The guards all bowed to He Lingchuan, then mounted their horses and galloped off in pursuit.
Jiao Yu had no choice but to follow, turning its head back every few paces.
The setting sun shone red as blood upon the ancient road, illuminating the tiger's singed-crimson fur as it gradually vanished into the horizon. The pounding of hooves faded into the distance, soon dying out altogether.
He Lingchuan watched their receding backs until they were gone. Compared to the upheaval about to unfold on Mount Xu, what the Chiyan people had done in Lingxu City was at most the prelude to the storm.
Fu Shanyue's departure at this moment was truly a wise move.
He Lingchuan let out a long sigh, turned his mountain goat around, and rode for two days back toward Lingxu City, putting up at an inn in the suburban outpost of Qingshi Town.
The inn room was small, but fairly clean.
Dong Rui was already there waiting for him. The snail-toad had made good use of its time at Nian Zanli's warehouse to devour plenty of prunella spikes, giving them two extra days of preparation time.
The two of them went out to eat at an eatery. They spoke little, chewing slowly and deliberately, and retired to their respective rooms after the meal to rest.
***
Lingxu City, South Cotton Lane Patrol Office.
Three hours remained before nightfall.
Hearing that tonight's fare would be good, with extra chicken drumsticks, the two patrolmen on the night shift came in early on purpose. But before the drumsticks could arrive, Sister Liu arrived first.
A look of nervous excitement covered her face. "Qinzi, I saw that wanted criminal again!"
The older patrolman chuckled and clapped his young partner on the shoulder. "Well, well, looks like your sister-in-law is about to claim some merit!"
The younger patrolman rolled his eyes and asked, "Are you sure?"
Neither of them believed her.
"Show me the wanted poster again."
Qinzi was reluctant, but the food in the mess hadn't finished cooking yet, so he had no choice but to haul himself up. "Follow me."
Carrying a fluorescent spore between them, the two went to the cold case room and rummaged through a pile of aged wanted notices.
Dust billowed up, and Qinzi could not help sneezing.
Sister Liu leafed through them one by one, then pointed at a sheet. "That's him!"
With the roof leaking during the summer rains, moisture had crept in, leaving mildew blooming across the face on the poster.
"This one again?" Qinzi pulled out the poster and glanced at it. "Wanted list, Mortal Ranks, Number Eighty-Seven: Tu Yangzhi, disciple of Bailing Valley. Murdered two divine emissaries in the Xuluo Kingdom seven years ago and fled into hiding. Well, he certainly looks vicious enough. Are you sure it's him?"
"Positive! I saw this poster years ago when it was put up on the boards." Sister Liu nodded vigorously. "I already noticed him three days ago, sitting under the canopy eating at that pot noodle stall at the west end of the street. The mole on his temple was the exact same as in this picture. And just now, I saw him again!"
"Where?"
"He just walked into the Chunhe Fabric Store, so I hurried straight over to report it to you." Sister Liu asked, "If my report leads to an arrest, is there a bounty?"
"If it really is Tu Yangzhi, the reward is fifty taels of silver." Qinzi did not think she had that kind of luck. "But every year brings at least thirty or forty reported sightings of wanted fugitives, and every single one turns out to be a mistake. Sister-in-law, major criminals like that rarely show their faces in public."
"Don't show their faces?" Sister Liu scoffed. "Do they not eat or shit? Do they walk around with veils all day? Come with me. Those fifty taels of silver are as good as mine!"
When they returned to the front, the older patrolman asked his partner, "Well?"
He had only been looking forward to a bit of amusement, but Qinzi brandished the wanted poster. "My sister-in-law insists she saw the fugitive Tu Yangzhi, and she's dragging me along to check it out."
By regulation, patrolmen operated in pairs and could not go out alone without special circumstances.
The older patrolman was reluctant as well. What kind of eye could an ordinary housewife have? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, she had mistaken someone else.
He had only arrived early to gnaw on an extra chicken leg; less trouble was always better than more.
Yet Sister Liu kept making guarantees, her voice booming so loud that everyone coming and going could hear.
This woman truly was a fountain of trouble. Resigned, he said, "Fine, fine, keep it down. I'll go with you."
After logging their departure, the two men and one woman headed toward the Chunhe Fabric Store.
Along the way, Sister Liu filled them in: "That Chunhe Fabric Store has been around for over a decade. A few of us neighbors used to patronize it all the time. But ever since they got a new owner a month ago, business has gone slack. The nice, trendy patterns everyone else sells, they don't carry a single one! Hardly anyone goes there now. The way I see it, they won't last half a year before folding. Good grief, who'd dare run a shop like that in Lingxu City these days?"
Rent in Lingxu City was exorbitant, and the Chunhe Fabric Store was a spacious place. Running a business like that meant pure loss.
The patrolmen both yawned.
Ahead stood the Chunhe Fabric Store. Qinzi muttered, "It's right next to an official yamen, too."
Next door to the fabric store was a government office. What sort of fugitive would deliberately hang around a place like that?
Entering the store, just as Sister Liu had said, there were no customers inside. Only two clerks sat idly, one cracking melon seeds while the other rested his head on his hand, dozing.
The one eating melon seeds saw Qinzi and his partner enter and immediately rose to greet them. "What brings you officers here?"
Just as Qinzi was about to speak, Sister Liu beamed and said, "They're coming over to my place for dinner, so they stopped by with me on the way to pick up a bolt of cloth. Take down that bolt of crabapple red and let me see it."
The clerk went to fetch the cloth. The patrolmen looked around the shop while the other clerk bowed and scraped.
Shop in front, courtyard in back, with a wooden staircase in the middle leading up to the loft. Such a layout was common among shops in Lingxu City, and there was usually a storage closet under the stairs.
The passage before the stairs was shielded with a half-length curtain.
Just then, a soft creak came from behind the cloth. Someone had stepped out from the storage closet and was heading toward the second floor.
Qinzi leaped over in one swift bound and yanked back the curtain to look up.
The man had taken two steps up when he heard the noise and turned around, catching Qinzi's gaze directly.
Qinzi went rigid with shock.
This man, this face!
No mistake—he bore a striking resemblance to the portrait on the wanted poster, right down to the mole on his temple!
The man even asked in a low voice, "What are you doing?"
Seeing the murderous glint in his eyes, Qinzi's heart pounded against his ribs. Forcing himself to stay calm, he said, "Nature calls. Mind if I use your latrine?"
The man pointed toward the rear courtyard.
At that moment, the shop clerk walked over as well. "Officer, the storeroom is in the back. Can I help you with something?"
"Just looking to borrow the privy."
The older patrolman came over too. "Did you eat something bad?"
Tu Yangzhi had already walked up into the loft. Qinzi glanced toward the stairs and shot his partner a meaningful look. "My stomach doesn't seem to hurt that much anymore. I can hold it."
The older patrolman paused, then caught on. "Then let's head back. Why stand around here?"
You've got to be kidding—it's really him?
That Tu fellow had cultivation; the two of them might not be able to handle him. They needed to get reinforcements.
As the two made to leave, the clerk on the outside happened to block the doorway. "Officers, aren't you going to the privy anymore?"
Qinzi waved his hand. "Out of the way."
The stairs suddenly rattled with rapid footsteps; someone was rushing down.
The two patrolmen instinctively turned their heads to look up, not expecting the flash of cold light right before them. A water-parting spike in the clerk's hand thrust clean through the older patrolman's throat.
Through the front and out the back, tearing a gaping, bloody hole.
This casual slaughter came without the slightest warning. Standing right behind his partner, Qinzi suddenly saw the tip of the spike burst through the back of the man's neck. With a shout of horror, he drew his saber.
A rush of wind stirred behind him. Qinzi slashed backhand, only to take a vicious kick to the leg. The agony sent him dropping into a half-crouch.
Before him, an enormous bird had appeared out of nowhere. Resembling a stork with a tall crest, it had delivered the blow that shattered his leg bone.
Someone locked an arm around his throat from behind in a tight chokehold.
Qinzi watched with his own eyes as the fugitive Tu Yangzhi descended the stairs, looking down at him. "No questions. Kill him directly."
With a sharp crack, Qinzi's neck broke.
The patrolman's cut-off shout had startled Sister Liu in the front shop. Alert enough to glance around, she immediately turned on her heel to flee.
Yet before she could reach the door, someone hoisted her by the collar. The instant she opened her mouth, a wad of cloth was stuffed inside.
She was hauled into the back. One clerk peered outside the doorway, saw that no one had noticed, and nodded in satisfaction.
Tu Yangzhi interrogated Sister Liu.
Seeing the two corpses on the ground, she trembled with sheer terror, spilling every single detail without needing to be tortured.
Everyone in the shop gathered—four burly men in all, each wearing a somber expression. One said to Tu Yangzhi, "Old Tu, you're exposed."
"We are exposed," Tu Yangzhi corrected. He had never expected that after keeping such a low profile in Lingxu City, his whereabouts would be uncovered by an ordinary neighborhood woman. "These two patrolmen had just started their night shift. If they don't return by tomorrow morning, suspicion will inevitably arise. Besides, they logged their departure before coming to the Chunhe Fabric Store. Tomorrow, the patrol office will definitely come here first to investigate. Even if we empty the cellar, some monster will probably still sniff out the smell of the gunpowder casks."
Another man chimed in, "Not long ago, trouble broke out at the courier hostel, so patrols in the south of the city were temporarily taken over by the Tongxin Guard. The Tongxin Guard are far stricter than the regular patrol office; they dig to the bottom of the pettiest matters. The brothers at Jixin Ridge nearly blew their cover a few days ago too."
"Then what should we do?"
Tu Yangzhi casually brought a palm down, shattering Sister Liu's skull. "This is beyond our authority. Report up and request instructions."
Soon, a bat fluttered out of the Chunhe Fabric Store, winging its way toward Dun Garden.
***
The flutter of wings sounded in the darkness of the night.
Hearing the noise approach, He Lingchuan opened his eyes, got out of bed, and pushed open the wooden window.
A magnificent figure hopped onto the sill, then landed squarely on He Lingchuan's shoulder.
What an enormous parrot! Sporting a red crest and a blue back, its plumage was dazzling, and it measured an arm's length from head to tail.
Such an ornate avian monster was far too conspicuous; it was hardly suited for delivering secret messages.
He Lingchuan offered an arm to the overly familiar bird. "You must be...?"
Fang Canran had mentioned that his family kept a parrot nearly two hundred years old.
Long ago, it had been rescued by his ancestor Shao Jian, and it later carried the tragic news of Shao Jian's death to his daughter Shao Yingying. To mooch a free meal ticket—no, to repay the favor—the bird monster had stayed on with the Shao family. When Shao Yingying married into the Fang family, it became the Fang clan's heirloom bird.
The tales of Shao Jian that Fang Canran knew had not been handed down through generations of ancestors; they were firsthand accounts told by this large parrot.
No wonder the stories had both vivid details and deep sentiment.
"I am Lingbo!" the parrot squawked in human speech. "We have an emergency!"
"Lingbo" was indeed the name of Fang Canran's heirloom parrot. He Lingchuan had wanted to hear it say it itself.
It leaned close to He Lingchuan's ear and whispered, "A small arrangement of ours was accidentally exposed tonight! The patrolmen who sniffed their way over have been silenced, but that won't buy us much time. People outside might have heard something. This past month, patrols in the south of the city have been at their strictest. I'm afraid that once dawn breaks, Lingxu City will notice something amiss and begin a sweep!"
Chapter 681