He Lingchuan asked her, “What kind of temperament does Fu Songhua have?”

“He doesn’t talk much. He doesn’t like socializing, and h-he doesn’t like smiling either. But he’s sharp, and he has his own mind.”

“How was he arrested a few days ago?”

“It was hot. He came home and drank two bowls of sour plum drink, then took a nap. Then people suddenly rushed in from outside. M-mas... Fu Songhua jumped the wall to escape. Right after that, I heard fighting and shouting outside. Not long after, someone came in and said Fu Songhua had been captured, and that we were all accomplices and w-we were all going to jail!”

“After you were brought in, have you seen Fu Songhua again?”

Lady Li shook her head.

“Who else is in his household?”

“I, I don’t know. I’ve never seen his family, and I’ve never heard him mention them,” answered Lady Li. “After he finishes socializing outside, he usually comes straight home. These past few years, he hasn’t taken any more concubines.”

“You don’t know anything about his parents, brothers, wife, or children?”

“I asked about it before, but he only said that his parents died long ago, he has no brothers, and he never married. If I asked more, he’d get impatient and annoyed with me.”

Baishajue was a perfect place for recuperation. Many powerful people bought land here and kept an extra concubine on the side. That concubine typically had no contact with their family back home, simply serving the man in Baishajue.

If Fu Songhua had done the same, it would not be strange at all.

He Lingchuan leaned slightly forward and lowered his voice. “Fu Songhua has confessed. Do you understand what that means?”

Lady Li shook her head. Since being thrown into jail, she had been completely lost. She only knew from the constables’ scattered remarks that Fu Songhua had committed a grave crime.

“Lingxu City has always dealt harshly with enemy-state spies who cause trouble. Beheading is the lightest sentence, and anyone connected to them gets implicated. You won’t live either.”

Lady Li’s face went as white as paper. She froze, struck dumb with terror.

“So think carefully. Does he have any relatives at all? Even the tiniest trace will do.”

With her life on the line, Lady Li finally squeezed her brain dry.

After a long while, she said, “Twice, he wasn’t in Baishajue for the New Year. I don’t know where he went. I asked, and he said he was traveling for trade, but his managers were still in the city.”

The New Year was a time for reunion. At the very least, it was not an occasion to spend alone.

“Good, what else?”

Lady Li thought again, then added, “My maid, A’Mei, saw Fu Songhua buying things on the street twice. Once he bought pine nut sugar cakes—the kind kids like. Another time, he bought two toys, and they weren’t cheap. I thought he was using them to curry favor with merchants’ children, but thinking back, maybe...?”

Maybe Fu Songhua had been buying for his own child.

Lady Li had nothing more to offer. Before the jailer led her away, she begged desperately for her life.

He Lingchuan could only tell her that he would do his best.

Next, he interrogated the steward or manager of Fu Songhua’s business.

From that, he learned that Fu Songhua’s main business was aquatic produce. With all the lakes, rivers, streams, and inlets around Baishajue, fish and shellfish were abundant. Demand in Baishajue and its surroundings was strong as well. Naturally, intermediaries were needed to move the catch from fishermen’s docks to city tables. In the city, merchants who dealt in fresh goods like this were a dime a dozen.

Beyond that, Fu Songhua had a few side ventures to hedge against the off-season. Among them were oil products and herbs, but only in small quantities, at least that was how the manager described it.

Across all of Baishajue, there were at least three to five hundred people doing those three kinds of businesses.

The three merchants who had close dealings with Fu Songhua further confirmed the manager’s testimony.

He Lingchuan also asked the manager, “You often travel with Fu Songhua on business?”

“Yes. Over the last seven years, I’ve frequently gone out with him.”

“Where does he go most often?” He Lingchuan raised a hand to stop him from launching into a long answer. “In the last few years, where has he gone to most frequently?” 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The manager did not think much before answering, “That should be Shalun Town, which is about thirty kilometers away. We go three or four times a year. No other place we visit that often.”

“What do you go there for?”

“To buy supplies. Shalun Town produces white lacquer, which is something that prevents rot.”

He Lingchuan thought, then asked, “When you go to Shalun Town, do you always stay at the same inn?”

“Yes, Dazhao Inn. There’s another inn closer to the raw material source, but Fu Songhua said Dazhao Inn is quieter. I used to think he was trying to save money.”

He Lingchuan asked one last question, “While staying at Dazhao Inn, does he ever act alone?”

“He does. When he socializes with merchants, he doesn’t always bring me.”

He Lingchuan was done with his line of questioning.

After the prisoners were taken away, he stared at the jail wall opposite him, lost in thought.

The magistrate of Baishajue County had already run into a few hard walls with him and did not dare make a sound.

After a long while, He Lingchuan suddenly asked, “After Zhongsun Mou arrived in Baishajue, which local households has he been in closest contact with?”

The magistrate jumped. “How would this lowly official dare to tail Lord Zhongsun’s movements?”

“I think you would.” He Lingchuan fixed him with a stare. “If you didn’t have eyes and ears all over the city, how did you notice the Touring Commissioner the moment he stepped onto your turf?”

Zhongsun Mou might be arrogant, but he still had to do his job. He could not possibly arrive somewhere and immediately shout his identity from the rooftops.

Baishajue had countless outsiders. How did the magistrate recognize a touring commissioner from Lingxu City the instant he appeared?

The magistrate waved his hands frantically. “Ah, how could this lowly official possibly have that kind of ability?”

“If you don’t, then who does?” He Lingchuan looked at him with deliberate weight. “County Magistrate Tian, have you still not learned to tell who is inside and who is outside? When the Son of Heaven is enraged, neither Zhongsun Mou nor the city’s powerful nobles can shield you!”

The warning in his words was unmistakable, and the magistrate now found himself caught between a rock and a hard place.

Fine, if a blade awaits me whether I stick my neck out or pull it in, then I might as well survive the immediate moment first. He drew a quiet breath before saying, “It was the wealthy and powerful from Lingxu City who discovered the Touring Commissioner’s whereabouts first. The news spread through Baishajue within days. So these past few days, Lord Zhongsun has been busy with official matters and social obligations. He’s stretched too thin.”

He Lingchuan’s eyes flickered. “I’ve heard high officials from Lingxu City also stay in Baishajue?”

“Yes.” Every official in the city outranks me. Being a county magistrate here is no easy job.

“And those figures of influence all like to live in the city’s northwest?”

“Yes, all of the figures of influence prefer that area. It has beautiful scenery and clean air.” As the saying goes, out of the bustle, back to the peace.

He Lingchuan’s expression turned thoughtful. “What kinds of businesses do these aristocratic families usually run?”

“As long as it makes money in the State of Chiyan, they probably have a hand in it. They have money and connections, after all.” The magistrate’s face twisted miserably. “As for specifics, this lowly official wouldn’t dare to pry.”

“You wouldn’t dare pry, but you’ve certainly heard things. Come, come, here’s a brush. Just write everything you can.” He Lingchuan shoved blank paper and brush toward him. “Don’t be afraid. There’s no one else here, and I promise you that I won’t let it leak.”

The paper and ink had originally been prepared for Lady Li and the other suspects.

In the end, the magistrate was the one who used them.

County Magistrate Tian gripped the brush like it was a red-hot iron. He knew resistance was useless, so he wrote at speed.

Across from him, He Lingchuan pressed, “Be thorough. The more thorough, the better.”

It looked as if County Magistrate Tian were writing his own confession.

In moments, he filled two large sheets.

He set the brush down, pushed the papers forward, and spoke softly, “Please review them, Lord Envoy.”

He Lingchuan lifted them and read carefully, asking as he did, “You’re sure nothing’s missing?”

“Well, in haste, it may not be complete...”

The magistrate expected a rebuke. Instead, He Lingchuan smiled. “No matter. I asked in haste. If you remember more later, come to me anytime to fill the gaps.”

County Magistrate Tian was the one startled now. “Y-yes. Yes.”

“What I asked you today must not be spoken of outside.”

County Magistrate Tian nodded rapidly. “Of course. Of course!” I’d be delighted if it never left this room.

He Lingchuan then turned to the tiger sprawled on the ground, his face full of cheer. “Old Jiao, have you been tired, running around with me all this way?”

Jiao Yu was used to his manner and did not even blink. “What do you want me to do? Just say it.”

“I need you to run an urgent errand.” He Lingchuan leaned close and whispered into its ear.

The Baishajue magistrate did not dare eavesdrop. He even stepped back two paces to avoid suspicion.

He only saw the tiger’s ears twitch nonstop, perhaps due to He Lingchuan leaning far too close.

When He Lingchuan finally finished, the tiger nodded briskly. “Alright, I’ll go right away.” It stood, arched its back in a long stretch, and strode out with the measured power of a tiger.

He Lingchuan watched its departing back and sighed with admiration. “Monsters are honest. They agree, then they go. No nonsense.”

The Baishajue magistrate felt personally targeted and could only keep smiling.

Only then did He Lingchuan rise and stretch lazily.

“Alright, fine me a place to stay, somewhere with good scenery.”

County Magistrate Tian let out a long breath. At last, something in his area of expertise!

* * *

Early the next morning, He Lingchuan went out to “tour the mountains and waters.”

He did not bother hiding his movements. Many wealthy nobles in the city heard the Crown Prince’s special envoy had arrived and sent visiting cards asking for an audience.

He Lingchuan had no time for social calls. He was about to throw them all away when, by chance, he spotted the signature on one card.

He slipped it into his robe and went out.

It was from a retired official of the State of Chiyan.

Baishajue, in a world already full of green mountains and clear waters, still managed to stand out. Sandbars as fine as snow, a placid lake where tens of thousands of birds gathered, icy springs that still exhaled cold breath even in the height of summer. It truly was a place made for long stays.

Today, County Magistrate Tian accompanied him again.

After soaking in the hot spring and stepping out, He Lingchuan adjusted his clothes.

“County Magistrate Tian, Baishajue’s scenery is exquisite. It truly does deserve its fame. But why is everything under repair? All that clanging and banging is really killing the mood.”

Along the way, he had seen at least two scenic spots under renovation, and one temple. Even three private mansions had craftsmen working through the heat of the midday sun.

Even the little hot-spring lodge they had just exited had a gatehouse being repaired. The main gate had just been freshly lacquered, and the smell still hung in the air.

“Lord Envoy, Baishajue is said to be where a hundred waters meet. Just in lakes alone, large and small, there are thirty-seven. There are also rivers, streams, ponds, and marshes. This spring and summer, we’ve had heavy rains, and the damp air eats away at wood. How could we not repair often? Otherwise, if rotten beams fall and injure someone, that’s trouble after trouble.” There are simply far too many prominent people here. If a flowerpot or a splinter of wood fell from above and struck someone, odds are that you’d hit wealth or rank.

He Lingchuan gave an “oh,” and said, “I want to go to Chao Lake Tower. How far is it?”

“It’s very close, about fifteen minutes on foot.” County Magistrate Tian recommended, “You can drink tea there and enjoy the view. It’s a very comfortable place.”

“Good, lead the way.”