Cen Boqing immediately replied, "He only mentioned it to me in passing. It was only when Zhongsun Mou pursued the case all the way to Baishaqu that Uncle Wu asked me to step in."
"And the Minister of Agriculture? How deeply is he involved?"
"It has nothing to do with my father-in-law's family!" Cen Boqing pleaded anxiously. "Uncle Wu operated with utmost secrecy and never let slip any flaw in front of them. The Minister of Agriculture is completely in the dark about what we did behind the scenes!"
Fu Shanyue let out a cold snort, making his disdain abundantly clear.
Bai Ziqi held out his hand to the clerk recording the deposition. "Let me see it."
The clerk offered up the record.
With a quick glance, seeing that the account was adequately thorough, Bai Ziqi gave a slight nod and handed it to Cen Boqing. "Sign and press your thumbprint."
After reading it through, Cen Boqing signed his name and pressed his thumbprint onto the paper.
Meanwhile, the clerk swiftly made a copy, which Cen Boqing also signed and stamped.
Two identical copies.
The moment they finished, Bai Ziqi's expression shifted slightly. "She's here."
Right on cue, everyone heard a flurry of disordered footsteps.
At least seven or eight people were approaching.
Before long, He Lingchuan saw several figures rush down the stairwell. Leading them was a strikingly beautiful woman.
She looked to be in her thirties, with spirited brows and phoenix eyes. Though her lips were crimson and her cheeks blushed like peach blossoms, her gaze was sharp enough to draw blood, instantly intimidating anyone with ill intent.
Judging by her imposing aura, He Lingchuan could easily guess that this was Madame Cen—the eldest daughter of the Minister of Agriculture, Yao Xingning.
She marched forward with her head held high, each stride stirring a brisk wind. Fan Sheng was hardly barring her way; rather, he was merely being swept along beside her, not daring to lay a single finger on her person.
The others behind her were Madame Cen's maidservants and attendants.
Striding in as if entering an empty room, Madame Cen merely furrowed her brows upon seeing Bai Ziqi and completely ignored Fu Shanyue standing nearby.
As for He Lingchuan, it was as if she did not see a living soul there at all.
Yet the instant her gaze fell upon Cen Boqing inside the cell, her expression changed drastically. Rushing over in a few paces, she gripped the bars and asked, "Erlang, are you all right? Did they torture you?"
Overjoyed, Cen Boqing seized her hands as if grabbing a lifesaver, his eyes instantly reddening. "Xing'er, how... why did you come?!"
Bai Ziqi glanced at Fan Sheng, who scratched his head with an utterly sheepish expression.
Just now, Fan Sheng had tried every possible way to block her, even using the Duyun Emissary as a shield. Yet Madame Cen had kept her chin high and charged straight into him.
Naturally, she had cultivation of her own. Fan Sheng had shifted left and right to intercept her, but his hands had been tied because he did not dare use actual force against her. In the end, Madame Cen seized an opening, bypassed his guard, and stormed directly into the county dungeon.
Yao Xingning’s willow-leaf brows flared upward as she turned to glare furiously at Bai Ziqi. "Emissary Bai, my husband holds official rank! How could he be thrown into prison and detained so casually?!"
Hearing this, He Lingchuan could not help thinking that Lingxu City was neither as large nor as small as one might imagine—all these people knew one another, after all.
Bai Ziqi smiled faintly and gave the confession in his hand a light shake. "Madame Cen, Cen Boqing has already confessed."
He exhaled imperceptibly. By rushing through the interrogation, he had managed to get Cen Boqing's signature and thumbprint before Madame Cen barged in. Otherwise, there was no telling how dragged out this questioning would have become.
Madame Cen turned toward Cen Boqing in utter disbelief. "Why didn't you wait for me?!"
Beneath her gaze, Cen Boqing lowered his head in shame.
Although he had sent word back to Lingxu pleading for help, the matter was of such gravity that he had felt entirely uncertain of the outcome. With so many days gone by and no one showing up, he had assumed his wife would not come. Furthermore, the chaotic events in Baishaqu had left him completely out of his wits; otherwise, he certainly would have kept his mouth shut.
He Lingchuan inwardly gave Madame Cen a thumbs-up. To say such words right to the face of a Duyun Emissary?
A fierce woman like this was someone he never wanted to provoke, so he quietly took a step back behind Fu Shanyue.
Madame Cen drew two deep breaths and extended her hand. "Show me the confession."
Bai Ziqi handed it over.
She skimmed through it at a glance, her brow knitting tighter and her face darkening with every passing second.
When she finished reading the final word, she remained silent for a long time.
Hunting Lingxu messengers and Beijia demon citizens for their pearls, participating in refining the elixir of immortality, assassinating the Chiyan Crown Prince's emissary, and fabricating false testimony to frame others. The first two offenses alone were grave capital crimes, while whether the remaining charges were even counted hardly mattered in comparison.
This was far worse than what she had heard.
What was more, Cen Boqing was even connected to Mai Xuewen, who had ambushed and murdered a Lingxu Inspector.
Worst of all, Cen Boqing had confessed in person—and right in front of Bai Ziqi!
Now, trying to retract the confession would be harder than scaling the heavens. How could her husband be so foolish?
She had never anticipated that Bai Ziqi would arrive so quickly. Had she arrived just one day earlier, things would never have reached such a state!
Yet now...
She was not brazen enough to forcibly break a high-profile Lingxu criminal out of prison, especially under the watchful eye of a Duyun Emissary.
Only then did Bai Ziqi speak slowly: "Madame Cen, may I have the confession back?"
Handing the papers back, Madame Cen fought to steady her breathing before saying, "My husband acts muddle-headed and was merely used by Wu Kai. If you want the mastermind, you must interrogate Wu Kai. My husband is an accomplice at best!"
A principal offender and an accomplice faced vastly different sentences.
"Wu Kai and Cen Boqing accuse each other, each claiming the other is the mastermind," Bai Ziqi said, shaking his head. "Reasonably speaking, how could an old servant be the mastermind while the master is merely an accomplice?"
Madame Cen scoffed. "Does trying a case rely on reason now instead of evidence?"
"Do you have other evidence?"
Madame Cen replied coldly, "Wu Kai worked in my household for years and could not leave as he pleased. Any intelligence had to be relayed through outside channels. I have someone who testified that Wu Kai frequently visited Tinghe Garden to listen to operas, using the pretext of having tea and tipping the lead performer to pass and collect information."
Listening to opera and rewarding performers was an everyday occurrence. With everyone in the audience tossing out tips, Wu Kai would hardly stand out—it was indeed an excellent way to mask his tracks.
"Oh?" Bai Ziqi perked up. "Madame Cen already has a witness?"
He had been worrying over the lack of new progress in the elixir case.
"Naturally." Madame Cen lifted her chin slightly. "Without a witness, how would I dare disturb your investigation? I have already tied up that actor and brought him along."
"Good, very good. Madame Cen has done me a great service!" Bai Ziqi chuckled. "How did you uncover this?"
"My husband entrusted all his external affairs to Wu Kai; it must be this man who dragged my husband down! Wu Kai lived in Lingxu City for so long, so how could he leave behind no traces whatsoever? Careful as he was, the person liaising with him was far less prudent. A few probes were all it took for me to ferret him out." Madame Cen cast a glance at Cen Boqing. "To save this fool, I truly went through immense trouble!"
Though she described finding the actor casually, it had certainly been no easy feat.
Cen Boqing kept his head lowered, not daring to meet her eyes.
Madame Cen turned back to Bai Ziqi. "Do you intend to keep him locked in a place like this?"
"Your husband is currently a suspect; he can go nowhere."
"Is that so?" Madame Cen pointed toward Cen Boqing's cell. "Open the door. I am moving in!"
Bai Ziqi frowned. "Madame Cen, you have committed no crime."
"I must stay by his side. Otherwise, what if the true mastermind behind the scenes wants his life?" Madame Cen sneered. "Can you guarantee his safety? Even Zhongsun Mou died!"
Off to the side, Fu Shanyue lowered his head and rubbed his nose, not uttering a word.
Madame Cen pressed, "The rules here only say suspects cannot leave the cells, not that I cannot enter, right?"
Bai Ziqi thought to himself that the dungeon rules strictly forbade unrelated individuals from freely entering or loitering. But not wishing to debate the definition of an "unrelated individual" with her, he could only concede: "Suit yourself, Madame Cen." As he spoke, he gave the jailer a subtle signal.
The jailer came forward to unlock the iron door, and Madame Cen strode in with her head held high.
Bai Ziqi warned the couple once more: "If Cen Boqing escapes again, whether by his own effort or with outside assistance, the Minister of Agriculture's household will not escape implication. Do both of you understand?" Cen Boqing was shackled and could not use his martial power, but Yao Xingning bore no chains.
Cen Boqing nodded, while Madame Cen merely sneered in silence.
Bai Ziqi turned to walk out, intending to fetch the "witness" Madame Cen had brought.
Fu Shanyue stepped out as well.
He had observed the entire exchange without saying a word, yet Madame Cen called out after him: "Fu Shanyue, I heard you were the one who had your men sink their teeth into my husband and refuse to let go?"
Fu Shanyue spread his hands. "Official business must be handled officially. I have to give an account to my slain subjects."
Madame Cen sneered. "Don't think I don't know what you and your father are scheming. Sanctimonious hypocrites!"
Fu Shanyue held his tongue, refusing to argue with her, and briskly exited the county dungeon.
***
Walking across the county yamen's courtyard, Fu Shanyue suddenly called out to Bai Ziqi ahead: "Emissary Bai, that man named Cheng hasn't been interrogated yet."
Bai Ziqi had a moment of realization. "Right. We shall question him now." With that, he ordered the guards to lock the new prisoner brought by Yao Xingning into the county dungeon.
Yet when they returned to the side room, they found Cheng Yu's eyes tightly shut, seemingly having fallen asleep again.
"What happened?"
A nearby guard reported, "Lord Emissary, after drinking a few sips of water, he couldn't hold up against his injuries and passed out once more."
Bai Ziqi pressed two fingers against Cheng Yu's neck pulse, then nodded. "Waking him again would do more harm than good." Sleeping was the best way to nurse injuries. "We will interrogate him tomorrow afternoon; he should be awake by then."
He was keeping Cheng Yu alive to investigate another case; otherwise, he wouldn't care whether the man lived or died afterward and would have simply forced him awake for immediate torture.
He Lingchuan felt a slight sense of relief as he glanced at the candles in the four corners of the room.
He had known that Cheng Yu's soul injury was likely far from healed. The more formidable the Hundred Faces Nightmare was, the heavier the backlash inflicted upon Cheng Yu's soul. Had it not been for his profound cultivation, any other curse master might have dropped dead on the spot.
A soul injury was notoriously difficult to nurse in the first place, and Cheng Yu had just been blasted to a bloody pulp by the lamp spirit, suffering severe physical trauma as well.
With injury piled upon injury, even with spiritual medicine in Bai Ziqi's hands, how could Cheng Yu recover so quickly?
Fu Shanyue folded his arms. "So, what does Emissary Bai intend to do now?"
"Interrogate someone else."
Walking deeper into the yamen, Fu Shanyue asked, "Who?"
"A second-rank guard of the Cen residence."
"What is so special about this guard?"
"Just follow me."
Bai Ziqi found another side chamber. Before long, the guard from the Cen residence was brought in.
"Xue San, you said earlier that Cen Boqing ordered you to guard Cheng Yu's room?"
"Y-yes. A dozen days ago, Uncle Wu assigned me to look after someone, who turned out to be Mister Cheng Yu," the guard stammered. "When I first saw him, he was also unconscious. They called it looking after him, but really, I just sat in the room watching over him, feeding him water at regular intervals while keeping an eye on a bottle on the table and the rope-bell array outside."
"What were the bottle and the rope-bell array?"
The guard described their appearances, then added, "Uncle Wu instructed that if the rope-bells rang, I was to notify him immediately. And if the red lantern inside the bottle went out, I was to unplug the stopper."
Chapter 533