Early morning.
The air was filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers.
Old Wu the Third and his group went to work at the city gate again.
Jia had the day off today.
They weren't official employees of the court, with only two rest days per month.
But Old Wu the Third knew that Jia seemed to have made another achievement.
There would surely be a reward coming.
Ah, Jia had borrowed money to buy a small courtyard house in the north of the city. With a few more rewards, he'd have enough to clear his debt.
The others were envious, and quietly encouraged themselves.
No matter, as long as they kept their eyes wide open and watched those entering the city carefully, they'd always be able to spot suspicious characters.
For example, those who acted nervously and timidly when obtaining travel permits in the city.
During their training, they were told which types of people were most suspicious and should be closely monitored.
Old Wu the Third had actually led a group of people before who looked a bit suspicious.
However, since the group was large and imposing, he didn't dare act rashly and only quietly reported it.
If there really was a problem, he would also receive a reward.
It was quite embarrassing to say, but despite his presentable appearance and not-so-young age, he had never married and had been fooling around with Widow Liu, who sold tofu in the city.
Widow Liu only saw him as a good-for-nothing rogue, but ever since he became a guide for the yamen with a regular salary, Widow Liu had softened her stance and seemed willing to settle down with him.
If he could get a few more rewards, he also wanted to start a family.
...
Jiang Wan opened her eyes and saw that she was not in the inn.
She looked down at herself and found her clothes intact.
Although she had been cautious and planned for a long time, she still lacked real-world experience.
She felt her life had been tumultuous, but in reality, she had always lived in luxury and comfort.
Waking up in an unfamiliar place, Jiang Wan didn't panic and scream hysterically, but remained relatively calm.
She observed her surroundings and listened. It was very quiet - she was no longer in the inn. There were no sounds of vendors calling out or people talking. It was completely silent.
This must be a private residence.
The air smelled stale, as if she had been locked away in some deep underground place.
She had woken up on a bed. The bedding was clean but not luxurious.
She got up.
There was no water in the room. Even if there had been, she would have been cautious about drinking it this time.
She stood up and walked around a couple of times, then tried the door. It was locked.
Surprisingly, there were books in the room.
She picked up a book and sat down to read it.
Although her heart was in turmoil, she still forced herself to remain calm.
Panicking wouldn't solve anything.
In reality, she was already quite frightened.
She held the book, forcing herself to read.
It was a book of leisure reading, telling stories of ghosts and strange occurrences. It seemed well-written.
Here she was in a strange place, away from family and friends.
Yet she had started reading a book.
Just this composure alone was something ordinary people would struggle to maintain.
Inspector He had also played the role of a peeping tom for once.
He was curious about how Jiang Er handled matters without regard for propriety.
Magistrate Huang had come running to say that Old Lady Jiang had complained about her niece being abducted.
That very night, Jiang Er had brought the girl back.
He wouldn't suffer even a bit of false accusation.
The young lady didn't look like she had been abducted, but rather like she had eloped with someone. She even had a new travel permit and had altered her appearance. An extremely beautiful young woman had made herself look very ordinary.
But when she was brought back, she was alone.
Inspector He thought to himself that this Jiang Er was truly an interesting character.
Others would avoid him, Old He, at all costs.
Jiang Er was different. When Jiang Er saw him coming, he warmly invited him for tea, even pushed his own daughter to be his student, and now even involved him in this misdeed.
Could it be that Jiang Er was a fool, not knowing how Old He had risen to power?
Inspector He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
At first, he had thought the young lady had simply eloped and run away.
Thinking back on the whole affair, Magistrate Huang had said that night that Jiang Er had brought the person back that very night. It made him realize that Jiang Er's control over Jingzhou was terrifyingly thorough. He probably knew as soon as he entered the city, yet still tricked him into staying at the Inspector's Suite without reimbursement.
Commander Jiang: Think what you will, it was just a coincidence. As a high-ranking official, how could he have so much free time to keep tabs on people? Naturally, he just had his subordinates handle it.
Commander Jiang had caught this young lady and actually called him to come see.
Even if he hadn't been called, he would have come anyway.
But Jiang Er wasn't playing by the usual rules.
Others would try to hide their actions, but here he was actively inviting him to participate.
He felt a bit uncomfortable with this.
He had originally thought it was just a family matter.
But when Inspector He saw this young lady, her every move indeed seemed somewhat off.
Would an ordinary young lady who had been suddenly abducted be able to remain so calm and composed?
She was even reading a book.
This level of composure was something even he, an old man, couldn't achieve.
However, even if she had extraordinary composure, it still wasn't right to abduct her.
Abducting a young lady who had eloped, and being so secretive about it.
Jiang Changtian handed a note to Inspector He.
Inspector He saw written on it: "On the first day of the ninth month, the Crown Prince died suddenly... On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, the Seventh Prince ascended to the throne... On the sixteenth day of the first month of the Xingyuan Year, Chu Xi was established as Crown Prince..."
Inspector He's pupils constricted slightly.
He felt that whoever wrote this note must be insane, treasonous, a complete lunatic.
Jiang Changtian calmly pointed at the young lady in the room and said, "She wrote it. Now, isn't it much more interesting?"
A gentleman does not speak of strange powers and chaotic forces.
But in this world, there are indeed many strange occurrences.
Jiang Changtian spoke, "I suspect my niece is no longer my niece, but has been possessed by an evil spirit. When we raided Shangqiu Convent before, we found a book on how to identify evil spirits and how to make them tell the truth. I'm prepared to try it out."
Inspector He was momentarily speechless.
Perhaps the contents of that note were too shocking.
He didn't even object.
After all, how could a normal person say such treasonous things?
Even if the former Crown Prince had many faults, one couldn't wish death upon him.
This place was an underground chamber of the Jiang residence.
Quite secretive.
One had to descend more than a dozen flights of stairs to reach it.
Inspector He didn't know if Jiang Er trusted him too much or if he was simply brainless.
To show him such a secret chamber.
He didn't know that this was just one of many small secret chambers in the Jiang residence.
One should be honest in dealing with people, of course, but being honest about part of things is already quite good.
Jiang Wan read the book, waiting for someone to come.
Then Jiang Changtian arrived, and her eyes filled with terror.
She had guessed it might be her cousin's people, but never imagined it would be Jiang Changtian himself.
When she saw the old man beside Jiang Changtian, a glimmer of hope rose in her heart.
Although Inspector He was quick to sentence entire clans to death, he was undoubtedly a gentleman who wouldn't stand by and watch someone die.
Jiang Changtian threw the note at her and asked, "Tell me, what's going on? How do you know these things?"
Jiang Wan looked at the contents of the note, which were identical to her own notes, but she would never have written this down. Was she stupid? Even if she wanted to gain Chu Xi's trust, she wouldn't leave such evidence. At most, she would say it in person.
Moreover, the dates on it were wrong. It was all nonsense.
But how could anyone else know about these things?
Had she written it while drugged?
She was terrified. Seeing Jiang Changtian made her think of her own death, especially in this enclosed space with him so close.
She backed away in fear, dropping the book she was holding.
"No, I didn't write this. It's not right, it definitely wasn't me. The dates are wrong, they're wrong, haha..."
She looked at the note, then touched her nose. Suddenly she felt liquid flowing from her nose. She wiped it with a handkerchief - it wasn't blood, just yellow clear fluid. Where had the fluid come from?
Jiang Changtian smiled.
Inspector He: ...
Looking at the uncle and niece in the room, he couldn't tell for a moment which one was the treasonous lunatic.
