Chapter 117: Powerful Enemy, The Clue Ends
Bai Zepei touched his nose and whispered, "You’ve corrupted our mother."
Bai Ruozhu almost burst into laughter at this, thinking how amazing it was for her to be able to corrupt her mother. They say when the beam is crooked, the column will be skewed. But according to his older brother, it was the exact opposite.
Lin Ping’er gave Bai Zepei an annoyed glance, "Get lost."
Lu Ming soon emerged from Er Lang’s room in clean clothes, and the family of three returned to the Main Hall to continue their meal.
Bai Ruozhu immediately donned a face of guilt and fear and apologized again to Bai Ruomei and Lu Ming. Bai Ruomei had already seen Lu Ming’s injury. Although it was red from scalding, the skin was unbroken and it was not serious, so Bai Ruozhu was not blamed.
Of course, she interrogated Lu Ming as to whether he had touched Bai Ruozhu. Lu Ming swore he hadn’t but Bai Ruomei was suspicious, after all, this wasn’t the first time Lu Ming had been inappropriate with women and denied it vehemently.
Bai Ruomei didn’t want to have a full-fledged fight with her husband. On normal days, she’d just turn a blind eye. Now, being guests, she really couldn’t push it. If they ended up quarrelling, she’d be the one embarrassed as relatives witnessing their dispute.
After the meal, Bai Zehao came back. He was taken aback to see Bai Ruomei and her husband still there, greeted them after regaining composure, and didn’t mention the matter of visiting equals in their presence.
During the meal, Lu Donghai ate very little, probably full from eating too many pastries. He was constantly complaining of thirst and wanting to drink sweet water, but Bai Ruomei was a bit worried and didn’t make him any. Instead, she poured him some boiled water, which the brat refused to drink.
Since Lu Donghai was being restless and there were matters at the Lu Family Pastry Shop, Bai Ruomei excused himself after dinner. Before leaving, she nudged Lu Ming, who hurriedly smiled and said to Bai Zepei, "Er Lang, I’ll come to return your clothes some other day."
Er Lang’s polite response was, "Not at all, don’t bother. If my cousin-in-law doesn’t mind, keep them."
"How could we? We only spent a little extra time today." Bai Ruomei’s smile was exceptionally ingratiating.
Bai Ruozhu sneaked a smirk. She remembered Bai Ruomei usually wouldn’t visit more than once or twice a year, pleading that her in-laws’ shop was busy and needed her help, or that coming back often would anger her mother-in-law.
Er Lang didn’t continue to be polite with Bai Ruomei. He saw them off to the door and then let out a deep breath upon returning to the house.
"Why do you seem so tired, Er Lang?" Bai Yihong asked, unable to hold back on seeing him like this.
"I’m not tired, I’m just afraid that I wouldn’t be able to control myself from punching Lu Ming." Er Lang coldly responded, a murderous tone surfacing in his voice.
"What?" Bai Yihong still didn’t understand. It wasn’t that he was stupid but just too honest. He inherently believed that a brother-in-law shouldn’t harass his younger sister-in-law and hence, didn’t think in that direction.
Lin Ping’er slapped him and explained in a low voice what Lu Ming had done. Bai Yihong immediately slapped the table and yelled, "Why didn’t you say this earlier? I would have killed that bastard!"
"Father, I know you care for me, but I’ve already taught him a lesson. He’ll suffer a great deal," Bai Ruozhu said, chuckling and holding her father’s arm.
Bai Yihong was still angry and huffed, "Just scalding him is too lenient."
Bai Ruozhu raised an eyebrow and said with a mischievous smile, "Father, do you remember the mosquito repellent powder I mixed?"
"I do, it’s actually very effective as a repellent. But if it somehow gets onto the skin, it causes an itch." Bai Yihong was puzzled as to why Bai Ruozhu was bringing up the repellent powder and suddenly gasped, "Does Er Lang’s clothes have the..."
Bai Ruozhu nodded in satisfaction, "The powder is colorless and odorless. A small amount is not too itchy. But Lu Ming’s skin was scalded, so it may not show now, but I bet by tomorrow he’ll be scratching himself crazily."
The entire family burst into laughter. Lin Ping’er hurriedly made a shushing gesture and lowered her voice, "This matter must not be spread, or else people will gossip about Ruozhu."
Bai Zehao, who was previously very angry, was now fully appeased. He laughed and asked, "Where did you scald him?"
Lin Ping’er glanced at him and said, "On his leg. He deserved it, anyway."
Bai Ruozhu chuckled quietly to herself. It wasn’t just his leg but a more vital part as well. It would guarantee that he would be rendered incapacitated for a while. If he couldn’t endure the itching and scratched it, he would end up with broken skin.
What’s more, Bai Ruozhu was very confident that even if Lu Ming went to see a famous doctor, he wouldn’t be able to detect the presence of any drug and would simply diagnose it as a skin allergy or an excessive ’Liver-Fire’.
"Big brother, quickly tell us what happened with the identification matter," Bai Zepei finally remembered the key issue and asked.
Bai Zehao expressed his frustration, "Don’t remind me. The incident was indeed linked to the delivery of the Osmanthus Cake but the man insisted it was a child who gave him the cake and the silver, asking him to do so. Officer Li said he would interrogate the man and look for the child he spoke of."
Bai Ruozhu suddenly thought of a TV drama she had watched in her previous life where someone gave a child silver to pass on a message to a certain target. If it came to investigating, the child often couldn’t clearly explain who found him.
"It’s possible someone did get a child to deliver the message. Even if they find the child, he probably won’t be able to say who instructed him to do it," Bai Ruozhu shared her thoughts, and then made up an excuse, "I once saw this strategy in a local theater drama in town."
The whole family fell into silence. Was this the end of their investigation?
Bai Ruozhu had a different perspective. If the mastermind indeed was Bai Yibo, it meant that he was very intelligent and she had underestimated him. But if it wasn’t Bai Yibo, it meant that her family had another extremely dangerous hidden enemy.
Either situation was detrimental to Bai Ruozhu’s family, something she had never considered.
Two days later, Officer Li sent a message to Bai Zepei, informing them that the child they found was only five years old and couldn’t remember who approached him. He only remembered that the person gave him a string of Sugar-Coated Haws.
Officer Li even interviewed the Sugar-Coated Haws seller, asking if anyone unusual had bought Sugar-Coated Haws a few days ago. However, the situation was too far away, and the seller had traveled a lot and sold tons of Sugar-Coated Haws, and thus could not remember any particular buyer.
Officer Li said he would continue to investigate but asked Bai Zepei to be mentally prepared that it might be difficult to find the truth.
The whole family was extremely disappointed but there was nothing more they could do. Bai Ruozhu wasn’t willing to give up and decided to go to the town once her confinement was over to look for the Beggar Gang, hoping that the beggars might know clues unknown to the officials.
...
After Bai Ruomei’s family returned to town, they promptly took their child to Fushou Hall. Despite Lu Ming insisting that Bai Ruozhu was just making things up and that Lu Donghai was very sturdy, Bai Ruomei wanted to be sure. When they did check, it turned out there was a problem.
And close behind, the next day, Lu Ming also ran into trouble...