Prefect Wang borrowed a side courtyard from the Long family to serve as a temporary interrogation room. He quickly determined that the crafting of the ship model and presenting it as a gift had been entirely handled by Chen Liuru from start to finish. Before Chen Liuru left home, he had carefully inspected the ship model, and at that time, there was no small golden snake inside the ship. Since then, only two people had touched the brocade box containing the ship model: Chen Liuru himself and Chen Laozhong, the old Chen family servant who had been holding the box behind him throughout the banquet. At a previous birthday feast, someone had attempted to switch another person’s birthday gift, so this time, everyone guarded their family’s birthday gifts very carefully. Chen Laozhong swore on oath that from the moment the banquet began and the sixth young master handed him the brocade box, it had never left his hands.
That said, it seemed no petty thief could have the ability to secretly infiltrate the Lotus Clarity Garden and place a small snake in the ship model inside the brocade box under the very noses of the Long family guards, the Yun siblings, Meng Jianqing, and the Quanzhou Prefecture bailiffs, could they?
Could there be ghosts and spirits at work in secret?
Prefect Wang’s head was spinning.
Meng Jianqing quietly entered.
When Prefect Wang saw him, his eyes couldn’t help but light up. He silently cursed himself for being so stupid, having an Imperial Guard captain right here and not knowing how to ask for help. Interrogating criminals was precisely these people’s specialty.
Meng Jianqing said in a low voice: “Magistrate Wang, please send someone immediately to search Chen Laozhong’s home and detain his family members first.”
From his tone, Prefect Wang could tell he suspected Chen Laozhong. Though puzzled, he still held the attitude of “better safe than sorry” and sent someone to handle it. He then turned to Meng Jianqing: “Captain Meng, I’ll have to rely heavily on you this time.” He turned and shouted: “Come! Set up a seat for Captain Meng. Everyone here follows his instructions. This official will first go to console Young Master Wen and Miss Long!”
Prefect Wang smiled as he tossed this hot potato to Meng Jianqing.
Meng Jianqing first separated Chen Liuru and Chen Laozhong. When Chen Laozhong saw Meng Jianqing’s expression, he somehow became frightened and involuntarily shivered, though he could still stubbornly stick to his earlier story.
Meng Jianqing stared at him coldly: “You’re an old servant of the Chen family, and also considered clever and reliable, otherwise you wouldn’t have been trusted to hold such an important item tonight. How could such a clever and reliable old servant not understand that only by insisting the brocade box left your hands during the banquet would there be a chance to find someone else as the culprit, a chance to clear your suspicions?”
Chen Laozhong fell to his knees with a “thud,” his old face streaming with tears as he cried: “My lord, this humble one only knows to speak the truth. How could I think of so many things!”
Meng Jianqing smiled slightly: “How strange—under heaven, there’s such an honest servant who, for the sake of telling one truth, not only doesn’t want his own life but also drags his master along to die. When has the Long family ever suffered such a loss? That group of Long family guards who don’t understand royal law probably don’t quite grasp the saying ‘grievances have their source, debts have their creditor’ either. They’ll most likely take out their anger on the entire Chen family.”
Chen Laozhong’s body began to tremble uncontrollably. Local Quanzhou people weren’t unaware of how terrifying those Long family guards were—otherwise, why would no bandits dare to target the Long family?
Meng Jianqing deliberately added: “There’s also Wen Ruhai. He’s the person I’m responsible for protecting. If something happens to him, what do you think I’ll do?”
Chen Laozhong, tremblingly raised his head and saw that kind of smile on Meng Jianqing’s face, immediately wishing he had never looked up.
Meng Jianqing suddenly waved his hand, and a long rope shot out. In the blink of an eye, Chen Laozhong was bound so tightly he couldn’t breathe. Meng Jianqing’s right hand flicked up, and the rope end in his hand flew over a crossbeam and came back down. He caught it with his other hand and pulled hard. Chen Laozhong was already hanging upside down.
Meng Jianqing tied the rope end securely to a pillar.
The four bailiffs watching from the side were completely awed. Even these experienced hands at binding people didn’t necessarily have Meng Jianqing’s skill—his binding was so swift and secure…
Meng Jianqing said, “Watch him carefully, but don’t get close.”
Chen Liuru was in the next room, guarded by two bailiffs and two Long family guards.
When Meng Jianqing sat down, Yun Yanran also entered, waving his hand to dismiss all the others before cupping his hands toward Meng Jianqing: “Captain Meng, please proceed with the interrogation. I’m here to observe.”
Chen Liuru sat in his chair with a pallid complexion but still composed expression. He looked up at Yun Yanran: “May I ask Brother Yun, how is Miss Long now?”
Yun Yanran replied: “The poison has been controlled. She should be fine.”
Meng Jianqing stared at Chen Liuru, who was greatly relieved: “What kind of snake was that? How could it be so formidable?”
Chen Liuru smiled bitterly: “If I knew, I would tell you honestly. It seems you both believe I did this?”
Meng Jianqing asked in return: “Didn’t you do it?”
Chen Liuru looked at Meng Jianqing for a long time before saying, “Captain Meng is a reasonable person. You should ask: if I did this, why would I do such a thing?”
Meng Jianqing smiled: “If you didn’t do it, then who do you think would do such a thing, and for what reasons?”
Chen Liuru was stunned: “This seems like it should be the government’s business.”
Meng Jianqing said blandly, “Aren’t I trying to find the culprit right now?”
Chen Liuru pondered for a moment and said, “I can’t figure out why Chen Laozhong would say that, putting me in a deadly situation, and also putting the Chen family and himself in a deadly situation.”
Meng Jianqing smiled slightly. It seemed this Chen Liuru’s mind worked quite quickly—he had rapidly found the key point.
Meng Jianqing asked: “What’s Chen Laozhong’s background?”
Chen Liuru replied: “He’s a local Quanzhou man. When young, due to family poverty, he came to serve our family. It’s been nearly twenty years now, and he’s always been loyal and reliable. His family now only has one son and two granddaughters. I’ve met them many times, and there’s nothing unusual about them.”
If someone controlled his son and granddaughters, forcing him to do this, Meng Jianqing immediately rejected his speculation. That golden snake, so supernatural yet so fierce and terrifying, could only be controlled by its master or someone skilled in snake training—
With this thought, Meng Jianqing suddenly felt something was wrong. From next door came Chen Laozhong’s shouts and the bailiffs’ screams.
He rushed over and saw Chen Laozhong breaking through the window to escape.
Meng Jianqing had no time to attend to the bailiffs rolling on the ground in agony or the rope that had snapped inch by inch. He leaped up in pursuit.
Chen Laozhong threw several small snakes behind him without looking back, fully expecting this would surely delay his pursuer enough for him to escape.
But Meng Jianqing, while vaulting through the window, stepped on the windowsill with his left foot for leverage and bounded up with a shout. His short blade left his hand, cutting through the night sky as it slashed down.
The blade’s qi split the air, crackling like lightning. Those small snakes were shattered by the blade qi, and the thin, sharp, short blade struck directly toward Chen Laozhong’s back. Where it passed, there was a sizzling sound, and countless tiny sparks seemed to flash in the air.
Chen Laozhong didn’t even have time to cry out before falling heavily to the ground. The short blade was deeply embedded in his back, nearly splitting his entire back in half.
Meng Jianqing threw out his rope hook to catch the blade handle, and while retrieving the blade, he slashed with the momentum, cutting Chen Laozhong’s hamstring tendons so he could no longer escape.
One of Meng Jianqing’s guards arrived just then carrying a large wine jar. Meng Jianqing grabbed the wine jar and threw it out. The jar smashed on the struggling, crawling Chen Laozhong, breaking and spilling wine. The pungent smell of realgar immediately filled the night air.
Drenched with realgar wine, the various insects and vermin hidden on Chen Laozhong’s body fled in panic.
Meng Jianqing quickly retreated several zhang away. Though this retreat was unnecessary, while the insects were ignorant, they could still sense where the sharp, frost-like blade qi was located. How would they dare approach him? Each avoided him as if their lives depended on it.
Meng Jianqing called out softly: “Dislocate all his joints!”
Another extraordinarily burly guard strode over, grabbed Chen Laozhong like an eagle seizing a chicken, and with swift, decisive movements, there was a continuous crackling sound. In the blink of an eye, he had dislocated every joint in Chen Laozhong’s body. Chen Laozhong lay on the ground like a soft snake, and because his jaw had also been dislocated, his mouth hung wide open, gasping for air.
Meng Jianqing called out again: “Apply medicine, then the iron caltrops!”
After the two guards applied wound medicine to Chen Laozhong and bandaged his injuries, they pulled out the fine iron chains covered with barbs that they carried with them and bound Chen Laozhong up again. The barbs interlocked ring by ring—without expert hands, they would be nearly impossible to remove. Now Chen Laozhong couldn’t escape, and even dying would be extremely difficult.
The two guards grasped the clasps at the end of the iron caltrops and dragged Chen Laozhong back to the room, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground behind them.
Yun Yanran, with his left hand gripping Chen Liuru’s neck, had also chased out and witnessed the entire scene completely.
Chen Liuru felt his back go cold. He had always known the Imperial Guard was fearsome, but he never imagined they could be this terrifying.
Meng Jianqing turned to look at Chen Liuru: “What exactly is Chen Laozhong?”
Chen Liuru couldn’t speak.
Now he truly didn’t know what kind of person this servant who had stayed honestly in the Chen family for nearly twenty years was.