Chapter 126

Chapter 126

The inn’s common room was dimly lit, the lamplight cold and faint.

Ren Fengjue sat in the center of the room, with Yu Lang standing to his left and Yan Zhengchu to his right.

In front of him, Axia had seized the worker and pinned a knee against the back of the man’s calf, forcing him down onto his knees.

Xia Ximo stood a little distance away, watching coldly from the side.

“What is your name? Where are you from?”

Though the worker had been forced to kneel, he remained stubbornly silent in the face of the questioning from above.

Axia grabbed him by the back of his collar. “My lord asked you a question. Answer him.”

The worker lifted his face, his eyes full of contempt. “What lord? Just another shameless lot of officials shielding one another.”

At that, Axia was about to slap him, but Ren Fengjue stopped him.

“What do you mean by ‘officials shielding one another’?”

The worker gave him a cold sideways glance. “Don’t you know perfectly well? Must you put on this hypocritical act here?”

Yu Lang could not help stepping forward and saying loudly, “The man seated before you is Lord Ren, the Vice Minister of Justice. You’re nothing but a petty inn worker, so don’t fail to recognize someone far above you. When you’re asked a question, answer properly!”

At the words “Vice Minister of Justice,” a flicker of surprise crossed the worker’s face.

In truth, from the moment these people had entered, he had sensed that they possessed an air unlike ordinary travelers.

The man leading them in particular had an extraordinary bearing from head to toe; one could tell at a glance that he was either wealthy or noble.

He had thought perhaps this was the young master of some prominent household, out traveling the jianghu. He had not expected him to be an official of the imperial court.

And so young, at that?

Ren Fengjue took in the slight change in the worker’s expression, then nodded to Axia beside him.

The worker noticed the person behind him had released his grip. Puzzled, he looked up, only to meet a pair of smiling eyes.

“Stand and speak.”

He rose as told, and Ren Fengjue pointed to the seat opposite him. “Please sit.”

Faced with this sudden courtesy, the worker showed no fear of a trap. He sat down right in front of Ren Fengjue without the slightest hesitation.

Ren Fengjue looked him over from head to toe, then asked again, “You have quite the temper for an inn worker. What is your name?”

This time, the worker answered readily. “Thirteen. No surname.”

Ren Fengjue surmised, “‘Thirteen’ must be a name given to you by the proprietress of this inn, yes?”

The worker paused, then asked in return, “How did you know the owner of this place is a woman?”

“A guess.”

Ren Fengjue slowly stood, as though taking stock of their surroundings. “Judging from the name of this inn alone, the characters qiong or ying were likely taken from the owner’s own name, were they not?”

“This inn may look rundown, but judging by its layout and certain ornaments on the counter, its owner should be an exceptionally meticulous woman.”

“And… it is clear that you are very close to her. The space behind the counter where she often stood is still kept clean and orderly, unlike other places where dust has piled up and you turn a blind eye.”

At that, a trace of astonishment flashed through Thirteen’s eyes. “You have sharp eyes.”

Ren Fengjue smiled faintly and asked, “I only wonder where this proprietress has gone, to abandon the inn entirely.”

“She…”

Thirteen seemed to waver, but only for an instant. Then he returned to his indifferent manner. “I don’t know where she went, either. But I promised I would wait for her here, so I will keep watch over this inn…”

Yu Lang, standing at the side, could not help saying, “You hardly seem like a very dutiful worker. You’ve watched over someone else’s inn until it’s become this eerie, ghostly place. How could there possibly be any business?”

Thirteen gave a faint, cold smile. “The locals may not come, but that doesn’t mean outsiders won’t. ‘The weather is always unpredictable,’ after all. Naturally, there will be business.”
Yu Lang deliberately arched a brow and stressed his words. “Oh! So this is a shady inn that specializes in fleecing outsiders. If we arrest you right now, you won’t have been wronged.”

“Do you have proof?”

Thirteen sounded perfectly justified. “You walked through the door yourselves. I didn’t force you. And he gave me that silver of his own accord. I never opened my mouth to ask for it, did I?”

“You’ve certainly got a sharp tongue!”

Vice Minister Yu choked on his anger.

Ren Fengjue immediately took over the questioning. “Then does your shopkeeper know about the deaths in the inn?”

“No.”

“Something this serious happened, and as the shopkeeper, she doesn’t know and hasn’t shown herself?”

“She went somewhere far away. It’s normal that she wouldn’t know.”

“But just now, you said you didn’t know where she went. Now you’re saying… the place she went is far away?”

Thirteen froze at the question.

Seizing the opening, Ren Fengjue continued, “There must have been more than one murder at this inn, correct? When was the first one?”

Thirteen hesitated before spitting out three words. “Half a year ago.”

Ren Fengjue asked again, “Which room did it happen in? What was the time and place? What was the victim’s identity?”

A trace of impatience flashed between Thirteen’s brows. “It happened so long ago. How would I remember? Besides, all these cases were recorded with the town official, and they would have been reported to the county yamen too. As a high-ranking official from the capital, don’t tell me you know nothing about them.”

Doubt stirred in Ren Fengjue’s heart as well.

He truly did not know.

Yu Lang immediately defended him. “Lord Ren has major cases to handle every day. There are so many cases under heaven. How could he possibly know every single one?”

Thirteen gave a cold snort. “What if many people died one after another? Would that count as a major case?”

“You keep denying it when people say you officials protect one another.”

Ren Fengjue also furrowed his brow. “How many people have died in total?”

Thirteen’s voice turned even colder. “At least twenty-odd, I’d say.”

Those words shocked both Ren Fengjue and Yu Lang.

In the span of half a year, nearly twenty people had died?

Why had they, despite being in the capital, heard nothing at all?

Was someone deliberately concealing it?

Ren Fengjue was just about to continue questioning him when a knock sounded from outside the door.

Unexpectedly, at this hour, there was still a traveler seeking lodging.

Thirteen flicked a glance at him and asked, “Business is here. You officials aren’t going to stop me from doing business too, are you?”

Ren Fengjue gave a nod of permission.

The knocking went from slow to urgent, accompanied by angry curses. “Is anyone in there or not? Damn it, open the door!”

One could tell at a glance that whoever had come was trouble.

Sure enough, the moment Thirteen opened the door, before he could even speak, the person outside shoved him hard.

“Are you dead, you damn waiter? I knocked for ages. Didn’t you hear me?”

Thirteen was already thin and frail. After being shoved heavily to the floor, he was stunned for a long while before slowly getting back to his feet.

Though he looked battered, he was still stubborn. “People have died in this inn…”

“Cut the damn nonsense. This lord wants a room!”

The one who entered was a tall, rough-looking man draped in a dark gray sheepskin coat, with a felt hat on his head.

Although he was alone and checking in late at night, his presence was overpowering.

He strode into the hall, swept his gaze around, and seemed rather surprised to find several people inside. “Wouldn’t have guessed a dump like this had so many guests!”

“All here to shelter from the rain, I suppose?”

“What kind of wretched town is this? The moment I arrived, the rain came down so hard it soaked me through!”

As he spoke, he took off his hat and shouted behind him, “Is the carriage parked yet? Hurry up and get your asses in here!”