Chapter 116
A dark, windy night: the hour for murder and arson.
Xie Chengze and Wuji slipped silently into the county yamen.
“We’ll get rough with them right away.” A wicked little smile appeared on Xie Chengze’s vividly beautiful face.
He pulled a long, triangular black facecloth from inside the front of his robe and deftly tied it over Wuji’s face, leaving only his slender, upturned eyes visible. Exposing his entire delicate face would hardly make him look like a vicious bandit.
Wuji nodded, then climbed through the window and stood before the Black Tiger City County Magistrate’s bed.
With a swish, his long saber came out of its sheath, gleaming coldly in the moonlight. Wuji held it beside the magistrate’s neck, then kicked the magistrate awake.
Seeing the blade at their neck, the magistrate nearly wet themselves and instinctively tried to call for help.
“Silence, or die.” The saber pressed against the magistrate’s neck, frightening them out of calling anyone. Instead, the magistrate begged frantically, “Good sir! Great hero! This official can give you anything you want! Please, please don’t kill me!”
“That depends on how you behave.” Wuji’s usually smiling, upturned eyes were now icy with utter bloodlust. He patted the magistrate’s terrified face with the blade, planted a foot on the bed, and said casually, “I’ll ask you a few questions. Answer truthfully.”
“Yes, yes, yes! Please ask, great hero!” the magistrate answered, quick to read the situation.
“Why have you gone to Black Tiger Mountain so many times instead of suppressing bandits on the other mountains?”
“Well…” the magistrate hesitated. “Because Black Tiger Stronghold is so difficult to find, this official devoted a little more attention to it.”
Wuji suddenly gave a cold laugh. “It seems you want to die.”
The saber drew closer to the magistrate’s throat.
“No, no, no! Don’t kill me, great hero!” Seeing Wuji meant business, the magistrate could only tell the truth, large beads of cold sweat forming on their skin. “Because this official heard there was a tiger on Black Tiger Mountain and wanted to claim it, I kept going up to find it!”
Wuji snorted. The saber slid against the flesh of the magistrate’s neck, its sharp edge drawing blood. “You think I believe that?”
The magistrate instantly squeezed their eyes shut and began trembling from head to foot. “Great hero! I’m not lying! I really only wanted to claim that tiger, but after searching several times, I still couldn’t find its den!”
“With courage like yours, you want to claim a tiger?” Wuji sneered, easing the saber away a little. “Is there a Black Tiger Stronghold on Black Tiger Mountain or not?”
“No! Absolutely not! There’s a tiger on Black Tiger Mountain. Who with a death wish would dare steal its territory?!”
“Then what is this about Black Tiger Stronghold’s chief riding a white tiger?”
“That’s all rumor! This official has searched Black Tiger Mountain so many times. There is no Black Tiger Stronghold, much less a chief riding a tiger!” The magistrate smiled bitterly. “Great hero, what exactly are you trying to do with these questions? Do you have a grudge against Black Tiger Stronghold?”
“None of your business.”
Wuji drove the saber hard into the pillow, frightening the magistrate into immediate silence, no longer daring to say another unnecessary word.
Then a calm voice sounded outside the window, asking with apparent amusement, “Rumor? Could the rumor of this tiger-riding chief have come from your own mouth?”
Wuji turned to look at the magistrate.
The magistrate guiltily averted their gaze: …
Wuji laughed. “To claim the tiger for yourself, you spread a rumor that Black Tiger Stronghold’s chief rode it, so others wouldn’t dare go up the mountain looking for the animal. What fine methods you have, Magistrate.”
“Not at all, not at all. I was also trying to prevent people from going up and getting hurt by the tiger, wasn’t I?” the magistrate said with a dry laugh.
“All right, Shen Yuan. We’ve asked everything we needed to.” Outside the window, Xie Chengze curved his lips in a wicked smile. “Let’s go.”
Wuji raised his brows, knocked the magistrate unconscious with the back of his saber as their eyes widened, then climbed out through the window. Pulling off the facecloth, he smiled with sparkling eyes. “Your Highness is so naughty~”
He had shifted the blame onto Shen Yuan again.
“Not at all, not at all. Just the basics~” Xie Chengze brushed aside the wisps of hair on his forehead, then grew serious. “I think I have a rough idea now.”
Back at the inn, Xie Chengze put the information together and concluded, “Shen Yuan probably hasn’t disappeared. He entered Black Tiger Stronghold to rescue people.”
“Doesn’t Black Tiger Stronghold not exist?” Wuji asked in confusion.
Xie Chengze smiled. “Black Tiger Stronghold doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t mean these bandits don’t. Perhaps their stronghold has another name. Or, put another way, they have two identities.”
Understanding dawned on Wuji. “You mean their stronghold isn’t on Black Tiger Mountain, but on another mountain!”
Xie Chengze nodded approvingly. “Very clever.”
“Then whom is he rescuing?” Xie Zimiao asked in confusion. “The people transporting the government grain?”
“Perhaps, perhaps not.” Xie Chengze tapped the table. “Wuji, when we sneaked into the magistrate’s residence, did you notice how cold it was inside?”
Wuji nodded. “Yes. They were only burning firewood.”
“When the capital’s craftsmen arrive in a county town, they would surely first install heated beds for the Prefect and County Magistrate, then teach the local craftsmen the technique along the way. Yet there was no sign of a heated brick bed in the magistrate’s home…”
Xie Chengze analyzed it. “And the people only know that firewood has been selling well recently. They don’t know what a heated brick bed is. Shen Yuan couldn’t have been so careless as to forget to assign craftsmen to Black Tiger City. That can only mean either there weren’t enough craftsmen to assign, or something happened to the ones sent here.”
He took a heavy breath. “Perhaps not only the craftsmen for Black Tiger City.”
With bitter winter upon them, the greedy mountain bandits had probably set their sights not only on grain and winter clothing, but also on heated brick beds.
Bandits were better at enjoying themselves than ordinary people.
Whether that was the truth would become clear tomorrow.
…
At noon, a carriage traveled at the head of a convoy, with two carts laden with goods behind it. A slender male servant sat at the front of the carriage, wielding the whip as he drove and calling, “Master, Madam, it’s still a long way to the next county town. Should we rest?”
Intermittent soft coughs came from within the carriage, tugging at one’s heart like a kitten’s sneezes. Then a middle-aged man’s voice sounded. “Mm. Stop and rest. My wife is tired too.”
As the carriage stopped, a middle-aged man brushed the curtain aside and got down, standing beside the road to admire the snowy mountains. The young driver began setting up a stove to cook porridge and chatted with him. “Master, I hear craftsmen in Liaozhou are earning a great deal lately. Weren’t you a craftsman in your youth too? Don’t you plan to start another business?”
“Mm, that is precisely what I intend.” The middle-aged man stroked his beard and said proudly, “Not to boast, but back when I was in Chang’an, I was a renowned genius of a craftsman. Of the craftsmen making names for themselves in the capital now, which wasn’t once a brother or friend of mine? If I hadn’t fallen for my wife, I wouldn’t have moved here to do business and married into her family to bring good fortune to an ailing household!”
“Fortunately, I’m good at business too. And I outlived my father-in-law. Now this great family fortune is all in my hands!”
The middle-aged man planted his hands on his hips, his coat open, and was laughing proudly when a sharp arrow gleaming coldly suddenly pierced the chill air with a ringing sound and buried itself firmly beside his feet!