Imprisonment

The Capital Prefecture prison of the Great Feng Dynasty.

Xu Qi'an woke up dazedly, catching the faint, uncomfortable stench of damp rot in the air that made his stomach churn with acid.

What was this overpowering stink about? Did his family's husky run up onto the bed to drop a load again? Judging by the suffocating pungency, it had probably dropped it right on top of his head.

Xu Qi'an kept a dog at home, a Siberian husky, commonly known as the Erha.

Having spent ten years drifting in Beijing all alone-well, a person who had been lonely for too long would inevitably want to keep a dog for comfort and recreation, and not in the physical sense.

Opening his eyes, he looked around and Xu Qi'an froze for a moment.

The walls were piled from stone blocks, with three square windows the size of rice bowls. He was lying on a cold, tattered straw mat, and sunlight streamed through the square windows onto his chest, dust motes floating in the beam of light.

Where was he?

Xu Qi'an pondered for a moment in a daze that felt like an existential crisis, and then he truly had an existential crisis.

He had transmigrated.

A tidal wave of memories surged over, giving him no chance to react at all, forcibly inserting itself into his brain and flowing rapidly.

Xu Qi'an, courtesy name Ningyan, was a constable at the Changle County Yamen under the Capital Prefecture of the Great Feng Dynasty. His monthly salary was two taels of silver and one dan of rice.

His father was a veteran who died nineteen years ago in the Battle of Mountains and Seas, and shortly after, his mother also passed away from illness. Thinking of this, Xu Qi'an felt a sliver of relief.

As everyone knew, people whose parents had both passed away were never simple.

"I didn't expect that even after living a new life, I still couldn't escape the fate of being a law enforcement officer?" Xu Qi'an felt a dull ache in his teeth.

His father in his past life had been a law enforcement officer, and so he had hoped that his son could also become a glorious law enforcement officer.

However, although Xu Qi'an had walked the path his parents chose for him, his heart was not in the system.

He loved being unrestrained, loved freedom, loved a life of debauchery, and loved a quote by Ji Xianlin in his diary:--

And so he had resolutely resigned and gone into business.

"But why am I in prison?"

He struggled to digest the memories, and soon understood his current predicament.

Xu Qi'an had been raised by his second uncle since childhood. Because he practiced martial arts year-round and consumed over a hundred taels of silver every year, he was disliked by his aunt.

After cultivating to the Peak of Essence Refinement at the age of eighteen, his progress had stagnated, and under pressure from his aunt, he had moved out of the Xu Household to live alone.

Through his uncle's connections, he had managed to land a constable's gig at the yamen. Originally his days were going quite well, but who would have thought.

Three days ago, his second uncle, a seventh-rank green-robed official who served in the Imperial Saber Guard, was escorting a batch of tax silver to the Ministry of Revenue when an accident happened along the way and the tax silver was lost.

A full one hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver.

The imperial court and the public were shaken, and the Emperor flew into a rage, personally issuing an order that Xu Pingzhi be beheaded in five days, with all three branches of his relatives implicated-the males exiled to the borderlands, and the female family members sent into the Imperial Music Bureau.

As Xu Pingzhi's biological nephew, he had been relieved of his constable duties and cast into the Capital Prefecture prison.

Two days!

In two more days, he was going to be exiled to the bitter, desolate frontier region and spend the rest of his life in grueling labor.

"It's hell mode right out of the gate." Xu Qi'an's spine went cold, and his heart turned half-cold along with it.

This world was under the rule of a feudal dynasty, where human rights did not exist. What kind of place was the frontier?

Desolate, with harsh climates, most criminals exiled to the border failed to live past ten years. And many more died on the road from various accidents and illnesses before ever reaching the frontier.

Thinking of this, Xu Qi'an felt his scalp explode, a bone-chilling coldness gripping him.

"System?"

After a moment of silence, Xu Qi'an's probing voice rang out in the silent prison.

The system ignored him.

"System. Daddy System, come out." Xu Qi'an's voice carried urgency.

Silence reigned.

There was no system, there was actually no system!

This meant he had almost no way to change his current situation. In two days, he would be fitted with leg irons and cangues and sent off to the borderlands; given his physique, he probably wouldn't die on the road.

But this was no benefit-he would simply be drained of his labor power during a career as a human tool, and eventually die.

Too terrifying, simply too terrifying!

Xu Qi'an's rosy fantasies about transmigrating to ancient times shattered like bubbles, leaving behind only anxiety and fear.

"I must think of a way to save myself. I cannot just kick the bucket like this."

Xu Qi'an paced and turned in the cramped cell like an ant on a hot pan, like a beast that had fallen into a trap, racking his brains for a countermeasure.

I am at the Peak of Essence Refinement, and my physical fitness is frighteningly strong. But in this world, I am merely unranked silver; escaping prison is impossible.

Count on the clan and friends?

The Xu Household was not a major clan, with its members scattered everywhere, and with a full one hundred and fifty thousand taels of tax silver intercepted, who would dare to plead for mercy at this juncture?

According to the Great Feng code, performing meritorious service to atone for crimes could exempt one from the death penalty!

Unless the Silver Is Recovered

Xu Qi'an's eyes suddenly lit up, like a drowning man clutching at a lifeline.

He was a fanatical enthusiast of deduction, with a wealth of theoretical knowledge, a sharp mind, and exceptional reasoning skills. And thanks to his father's deliberate efforts to cultivate him, he'd studied many cases and learned a great deal about criminal investigation firsthand.

Perhaps he could try solving the case, recover the silver, and atone for his crimes by rendering meritorious service.

But then the light in his eyes dimmed.

To solve a case, he first needed to read the case files and understand the full details. Only then could he investigate and crack it.

Now he was trapped in prison, with no one to answer his cries for help. In two days, they'd send him to the frontier!

There was no way out!

Xu Qi'an dropped to the ground, his eyes unfocused.

He'd gotten dead drunk at a bar last night, then woken up in prison. Maybe he'd died of alcohol poisoning and transmigrated.

Heaven had granted him the chance to transmigrate, not to live again, but because it thought he'd died too easily?

In ancient times, exile was the most severe punishment after the death penalty.

In his previous life, society had beaten him black and blue, but at least he'd lived in a peaceful, prosperous age. If he got to live again, how great would that be? He'd waste no time stealing his parents' savings to buy a house.

Then he'd help his mom break the hand of his stock-obsessed dad, so the old man couldn't be a leek anymore.

Just then, the sound of chains scraping came from the end of the dim corridor. A door must have opened.

Then came the sound of footsteps.

A jailer led a handsome young scholar with a haggard face to Xu Qi'an's cell and stopped.

The jailer glanced at the scholar. "Half an incense stick."

The scholar cupped his hands toward the jailer. After watching him leave, he turned to face Xu Qi'an.

The scholar wore a moon-white robe, and his long, jet-black hair was tied up with a jade hairpin. He was exceptionally handsome, with sword-straight brows, starry eyes, and thin lips.

The relevant memories of this person surfaced in Xu Qi'an's mind.

The Xu family's second son, Xu Xinnian.

His second uncle's biological son and Xu Qi'an's cousin. He'd passed the autumn provincial exam this year.

Xu Xinnian looked straight at him, calm and composed. "The soldiers escorting you to the frontier took three hundred taels from me. It's the last of our family's silver. Go in peace. Nothing will happen to you on the way."

"What about you?" Xu Qi'an asked, the words slipping out before he could stop himself. He remembered that the original owner hadn't gotten along with this cousin.

Because his aunt disliked him, no one else in the Xu Household besides his second uncle thought much of Xu Qi'an. At the very least, his cousins hadn't shown him much affection.

Besides, in the original owner's memories, this cousin was also a sharp-tongued master of verbal abuse.

Xu Xinnian said impatiently, "I've been stripped of my scholarly honors, but the academy's teachers are protecting me, so I don't need to be exiled. Just worry about yourself. Once you reach the frontier, keep your temper in check. Live one year at a time."

Xu Xinnian studied at White Deer Academy, a renowned institution in the Capital, where he was highly regarded. He was also a newly successful provincial examinee. So after his second uncle's arrest, he hadn't been imprisoned, but he wasn't allowed to leave the Capital. He'd spent the past several days running around, trying to find help.

Xu Qi'an fell silent. He didn't think Xu Xinnian would fare any better than he would. It was probably more than just having his scholarly honors stripped away. He'd likely be made a registered lowborn, and his descendants would never be allowed to take the imperial examinations or rise in the world.

And in two days, the women of the Xu family would be sent to the Imperial Music Bureau, where they'd be humiliated.

Xu Xinnian was a scholar. How could he still face living in the Capital? Perhaps being exiled to the frontier was the better choice.

Xu Qi'an's heart stirred. He rushed forward a few steps and gripped the iron bars with both hands. "Are you planning to kill yourself?!"

Grief surged through him, beyond his control. I don't even know him.

Xu Xinnian expressionlessly flicked his sleeve. "What has that to do with you?"

After a pause, his gaze lowered slightly, avoiding his cousin's eyes, and his expression softened. "Stay alive."

With that, he strode away without looking back!

"Wait!" Xu Qi'an thrust a hand through the bars and caught his sleeve.

Xu Xinnian stopped and looked at him in silence.

"Can you get hold of the case files? The files on the missing tax silver."

New author, new book. I hope you'll support me.