Drawn In

Feng Yanwu sat upright on a brocade cushion, slowly sipping tea, his face relaxed and content.

After resting for about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Feng Yanwu rose, straightened his clothes, and prepared to continue the journey.

While waiting for the carriage, he suddenly turned toward its rear, his gaze falling on Chen Ye, who was busy at work.

Chen Ye was crouched beside the carriage shaft, carefully checking the axle and joints. Sensing the gaze, he looked up.

"Young man, what's your name?" Feng Yanwu asked.

Chen Ye stood and cupped his fists in salute. "My surname is Chen, sir."

Feng Yanwu nodded. "It's a long journey. Thanks for your hard work. When we reach Luoyang, I'll have the accountant pay you an extra sum on top of your original reward."

Hearing this, Zuo Dongxi hurriedly cupped his fists and thanked him on Chen Ye's behalf.

Feng Yanwu said nothing more and climbed into the carriage.

Before the curtain fell, he waved to the guards, indicating they could rest a little longer before setting off.

Chen Ye looked toward Feng Yanwu's carriage, a flicker passing through his eyes.

He had worked as a servant for the Gao Family and seen plenty of sons of Aristocratic Clans who treated servants as less than human.

A man like Feng Yanwu was rare. He had something of a gentleman's bearing.

But though their master had said they could keep resting, no one in the convoy truly dared slack off.

After a short wait, the carriages set out again.

Halfway through the journey, a violent, muffled thud suddenly came from Feng Yanwu's carriage, as if someone inside were struggling and rolling about.

Then came the sharp sound of porcelain shattering.

The noise stopped abruptly.

Sensing something was wrong, his personal guard hurried to the curtain and called softly, "Young master?"

No one answered.

The guard's expression changed drastically. He yanked the curtain aside.

Inside, a teacup lay overturned, tea splashed everywhere. The carriage was a mess.

Feng Yanwu lay slumped inside, his jaw clenched, his body arched backward like a bow.

The guard turned deathly pale and rushed forward to turn him over and examine him.

Feng Yanwu's face was blue-purple. He was no longer breathing.

The guard hurriedly called for help. "Quick! Send word back to the residence! Seal off the scene. No one leaves!"

The convoy lurched to a halt.

Other guards nearby glimpsed the carriage interior and surged forward in an uproar, throwing everything into chaos.

Seeing the crowd gathering at the front of the convoy, Chen Ye jumped down and ran over.

He stood outside the carriage and peered in through the crowd.

There were no signs of a fight inside. Feng Yanwu lay with his head and feet curled tightly toward each other, like the mechanism used to stretch threads on a loom.

It was a gruesome way to die.

Chen Ye recognized at once that Feng Yanwu had been poisoned. In medicine, that posture was called "opisthotonus."

Only a potent poison could produce such a sight.

Chen Ye looked around and found the Feng Family guards had sealed off the scene like an iron barrel.

Feng Yanwu's carriage stood inside the cordon. No one could approach it.

From the talk around him, Chen Ye learned that the Feng Family's private soldiers were on their way.

He had a bad feeling about this.

Once the Feng Family's men arrived, the fate of an insignificant man like him, with no one to back him, was easy to imagine in a place where lives were worth less than grass.

He could not sit still and wait for death. He had to seize some initiative.

The carriage was the scene of the crime and his only opening. He needed to look inside before he could judge where he stood.

But he was merely a carriage escort from the transport agency, with no connection to the Feng Family. He would never be allowed near it.

Chen Ye pondered for a moment. Then an idea flashed through his mind.

He walked straight through the crowd to a Feng Family guard standing watch and said in a businesslike tone, "These carriages were hired from Shuntong Transport Agency. I'm one of its escorts, and our rule is, 'Where the man goes, the carriage goes.' Now that the third young master has met with an accident, I need to inspect the carriage first and confirm it wasn't at fault."

He paused, choosing his words before speaking more plainly. "If there's nothing wrong with the carriage, then someone caused this. Shuntong Transport Agency can't bear responsibility for that. It needs to be checked."

The guard looked him up and down.

What an oddball. At a time like this, a carriage escort cared about the vehicle instead of trying to defend himself.

Still, the man had a point.

If the carriage was at fault, the responsibility would fall on Shuntong Transport Agency, not him.

He was desperate to clear himself. If this fellow wanted to pin the blame on the agency, he could hardly ask for more.

"Fine. But don't touch anything."

Chen Ye nodded and approached the carriage. He placed both hands on the shaft and leaned in to look inside.

The curtain lifted, letting light into the carriage.

The scene inside came into sharper view.

Feng Yanwu's eyes bulged, blood leaked from the corners of his mouth, and his body was unmistakably arched backward.

There was no doubt he had been poisoned.

Feng Yanwu was a Martial Master who had undergone Mortal Shedding five times. His physical body had reached perfection.

A low-concentration airborne poison could never kill someone at that level so quickly. He must have ingested it.

What was more, the poison was probably designed to counter a martial artist's vital energy and blood.

The higher one's cultivation, the faster one died. That was why he had not even managed to cry out.

Chen Ye's gaze fell instinctively on the purple-clay teapot atop the low table.

Its spout pointed downward, but no tea dripped from it anymore.

He saw nothing unusual.

The teacup on the floor beside Feng Yanwu's hand, however, seemed strange.

A barely perceptible glimmer showed along the inside edge of its rim.

As the light at the doorway shifted, that glimmer became more distinct.

Instinct told him this was almost certainly what had been used to administer the poison.

Chen Ye kept his expression unchanged, withdrew his gaze, and jumped down from the carriage shaft. "The carriage is intact. There are no signs of outside force."

He spoke neither loudly nor softly, just enough for everyone nearby to hear.

He looked every bit an escort deeply concerned with his agency's reputation.

The Feng Family guard snorted beside him and muttered, "This carriage escort cares more than the magistrate's office."

He waved impatiently and drove Chen Ye away.

Chen Ye retreated into the crowd and went to Zuo Dongxi's side.

Zuo Dongxi's face was white as paper. In more than ten years with the Patrol Horse Gang, he had seen dead men before, but never one of such standing on his watch.

A son of an Aristocratic Clan who had undergone Mortal Shedding five times had been poisoned in his own carriage. This job had likely been a trap from start to finish.

He reckoned the odds were against him. Escaping would be difficult.

When Chen Ye came over, he lowered his voice. "Did you see anything?"

"No." Chen Ye glanced at him.

Time ticked by.

After nearly half a day, everyone had grown restless from waiting.

Just as the guards were about to lose control of the crowd, the Feng Family steward arrived with the family's private soldiers and surrounded everyone on the spot.

The steward immediately climbed into the carriage. Seeing that Feng Yanwu had stopped breathing, he turned pale with shock.

"Search the entire convoy for clues."

At the steward's order, the soldiers began rummaging through everything.

The scene erupted into chaos.

The carriage trunks were opened one by one, revealing the little gold fish neatly arranged inside.

"Someone's been in here," a Feng Family soldier called out.

The steward hurried over. Seeing clear signs that the contents had been disturbed, he immediately concluded that someone in the convoy had worked with an accomplice.

He barked, "Seize everyone! Take them back to Capital City and let the family head decide their fate!"