Chapter 6: The Mystery of the West Courtyard—Part 1

“It’s getting late, Madam. I would like to stay overnight in your residence, if that’s convenient?”

“Yusang, escort the young master to the guest room.”

Without a second thought, Madam Wang instructed Yusang and called over a maid passing by in the corridor to help her leave, as if she couldn’t bear to stay a moment longer.

“Yes, Old Madam.”

Yusang responded to the already departing Madam Wang, then looked up at the midday sun and silently cursed Yan Qige.

At this hour, he could still come up with such a shameless excuse.

“I guess you’re probably cursing me right now.”

Yan Qige said as he turned to leave, fanning himself.

Yusang caught up to him with a smile, “The young master is indeed clever. Care to guess what I’m cursing about?”

“Do you think I’m as stupid as you? If I said it out loud, wouldn’t I be cursing myself?”

“You’re stupid; your whole family is stupid!”

“Little demon, don’t provoke me, or I’ll have a reason to capture you.”

Yan Qige reminded her slowly without turning his gaze.

Yusang opened her mouth but held back the curse on the tip of her tongue, pretending to be obedient as she led the way.

Upon reaching the guest room, Yan Qige didn’t wait for Yusang to speak.

He chose a room near the West Courtyard and pushed the door open.

Inside, there was a study table, a chess set outside, and some landscape paintings hanging on the walls.

A bead curtain divided the room, separating the bedroom.

The carved wooden bed had no bedding, but the room seemed to have been recently cleaned by the servants, and it was tidy, with the tea set on the table fully prepared.

“I don’t like purple bedding.”

Yan Qige said as he walked to the window, opening it to look toward the West Courtyard, reminding Yusang as if giving an order.

Yusang opened a cabinet by the wall and found both a green and a purple bedding set.

Without thinking, she took out the purple one and laid it on the bed. When Yan Qige turned back, she had already finished her task.

Yan Qige approached the bed, lifted the corner of the purple bedding with his fan, and looked at it with no sign of displeasure.

Instead, he smiled faintly, almost imperceptibly.

Seeing this, Yusang immediately realized she had fallen into his little trap and angrily bit her lip.

“I knew you’d go against my wishes and choose it. Actually, purple is quite nice.”

“Young master, it’s getting late. You should rest early,” Yusang retorted sarcastically, using Yan Qige’s own words against him before leaving.

After dinner, Magistrate Wang came to the East Courtyard. He had just exchanged a few words with Madam Wang when she grew irritated.

Already troubled by the case, the magistrate’s face darkened further after his mother’s scolding.

He left without a word; his head hung low.

Yusang, using the excuse of fetching more tea, followed him outside and saw that instead of returning to his study, the magistrate left the residence.

Fearing she might attract attention, Yusang had to give up and didn’t follow him further.

After changing Madam Wang’s tea, Yusang was eager to search Magistrate Wang’s study to see if she could find anything.

However, Madam Wang seemed unusually spirited today, showing no sign of sleepiness even after nightfall.

Left with no choice, Yu Sang used a bit of spell to make her drowsy and fall asleep.

Yusang asked Huayi to keep watch outside Magistrate Wang’s study while she quietly slipped inside and closed the door. She took out a firestick and lit it, only to be startled by what she saw—a corpse hanging from the ceiling beam, its eyes wide open and mouth agape, with blood dripping from its arms onto the floor.

“You’re a demon, yet you’re still scared of seeing a dead body?”

Yan Qige’s voice came from behind, startling Yusang again.

Turning her head, she saw Yan Qige sitting calmly behind the study desk, reading a book in the moonlight streaming through the window, the light highlighting his profile and adding a mysterious allure.

“Did you kill him?” Yusang asked.

“Find your brain before speaking to me,” Yan Qige replied without lifting his head from the book.

Yusang gritted her teeth, then took a deep breath to suppress her anger.

“What are you doing here?”

” ‘What are you doing here?’ Isn’t it obvious? I’m here because you are. Do you really need to ask? How stupid.”

“Yan Qige!” Yusang glared at him in anger.

Hearing such an earthshaking shout, even Huayi, who was outside, felt her heart tremble.

She quickly cast a spell to create a breeze, making the trees outside rustle to cover the noise inside.

Yan Qige, however, remained calm, slowly raising his head to light the lamp on the desk.

“With the recent string of cases in the city, even an incompetent magistrate like Wang should have collected enough evidence to uncover some clues. When I saw him yesterday, he looked worried and somewhat helpless. I visited the courtesan house today and learned a few things, which led me to suspect that Magistrate Wang might be hiding something.”

“Hiding what?”

“I won’t bother answering such a question,” Yan Qige said, lowering his head to look at the book again.

“Young Master Yan, do you believe I could call for help right now and have you arrested?”

“I’ve told you not to threaten me with that. Your memory as a demon really is poor.”

Yusang nearly ground her teeth to dust; her fingers were clenched so tightly that they nearly cracked.

She glared at Yan Qige’s handsome face behind the desk, wishing she could knock him down right now and make him beg for mercy.

“Tomorrow should be a fine day. By noon, outside the West courtyard, you’ll find out what Magistrate Wang has been hiding.”

Yan Qige closed the book, got up, and walked out, not even glancing at the corpse hanging in the center of the room.

When he saw Huayi standing in the shadows, he gave her a second look, took a small pearl-like object from his sleeve, and tossed it to her.

“Bury this in the bamboo forest by the hour of the dragon (7am-9am) tomorrow, and it’ll prevent you from getting caught up in this.”

Before Huayi could ask anything, Yan Qige had already left gracefully.

As expected, the next morning, before dawn, a shriek echoed from the rear courtyard of the county office, waking everyone inside with a fright.

Yusang followed the other servants to the study and found the servant responsible for cleaning the room daily collapsed at the doorway, her face covered in tears and snot, shaking like a leaf.

The other groggy servants were now wide awake, whispering in fear and avoiding looking inside the room.

It wasn’t until a constable arrived with a few officers, followed by Magistrate Wang in plain clothes, that they dared to enter.

The officers took down the corpse hanging in the middle of the room, and the crowd finally saw that the twisted face belonged to the Wang family’s steward. The body bore heavy blunt force trauma and sharp cuts on the shoulders and neck, seemingly mimicking the wounds from previous murders.

But both Yusang and Yan Qige recognized them as fake at a glance.

“Everyone disperse; don’t interfere with the investigation,” the magistrate said hoarsely, waving the servants away before stepping into the room.

The servants left, and Yusang, not wanting to draw attention, also followed them out. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a glimpse of a pale blue garment flash behind the flower trees on the left.