Huang Donglai had managed to buy a ticket at the High-Speed Rail Gang's branch this time, though it wasn't direct to Luoyang, but it could take him straight from Luzhou to Xuzhou.
Fortunately, the horses he and Sun Yixie had gotten from the mountain bandits were getting a bit tired; it was time to change them.
He had originally planned to stay one night in Luzhou, mix up some elixirs in the inn room, sell the two horses tomorrow morning, and then depart on the High-Speed Rail Gang's passenger coach in the late morning.
Unexpectedly... after buying the ticket, picking up medicinal materials from the pharmacy, and returning to the inn, he found a large crowd of onlookers gathered at the inn's entrance for some reason.
Huang Donglai squeezed through the crowd and was about to step inside when he was stopped by two yamen runners.
"Hey hey hey, what are you doing? Don't you see we're working a case here?" The yamen runner who stopped Huang Donglai had a low position, but his tone and official airs were not small at all.
"I live here." Huang Donglai replied.
"Oh?" Hearing this, the yamen runner's expression changed a bit. "You live here?" He sized Huang Donglai up and down. "Which room?"
"The one at the end of the upstairs hallway." Huang Donglai said.
"What?" Hearing this, the yamen runner shouted, "Brothers! Take this one down too!"
Before his voice faded, five or six yamen runners rushed out from somewhere and pounced on Huang Donglai without explanation.
Huang Donglai thought he hadn't done anything; how could he just surrender like that?
Without a word, he held the medicinal materials in one hand and struck with the other, taking care of those few in two or three moves.
These yamen runners' combat ability wasn't much better than the mountain bandits of Zouma Stronghold, and was even worse in some cases, because the yamen basically recruited runners from local hoodlums and thugs.
Of course... the lowest-of-the-low kind wouldn't do either. The yamen needed hoodlums with seniority, reputation, and connections; only such people could cow the decent, frighten the ignorant, and outplay the troublemakers.
But these runners could only deal with ordinary commoners; against martial world people like Huang Donglai, who was from a prestigious sect, they stood no chance.
At this point, a "constable head" was needed.
A constable head wasn't something an ordinary hoodlum could handle... at minimum, they needed to be a figure with renown on the greenwood way, a martial artist with some fame in the jianghu, or a drill instructor transferred from the military, etc.
So a constable head's martial ability and competence were beyond what ordinary runners could match.
Also, constable heads came in different ranks.
Some major constable heads just had to announce their name, and even the masters of great sects would give them some face; while some minor constable heads were so small they had to pay after eating wontons at a street stall in their own jurisdiction...
As for Luzhou City's county yamen Constable Head Zhou, he was neither big nor small, and his martial arts were neither high nor low.
Today he personally led the case team; hearing the commotion downstairs, he rushed down with his men, and just happened to see Huang Donglai beating his subordinates into the ground.
"Stop!" Constable Head Zhou said this—actually nonsense, since his men couldn't fight back even if they wanted to—but saying it made it seem like he was doing Huang Donglai a favor.
"Young hero..." Constable Head Zhou saw Huang Donglai's age and skill, and knew this person must be from the jianghu, and likely from a prestigious sect, so he paid attention to his tone, trying to maintain official dignity while giving the other some face—in short, neither humble nor arrogant—"...I am Luzhou City's constable head, surname Zhou, given name Wu. May I ask..."
"Huang Clan of Shu, Huang Donglai." Huang Donglai hadn't done anything wrong and had no reason to hide, so he immediately clasped his fists and gave his name.
"So you're the young master of the Huang Clan, my apologies." Constable Head Zhou returned the salute, continuing, "My few subordinates are clumsy and handled things rashly; I hope Young Master Huang will forgive them." He glanced at his subordinates still lying on the ground feigning unconsciousness, afraid to get up and get hit again, and said sternly, "That's enough! Get up already; he's already shown mercy. Stop putting on airs and making fools of yourselves."
Huang Donglai had indeed shown mercy; after all, these were yamen runners, not bandits. If he really injured them seriously, it would be hard to explain.
"Constable Head Zhou flatters me." Seeing that the other was giving face, Huang Donglai naturally gave him a way out. "Constable brothers were just doing their jobs; I hope everyone will forgive this junior's rudeness."
Though it was all empty polite talk, both sides still had to say the pleasantries fully. Only after giving each other enough face in front of the onlookers could they sit down and talk slowly; otherwise... either the runners would never hold their heads high before the commoners again, or Huang Donglai would clash with the authorities and end up at odds with the imperial court.
Long story short, after this performance, Constable Head Zhou invited Huang Donglai into the inn for a detailed talk.
Unexpectedly, upon entering, Huang Donglai saw Sun Yixie squatting in a corner of the inn's main hall wearing shackles, and his trident had already been confiscated by a yamen runner nearby.
"Eh? Brother Sun, why are you in shackles?" Huang Donglai immediately looked at Sun Yixie with some schadenfreude and said with a smile.
"Shut your mouth!" Sun Yixie replied unhappily. "I'm cooperating with the yamen runners on the case, deliberately not resisting!"
"Oh..." Huang Donglai continued. "So what did you do this time? Peek at female guests bathing?"
"Get lost!" Sun Yixie said. "I didn't do anything! Hurry up and tell them to let me go!"
Huang Donglai didn't respond to him but looked at Constable Head Zhou. "Constable Head Zhou, this is my traveling brother. I don't know what crime he's committed. Are you going to lock him up?"
"Oh? So he's Young Master Huang's friend?" Constable Head Zhou turned to look at Sun Yixie for a few seconds, then looked at Huang Donglai. "It's like this: a murder occurred in a room at the southeast corner of the second floor. We received word and came to investigate..." He paused. "While questioning the guests, because we saw he carried a strange weapon, and in addition he had thieving eyebrows..." Constable Head Zhou blurted this out, but halfway through felt it was improper and swallowed it back. "...I thought he looked suspicious, so I had someone put him in shackles, planning to take him back to the yamen for questioning."
"Damn it! You have no evidence at all, and you cuff people just by their looks! Is there any law left?" Sun Yixie, hearing this from the side, immediately launched into a complaint.
That said, the law of that era had considerable flexibility in actual execution...
If you had power and influence, even if the authorities had evidence that you broke the law, before coming to arrest you they'd have to request instructions from superiors repeatedly, and even wait politely at your gate for a servant to go inside and announce: "Sir, officials from the yamen have come to invite you back for questioning."
But if you were a worthless life, then sorry—things like modern arrest warrants and search warrants didn't exist; three or five yamen runners would kick down your door, cuff you, and leave. If you dared resist, they'd break your legs on the spot.
"Hehe... Constable Head Zhou misunderstood." Huang Donglai said. "Although my brother doesn't look like an honest man, he truly isn't a bad person. Perhaps you've heard... he is the son of Master Sun of the Sun residence in Hangzhou—Fish Market Tycoon Sun Yixie himself."
Whether he had heard or not didn't matter. By this point, even if Constable Head Zhou hadn't heard of Sun Yixie's name, he would pretend to have, then act as if it was a misunderstanding and let him go.
After Sun Yixie's shackles were removed and his trident returned, the three sat down to discuss the matter.
As the saying goes, without coincidence there's no story. Hearing Constable Head Zhou mention it, Huang Donglai learned that the guest who died on the second floor of the inn today was He Da.
A few days ago, after He Da took silver from the Zeng Residence, he didn't leave Luzhou City. He just found an inn to stay in and never stepped out of this inn. The innkeeper and waiters here can testify to that.
But no one knew why He Da did this.
Until today, when a waiter went in to bring him dinner, he found He Da lying on the ground lifeless. The inn people hurried to report the case to the yamen.
Those yamen runners were also unlucky. This afternoon they had just gone to the Zeng Residence to carry away a corpse, and hadn't even warmed their stools back at the yamen before another murder case came up, so they had to go out again.
As for how Constable Head Zhou handled the case after arriving at the scene... it was also simple and crude.
He ordered the exits and entrances sealed, then knocked on every room door in the inn. Anyone suspicious was arrested first and questioned later; even the unsuspicious had to be interrogated to see if there were any flaws in their words.
Sun Yixie... was caught in this process.
After hearing what Constable Head Zhou said, Huang Donglai also told Sun Yixie the "ghost story" he'd heard from the old man by the roadside not long ago, and asked Constable Head Zhou about the story's authenticity. After all, according to the old man, the whole story originally came from the Zeng Residence steward Zeng Su, and the first person to hear the story was Constable Head Zhou.
As a result, Zhou Wu confirmed that the content was basically true, but those vivid, lifelike depictions... well, they weren't there when he heard it.
Obviously... the common people had embellished and polished it themselves in the process of passing it along by word of mouth. That was also common.
Having chatted this far, Zhou Wu felt the time was about right and finally said, "Younger Brother Huang, Zhou has a request, but I don't know... if it's proper to say."
"Constable Head Zhou, just say it." Huang Donglai replied. "As long as it's within my ability, Donglai will certainly do my best to assist."
At this point, the forms of address between Huang Donglai and Zhou Wu had become much closer, showing they had a very pleasant conversation, and Zhou Wu was indeed a friend worth making.
"It is said that the Huang Clan of Shu has the so-called 'Three Excellences'..." Zhou Wu continued. "They are lightness skill, hidden weapons, and... use of poison."
"Correct." Huang Donglai replied.
"Hmm..." Zhou Wu nodded. "I earlier looked at the crime scene and found that He Da, who died in the room, died of poisoning..."
"Oh?" Huang Donglai raised an eyebrow. "Constable Head Zhou, are you suspecting me..."
"No no." Zhou Wu said. "How could that be..."
It was the truth, because Huang Donglai had no motive at all, and had an alibi. Furthermore, with Huang Donglai's martial arts, killing He Da didn't require poison, and there was no need to return to the crime scene after killing him.
"What I mean is..." Zhou Wu continued. "Younger Brother Huang is knowledgeable and well-versed in poison theory. Since you happen to be here today, could I ask you to help examine what kind of poison He Da died from?"}
Chapter 14