Why do I have so many masters?-Chapter 424 - 96: An Encounter (1/2)
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Wang Anfeng had been standing on the Liu Pavilion, watching.
He watched the carriage disappear at the limit of his ocular power, and when even the dust kicked up by the departing wheels had settled, he finally withdrew his gaze. He tapped his chest lightly with his hand, unable to suppress a smile emerging on his face. He then turned around and walked toward the County City.
He walked slowly.
At this hour, it was still early, and there were not many people on the road. It was quiet. The winter-weathered Liuting stretched out for miles, and to him it now seemed to have its own unique scenery. Even the bare willow branches dancing in the wind appeared somewhat graceful.
A smile was on the youth’s face.
He felt that everything around him was very, very good.
This trip to Fufeng County City had been successful in every respect. He had made his way through the Fu Character Tower, met the girl he had been thinking about, and even Chuan Lian, who had nearly been caught in a mortal situation, had recovered from the strange poison.
As Gongsun Jing had said, it was a blessing in disguise.
For these two years, Chuan Lian was constantly fighting against the strange poison. Meng Yuexue often found fine medicinal herbs to help him suppress the toxicity, and now the exotic flower had turned into an aid for him. His strength was almost comparable to that of an ordinary Sixth Rank Martial Artist.
At the very least, Lao San Li was far from being his opponent. In a sparring match, he would be defeated in just over ten moves.
At this point, Wang Anfeng felt a sense of relief, his footsteps light. Without realizing it, he had already walked several miles. In the winter fog, the cold light reflected off the weapons in the hands of the armored soldiers could already be seen clearly. Although the days were shorter in winter and dawn came later, there were still quite a few people in the city just starting to get up, but these soldiers had already been standing guard for a while.
Such hard work... I wonder if they have eaten?
Come to think of it, I should have prepared some breakfast to take with me and have Miss Xue bring it...
Wang Anfeng exhaled a white breath, his thoughts wandering aimlessly. Suddenly, he heard the urgent sound of horse hooves, continuous and approaching from the direction of Fufeng County City.
The youth stepped aside and stood by the roadside, curious in his heart.
In the cold of winter, the days were much shorter than in summer, and dawn broke later. It wasn’t yet fully bright, and there were few people on the road, especially with the sound of these urgent horse hooves suggesting that the rider was in quite a hurry. He wondered what had happened. As his mind wandered aimlessly, several riders had already pierced through the thin mist from the direction of Fufeng County City.
The horses were fine black steeds, without a single blemish.
The riders were dressed in a red vigorous attire with sabers slung at their waists.
Great Qin Broad Sabers.
In the chill of the early morning, man and horse seemed like a flare of fire, moving with a fierce momentum. The wisps of fog were forced apart by the powerful wind generated by their swift charge, rolling back behind them. The steeds’ manes were flying, and although they galloped fast, there was a sense of composure about them.
Wang Anfeng looked up at the face of the man on the horse, and his initially indifferent expression paused for a moment.
In that instant, the strong horse had already sped past Wang Anfeng. The young man riding the horse also saw the youth standing by the roadside, looked slightly startled, unconsciously pulling the reins a bit harder. The black steed, feeling the tug, reared up with a long neigh, its front hooves pawing the air several times before crashing heavily back onto the ground with two thuds. The horse shook its head uncomfortably, snorting twice.
The rider calmed the horse down and dismounted, holding the reins in one hand, and looked at Wang Anfeng, noticing the young man’s hair dampened by the morning dew. A smile appeared on his face as he said,
"Anfeng? What are you doing here?"
"And by yourself, no less."
Wang Anfeng opened his mouth, found the situation too complicated for explanation, and simply replied,
"I was seeing off a friend..."
He paused, adding silently in his mind.
Mm, for now, still just a friend.
He then looked back at the man in front of him, who was dressed in the vermilion clothes of a patrol officer with a saber at his waist, none other than Yan Ling. His curiosity piqued, he said,
"But as for you, Yan Big Brother, why did you suddenly leave Fufeng City? I thought you were supposed to be working with the Ministry of Punishment inside Fufeng County City..."
The Ministry of Punishment in Great Qin had a strict system, and unless there was some special circumstance, each jurisdiction only managed its own affairs, rarely leaving. By rights, Yan Ling should now be at the Ministry of Punishment in Fufeng, registering his attendance, or he would risk having his salary docked.
Yan Ling sighed and said,
"There’s no harm in telling you about it."
"A challenging case has emerged in one of the counties surrounding Fufeng. The local county official handled it and reported it up to the county city. As it happened, I was supposed to review it, but I’ve found several issues with the case over the past few days. It doesn’t seem as straightforward as the reports claimed, so I decided to take another look myself in that county city."
"There are details the local patrol officers must have overlooked."
Great Qin was known for its harsh laws that governed the land. To prevent wrongful judgments in legal cases, any case that reached a certain severity had to be reviewed. Cases involving execution by beheading or hanging, for example, had to be reported to the Heavenly Capital, where the head of the Ministry of Punishment would personally peruse the files to ensure no details had been missed. After that, the case would be presented to the Emperor who would personally stamp the imperial seal before the sentence could be carried out.
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And, part of Yan Ling’s position involved reviewing such cases.
He had the authority to reject a case and request a re-examination or personally investigate the crime scene if he doubted the local patrol officer’s ability. Clearly, he had decided to examine the scene himself. However, since he was part of this case’s process, he would lose his authority to review this case further.
As he spoke, the young man’s brows slightly furrowed and he said,
"This situation should have been dealt with earlier, but it was delayed after hearing news of the Imperial Grandson’s inspection. All sorts of tasks piled up, and it wasn’t until I reviewed the case files yesterday that I found some errors and omissions beyond the original three points of doubt."
"If the Imperial Grandson’s visit delays things further, I’m afraid this case might never be resolved."
Wang Anfeng’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he looked at Yan Ling, asking,
"’Might never be resolved’ if there’s further delay? Could it mean that..."
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There are many things in this world that violate the law, but there is only one type of case that becomes difficult to judge over time, and even impossible to solve.
Yan Ling’s eyebrows were tightly knitted as he nodded slightly.
"Homicide."
...............
Fufeng County City.
Taking advantage of the early hours with no trivial matters to attend to, Li Changxing changed out of his bright yellow brocaded attire, donning an ink-colored robe and a jade pendant around his waist, grasping a longsword in hand, as he stealthily scaled the outer wall of the Imperial Family’s courtyard.
Landing on the ground, the youth leaned against the wall, his heart almost leaping out of his throat as he heard the clear sound of armor clashing from the Great Qin Imperial Guards moving past within; only when the noise had faded into the distance did a sense of self-satisfaction and pride well up from deep within him.
At last, he had made it out...
He looked up at the gradually awakening city of Xiong Wu, feeling an indescribable joy in his heart.
He had carefully inquired about the Imperial Guards’ shift changes.
He influenced the distribution of guard intensity among the Great Qin Imperial Guards with casual remarks.
Then he deceived Li Sheng, pretending to be tired in the past few days, wanting to rest a day or two...
All these factors combined allowed him to accomplish this feat. For a youth of merely eleven, constantly watched, it was enough to puff out his chest with pride, an act he would never regret even if it meant being punished later by his father and confined to the study.
Li Changxing put aside the distracting thoughts in his mind, straightened his Confucian robe, and holding his longsword, stepped into the crowd; he had things he intended to do. In fact, he had many things he wanted to do. Looking left and right, he raised his hand to hail a carriage.
The carriage was driven by a hearty man in his thirties, a masterful driver, as the two tired horses came to a steady stop.
Seeing Li Changxing, the man’s sharp eyes took in the fine quality of the youth’s clothes, discerning that he must be from a noble clan, and so he was very respectful, saying with a smile:
"Young master, would you like a ride?"
The man’s Mandarin carried a heavy Fufeng accent, and it took a moment for Li Changxing to register his words. This was his first time dealing with such matters personally, his first encounter with people outside the Imperial Palace, and he felt both a thrill and a slight fear. Lifting his head, he nodded faintly, putting on an air of composure, and said:
"Yes, to Fufeng Academy."
Fufeng Academy was quite a distance from there, delight filled the man’s heart at the prospect of good fare. His smile deepened with eagerness as he said:
"Alright, young master, it’s exactly on the way, please get on..."
Li Changxing nodded, showing a bit of his light-body skills as he jumped onto the carriage, a deliberate display to prevent the man from harboring any ill intentions, seeing that he was young and possibly leading him on a wild chase around Fufeng County City with the pretext of conning him out of his money. Indeed, upon seeing Li Changxing’s skill, the man’s demeanor became even more deferential.
The youth felt smug in his heart, lifted the carriage curtain, ready to get inside, but then it struck him that outside the palace, everything cost money and he couldn’t let the man think he was relying on his martial skills to intimidate him.
So he turned back to the driver, pulled a five-tael yuanbao from his bosom, and tossed it to the man.
Watching the driver’s stunned expression, the young master nodded curtly, saying:
"For the fare."
Only then did he climb into the carriage. Despite the sour smell of sweat inside, Li Changxing felt a sense of exhilaration. Reflecting on his actions just now, he thought, yes, a balance of kindness and authority, quite well done indeed...
A smug smile played on the corners of the youth’s mouth.
On the coach box, the driver held the large yuanbao, looking from it to the carriage with a blank expression.
What just happened?
Such a large amount of money?
Could it be fake?
He examined the yuanbao and instinctively bit down on it.
Not far away, Li Sheng stood smilingly on a pavilion, watching as the driver snapped out of his dazed state and secretively pocketed the silver, noted the increasingly earnest look on his face, and the carriage as it drove away.
Beside him, a middle-aged man furiously sketched, and in an instant he had completed a scroll depicting the scene that just unfolded, with special emphasis on enlarging the yuanbao in the youth’s hand, making it look even bigger and more generous.
Li Sheng took the scroll, examining it up and down, and nodded in satisfaction.
This was a task specifically instructed by His Majesty just before departure—should the Imperial Grandson wish to slip out, they were not to stop him. Just ensure to record his foolish deeds. Since it was an imperial command, he committed himself fully to it, remarking:
"Well drawn."
"Pack it up."
The painter respectfully agreed, rolling up and securing the scroll. Li Sheng lightly touched down onto the street and followed the carriage at an unhurried pace.
With each step he took, he would sweep a distance of more than a yard. The speed wasn’t particularly fast for a martial artist, but the strange thing was that the passerby seemed to notice nothing out of the ordinary.
Li Sheng watched the carriage ahead slowing down, his mind filled with scattered thoughts.
Should he make a deal with the driver after a while and get that silver back?
Then present it alongside this scroll as a gift? Surely, by the time the Imperial Grandson had grown up and saw these items, recalling the time he used five taels of silver for the carriage fare would make for an interesting expression on his face.
Joy spread across the man’s face.
PS; presenting the first chapter of the day...
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