Not just him-even Wu Jinliang suddenly realized what was happening and shouted, "Chun, someone's out to get us!"
His loud voice did no good. The lead armored soldier waved a hand, and two others immediately rushed forward to seize Shi Chun.
Shi Chun's face darkened, but he neither resisted nor tried to escape. He knew resistance was useless. These armored soldiers were all at least at the Advanced Martial level; any one of them could defeat him. Resisting inside Zhixu City would only make his fate worse. He could only let them take him into custody and drag him bodily down the steps.
Still, he had to speak in his own defense. He said solemnly, "We don't know this thug, and we've never stolen anything from him. He's framing us. Heavenly soldiers, please discern the truth."
The filthy man clamored, "They must have stolen it! After they bumped into me, the blue jade essence I was carrying disappeared!"
The lead armored soldier waved his hand. "Search them!"
His men immediately searched Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang in full view of the crowd. They found nothing suspicious on either of them, but when they searched the bundle Wu Jinliang carried, a stone as vividly blue as ice crystal tumbled out.
Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang's expressions changed drastically. Both knew it wasn't theirs.
The filthy man immediately shouted, "That's right! That's the piece of blue jade essence! I dug it out while mining. Plenty of people know about it!"
A clamor immediately rose among the onlookers as they pointed and commented. Many jeered and mocked the two for being bold enough to court death.
Those who knew them, however, didn't dare make a sound. They feared Shi Chun might hold a grudge if they laughed too soon. In any case, it was none of their business; they were only watching the spectacle.
Wu Jinliang shouted in desperation, "Chun, someone's framing us!"
There was more anger than anything else in his cry.
His claim that they had been framed did no good. At least before the assembled crowd, both the witness and the physical evidence were plain to see. The lead armored soldier waved and barked, "Take them away!"
Shi Chun turned to look into Wangbo Tower's main hall, searching for the proprietress.
At this point, there was no need to consider any other explanation. He could guess that the forces behind Shen Youkun had made their move. The thing he had feared had finally happened.
He knew the forces behind Shen Youkun had extended their reach into the land of exile. But since they were violating heavenly law and acting with a thief's guilty conscience, he had assumed they wouldn't dare go too far. He had never expected them to openly strike at the two of them inside Zhixu City, without even giving them a chance to leave.
Now that things had reached this point, the only person in the entire land of exile who might be able to help them was the proprietress of Wangbo Tower, whom they knew. Everyone else was an ant, not even qualified to speak with Zhixu City's authorities.
But the crowd packed around the entrance blocked his view. He couldn't see the proprietress anywhere.
Still, he firmly believed that such a commotion, right under her nose, couldn't possibly have escaped her notice.
He immediately shouted toward Wangbo Tower, "Proprietress, we didn't steal anything! We're about to leave-why would we grow extra branches on the tree at a time like this? If we'd stolen something, how would we dare linger here? We'd have left long ago!" Then he turned and shouted to Wu Jinliang, "Quick, beg your mother!"
Wu Jinliang immediately craned his neck and screamed hysterically, "Mother, save me! Mother, we've been wronged! Save us, Mother..."
The guards escorting them clearly hadn't expected this outburst. Surprised and irritated by their racket, they swiftly struck their mute acupoints, silencing them outright, then kicked them several times in front of everyone.
"Mother? Who's that big fellow calling Mother? The proprietress of Wangbo Tower?"
Murmurs rose through the crowd again, and many turned to look at Wangbo Tower.
This was the only way Shi Chun could think of to save them, even after exhausting every possibility.
His judgment remained unchanged: helping the forces behind Shen Youkun stir up trouble here was, after all, a violation of heavenly law. Otherwise, there would have been no need for all their furtive maneuvers, nor for such a roundabout, fabricated excuse to arrest them. Making a bigger commotion might make the hand in the shadows hesitate to strike the rat for fear of breaking the vase.
If that failed, his only option would be to bring out the Purple Glittering Nebula to save himself. Though the future troubles would be endless, if he truly ran out of options, he could only take things one step at a time. Whatever happened, he would never allow himself to fall here.
Unwilling yet helpless, the two were escorted away.
The onlookers gradually dispersed. The young man on the steps by the entrance still had an ink stain at the corner of his mouth, left there when he had held his brush between his lips.
He stared for a while in the direction the two had been taken, then suddenly turned and ran. He raced into the rear hall, up the stairs, and into the second-floor hall, where he immediately found the people he was looking for. Lan Qiaoyan and Old Tan stood at the street-facing window, watching through the lattice as the scene outside gradually returned to normal.
The young man hurried over to them. "Proprietress, Chunchun and the big fellow were arrested by the city guards."
Lan Qiaoyan turned, paying no attention to what he said. Instead, she drew a handkerchief from her sleeve, walked over, and wiped the ink from the corner of his mouth before saying, "I know. Go back to your ledger."
The young man hesitated, wanting to say more. In the end, under the proprietress's smiling gaze, he obediently murmured an acknowledgment and left.
Lan Qiaoyan returned to the window and looked in the direction Shi Chun had been taken. She had been standing here when they were arrested and had seen everything clearly. But she had neither a reason nor the standing to intervene and stop the city guards from making an arrest.
"Did they really steal something?" she murmured to herself.
Old Tan hesitated. "What Shi Chun said actually makes sense. After enduring all this time, they're finally about to leave. Stealing inside Zhixu City at this point, then lingering in the city instead of leaving at once-it really doesn't add up."
Looking out the window, Lan Qiaoyan asked, "The one who had a grudge against Shi Chun was Qi Yueru's son, wasn't he?"
Old Tan said, "Yes. His name was Shen Youkun."
Lan Qiaoyan asked, "Is Qi Yueru still in the city?"
Old Tan replied, "Yes, she hasn't left. Apparently, she's still handling the funeral arrangements for her son and younger brother."
Lan Qiaoyan pondered. "Qi Yueru had barely entered the city when her son and brother died. Now Shi Chun and the big fellow have been arrested just as they were about to leave. If someone really framed them, and dared do it openly inside Zhixu City, then this isn't a simple matter."
Old Tan added, "Ba Yingshan personally led the investigation at the murder scene. I heard several hundred people were buried in a mine tunnel. Apparently, they'd already been poisoned to death before they were buried. Their deaths were very suspicious. They brought back the skeleton of some unknown creature, and now it's coiled up inside the palace city as a display. Du Huoguan is still here, and that 'Jailer' hasn't left either."
Lan Qiaoyan lifted her chin. "Send Du Huoguan a visiting card. It's been a long time since I last paid him a visit."
Old Tan was slightly taken aback. "Proprietress, are you going to intervene? Wangbo Tower has a rule: while we're here, we don't interfere in matters that don't concern us, especially official business on that side."
Lan Qiaoyan smiled faintly. "How does it not concern us? They arrested people outside Wangbo Tower, and all that shouting even dragged me into it. Surely I can ask what exactly happened?"
Since she had put it that way, Old Tan could only let the matter rest. He bowed slightly and left...
From atop a small gate tower in the inner city, Ba Yingshan watched Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang being escorted toward the prison. Only after confirming that nothing unexpected had happened did he slowly turn and resume his patrol along the city wall. As for interrogating the two, he had no intention of taking part, nor did he intend to show himself before those two petty wretches.
Halfway along the wall, a subordinate suddenly darted up and informed him, "Lan Qiaoyan just entered the inner city. She's gone to visit the Prison Inspector."
Ba Yingshan paused, then asked, "What does she want with the Prison Inspector?"
The subordinate said, "I don't know. All I know is that she submitted a visiting card. But I heard one of the men we just arrested might be Lan Qiaoyan's future son-in-law. Could she have come because of that?"
Ba Yingshan was both annoyed and amused. "Bullshit. If Lan Qiaoyan would marry her daughter to trash like that, I'll cut my own head off."
Despite his words, he still felt uneasy. They had just arrested those men, and Lan Qiaoyan had immediately gone to see Du Huoguan. Was there truly no connection? Thinking it over, he still found it impossible. He didn't believe Lan Qiaoyan could really accept such bottom-rung trash as a son-in-law. Besides, Wangbo Tower had never interfered in their official business.
In any case, the deed was already done, and it was too late for regrets. He could only have his subordinates continue monitoring any related developments.
Inside a hall, all was spacious, austere, and quiet.
In the center stood a pool two zhang long and two zhang wide. It held no water, only an arrangement of irregular, uncut gemstones in various colors. To the uninitiated, they looked like a disorderly jumble; those who understood could recognize a star chart at a glance.
Dressed in blue, Du Huoguan paced beside the pool with an imposing air. As he studied its contents, he occasionally took a gemstone from a tall-footed basin nearby and sent it through the air into the pool, gradually completing the star chart.
Outside the main entrance, someone led Lan Qiaoyan to the doorway, gestured for her to enter, and withdrew.
Lan Qiaoyan lifted her skirt and stepped over the threshold. She approached Du Huoguan and bowed. "Lan Qiaoyan pays her respects to the Prison Inspector!"
When he gave no response, she fell in behind him as he paced. After studying the star chart, she clicked her tongue in admiration. "What an extraordinary memory you have, Prison Inspector. Just looking at this thing makes my head ache."
Without so much as looking at her, Du Huoguan waved the gemstone held between his fingers. "Get to the point. Save the flattery for later."
Lan Qiaoyan said, "It's really nothing much. I just wanted to ask you why the city guards came to Wangbo Tower's entrance and arrested those two men."
"Arrested men?" Du Huoguan stopped and turned. "What men?"
He genuinely knew nothing about it, nor could he keep track of every last detail.
Lan Qiaoyan said, "They were accused of being thieves."
Thieves? Du Huoguan looked her up and down. He didn't believe she would make a special visit over some ordinary petty theft. Resuming his pacing, he returned his attention to the star chart and replied indifferently, "I don't have so much time on my hands that I oversee the city guards' lawful maintenance of order in Zhixu City. You should ask Ba Yingshan about this." He raised a hand over his shoulder and flicked it, signaling that she could take her leave.
Having come all this way, Lan Qiaoyan wasn't about to leave so easily. Pretending not to understand his gesture, she kept following him and talking. "It happened just now. Those two happened to be outside Wangbo Tower when someone suddenly showed up with the city guards to arrest them, accusing them of stealing his belongings. Then the guards searched them in public and did indeed find the stolen goods on one of them.
"Normally, this wouldn't be worth mentioning, but the strange thing is that those two have fulfilled their merit requirements. Today, they were supposed to leave the Prison of Life for the outside world. By rights, they wouldn't grow extra branches on the tree at such a critical moment. Stranger still, if they were about to leave, why wouldn't they hurry away after stealing something? Instead, they kept wandering leisurely around the city, as though they weren't afraid of anything going wrong. And of course, when they were arrested, both shouted that they'd been wronged and framed."