Xu Xinnian frowned. "What do you need that for?"
I want to crack the case... Xu Qian said in a low voice, "I want to know exactly what happened in the incident, so I can at least die knowing. Otherwise I won't rest easy."
If he came out and said he wanted to solve the case, Xu Xinnian would probably think his head was broken, so Xu Qian chose different words.
After all, the original Xu Qian had been a stubborn and headstrong man by nature.
Xu Xinnian thought for a moment, then said, "I've read the case files. I can tell you..."
In the past few days, he'd been running himself ragged for the Xu family, but the case was too big, and no one dared offer help. With no one to turn to, Xu Xinnian had changed tack, trying to open a new path by recovering the lost tax silver.
Relying on the Xu family's old connections, the academy's relationships, and a liberal greasing of silver, Xu Xinnian had bribed the clerks of the Jingzhao Prefecture to copy out the case files for him.
But he had zero experience in judging criminal cases or investigating, and had to give it up.
Xu Qian raised his hand to stop him. "Go write it down. Spoken words are useless."
Every detail of the case lived in the written word. It needed deliberation, chewing over, and if he split his attention to listen, then his mind couldn't think and analyze calmly.
Xu Qian's logical reasoning had always left all rivals in the dust in his past life — he was the standout of his generation.
In the old days, Xu Xinnian wouldn't have bothered with him. But now, mindful that this parting between the two cousins might be their last, he agreed to the final request of his elder brother and said in a low voice, "Wait a moment."
And hurried off.
Once the sound of footsteps faded down the corridor, Xu Qian sat down with his back against the bars, his heart churning with unease.
He was far from sure he could turn this around. Wanting to crack the case was a hope, and not being willing to give up was real, too.
This was the only means of self-rescue he could think of. He had to try, to fight even while dying.
In modern criminal investigation, crime scene examination, surveillance, and autopsy were three indispensable pillars.
In the case of the missing tax silver, no one had died. Ancient times had no surveillance. And he was stuck in prison. None of the three elements were within his reach.
Fortunately, the case files could, to a degree, reconstruct the crime scene.
Half-digesting the original body's memories, half-forcing himself to clear away every negative emotion, he held fast to the fact that only a calm mind could keep clear thoughts and complete a rigorous line of reasoning.
"Alive or dead, it all comes down to what happens next..." he murmured.
The span of one incense stick slowly passed. Xu Xinnian returned in a hurry and handed him several sheets of xuan paper still wet with ink.
"Time's up. I have to go." Xu Xinnian hesitated. "Take care of yourself."
Xu Qian didn't answer; his gaze was already pulled to the handwriting on the paper.
Written in haste, the characters were in cursive, and if Xu Qian hadn't studied at a village school for a few years, he'd never have been able to make heads or tails of these scribbles.
"Reading really pays off. If the original owner had been illiterate... then it'd be curtains, the end." Xu Qian mocked himself.
This is how the case of the missing tax silver unfolded:
[Three days ago, at the fifth double-hour of the early morning (6:30 am), Xu Pingzhi escorted a batch of tax silver into the capital. At the start of the first morning double-hour, he reached Guangnan Street. Just as they crossed the bridge, a strange wind suddenly rose, the horses were startled and bolted into the river by the street.
A moment later, a deafening explosion rang out, and the river water blasted six zhang into the air, churning waves reaching the sky.
The soldiers responsible for escorting the silver dove into the river to find the bullion, and recovered only one thousand two hundred fifteen taels. The rest of the silver had vanished without a trace...]
Besides the account of the incident, there were also testimonies gathered by the Jingzhao Prefecture from passersby, and statements from the soldiers who'd taken part in the escort.
Among the string of testimonies, Xu Qian noticed one sentence that had been circled in cinnabar red ink: The work of evil spirits!
"The work of evil spirits?!" Xu Qian's pupils shrank, and his heart plummeted to the bottom of a valley.
...
Jingzhao Prefecture, the rear hall.
After three straight days of running around, the three principal officials in charge of the missing tax silver case had gathered in full.
The Prefect of the Jingzhao Prefecture, Chen Hanguang, held a white porcelain cup painted with blue flowers, its lid lightly tapping against the rim, his expression grave.
This fourth-rank official, who wore a crimson robe embroidered with cloud geese, sighed lightly. "There are two days left. His Majesty ordered that we recover the tax silver before Xu Pingzhi is beheaded. Gentlemen, we must hurry."
The two he mentioned were, first, a middle-aged man in a black uniform and dark cloak, with a high-bridged nose, slightly sunken eyes, and light brown pupils.
He had some southern barbarian blood in him.
The other was a young woman with an oval face, in a yellow skirt, her brows and eyes like a painting, her skin as smooth as congealed fat, her gaze sparkling with charm as she glanced about.
In one hand she held a stalk of sugarcane. At her waist hung a deerskin pouch and a bagua feng shui compass. Beneath her skirt hem were a pair of small boots embroidered with cloud motifs.
Swaying gently with each step.
These two had been called in to assist. The middle-aged man was named Li Yuchun, and he came from an organization the officials of Great Feng dreaded above all: the Night Watchers.
The Night Watchers organization was engaged in investigations, arrests, and interrogations. It also took part in gathering military intelligence and turning enemy generals.
It belonged to neither the Six Ministries nor the military system.
It was the imperial family's intelligence organization — and it was the guillotine hung over the heads of every official.
Every official of Great Feng had heard the saying: act without shame in the day, and you need not fear the Night Watchers at night.
As for the young woman in the yellow skirt, she was a member of the Observatory of Spiritual Astronomy, and a person of no small standing — a disciple of the Observatory's director.
The middle-aged man, on whose chest was embroidered a silver gong, glanced at the pile of sugarcane peelings the girl had dropped at his feet, frowned, and spun his palm — air currents whirled and gathered the peelings into one pile.
The middle-aged man nodded slightly, a flash of satisfaction crossing his face.
Only then did he reply to Prefect Chen with a heavy expression: "This case is shrouded in mist and is deeply strange. Perhaps our direction is wrong."
"How can you say that, Lord Li?" Prefect Chen frowned. Once the case had been dissected, it was basically confirmed that evil spirits were behind this — they'd stolen the tax silver.
"We're running out of time. What we should be doing now is swiftly seizing those rampaging spirits, not brooding over this noise and nonsense." Prefect Chen said.
In recent years the Treasury had been empty, and disasters and famines stalked the provinces. A hundred and fifty thousand taels of tax silver equaled the annual taxes of an ordinary county.
The Emperor's rage was therefore understandable.
I'm already broke, damn it, and you pick this moment to drop the ball and screw me over. Furious, I am.
Prefect Chen had taken on this case with dutiful dedication, and the burden on his shoulders had left him sleepless and without appetite lately.
The middle-aged man shook his head, offering no argument. He turned instead to another topic: "Any new findings on Xu Pingzhi's side?"
Prefect Chen shook his head. "He's just a martial man, can only keep shouting the word 'innocent.' He doesn't even know how the tax silver went missing."
The girl in the yellow skirt said flatly, "I examined his 'qi.' He isn't lying."
Li Yuchun and Prefect Chen nodded, and didn't continue discussing the man.
As a suspect, Xu Pingzhi was the first to be investigated and interrogated. His personal connections and finances were all dug through. In combination with the Observatory's qi-reading technique, suspicion had currently been ruled out.
Of course, the silver was lost, Xu Pingzhi had neglected his duty, and death was unavoidable.
The middle-aged man and Prefect Chen wore serious expressions, their hearts heavy.
Only the girl in the yellow skirt, whose burden was lightest, nibbled on her sugarcane without a care in the world.
Just then, footsteps approached. A yamen runner hurried in, a small bamboo tube clutched in his right hand, a greased-paper sack steaming with fresh pork buns dangling from his left.
The runner offered the bamboo tube first.
The girl in the yellow skirt didn't take it. Her bright eyes, like stars, fixed on the pork buns.
The runner, catching on, changed the order. The girl happily bit into a pork bun, then took the bamboo tube, drew out a strip of paper, and unfolded it to read:
"My people say that for twenty li along the route, no demonic aura was detected in the river, and no traces on the banks either."
"Thwack!"
The strained silence finally exploded. Prefect Chen slammed the table in fury, his face livid: "One hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver — where can it have gone? It must come ashore, it must come ashore! Three days now, and we haven't even found a trace of the enemy."
"Damned fiends, what demon dares intercept Great Feng's tax silver! This official will see it destroyed, body and soul!"
If the silver couldn't be recovered, he'd take the blame. The Emperor didn't care about his grievances. He'd taken this seat; he had to shoulder the blame.
That was officialdom — crawling up through blood and sweat takes years, but falling down is all too easy.
The middle-aged man, Li Yuchun, let out a breath and picked up the earlier thread: "What if our investigation is pointed the wrong way, and it wasn't the work of evil spirits after all?"
Prefect Chen looked at him, drew a deep breath, and suppressed the anger in his heart. "If it's not spirits, then where did that demonic wind come from? How did the silver vanish into the river and disappear without a trace? How did it blast waters several zhang into the air and crack the banks on both sides apart?"