Chapter 13 The Truth Comes Out
When Lan Qiao returned with news, Pei Zhao had already fallen asleep.
Lan Qiao had asked around. The woman who died at the door of the Pei family's shop was surnamed Zhao and came from Suzhou.
Her whole family had moved to Jinling half a month ago.
I frowned. "Gusu?"
Lan Qiao nodded and continued, "Someone saw the nanny beside Madam Pei frequently visiting their home."
"Also..."
"The second young master secretly returned once."
I suspected I already knew the answer.
But I was still shocked.
I told Lan Qiao to pick some things from my dowry and send them to the Zhao family, hoping to get some information.
But I had underestimated how vicious people could be.
When Lan Qiao arrived, the Zhao girl's parents had already met with an accident.
They were found dead in their home.
I had no choice but to ask Lan Qiao to hire a woman to pretend to be the Zhao girl's younger sister and go to the yamen to file a complaint.
They dug up the grave and performed an autopsy.
The deaths of the Zhao girl's parents were also thoroughly investigated.
The case took three days. Government officials finally came to the Pei residence.
That same day, Pei Zhao and I were released from confinement.
The case was dropped without conclusion.
Old Master Pei wanted to hand over the keys to the Pei household management to me.
I refused. I simply stood behind Pei Zhao.
The father and son seemed to be engaged in a silent confrontation.
Old Master Pei lost face and left in a huff.
I stepped forward, pressed close to Pei Zhao's arm, and gently held his hand. I smiled at him soothingly.
Madam Pei remained untouched.
She continued to eat vegetarian meals and pray to Buddha every day.
The second young master was punished and sent to the estate to reflect on his mistakes.
I heard some old stories from the elderly maids in the Pei residence.
Pei Zhao's mother and Old Master Pei had a family-arranged marriage. They were strangers when they wed. Before that, Old Master Pei had a beloved—the only daughter of a small cloth shop owner in Suzhou.
When Old Master Pei was young, he went to Yangzhou for business and fell in love with her at first sight. However, he could not resist the pressure from his family and married Pei Zhao's mother.
After marriage, the two had nothing to say to each other. Less than a month into their marriage, they began sleeping in separate beds. Pei Zhao's birth only happened because the elders urged them.
During her pregnancy, Pei Zhao's mother was often unhappy. By the time she was about to give birth, she had become extremely thin. On the day of delivery, she lacked the strength and died in difficult labor.
The following year, Old Master Pei married his beloved as his second wife. She later gave birth to Pei Ye and a daughter. The family of three lived happily together. Only Pei Zhao was the extra one.