He Also Transmigrated on the Wedding Night - Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Before dawn, the first to confess was Steward Qin.
Not because he felt remorse.
But because the Red Deed, the Contract-Seal Ring, the wax marks on the knife hilt, and the poisoned wine had all been laid out before the constables.
If he kept taking the blame for Madam Pei, he would only die with her.
He said Madam Pei had ordered him to switch the cups.
Ordered him to place the knife beside my hand.
Ordered him to lure the night watchman into seeing a wedding dress enter the side room.
She was also the one who told him to strangle Ah Lu, then stuff the bloodstained handkerchief beside Ah Lu’s hand.
Madam Pei did not confess.
She only sneered.
She said the Red Deed implicated far more than just the Pei family.
She wanted to drag more people down with her.
The Red Deed case first uncovered seven marriages.
The Pei family was no ordinary wealthy household.
They kept duplicate marriage contract ledgers for the county office, and they also handled land deeds for several major families.
Once a marriage document was stamped with the contract seal, the fields, shops, and dowry a woman brought with her could be quietly transferred, bit by bit, into her husband’s family’s name.
Women who refused a marriage would be recorded as having eloped.
Women who resisted would be recorded as insane.
Women who could not go on living would be recorded as unchaste.
Of those seven cases, three women had died.
Two had gone mad.
The remaining two had been struck from their clan genealogies, leaving not even their names behind.
Shen Lingyi was supposed to become one of them.
Once she married into the Pei family, the Shen family’s land deeds would be merged into Pei Mansion’s holdings.
If she refused, she would be written down as unchaste.
Pei Du discovered the truth and deliberately asked to marry her.
He had originally been raised by Madam Pei to take charge of the duplicate ledgers.
He understood marriage contracts better than anyone.
And he understood better than anyone how land deeds could have their owners changed without a sound.
Madam Pei had raised him to be the Pei family’s blade.
But he had insisted on turning that blade back against the Pei family.
That was why she wanted him dead.
Outsiders all said he despised her.
They said she was arrogant.
They said the two of them had fallen out before their wedding.
All of that was an act.
The more they looked like a resentful couple in front of others, the easier it was for them to avoid prying eyes in private.
Ah Lu was one of Shen Lingyi’s people.
She knew the Red Deed was hidden beneath the wedding candles.
She also knew someone would make a move on the wedding night.
Before she died, she had clawed off that red wax to leave a clue for someone who could understand it.
I looked at her hand.
Two of her nails had snapped.
Her palm was covered in burns.
All at once, I wanted badly to cry.
But I did not.
Crying was useless.
The thing she had left behind with her life should not be repaid with nothing more than tears.
When the constables took Madam Pei and Steward Qin away, Lu Wenzhou finally could not hold on any longer.
He collapsed back onto the bed.
I caught him.
His blood had dyed my wedding dress an even deeper red.
The physician treated his wound.
The poison had not yet been cleared.
The knife wound had not healed either.
But he was alive.
And so was I.
The crack in the Heart-Linked Lock stopped spreading.
He looked at the wound on my arm.
“Why did you throw yourself in front of me just now?”
“To block the knife.”
“Why?”
“Because you talk too much. Even if you died, you’d still be noisy enough to bother me.”
He laughed.
Very softly.
“Jiang Nanxing.”
“You’ve saved me three times now.”
I lowered my head and pressed the gauze in place for him.
“The first time was because if you died, I was finished too.”
“The second time was because you were still useful.”
“What about the third time?”
My hand stilled.
The red candles in the room were nearly burned out.
Daylight seeped through the paper windows.
I wanted to say it was because I did not want to owe him.
I also wanted to say it was because I had not beaten him yet.
But in the end, I said nothing.
Lu Wenzhou looked at me.
He did not press me either.
He only reached out and gently closed his hand around the Heart-Linked Lock at my wrist.
The Heart-Linked Lock was burning hot.
In the next instant, the entire bridal chamber seemed to be washed away by water.
The red candles, the blood, the marriage contract, Ah Lu’s hand, Madam Pei’s smile, all of it receded into the distance.
I heard Lu Wenzhou’s voice.
Very far away.
And very close.
He said, “Jiang Nanxing.”
“When you wake up this time, don’t start by cursing me.”
I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, the lights in the archive room were on.
