wife’s current husband.

Xiang Xi was visibly stunned. “Then… did you see her?” He felt a twinge of discomfort.

“Who?”

“Your previous wife.” Xiang Xi didn’t like the idea of Yang Tongchuan seeing her.

“No, her father came to handle it. Wait… what did you just say?” Yang Tongchuan suddenly seized upon a point his subconscious had been ignoring: Why hadn’t Lin Yujun come?

“I asked if you saw your ex-wife,” Xiang Xi said, raising his voice.

Yang Tongchuan thought to himself: How could a woman who once threatened to die just to be with Dong Xingzhi fail to show her face after her husband’s tragic death? Something is wrong.