Hiss, hiss, hiss~
After their brief exchange, the yellow strip in Ye Xingge's hand changed again.
Then the magnificent beauty in red appeared at his side, holding his hand. Her peach-blossom eyes swept over the study and the corpse, and she frowned.
"He died to the Eight Extremities Saber. A spy from the Eight Pillars Hall did it. Once Jiang Baichuan came to light, this man's identity was bound to be exposed. He was no longer useful, so of course they silenced him to keep him from implicating their superiors. Otherwise, I wouldn't have sent you ahead to plant the evidence. Are you afraid of the corpse too?"
Standing by the door, Ye Xingge glanced at the corpse in the room, then at the woman in red who had popped out like a ghost, and spread his hands slightly.
"How is the corpse the problem here?! Next time you speak, could you give me a warning first? Maybe get a bell that goes ring-a-ling~~~..."
"Ah, you'll get used to it."
Hongyu said no more, taking Ye Xingge's right hand and striding into the study. She swept her gaze over the entire room, and after confirming that nothing was amiss, lifted her chin slightly.
"Do you know how to plant it? Or do you need big sister to teach you?"
Ye Xingge had spent years running around with the authorities, so he naturally knew how to handle the job.
Under Big Beauty's plan, he had to cross three counties and make a round trip to the inn, making a big circuit through four locations. Along the way, he also had to capture people for questioning and kill people to seize their treasures.
Half a night wasn't enough time for that.
Besides, he had come out alone, and if he went through the entire chain of evidence by himself, some of it fabricated, it would sound a little false. When he reported it afterward, it would easily arouse suspicion.
The most reasonable procedure, therefore, was this:
First, he would plant false evidence here, then turn around and capture Jiang Baichuan before returning to Qingxi to claim credit.
When Beauty Luo saw that he had caught an important suspect, she would surely see him in a new light. After the pawnshop lead was extracted through interrogation, he would volunteer to investigate the pawnshop with the Embroidered Robe Officers and let them "accidentally" discover the clue he had left.
Then he could race nonstop to Linyang, find a way to locate Yang Tuyan ahead of time, and get the bracer. The whole pursuit would make perfect sense.
But Zhang Shunyuan was already dead. If the local authorities found the corpse first, they might beat him to the punch.
And if Beauty Luo didn't send him here, and the other Embroidered Robe Officers found the clue and went straight to Linyang to capture the man, he would have a hard time asking for the famed weapon as spoils.
So the clue he left had to be as complicated as possible. Ideally, no one but him would be able to decipher it.
That way, even if the authorities or the Embroidered Robe Officers got there first, he could get involved under the pretext of helping them figure it out and continue with the steps above.
Thinking it over, Ye Xingge found the plan quite feasible and discussed it with Hongyu some more.
After listening carefully, Hongyu nodded gently.
"You've thought it through quite thoroughly, but making a clue that no one else can understand won't be easy."
"That's my specialty..."
Ye Xingge recalled what he knew about deciphering codes and looked over the bookshelf, where he found a copy of the Heaven-Watching Gazette.
The publication was a magazine issued by booksellers in the capital, with editions at the beginning and middle of each month. It recorded strange tales and anecdotes from the jianghu, as well as the "Gold List rankings."
Ye Xingge had subscribed for years and had learned about heroes from all walks of life through it. He carefully leafed through it now, stopping at one page. Then he took a sheet of white paper and, comparing it against the text, poked several holes in it with a paper knife.
Hongyu had to hold one of Ye Xingge's hands, so she helped him hold the book. She had been watching from the side the whole time, and now she asked:
"Are you planning to leave the clue using a perforated grille to pick out characters?"
Ye Xingge carefully compared the page as he poked the little holes.
"Right."
Hongyu looked doubtful.
"It's a clever method, but if the authorities find it first, it won't be hard for them to see through it."
Ye Xingge said confidently:
"That's just the first layer. There's more to come."
"Is that so?"
Half convinced, Hongyu tilted her head and watched closely.
The distance between them suddenly narrowed, and her figure was magnificently ample.
Ye Xingge glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that her plump neckline was E-normously inviting, truly a G-ift from heaven!
But he didn't let that distract him. Once he had finished planting the clue, he raised his eyebrows.
"What do you think?"
Hongyu was almost dizzy from following all his twists and turns. All she said was:
"Not bad. You've got a bit of cleverness. Let's hurry and set off. We still have to travel to Muyang County..."
Ye Xingge said no more. He and Hongyu carefully checked everything again, and only after making sure nothing had been overlooked did they quietly withdraw from the study.
The room, now containing only a corpse, fell deathly silent...
But the study remained quiet for less than half an hour before sounds came from outside the half-closed door again.
Whoosh, whoosh~
Amid the faint rush of air, five figures dropped from the eaves, their silhouettes appearing on the window paper.
Then the door opened, and a person wearing a black cloak appeared outside. After glancing into the room, the person said in a low voice:
"Family head, Zhang Shunyuan is already dead. What do we do now?"
Tap, tap...
Faint footsteps sounded outside the door.
A woman, also wearing a cloak, walked slowly to the door and looked inside. Although her attire was no different from that of her four attendants, the gentle grace and dignified manner in her every movement showed that she was no woman of the jianghu, but more like the person who managed a wealthy household.
And that was more or less the truth.
The woman was named An Yurou. She was the Lady of Anyang County, but in secret she used the alias "South-Flying Swallow" and served as a Later Zhou undercover agent, operating in the capital.
When Yang Tuyan had shown himself on the outskirts of the capital that day, An Yurou had naturally received word as well.
Yang Tuyan was a descendant of Great Zhou's Marquis of Liaodong. During a time of turmoil in Great Zhou, his forebears had brought the Mobei barbarians through the passes, directly causing Great Zhou to fall apart. Although the Eight Pillar Generals of Hezhong had subsequently put down the rebellion and wiped out his clan, the Central Plains had changed hands as a result.
The Yang family could thus be considered the chief culprit behind the collapse of Great Zhou's reign. But An Yurou had not come to hunt down Yang Tuyan and vent her anger. Rather, Later Zhou had uncovered some intelligence and learned that Yang Tuyan had entered the capital with the Eight Pillars Hall's help and might be carrying the famed weapon Ravine-Leaping Tiger.
The weapon was a dagger, also known as White Tiger.
Its accompanying divine effect allowed its wielder to kill in an instant within three steps. It had originally been one of the River-Spanning Pavilion's ten great famed artifacts, but had later been stolen.
The robber was an important figure who could affect the balance among the three dynasties!
That was why An Yurou had hurried here to track Yang Tuyan's whereabouts. Seeing that the Eight Pillars Hall's covert contact had already been silenced, she couldn't help frowning.
"Do you know the identities of the Eight Pillars Hall's other informants?"
The four attendants looked at one another, and their leader replied:
"Spies communicate through single lines of contact. We don't have an insider high up in the Eight Pillars Hall, so we can't determine who they have in the capital. But Zhang Shunyuan definitely knew who his contacts above and below him were. There might be a clue in the study."
"The Eight Pillars Hall isn't some makeshift operation. They've already silenced him, so why would they leave clues for the authorities?"
"You never know. What if Zhang Shunyuan wasn't meticulous and secretly overlooked something?"
As they spoke, an attendant with considerable lightness skill went over to the desk and searched it carefully.
And as it turned out, what do you know!
After rummaging for only a moment, the attendant found a sheet of paper in a hidden layer of an account book!
The paper was covered in irregularly spaced holes, with no writing on it.
An Yurou was taken aback. She went closer for a careful look, surprise flickering in her almond-shaped eyes.
"Is this a perforated grille for picking out characters?"
All four attendants were undercover agents and knew the various methods of passing intelligence. They immediately searched the bookshelf and soon found the Heaven-Watching Gazette.
After all, passing an encrypted message using ancient classics that never changed was very difficult.
But the gazette came out once every ten days and allowed people to pay to have written messages published. As long as one knew how to decipher them, passing messages was much more convenient.
One attendant opened the book and placed the paper over the pages, comparing them one by one. On the eighth page, it fit perfectly, and all the characters were revealed!
Delight flashed in An Yurou's eyes as she studied the contents.
"Three, seven, four, two..."
??
The attendants stared at the string of numbers in confusion.
An Yurou was puzzled as well. After thinking carefully for a long time, she explained:
"This should be 'picking characters by rows and columns.' It might mean row three, column seven, and row four, column two..."
"Is that so? The family head really is clever..."
Enlightened, the attendants immediately searched the page according to the coordinates. Soon, three characters came into view.
"Li, Yun, Tu?"
The five Later Zhou spies fell silent. After pondering for a long time, they asked one another:
"Who's Li Yuntu? That sounds so familiar..."
"Li Mi, the chief minister, has the courtesy name Yuntu. He's the head of all officials and oversees the six ministries..."
"Chancellor Li is an Eight Pillars Hall spy?!"
"Bullshit. There's hardly anyone above Chancellor Li. How could he be a spy for rebels? Even if he were, there's no way this little minion would know..."
Chatter, chatter...
The five of them couldn't make sense of it no matter how hard they thought, and clearly didn't dare go to Chancellor Li to verify it.
Utterly bewildered, An Yurou examined it again, trying to find other information.
She discovered four more tiny dots scattered across the white paper. They looked like mistakes: sesame-sized holes that revealed no characters.
Normally, when an object recorded crucial information, anything unusual about it was often the key to solving the puzzle.
But An Yurou carefully recalled every method of encryption she knew and still couldn't make any sense of it. In the end, she could only say:
"We can't solve it for now. Take everything back, and we'll find another way."
The attendants had already thought until their heads hurt. At this, they felt as though they had been pardoned.
"All right. The Eight Pillars Hall's methods are far too cautious..."
"Compared to this, the way we usually send messages makes us look like a makeshift operation..."
As they spoke, they took the Heaven-Watching Gazette and the slip of paper and quietly left the study...
Elsewhere.
Moyang County was somewhat farther from Dahe Town, a journey of a little over forty li.
After planting the clue at the Shunyuan Pawnshop, Ye Xingge had urged his horse into a gallop toward Muyang County. Along the way, he asked:
"Are you sure the Moyang County commandant's wife is Jiang Baichuan's lover?"
Hongyu was supervising from behind the scenes, and she replied with certainty:
"Before I came to the capital, the local informants checked everyone on the list. The day before yesterday, Jiang Baichuan made a special trip to Muyang and met the commandant's wife in secret at a private residence..."
Hearing this, Ye Xingge felt the fire of gossip ignite in his heart.
"And then?"
"?"
Hongyu's voice lowered. "I wasn't the one who gathered the information. Even if I had been, do you think I'd be like you, hiding and peeping?"
Ye Xingge shook his head.
"If I watched, I'd do it openly. What kind of behavior is hiding and peeping?"
"Hmph..."
The two of them chatted nonsense like this for a long while, until a small city appeared at the far end of the wilderness.
Seeing it, Ye Xingge stopped chatting and, as usual, left his horse outside the county seat. He then slipped quietly into the city and made his way through streets and alleys to the county commandant's office.
Things were tense throughout Jingzhao Prefecture that day. Even though nothing had happened in Muyang, there was no way the authorities could have called it a day. Constables patrolled the streets, and the county commandant's office was brightly lit inside.
Government offices normally had the official quarters in front and the residence behind, with business conducted in the front and the presiding official living in the rear. So the commandant's wife should be living behind the office.
After a glance around, Ye Xingge turned into an old bluestone alley at the side and edged forward with his back against the wall. Through it, he could hear shouts from inside the office.
"Do they think this office is a brothel? Coming and going whenever they please..."
"Lord Wang, there's really nothing we can do. There's a bounty on Yang Tuyan's head, and both the righteous and underworld factions are looking for him. More than a dozen figures with names to speak of showed up today alone. They come and go like the wind; there's no catching them..."
"Was anything taken from the office?"
"Nothing was taken, but all the case files sent down from the capital were gone through, along with the household registers of the county's wealthy families. I suspect it was those villains from the Return to Origin Cult..."
"Investigate it for me..."
The Return to Origin Cult...
Hearing this, Ye Xingge immediately grew wary.
After all, the Return to Origin Cult was rather unusual in the jianghu. It could be called the "red-eye disease cult": it didn't rebel or peddle superstitions. Its only purpose was to kill people, seize their treasures, and rob them of famed weapons.
Although its members were few, their intelligence-gathering ability was formidable. As long as someone carelessly exposed their wealth and was caught alone, these mad dogs were almost certain to show up.
Ye Xingge had never feared these red-eyed people before, but now he was carrying one of the Twelve Divine Weapons. If they caught him, he definitely wouldn't come out of it well. He immediately brought the yellow strip to his mouth.
"Big Beauty, what's the situation with the Return to Origin Cult's people?"
Hongyu was supervising from behind the scenes and had no particular objection to the form of address. She replied:
"Yang Tuyan has a famed weapon on him, so it's no surprise those mad dogs have appeared. But if the county office noticed them, they must have left long ago. Don't worry about them."
"Oh..."
Ye Xingge felt somewhat reassured. To keep his face from being seen, he covered it with a cloth and moved along the alley outside the office. Soon, he reached the rear wall of the county commandant's office...