Dead End

Everyone had expected this outcome.

But when it truly fell on their own heads, it was still hard to accept.

The moment the steward spoke, someone dropped to his knees, tears and snot streaming down his face. "Steward Feng, it had nothing to do with me! It really had nothing to do with me!"

"Take them away!"

The steward gave them no chance to defend themselves. He simply waved a hand.

The Feng Family's private soldiers were all trained fighters, and the blades at their waists gleamed coldly.

No one dared make a rash move. They could only accept the steward's arrangements in silence.

Chen Ye quietly slowed his steps and edged through the crowd until he came to a stop beside one of Feng Yanwu's personal guards.

It was the guard who had fetched spring water for Feng Yanwu earlier. He stood there dazed, still reeling from the shock.

Without looking at him, Chen Ye murmured as if talking to himself, "There's something wrong with the teacup beside the Third Young Master."

The guard whipped his head around.

"Don't look at me." Chen Ye lowered his voice further. "Someone's clearing things away. Whoever poisoned him is almost certainly from the mansion. Until this is sorted out, no one can take anything away. Otherwise, we'll all die."

The guard opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Chen Ye had brushed past him and rejoined the crowd beside Zuo Dongxi.

The guard froze for a moment, then turned back and resumed his post inside the carriage, keeping everyone away from it.

He had been Feng Yanwu's personal guard. With his master dead, he could hardly escape blame for failing in his duty.

But no one could fault him for standing watch over the body now.

From the crowd, Chen Ye glanced past several guards and saw him slip out of the carriage without drawing attention. He seemed to be holding something.

Chen Ye looked away and made no further move.

He had done what he could.

For the rest, he would have to wait until they returned to Capital City.

The journey back from the outskirts took most of the day.

By the time the convoy reached the city gates, darkness had fallen completely.

The gates were shut tight.

At this hour, unless the Imperial Court had an urgent dispatch that had traveled eight hundred li, no one could get the gates opened.

The party was forced to remain outside the city.

They waited through the bleak night wind until dawn. No one dared flee.

The next morning, the gates had barely opened

when the convoy hurried straight to Feng Mansion.

"Gang Leader Zuo, once we're inside Feng Mansion, what will they do with us?" Chen Ye asked quietly as he came up beside Zuo Dongxi.

Zuo Dongxi looked defeated. "The Feng Family is a century-old Aristocratic Clan. If a scandal like this gets out, the whole Lineage will become a laughingstock. They'll seal off the news and handle it themselves."

Chen Ye frowned.

Given their situation, being locked in the Feng Family's private prison would be the true dead end.

If they were handed over to the Court Commandant, the process might be murky, but there would at least be basic interrogations and a chance of a public hearing. They would still have a thin layer of rules to rely on.

But once they were locked in the Feng Family's private prison, the family could do whatever it pleased. Whoever it wanted dead would die.

Chen Ye asked, "Is there anyone in Feng Mansion who could pass along a message for you?"

Zuo Dongxi studied him. "What are you planning?"

"I've found a few clues. I want to fight for a way out."

Surprise flashed through Zuo Dongxi's eyes. "What way?"

Chen Ye did not answer.

After a moment's silence, Zuo Dongxi lowered his voice. "There is one person. If they put me in the Feng Family's private prison, he might come to see me."

Events unfolded just as Zuo Dongxi had expected.

As soon as the Feng Family received the news, they sealed off the mansion and kept anyone outside from learning what had happened.

The matter concerned the Feng Family's century-old reputation. It could not be allowed to leak.

Chen Ye and the others were escorted into Feng Mansion and taken straight to a side room behind the ancestral hall.

From outside, it looked like an ordinary storage room. Opening the door released a waft of camphor wood and dampness.

Dusty prayer cushions and several trunks with peeling paint were piled in a corner.

The Feng Family men moved the innermost trunk, revealing a heavy iron hatch in the floor.

Two burly men stepped forward and heaved it open with all their strength.

A cold draft rushed up from underground.

Stone steps barely wide enough for one person descended into the dark.

"Get in!"

Everyone was shoved down the steps, one by one.

Once the last person was inside, the iron hatch clanged shut overhead.

The final trace of daylight vanished.

In its place were only the oil lamps scattered across the Dungeon. Their feeble flames flickered, casting wavering pools of murky yellow shadow.

The Feng Family's Dungeon was deeper and wider than Chen Ye had imagined.

It was not a single chamber, but an entire row of cells.

The space was divided into two sections.

The outer area was filled with instruments of torture; the inner area held the cells for prisoners.

A row of iron bars separated the two.

Each cell was only one zhang deep and four chi wide.

Dark brown stains covered the walls and floor. The air was thick with the smell of rot and damp.

Everyone was shoved into separate cells.

Chen Ye and Zuo Dongxi were locked up together.

Once the cell door was locked, the steward left with his men, leaving only one private soldier to stand guard.

Even Zuo Dongxi, who had weathered plenty of storms, sank to the floor as though all the bones had been pulled from his body.

His voice was hoarse as he said to Chen Ye, "The Feng Family isn't trying to find the killer. They're looking for someone to take the blame. You and I will almost certainly be among their scapegoats."

Only now did he fully understand.

Why had the Feng Family chosen someone like him, with ties to a gang, for such a sensitive matter?

Because someone from the Jianghu like him could easily be accused of "murder for money and collusion with outsiders."

It was all but written on the wall.

Even if they were not made to take the blame, the Feng Family could simply lock up two nobodies with no backing until they died, all to contain the affair and keep the news from spreading.

Chen Ye had thought of that too.

His situation was even worse than Zuo Dongxi's.

Even if the Feng Family did nothing but keep him locked up, he would die.

This was a dead end that led only to death.

Chen Ye did not reply. He closed his eyes for a moment in the darkness and continued recalling the details inside the carriage.

There was little time left.

Before the Feng Family made its decision, he had to find someone in the family he could trust—someone who wanted the killer found more than anyone else.

After a moment's thought, he asked, "Did Feng Yanwu have a wife and children?"

Zuo Dongxi paused, unsure why he was asking that now.

"The Third Young Master Feng married years ago. His wife is a daughter of the Zhou Family. They have two sons by marriage; the elder is already five and has begun his studies."

"Good." Chen Ye quietly breathed a sigh of relief. "Find a way to pass a message to the Third Young Master Feng's widow. Tell her I know who the killer is, and I need to meet her."

Zuo Dongxi sprang to his feet and stared at him. He opened his mouth, then abruptly realized that would be unwise and sat back down, his composure nearly gone.

"Who is it?"