Lu Meiwan covered her chin with the cloth and quietly entered the mansion. Her brother followed behind her, holding her purple sleeve in his fingers.
"Why are we sneaking in, Sister?"
Of course she didn't want her uncle to know of what had happened to them today. She didn't want to cause him trouble nor admit to doing something as foolish as what she'd done earlier.
"I don't want Uncle Yan to worry about us. So you keep quiet too." She whispered as they headed towards the back of the mansion. "If he asks, I hurt myself while we were practicing archery earlier today."
Zhanyi nodded at his sister's words, of course he'd listen to her. The two arrived in Meiwan's courtyard and entered, Xiao Bi rushed out to greet her miss.
"Miss Lu! It's past meal time! Master ordered I bring your food to your room, young master's has already been sent to his as well." She led them into the main room and they sat at the table. A few dishes were put out, mainly simple foods.
"Thank you, Xiao Bi. You may leave for the night, and please tell uncle Yan that we've returned." She smiled at her maid, but desperately wished she'd leave.
The maid bowed and left, leaving the siblings alone. Meiwan turned to her brother and took his hand in hers, while looking over him again, this time more thouroughly.
"Are you sure you aren't hurt?"
He shook his head, but Meiwan pursed her lips.
"What happened to you and where did they take you?" She asked.
Zhanyi pulled his hand back and smiled. "I was really fine. They left me in a small room and then an hour later, I was released." He glanced at her chin again, more concerned. "Were they going to torture you?"
Meiwan remembered the blade as it sliced through her delicate skin, and the warm trickle of blood as it oozed from the opening. She knew it had been an accident, but she was also sure that Wei Heping would do it intentionally as well.
She shook her head. "Of course not! I told them who we were and they released us, this," she gestured towards her chin. "Was my fault, I wasn't being careful on the way back to the hall."
"Oh." He didn't believe her, but decided to stay silent anyway.
The two sat together and ate silently, before Meiwan personally took Zhanyi back to his courtyard. The girl then returned to her own rooms and after applying medicine to her cut and preparing for sleep, laid down. But instead of finding sleep immediately, she remembered the young man in the dungeon.
"Open the door." She recalled his first words. Her head had already been down and realizing a new person had entered made her want to hide more. He came to stand before her and she saw the fine fabric of his robe, another noble she assumed. But when Wei Heping entered in behind him she could feel the tension in the air.
"Don't tell me this child, is your suspect?"
"She commited a crime, she's already confessed." She heard the fourth prince say after scoffing. Judging by his words, Meiwan guessed he might be trying to make her out to be a criminal, so that her arrest would be justified.
"What crime?"
"This, child, was the main reason Ning's steward escaped. How's that for a crime? Because of her, the whole case will become more difficult and take longer. Not to mention how many more people could be harmed due to her interference." Wei Heping sounded haughty, and Meiwan felt somewhat hopeless in her situation and shook her head.
"What is your name?" The young man asked her, his voice was stern but also kind, and she wanted to look up and see his face.
"Lu Meiwan, of Yan mansion."
"Yan mansion?" The man sounded suprised. "Minister Yan's mansion?"
It seemed that he was familiar with her uncle, or he woudln't have responded in such manner. However, the fourth prince stood to the side grumbling, and she still felt intimidated. His silence though, urged her to respond quickly.
"Yes, I'm his neice. And my little brother is also being held here." She had thought of her brother.
The room heated a few degrees, and she saw as the man turned slightly to the fourth prince. It was obvious to her now, after experiencing the pecking order of the nobles and wealthier classes, that Wei Heping disliked and maybe feared the man. That bit of knowledge gave her hope that perhaps, even just out of spite, he'd release her and her brother to spite the fourth prince. After all, with the respect shown to him by a prince, he must be high ranking or even of the royal family.
"Guard, release the children. Immediately. Heping." Meiwan breathed out in a rush of pent up air, as the two exited the barred room. She glanced up in time to see them dissapear up the steps. He had saved her and Zhanyi with a few words.Though he'd called her a child, she didn't mind. Later on, if she could meet him, she would thank him and maybe give him a different, better impression of her. Instead of the weak and dirtier girl in chains.
Now lying in bed, she allowed herself to fantasize about her hero. How he looked, what he was like, what family he was from. All the things a girl wants to know about the young man of her liking, and she was easily impressed by him.
...
Blood dripped from the fingertips of Wei Heping, but a dark smile showed his white teeth. Before him was Fang Ruobin, Mr. Ning's steward. He was tied to a post with his arms tied out and away from him, he was limp in this position. Heping set down the tool he'd just used by the others, a sharp knife that scraped the skin off of whoever the unfortunant one was. It was an incredibly painful way of torture and one of the most effective.
"I'll speak." His words were weak.
"Oh?" Heping's brows raised and his eyes widened, his look completely innocent except to those who knew him.
The man nodded slowly. "Mr. Ning operates in eight other cities." He began. "The accounting records are hidden away in his mansion, in the study, beneath his desk under the floor."
The fourth prince back handed the man across the face, making more blood splatter onto the wall. "You know that's not what I want." He growled, his smile gone.
"That's all I know, I swear." Mr. Fang pleaded.
"Who does he work for?" A simple question.
However the man looked to the floor, his gaze blank. "I don't know." He insisted.
Appearing to let his patience running thin, Wei Heping took a deep breath. He was calm, he never let his emotions run on their own. But he needed to portray himself as reaching his wit's end. Maybe if he touched another instrument, a branding iron?
"I know we've been busy today, you're tired, I'm tired... let's get this over with then." The fourth prince grabbed the hot metal from the red coals and spun towards the man, pressing the flat end to his chest. The man screamed, and his veins bulged, before falling completely unconscious in his chains.
Too far, Heping sighed as he tossed the iron back in the coals. He'd return again in the morning, maybe then he'd get the answer he was looking for. An answer that would ruin Wei Rongxie, the second prince.
"Guard, take him back to his cell." He called while wiping his hands from the blood of Fang Ruobin. His job was messy, and he didn't particularly like that aspect. When one is labeled 'Death's Judge', it's a hard reputation to keep.
Walking towards the entrance of the Department of Justice to head home, he recalled the girl from earlier in the day. Lu Meiwan, of Yan mansion. He hadn't met such a stupid girl in a long time. She had better stay out of his line of sight, or he'd be tempted to finish what he accidently started in the interrogation room.