Once both sides tore off the pretense, identities and titles were no more than paper windows poked through.
"Understood. We'll wipe away all traces. We originally thought Fu Songhua confessing in person in Lingxu City would be more convincing, but if you can't take him back, just kill him directly!"
This tone rubbed Zhongsun Mou the wrong way, but he frowned and swallowed his anger.
"That special envoy tracked down Mai's residence and might know other clues as well."
"That man must die!" the figure in the mirror said decisively.
……
When He Lingchuan appeared outside the county yamen, the bailiff who had been craning his neck at the street corner rushed inside in bounding strides, shouting, "The special envoy is here!"
Everyone else had returned to the yamen long ago. Yet despite being the first to leave, He Lingchuan arrived last, more than an hour later.
Even Commander Lu had arrived and was preparing to observe.
Seeing him arrive alone, Zhongsun Mou sprang to his feet. "Where is the criminal?!"
He had sent men to pursue him, but they had lost the trail. Who knew what counter-tracking methods the man surnamed He had used—he had even masked his scent.
"In a safe place," He Lingchuan said, strolling in with his hands clasped behind his back. "Just a moment ago, he was nearly murdered in the guest room by the Inspector. It seems to me the county jail isn't safe either."
Zhongsun Mou sneered. "What are you imagining? Those water snakes were meant for you."
The Magistrate of Baishaqu also said dryly, "Lord Envoy, weren't you going to reopen the case and interrogate him? How can we hold a trial without the prisoner present?"
After returning to the county yamen, he had been thoroughly berated by the Inspector.
Lord He had been gallivanting outside for an hour, and Magistrate Tian had spent almost that entire hour being cursed out. Naturally, he felt no small amount of resentment.
He Lingchuan replied breezily, "Oh, I already questioned him outside. He said someone was let into the county jail to force him to collude on a confession."
Magistrate Tian gasped, "Wh—"
Could someone really just do whatever they pleased like this?
Zhongsun Mou let out a derisive snort. "And a private interrogation counts?"
"Didn't you do the same?" He Lingchuan gave him a sidelong glance. "When you interrogated Fu Songhua, was it a public trial? Were there commoners watching? For that matter, was Magistrate Tian present?"
When it came to verbal sparring, he had never lost.
"Magistrate Tian, were you there at the time?"
Magistrate Tian opened his mouth, failed to produce a sound, and felt deeply resentful inside: *You clearly know I wasn't, yet you still ask!*
"Then that's a no," He Lingchuan said as if it were obvious. "Magistrate Tian, on the day Fu Songhua was arrested, he was held in the county jail. Who was on duty that day?"
Fu Songhua had mentioned hearing the jingle of a large ring of keys.
Only the jailer on duty would jingle like that. The scoundrel had been bought off.
"Ah, I'll have someone check. Please wait a moment."
Before long, the result came back:
The jailer guarding death row that day was named Pi Linhai. He had been on duty from morning till dusk—meaning he was there the entire time Fu Songhua was held in the jail.
However, he was not on duty today.
By now, Magistrate Tian knew what needed to be done: "Someone go fetch Pi Linhai."
Pi Linhai's home was not far from the county yamen, only about half an hour away.
Soon, the dispatched bailiff returned empty-handed to report: "Pi Linhai is not at home. His wife said he went out an hour ago to buy wine and hasn't returned. We checked his usual taverns, but he wasn't there."
He Lingchuan closed his eyes briefly and murmured, "I doubt we'll be finding him anytime soon."
*They silenced him at lightning speed,* he thought with a slight chill.
His private interrogation of Fu Songhua had taken merely an hour, yet the other party had used that exact window to dispose of Pi Linhai.
To pull an Inspector as arrogant as Zhongsun Mou into their schemes proved their immense influence.
To silence a witness so swiftly proved their rapid reflexes.
These opponents were not to be underestimated.
Zhongsun Mou crossed his arms and mocked him, "You kept us waiting half the day just to dig up a useless clue like this?"
Even though Fu Songhua had been snatched away by this rascal, the man surnamed He still had no way to identify the true mastermind.
He didn't even have a list of suspects.
On that point alone, their side already held an unassailable position!
Thinking this, Zhongsun Mou felt considerably lighter. But this He Xiao clung to them like a maggot on bone; sooner or later, he would ruin things. Better to eliminate him quickly.
Most importantly, as long as He Xiao died, no one would pursue the supposed mastermind anymore.
With a slight adjustment, the original plan could still proceed.
A sharp blade was needed to cut through this tangled mess—they could delay no longer!
"What's the rush? I'm not fighting alone," He Lingchuan said slowly. "Clues will deliver themselves to my doorstep soon enough."
"By the way, since this case has been reopened, I'd like to examine the evidence Lord Zhongsun has gathered."
Zhongsun Mou replied curtly, "You lack the authority." The fellow wasn't even an official, holding only the hollow title of a temporary envoy, yet he dared pry into his affairs?
He Lingchuan wasn't surprised in the least. "In that case, as a newcomer, I'll need a few days to gather evidence."
"You've been in Baishaqu for days, doing nothing but sightseeing, and now you dare waste more of my time?"
"Oh?" He Lingchuan put on a surprised expression. "Lord Zhongsun pays such close attention to me? Let me put it another way then: whether you agree or not, Fu Songhua will stay in my custody. If you keep crying that you have no time, feel free to scurry back to Lingxu City on your own."
What a joke. This fellow had dared try to assassinate Fu Songhua right in front of him. If the prisoner went into the county jail, would he survive?
The way the mastermind had sent someone in to tamper with the confession before was likely the exact way they would murder Fu Songhua now.
"You!" Zhongsun Mou's fury flared. He pointed a trembling finger at He Lingchuan across the air for a long moment, then laughed out of sheer rage. "Cunning hare dead, hunting hound stewed! You act so ruthlessly—aren't you afraid Fu Shanyue won't be able to protect you? He's no saint either. The moment he turns around and sells you out, you're a dead man!"
He was cursing the Crown Prince of Chiyan, so the Magistrate of Baishaqu kept his eyes on his nose and his nose to his chest, not daring to utter a peep.
"You needn't worry about me." Having received Fu Shanyue's letter, He Lingchuan knew Chiyan Kingdom would back him up—at least until this case was settled. "Oh, by the way, let me also tell you: our people remaining in Zhitian Township reaped quite a harvest. They captured several monster-hunting subordinates of Mr. Mai. They've provided quite a few clues. In a few more days, I'll be able to drag the true mastermind into the open. When that time comes..."
He chuckled twice and, without waiting for Zhongsun Mou's response, turned on his heel and walked out.
……
After He Lingchuan left the county yamen, the tiger caught up from behind and said admiringly, "Daring to openly challenge an Inspector of Lingxu City and telling him to get lost—since Chiyan's founding, you're probably the first."
"Who wouldn't want to do that?" He Lingchuan patted the tiger's head with a smile. "Don't tell me you don't?"
"I wouldn't dare," Jiao Yu admitted candidly. "Defying him feels great in the moment, but the reckoning afterward is terrifying."
He had a home and livelihood in Chiyan; he couldn't afford to incur Lingxu City's wrath. Every official in Chiyan, great and small, was the same. In everything they did, what they feared most boiled down to one word:
Consequences.
Could the man before him truly bear such consequences?
"Aren't you worried about Lingxu City's thunderous wrath?"
He Lingchuan burst out laughing. "I didn't lay a finger on him, just voiced a bit of criticism. At most, that's disrespectful language. What crime could Lingxu City convict me of?"
Cursing someone was, at the end of the day, just a war of words.
Though he and Zhongsun Mou were on terrible terms, he hadn't struck the man once from start to finish. Talking back was not physical assault; the severity was hardly comparable.
"What about Fu Songhua?"
"I kept him to assist in the investigation, also known as earning redemption through meritorious service. In the end, he'll still be handed over to Lingxu City," He Lingchuan said, giving Jiao Yu a sidelong glance. "I asked Fu Shanyue. Strictly speaking, an Inspector from Lingxu City doesn't possess the authority to summarily arrest officials of a vassal demon kingdom on the spot. The proper procedure is for Lingxu City to notify the demon king, and the king then arrests or defends the accused. So even if I hold onto Fu Songhua, Zhongsun Mou can't punish me on the spot."
He wasn't acting purely on reckless impulse.
"Besides, look at how Zhongsun Mou behaved today—did he look clean to you?"
Jiao Yu licked his nose. "Hardly."
When Fu Songhua suddenly recanted his confession, any normal official would inquire about the reason, yet Zhongsun Mou insisted on pinning the crime firmly onto him. The reasons behind that were telling indeed.
"Once the truth is uncovered, if Zhongsun Mou turns out to have no connection to the mastermind, Lingxu City will at most blame me for disrespectful speech, and the Ruler of Chiyan can easily shield me from such a trivial fault. If Zhongsun Mou is proven to have conspired with the true culprit, then my actions are entirely justified, lawful, and meritorious. Either way, I don't lose out. Why the hell should I fear him?" When it came to consequences, he had weighed everything clearly.
"Uh." Jiao Yu pondered this; it really did seem to be the case.
How had such complex stakes become so simple once broken down by him?
As if reading his thoughts, He Lingchuan remarked calmly, "You fear Lingxu City too much. So much so that a brat like Zhongsun Mou, who has zero military achievements to his name, can strut around and throw his weight in front of a General of the Household like you."
Jiao Yu extended his sharp claws, unconsciously gouging several grooves into the ground.
He Lingchuan was not wrong at all. This was the domineering awe built up over long years. Even a proud, powerful monster like Jiao Yu felt instinctive dread when facing Lingxu City.
No wonder the Crown Prince chose to rely on an outsider like him.
The man and tiger walked more than a hundred zhang to the east before Jiao Yu asked, "Where are we going?"
"To find some new allies," He Lingchuan smiled. "In an unfamiliar place, we're at a bit of a disadvantage."
The Magistrate of Baishaqu seemed like a local tyrant on paper, but in reality, he was unreliable.
Fresh off facing down Zhongsun Mou, He Lingchuan was in quite a good mood, strolling along the streets for several li. The signboards along Baishaqu's main thoroughfares were large and bright, lined with all sorts of high-end shops. Some even piled blocks of solid ice behind their doorways or activated ice formations to cool their customers.
In the sweltering heat of midsummer July, refreshing cool breezes drifted inside these establishments, making them delightfully comfortable.
Naturally, the cost was passed on to the customers; the merchandise here was priced significantly higher than in Zhitian Township.
Along the way, He Lingchuan paused to eat a large bowl of cold jelly noodles, while the tiger, having no interest in noodles, ordered an entire roast chicken as a snack, crunching happily on the bones.
After walking for another quarter of an hour or so, He Lingchuan finally stopped before a grand mansion and handed a calling card to the gatekeeper: "Please inform your master that the Crown Prince's special envoy has come to call."
This calling card was not written by him; it had been delivered to him earlier by the master of this estate.
The words "Crown Prince's Special Envoy" carried serious weight.
Thus, in less than thirty breaths, He Lingchuan was standing in the main hall of the manor.
Chapter 480