A pervert? In a flash of inspiration, Mo Ruo realized that there was a Very Serious Matter at hand. “Why am I sleeping in your room?” He enquired nonchalantly.
Bah, was that the Serious Matter? With that, he picked up the boots that were lying haphazardly on the floor and scratched his head, ready to play the fool and leave.
Tang Si, who was still on the bed, was beyond herself with fury as she bellowed. “Mo Ruo! I will tear you apart from limb to limb!”
She threw off the blanket and jumped off the bed. Drawing her silver whip from around her waist, Tang Si wasted no time in cracking it once on the floor before swinging it at Mu Ruo. Her aim was true and it landed squarely on his shoulder!
Ah! Mo Ruo’s figure tilted as he forcefully collided against the door with a resounding thud. He ground his teeth against the sharp pain and spat sharply.“Have you gone mad?!”
Tang Si, on the other hand, had tears welling up in her eyes as she glared at him with a wronged expression. “You did such a despicable act to me and now you’re trying to run away after taking liberties with me? I’m going to flay you alive!” She swung her whip out again, but it was firmly caught by Mu Ruo.
“Aren’t you the one mistaken here? Who are you calling despicable? Who took liberties with you? The both of us had too much to drink last night, who could recall what happened last night? Take a good look at you and I - is there any piece of clothing that was removed?”
Eh? Coming back to her senses, Tang Si immediately looked down to find that she was indeed clothed from head to toe, albeit with wrinkled clothing. She looked at Mo Ruo and found him in a similar situation. There was not a single sign that any piece of clothing had been removed.
In an instant, she was rendered speechless.
Mo Ruo released his grip on the whip and rubbed the shoulder that had been struck. “Could you get a better understanding of the situation before hitting people next time? Even if I were drunk out of my mind… you? I wouldn’t...” Heh heh!
Tang Si bit her lip. “Even if we didn’t do that last night, it doesn’t mean that you didn’t do anything else to me.”
“Doing something to you? Impossible.”Mo Ruo’s reply was firm.
“Why is it impossible?”
He scanned the woman before him from head to toe before replying in disdain. “It’s just impossible.” He wasn’t into this type of woman at all, alright? Turning around, Mo Ruo pushed open the door and left jauntily, as though nothing had happened at all.
Tang Si stomped the ground in anger as she belted out a series of curses. Like she thought, she shouldn’t have feelings for that kind of person!
During breakfast, Tang Si absentmindedly stabbed at the table with her chopsticks. Ji Yunshu saw this moody behaviour when she came looking for Tang Si. She sat down, rapped her knuckles on the table in front of Tang Si, and asked. “What’s wrong?”
Hearing a voice, Tang Si took a sideways glance to find that Ji Yunshu had already arrived.
Tang Si only realised that Ji Yunshu had arrived when she heard her voice. She shook herself and replied. “It’s nothing.”
In contrast to her words, her tone simmered with rage.
Ji Yunshu did not press for a reply. “Since nothing is wrong, do you want to go out with me?”
“Go out? Where to?”
“The Qiao Estate.”
Grinding her teeth, she got up with a start and rolled up her sleeves. “Let’s go.” She’s going to blow off some steam!
The pair soon departed.
Tang Si was silent throughout the journey.
Ji Yunshu couldn’t help but keep looking at her from time to time. What’s up with this girl? She was still pretty excited when they visited the neighbours last night. Just what happened last night to cause her to make her so subdued today? How strange!
The door to the Qiao Estate was shut when they arrived.
Ji Yunshu used the iron knocker on the door and gently knocked a few times. They waited for a long while but no one came to the door. The impulsive Tang Si went straight to the door and gave it a violent kick. “What kind of s.h.i.+tty place is this, why is their door shut in the middle of the day? Do they think they have treasures inside? Well, even if they have any, who gives a d.a.m.n.”
Ji Yunshu lifted the iron knocker again and rapped a few more times before some movement was finally heard from the inside. The door opened a crack and a pair of black eyes peered out, without clearly revealing the face. “Who is it!”
Ji Yunshu answered politely. “My surname is Ji, I am here to investigate the case that had occured three years ago by order of the Supreme Court. I’ll have to trouble you to open the door as I have some questions for your Young Master Qiao.”
However, the person shrank back and shut the door with a bang just as Ji Yunshu finished speaking. Shutting the door in her face! Ji Yunshu was stunned for a moment.
“What the h.e.l.l.” Tang Si was upset, unleas.h.i.+ng a barrage of kicks to the door as she yelled. “Open up the door for your granny here right now, or else I’ll charge in and give you all a few whips each! Open up!”
Regardless of her kicking and cursing, no sign of movement could be detected inside.
The Qiaos were practically courting death by daring to interfere with the matters of the court!
Tang Si was still seething with anger over the earlier matter with Mo Ruo. Now, she was venting it out on the Qiaos’ door. “Ah Ji, I’ll jump over this wall and open the door for you. Let’s barge our way in and turn this Qiao Estate upside down!” She really would!
Ji Yunshu managed to stop her as she was getting ready to leap. “Forget it, they’re not letting us in because they have a guilty conscience. If you were to jump over the wall, they will find some way to twist words to make it sound like we are the criminals instead.”
“Are we just going to leave it like that? Are we just going to go back empty handed?”
“Relax, I have a warrant stamped with the seal of the Supreme Court, even Magistrate Zuo has to submit to my interrogation. Needless to say, the Qiaos’ have no authority to object. They can refuse to open the door and cooperate today, but when they suffer the consequences, they will naturally have to invite in with all the pomposity of an eight-man sedan.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Ji Yunshu laughed and called out. “Ziling.”
s.h.i.+ Ziling appeared from G.o.d-knows-where and arrived before her. “Teacher, your instructions?”
“Stay here and monitor the Qiao Estate. You must make sure that they do not secretly spirit Qiao Zihua away.”
“Understood.” Acknowledging the order, Ziling soon disappeared.
Ji Yunshu and Tang Si departed empty handed as well.
Inside the estate.
Old Master Qiao bade his pageboy to check for any outside movement and he reported. “My lord, they have already left.”
He let out a sigh of relief.
Almost everyone in the Qiao family had gathered at the large hall. Madame Qiao asked worriedly. “My lord, what are we going to do now? Zihua can’t get embroiled in any trouble, he’s the only son we have.”
“I don’t need your input to know that. No matter how useless he is, he’s still my son, how can I just sit idly by while he gets into trouble. ”
“Then you have to think of something, we can’t hide forever. That Teacher Ji was sent by the Supreme Court, we would be going against them if we were to avoid them any longer.”
“Alright, alright.” Old Master Qiao let out a sigh as he looked at Qiao Zihua, who was curled up in his seat, and flung his sleeve to the side in frustration. “You disappointing brat, how did you get into this kind of trouble?!”
Qiao Zihua lowered his head as he bitterly replied. “Father, I really didn’t kill anyone, you have to believe me.”
“Is there any point in me believing in you? You have to make other people believe in you.”
“That day, I really was knocked unconscious by someone. When I came to, Miss Ye’er was already killed, it really wasn’t me.” Qiao Zihua spoke in all honesty.
Old Master Qiao sighed. “Enough, don’t say anymore. It has now been proven that the deceased was a victim of homicide and not suicide. That Teacher Ji is not an ordinary person. Since we can’t buy him over to our side like that coroner in the past, if push comes to shove, we can only send you away. ”
Send him away? The daughter of the Qiao family, Qiao Xiao interjected. “Father, where are you going to send big brother to?”
“All of you should not be concerned with this, this is only for the worst case scenario.”
At this moment, another pageboy hastily ran into the hall. “Old Master, Second Master has returned from the capital.”
The Second Master that he was referring to was Qiao Zheng, the previous Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
He has finally returned! The Qiao family seemed to have found hope once more.