The spectator they questioned saw that they had come out of the inner city and looked as though they had taken a beating. Unsure what was going on, he dared not say much and only offered an offhand remark. "They say she stole something in the inner city and was killed by the Prison Master himself."
Another thief? Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang exchanged looks, both feeling a chill creep over them. They had been arrested on charges of theft themselves.
The attention drawn by the cause of the woman's death meant that most people barely noticed the two men emerging from the inner city.
Most people visiting Zhixu City were constantly coming and going. Those who had seen the two men arrested had already left in wave after wave. Few would stay here waiting for them to come out, and those still here had not stayed for their sake.
"Oh, Chief Shi, you're out! Everything all right now?"
Someone asked in surprise, looking deeply concerned.
Shi Chun found the face familiar but could not remember who it belonged to. He shrugged helplessly, then led the equally ragged Wu Jinliang away.
He had spotted Lan Qiaoyan in the crowd.
Lan Qiaoyan, watching the spectacle with several people from Wangbo Tower gathered protectively around her, had also spotted them. She turned and left with her people first, and Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang followed.
Only after the two had left did someone say to a companion, "They actually came out alive. Good thing we didn't gloat to their faces earlier. With those two bastards' temperaments, they'd definitely have come looking for trouble."
His companion said, "Since they're all right now, we probably won't get many chances to see them again. They won't be going back to the Eastern Nine Plains, will they? Once Zhixu City is unsealed, they should be leaving the Land of Exile."
The first man stroked his chin and nodded. "True."
At Wangbo Tower, Lan Qiaoyan's party had barely entered before Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang followed them through the door.
As they crossed the hall, a young man sitting in a corner, distractedly watching over a pile of ledgers, lit up. He sprang to his feet, hurried over, and looked them up and down.
Wu Jinliang chuckled. "Sugar Sand, did you miss us?"
As he spoke, he took off his bundle, thrust a hand inside, and rummaged around before pulling out a five-colored stone with distinct layers and handing it over.
This was an old habit of theirs. Whenever they came to see Miss Miao, they would collect unusual stones to give the young man as gifts.
Their first chance to meet Miss Miao had come only after they had thoroughly "bribed" him.
"Sugar Sand" was a nickname Miss Miao had given the young man because his surname was Sha and he loved sweets. Shi Chun and the others had adopted it too.
The stone's sharply defined layers of color were striking to behold, and the young man held it with obvious delight. Looking them over again, he said, "I'm glad you're all right. I knew you'd be fine once the proprietress went into the inner city."
Shi Chun's eyes flickered at those words. When the tone of his interrogation had suddenly changed earlier, he had sensed something and wondered whether the proprietress had intervened. After all, when they were dragged away, he had pulled Wu Jinliang into howling for their mother like wailing ghosts precisely because he had pinned his hopes on that.
Now his suspicions had all but been confirmed.
"Little Sha." Old Tan's voice reached them.
They looked over and saw Old Tan, who had already entered the rear hall, turn and reappear. He was staring at the young man with a warning in his eyes, clearly reproaching him for speaking out of turn.
For Wangbo Tower, there was an unwritten rule: aside from doing business here, they would not interfere in anything involving the Land of Exile.
The young man seemed to realize he had let something slip and stuck out his tongue, though he did not appear particularly afraid of Old Tan. In any case, he hurried back behind the desk and began flipping through the ledgers.
Shi Chun quickly approached Old Tan. He was just about to ask him to announce their arrival when Old Tan gave a slight nod. "Come."
Shi Chun hastily cupped his hands in thanks. Wu Jinliang hesitated, then steeled himself and followed.
They passed through the rear hall and took the stairs to the second-floor sitting room, where Lan Qiaoyan sat brewing tea. People in the Land of Exile could only envy such elegant leisure.
"Thank you for saving our lives, Proprietress." Shi Chun stepped forward, cupped his hands, and bowed.
Lan Qiaoyan turned her palm upward and lifted it from a distance, preventing him from bowing any farther. "I don't know what you're talking about. Has the theft been cleared up?"
Seeing that she refused his bow, he could more or less guess why. It was enough to keep her kindness in his heart, so he gave up and shook his head. "No."
Both Lan Qiaoyan and Old Tan froze.
Old Tan interjected, "If it hasn't been cleared up, why did they let you out?"
"Ah." Shi Chun gave a deeply helpless sigh, then resumed his refined manner. "I beat the false accuser to death."
He felt that Lan Qiaoyan's willingness to save him had something to do with the cultivated demeanor he had always displayed. He was clearly very different from those coarse brutes; otherwise, she would never have treated him with special regard all this time.
"What?" Wu Jinliang blurted out, dumbfounded. That happened too? How come I didn't know?
Now, however, he finally understood what the city guard registering him had meant by saying the owner of the stolen property was dead.
The other two were stunned as well. Old Tan asked incredulously, "You beat the owner to death inside the inner city?"
There was clearly another question beneath his words: After such reckless behavior, how did the people in the inner city not beat you to death?
Shi Chun immediately explained, "It's not what you think. It was a duel. They said orders had come from above, that they couldn't be bothered wasting words over some trivial crap, so I was to duel the false accuser. The loser would be executed, and the winner would be released. I won, and then they let us out."
Silence fell over the sitting room, so complete that a falling pin could have been heard. Lan Qiaoyan frowned and muttered, "Can they really be that arbitrary?"
She was muttering inwardly too. After all that, my intervention hardly did anything. He fought his own way out.
Then Shi Chun's tone turned melancholy. "But the case isn't over. They said that because I killed the accuser, they couldn't close it, so they were releasing us for now. If any new leads turn up in the future, they'll bring us back from the outside world for another interrogation."
At that, he could not help sighing, wondering what sins he had committed to deserve this. Other people left the Land of Exile and gained their freedom, while he was leaving a loose end behind. It was no different from leaving a hidden danger here. Heaven only knew when it might flare up.
It also left a worry lodged in his heart, making it impossible to feel happy even about leaving.
"They can do that?" Lan Qiaoyan asked in surprise, then turned to Old Tan. "Old Tan, can the Prison of Life really release people like that?"
Old Tan shook his head in bewilderment, looking as though he had never heard or seen anything like it.
After another stretch of silence in the room, they could only leave the matter there for now. Any questions would have to wait until they could gradually uncover the answers.
Lan Qiaoyan changed the subject. "What happened with Qi Yueru stealing something and being killed by the Prison Master?"
Although the surname Qi made Shi Chun a little wary, he had no idea who Qi Yueru was. The words "Prison Master" prompted his realization, and he asked, "The woman hanging from the city gate?"
Lan Qiaoyan said meaningfully, "She was Shen Youkun's mother. You didn't know?"
"What?" Wu Jinliang was the first to blurt it out, and the two brothers exchanged looks again.
This time, it was Shi Chun who asked in disbelief, "How could Shen Youkun's mother have gone into the inner city to steal?"
Seeing that they did not seem to be pretending and genuinely appeared not to know, Lan Qiaoyan stopped questioning them. She lifted her freshly brewed tea and took a sip, then set the cup down and said slowly, "Qi Yueru came to Zhixu City and was personally killed for theft by the Prison Master, who sits as lofty as the clouds. I don't believe it. Something else must have angered him.
"Her son died, then her younger brother, and now Qi Yueru herself is dead. That whole lot may have come to the Land of Exile and done something that couldn't bear the light of day. I don't know how deeply you two were involved, or whether you know what it was, but the Qi Household should know.
"It's no secret that you offended Shen Youkun. Now that the Prison Master has personally killed Qi Yueru, those who know the truth know what he's investigating. With guilty consciences, the Qi Household will at most dare to seek justice on the surface, addressing only the matter at hand. They won't dare have any visible connection to that business that couldn't bear the light.
"Especially since the circumstances of your arrest and release this time are somewhat murky, the Qi Household probably won't dare have any further connection with you. I don't know whether you understand what I'm getting at. In short, the Prison Master's forceful intervention this time was a lucky fluke for you. It has effectively solved a major problem for you."