Chapter 1519: Actually, I've been crazy for a long time

"Does Qiu Gui usually gamble?"

Chen Chen Guanlou pressed on.

Lady Chu shook her head. "He doesn't gamble, and he doesn't like it either. Because his father gambled, was swindled out of a large sum of money, and even ran up outside debts. So he hates anyone who gambles."

Chen Chen Guanlou's heart laughed at that. He knew that fellow Qiu Gui was not honest.

"Now you're telling me he doesn't gamble. But in the hall, why did you say Qiu Gui and the others were so bloodshot from gambling that they went to rob an official's young master?"

"That's also what he told me. He said that although he didn't like gambling, everyone else gambled, and if he alone didn't, he'd seem out of place. He also said he gambled very small stakes and had saved up most of his money."

Chen Chen Guanlou snorted. "He said gambling led to murder, and you just believed him?"

"Why wouldn't I believe it?" Lady Chu looked puzzled. "This kind of losing-money gambling thing is common during holidays. Warden Chen has probably never been short of money, so you never needed to ask people for favors. For people like us, to keep face, to maintain relationships, paying out of pocket to keep a guest company is very common. As for the killing, he said that was an accident."

"Don't you find it contradictory?"

Lady Chu shook her head. "In past years at my maiden home, after I'd worked all day, they'd call me over for a card game, and I couldn't refuse, so I had to keep them company. I've experienced this myself. I can understand him."

"Gambling leading to murder is also understandable?"

"It's always someone else's fault. If he hadn't struck first, he would have died."

Chen Chen Guanlou gave a mocking laugh. Qiu Gui really knew how to spin tall tales.

"Let me ask you, and you must answer me seriously. Over these years, has Qiu Gui secretly exchanged letters with anyone? Does he have any close friends? Or friends he didn't see often but who held a special place in his heart?"

Lady Chu frowned in deep thought.

"He rarely wrote letters, mostly having people deliver verbal messages for him. He had no special friends around him, nor any close ones."

"Are you certain?"

"However..."

"However what? Any anomaly must be reported to me."

Lady Chu thought for a while. "A few years ago, in the first two years after we first arrived in Jingcheng, someone brought him a verbal message. I didn't recognize them! When I asked him who it was, he said nothing and told me not to pry."

"Just once?"

"Twice in total, with several years between them."

"Besides this, are there any other anomalies? Anyone noteworthy who came looking for him?" Chen Chen Guanlou continued to press.

Lady Chu recalled as she spoke. "In daily life, the people who came and went were all colleagues from official circles, nothing special. These years following him, life has been very ordinary, truly nothing out of the ordinary."

Chen Chen Guanlou observed her expression and could tell it was likely the truth.

He was silent for a moment, then asked, "Do you hate him?"

Lady Chu first shook her head, then nodded. "I've heard that in a situation like ours, the nine clans will be executed. That means my maiden family can't escape either, right?"

Chen Chen Guanlou nodded. "Mother's clan, father's clan, wife's clan—none can escape."

"So I hate him! But then I think, these past ten-plus years, my maiden family relied on him and lived well. After enjoying so many years, dying now doesn't seem unacceptable. Better than suffering a whole lifetime, not enjoying a single day, and then dying."

Chen Chen Guanlou truly hadn't expected Lady Chu to be such an optimistic person.

"Do you really think that way, or are you just comforting yourself?"

"I really think so. These years, he's treated me quite well; big and small matters at home, he listened to me. Except this time. I told him to run, but he just couldn't let go, just refused to run. I sent the children away, but sadly they were still caught. Sigh..."

Lady Chu's final sigh was only because the children hadn't managed to escape, leaving her deeply regretful. Being implicated by Qiu Gui, she didn't seem to hate him at all.

"You didn't kill anyone, and your maiden family didn't kill anyone either..."

"But we all enjoyed the wealth and honor Qiu Gui brought."

"Does your maiden family know his identity?"

"They don't know. They've always thought I married into the Dou family young master as a second wife. Now that the truth is out, I really don't know if they can accept it. They'll probably hate me to death, hate Qiu Gui to death." Lady Chu sighed repeatedly, her expression a touch sorrowful.

She seemed to be worrying about how, once she reached the underworld, she would face her maiden family's questioning.

It was worrying her to death!

Chen Chen Guanlou couldn't help but laugh. "You certainly take things in stride."

"What good is it if I don't?"

"Then why did you mistreat Dou Shu and arrange such an unsuitable marriage for her?"

"I didn't mistreat her! She's lived so well! According to my original plan, her daily expenses should have been cut by at least another fifty percent. It's all Qiu Gui's fault for stopping me. Such a waste! She's too delicate—spending so much money every month, more than I do, it pains me to death. As for the marriage, the groom's family is an official's household, with an excellent family background. I did want to betroth her to a legitimate-born son, but the legitimate-born son was already married. What could I do? I could only settle for the next best thing and betroth her to a concubine-born son."

Truly petty and small-minded.

Chen Chen Guanlou laughed in exasperation. "Couldn't you have looked for a different family to propose marriage?"

"That family had the best conditions." Lady Chu said it as if it were perfectly justified.

"She's the Dou family's legitimate eldest daughter. Betrothing her to a concubine-born son of an ordinary official's family—did you never consider the mismatch in status, that people would gossip?"

"But... that was the best household I could find."

Lady Chu's face was full of grievance, tinged with heartache.

She had gone to great lengths to find a husband's family for Dou Shu, only to be looked down on.

Wronged to death.

Chen Chen Guanlou clicked his tongue in wonder, not knowing what to say.

"You're the Lady of the Dou family. If you couldn't find a good one yourself, didn't you know to let Qiu Gui look?"

If the marriage had been satisfactory, Dou Shu wouldn't have taken the desperate step of finding him to investigate Qiu Gui's identity, and there wouldn't be today's prison disaster.

Short-sighted!

Really thought the Dou family's daughter was easy to bully!

"Qiu Gui is even worse than me! Don't be fooled by him being an official—in truth, his heart is full of bluster. After all, his official skin is fake. Even though he's worn it for over ten years, fake is fake."

"I saw him as quite proud, not showing the slightest sign of guilt."

"It's all an act. Only in front of me does he drop the pretense. He lived in fear, dreading the day he'd be exposed. A few years ago, I told him: if it really won't work, just resign. Relying on the Dou family's assets, we could still live comfortably. But he wasn't willing!"

Lady Chu sighed mournfully. "On one hand he fears being exposed, on the other he can't bear to take off the official skin. He's so contradictory, wanting everything. And now look—execution of the nine clans."

Having said that, she let out a self-mocking laugh, one that carried a good deal of bitterness.

"You two are quite close, aren't you."

Chen Chen Guanlou was not being sarcastic; he genuinely believed so.

"The only person he can speak honestly to is me. Not even his own family—he doesn't dare utter a single truthful word to them. How could we not be close? Without me, he'd have gone mad long ago!" Madam Chu sighed softly, gently smoothing the hair at her temple. "Actually, I've long gone mad myself!"