It was not until evening that He Lingchuan and the tiger sauntered back to the inn, with Commander Lu beside them.

The two had been working together on the case these past few days and had seen each other often. They had just spent more than an hour drinking at a tavern, too, so naturally their relationship was in excellent shape.

What He Lingchuan had also keenly picked up on was that while everyone else was intimidated by the might of Lingxu City, Commander Lu, though he looked simple and straightforward, actually had no real room left for promotion. Because of that, he was willing to gamble, hoping to use this chance to fight for a way upward.

The five hundred men under his command were an important source of support for He Lingchuan.

Cen Boqing, of course, was not the type to sit around waiting here. He had long since left. But the inn was naturally crawling with the Cen Family's lookouts.

The moment He Lingchuan stepped into his room, he frowned.

The guest room was in mild disorder. It was not overturned from top to bottom like a storm had blown through, but there were traces everywhere of things having been searched and moved.

The man from this morning had found nothing, but had still wanted to brazenly declare that they had been here and, along the way, humiliate the Crown Prince’s special envoy a little.

Jiao Yu's right. These grandees from Lingxu City are far too arrogant.

He Lingchuan turned and called a servant over to tidy the room and bring hot water.

But before the water arrived, Cen Boqing did.

Who knew where he had been lying in wait before? He changed scenes very quickly.

This time, he did not bring anything like the grand show from earlier. He came with only two attendants and knocked on He Lingchuan’s door.

“He Xiao?” he said, standing there with his hands behind his back. “I am Cen Boqing.”

He Lingchuan smiled and said, “Lord Cen, please come in.”

The two seemed to have a tacit understanding between them not to mention the events of the morning.

Commander Lu was also present. When he saw Cen Boqing, he rose and saluted.

Cen Boqing waved a hand, sat down with effortless authority, and opened with no preamble at all, “You wrongfully arrested my household guards. I’ve come to take them back.”

“Wrongfully arrested?” He Lingchuan frowned. “I laid a trap to catch a wanted criminal. No one else came. Why did they jump in?”

“The wanted notices were posted all over the streets and alleys. They recognized her beneath Chao Lake Tower and wanted to do the right thing.” Cen Boqing did not so much as blink. “What’s wrong with that?”

“The order they received was to bring the person back. If they couldn’t, they were to execute her on the spot.” He Lingchuan stroked his chin. “Whose order was that?”

His gaze shifted behind Cen Boqing.

There stood a familiar face.

He Lingchuan recognized him at once. This is that wealthy merchant from Chao Lake Tower, one of the guests at those three tables.

So this is Uncle Wu?

“This is only a misunderstanding.” Cen Boqing sounded cool and unbothered. “What they heard was that they were to make every effort to capture the fugitive while ensuring their own safety. That woman was, after all, a habitual killer. My guards could hardly be expected to tie their own hands.”

“Oh? And who gave that order?”

Cen Boqing was beginning to lose patience. “That is what happened. My people were helping the authorities and enthusiastically trying to apprehend a suspect, yet Special Envoy He detained them instead. That is hardly reasonable, is it?”

“Lord Cen is wonderfully thorough. I have nothing to say.” He Lingchuan nodded to Commander Lu.

The latter immediately called out in a carrying voice, “Bring him in.”

Two soldiers led in a prisoner and released him on the spot.

Cen Boqing’s gaze darkened. “Why is there only one?”

“The other one was taken by the Crown Prince.” He Lingchuan spread his hands. “He’s already on the road to the capital under escort. If Lord Cen wants him back, I’m afraid you’ll have to write directly to the Crown Prince. My deepest apologies.”

In any case, Fushan Yue was not here, so He Lingchuan could say whatever he pleased.

Zhongsun Mou was right. This boy really is a slice of slippery meat—slick, shameless, and impossible to bite into cleanly. Cen Boqing gave a faint smile. “Special Envoy He handles cases with admirable decisiveness. I’ll be sure to write to the ruler of Chiyan and to Lingxu City in praise of it.”

Naturally, the words were meant the opposite way. He Lingchuan, however, took them at face value and laughed. “You flatter me.” He uses the same kind of threatening language as Zhongsun Mou, eh? Always dragging Lingxu City out to pressure people.

Cen Boqing rose. “Then I wish the Special Envoy success in solving the case and reaching the proper conclusion soon.”

With that, he turned and left with his attendants.

Only after his figure vanished around the corner of the street did Jiao Yu say irritably, “He took away the witness.”

No wonder He Lingchuan had avoided him that morning.

“With insufficient evidence, releasing him was only a matter of time. Keeping hold of Fu Songhua alone is already the limit.”

Commander Lu did not understand. “Doesn’t that mean all your previous effort was wasted?”

To be fair, the other side had already won one back.

He Lingchuan had taken Fu Songhua from them, and Zhongsun Mou and Cen Boqing had struck back at once.

He Lingchuan shook his head. “When I laid the trap at Chao Lake Tower, I never expected to succeed in one blow. What mattered was finding out who the enemy behind the curtain was.” Otherwise, they would remain hidden while I stood in the open, and that's just far too passive a position.

That mattered more than anything else.

“Now I know who they are, so those two prisoners aren’t useful anymore.”

* * *

Once he was seated in the carriage and the cabin doors were shut, Cen Boqing sat there in silence, his face dark. He lit a brazier of incense himself.

Neither Uncle Wu nor the guard who had just been rescued dared make a sound.

After a long while, Cen Boqing finally asked the guard, “After you were captured, what did you tell them?”

The moment those words were spoken, the guard dropped to his knees with a thud.

“This servant didn’t say half a word! It was Wu Fang! He was bewitched by them and confessed everything, point by point.”

Then he recounted the whole course of He Lingchuan’s interrogation.

After hearing it, Uncle Wu relaxed by half.

The two men had known very little. The clues they could give away were few and could not possibly be connected to Mr. Mai or to the courier case.

But Cen Boqing frowned and asked, “Did Wu Fang name Uncle Wu?”

“Yes... Yes, he did.”

Cen Boqing glanced at Uncle Wu. “This He fellow asked quite a few questions, and they were all about you. He may start watching you.”

Uncle Wu’s heart lurched. Without even thinking, he bowed and said, “Then this old servant should return to Lingxu City first. If I stay here, I fear the enemy may take advantage!”

Cen Boqing waved a hand. “So many matters are handled by you. So many people are connected through you. If you go back to Lingxu City, who is supposed to manage all those people and affairs for me?”

Uncle Wu hesitated.

Cen Boqing said flatly, “Just stay. Right now, the safest place is at my side. No matter how loose-mouthed that He fellow is, the people of Chiyan still don’t dare touch a hair on my head.”

“Yes.”

Cen Boqing smiled. “Alright then, has the reply from Lingxu arrived yet?”

“Not yet...” Uncle Wu had barely begun to answer when Cen Boqing’s gaze sharpened, and he suddenly drew a short sword and stabbed forward!

Uncle Wu saw only a flash of cold steel before him. Instinctively, he tried to dodge, but Cen Boqing moved too fast. The sword point swept past his chest and drove straight toward his side.

“Don’t move!”

Something leaped away from beneath Uncle Wu’s armpit.

It was tiny, and it jumped very well.

With a snap of his wrist, Cen Boqing threw the sword. It struck the carriage wall with a hard thock, and the hilt trembled without stopping.

Uncle Wu and the others fixed their eyes on it and only then saw that the sword had pinned down something no bigger than a fingernail.

This is... a spider?

“So that He really does have some means of eavesdropping.” Cen Boqing pulled out the blade and examined it. “This thing is hard to notice indeed. Luckily, Zhongsun Mou had already warned me.”

He pinched out the incense.

“I only went to visit He Xiao once, and he quietly slipped a little spy over here.” Cen Boqing said, “That boy takes a loss and immediately looks for a way to recoup it.”

Even with Zhongsun Mou’s warning, he still needed quite a while to spot the spider.

Fortunately, he had not said anything useful just now.

Then Cen Boqing added, “By the way, I heard your grandson has also come to Baishajue to visit. I had the kitchen prepare a few pastries. Go and collect them later.”

Uncle Wu answered yes at once. “Many thanks, Young Master.”

* * *

Suddenly, He Lingchuan let out a loud cry and clapped a hand over his eye.

Even Jiao Yu was startled, and Commander Lu asked repeatedly, “What happened?”

He Lingchuan rubbed at his eye hard and smiled bitterly. “A bit of eye pain. Nothing serious.”

Commander Lu made a noise of surprise. “Could those people have secretly attacked you?”

“It’s nothing.” But inwardly, He Lingchuan felt a pang of regret.

At that moment, he had been sharing vision with the eyeball spider, so Cen Boqing’s sword strike had felt as though it had stabbed straight into his own eye. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

That was also the last thing the poor little spider ever saw.

The tiny creature had been incredibly useful. Though He Lingchuan still had another one, there was no way he could send it out again now to eavesdrop on Cen Boqing, Zhongsun Mou, and the others.

Commander Lu still had business to attend to and soon took his leave as well.

Not long after, rapid footsteps clattered up the stairs. A child of six or seven years of age came running up and stood peering around the doorway of He Lingchuan’s room.

“What is it?”

The child held out a slip of paper. He Lingchuan did not even need to take it, as he read what was on it with a single glance.

There were only two words on it: Wu Kai.

That was the real name of Uncle Wu at Cen Boqing’s side.

He Lingchuan tossed the child a few copper coins. The child caught them and scampered off happily.

The tiger, who had seen the note too, asked curiously, “What does that mean?”

He Lingchuan smiled. “It means someone was afraid I might overlook Uncle Wu as an important lead, so they specially sent me a note to remind me.”

“Someone?” Jiao Yu shifted from lying down to standing up and gave itself a long stretch like a dog. “We’ve got other help too?”

“We followed the trail here to Baishajue, and that trail had a very clear direction to it. Do you remember?”

Jiao Yu stared, then said, “Wait, you mean this note was sent by Mr. Mai? Mai Xuewen?”

“If he could send us Records on Worshipping the Gods, then sending another scrap of paper isn’t much of a stretch.” He Lingchuan said slowly, “If it really was him, then he may be the third party in this case.”

“Mai Xuewen won’t deal with them himself, and instead wants to borrow our strength?”

“You’ve seen it too. Cen Boqing is not easy to handle,” said He Lingchuan. “I’m investigating this case under the banner of the Crown Prince’s special envoy, and I still feel constrained at every turn, running into obstacle after obstacle. Especially when facing Cen Boqing, I don’t have the slightest power to intimidate him.”

If anything, it was the opposite. Cen Boqing’s standing intimidated Chiyan’s officials.

“The clues he left behind in Shuanglu Town were obvious enough. But no matter how clever he is, he couldn’t have predicted that two separate parties would search his residence: me and Zhongsun Mou. And Zhongsun Mou not only took away most of the materials and clues, but he also went out of his way to obstruct things and forcibly redefined the whole case as a spy case.”

“Now he sees that I haven’t made much progress here, and that I even handed one prisoner back to Cen Boqing. So he’s getting anxious too.”

Jiao Yu narrowed its eyes. “In that case, Mai Xuewen is also in Baishajue?”

“He’s the one who stirred the pot, so of course he’d be in Baishajue. Otherwise, how would he witness what happens next with his own eyes?” He Lingchuan sighed. “But tracking someone down here is much harder than it was in Shuanglu Town.”

“He hides his head and shows only his tail, yet wants to tell us how to do things?” Jiao Yu gave a snort. “As if we don’t already know we need to keep a close eye on Wu Kai.”