Chapter Nineteen: One Stone, Three Birds

"Eldest Martial Brother... Sister-in-law..." Yu Shurong murmured under his breath, and for a long while, no one present could pull themselves back from the crushing weight of shock and grief. But then a sudden commotion arose from just outside the main gate of the Cao residence, forcing everyone back from that dark, heavy silence. A squad of ten men from the Divine Strategy Army had arrived at the county magistrate's gate, torches blazing, pounding to be let in—and at their head was none other than the Left Flank Protector-General of the Divine Strategy Army and Overseer of Palace Affairs, Dou Wenchang himself. This sudden, entirely improper arrival, without so much as a word of prior notice, nearly frightened Cao Jibin out of his wits, and he could only steel himself, sweat soaking through his robes, and hurry out to receive this most unwelcome and formidable of guests. Dou Wenchang's face was dark with fury, and without wasting a single word of preamble, he said, "My unworthy son has behaved disgracefully, paying a nighttime visit to a young lady of your household. I've come to bring him home."

As it happened, Dou Wenchang had received word from Guanguan that the young master had slipped out of the house dressed in night-travel garb. Had this simply been another night of pleasure-seeking in Pingkang Ward, as was his usual habit, he would never have seemed so suspicious about it—which led her to suspect he had fallen for someone, and that this someone might well be Magistrate Cao's own Fourth Sister Guo. That visit to the secret chamber the other day, she suspected, had been on her account, and it was because of her that the young master had come away injured.

Guanguan spoke with such conviction, and utter certainty. She was a concubine Dou Wenchang had given to Yu Shurong, and though Yu Shurong's dalliances throughout Pingkang Ward had never particularly troubled her—after all, it was nothing more than idle amusement to him, and she hadn't taken it especially to heart. But tonight's furtive behavior struck her as suspicious beyond reason. Though Yu Shurong had never cared for her, she herself had fallen hopelessly, obsessively in love with him, and the moment she suspected he had found someone he truly cared for, a fierce jealousy overtook her, and she rushed to report everything to Dou Wenchang, hoping to see the budding romance crushed before it could bloom. Though the information Guanguan had given him was mistaken, it had, quite by accident, alerted Dou Wenchang to the fact that Yu Shurong was acting behind his back—whether it was truly a love affair, or something even more serious than that, he couldn't be certain, but he knew better than to take the matter lightly.

Tian Xu and the others heard the commotion at the Cao residence quite clearly. At first, they turned suspicious eyes toward Yu Shurong, who shook his head urgently. "It wasn't me... believe me... I have no idea what's happening here..." Then he added, "This is no place to linger. Go, now, quickly—don't let that old villain discover you. Even Fourth Sister Guo must leave at once. Leave the rest to me."

Tian Xu and the others remained only half-convinced, but regardless, they needed to withdraw immediately. The group, with Guo Huilian in tow, leapt up onto the rooftops together and retraced their earlier path back to the Four Seas Inn. Yu Shurong turned and made his way out of the courtyard, and from a distance he could already see Dou Wenchang's face dark with fury, with Cao Jibin standing beside him, bowing deeply.

"Where is she?" Dou Wenchang demanded, struggling to hold back his anger.

"It wouldn't be appropriate for her to come forward." Yu Shurong understood at once that Dou Wenchang meant Guo Huilian, and answered coldly. Then, turning to face Magistrate Cao directly, he said in a low, steady voice, "I was the one who abducted those people, purely for my own amusement. As for seizing the magistrate's own wife, that too was meant to teach the magistrate a lesson for his eagerness to make a name for himself the moment he took office, showing neither my adoptive father nor myself the proper respect. I admit it all... and that so-called foreign merchant was nothing more than a decoy, meant to throw everyone off the scent." With that, he drew a pill from his sleeve and swallowed it whole. Dou Wenchang broke out in a cold sweat—he himself had been the true mastermind behind all of this, hoping both to put Cao Jibin in his place, to remind him that here in the capital, it was Dou Wenchang who held the final say, and, at the same time, hoping the scheme might flush out members of Tianyin Pavilion in the process. And now, here was Yu Shurong, stepping forward to shoulder the blame himself, allowing Cao Jibin to close the case cleanly and report success—leaving Dou Wenchang utterly unable to voice the bitter injustice of it all. He knew perfectly well that Yu Shurong was concealing something, and yet, having just swallowed the very poison every death-sworn agent under his command carried at all times, this puppet he had so carefully, painstakingly cultivated from childhood, all in hopes of one day seizing control of Tianyin Pavilion through him, had now turned the tables on him instead—silencing himself forever beyond any hope of interrogation, and, in that single moment of swallowing the poison, utterly extinguishing decades of hope that Tianyin Pavilion might ever be reclaimed...