Chapter 197: Chapter 122: A Way to Make Money

The Prison was still the same familiar Prison—gloomy and dim, the air filled with the foul stench of mold and decay.

The death row section was the same as always. Most of the cells were empty, with only a few holding prisoners. These inmates were dressed in rags, covered in wounds, and huddled shivering in the corners of their cells.

Chen Cheng walked forward slowly, his steps light so as not to disturb the prisoners. He arrived at the cell that had once held Master Xiu Chen, only to find it completely empty. There wasn’t a soul in sight.

Chen Cheng frowned and checked each cell carefully, but he still couldn’t find Master Xiu Chen.

’Could Master Xiu Chen have been executed after the autumn assizes?’ Realizing this was a possibility, Chen Cheng gave a slight shake of his head.

He hadn’t come looking for Master Xiu Chen to settle an old score or to make him suffer. He simply wanted to see him, like visiting an old friend, and exchange a few words.

The feeling was a bit strange, but it was what Chen Cheng truly felt. Subconsciously, he’d always believed that Master Xiu Chen was no ordinary person.

With a face more beautiful than that of a peerless belle and possession of an incomplete Inner Breath Method for the Iron Armor Skill, Master Xiu Chen had to have many stories to tell.

’I was too rash just now. I should have asked the Prison Guards first.’

Thinking this to himself, Chen Cheng left the death row section and found a Prison Guard he knew, Li Hongbing, from whom he inquired about Master Xiu Chen.

It turned out that several months ago, before Shen Qingshuang had taken office as the Chief of the South City Guard, Master Xiu Chen had been taken away by people sent from on high.

No one in the entire Prison, including Prison Chief Cheng Rui, knew who had given the order, so naturally, no one knew where Master Xiu Chen had gone.

Chen Cheng couldn’t be bothered to inquire further, so he simply put the matter out of his mind.

Prison Chief Cheng Rui certainly was capable. In just over a quarter of an hour, he had interrogated all the prisoners Chen Cheng had brought in.

Everyone confessed. Their statements were recorded, and they all signed and fingerprinted them. The content of the confessions was exactly what Chen Cheng wanted. The criminals had not only acted under the instructions of the Flying Thief Ren Fei, but they had also been given the go-ahead by Li Hu, the Gang Leader of the Tiger and Leopard Gang, which was why they dared to commit theft in the Qingshui Pier area.

Furthermore, the confessions of several others mentioned they had heard Ren Fei say that the massacre of Gentry Zhang’s family was carried out by Li Hu’s men.

In the duty room, Cheng Rui waited cautiously to the side. Only after Chen Cheng finished reading all the confessions did he ask with a sycophantic smile, "Mr. Chen, are the prisoners’ confessions missing anything?"

"The confessions are very complete," Chen Cheng said with a slight nod.

Looking at the obsequious Cheng Rui before him, he couldn’t help but feel curious. The man’s transformation over the past year was truly immense.

Of course, what Chen Cheng found curious wasn’t Cheng Rui’s fawning attitude, but the fact that he had become much more muscular. His entire disposition had changed from its previous gloomy, stern, and unsmiling state to one brimming with masculine energy.

Chen Cheng’s gaze involuntarily drifted to the bulging "Money Bag" in the inner pocket of Cheng Rui’s trousers.

It seemed not many people had successfully practiced the Red Sun Root Technique, which he himself had abridged, adapted, and haphazardly written back then.

The craze for practicing this Cultivation Technique had only lasted two or three months before it became rare to see anyone cultivating it.

Yet Cheng Rui had persisted with it until now. ’Could it be that he actually succeeded?’

"Er..." Noticing Chen Cheng’s gaze, Cheng Rui quickly gave an embarrassed laugh and explained, "Mr. Chen, this is my Money Bag. Don’t mind the bulge; it’s actually just full of copper coins.

A man’s got to carry a bit of cash to keep up appearances, you know."

’An explanation is just a cover-up!’ Chen Cheng didn’t expose the lie. After a moment’s thought, he took a ten-tael silver note from his robes and handed it to Cheng Rui.

"Mr. Cheng, my thanks for the hard work you and the brothers in the Prison put in."

Having started as a lowly Little Prison Guard, Chen Cheng naturally understood the unwritten rules. Cheng Rui and his men had put in a lot of effort, bustling about to interrogate the prisoners, so they deserved a little silver for their trouble.

If he were stingy, even if Cheng Rui and the Prison Guards didn’t dare complain openly, they would be unhappy. The next time he needed them for something, they wouldn’t be as dedicated.

To put it bluntly, if you want the horse to run, you have to feed it some grass.

Ten taels of silver was nothing to Chen Cheng, just a drop in the bucket. But in Cheng Rui’s eyes, it was a completely different story. Ten taels was no small sum. He toiled away in the Prison, scraping money together, and rarely managed to get his hands on so much silver.

As the saying goes, one should see a scholar in a new light after three days of separation. How long had it been since Chen Cheng left the Prison? Yet he was already so generous. He was really doing too well for himself!

"Mr... Mr. Chen, this is a bit much, isn’t it?" Cheng Rui demurred with a smile, but his hand was anything but polite as it accepted the silver note. "In that case, on behalf of the brothers, I thank you for the reward, Mr. Chen."

"It’s nothing, it’s nothing! I have urgent business to attend to, so I won’t disturb you any longer." Chen Cheng waved his hand, preparing to leave with the confessions.

Cheng Rui eagerly tried to curry more favor, saying, "Is Mr. Chen planning to arrest the criminals? If you’re short on manpower, my brothers and I can lend a hand."

Chen Cheng had gotten these confessions, wasn’t the next step to take down the Tiger and Leopard Gang? Taking down a Jianghu Gang, how much silver would that haul in? Cheng Rui’s enthusiastic offer of help was just a ploy to earn some more pocket money.

"Thank you for the kind offer, Mr. Cheng, but I have plenty of men. I won’t trouble you and the brothers from the Prison." Chen Cheng politely declined and strode out of the duty room.

"Mr. Chen, I’ll see you out!" Cheng Rui hastily tucked the silver note carefully into his robes and enthusiastically escorted him.

A crowd of Prison Guards also gathered around, seeing Chen Cheng all the way to the Prison’s main gate.