Clues

"You should have plenty of powerful people in your sect. You ought to be much better than me at handling a child abduction case. Why choose me?"

Gu Lianwei said, "Because our people are too conspicuous. The clues involve the authorities, and everyone in Wuqu Province knows the people from the Qiyun Sect.

"More importantly... there's a traitor in the sect.

"The guards around that child belong to our sect, and the person who drove the child's carriage does, too."

Seeing Lin Xuan remain silent, she continued:

"But you're different. You're a Flag Commander from out of town, and no one knows you.

"No one would think we'd entrust this matter to you.

"Most importantly, you're genuinely suited for it. Your hearing is sharp, and you walk without making a sound."

Lin Xuan was surprised that she had observed him so closely—she had even noticed that he walked without a sound.

Following her line of thought, he asked, "Then aren't you afraid I'm one of them?"

At that, Gu Lianwei showed no trace of nervousness.

She merely lifted her teacup and gently blew across it, sending ripples across the surface.

"I am, but we have to take a chance."

Lin Xuan looked at her without speaking.

Gu Lianwei continued:

"The truth is, from the very beginning, there hasn't been anyone I could trust completely. I don't dare trust everyone in the sect, and I don't dare trust everyone in the government.

"I don't even dare trust the people around me."

Her tone remained calm as she said this.

Yet Lin Xuan heard a hint of suppressed emotion beneath it.

Clearly, the so-called traitor had left the entire Qiyun Sect in a state of panic, seeing danger in every shadow and rustle of leaves.

"So you chose to trust someone you've known for less than half an hour?"

Gu Lianwei shook her head lightly. "No. I chose to trust in self-interest."

Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow.

Gu Lianwei looked at him. "If you're one of them, you have nothing to gain from this.

"The child has already been missing for two days.

"If the person behind this really wanted to silence him, they would have done so already.

"If they wanted to use the child to accomplish something, they would have started acting by now.

"If you get involved at this point, you'll only increase the risk of being exposed.

"So unless you were the mastermind from the start, there's no reason for you to approach me."

She paused.

"Flag Commander Lin, you might be innocent, or you might not. It doesn't matter.

"This matter has already dragged on for two days.

"I have less and less time. If I keep doing nothing, I'm certain to lose.

"But if you help, at least there's a chance to win."

"Fifty taels seems a little too cheap, doesn't it? This isn't a small matter. I could end up risking my life."

Gu Lianwei smiled faintly, as if she had expected Lin Xuan to say this. "It's all right. As long as we find the child, the sect will offer a reward that satisfies you, Flag Commander Lin."

Lin Xuan nodded. "What does the child look like?"

Gu Lianwei answered promptly:

"Eight years old, a boy. He's frail but clever.

"He was last seen near Hundred Flavors Garden on South Street."

As she spoke, Gu Lianwei took a scroll bearing the child's portrait from a drawer.

"This portrait was made last year. He hasn't changed much this year, except that he's a little taller and fatter."

"Hundred Flavors Garden on South Street..." He had never heard of it. He wasn't from around here, after all, so they would need to explain things to him in detail.

Lin Xuan continued, "Was there anything unusual before or after the disappearance?"

Gu Lianwei shook her head. "Nothing obvious. It was as if..."

She paused.

"He vanished into thin air."

"The guards reported that the child was supposed to be resting in the carriage that day, but at one point he said something.

"He said, 'That woman is so strange. Why does she keep saying the same thing?'"

Lin Xuan's eyes narrowed slightly. "What kind of woman?"

Gu Lianwei said softly, "The guards didn't think anything of it at the time, and afterward they couldn't remember what she looked like. They couldn't describe her even after all kinds of torture. We don't know what she looked like, either."

Lin Xuan slowly set down his teacup. "Looking for the child?"

Gu Lianwei looked at him. "I don't know. Have you seen her?"

The air seemed to grow still. Lin Xuan didn't answer right away.

The image of that madwoman surfaced in his mind. She had said several things to him, all in the same tone, with the same phrasing.

His scalp prickled, and goose bumps rose across his skin.

"Could the child's disappearance... have something to do with her?"

He had thought she was a victim in need of protection. He hadn't expected that she might be the one who had taken the child.

"Yesterday afternoon, I saw a madwoman. It seemed her child had been abducted, too. She kept muttering the same sentence.

"'Mister, have you seen my son? His name is Fu Bao. He's about so tall, with fair skin. He likes to smile, and he wears a Peachwood Peace Talisman around his neck.'"

Thanks to his Eidetic Memory, remembering what other people said was easy. At that moment, Lin Xuan recalled every word without missing a single one—not even the slightest change in her tone.

Gu Lianwei's eyes widened slightly, and her breathing quickened.

"What else do you know? Where did she go?"

Lin Xuan continued, "Every time she spoke, she said exactly the same thing, not a single word different.

"I came from the north of Wuqu Province and entered through the North City Gate."

Gu Lianwei pressed him for an answer, though her voice was quiet. "Then did that madwoman leave the city through the North City Gate?"

Lin Xuan shook his head. "I don't know. At the time, I saw some evil beggars blocking the street and mocking her, so I taught them a lesson. After that, I went to the inn."

After hearing him out, Gu Lianwei fell silent for a moment.

She didn't ask where the madwoman had gone again. Instead, she slowly raised her eyes, as if she were putting the sequence of events back together.

"The North City Gate..."

She repeated it softly.

Watching her, Lin Xuan suddenly realized that her earlier urgency wasn't just anxiety. It was the instinctive reaction of someone being led around by the nose.

Gu Lianwei rose and walked to the window. The wind outside was faint, and the red paper lanterns in the courtyard swayed gently.

"If that madwoman you saw really kept repeating the same sentence, then she couldn't have been a wandering lunatic."

At that moment, their views coincided.

Lin Xuan voiced his guess. "Could she have been a decoy, luring you into notifying the authorities and sending people to the North City Gate, while they took the child out through a real, hidden passage?

"Then, by the time you realized you'd been tricked at the North City Gate, they would already be long gone?"

Gu Lianwei didn't answer. She was thinking.

It would be difficult to get a living child out of the city now. The child was old enough to call for help, cry, make a scene, and recognize people.

If the other party had used a real distraction, intending to draw her and the authorities to the North City Gate before taking the child out through another gate...

Then the child might still be alive. In the worst case, he was probably unconscious for some reason.

"Thousand-Household Commander Su, where is Lin Xuan, the Flag Commander of the Liangcheng Thousand-Household Office?" one of Commander Sun's men asked Thousand-Household Commander Su.