Huo Tingshan returned to the main hall, where the revelry was still in full swing. Seeing him reenter, Huang Muyong raised his wine cup and staggered toward him. "Governor Huo of Youzhou, come, let’s drink again!"
Huo Tingshan accepted the cup without hesitation.
As time passed, someone remarked, "Why hasn’t Commander Tan returned yet? Could he be off indulging in pleasure somewhere?"
A military officer laughed heartily. "There’s nowhere to indulge—his concubines aren’t even in the commandery office now."
Another officer from Sizhou joked, "Perhaps he’s avoiding more drinks, having already had his fill."
The hall erupted in laughter.
Huo Tingshan wore a faint smile, his fingers tapping idly on the table as he half-heartedly joined in the banter—until a guard entered and whispered something into Liu Baiquan’s ear. Only then did his fingers still.
Picking up his wine cup, Huo Tingshan called for a toast, and Huang Muyong and the others cheerfully obliged.
After hearing his subordinate’s hushed words, Liu Baiquan’s expression darkened. He excused himself, claiming he needed to relieve himself, and stepped outside with his trusted aide.
Without needing a signal from Huo Tingshan, Sha Ying, seated at the back, soon rose as well.
Meanwhile, Liu Baiquan hurried out of the hall and, not bothering to go far, snapped at his subordinate, "Speak quickly—how were the treasures lost?"
After the Youzhou army captured Guangping Commandery and Huo Tingshan took over the commandery office, he had generously divided a portion of the spoils between Yanzhou and Sizhou. From Sizhou’s share, Liu Baiquan had secretly selected his favorite treasures and ordered his men to smuggle them back to his estate in Sizhou.
Yet now, those treasures had been stolen!
The golden cauldrons, the jade chariots, the delicate white jade figurines—all gone.
Liu Baiquan clutched his chest, heartbroken. "Who could have done this?"
His subordinate stammered, "The surviving soldiers said the bandits wore blue headscarves—likely remnants of the Blue Scarves."
Guangping Commandery had once been a stronghold of the Blue Scarves. After the Youzhou army’s assault, it was no surprise some had escaped. The city had only fallen the day before, so Liu Baiquan knew the fleeing rebels couldn’t have gone far—but he hadn’t expected to cross paths with them.
Furious, Liu Baiquan roared, "Those Blue Scarf rebels are nothing but defeated stragglers! If you couldn’t handle even this, what good were all the extra rations I gave you?"
The subordinate hunched under the scolding. "Commander, even cornered beasts fight back, and wasps carry venom."
"Enough of your excuses!" Liu Baiquan flicked his sleeve in dismissal.
Just then, another Sizhou soldier rushed around the corridor, his face alight with excitement. Liu Baiquan recognized him as another trusted aide.
Still seething, Liu Baiquan saw the man’s beaming expression and felt his anger flare. As the soldier approached, he kicked out. "Ma Xiu! What’s so amusing? How dare you smile when we’ve lost our treasures?"
Ma Xiu stumbled back but quickly stepped forward again. "Commander, the treasures have been recovered!"
Liu Baiquan froze, his fury giving way to delight. "Is this true?"
"Absolutely true, absolutely true," Ma Xiu nodded eagerly. "Luck was on our side—on the way back, we ran into a patrol of Youzhou cavalry. How could we let such a golden opportunity slip? We immediately told them about the remaining Blue Scarf rebels outside the city and mentioned the robbery. Those Youzhou soldiers were chivalrous enough to spur their horses and give chase at once. As you know, Marshal, Youzhou steeds are renowned for their excellence—so of course, they caught up with the rebels in no time!"
Liu Baiquan hurriedly asked, "Are the items all intact?"
"The Youzhou troops said they did spot some chests, and the numbers matched. The treasures should still be there. I rushed back ahead to reassure you, Marshal, so you wouldn’t worry," Ma Xiu replied.
Liu Baiquan exhaled deeply, his hanging heart finally settling. A twist of fate, a stroke of luck—how splendid.
"Well, well, Marshal Liu, what are you doing here? Weren’t you headed to the privy?" a voice called from behind.
Liu Baiquan turned and saw Sha Ying.
Fresh from the Youzhou army’s retrieval of his treasures, he now viewed everyone from Youzhou with newfound fondness. Beaming, he replied, "I was just about to, but a guard came with a report, so I got delayed for a moment. Battalion Commander Sha, are you here for the same reason?"
Sha Ying nodded. "Shall we go together?"
Liu Baiquan agreed cheerfully.
Upon entering the privy, Liu Baiquan noticed an additional compartment enclosed by wooden planks, its door shut. He couldn’t help but murmur in puzzlement, "Why the sudden renovation?"
He distinctly remembered there being no partition the day before.
Sha Ying lowered his voice with a chuckle. "My general ordered it. Remember how Marshal Tan left the banquet for an unusually long time yesterday? He was... struggling with his business here and took quite a while. Later, he felt embarrassed and approached my general privately, requesting a small partition be added to the privy. Such a trivial matter—my general had it done overnight."
"Ah, I see," Liu Baiquan said, enlightened.
His eyes darted toward the closed wooden door, and he deliberately raised his voice. "Marshal Tan, are you in there?"
Sure enough, a voice responded—Liu Baiquan recognized it as Tan Jin’s.
Liu Baiquan couldn’t resist teasing. "Marshal Tan, come out at once! Hiding here to dodge drinks won’t work—you can’t escape forever."
"You go ahead first," came the reply from inside.
Sha Ying undid his belt at this point.
Having drunk plenty that evening and with his emotions still unsettled from the earlier ordeal, Liu Baiquan now felt the urge himself. After relieving himself and noting the occupant of the compartment showed no sign of emerging—and with Sha Ying waiting—he bid farewell to "Tan Jin" inside and returned to the main hall with Sha Ying.
In the main hall.
Seated at the lower right, Huo Tingshan finished his conversation with Chen Guangling and glanced up as Sha Ying and Liu Baiquan reentered together. Watching Sha Ying return to his seat and down a cup of wine without hesitation, he knew the plan had succeeded.
Huo Tingshan cast a discreet look at a guard nearby, who, upon receiving the signal, waited a moment before slipping out unnoticed.
...
Two quarters of an hour later.
Two guards rushed in and dropped to their knees. "My lords, disaster has struck!"
The revelry in the hall came to an abrupt halt.
"What is this commotion?" Huang Muyong, seated at the head of the room, frowned in displeasure.
The guard lowered his head deeply, not daring to look up. "Reporting to the Protector-General, this subordinate discovered the corpse of Commander Tan in the pavilion of the courtyard while patrolling earlier."
The main hall fell silent. Those who had been raising their cups to toast froze mid-motion, and a military officer who had just brought his wine cup to his lips trembled, spilling the clear liquor onto his robes.
All eyes turned toward the two guards.
It was as if time itself had paused—the hall was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
After a long moment, Huang Muyong seemed to sober up. "Wh… which Commander Tan?"
The guard replied, "Commander Tan Jin of Yanzhou."
A military officer from the Yanzhou faction slammed the table and stood. "Nonsense!"
Huang Muyong’s expression shifted several times before he rose from his seat. "Enough talk. Let’s go see for ourselves."
This was no small matter. The guests abandoned their drinks and hurried outside.
As they neared the pavilion, they saw it had already been cordoned off. The Yanzhou officers rushed ahead, throwing themselves beside the corpse in loud lamentation, while Huang Muyong and the others arrived shortly after.
The body had not been moved, preserving the scene as it was found. The Yanzhou officers quickly identified the murder weapon—a dagger buried to the hilt in Tan Jin’s chest.
Mu Ren, Tan Jin’s deputy, pulled the dagger free. After examining its design, he flung it at Liu Baiquan’s feet. "Commander Liu, the weapon that killed my commander is a blade from Sizhou! What explanation do you have?"
The bloodstained dagger clattered to the ground, bouncing slightly before settling, splattering a few drops onto Liu Baiquan’s boots.
Liu Baiquan’s face darkened. "A dagger proves nothing! Couldn’t someone have deliberately used a Sizhou blade to frame us?"
As he spoke, Liu Baiquan couldn’t help but cast a few glances at Huo Tingshan.
With the Yanzhou commander dead, there was no way his own Sizhou men could have done it. The Ji Province forces had only arrived that morning, and their numbers were few—making them unlikely culprits.
That left Youzhou.
But before Liu Baiquan could dwell on the thought, someone else spoke up. "There are two more daggers here. These are—"
"Blades from Youzhou and Yanzhou," Mu Ren said, stunned.
The crowd erupted in shock.
Three different weapons—including one from their own Yanzhou?
Liu Baiquan paused, then stepped forward to inspect the weapons closely. Indeed, they were daggers from Yanzhou, Sizhou, and Youzhou. The only one missing was from Ji Province.
His gaze shifted to Huang Muyong, scrutinizing him just as he had been scrutinized moments before.
Huang Muyong’s brow twitched. "Where are the patrol guards?"
Several squads stepped forward. Liu Baiquan studied them and inwardly sighed in relief—this would surely lead them to the killer.
Within the commandery’s estate, patrol duties were shared among the three provinces, though unlike the gate guards who were mixed, internal patrols were conducted separately by each province’s own soldiers.
The courtyard was a special case—a border zone where patrols from different provinces overlapped. Thus, the guards who stepped forward were from Yanzhou, Sizhou, and Youzhou.
Hopes were high, but when questioned, every single patrol guard shook their heads, claiming they had noticed nothing unusual near the pavilion.
Huang Muyong frowned. Were they lying? Or had they truly seen nothing? If the former, this matter had just grown far more complicated. He asked, "When did Commander Tan leave the banquet?"
The officers thought back. "About half an hour ago, I believe."
Huang Muyong continued, "Which patrol unit was responsible for the last half-hour? Did anyone see Governor Tan?"
"A patrol unit from Youzhou and another from Sizhou passed through this area during that time," one of the officers answered.
Huang Muyong was about to press for details when he noticed a Sizhou guard hesitating, as if holding something back. He pointed at the guard and ordered, "Do you have something to say?"
All eyes turned toward the guard.
The Sizhou guard lowered his head. "This subordinate dares not speak."
"What is there to fear? Speak now. If you refuse, you will be treated as an accomplice and punished severely," Huang Muyong reprimanded.
The guards of Sizhou were all under Liu Baiquan's command.
Liu Baiquan also scolded, "If you have something to say, say it. Why act so timidly?"
The guard kept his head down and murmured, "This subordinate has had exceptional eyesight since childhood. Earlier, I saw Governor Huo of Youzhou and Governor Tan walking together toward the courtyard. Later, only Governor Huo returned alone."
The crowd gasped in shock.
"Governor Huo, you—"
"It couldn’t be Governor Huo!" The first to refute was none other than Liu Baiquan.
Huang Muyong was taken aback. "Governor Liu, why do you say that?"
Liu Baiquan replied earnestly, "I recall Governor Huo did leave the main hall after Governor Tan, but he returned later. After that, I also stepped out and even ran into Governor Tan in the privy."
His immediate defense wasn’t just because he believed it to be true—it was also because Youzhou had helped him recover a batch of treasures.
The actions of the Youzhou army would surely be reported to Huo Tingshan, who must already know about Liu Baiquan’s secret appropriation of those treasures. By speaking up for Huo Tingshan now, he hoped the latter would turn a blind eye to his own misconduct.
"Thank you, Governor Liu, for clearing my name," Huo Tingshan said to the crowd. "It’s true that I went to the courtyard with Governor Tan, but there was a reason. Governor Tan was displeased with the seating arrangements tonight, so I advised him not to take it to heart, as the Protector-General is a favored minister of Emperor Zhao and a pillar of the state."
Tan Jin’s subdued mood at the banquet had been obvious to all. Those closest to him among the officers knew exactly why he was upset, so Huo Tingshan’s explanation convinced them by seventy or eighty percent.
Huang Muyong coughed lightly. "Since Governor Liu later saw Governor Tan, it means he must have returned. Going together doesn’t necessarily mean returning together."
Liu Baiquan hesitated.
Truthfully, he hadn’t actually seen Tan Jin, but the voice from the privy had unmistakably been his—that much couldn’t be faked.
So in the end, he didn’t refute Huang Muyong’s words.
Huang Muyong said, "We can narrow down the timeframe further."
Yet no matter how much they narrowed it, the search yielded nothing—as if the culprit had flown in and out on wings.
Then an officer from Yanzhou spoke up. "Since Governor Liu also left his seat, isn’t it possible that…"
The rest went unspoken.
Liu Baiquan was furious. "Preposterous! Tan Jin and I had no grudges—why would I harm him? Besides, if I really wanted to kill someone, why would I risk being recognized by doing it myself? Couldn’t I just send a soldier?"
Some of the officers nodded. "That makes sense."
At this moment, someone suddenly spoke up: "It couldn’t have been a foot soldier. Judging by the expression on the late commander’s face, he seemed more shocked than frightened. There are faint strangulation marks on his neck, suggesting the killer must have been someone familiar to him—close enough to catch him off guard and deliver a fatal strike."
The crowd turned to see Mu Ren, the man who had earlier thrown the dagger, now crouching beside the corpse.
Mu Ren added, "A single, clean kill. The perpetrator was swift, ruthless, and precise—clearly experienced."
The others exchanged uneasy glances.
This was stating the obvious. Nearly everyone in the governor’s residence was a military officer, battle-hardened and skilled in such methods.
A general from Yanzhou pressed further, "Commander Liu, if you would, tell us where you went after encountering our commander in the latrine?"
Liu Baiquan’s face darkened. "Are you suspecting me?"
Mu Ren and the Yanzhou officers remained expressionless. "This is no trivial matter. We ask that you answer truthfully."
"Aside from your commander, I also met Commander Sha from Youzhou in the latrine. We returned to the main hall together afterward—Commander Sha can vouch for me," Liu Baiquan retorted sharply. "In my opinion, the Yanzhou weapon left at the scene suggests this was an internal dispute. Not a crime of greed, but of ambition."
The Yanzhou officers erupted in fury.
"Baseless slander!"
"Commander Liu, hold your tongue!"
The room quickly descended into chaos until Huo Tingshan and Huang Muyong stepped in to restore order.
"This may well be the work of the Blue Scarf rebels," Huang Muyong said gravely. "Rather than bickering among ourselves, we should lock down the city and conduct a thorough search to root out the traitors."
Chen Guangling of Jizhou also found the situation suspicious—and familiar. Their own governor, Yuan Ding, had been struck down by a Blue Scarf ambush. "I agree. Let’s not fall into the enemy’s trap by turning on each other."
Huo Tingshan declared, "I’ll oversee the city-wide search."
Huang Muyong hesitated. Guangping Commandery was under Jizhou’s jurisdiction, and as Emperor Zhao’s appointed envoy to oversee the region, he should have taken charge.
But he lacked the troops.
His hurried arrival in Guangping Commandery had left him with only a few dozen men—half of whom answered to Chen Guangling. With such limited forces, he couldn’t possibly manage a lockdown and search.
The task ultimately fell to Huo Tingshan.
Meng Ling’er knew nothing of the commotion in the main hall. After discovering Pei Ying’s disappearance the night before, she had been too anxious to sleep, and now she sat blankly, dark circles under her eyes.
Mother—where had her mother gone?
Had something terrible happened? If her mother was truly gone, she wouldn’t go on living either…
No, no. Her mother was blessed. Perhaps she had simply been delayed by some matter and hadn’t yet returned.
Her torment lasted until late afternoon, when she belatedly noticed that the Youzhou soldiers guarding her had increased in number—and the scar-faced brute among them no longer looked at her with pity.
If her mother had met with misfortune, those barbarians wouldn’t be acting so indifferent.
Could it be… they knew her mother was safe?
As soon as this speculation crossed Meng Ling'er's mind, she couldn't help but shudder.
If nothing was wrong, why hadn't they brought her mother back? Was it unwillingness? Or inability?
Perhaps they hadn't found her mother yet.
The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. Though she knew this line of thinking was overly optimistic, what if—just what if—it turned out to be true? That would be wonderful.
She couldn't stay cooped up in the governor's mansion any longer; she needed to get outside.
"Shui Su, come on, let's go out for a stroll," Meng Ling'er declared, straightening up. But her confident stride lasted only until she reached the courtyard gate.
Xiong Mao blocked her path, his massive scar stretching across his face like something that might devour a child whole. "Young Mistress Meng, you can't leave."
"Why not?" Meng Ling'er's voice faltered.
Xiong Mao replied solemnly, "The Blue Scarf Rebels haven't been fully eradicated. It's not safe outside right now."
Meng Ling'er eyed him skeptically.
Xiong Mao continued gravely, "Today, rebels appeared outside the city and even seized some supplies from the Sizhou Army."
Meng Ling'er gasped. "Wasn't Guangping Commandery already secured? How are the Blue Scarf Rebels still active?"
Xiong Mao shook his head. "This uprising is different from past ones—more tenacious, harder to suppress."
This much was true. The Blue Scarf Army wasn't an ordinary rebel force; it leaned more toward a religious organization. Its core members claimed to have received divine guidance from immortals, boasting abilities to cast spells, summon wind and rain, and promising followers that years of devotion would lead to ascension.
Many uneducated commoners believed these claims, spreading the word until entire regions were swayed.
After a moment of silence, Meng Ling'er murmured, "I won't leave the city. I just want to walk around inside the walls. It's safe here—nothing will happen."
But Xiong Mao insisted, "It's getting late. We can discuss this tomorrow."
The reasoning was sound, and Meng Ling'er bit her lip, unable to argue.
Fine. Tomorrow it is. Just wait and see!
At the same time, in the medical clinic...
Pei Ying flexed her ankle. It still ached, but it was better than yesterday—at least the swelling had gone down somewhat.
The wooden door of the small room creaked open as Xin Jin entered, carrying a basin.
"Madam, I overheard some news while I was out," Xin Jin said, setting the basin down and placing the bundle she carried beside it.
They had left the governor's mansion with nothing, so now they had to repurchase basic necessities. Xin Jin had just returned from shopping in the market.
Pei Ying sat on the bed. The room had only one small window, and the fading daylight spilled in like scattered gold across her face, catching in her bright eyes—radiant as a spring garden, as delicate as distant mountains and blooming lotus. "What news? Is it bad?"
Xin Jin pressed her lips together, momentarily doubting whether she had been right to suggest they leave. If Madam had stayed with Huo Youzhou, she would have lived in luxury. Why endure this cramped, shabby little room?
But seeing Pei Ying's gentle smile, the thought quickly faded.
No. She wasn't wrong.
Wealth meant nothing if one couldn't live to enjoy it.
Xin Jin said, "Madam, when I went to buy clothes today, everyone at the silk shop was talking about the city being sealed."
Pei Ying was stunned. "Guangping Commandery is under lockdown? Why?"
Xin Jin nodded. "They say there are remnants of the Blue Scarf rebels hiding in the city. To prevent their escape, the gates have been sealed for now."
Pei Ying's delicate brows furrowed.
A city lockdown wasn't just about closing the gates—it almost certainly meant inspections. Households would be combed through one by one, and neither she nor Xin Jin could hide for long.
Earlier, she had considered returning for her daughter's sake. But now that she knew the girl might awaken to her abilities and leave the estate on her own, Pei Ying no longer wished to go back.
Yet if they didn't return, how would they evade the search?
"My lady, they’re sweeping the city. What should we do?" Xin Jin’s voice trembled with unease.
Pei Ying clenched her fingers. "The first wave of searches will likely focus on crowded places like inns and stables. We still have time—let me think."
