Chapter 95 Madam Fan’s Death

Chapter 95: The Death of Lady Fan

"Why?" Zhu Zening was baffled.

Third Master Zhu's voice was flat. "Doctor Fan isn't in Guling County. He's gone elsewhere."

"Sir, we've brought you a doctor, me and the boys."

No sooner had Third Master Zhu finished speaking than the bodyguards Zhu Zening had sent out earlier burst in, bringing in a middle-aged man in his forties.

Zhu Zening just stared at his father, silent.

The room fell into a dead hush. The bodyguards, sensing the tension, also quieted down.

After a moment, it was Third Master Zhu who broke into loud laughter first. "My son has truly grown up, starting to handle things with caution. Good, good." He made no mention of having deceived Zhu Zening, as if he could brush the matter aside with a single sentence. In the past, Zhu Zening would have demanded an explanation, but now he knew what was more important.

"Doctor Fan, please come with us to Changping Prefecture. Someone there is waiting for you to save their life. If you agree, we can set off immediately!" Zhu Zening bypassed his father and appealed directly to Doctor Fan.

Doctor Fan glanced at Third Master Zhu first, and seeing no reaction from him, asked Zhu Zening, "May I ask, sir, what illness does the person you wish to save have?"

Zhu Zening recalled Wu Zhaoyuan's appearance on that day and described it earnestly. "At first, it was just a mild cold, but then suddenly his condition worsened. His face was flushed red as a beet, his breathing rapid, and his lips were bright red. He was often unconscious, and when awake, he was lucid only briefly before falling back asleep."

Doctor Fan stroked his medium-length beard, becoming lost in thought.

Zhu Zening asked anxiously, "Doctor Fan, what illness is this?"

Before Doctor Fan could answer, Third Master Zhu spoke first. "Uncle Yi, take Doctor Fan to rest and prepare a feast to welcome these young brothers."

Uncle Yi was his trusted attendant, always by Third Master Zhu's side, except for three years ago when he was sent to take care of Zhu Zening in Fengtian during the provincial exam.

Seeing Uncle Yi about to lead the man away, Zhu Zening finally lost his composure. "Father, please let me take Doctor Fan back to Changping!"

Third Master Zhu said earnestly, "Zening, you're grown now, and you've achieved great success by passing the provincial exam. I never thought our Zhu family would produce a Juren. I was overjoyed when I received your letter. Do you know what this means?"

Zhu Zening knew his father was about to start a story from his grandfather's time, but he was already tired of hearing it.

With just one look, Third Master Zhu could read his son's thoughts. He sighed. Still, he's a child at heart. "Zening, we can't get involved in the Wu family's affairs."

Zhu Zening grew agitated. "I know we can't cross the Wu family. You've told me since I was young not to play with Zhaoyuan, and there was a time he distanced himself from me because you talked to him. I know all that. I can take Doctor Fan back and stash him at the Song place. Brother Song can disguise him and slip him in..."

"Zening!"

Third Master Zhu said sharply, "Don't you understand yet?"

Zhu Zening stared at his father, bewildered.

"Zhaoyuan is Prefect Wu's own son, true, but the Wu family doesn't lack for heirs. A worthless, inconsequential son of a mistress can be kept around like a cat or dog. But a promising, uncontrollable one is a different matter. Zhaoyuan may seem frail, but he's decisive. And who can say whether some things weren't ordered by Prefect Wu himself?"

This revelation upended everything Zhu Zening thought he knew. "How is that possible!"

Third Master Zhu's tone grew heavier. "Whether it's possible or not, it's not something our Zhu family can meddle in! Your second uncle is close to Prefect Wu, but he's long been dissatisfied with me and wants to cut me off from the family. If you act rashly, have you thought about your mother and me?"

Third Master Zhu pressed the weight of filial piety onto Zhu Zening, making it hard to breathe.

But then, through the open window, he saw Doctor Fan about to be led out of the courtyard by Uncle Yi.

"No..."

"That's not right."

"Don't!"

Zhu Zening propped himself up and shouted, "Hei Lao Er, don't let Doctor Fan leave!"

The courtyard was only a small one, and the bodyguards were in the side room eating and drinking. They only obeyed their employer's orders. Hearing Zhu Zening's shout, the men immediately set down their cups, grabbed their blades, and rushed out, surrounding Doctor Fan and Uncle Yi.

"Zening! Are you still being stubborn!" Third Master Zhu grieved at his stubbornness.

Zhu Zening flung himself off the couch and onto the ground. Third Master Zhu instinctively reached out to catch him, but he had already fallen.

The pain in his leg flared up again, but Zhu Zening didn't care. He clung to his father's leg. "Father, please, let me take Doctor Fan away."

"I'm your only son. When I was young, all my cousins looked down on me, but Zhaoyuan always played with me. We're like brothers, Father! Haven't you always wanted me to make something of myself? The time before the provincial exam was so critical, and he and Brother Song pushed me to study. How else could I have passed so quickly? They are both my life-savers! Father, I beg you. I can't stand to watch Zhaoyuan die!"

He cried out with heartrending grief, tears and snot streaming down his face. The chafed skin of his inner thighs bled, soaking through his dust-stained white trousers.

Third Master Zhu raised his head and closed his eyes. He had only one son. How could he not feel heartache seeing him like this?

Fine, fine.

He stooped down and helped Zhu Zening back onto the couch, then barked, "Do you know how much power a prefect has? Disguise someone to slip him in? You think the Wu family is full of fools? What a stupid plan!"

Zhu Zening wiped his tears and snot. "But..."

He had barely spoken but Third Master Zhu cut him off. "But nothing! You stay here and recover properly."

He called out, "Uncle Yi, saddle the horses quickly. I'll personally take Doctor Fan back to Changping!"

—

"I think this plan might not work."

Meng Wan was in the study, doodling on paper with a brush.

Under a large "Wu" character, he had divided three sections—Prefect Wu, Lady Wu, and in the middle, Lady Fan.

Lady Wu was known to have a legitimate son, and that son had two sons and a daughter. As far as Meng Wan knew, Prefect Wu had other sons by mistresses, but only two had passed the imperial exams: the eldest legitimate son, a Xiucai, and the newly passed Juren, Wu Zhaoyuan.

Meng Wan wrote names or symbols representing people on the paper, then tapped the brush handle. "If I recall, Prefect Wu isn't that old, is he? Fifty? Fifty-one?"

Song Tingzhou, sitting nearby, replied, "Fifty-one."

Meng Wan wrote "fifty-one" above Prefect Wu. "Fifty-one—so he could still serve for at least fifteen years. Do you think he knows that Juren Zhaoyuan doesn't want to be added to the Wu family register?"

Meng Wan changed the topic abruptly, but Song Tingzhou quickly followed his train of thought. "If Zhaoyuan is on the same page as him, even with Lady Wu's interference, Prefect Wu would probably still put his Juren son on the register. Are you saying..."

Meng Wan drew a line between Lady Wu and Wu Zhaoyuan. "Let's assume Lady Wu did this. Her position is fairly clear—she's sowing discord. If Wu Zhaoyuan dies, so be it. Even if he doesn't, she hasn't lost anything, because through this incident, she's tested Prefect Wu's stance. So your plan probably won't work. I doubt she'll allow you any more contact with Juren Zhaoyuan."

"But once she realizes Wu Zhaoyuan poses no threat to her, she'll have a second target."

As for the morning market, something felt out of place, but Chang Jinhua couldn't quite put her finger on it. She casually asked a vendor who was in the middle of a heated discussion, "Sister Hui, what's everyone talking about? What's the big news?"

The vegetable seller, Sister Hui, pulled her over and whispered, "You haven't heard?"

Chang Jinhua was baffled. "Heard what?"

The woman chatting eagerly with Sister Hui said nervously, "It's all over town now—there's a demon!"

"Huh? How is that possible?" Chang Jinhua was shocked.

Hearing this, both Sister Hui and the other woman became animated. "How impossible? Let me tell you, there's a physician in the north of town who left home perfectly fine but was carried home on a stretcher!"

"They say he was bewitched by a demon—ran to the northern graveyard in broad daylight and drowned in a pond. You haven't seen how shallow that pond was; even a little kid could climb out of it."

"Oh, stop it, it's too creepy."

The two spoke in tandem, making Chang Jinhua's hair stand on end. "Well... maybe he was just unlucky and slipped? How can you say it's a demon?"

The story was spreading like wildfire, and everyone talked as if they had seen it themselves. Sister Hui described it vividly, "How isn't it a demon? If he wasn't bewitched, how could he fall in? When the physician's son found his father, the old man was still clutching a handful of gold nuggets!"

The woman chatting with Sister Hui added, "It's not just this physician—don't you know, the Prefect..."

She looked around and lowered her voice. "The Prefect kept a mistress. They say she was killed by the demon too. Oh, what a brutal death—her intestines were ripped out, and her face was slashed beyond recognition."

In broad daylight, the three of them shuddered in unison.

After hearing a bellyful of wild tales, Chang Jinhua didn't even bother buying vegetables and went home carrying an empty basket.

"Wan Geer, something terrible has happened! Tell Da Lang to take leave and not go to school."

"What's wrong?" Meng Wan looked completely bewildered.

"There's a demon in the city! Not the good kind you write about in your books—this one takes lives. Do you think Da Lang's classmate might have had his yang energy drained and that's why he's bedridden?"

She told Meng Wan everything she had heard, not yet knowing that the dead concubine was the mother of Song Tingzhou's classmate.

Meng Wan set down his newly written book, *The Demon-Subduing Master, Changming*, and fell silent.

A demon?

Later, when Song Tingzhou returned, Chang Jinhua repeated what she had heard to her son and earnestly advised him, "I feel uneasy. What they said is too frightening—why not take a few days off?"

Meng Wan comforted her, "Mother, the prefectural school gathers so many scholars from the entire prefectural city, full of righteous spirit, who believe in the way of Confucius and Mencius. How could they fear demons and ghosts?"

Song Tingzhou nodded in agreement. "Indeed."

At night, Song Tingzhou's mind was troubled. Worried about Wu Zhaoyuan's illness, he couldn't sleep, so Meng Wan put on an outer robe and accompanied him to talk in the courtyard.

Fan Niangzi's death was too sudden. Meng Wan said warily, "Normally, Fan Niangzi had some standing in Prefect Wu's eyes. Madam Wu acts so viciously—isn't she afraid Prefect Wu will blame her?"

It would be one thing to kill her quietly, but to make it seem like a fox spirit? Someone who dies such a violent death won't even get a proper grave—they might end up exposed in the wilderness.

Song Tingzhou had been preoccupied with Wu Zhaoyuan's illness these past two days, and a faint gloom had settled on his brow. Having visited the Wu residence once, he speculated, "Prefect Wu can't be home every day. Madam Wu manages the inner quarters—she's likely planned everything thoroughly."

Meng Wan thought to himself: A method that could even fool Prefect Wu? He had never met the man, but he felt he shouldn't be so easy to deceive. What kind of plan could trick a fourth-rank official?

The Wu family was a complete mess—holding high office yet treating human life as a game. "Fan Niangzi's death was partly her own doing, but what about Juren Wu?"

Song Tingzhou went into the room, fetched a cushion for Meng Wan, and his face showed no relief. "After school today, I went to the Wu residence to pay a visit but was refused entry. I only hope Ze Ning comes back soon to see what the physician says."

From outside came the sound of banging and knocking, echoing through the silent night. Meng Wan took Song Tingzhou's hand and went to the door, slowly opening it a crack. But the street was empty—no one was passing by.

"It must be coming from the main street."

Meng Wan and Song Tingzhou retreated back inside and called out to Xue Sheng in the gatehouse, "Xue Sheng, are you asleep?"

Xue Sheng had already dressed upon hearing the door open. As soon as Meng Wan called him, he pushed open the door and came out. "Master, sir."

Meng Wan pointed toward the main street. "Did you hear the sound?"

Xue Sheng nodded.

"Go follow them from a distance, stay far back. If something seems wrong, leave quickly. Your safety comes first."

"Yes." Xue Sheng was agile; without even using the door, he vaulted over the wall and left.

Once outside, he kept close to the walls, staying in the shadows as he caught up to the procession on the main street. From a distance, he saw at the front four or five Taoist priests in yellow robes, some holding peach-wood swords, others clutching talismans, cautiously escorting a person dressed in red. Too far away, Xue Sheng couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman.

Behind the priests was a pitch-black coffin, carried by six people in white hemp clothes with red cloth belts around their waists.

At the rear followed a large crowd of about thirty men and women. As the distance grew closer, Xue Sheng noticed that most of those in the back were constables carrying swords.

"Nonsense! Dragging me out here in the middle of the night!" Prefect Wu felt uneasy looking at the black coffin ahead.

Madam Wu covered the sneer at her lips with her handkerchief. "If you don't believe it, just stay at home, my lord. I only suggested using your official authority to suppress these ghosts and demons—I didn't put a knife to your throat and force you to come."

Stung by her words, Prefect Wu's face darkened. "What would an ignorant woman like you know? I am an imperial official. Making a public spectacle of this would be a laughingstock."

Though terrified inside, he was putting on a brave front. Madam Wu sneered inwardly. She wanted everyone to see that wench's fate—to deny her peace even in death, thereby venting the resentment she had harbored for years.

Her tone softened a little as she advised, "If others don't believe it, so be it. But you yourself saw how Zhu Er, the concubine's son, died. That bewitching fox spirit killed him, then disemboweled and drank his blood. Zhu Er fainted on the spot. Now that we've caught it, if we don't deal with it and let it continue to harm people, won't the imperial court hold you responsible, my lord?"

Prefect Wu's gaze swept over the red-clad figure being escorted by the Taoist priests. His mind wandered; it was unclear whether he believed it or not.