Chapter 54: Visiting Second Uncle

Chapter Title: 054 Visiting the Second Uncle

“I truly don’t know who exactly it is,” Wang Suzhi admitted honestly.

Fang Rulai’s gaze narrowed dangerously, shooting her a look—how dare she speak so carelessly without knowing the facts? Was she toying with him?

Quick to appease him, Wang Suzhi continued, “I genuinely don’t know. But whenever there’s something to discuss with her, she always asks for some time to think things over before responding. And when she finally gives her opinion, it’s always comprehensive, with every detail accounted for, and flawlessly executed. To be frank with you, Master, her failure to anticipate you this time is the first time she’s slipped up.”

Fang Rulai had no patience for Wang Suzhi’s roundabout flattery; his focus was entirely on Xu Chunhua. “She always says she needs time to think?”

“Yes. Just last night, when I went to discuss framing you with her, she said the same thing. But I told her the situation was urgent and there wasn’t much time to think it over. So she told me to wait in the hall while she returned to her inner room. Not long after, she came back and proposed the plan to use tea leaves as the main tool in her scheme.”

Fang Rulai seized on a crucial detail. “The inner room! Who was there?”

“My second uncle,” Wang Suzhi answered without hesitation and then realized what Fang Rulai was suspecting. “It couldn’t be my second uncle—he’d been bedridden since before I married into the Zhao family. It’s said he’s barely conscious for more than an hour each day, spending most of his time in a stupor. In fact, when he and Xu Chunhua were married, it was actually my younger uncle who stood in for him at the ceremony.”

“It’s said? So you haven’t seen it with your own eyes?” Fang Rulai pressed.

“Well, I did visit once with my mother. She and Xu Chunhua went in first, and I caught only a distant glimpse from behind. His face was waxy and yellow, nothing like a normal person. I’d believe it if someone told me he was on his deathbed. There’s no way he could be helping Xu Chunhua plot. It’s simply impossible.”

The more certain Wang Suzhi sounded, the deeper Fang Rulai’s suspicion grew.

If Second Young Master Zhao Liang really slept so long every day, wouldn’t that make it all the easier for someone to pretend to be him in bed while he freely moved about as he pleased?

And then there was the matter earlier—when Xu Chunhua stripped off her clothes, Fang Rulai had caught a fleeting glimpse of a suspicious red mark beneath her half-covered collar. As someone from a modern world saturated with scenes of passion, even if she’d never eaten pork herself, she’d seen plenty of pigs run. That mark could only be left by lovemaking, not by accidentally bumping her chest against a door. So who was the one responsible? Was it Zhao Liang, hiding in the shadows, or someone else entirely? Either way, Xu Chunhua was now unquestionably a figure of suspicion.

“Let’s go. To Xu Chunhua’s courtyard.” Fang Rulai stood up abruptly and strode toward the door.

“Master!” Wang Suzhi hurried to intercept him. “Are you just going like this?”

“How else should I go?”

Wang Suzhi looked around nervously. “Shouldn’t you at least bring a group of a hundred men, or at least a dozen followers? What if there’s really something going on inside? Going alone—”

“I don’t intend to do anything tonight. I just want to take a look.” Fang Rulai stepped around her, intent on moving forward.

But Wang Suzhi blocked him again. “Master, if you’re just going to look, then there’s no need. You won’t see anything.”

“Oh? Why do you say that?”

“To tell you the truth, I’ve sent spies there before. Whether it was maids, old servants, or even skilled martial artists from the jianghu, none have ever gotten close to the courtyard gate. And every single one of them disappeared without a trace the very next day after reporting back to me. That’s why I suspect someone powerful is behind her.”

Fang Rulai drew in a sharp breath. Silenced only after reporting back? That suggested supreme confidence in their own power—so much so that they weren’t bothered about Wang Suzhi knowing something was amiss. Or perhaps, by making such bold moves, they were deliberately intimidating her, brazenly declaring, “Yes, there’s a problem here—send more people if you dare.”

Seeing Fang Rulai’s expression darken, Wang Suzhi thought she had convinced him and suggested, “Master, it’s dark tonight and moving around is inconvenient. Why not wait until tomorrow and gather more people before taking action?”

“No, it has to be tonight.” A sly smile curved Fang Rulai’s lips, as if a plan had formed. “Take your child and stay in Old Madam Lin’s rooms tonight, and tell her to order all the house guards to patrol the grounds without rest.”

After making arrangements with Wang Suzhi and confirming the direction of Xu Chunhua’s courtyard, Fang Rulai set out alone.

At least, that was how it appeared in Wang Suzhi’s eyes.

In truth, Banxia had never left Fang Rulai’s side by more than a yard.

At a concealed corner near their target, Fang Rulai stopped and called softly, “Banxia, come out.”

Banxia appeared at once, exuding a fierce aura clearly on high alert.

“So the courtyard really is suspicious?” Fang Rulai asked knowingly.

“Yes,” Banxia replied, eyes sharp. “There’s one dozing behind the gate. Three more under the garden wall, gambling. And five in the trees on either side, playing darts. Those are all the visible guards in the courtyard.”

“What about inside the house?”

“Haven’t found an opportunity to check yet.” Banxia knelt on one knee, fist to chest. “Forgive me, Master, it’s my failure—”

But Fang Rulai waved him off before he could finish. “Enough, get up. Now’s not the time for all that. Tell me, if I asked you to take down all nine you’ve spotted, regardless of casualties, how confident are you?”

Startled by Fang Rulai’s complete lack of blame, Banxia hesitated—a response of seventy percent certainty changed to, “Ninety-five percent.” Provided he was willing to take a few hits in the process. But for such a generous master, he’d take it.

Unexpectedly, even this wasn’t enough for Fang Rulai.

“Ninety-five? Not a full hundred? Then you’d better not move.” After a moment’s thought, Fang Rulai said, “I’ll go.”

“Master!” Banxia almost cried out. His master had no martial arts—how could he possibly be more confident than Banxia’s ninety-five percent? Unacceptable; he couldn’t let his master take such a risk!

Steeling himself, Banxia glanced once more at the courtyard. “Master, I can do it! Please wait here, I’ll clear a path for you.”

“Clear a path? For what?” Fang Rulai shot him an angry look. “If you take out the courtyard guards with injuries, what about inside the house? If I go in without your protection, wouldn’t I be walking into a trap? You call that clearing a path? Are you trying to lead me to my death?”

“No, I—” Banxia was so scolded he even forgot the usual courtesy of referring to himself as “your subordinate.”

Fang Rulai had no time for further argument. He immediately switched tactics. “If earlier, when Wang Suzhi suspected Xu Chunhua, I was eighty percent convinced, then after your observations, I’m now absolutely certain Xu Chunhua is involved—and it’s definitely linked to Second Young Master Zhao Liang.”

A fierce light flashed in Banxia’s eyes. “Master, let me sneak in and bring Zhao Liang out for you.” Anything to keep his master from danger, even if he’d be skinned for it later.

“Idiot!” Fang Rulai kicked him. “What good would it do to nab Zhao Liang alone? He’s Old Madam Lin’s own son—without evidence, a few tears from him and the newly united old madam would turn against us. Think!”

“Then...” Banxia rubbed his leg pitifully, at a loss for words.

After a moment, Fang Rulai’s lips curled into a wicked smile. “Tonight, while Xu Chunhua is rattled, I’m going to dismantle Zhao Liang’s entire web of influence.”

“Master?” Banxia stared at that sly smile, struck by a sudden sense that the infamous schemer Guan Shiyin had come to life. That calculating look was uncanny.

“Come closer,” Fang Rulai whispered instructions into Banxia’s ear, then confirmed, “Remember everything?”

“Yes.”

“Not a moment too soon or too late—it has to be just right.”

“Yes.”

“All right. Hide yourself for now.”

“Be careful, Master.” With a word of caution, Banxia vanished into the night.

Fang Rulai drew a deep breath, stepped out from the shadows, and walked openly toward the gate of Xu Chunhua’s courtyard.

At the door, Fang Rulai knocked. Before long, an old man with a bulbous, red-veined nose opened the door. “It’s late. Who is it?”

Fang Rulai pressed his palms together, lowering his gaze with a serene smile. “Amitabha. I am Rulai, a humble monk.”

“What brings you here, Master?”

“I’ve come to check on Lady Xu.” Fang Rulai’s eyes shone with concern. “Earlier in the mourning hall, she seemed unwell. It’s late, and fetching a doctor would be difficult. If she’s willing, I know a bit of healing myself and could take a look. Of course, only if she agrees...”

“Wait here, I’ll go ask the young madam.” The old man shut the door and left.

Fang Rulai could hear his footsteps receding down the hall.

After the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, just as Fang Rulai began to suspect he would be refused, the footsteps approached again.

The door opened; it was the old man once more.

“Master, the young madam will see you.”

“Amitabha, thank you.” Fang Rulai followed him into the courtyard.

To the left, three men were digging holes and planting trees beneath the garden wall.

To the right, five men were trimming branches beneath a large tree.

Yet the left side was already thick with shade—there was no space to plant new trees. And the right, the only tree there was a sapling barely taller than a man.

Such brazen swagger—openly flaunting their defiance: “Yes, there’s something suspicious here; come and see if you dare.”

Fang Rulai took it all in at a glance, then walked straight on, eyes forward, until he reached the main house.

“Please, Master.” The old man gestured, then turned and walked away.

Even the servants were this arrogant? Or perhaps, they weren’t servants at all.

Fang Rulai made a mental note and stepped forward to push open the door.

Thank you, dear friend, for your constant support and encouragement—it means a lot.

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