The Flaw in Human Nature That Never Changed Throughout History

"Third, why was the county office so certain that you killed Zhang Yourui, rather than a thief?"

"Dragging Zhang Yourui's body into the courtyard and making it look like a thief did it was a clever idea. But you made a mistake."

"When Zhang Yourui died, his body was lying in the courtyard, with his feet toward the house and his head facing outward. The fatal wound was on the back of his head. That showed that the killer attacked him from behind with a blunt object."

"How could that be? If the killer was a gentleman on the beams and saw the master return, he would either have stayed put or withdrawn. Why would he go out of his way to attack and kill him, only to leave empty-handed?"

Yang Zhenzhen froze. She had not expected there to be so many holes in their story.

Xu Qi'an's words struck her hard, leaving her feeling as though everything she had done had long since been exposed in broad daylight, with nowhere to hide.

Panic nearly overwhelmed her.

"Nothing to say, is there? Zhang Xian had nothing to say either, so he gave you up. He also said you shamelessly seduced him. He had no desire to stay entangled with you, but you threatened and pressured him with the child in your belly. That night, you were also the one who beat Zhang Yourui to death in the chaos."

"Zhang Xian was an innocent victim. He knew there were too many holes in the story and that he could not escape disaster, so he confessed to the magistrate. He was willing to offer five hundred taels of silver to pull strings and pin the blame on you, leaving you alone to bear the crime of murdering your husband."

The more Yang Zhenzhen heard, the more frightened she became, and the more despairing her expression grew. When she learned that Zhang Xian had sold her out, her pretty, comely face turned deathly pale, without a trace of color.

"You know better than anyone what kind of man Zhang Xian is, don't you?" Xu Qi'an said this deliberately.

Xu Qi'an did not know what kind of man Zhang Xian was. He simply did not believe that a relationship with no love in it, only desire, could be very secure.

Besides, Zhang Xian was a rich second-generation heir. He had a family fortune and was young, with an entire ocean waiting for him, the smell of the sea everywhere. Why sacrifice himself for one woman?

Yang Zhenzhen despaired.

"But," Xu Qi'an coaxed patiently, "the magistrate is great, glorious, and upright. That means he is incorruptible and just. He won't blindly believe Zhang Xian's one-sided story, so he ordered me to question you. If you confess, the magistrate promises to show leniency and spare you the death penalty."

Yang Zhenzhen jerked her head up, her eyes brimming with tears. As though she had seized a life-saving straw, she pleaded, "Really?"

Xu Qi'an nodded. "Really."

Seeing that he had finally shaken Yang Zhenzhen's resolve, Xu Qi'an immediately opened the door and called in the court clerk waiting outside to record her statement.

Yang Zhenzhen's defenses crumbled, and she told them the whole truth, leaving nothing out.

It differed somewhat from what Xu Qi'an had just said, however. Yang Zhenzhen and Zhang Xian's affair could be summed up as a progression from "Stepson, please behave yourself" to "You wretch, do you think I'm old?"

As the saying went, an affair brought a moment's pleasure and sent the whole family to the crematorium. After they were discovered that night, father and son came to blows, and Zhang Xian grabbed a vase and accidentally killed his father.

To escape punishment, he and Yang Zhenzhen coordinated their stories and made it look like a thief had committed the murder.

Unfortunately for them, they were ordinary people, not professionals. Their story had too many holes, and they had run into a cheat like Xu Qi'an.

After taking down her statement, Xu Qi'an and the court clerk left the holding room.

The old clerk, who had worked at the county office for over twenty years, was won over by Xu Qi'an's slick maneuver. "After three days apart, one must look at a man with fresh eyes. I've worked at the county office for half my life, and I've never seen anyone investigate a case like you."

The prisoner's dilemma is an old, familiar trick. Only you ancient people would make such a fuss over it. Xu Qi'an waved a hand. "A mere parlor trick."

He had chosen Yang Zhenzhen as his point of attack because she knew nothing of the law. "Long hair, short insight" could not have been more apt for the women of this era.

During the magistrate's questioning earlier, Xu Qi'an had watched her for a long time and found that Yang Zhenzhen was timid and had no mind of her own.

That was how he had come up with the idea.

He had lied to Yang Zhenzhen. Under Great Feng law, a woman who committed adultery and murdered her husband would be executed by a thousand cuts, while her lover would be beheaded in public. There was no possibility of sparing her the death penalty.

In this case, Zhang Xian was the one guilty of murder. For killing his father, he too would be executed by a thousand cuts. Xu Qi'an had no objection to how a beast who murdered his father died; he simply felt that Yang Zhenzhen was an accomplice and her crime did not merit death.

That conflicted with the view of the law he had developed in his previous life.

"Every era has its own rules. Going with the tide is the way to survive," Xu Qi'an told himself.

Confronted with Yang Zhenzhen's statement, Zhang Xian was caught off guard. Unable to argue his way out of it any longer, he confessed in despair.

Xu Qi'an took the two statements to the inner hall.

County Magistrate Zhu was holding a teacup in his left hand and a scroll in his right, reading with his head lowered. When he saw Xu Qi'an enter, he put down the scroll and tea. "Well?"

Xu Qi'an placed the two statements on the table. "Fortunately, I did not fail you."

County Magistrate Zhu immediately snatched up the statements and shook out the sheets. After reading them carefully, he slammed the table in a fury. "Scoundrels! Scoundrels!"

Old Zhu felt that his values as a scholar had been challenged.

After his anger subsided, he looked at Xu Qi'an again. His impression of the young man could not have been better.

"Ningyan, I shall see that you are credited for this. Fine work."

"It was all thanks to your excellent guidance, sir. Being around you, this humble one picked up a few trifling tricks." Xu Qi'an sent a burst of rainbow fart his way.

County Magistrate Zhu looked delighted.

When their shift ended at the start of the shen hour, Head Constable Wang offered to treat everyone to drinks and took the eight constables of the patrol squad to a tavern.

Prices were stable under the silver standard. One qian of silver was enough to book a lavish dinner at a large restaurant, let alone a tavern.

Thanks to his almost supernatural deductions and his even more breathtaking interrogation, Xu Qi'an became the center of attention. Even Head Constable Wang asked him about the interrogation.

"That woman was timid and couldn't take a scare. It really wasn't much." Xu Qi'an was an old hand: he never praised himself or distanced himself from the crowd. But Head Constable Wang and his colleagues listened with great relish, feeling as though the gates to a new world had opened before them.

They eagerly offered Xu Qi'an toasts.

After three rounds of drinks, the conversation among the men inevitably turned to places like brothels and pleasure houses.

On that subject, Head Constable Wang became the center of attention. He patted Xu Qi'an on the shoulder. "Ningyan, I'll take you to a pleasure house today for some fun and give you your first taste of meat."

Everyone laughed suggestively. They all knew Xu Qi'an was a virgin.

"Boss, are you paying?"

"That'll cost several qian of silver." Head Constable Wang refused.

He's not paying. Xu Qi'an said gravely, "I'm not that kind of person."

If I lose my virginity, I'll never reach the Qi Refining Realm in this lifetime.

The traditional culture of brothels contained considerable knowledge. Xu Qi'an listened attentively and summed it up in his mind:

Pleasure houses were whorehouses that catered to common folk. Brothels were more upscale, serving wealthy merchants and high-ranking officials and dignitaries. Fuck, aren't those just hair salons and private clubs?

In the Great Feng Dynasty, any discussion of brothel culture had to include the Imperial Music Bureau.

"The women at the Imperial Music Bureau really are beautiful," Head Constable Wang said with feeling. "They're all family members of convicted officials, every one of them so soft and tender you could squeeze water out of them."

"At the start of the year, I went in there for some fun with the deputy magistrate. I was lucky enough to see Miss Fuxiang. She had a face like a flower and beauty like the moon." A look of dazzled admiration appeared on Head Constable Wang's face.

"Who's Miss Fuxiang?" Little Li asked. "Boss, did you sleep with her?"

"Fuxiang is the Imperial Music Bureau's flower queen. If she hadn't already had a patron that night, I'd have slept with her." Head Constable Wang spun a tall tale that cost him nothing.

"How much silver for a night with her?" Xu Qi'an's interest stirred.

"Thirty taels."

Xu Qi'an grabbed a handful of peanuts for him. "Boss, have some peanuts. Look how drunk you are."

Thirty taels of silver could buy several young women to enjoy at home. Pah! The only flaw in human nature that has never changed since ancient times is driving up the price of X!

You'd have to be out of your mind to go to the Imperial Music Bureau and sleep with the flower queen.

Once the book goes on sale, chapters will be at least 3,000 Chinese characters long.