Time to Show Some Real Skills

The moment he stepped into the inner hall, he felt three piercing gazes turn toward him.

The one in scarlet robes should be the prefect. Embroidered cloud geese-hmm, a fourth-rank official. This middle-aged fellow with a silver gong embroidered on his chest... damn, he's from the Nightwatcher Organization. Holy crap, this girl is gorgeous. Way too pretty. Is she married?

After another glance at her chest, Xu Qi'an grew considerably calmer.

He quickly lowered his head, adopting a very humble posture.

Prefect Chen sat high in a large chair, his face expressionless, his tone imposing as he interrogated a prisoner:

"Xu Qi'an, when you were imprisoned three days ago, you never mentioned having an important lead. Do you know the consequences of withholding information?"

A slippery old hand in officialdom. Even if he's frantic inside, he won't ask about the lead first. He'll apply psychological pressure instead.

Having made it here meant his plan was already halfway to success. Xu Qi'an remained fairly calm. "My lord, just now, Erlang of the Xu Household came to see me. I asked him for the case file."

First, be honest.

All three people present knew of Xu Xinnian, not because he was particularly famous, but because he was Xu Pingzhi's eldest son. Naturally, the three officials heading the investigation would have looked into him.

"What does that have to do with this lead of yours?" Prefect Chen asked.

"This commoner deduced the truth of the case from the case file."

"Wait." Prefect Chen interrupted him, leaning forward slightly. "From the case file?"

This was not what he had expected.

"I've already solved the case." Xu Qi'an nodded, confirming that was exactly what he meant.

Prefect Chen suppressed the urge to have someone send the boy back to prison, his expression stern. "Let's hear it. But let me remind you: if you spout nonsense, two hundred strokes of the paddle can strip your flesh from your bones."

"The tax silver robbery was not actually the work of a monster, but of humans."

That single sentence startled all three of them.

Prefect Chen slammed the table and roared, "Utter nonsense! Guards, drag him out and give him two hundred strokes!"

That a monster had stolen the tax silver was practically a verdict sealed with the coffin lid. All three officials heading the investigation agreed on it.

If he had previously hoped Xu Qi'an could provide a valuable lead, he was now utterly disappointed.

It was nothing but the wild, insolent talk of a greenhorn-a cornered dog driven to leap over a wall.

The middle-aged man's eyes brightened slightly. He waved away the bailiffs who had rushed in. "Lord Chen, please be patient."

He turned his keen gaze on Xu Qi'an, scrutiny and anticipation in his eyes. "Let's hear it."

This Prefect Chen has quite a temper. Xu Qi'an knew it was time to perform. "According to the gate guards' testimony, my second uncle entered the city at half past five. At a quarter past seven, the tax silver convoy reached Guangnan Street. Then a strange wind suddenly rose, startling the horses into charging into the river."

He tried his best to make his tone neither servile nor overbearing, to appear calmer and thus more convincing.

Prefect Chen nodded. "That is precisely why we concluded that a monster lay hidden in the river, waiting for its chance to seize the tax silver."

"No!" Xu Qi'an objected loudly. "The unnatural wind was merely a smokescreen, and so was the explosion in the river. Their real purpose was to make you overlook a flaw-a fatal flaw."

Prefect Chen demanded urgently, "What flaw?"

The middle-aged man adopted an attentive posture.

The girl in the yellow dress held a piece of candied fruit between her teeth without chewing, her lively eyes watching Xu Qi'an with interest.

They had read the case file over and over and knew the course of events like the backs of their hands, yet they had never noticed any flaw.

"My second uncle was escorting a hundred and fifty thousand taels of tax silver. May I ask, my lords, how many jin does a hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver weigh?"

The middle-aged man's face stiffened, while the girl in yellow tilted her head and did not straighten it for quite some time.

Prefect Chen said unhappily, "If you have something to say, say it. Don't keep us guessing."

Xu Qi'an had intended to offer a hint and let these officials discover the enormous flaw themselves, but it seemed his cleverness had backfired.

Your mental arithmetic is pretty low-tier, you ancient people. Xu Qi'an immediately said, "Nine thousand three hundred and seventy-five jin."

Under this world's weight conversion system, one jin equaled sixteen taels, so a hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver weighed nine thousand three hundred and seventy-five jin.

The middle-aged man frowned. He vaguely grasped something.

The girl in yellow knitted her brows. "What does that prove?"

Her voice was as clear as a silver bell.

It proves you don't seem all that bright!

Xu Qi'an asked, "How far is it from the city gate to Guangnan Street?"

The middle-aged man answered, "Thirty li."

"How many busy market districts do you pass along the way?"

"...Four."

"How fast do draft horses travel?"

"Draft horses..." The middle-aged man's eyes suddenly widened, and he sprang to his feet.

His eyes opened wide, his expression one of sudden realization: "So that's how it was," and "That explains it."

After three days of tracking and searching for the monster without finding a trace, this experienced Nightwatcher had already realized they might be headed in the wrong direction.

But he had no clear train of thought, so after the idea had previously been rejected, he had put it out of his mind.

Prefect Chen's scalp prickled, because he still could not hear what the problem was, making him, the prefect, seem particularly lacking in wisdom.

Prefect Chen glanced at the girl in yellow and felt considerably better.

The girl in yellow asked in frustration, "What's the problem?"

The middle-aged man was somewhat excited. "The timing. The timing is wrong."

"Guangnan Street is a full thirty li from the southern city gate. With draft horses, and four busy market districts along the route, they couldn't possibly have entered the city at half past five and reached Guangnan Street at a quarter past seven."

His initial assumptions had influenced him into believing a monster had caused trouble and stolen the tax silver. Once Xu Qi'an peeled away the silken threads and stripped the cocoon, he immediately chewed over the problem and understood.

"But the tax silver really did arrive at Guangnan Street between seven and nine. Quite a few people witnessed the horses charge into the river. That can't be false," the girl in yellow said in her clear voice.

Prefect Chen nodded in satisfaction and echoed her question. "How do you explain that?"

Well... The middle-aged man froze and instinctively looked toward Xu Qi'an.

"Because what they were escorting wasn't silver at all." Xu Qi'an's words rang out with the force of something solid striking the ground.

"Absurd!" Prefect Chen retorted. "Leaving aside whether your second uncle and the escort soldiers had eyes, the case file contains testimony from the people present. When the horses charged into the river, gleaming silver tumbled into the water."

He shook the case file in his hand. "Is that false too?"

"Seeing is not necessarily believing. This commoner is willing to resolve your doubts in person, my lord." His gaze fell on the desk. "May I borrow some paper and a brush?"

Prefect Chen waved a hand, indicating he should help himself.

Dragging his shackles, Xu Qi'an approached the desk, poured water and ground the ink, spread out a sheet of xuan paper, and began writing crookedly.

"My lord, please prepare the items on this paper according to this commoner's instructions." Once he finished, he handed the sheet to Prefect Chen.

Prefect Chen took the xuan paper and glanced over it, utterly at sea.

"Let me see." The girl in yellow came over to join in, extending a delicate, snow-white hand to take the paper.

Then she, too, was utterly at sea.

"..." The middle-aged man, Li Yuchun, glanced at the paper and arranged his face into an expressionless mask. Without betraying anything, he smoothed down a folded corner of the xuan paper, then handed it to Prefect Chen.