A confrontation

With that thought, Deng Qing left Celebration Hall, made a circuit of the County Yamen, and only then returned to his little courtyard.

He inspected it carefully. The lock on the courtyard gate was intact, and the blade of grass wedged in the gap between the doors remained where he had left it.

Deng Qing did not relax. With Zhang Bo's abilities, scaling the wall into the courtyard would have been easier than walking through his own front door.

He unlocked the gate and entered, first sweeping his gaze around. Everything was exactly as it had been when he left.

Deng Qing then went straight to the East Wall Corner, where he had previously hidden the Black Jade.

After taking the Black Jade away, he had filled in the hole and covered it with broken tiles again.

He crouched and studied the spot. The broken tiles seemed not to have moved either.

Deng Qing lifted the topmost tile, then carefully brushed aside the loose soil beneath it.

After just two strokes, his expression changed. Some dried excrement had become mixed into the loose soil.

Last night, after taking away the oil-paper bundle containing the Black Jade and Blood-Burning Pill, Deng Qing had deliberately fetched some excrement from behind the house, put it in the mouth of the hole, and only then restored the spot.

Disgusting though it was, this method was more reliable than arranging stones or inserting blades of grass.

Once disturbed, the stuff would immediately mix with the surrounding loose soil.

No matter what anyone did afterward, they could never restore it to its original state.

Now the excrement beneath the hole was scattered, leaving unmistakable signs of digging.

Just then, a creak sounded behind Deng Qing. The tightly shut wooden door of the Main Hall opened.

Deng