"I don't have parents," Peng Mingzhu answered the question that Wei Kangnuan asked in the most monotone voice he ever heard her speak.
"Ah… Sorry…" Wei Kangnuan apologized, realizing that his instinctual question just tensed the room.
Just when he thought he was at a point of no return, Peng Mingzhu said, "I'm an orphan."
"Eh?" Wei Kangnuan tripped while uttering that sound at her unexpected words.
"Are you shocked?" Peng Mingzhu asked him as she turned to face him. "You are probably thinking why would I have no parents when I told you about my mother, right? You are also probably thinking why am I telling you this."
Not waiting for him to answer her continuous string of questions, she answered all of them, "Of course you are shocked. Haha… I really don't have parents. The people who claimed to be my parents were nothing more than a lie. A made-up lie for their own greedy reasons. I don't know why I keep on wanting to tell more about myself, but my heart just made me do it. For the first time ever, I'm realizing what 'the heart wants what it wants' means. Hah…"
Though still in a state of shock, Wei Kangnuan quickly grew out of his trance while he was on the floor and stood up. With a quick motion, he grabbed her wrist and hugged her tightly.
"I do not know why you want to tell me this, but right now, all I know is that I really want to be your family," Wei Kangnuan told her with a tense voice. "Even if we are not married right now, that is fine. Just...let me be able to call myself your family."
Hearing those words, Peng Mingzhu widened her eyes from the overwhelming emotions in her heart. For some reason, her heart was feeling a little bit painful. Not painful as in hurting, but painful as in chaotic.
Her heart was beating about wildly and her every attempt to stop or calm it down ended in failure.
Avoiding his burning gaze, Peng Mingzhu turned to the side and said, "I-I'll think about it… For now...let's focus on the case…"
Knowing that he would once again turn the atmosphere tense if he spoke anymore, Wei Kangnuan agreed with her, "Alright. Let us get back to the case."
As soon as she was set free from his hug, she quickly turned to focus her attention somewhere else. However, by doing so, her eyes were once again set on something that was crucial to the case.
Walking to the paper wrapping that was already opened, Peng Mingzhu took a sniff of the white powder.
Noticing her frantic action, Wei Kangnuan asked while pointing at the powder laying on the brown paper, "What is that?"
"Opium," Peng Mingzhu answered with a frown. "I already got a whiff of the smell when we first entered, but I didn't expect to be able to find one that Ren Lin was yet to consume."
"Opium?" Wei Kangnuan repeated with a dark voice, a deep crease on his forehead appearing on his handsome face.
"Yes. What's the matter?" Peng Mingzhu asked when she heard the darkness in his tone.
"Opium is illegal in our country," Wei Kangnuan instantly answered her question. "The only exceptions of where they can exist is in the palace as the imperial physicians are the only people allowed to distribute them to the public."
"Maybe one of your imperial physicians is involved in this case?" Peng Mingzhu suggested.
"No," Wei Kangnuan immediately denied her idea.
Instead of getting mad at his immediate rejection, Peng Mingzhu waited for him to finish his thought.
"There is no way of an imperial physician getting involved because we only have five physicians," Wei Kangnuan explained with a frown. "One for father. One for mother. One for brother. One for me. And one for my sister. Not only that, each of them were personally picked by us, having a history with the one who picked them."
"Hm… Well… That's even worse then," Peng Mingzhu sighed as she heard his explanation. "If it's illegal then it means that there's only one way of receiving opium. From outside. However, that would mean that an outsider has been able to invade the country. If the public hears such news...that wouldn't be good for you guys, right?"
Also sighing like Peng Mingzhu, Wei Kangnuan nodded in agreement, "Right. I initially expected this to be a small case. I did not think that it would expand to be such a big mess."
"That is why I never have expectations," Peng Mingzhu told him with a self-deprecating smile. "The more expectations you have, the more disappointment you face."
Hearing what Peng Mingzhu stated, Wei Kangnuan could only sigh once again, "This is definitely going to be another hard manhunt…"
"That may be what you think, but in fact you are wrong," Peng Mingzhu spoke, wrapping up the opium powder.
"What do you mean?" Wei Kangnuan asked, wondering whether she already found another source of helpful knowledge or not.
"There are many methods to find out who is distributing the opium," Peng Mingzhu answered as she tied the wrapped up opium with a string. "You can always ask the Rens because they most probably didn't even know that whatever they were feeding their son was opium. At the same time, you can look at the opium itself. If you look carefully, you'll probably find out where the opium grows from, even if it is currently in its powdered form. Or, you can try to find where this paper is made."
"Ah, you are right. Why did I not think of those two things?" Wei Kangnuan remarked while smacking his head as though he was dumb. "I only thought to question the Rens but did not even think to focus on the illegal product itself."
"Well, considering the time and age, it is unconventional to try to find the origins of a drug. And besides, paper is such a miniscule thing compared to other things that you'd definitely forget that there are different methods of making paper, many of them being specific to a single region," Peng Mingzhu responded to his rude remark of himself.
Sighing out of gratefulness for the help that Peng Mingzhu was lending him, Wei Kangnuan thanked her sincerely, "On behalf of the empire, I have to thank you, Peng Mingzhu."
Knowing that he was not thanking her personally but on behalf of another, Peng Mingzhu did not make things hard for him, "You don't have to thank me. I've just decided to help because I didn't want Mo Nianzu to be raised in a country that may die."
Hearing her reply, Wei Kangnuan laughed, "Ah Nai, do you know what I realized after spending three days with you?"
"Hm?" Peng Mingzhu hummed out with an inquiring look.
"You are not cold-hearted nor do you speak insulting words on purpose," Wei Kangnuan truthfully expressed his words. "You just have a better foresight than others."
"That is not anything to be glad about," Peng Mingzhu replied before walking up the stairs to go back.
"You are right," Wei Kangnuan agreed with her.
Stupefied that he agreed with her statement, she paused halfway through the staircase.
"Knowing what will happen in the future brings about too many responsibilities," Wei Kangnuan continued to speak. "The less we know, the better we can live ignorantly."
'So, this is what made him this,' was all Peng Mingzhu could think of while hearing his last sentence.
As for why she thought as such, it will be discussed at a later date when there are more scenes relating to the past of Wei Kangnuan.
Upon exiting the house, Peng Mingzhu asked, "Where's the Rens?"
"They ran away," Wei Kangnuan answered without any guilt in his voice.
"..." Peng Mingzhu had no words to respond to his sentence.
'Should I try to find them? Or should I just forget about helping them anymore in this case?' Peng Mingzhu debated internally.
In the end, her decision was to help them with the case, 'Sigh… Forget it. Since you've already helped them, might as well see it through till the end.'
"I'm sure that since they are in the capital, you guys will have an easy time finding them, right?" Peng Mingzhu asked with a tired sigh.
"No need to find them," Wei Li answered for Wei Kangnuan.
"Hm?" Peng Mingzhu hummed with a raise of her brow while crossing her arms and leaning on the door frame. "So quick?"
"The pair went to the palace and started crying that their son was not in the right state of mind and to please release their son, to not kill, and blah blah blah," Wei Li started telling her what happened while she and Wei Kangnuan was down in the secret room.
"How envious…" Peng Mingzhu silently mumbled under her breath.
Not a single soul heard her words, but Wei Kangnuan who was standing right behind her could hear them clearly, especially since he was also trained to have good hearing.
Unbeknownst to the world, Peng Mingzhu really wanted a loving and spoiling parent.
And unbeknownst to the world, Wei Kangnuan was now starting to learn and know more about Peng Mingzhu and the things she wanted and was jealous about.