"If Earl Xingyi does not believe me, please look at this book!"
Ling Xuan pulled out a yellowed ledger, a full three fingers thick. As he took it out, confidence filled his expression, like a male lion tossing its mane.
As the youngest True Image grandmaster of both the current dynasty and the previous one, Earl Xingyi was undoubtedly formidable. Yet in criminal investigation, Ling Xuan, as a Purple-Gold Tiqi, had his own pride as well.
Liang Qu accepted the book and flipped through it.
Every page bore a date in its upper left corner, representing a single day. Beside the date were four numbers, while the writing across the page was tiny.
At first, the book recorded each person's name and the event.
After roughly a hundred pages, the number of people steadily increased, the figures after the dates grew larger, and the incidents recorded became increasingly simple—only a few words each. On busier days, a single page could contain two or three hundred people, turning it practically black with ink.
"Zhuo Ga Yangzong was turning prayer wheels on Barkhor Street when a bronze prayer cylinder jammed and screeched sharply. Startled, she crashed into a stone wall."
"While cooking mutton bone soup, the chef Qiang Ba Quzha had boiling broth carrying Sichuan peppercorns splash into his eyes."
"While chasing a runaway sheep, the herder Gesang Meiduo stepped in fresh cow dung..."
There were countless similar incidents, packed densely together.
Often, after skipping six or seven pages and searching carefully, their names would appear again. The same groups of people had been recorded over a long period.
Again and again, in endless cycles.
"Third Prince!"
Liang Qu raised the pages.
Little Mirage Dragon flew over clutching a charcoal pencil and notebook. After browsing several pages, it opened its own little