“Who exactly are you?”
The short man was quite bold. Having fallen into someone else's hands, he was completely unafraid.
If one did not know better, it would seem he still held some trump card that could save his life.
Mo Jiuye let out a cold snort before viciously kicking the short man, intent on reminding him of his current predicament.
The kick was unrelenting in its force. The short man wailed in pain while a nameless fear rose in his heart simultaneously.
He was about to ask his captors again why they had taken him when he suddenly felt something heavy collide violently with his body.
Both He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye could see clearly that it was the rice ball creature.
Seeing its master angry enough to kick that man, it also wanted to help.
What was originally a very serious scene was nearly ruined by the little creature's interference, almost making He Zhiran break out laughing.
Now was not the time for the rice ball to make mischief. He Zhiran held back her laughter and sent it off to the bamboo grove to play by itself.
The short man had also regained his senses. To think that he, a famous sorcerer from the Southern Borderlands, had been mocked by a black and white ball.
An urge to curse welled up in him, but when he saw the icy, piercing look in Mo Jiuye's eyes, he instantly lost his nerve.
"Y-You... Just who are you? I've neither hatred nor grievance with you, why must you treat me thus?"
"Who I am is none of your concern. Answer what I want to know and I'll let you die quickly."
To show he was not joking, as soon as he finished speaking Mo Jiuye placed the dagger over another one of the man's fingers.
That posture clearly told the short man that if he dared refuse, this finger would be forfeit as well.
On her end, He Zhiran had also prepared a hypnotic pocket watch. If Mo Jiuye could not interrogate anything useful from the man, she would try using hypnosis.
Moreover, she could tell that the short man actually feared Mo Jiuye's threats but stubbornly refused to talk.
In situations like these, it was often because they had some handle being used to control them that prevented them from speaking out.
And indeed, even after Mo Jiuye cut off three more of his fingers, the result remained the same.
He Zhiran went over and tugged at Mo Jiuye's sleeve.
"Let me try."
Then, she squatted in front of the short man.
"Since you're unwilling to speak, we won't force you. But I wonder if you recognize this item I have here."
As she spoke, He Zhiran was already waving the pocket watch in front of the short man.
At first, he still tried hard to discern the oscillating object. Yet for some reason, after staring at it briefly, he felt an urge to doze off.
Soon, his eyes grew dull and listless.
To test whether the hypnosis had succeeded, He Zhiran first asked some simple questions.
"What's your name?"
Short Man: "I'm called Huang Xu."
He Zhiran: "Where are you from?"
Huang Xu: "I'm from the imperial capital in the Southern Borderlands."
He Zhiran: "Where do you live?"
Huang Xu: "I live at Si Meng Mountain Villa."
After asking these few questions while taking note of Huang Xu's dazed expression, He Zhiran could completely determine that he had entered a hypnotized state.
She glanced at Mo Jiuye to signal him to come over and ask questions.
Mo Jiuye squatted beside his wife and asked in a deep voice, "Who is Mr. Si Meng?"
Huang Xu struggled briefly before answering, "Mr. Si Meng is my master."
Mo Jiuye: "Where is he now?"
Huang Xu: "I don't know. I haven't seen my master for three years already."
Hearing that he didn't know, Mo Jiuye instantly frowned.
He Zhiran waved the pocket watch and continued asking, "How can we find your master?"
Huang Xu: "My master comes and goes like a spirit. If he has business with me, he will naturally appear."
He Zhiran: "What if there's an urgent matter you need to report to your master?"
Huang Xu: "Even for urgent matters I can only send a message to the Western Territory of Dashun before July each year. My master will go there once every July."
He Zhiran: "Where in the Western Territory can your group find your master every July?"
Huang Xu: "I don't know. I've never gone to the Western Territory to look for my master."
He Zhiran kept asking, "Has no one else from your group gone to the Western Territory to find your master?"
Huang Xu: "No one has looked for him before."
He Zhiran knew that it was impossible for Huang Xu to lie while hypnotized. This could only mean he truly had no idea where Mr. Si Meng was.
Since he didn't know, there was no need to keep interrogating fruitlessly.
"What's your master's full name?"
Huang Xu: "My master has never revealed his name. I only heard from my senior apprentice brother that his surname is Shao."
Indeed it was Shao, the same as the young lord surnamed Shao who was infatuated with Yuan Meng according to Lady Mo's account of the past. And this Mr. Si Meng also had the same surname, undoubtedly the same person.
He Zhiran continued asking, "What does your master look like?"
Huang Xu: "My master has a full head of white hair. Whenever he comes to see us, he changes his appearance each time, so I don't know what he really looks like."
Mentioning a head of white hair, the first thought that came to He Zhiran's mind was Yun Li's description of ever-youthful white hair.
She pressed on, "Does your master appear with ever-youthful white hair?"
Huang Xu: "He has only shown up once with ever-youthful white hair. The other two times he took on the form of a woman and an elderly person respectively."
He Zhiran: "You don't even know his real looks. How do you confirm his identity then?"
Huang Xu: "My master has a token. We recognize him by the token."
After asking so much, it seemed there were hardly any useful clues, only confirmation that Mr. Si Meng was the person Lady Mo spoke about.
He Zhiran observed Huang Xu's hypnotized state, which currently showed no signs of fading. Since this was the case, she simply asked some other questions as well.
"The snake pits blocking the path to the mountain villa, did your group put them there?"
"It was us who placed them there." Huang Xu answered very readily.
"Why?" He Zhiran asked.
Huang Xu: "Before the new year, one of my junior apprentice brothers went out to buy supplies but never returned. Worried about the safety of the mountain villa, we put the snake pits there."
He Zhiran: "Who was controlling the snakes?"
Huang Xu: "It was my eldest senior apprentice brother."
He Zhiran: "Who is your eldest senior apprentice brother?"
Huang Xu: "It's the person who was with me."
He Zhiran: "What about the colorful frogs at the bottom of the well then?"
Huang Xu: "Those were all my eldest senior apprentice brother's precious pets."
He Zhiran: "So the well opening leads to your secret chamber?"
Huang Xu: "Yes."
He Zhiran: "How many other people are still inside the secret chamber now?"
Huang Xu: "Aside from one person being held captive, there are three more of my junior apprentice brothers there."
