Chapter 225: Spring Outing

Chapter 225: Spring Outing

After Meng Wan had rested at home for two days, Song Tingzhou, as promised, picked a rare sunny day and took the whole family out for a spring outing.

North of the West Prefecture city was Baoxiu Mountain, where a temple sat halfway up the slope. It didn't get many worshippers, and the monks, often hungry, would go down to the city to beg. But in front of the temple lay a large open space, great for taking the kids. Meng Wan also asked Bai Wei and A Xun from the Miao family to join them.

Xue Lang, having been cooped up for a long time, was set free like a fish returning to the sea. With a howl, it vanished into the distance.

Nobody bothered to chase it; it never strayed far and would come running back at a call.

"Xue Sheng, spread the bamboo mat over here—there’s shade from the trees," Meng Wan called to Xue Sheng, who was carrying the mat.

Song Tingzhou reminded him, "Wan'er, there might be bugs in the trees."

"Oh! I forgot. Let’s put it over here—it’s spacious and cooler." Meng Wan trotted off to find a spot where the wild grass grew low.

Chu Ci, carrying a small pouch, hurried over and meticulously scattered some medicinal powder around the area before nodding to Xue Sheng.

The bamboo mat Meng Wan had specially ordered was wide and long enough to seat eight or nine people on the grass. Since horses couldn't climb the mountain, Chang Jinhua was exhausted by the time she made it up and sat down on the mat to rest.

"I’m old. My bones aren’t what they used to be," Chang Jinhua sighed.

Meng Wan didn’t like hearing her talk like that. "Mother, you’re only forty-nine, not even fifty yet. What’s old about that? In other families, who at forty-nine still runs a shop selling food?"

Chang Jinhua laughed, the creases at the corners of her eyes softer than before. "I’m nearly fifty, the age of knowing one’s fate. How can I not be old? Time flies. It’s been ten years since you came to the Song family."

Song Tingzhou was startled. "Ten years?"

"Xue Sheng has been with us for almost nine years now," Meng Wan said. He didn’t feel time moving quickly; every day was joyful and fulfilling. With Song Tingzhou and Chang Jinhua, both bitter and sweet were good.

Bai Wei and A Yan crouched in the open space ahead, digging in the dirt with sticks, while Huang Ye stayed close by their side. Xue Sheng stood with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed on A Yan, but warmth filled his heart. He didn’t want to recall the suffering of his first twenty-odd years in the theater troupe; the scenes flashing through his mind were all of moments in the Song family.

Ever since the adult had carried him out of the well on his back, his life belonged to the adult and the husband.

The family sat on the bamboo mat, chatting about everything. Chang Jinhua, perhaps because of her age, especially loved seeing young people paired up. She looked toward Chu Ci and A Xun, who were both carrying baskets and heading into the mountains, and said, "Wan Ge’er, Xiao Ci is sixteen this year. Isn’t it time to find him a match? You were already engaged to Da Lang when you were sixteen."

Song Tingzhou recalled the tender feelings of their engagement, and a faint blush crept over his ears.

Meng Wan had been shelling peanuts but nearly choked. "Cough, cough... Mother! Our situation was different back then. Xiao Ci is still young. No rush, no rush."

Song Tingzhou smoothly patted Meng Wan’s back. "Mother, Wan’er is right. A man’s ambitions lie in all directions. A few more years won’t hurt."

But Chang Jinhua wasn’t letting anyone off easy. "Xue Sheng, what are your thoughts? You’re already over thirty. That’s not young anymore, is it? I think Manager Tang is a fine man, good-looking too. Should your aunt go propose for you?"

Xue Sheng hadn’t expected the conversation to turn to him. He shook his head quickly. "Old Mistress, I don’t intend to marry in this life. I’ll stay with the adult and the husband, wherever they go."

Chang Jinhua muttered softly, "Everyone says that, one after another. You don’t know how good it is to have someone who knows your warmth and cold. Isn’t Da Lang and Wan Ge’er doing well?" From her words, it seemed she had already asked not only Xiao Ci and Xue Sheng but Huang Ye as well.

Meng Wan shelled a handful of peanuts for her. "Mother, we know you mean well, but you really shouldn’t push Ye Ge’er. He had that beast of a father, and his grandparents and uncle weren’t good people either. His childhood was hard. He’ll figure it out when the time comes."

Being a modern person, Meng Wan had a more open mind. Xue Sheng had kept quiet, but Huang Ye had also been influenced by him a little.

After swallowing the walnut kernel Song Tingzhou had fed him, Meng Wan continued, "Actually, even if Ye Ge’er never marries, by the end of this year, Jin Gu will have finished her sentence. The two of them, mother and son, can live peacefully and happily together. That’s already a blessing."

Chang Jinhua let out a long sigh. "Ye Ge’er has a hard fate, but he’s grateful and knows kindness. He’s a good child." Privately, she still hoped Huang Ye would find a good match, ideally someone who would accept Jin Gu as part of the family. But after Meng Wan’s advice, she understood that constantly bringing it up might remind Huang Ye of that horrible family. She’d let it be.

"Mother, we’ll take a walk nearby. If you get bored, go visit the temple."

Song Tingzhou had bought some walnuts somewhere, and they were quite tasty. Meng Wan had him crack a few more and shelled them, putting them into a pouch similar to Chu Ci’s, along with two handfuls of fried peanuts. Then he and Song Tingzhou got up to stroll around.

Baoxiu Mountain wasn’t very tall. Since monks lived in the temple halfway up, there was a neat, well-trodden path through the mountain.

Meng Wan and Song Tingzhou, dressed in easy-to-move short jackets and trousers, ambled along the path one after the other.

"Here." Meng Wan pulled out a handful of walnuts and peanuts from his pouch and handed them to Song Tingzhou.

Song Tingzhou took them but didn’t eat; instead, he shelled them and fed the kernels to his husband.

"Third Uncle is staying in Lingnan for now. What about the sugar he’s holding?"

Meng Wan fed him a walnut kernel in return. "He took a smaller shipment from the sugar workshop this year. He said he’d head north with Xiao Yu and sell the goods in small batches—consider it training Xiao Yu to learn the routes."

Song Tingzhou asked, "Are the Yu family willing to let him go?"

Meng Wan shrugged carelessly. "Old Yu agreed. I don’t care whether the rest of the Yu family is willing or not. If they put someone under me, they follow my rules. Running the workshop is exhausting enough; do I have to raise their child too?"

Song Tingzhou patted his head. "If you run into trouble, send Xue Sheng to the government office to find me." Having risen to the fifth rank, it would be his own fault if he allowed anyone to bully his husband like Changping had done.

Meng Wan looked at him with a smile, glancing around. The surroundings were quiet and empty, with only the crisp chirping of birds and the faint rustling of insects in the woods.

He crooked his finger at Song Tingzhou, and as the man looked at him curiously, Meng Wan hooked his arms around Song Tingzhou’s neck and leaned in to kiss him.

Song Tingzhou’s pupils contracted sharply. Outside, they never did more than hold hands; even an embrace was considered too much. This... this!

But the shock in his eyes lasted only a moment. The next second, before his mind could react, his body had already moved, skillfully pulling Meng Wan close. He lowered his head, precisely capturing Meng Wan’s slightly upturned lip, then tilted his face and kissed him deeply.

Meng Wan smiled even more. He closed his eyes and focused on responding to Song Tingzhou’s passionate kiss.

He had been busy with the workshop lately, and Song Tingzhou had been considerate, letting him rest. Now that they were intimate again, neither could hold back—until a chill touched Meng Wan’s waist, and he felt something cold slithering against his skin.

"Mm... mm? There’s, there’s a snake!!!" Meng Wan yelped, jerking out of Song Tingzhou’s embrace and turning his back to him.

Luckily, Song Tingzhou reacted quickly. He swiftly lifted Meng Wan’s shirt, grabbed a fat, striped snake, and flung it away.

"Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?"

They both spoke at once, relieved. Taking advantage of the moment, Song Tingzhou lifted Meng Wan’s clothes again and carefully checked his smooth, fair back. Seeing no trace of injury, he relaxed.

The excitement ruined their mood. When they returned to the clearing, Huang Ye had already laid out the snacks and fruits they’d brought from home on the bamboo mat. Meng Wan carefully inspected the area. The medicinal powder was so effective that not only were there no poisonous snakes or mosquitoes, even the ants gave it a wide berth. He nodded inwardly—his godson was reliable.

"When Xiao Ci comes back, I’ll ask him for two more medicine pouches to carry." Meng Wan was still a bit shaken.

Chang Jinhua, unaware that he had nearly been bitten, teased him, "When you left, Xiao Ci offered to hang a pouch on you, but you refused. Now you want to ask him?"

Meng Wan didn’t like cluttering himself with dangling accessories. The only thing he kept on him was the double fish jade pendant Song Tingzhou had bought for him during his imperial exams, which he always used as a weight for his robe. Now, hearing Chang Jinhua’s remark, he felt a little sheepish.

"Ahem... There are lots of snakes and bugs in the mountains, Mother. Would you like some milk tea? The one in the glass jar is low-sugar." He quickly changed the subject.

At noon, Chu Ci and A Xun returned, each with a basket full of medicinal herbs, and settled down to eat. Xue Lang had been raised by Chu Ci, and since it still hadn’t returned, Chu Ci was a bit worried. He asked Xue Sheng to call it.

Xue Sheng shouted toward the forest, and a clear wolf howl echoed back from a distant valley. But after a while, Xue Lang still didn’t come.

Chu Ci stood up from the bamboo mat. He was afraid Xue Lang might have fallen into a hunter’s trap.

A Xun got up too. "I’ll go with you." They had known each other since they were twelve, almost like childhood friends. When Chu Ci first arrived at the Song family, only A Xun could understand his sign language. Song Tingzhou and Meng Wan were busy, so Chu Ci spent most of his time at the Miao family. As a result, his relationship with A Xun was closer than with others.

There was no way Song Tingzhou would let two children go exploring alone, so he took Xue Sheng and followed along.

After a while, Meng Wan and the others saw only Xue Sheng returning, and his steps were very hurried.

"My lord, the snow wolf dug up a corpse in the mountains!"

...

The snow wolf had dug up a dead body with its claws in the mountains, and when Chu Ci was the first to approach, it was still gnawing at it with its mouth. Seeing Chu Ci, Song Tingzhou, and the others coming, it hastily scraped two handfuls of dirt onto the corpse's arm with its paw, trying to cover up its bite marks.

Xue Sheng looked in horror at the mildly decomposed corpse. "My Lord, this..."

Song Tingzhou's face darkened. "Go to the prefectural office and summon the coroner to the scene for an autopsy!"

After this incident, Meng Wan first took Chang Jinhua away from Baoxiu Mountain. By the time Xue Sheng summoned the coroner and constables from the yamen, Meng Wan and the others had already returned home.

"My Lord, the deceased is male, approximately between thirty-five and forty-five years old. There are no other wounds on the body, and it is neither death by drowning nor death by brute force. Only two tiny punctures were found on the neck, which appear to be from a venomous snake bite resulting in death."

The coroner, being quite experienced, quickly determined the cause of death. There are temples and villages near Baoxiu Mountain, suitable for living and farming. Although Lingnan is known for miasma and poisonous insects, no one had ever heard of any venomous snakes or insects on Baoxiu Mountain.

Song Tingzhou gazed into the deep forest, his eyes deep and unreadable. He instructed the constables led by Tao Ba, "Conduct a more thorough search of the surroundings and see if there is anything suspicious."

The constables scattered, and even the snow wolf was dispatched. About seven and a half minutes later, they actually found four more corpses in the woods.

A total of five corpses were transported back to the yamen by the constables. Song Tingzhou summoned Du, who had been inexplicably promoted to Assistant Prefect, and asked him about recent missing person reports. He was busy with official duties at the prefectural office; many miscellaneous matters would first be submitted to Assistant Prefect Du by subordinates, and Assistant Prefect Du would then select the important ones to deliver to Song Tingzhou's desk.

While Assistant Prefect Du was searching for the complaints, Song Tingzhou had already pulled up the hem of his crimson official robe and crouched before the corpses laid out on planks. He pulled back the coarse linen and raised his eyes slowly to the necks of the corpses. Without exception, all five corpses had two tiny punctures on their necks, and they had been dead for several days, with varying degrees of decomposition. Among them, the corpse that the snow wolf had bitten was the least decomposed.

"Xiao Ci, come take a look." Song Tingzhou called Chu Ci over. When it came to poisons, the latter was an expert—he could easily tell whether there was poison or not.

Chu Ci examined the eyes, mouths, and noses of the five deceased one by one, then pierced the wound sites with a silver needle, confirming the coroner's inference to Song Tingzhou. These five people were indeed bitten by a venomous snake and died from the poison, but he could not yet determine which type of snake venom it was. The venom of an ordinary poisonous snake can only kill one or two adults. These five people appeared to have died around the same time, so it must be either multiple snakes or a single extremely venomous snake.

"My Lord, the day before yesterday... there were indeed two missing person cases." Assistant Prefect Du carefully brought two complaints, afraid of being questioned by Song Tingzhou. These two documents had been buried under other official business by him, treated as unimportant matters, and he hadn't had time to deal with them yet.

Song Tingzhou indeed shot him a cold glance. "I recommended you for the position of Assistant Prefect because I saw you were fairly diligent in your work at the prefectural office last year. The responsibilities of a prefectural assistant prefect are extremely important. If you cannot handle this position, then request a demotion yourself."

Upon hearing this, Assistant Prefect Du felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. His hands holding the complaints trembled incessantly, and his voice became halting. "Lord Song... please forgive me! I know... I know my mistake. Please punish me."

Song Tingzhou took the complaints from his hand, his voice cold. "Within seven days, review all the complaints of Xiwu Prefecture from the past two years and re-register them."

Assistant Prefect Du was dumbfounded. "Seven... seven days?"

Song Tingzhou shifted his gaze from the complaints to him. "Vice-Prefect Du, do you have any objections?"

"No, no, Lord Song. I will go do it now."

After he left, Song Tingzhou continued to read the two complaints in his hand. At this moment, a clerk from outside brought in another complaint.

"My Lord, someone has reported that their father has been missing for several days and hasn't returned!"