Household Raid

Seeing Xu Suwen's face flushed with embarrassment, Qian Bochou hurriedly changed the subject and took the opportunity to look into the dungeon. "Brother Jiang, where are my men?"

"Over there." Jiang Yun pointed to the pile of charred remains on the ground.

"Huh? I don't see them."

Following the direction Jiang Yun pointed, he couldn't see his men. Then Qian Bochou's smile slowly stiffened as his eyes fixed on the charred remains.

"They... they..."

Jiang Yun sighed helplessly. "By the time we arrived, they were all dead..."

Then Jiang Yun briefly recounted what had happened. After hearing him out, Qian Bochou stayed silent for a long time, his fists clenched and teeth gritted.

At last, he let out a breath and said, "To lose only this many people after running into a demon is already lucky."

"I heard that two months ago, demons ran amok in Qingyun Commandery. Dozens of constables were sent to help hunt them down, and every last one of them died."

"We've only lost seven..."

Bang.

Qian Bochou suddenly slammed his fist into the wall. A crack appeared in it, and blood seeped from his fist, where the scabs had just formed.

But Qian Bochou seemed not to feel any pain.

Jiang Yun first escorted Xu Suwen back to the inn where she was staying to rest, then headed straight for the Xia residence.

The Xia residence stood in the most prosperous part of Nanzhou Prefecture. It had originally belonged to a wealthy merchant. More than ten years ago, when Xia Lingxian first arrived in Nanzhou Prefecture to serve as Prefect, he passed by and remarked that the residence seemed to have excellent feng shui.

The merchant then sold it to him for the low price of a hundred taels of silver.

Though he no longer held an official post, Xia Lingxian's former status still carried weight. Several strapping men stood guard at the entrance of the Nanzhou Prefectural Office.

Ordinary people who so much as glanced at the Xia residence as they passed were met with abuse from these men.

Now, more than a hundred constables had gathered outside the Xia residence.

More than fifty of them surrounded the residence on all sides to keep anyone from escaping.

Another forty or so waited at the main gate.

Qian Bochou gripped his steel saber, his expression grim.

"Chief, this is Lord Xia's residence. What's going on?"

"Chief, we're not going to arrest Lord Xia, are we?"

Qian Bochou glared at them and snapped, "Shut up. What do you mean, 'Lord' this and 'Lord' that?"

"He doesn't hold office anymore. He's just a rich old man. We're proper constables of the yamen. He ought to be calling us 'Lord'!"

Seeing how fired up Qian Bochou was, the constables didn't dare try to dissuade him. After all, Qian Bochou had an arrest warrant for Xia Lingxian.

What they were doing was legal.

Oddly, Qian Bochou still didn't order them inside.

He seemed to be waiting for someone.

At last, Jiang Yun came running down the distant street in his scholar's robe. When he reached Qian Bochou, he was panting heavily.

"Lord Xu has everything arranged, right?" Qian Bochou asked.

"Yes." Jiang Yun panted for a while before finally looking up at the Xia residence.

Remembering what had happened to those seven constables, Qian Bochou still felt a little uneasy. Before going in, he quietly warned, "Brother Jiang, make sure you protect me in there."

Then he shouted, "Move in!"

The strapping men at the gate usually swaggered around, but faced with a crowd of fierce-looking constables, they didn't dare throw their weight around.

When they saw the constables about to force their way in, one of them hurried over to Qian Bochou and said, "Constable, this is Lord Xia's residence. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Qian Bochou slapped the man to the ground. "Arrest him. Don't let a single one get away."

Pinned to the ground, the man yelled, "Qian Bochou, don't think you're so important just because you're a constable! Lord Xia only has to say the word, and you'll be thrown out of the yamen!"

Many onlookers lined both sides of the street, watching the scene in confusion.

Qian Bochou held up the arrest warrant and shouted, "Xia Lingxian is suspected of colluding with Demons and Monsters. By order, he is to be taken to the yamen for questioning!"

"Hahahaha! You think a petty charge like that is enough to—" The man on the ground burst into laughter, but when he heard the charge clearly, he hurriedly cried, "Master Qian! Master Qian! I'm just a gatekeeper. I don't know anything!"

More than forty constables charged into the residence like wolves and tigers. Everyone inside, young and old, male and female, was tied up.

Gold, silver, and jewelry were all carried to the front courtyard and gathered there.

Box after box of treasure and group after group of beauties were brought to the front courtyard.

At a glance, there must have been thirty or forty servants.

As for the beautiful women brought in groups, there were seventy or eighty.

Among them, more than a dozen women were pregnant, their faces ashen.

"Whew."

"That old lecher's still got plenty of vigor in him."

Looking at the scene before him, Qian Bochou thought of his own primary wife and seven concubines, who already kept him more than busy.

He hadn't expected this fellow to be so vigorous.

There were more than fifty boxes of gold, silver, and jewelry. As the constables carried them down the steps, one nearly stumbled, and Qian Bochou hurried over to steady him. "Careful."

Then he heard something clatter.

Several silver coins had fallen from the constable.

"Chief..." The constable looked embarrassed. Qian Bochou picked up the coins and stuffed them into his pocket. "It's perfectly reasonable to carry a little silver for breakfast when you're out on duty."

Thump. As one constable set down a box, a string of pearls fell from another's clothes.

"Old Chen, why'd you bring your wife's bracelet along?"

"Old Liu, I told you last time, don't carry around that gold ingot your great-grandfather left you. It's too flashy..."

As this group of constables walked along, gold, silver, and jewelry spilled all over the road behind them.

Mostly, they'd packed too much already, but still kept trying to stuff more in.

Qian Bochou turned a blind eye.

Beside him, Jiang Yun couldn't help opening one of the boxes. It contained either gold, silver, and jewelry or valuable paintings and calligraphy.

Just how much money had this guy amassed?

Qian Bochou came over too and cursed through gritted teeth, "This bastard's got no shame. No wonder he turned down the five hundred taels I offered him."

A constable beside him helpfully suggested, "Chief, why don't you grab a handful and stuff it in your own clothes too?"

Usually, Qian Bochou was the most eager to pocket things during a search, but today he was standing still and not grabbing any money.

If Constable Qian didn't take any, they didn't feel safe doing it either.

Qian Bochou glared at the constable, thinking, Do you think I'm like the rest of you?

After a pause, he shouted to the constables, "These are all evidence. Take a box to my house later, so I can look into it properly."

"Yes, sir."

"Send four boxes to the Prefect too. Everyone knows the Prefect solves cases like a god. With his help, our investigation will be like a tiger with wings."

"Vice Prefect knows a thing or two as well. Three boxes."

"Take two boxes to Lord Vice-Prefect."

"Good. Everyone did well today. We've uncovered these forty boxes of evidence."

Just then, a constable came hurrying over and said urgently, "Chief, we've found him. He's in the cellar."

"The cellar?" Constable Qian's eyes lit up as he looked at Jiang Yun.

After seeing the horrors in the dungeon, he was starting to develop a bit of a phobia about places like this.

"Let's go." Jiang Yun had stayed quiet beside him. Now that they'd finally found Xia Lingxian, the two hurried after the constable to a cellar entrance.

The cellar entrance was quite wide. The constable led the way with a torch, and the two followed him down.

The cellar was dimly lit, and there was a broken door that had already been smashed open.

Xia Lingxian must have been hiding inside before the constables found him and smashed it open.

In the dim cellar, five constables stood with their sabers pressed against Xia Lingxian's neck.

Xia Lingxian's hair was somewhat disheveled. He sat on the floor, but didn't seem flustered. Steward Hu beside him, on the other hand, was trembling slightly.

Jiang Yun furrowed his brows. He'd heard a baby crying.

The spacious cellar was filled with rows of little baby beds, dozens of them in all.

"There are five or six more children inside, staying in there."

Why were there children in the cellar?

"This is a frame-up! I'll go to the capital and appeal!" Xia Lingxian said calmly. "The Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is an old classmate of mine. He won't stand by and do nothing."

"The Minister of Rites was once my student..."

"..."

He listed one connection after another, leaving Qian Bochou rattled and troubled.

He instinctively looked to Jiang Yun for help, his eyes seeming to ask, What should we do?

Jiang Yun leaned close and whispered a single sentence that jolted him awake.

"If he doesn't die, I'm afraid none of us will get out of this alive."