Lu Xi lowered his eyes and said, “Your Majesty, Lord Yan has brought Yuanzi as well.”
Qin Yi’s brows lifted slightly, and his gaze drifted toward the hall doors. The sun hadn’t risen in the west, so could it be setting in the east instead?
Qin Yi parted his thin lips. “Send her in.”
Lu Xi replied, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
A moment later, the successive calls announcing her arrival echoed through the hall. Yan Tongshu stepped inside and respectfully knelt to pay her respects.
Qin Yi raised a hand, signaling for her to rise.
Yan Tongshu stood and first handed Yuanzi to Lu Xi to bring to the imperial desk, currying favor with Qin Yi before announcing in a clear voice, “Your Majesty, this subject has a matter to report.”
“What is it?” As he spoke, Qin Yi glanced toward the corner of the imperial desk.
The instant Yuanzi landed on the tabletop, Snowfluff’s listless tail suddenly sprang upright, and he scampered over excitedly. Yuanzi hadn’t even spared him a proper glance.
Qin Yi gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. He couldn’t bear to watch. It was simply too embarrassing.
Yan Tongshu took a deep breath and rapidly recounted the entire case. “Your Majesty, the enemy is hidden while we are exposed. I need Your Majesty’s assistance. I request permission to secretly examine the military service registers of all the armies.”
After hearing her report, Qin Yi fell silent for a moment. A storm that seemed capable of swallowing everything brewed in his eyes.
To think that someone had dared to commit such heinous acts in the capital, under his very nose. He would have the lives of every one of them.
Qin Yi’s voice was deep and cold. “How many?”
Yan Tongshu replied steadily, “Those involved in this case must have someone backing them and would never be content to remain among the lowest ranks. I request permission to inspect the service registers, daily training records, and duty rosters of all soldiers ranked lieutenant commander and above.”
Qin Yi swept a glance at Lu Xi. Understanding at once, Lu Xi bent slightly and came to Yan Tongshu.
“Lord Yan, please follow this servant.”
Yan Tongshu nodded and followed Lu Xi behind the screen.
Behind the screen was a storage room far more spacious than the area in front. It was cleared and rearranged at regular intervals to suit Qin Yi’s current needs, preventing him from having to search through layer upon layer of materials when something was needed and wasting time.
This time, all kinds of records concerning the various armies were stored there, filling several shelves and neatly categorized.
Yan Tongshu lowered her eyes and pondered.
The culprit was a young man in his twenties, so those who were either very young or older could be ruled out.
Lin Shuang’er and the others had encountered misfortune the year before last, which meant the culprit had been in the army for at least two years. Anyone who had enlisted within the past two years could therefore be eliminated as well.
He preyed on the weak and was insecure—the sort of person who would not venture deep into dangerous territory to distinguish himself. Anyone who had earned considerable merit on his own could also be ruled out.
The crime had been committed on the night of the sixteenth day of the seventh month. The culprit had either taken leave, been off duty, or slipped away secretly during the night.
In any case, he had not been assigned a mandatory night watch that evening.
In short, he was a man in his twenties who had served in the army for several years, had no night duty on the sixteenth, and merely coasted along on his seniority and muddled through his service without distinction.
Unfortunately, there had been too little time. She had sent constables to investigate who owned the properties where those detached residences stood, but they had not yet returned with the information. If they had, comparing the two sides might have allowed her to eliminate some candidates.
Having narrowed the search, Yan Tongshu began checking the records by year.
After a while, when it became clear that there were simply too many, Lu Xi came over to help. He also summoned several trusted eunuchs to assist Yan Tongshu.
Qin Yi reviewed memorials for a time, but he could not settle his mind. He set down his vermilion brush and looked toward Snowfluff and Yuanzi on the desk.
Snowfluff followed Yuanzi everywhere. Yuanzi arrogantly closed his eyes, refusing even to look at him.
“Meow~” Snowfluff called twice, pitifully. Then he leaped down from the imperial desk, fetched his little fish in his mouth, and brought it before Yuanzi. Yuanzi opened his eyes, glanced at it once, and closed them again.
“Meow~” Snowfluff lowered his head in disappointment.
Qin Yi covered his eyes.
He wondered whom this foolish cat had inherited that shameless behavior from.
He rose and came to the side of the screen. There were so many records that five or six shelves had been packed full. Yan Tongshu certainly would not finish searching them all today.
Yan Tongshu reached up for a volume on the highest shelf. Qin Yi took two or three strides forward and stood behind her, retrieving it for her.
“How are you searching?” he asked.
Yan Tongshu looked at him in surprise.
She glanced at the mountain of memorials on the imperial desk. There were enough to keep him working through the night.
Qin Yi pressed his thin lips together. “They are my subjects too.”
Yan Tongshu stared at Qin Yi for a long moment before withdrawing her gaze and explaining the scope of her search.
The service registers were one set of records, the duty rosters another, and the merit registers yet another. They were not the same thing at all, nor were they stored together.
After checking the service registers and confirming the candidates, Yan Tongshu still had to skip across several shelves to find the duty rosters, then compare them against the merit registers.
Qin Yi summoned a group of young eunuchs and had them sort everything according to Yan Tongshu’s instructions. They categorized the records, attached labels, and arranged them into separate piles so that Yan Tongshu would not have to keep running back and forth.
He helped with the search as well.
After an entire afternoon of searching, they found twenty-three people who fit the requirements. Yan Tongshu made a note of them for the time being, then left the palace at dusk with Yuanzi.
On the way, she happened to encounter several officials who were leaving at the same time. Yan Tongshu smiled and said, “The emperor’s cat has taken a fancy to my cat, so I have to bring Yuanzi over to keep him company…”
She spread her hands, her expression utterly helpless.
The official thought to himself: What incredible luck! That flashy-looking cat had actually caught the emperor’s eye. What a blessing—a tremendous blessing! He would go home and raise a cat too, in hopes of forming a connection with the emperor and becoming in-laws someday.
The next day, Yan Tongshu brought Yuanzi back to continue the search.
After searching for another day, they identified fifty-six people.
When she returned to the Yan residence, Yan Tongshu was furious as she stared at the fifty-six names.
Were there really so many second-generation scions joining the army simply to coast along on their family connections?
They did no work, earned no merit, and merely ate their fill at public expense. Couldn’t they all be thrown out?
No wonder the dog emperor wanted to reform the military. In her opinion, it absolutely needed reforming—and the more thorough, the better.
There were fifty-six people. How was she supposed to investigate them all?
The Divine Guard Army, the Divine Martial Army, the Divine Might Army, and the Divine Strategy Army were all represented.
Yan Tongshu was stewing in anger when Yan Liangrong arrived.
“Tongshu, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
Yan Liangrong sat down beside Yan Tongshu’s bed. “Yesterday morning and afternoon, two girls came separately. One of them was named Li Lu. She was abducted on the sixteenth day of the seventh month the year before last. The other was Lu Lan.”
The year before last?
That meant there had been three incidents in total, from the first one to the present. The culprit had been in the army for at least three years.
Yan Tongshu immediately flipped through the fifty-six names she had recorded and pulled out fourteen of them. Those fourteen did not fit the criteria.
That meant the Divine Might Army and the Divine Guard Army were in the clear.
Yan Liangrong continued, “These people used the same method every time: abducting the victims, then putting them through a series of trials. There were only slight differences in the details from one case to the next. The fourth trial was always to please them.
“Li Lu said that hers was the first gambling match. Those people wore masks and stood on the first floor, circling the pool of wine while admiring their helplessness and terror.
“Li Lu’s father had once been a physician, so she knew how to take a pulse. During the fourth trial, she took the opportunity to feel one of the man’s pulses. That man suffered from impotence and infertility. He had been taking medicine for it for the past three or four years.”
There was one detail in Li Lu’s account. The ten men had circled around the women, yet she had mentioned nothing unusual about their appearances, which meant all ten men looked healthy. But Lu Lan told me that during the fourth trial, she had lain prostrate at a man’s feet. When he stood up and stepped on her, she noticed that he was unsteady on his feet. She was certain he was a cripple—his right leg was disabled.
While she was trying to please him, the man had joked with the others beside him. One of them said that he had won last time, the cripple had won the time before that, and that by the reckoning, it should be his turn again this time.”
A cripple?
Over the past three years, one of those ten men had injured his right leg and still hadn’t recovered by last year. Perhaps he never would. And they had never replaced any of their members.
One of the others suffered from erectile dysfunction.
When you thought about it carefully, the chances of replacing someone simply because he had become lame were very low.
Once people committed such a crime, they became part of a criminal alliance. It was impossible to withdraw, because the others would fear that anyone who left might betray them.
It was equally difficult to bring in new members. The ten who had gone through it together were the most firmly bonded allies, sharing a secret that made their group intensely exclusive.
Yan Tongshu continued going through the remaining forty-two men.
Three of them had suffered injuries.
One belonged to the Divine Strategy Army, and two to the Divine Martial Army.
The man from the Divine Strategy Army had recovered by March of last year and returned to his unit.
That left only the two from the Divine Martial Army.
The Divine Martial Army was stationed outside the city. Of those two men, one was named Zhang Lei. He had been off duty that day. After injuring his leg, he failed to recover for a long time and left the army last December. The other, Zhu Yang, had not been assigned night duty that day, and his leg injury had completely healed by September of last year.
Yan Tongshu’s gaze sharpened.
Tomorrow, he would first investigate the one who had retired and returned home.
If Zhang Lei wasn’t the culprit…
The four branches of the Imperial Guard had long been at odds, and private dealings between them were forbidden…
Then there was a good chance that all ten of the Fiends came from the Divine Martial Army, and that the arrows had come from the army’s discarded stockpiles.
But he couldn’t be completely certain.
Of the remaining thirty-six men, nineteen belonged to the Divine Martial Army.
One of them was particularly unusual: Yan Qichu, twenty-three years old, married six years ago, and the eldest son of Prince Ming.
The next day, Yan Tongshu divided his men into four groups.
Zhao Sheng and Pearl disguised themselves as a middle-aged married couple and went to make trouble for Zhang Jiu.
One group of constables continued investigating the people listed as the owners of the various country estates.
Another secretly investigated which of the remaining nineteen men had bought large quantities of medicine for erectile dysfunction within the past three years.
Yan Tongshu himself went to the Wenhan Chess House, which Zhang Lei had opened after retiring.
Zhang Lei’s grandfather, Zhang Gang, was a fifth-rank Cavalry General. His father was an unmotivated wastrel who had failed the prefectural examination seven times before losing all ambition. Zhang Gang had therefore placed all his hopes in the next generation.
He had five grandsons and three granddaughters. Zhang Lei was the second-born.
Zhang Lei had begun martial training at the age of six, but his talent was mediocre. At sixteen, Zhang Gang had thrown him into the army. He had entered as a Duwei and, after six years in the military, was still only a Duwei.
Meng Zheng, by contrast, had joined the army at fourteen and started as a lowly soldier. He became a Duwei at fifteen, a Duhu at seventeen, and was transferred to the Divine Guard Army at eighteen. At nineteen, thanks to the military achievements he had earned, he was promoted to Commander-in-Chief.
The Zhang and Meng families were both military households, and their elders were generals of two rival armies who could hardly stand the sight of each other. How could Zhang Gang not be envious?
After Zhang Lei broke his leg, Zhang Gang opened a chess house for him. Zhang Lei only had to keep an eye on the place whenever he was free. Making money was not important; Zhang Gang simply wanted to keep him from becoming so idle that he went out and caused trouble.
Yan Tongshu entered the Wenhan Chess House in plain clothes, accompanied by Jinbao. Before even the time it took to burn a stick of incense had passed, he had determined that Zhang Lei was not the culprit.
At that moment, Zhang Lei was sitting across from Qin Yunduan, the son of Prince Wuyang, playing a desultory game of chess.
Qin Yunduan was fair, round, and pleasantly plump. At first glance, he looked honest and straightforward—the sort of utterly simple and foolish male supporting character who appeared beside the hero and heroine in television dramas, and who was always kind-hearted and destined to die in the most tragic way.
He looked like a genuinely good man.
After leaving the army, Zhang Lei had put on quite a bit of weight as well.
The two men laughed and fooled around like a pair of carefree simpletons.
Someone nearby sighed with a laugh. “Our Young Master Zhang may be mediocre by nature, and he did break his leg trying to earn military merit, but he really is a good-hearted man.”
“After my young master retired, you could see the happiness on his face with your own eyes. Every time he came home before, Old Master would scold him. He was always thinking about earning military achievements. But now, no one forces him anymore. He can do whatever he wants. He eats three big bowls of rice every day—how could he not be happy?”
The speaker was dressed in a servant’s uniform and was presumably one of the Zhang family’s retainers.
Zhang Lei had ambition, but lacked the ability to fulfill it. He had been unable to distinguish himself and had not been promoted once in six years, yet he clearly had not joined the army simply to coast along.
Moreover, when Yan Tongshu observed Zhang Lei, he noticed something.
A moment earlier, while Zhang Lei had been joking around with his friend, a chess-house attendant had passed by carrying tea. The instant Zhang Lei saw him, he restrained his movements, carefully making sure not to bump into him, and even pulled his friend aside to avoid the man.
He was observant and considerate of others.
A person like that could not commit such a depraved, inhuman crime.
With the suspect pool narrowed, the direction of the investigation became completely clear.
Yan Tongshu walked out of the chess house and looked toward the Divine Martial Army’s encampment outside the city.
…
Fish Village.
Zhang Jiu had deliberately chosen a time when the village was crowded before leaving to buy some flour.
He had just reached the village entrance when Zhao Sheng and Pearl, already disguised, suddenly sprang out from the roadside.
Zhao Sheng had once been a street thug, and playing one now came as naturally to him as breathing. He seized Zhang Jiu by the wrist and shouted at the top of his voice, “You little brat! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for you? I wore out my shoes hunting you down. Come on! You’re coming back with me today and marrying Master Zhang as his concubine. If you don’t, I’ll beat you to death!”
One of Zhang Jiu’s hands was being held, while the other still had to protect the flour. He struggled desperately, but Zhao Sheng was too strong. When Zhang Jiu yanked at him, he pulled with too much force and nearly dragged Zhao Sheng off balance.
Fortunately, Pearl reacted quickly. She stepped forward and slapped at Zhang Jiu’s face.
“You little wretch! How dare you hit your own uncle?”
Her palm merely grazed Zhang Jiu’s cheek, but in the same motion, she tore away his veil.
Under the sunlight, an exquisitely beautiful face was revealed to the crowd.
His brows were like distant mountains brushed with dark green; his eyes, like autumn waters rippling with light. His skin was whiter than snow, and his lips were as red as cherry blossoms.
Zhang Jiu let himself fall sideways to the ground. The faint crease between his brows, drawn there by apparent panic, only added to his delicate, heart-rending beauty.
He had already dipped his fingertips in chili water. Raising his hand, he stealthily rubbed it over his eyelids. Before long, tears filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks.
A beauty shedding silent tears.
It was an instant kill.
The villagers, who had been watching to see whether they should step forward and help, were struck dumb.
“Heavens above… I’ve lived more than half my life, but I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful…”
“If this were a story being performed onstage, I’d say she was a fairy descended from heaven…”
“Hey, haven’t you heard? Those two old wretches want to force that mute girl to become a concubine. What decent family’s daughter would be willing to accept that?”
The crowd gradually grew restless. Everyone was eager to step forward and help.
Meanwhile, Pearl continued berating Zhang Jiu in a deliberately lowered voice. “You little slut, let me make this clear: your parents are dead, so you have to listen to us.”
“That’s right!” Zhao Sheng stuck out his neck, spraying spittle as he shouted, “The betrothal gifts from Master Zhang have already been spent! If you refuse to marry him, how are we supposed to pay him back?!”
Zhao Sheng reached out to grab Zhang Jiu. What else could a helpless mute girl do besides cry? He wiped at his tears, his body shrinking back, yet Zhao Sheng still dragged him forward until he stumbled.
Zhao Sheng raised a hand as if to strike. Zhang Jiu hunched his neck and immediately froze, too afraid to move.
He lifted his tear-filled eyes and timidly glanced at the villagers around him, his gaze pleading like ripples shimmering across autumn waters.
That look completely ignited the crowd’s anger.
Sure enough, the villagers rushed over at once.
“Who gave you the right to bully someone?”
“Forcing a good woman to become a concubine is against the law! Even if you’re her uncle, you can’t do that!”
“Are you deaf? The girl said she doesn’t want to!”
Zhao Sheng began rolling up his sleeves. “Where did all of you come from? This is our family’s business. What’s it got to do with you?”
The villagers all stepped forward together, rolling up their sleeves and glaring furiously.
Zhao Sheng lost his nerve. Seeing this, Pearl shrieked, “So what if she doesn’t want to? She’s a mute who can’t do anything. If she doesn’t become Master Zhang’s concubine, how is she supposed to live? Are you going to support her?”
By then, the chili plant had fully served its purpose. Zhang Jiu’s eyes were unbearably irritated, and tears poured from them in an endless stream.
In the eyes of the onlookers, that picture of tears falling like rain, of someone looking utterly miserable and helpless, could only mean that he had been bullied terribly.
“So what if she’s mute?”
Fan Li had been nearby. Hearing the commotion, she came over, arriving just in time to hear those words. She immediately flew into a rage and cursed, “So what if she’s mute? She’s living perfectly well. She’s beautiful enough to marry into a good family. You people are the ones with black hearts and no humanity! Her parents have only just died, and you’re already trying to sell their daughter in exchange for money.”
“That’s right! I heard it too. That shameless old man said he’d taken money from Master Zhang. That’s selling a person! Report them to the authorities and send them to prison!”
The crowd grew furious. Zhao Sheng and Pearl were berated into retreating step by step.
“What’s going on?”
Yan Liangyu arrived at just the right moment, with Gao Qi and the female physician following behind her.
Yan Liangyu had often come to Fish Village to treat the villagers for free and distribute medicine, so everyone knew her. They immediately began shouting over one another to tell her what had happened.
Yan Liangyu gently helped Zhang Jiu to his feet. “Were these two people bullying you? Nod if they were, and I’ll stand up for you.”
Zhang Jiu pressed his lips together and lowered his head, looking timid and wronged, as though he had suffered terribly but did not dare speak out.
Yan Liangyu asked him several more times, but Zhang Jiu was mute. He neither spoke nor nodded, leaving everyone unable to figure out what he wanted.
Zhao Sheng and Pearl put on the appearance of two people whose legs had gone weak at the sight of a constable. They shrank back like frightened quails and hurried over to Zhang Jiu’s side.
With trembling lips, Zhao Sheng said, “Wenya, I’m your own uncle—your father’s younger brother. Surely you don’t intend to have me killed?”
Zhang Jiu glanced at Zhao Sheng, then lowered his head again.
Pearl chimed in, “Wenya, no matter what, we’re still your family. Are you really going to let these outsiders bully us? Have you forgotten what your father told you before he died? He said you had to listen to us.”
Yan Liangyu took hold of Zhang Jiu’s hand.
To keep anyone from noticing the deception, Zhang Jiu’s sleeves were longer than usual, revealing only the slender, pearly-white tips of his fingers.
His fingers were exquisitely formed, as delicate as jade and scallions. Even that small glimpse was enough to make anyone marvel at the beauty of both his face and his hands.
Zhao Sheng shouted, “Wenya, you’re going to get us killed! Your father will never forgive you, even from beyond the grave!”
Zhang Jiu’s body trembled. He shook his head and waved his hands, his eyes red from the chili. He looked so terrified of pursuing the matter against Zhao Sheng and Pearl that the villagers stamped their feet and sighed in exasperation.
Yan Liangyu also looked at him with the expression of someone frustrated by a hopeless case. Her tone was heavy with sorrow. “Girl, we only get one life. There are some things we cannot give way on. Especially when dealing with people who want to cling to you and suck you dry—if you back down, they’ll only become more aggressive.”
Zhang Jiu remained silent, merely shaking his head over and over.
“Alas!” Yan Liangyu let out a deep sigh. With no other choice, she gave up. She was just about to leave with the others when Gao Qi suddenly spoke.
“My lady, there’s something wrong with this person.”
Yan Liangyu played along. “What’s wrong?”
Gao Qi pointed at Zhao Sheng and Pearl. “Take a look at these two. Don’t they resemble the pair who got into a fight and injured someone in the street a few days ago? The injured party has been crying out for justice in front of the Kaifeng Prefecture office ever since!”
“So it’s you two!” Yan Liangyu cried out in surprise.
Zhao Sheng and Pearl immediately turned and ran, but Gao Qi lunged forward in a single stride and seized one in each hand, holding them fast.
“Come on. You can explain yourselves in prison to Lady Yan!”
Just as Zhao Sheng and Pearl were about to suffer a major downfall, Zhang Jiu—the poor, unfortunate mute girl—suddenly blocked Yan Liangyu’s path. He fell to his knees and pleaded with her. Unable to speak, he gestured frantically, seemingly begging Lady Yan to release his uncle and aunt.
Yan Liangyu cried out in anguish, “How can you be such a person? You’re infuriating me!”
The corners of Zhao Sheng and Pearl’s mouths twitched discreetly.
The Second Miss’s acting was a little over the top. It wasn’t even as good as theirs.
Yan Liangyu also realized that her tone had sounded far too stiff. She gave two light coughs. “The law allows no leniency.”
Zhao Sheng broke free from Gao Qi’s grasp and seized Zhang Jiu. “Niece, you’re the only niece your uncle has! You have to find a way to save me!”
Pearl also cried out in a tearful voice, “Good niece, people have to pay compensation for beating someone. Think of something! Borrow some money and get your uncle and me out first.”
Tears glistening in his eyes, Zhang Jiu nodded frantically.
Yan Liangyu and Gao Qi escorted Zhao Sheng and Pearl away.
Zhang Jiu remained collapsed on the ground, his face streaked with tears, like a fallen pear blossom in a storm.
Fan Li stamped her foot and sighed. How could this girl be so weak?
Now that her parents were gone, she was all alone. If she remained so timid, she would certainly be bullied to death sooner or later.
Fan Li was furious and exasperated, yet she also pitied Zhang Jiu. In the end, she helped him up, comforted him, and took him home.
Like Fan Li, many people both resented and pitied Zhang Jiu. But quite a few others, seeing how beautiful he was, how weak his character seemed, and how incapable he was of protecting himself, immediately developed wicked intentions.
The man who had harassed Tao Jiang before, Xie Qiang, hid behind a haystack. After quickly finishing the half a radish he held in his hand, he sprang up and ran.
This time, he had really found himself a treasure. If he offered up a beauty of such breathtaking splendor, wouldn’t he make a fortune?
On the way back, Pearl, Zhao Sheng, Yan Liangyu, and Gao Qi rode together in a carriage.
Pearl kept patting her chest. “Oh, I was so nervous! Second Miss, you have no idea—when I reached out to hit Lord Zhang just now, my hand was shaking. I was terrified I might actually hurt him.”
Zhao Sheng’s lips had gone white with fright. He tore off his fake beard. “I was even more scared! That was an actual official, and I acted so fierce. Boo-hoo… He won’t come after me for revenge later, will he?”
Gao Qi smacked Zhao Sheng on the head. “Stop imagining things.”
Yan Liangyu gave an awkward laugh. Remembering her painfully stiff expression just now, she couldn’t help curling her toes against the floor.
Ah, how embarrassing.
How had she managed to act so badly?
Yan Liangyu covered her face.
…
That evening, Pearl stayed home to keep watch while Yan Tongshu took Jinbao to a tavern on the outskirts of the city.
The tavern was only open at night. Located near the Shenwu Army, it catered mainly to burly soldiers.
It was not a brothel, but it did offer a few borderline entertainments, such as singing and dancing performed by women in revealing clothes.
Yan Tongshu and Jinbao sat on the second floor and ordered a pot of wine, a plate of pig’s ears, and a dish of roasted peanuts.
Before the waiter could bring the wine over, Jinbao swiftly snatched it away and hugged it to his chest. “Young Master, you’re not allowed to drink.”
