Chapter 35: Provincial Governor Liu

Very quickly, the servants from the Yin residence brought over the Panax pseudoginseng powder. Ran Yan ordered them to directly apply it on the wound on Wan Lu’s neck.

Although the wound had damaged a major artery, it was not very big. After the Panax pseudoginseng powder was applied, the blood flow slowly stopped.

The rescue effort had been ongoing for half an hour, and even though the influential officials standing at the side were running out of patience, Ran Yan still did not dare to relax the slightest, and ceaselessly instructed the two bailiffs to carry out the massage.

At the very beginning, the influential officials still had some curiosity, but after such a long time, Ran Yan was still repeating those same actions , they became tired of watching it, thus their gazes gradually turned to Ran Yan’s body.

Fragments of the Banks’ rose petals fell gently, a girl with beautiful features in purple dress, translucent beads of sweat exuded from her snow white cheeks, it sparkled and looked clear and limpid under the light coming in from the exit, a pale blush suffusing her two cheeks, her tender lips pursed tightly, her deep, dark eyes seemed to be isolated from this world, with no other thought other than saving a life. Thus, even though Ran Yan’s actions were very unbecoming, even though there was already one outcome in their hearts[1], they did not go forward to stop her.

Qin Musheng stared closely at Ran Yan, the her like this, captivated him too much, as if some place in the depths of is heart was being touched lightly, the tingling feeling traveling to his whole body, he had never developed this kind of peculiar emotions towards any girls before, but he knew that prior to this he never had a person he wanted[2].

“She has breath!” That bailiff that was massaging Wan Lu’s neck said in surprise. Initially he was just following Provincial Governor Liu’s orders, in his heart he was not thinking that he would really save the person’s life, who would think that this beautiful looking little Miss actually succeeded!

“Really?” Provincial Governor Liu and the cadre of sleepy officials moved forward one by one, especially Yin Wenshu, his eyes opened wide, he went the very front, his expression when he saw Wan Lu’s even breathing was even more incredulous.

Ran Yan sighed in relief a little, quickly said to the two bailiffs, “Many thanks to the both of you.” Following that, she turned towards Liu Pinrang and said, “Many thanks to Provincial Governor Liu’s trust.”

“Seventeenth Miss.” Qin Musheng saw Ran Yan’s somewhat tired appearance, his heart hurt a little, he quickly went forward to support her.

“There’s no need.” Ran Yan stopped the hand he extended towards her, looked at Wan Lu on the floor who had not awoken, a trace of ruthlessness flashed across her gaze, someone actually went over her head and bullied her! If this time she gave up on catching the murderer again in order to conceal herself, how could she face Wan Lu in the future!

“Provincial Governor Liu, can I borrow you for a talk?” Ran Yan looked directly at Liu Pinrang.

Liu Pinrang stared at her deep eyes, more amazement developed in his heart, this little Miss that appeared to have just reached marriageable age was so quiet that she made people feel cold, her gaze did not contain the politeness and modesty, restraint or arrogance that most girls have, she just stared directly into people’s eyes, as if she would see through all their secrets.

“Alright.” Liu Pinrang agreed to Ran Yan’s request again, this time, the crowd did not protest, only their gazes when looking at Ran Yan were different.

Liu Pinrang turned and said towards the crowd, “A certain Liu[3] is leaving for a moment, I hope everyone would be magnanimous enough to forgive my slight.”

“Please do as you wish, Provincial Governor Liu.” Each person in the crowd said courteously.

Liu Pinrang looked at the his surroundings, walked around Wan Lu on the ground, and headed towards the water pavilion.

The water pavilion still displayed the small tables and seats of the tea party that had stopped halfway, the little waterfall was like silk strips, and poured into the pond with a crashing sound hualala, causing layers of waves to rise on the water surface.

“What does Miss want to say?” Liu Pinrang stood still by the railing, turned his head and asked.

Ran Yan was rather admiring towards this old man who wore a fourth-rank dark red official uniform and yet looked unassuming, after all not everyone could be like him and decisively make a decision when faced with a situation like just now.

“Wan Lu lost a lot of blood, even though she’s been saved, but she will not wake within a short time, so as her master, I have the responsibility to tell Provincial Governor Liu everything that I saw.” Ran Yan deliberated over her wording, even though she no longer planned on acting stupid and naive, she also did not plan on revealing everything. In an unfamiliar environment, clever people would choose to hide their strength.

“Saw? What did you see?” Liu Pinrang’s eyes that were not large gazed evenly at her, without a trace of fluctuation, while he did not reveal an appearance of interest, he did not give of a feeling of disregard.

Ran Yan was unconcerned, and said calmly, “The person who tried to kill Wan Lu, is a woman.”

Liu Pinrang did not continue to question her, and only looked at her, waiting for her elaboration, however in his heart he was extremely doubtful, on what basis did she decide that the culprit was a woman?

Ran Yan understood his meaning, pursed her lips slightly, as if she had decided on something, she heaved a deep breath and said, “When I was treating Wan Lu, I noticed that there were marks on her neck from being strangled by someone’s hands, but because the culprit did not use enough strength, so only the situation of asphyxia[4] appeared in Wan Lu, moreover, the culprit’s fingernails were long and sharp, when she was grabbing onto Wan Lu’s neck, her fingernails pierced into her neck and damaged the artery there, in a panic the culprit did not notice it, and immediately hung Wan Lu on the wooden frame. Moreover, I believe that the person that murdered Wan Lu and the person that murdered Third Miss Yin’s servant, is the same person.

Although Liu Pinrang had the ability to remain calm in the face of Mt Tai collapsing in front of him, but Ran Yan’s words, made him reveal an astonished expression, “Even if it so, how can you be sure that the culprit is a woman?”

The corner of Ran Yan lips hooked up slightly, revealing a cold smiling expression, fished out a handkerchief from her sleeves, and unfolded it on her palm, “I found this in the wound on Wan Lu’s neck.”

Under the sunlight, a red crescent moon shaped thing lay on the white handkerchief, “This is a fingernail that has been dyed with nail polish.”

Liu Pinrang reached out to take it, placed it in front of his eyes and carefully inspected it, this fingernail had not only been dyed with nail polish, but the protruding portion of the crescent was cut into a very smooth round shape, it can be seen that the owner of this broken fingernail, was not only a woman, but a woman of high status!

Most servants, because they normally had to work, it was inconvenient for them to leave their nails long, usually their nails would not be very long, even more so their nails would not be painted with nail polish.

Liu Pinrang nodded his head, very naturally wrapped up the fingernail, and stuffed it into his sleeve pockets.

The corners of Ran Yan’s mouth twitched, in any case that handkerchief belonged to a little Miss, how could this old man have the nerve to take advantage.

“Just now I also examined Wan Lu’s head, there was a lump at the back of her head, like someone had used something like a wooden stick to attack.” Ran Yan withdrew her gaze, and continued speaking.

“From your analysis, all the Madams and Misses that were present today, as long as their fingernails are coloured with nail polish, they would be under suspicion?” Towards Ran Yan’s analysis, Liu Pinrang had already ceased making a fuss about it like he had at the beginning, on the contrary he had the feeling of discussing a case with a colleague. It was only that, the in the bureaucracy there would not be any one like her, whose every word was so forthright and direct.

Ran Yan reminded him, “The scope can be narrowed further, this person was able to find a tall stool and place it at the scene in such a short amount of time, it is obvious that they are extremely familiar with the Yin residence, even if she is not from the Yin residence, she would be a frequent guest of the Yin residence. Moreover, nail polish is normally made from balsam flowers mixed with alum, even if it was the same coloured flowers, because of time, and such factors, the colour produced would have minute differences. Nail polish is hard to remove, but the nails can be re-dyed again, the minimum amount of time to dye them is one hour… So Provincial Governor Liu has to hurry.”

With this round of analysis, the scope of suspects had indeed narrowed by a lot. There was still one thing that Ran Yan did not say, if the culprit did not even have enough strength to strangle Wan Lu to death, it would be difficult for her to quickly hang her up, this indicated clearly that the culprit had at least one accomplice. Ran Yan knew that, even if she did not mention it, this would not escape Provincial Governor Liu’s notice.

However, Ran Yan still could not understand, what was the culprit’s motive? Why did she kill Third Miss Yin’s servant, and bring disaster to Qin Musheng? And then why did she hastily kill Wan Lu?

Even if Wan Lu bumped into whichever Madam or Miss, at the most she would be punished, but not to the extent of killing her to silence her, unless… in this period of time Wan Lu discovered some secret that could not be revealed.

Liu Pinrang saw Ran Yan’s pupils darken and flickered slightly, thus did not disturb her, and actually stood still at the side and admired the view, after a while, only did he suddenly say, “The back garden of the Yin residence is indeed quiet and secluded.”

Indeed, it was quiet and secluded to the extent that it was a good place to silence someone. The sound of the water here was loud, even if there was some abnormal noise, it still would not be easy be noticed.

“Which family’s Miss are you?” Liu Pinrang’s heart was not without regret, if the little Miss before him was born as a son, she could have become a good assistant.

“The Ran family’s Seventeenth Miss.” Ran Yan said flatly.

Liu Pinrang knew that the Ran Yan was some family’s noble daughter, but once he heard it was the Ran clan, he was still a little startled, that Ran Wen, on the surface he seemed astute, but on the inside he really didn’t amount to much, moreover, it was said that his ears were very soft[5], when dealing with situations he was not decisive, but this daughter of his was actually the exact opposite, she appeared weak and delicate, but was firm and unwavering, he could tell from her gaze that this was a woman with very strong willpower, and would not easily be influenced by the outside world.

“A tree that is unbending is easily broken[6], women should be a little more gentle and yielding, then only would they have good fortune.” Liu Pinrang said with a smile and crinkled eyes.

With this smile, his whole face creased with wrinkles, his eyes crinkled up, stroking his grizzled white beard, he looked remarkably like a cunning old man. Ran Yan stared blankly, for a moment she could not react to what he meant by those words.

Liu Pinrang withdrew his smile, coughed twice, and said with a serious expression, “That girl called Wan Lu, is an important witness in this case, to prevent her from falling for an evil scheme again, this official will assign runners to protect her, since you are a doctor, there is no need to send for another doctor, to prevent her injuries from worsening, you can accompany her along the way.”

It did not matter whether he sent for a doctor or not, after all the estate had both Wu Xiu and Ran Yan, but a stately fourth-rank provincial governor like Liu Pinrang, actually was so stingy, and saved when he could save, it really made one unable to help laughing.

Ran Yan did not object to the authorities sending runners over, after all, with the kind of defence the Ran estate had, it could not even defend against a mere Qin Musheng, how could it protect Wan Lu from being hurt? Since the culprit had killed to silence once, it was hard to guarantee that they would not do it a second time.

Because Wan Lu’s injuries were extremely serious, Ran Yan did not have time to search for clues at the crime scene, and could only hurriedly rush back to the estate from the Yin residence.

It was good that even though Liu Pinrang was stingy, he understood very well what was important and what was not, the horse carriage he hired was very stable, even when passing through the small country lanes it barely shook. Recalling Liu Pinrang’s expression when he gritted his teeth and fished out the money from his bosom, Ran Yan felt that that was the funniest thing that happened today.

Initially Qin Musheng wanted to follow along, but he was asked to stay by Liu Pinrang’s tactful mouth, that phrased it beautifully: someone wants to harm Fourth Master Qin, this official has a responsibility to protect.

Returning to the entrance of the estate, from afar the runners saw a man wearing grey robe, carrying a bundle in his hands, craning his neck out from the entrance, they couldn’t help shouting loudly, “Who are you?! Why are you loitering suspiciously at the entrance of the estate?”

Ran Yan pulled open the carriage’s curtains to a crack, and saw that tall and thin, pure and handsome looking man, his expression like a frightened little rabbit, his eyes gleaming with tears looked at the runners, after staring blankly for a moment, he quickly clasped his hands together, “I am Sang Chen, courtesy name[7] Sui Yuan, I am the new private school teacher.”

An unchanging self-introduction, a rabbit-like expression, if it was not that idiot Sang Chen then who else could it be!

Ran Yan’s expression darkened, and she put down the curtains.

The runner saw that Sang Chen was filled with a scholarly air, thus did not doubt him further, said in a much gentler voice, “If you’re paying a visit, then do it properly, craning your head left and right, I thought you were a thief!”

The horse carriage stopped at the entrance, two bailiffs quickly asked Ran Yan to alight, before entering the carriage to carry Wan Lu.

Sang Chen saw Ran Yan’s silhouette, with a bright smile on his face, rushed up, “The thing that Miss asked me to make, I was lucky enough not to disgrace my task, I’ve already fired it (in a kiln), I took a few for Miss to have a look first.”

Initially Ran Yan was going to ignore him, but once she heard that actually completed the syringe cylinder ahead of time, she could not help slow her steps, and looked at him quietly.

The time she stopped was not long, but Ran Yan did not wear a veil today, when her face was directly facing his, it actually made Sang Chen’s face so red that blood could drip out, his speech become not fluent.

“Come in then.” Ran Yan saw the heavy dark circles around his eyes, and his slightly thinner face, but did not turn him away at the door.

***

A/N:
These past few days I’ve saw that there are people urging for more updates in the comments, I feel pleased and tangled at the same time. Thank you for everyone’s bountiful love, but lately Xiuzi (the author) has been busy with things, at the very this this weekend I won’t have any way of adding more (chapters), towards the fingers[8], Xiuzi is at fault.

On other matters, I thank carmel、一种架各种吵、晴子~、哓钕亻、桃子妞妞、忍所不忍、爱狗的KELLY、书友100427204805792 (T/N: these are just online names so I won’t be translating them) for their support (T/N: she says something like rewards? Might refer to donations), as well as the kind comments from readers, Xiuzi loves everyone~~ After 10 days, Xiuzi will consider changing to two updates a day, almost the same (speed of) updates as the previous “Beautiful Concubine is Bewitching and Leisurely”, about 5,000 characters, in order to repay everyone’s support! Thank you!

[1] Not sure if I translated this clearly enough, but basically it’s saying that even though they have already sure that there would only be one outcome from this (ie Ran Yan would fail to revive Wan Lu), they did not stop her.

[2]但他知道自己前所未有的想要得到过一个人: the annoying thing about translating is that you have to understand 100% of a sentence, including the subtext, even 1% less is enough to trip you up when you translate. I am pretty sure this sentence means that this is the first time Qin Musheng wanted a woman.

[3]刘某: basically he’s referring to himself

[4]asphyxia: condition where body is deprived of oxygen, causing unconsciousness or death; suffocation

[5]耳根子非常软: credulous, gullible

[6]过硬则易折: better bend than break. A wise person would know how to yield to others, otherwise they would easily offend others and court disaster.

[7]字: a name traditionally given to Chinese males at the age of 20, marking their coming of age Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtesy_name

[8]对手指: I have no idea what this means… might refer to her being appologetic towards the accusing fingers pointed towards her aka the comments asking for more chapters