Chapter 88: The Bluff
Chapter 88: The Bluff
Yes, we could search the case records from that period! If the souls of this stretch of the underworld kept gathering near Fengshui Bridge because the mastermind was in the vicinity, then the resulting changes couldn’t have been limited to that alone. There might have been other anomalies—anomalies that got reported to the authorities... Listening to Zheng Zhuxi’s words, Ding Songyan felt his train of thought suddenly broaden.
Senior Sister, you’re just as sharp when you’re sober!
If the mastermind had simply done nothing by staying quietly in the area, they wouldn’t have caused any trouble. But since they had something planned, they couldn’t have truly done nothing at all. Between my soul-hijacking resurrection and the nether-lightning that destroyed Master Yan, at least one of those was their doing, possibly both. In doing so, they would inevitably have affected the underworld, and those effects would have spilled over as anomalies in the mortal world!
"Yes, search the records! How did I not think of that?" Ding Songyan made no effort to hide his admiration and praise for Zheng Zhuxi; instead, he amplified it.
Zheng Zhuxi’s lips curved upward, her gaze drifting toward the bridge.
"I may not have formally wandered the jianghu yet, but I’ve come to the prefecture to assist with patrols eight or nine times and handled quite a few matters. I do have some experience with things like this."
Ding Songyan was never stingy with praise. Flattery and compliments were essential courses in any seasoned entrepreneur’s curriculum.
The smile never left the corner of Zheng Zhuxi’s lips as she led Ding Songyan all the way to the county yamen.
She said to her junior brother, "Wait here. Neither of us is on the patrol roster for this time around, so technically we have no right to search the records. We’ll need to find someone who does. I’ll go find Senior Sister Xue."
Senior Sister, you really do play by the rules... Ding Songyan quietly praised her for it.
People like that are useful. An honorable person can always be deceived through their own principles.
Before long, Zheng Zhuxi returned to the yamen entrance together with Xue Xian.
Xue Xian stood under 1.68 meters, a little shorter than Zheng Zhuxi. Her eyes, mouth, ears, and face shape were each fine on their own, but her nose was too prominent. With it standing like a mountain peak, it threw off the overall impression, leaving her looking rather ordinary.
She was dressed in a black tight-fitted outfit. She presented her waist token, entered the records room, and said to Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi, "Which street and which period do you need records for?"
"June 12th to 28th. The stretch from Chengyu Lane to Fengshui Bridge." Ding Songyan had originally intended to request only the records from the 16th to the 26th, but he reasoned that before and after the main events, the mastermind might have been more careless and more likely to have left traces, so he widened the window.
Xue Xian opened the archive room, searched through it, and brought out the relevant records.
"Junior Sister Zheng, Junior Brother Ding, do you need my help?"
"Not for now." Zheng Zhuxi had a strong instinct for discretion.
By the light of an oil lamp, she and Ding Songyan each worked through a stack of records. They first skimmed through and flagged everything that might be relevant, then swapped their piles to check whether the other had missed anything.
They then went back over everything they had flagged, and in the end narrowed it down to one record that both of them agreed looked genuinely abnormal.
The incident had occurred on June 16th. The Wang family matriarch of Shuanggui Lane near Fengshui Bridge had passed away and been laid out at home for two days when she suddenly reanimated at night. She threw off the coffin lid, walked out of the mourning hall, made her way into the lane, and headed in the direction of Fengshui Bridge. She subsequently collapsed at the lane entrance and moved no further as a walking corpse. The Wang family was terrified and reported it to the authorities at once. The county yamen handled the matter, and the old woman’s body was cremated the following day.
So the yamen in this world handles corpse reanimations and poltergeists... Ding Songyan studied the record in his hands, turning over what leads might be worth pursuing.
After a moment, he and Zheng Zhuxi spoke in unison, "Who lives at the lane entrance?"
They exchanged a glance and turned to Xue Xian, who was waiting nearby.
Xue Xian took the record, looked it over, and said, "I’ll fetch the land register and the household register."
She went to the household office and returned with the land register, which recorded property and land holdings, and the household register, which recorded the prefecture’s population.
"At the lane entrance of Shuanggui Lane closest to Fengshui Bridge, one side is the Wang clan school and the other is the home of a solitary old man named Xie Zi’an. He never married and has no children." Xue Xian finished with the land register and moved on to the household register, locating the relevant entry. "Xie Zi’an, 67 years of age. Former escort guard. Practices the Seven Mysteries of Wind and Fire. Canine features, red eyes, red lips. His most recent entry in the Orchid Rankings was fourth rank, Mortal Surpassed. Owing to advancing age, he returned to his hometown in the second year of Jianwu to purchase property and settle down. He is currently employed by several escort bureaus in the city to train new guards and scouts."
In this world, the vast majority of martial arts gradually developed physical anomalies once they reached the Great Proliferation Realm. As a result, whenever such martial artists entered a city, stayed at an inn, purchased property, walked the streets, attended theater, or visited the pleasure quarter, they were required to register with the yamen. Over time, the imperial court amassed detailed records on them and was able to assign them ranks in the Orchid Rankings based on their approximate realm and jianghu records.
As for the heretics who would never register willingly, wanted portraits were drawn and ranks assigned based on the crimes they committed, the fights they were involved in, and descriptions provided by people who reported them to the authorities.
For martial artists who had not yet developed physical anomalies, the Great Zhao dynasty would only assign rankings to those of notable potential, reputation, or impressive combat record. The countless others dreamed of being listed in the Orchid Rankings—if nothing else, a ranking carried great weight when seeking work, whether with merchant caravans, escort bureaus, martial halls, mines, or wealthy households.
"He’s been back in his hometown for six years?" Zheng Zhuxi’s thick eyebrows moved slightly. "That doesn’t connect to what happened."
"Not necessarily." Ding Songyan gave a quiet laugh and slowly rose to his feet. "Let’s pay him a visit."
Demoness Ji and her companions had arrived in Dingjiang Prefecture over half a year in advance under the cover of "seeking refuge from a relative" for the matter involving Yan Changqing. It was not inconceivable that whoever was behind the matter of Kunlun’s whereabouts and the Celestial Thearch’s palace had sent someone six years ahead of time.
"All right." Zheng Zhuxi felt that regardless of the circumstances, a direct investigation was warranted.
She rose as well and glanced down at her pale yellow dress with white trim.
"Junior Brother, we’ll need to change into sect uniforms and go in our capacity as patrol assistants. Otherwise Xie Zi’an has no obligation to open his door or answer our questions."
She turned to Xue Xian.
"Senior Sister Xue, I’ll borrow one of yours, and please find a set for Junior Brother Ding as well."
Going all the way back to Baoping Lane in the south from the county yamen in the north would waste too much time.
"All right." Xue Xian paused, then said with a smile, "I’ll come with you. I’m the one with the authority here. You two are only assisting me."
She knew her junior sister’s temperament well.
Before long, Ding Songyan had changed into a black tight-fitted outfit and was waiting at the yamen entrance when Zheng Zhuxi and Xue Xian emerged.
Zheng Zhuxi was considerably taller than Xue Xian, and the borrowed outfit fit her a little snugly, which only made her figure more striking. She took the lead without hesitation and brought Ding Songyan and Xue Xian swiftly back to Shuanggui Lane on the western side of Fengshui Bridge.
"Senior Sister Xue, keep watch outside in case anything happens," Zheng Zhuxi said while gesturing for Ding Songyan to knock on the door.
After three knocks, a voice came from inside the courtyard. It wasn’t quite as old as one might expect.
"Who’s there?"
Ding Songyan answered with perfect composure, "Brightnight Sect patrol. There’s a case requiring us to search the nearby streets and lanes and question the relevant parties."
Zheng Zhuxi listened in silence, with a strange feeling she couldn’t quite name.
Spinning a lie without missing a beat was something she still couldn’t quite manage, but after all that had happened, she had come to understand the need for flexibility and was doing her best to put it into practice. For now, her approach to situations like this was: let her junior brother handle it!
The person inside asked nothing further, and footsteps approached from within.
The wooden door creaked open, and an old man grumbled, "Whatever it is, does it have to be in the middle of the night? You’re disturbing my sleep."
He had grizzled hair, a face with distinctly canine features, red eyes, and lips that looked as though they had been painted with rouge. Over his shoulders he wore a lined jacket.
This is definitely the Xie Zi’an described in the household register... From the man’s physical anomalies, Ding Songyan’s mind went at once to the corresponding passage in the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas: "Yiji, the Infernohound: like a hairless dog, red beak, crimson eyes, white tail. Consuming it sets forests ablaze and summons great winds."
His arts would lean toward wind and fire... Ding Songyan bowed to Xie Zi’an with considerable courtesy.
"Apologies for the disturbance, sir. May we come in and take a look? We wouldn’t want any hidden criminals to pose a danger to you."
"Come in, then." Xie Zian stepped aside unhappily.
He did not check their waist tokens, having already recognized Zheng Zhuxi by her distinctive appearance and well-known reputation.
Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi entered one after the other and found that the layout here was much like the Ding residence on Chengyu Lane.
A quick sweep of the courtyard and Ding Songyan spotted a pile of ash beneath a tree of uncertain species that had not yet been cleared away.
"What’s that?" he asked.
Xie Zi’an glanced over and sighed.
"I spent many years in the jianghu, ran more escort jobs than I can count, and lost quite a few brothers along the way. Yesterday was the death anniversary of one of them. I burned some paper money for him."
A perfectly reasonable explanation, but when investigating abnormalities caused by disturbances to the underworld, finding someone who had been burning paper money is worth probing regardless of the reason... Ding Songyan had already quietly opened his yin eyes and entered the Celestial Heart state.
He followed Zheng Zhuxi into the main hall, then into the east wing’s room, going over area by area. Nothing appeared out of place.
They moved on to the west wing’s room.
Seeing that the wooden bed and bedding were reasonably clean, Zheng Zhuxi turned to look at Xie Zi’an.
"I still have quite a few old brothers alive. They come to visit from time to time. Someone stayed with me not long ago," Xie Zi’an explained.
After another round of searching, Zheng Zhuxi and Ding Songyan exchanged a glance. Both shook their heads.
They had found nothing.
Ding Songyan exited the Celestial Heart state, returned to the main hall, looked around the room, and said to Xie Zi’an, "Sir, there are a few things I’d like to ask you."
He didn’t think a straightforward line of questioning would yield anything. He planned to use a bluff.
"Go ahead," Xie Zi’an answered with a look of resignation.
Ding Songyan gestured for Zheng Zhuxi to take up a position at the entrance of the main hall. Then, with a faint smile and an unhurried tone, he said, "In the second half of June, Qu Zhongheng of Baoping Lane observed unidentified individuals entering and exiting the underworld and coming into this courtyard. Sir, do you have anything to say to that?"
As he spoke, Ding Songyan’s expression grew extremely grave, as though he had already caught Xie Zi’an by the tail.
Xie Zi’an’s expression changed. His sleeve snapped upward and a hidden arrow with a faint dark-green sheen shot out in an instant.
It flew straight at Ding Songyan.