When the Ministry of Justice officials heard Liu Gonggong’s words, they thought he was giving the young Constable Xu a hard time. With an attitude of schadenfreude, they decided that if Xu Qi An said anything wrong, they would immediately criticize him and make him lose face. Scholars are quite adept at conflict, just not in terms of physical strength.

The officials and constables of the magistrate’s office maintained an observant attitude, not caring what clues this reckless constable could provide. But to their surprise, they found that the magistrate was no longer distracted and had straightened his back slightly, actually adopting a posture of attentive listening.

Lü Qing said in a low voice, “Don’t you remember? It’s Xu Qi An, the Xu Qi An from the tax silver case.”

Reminded by her, the people from the magistrate’s office suddenly realized and remembered who Xu Qi An was.

No wonder the name sounded familiar earlier. It was the young assistant who had turned the tide in the tax silver case and solved the mystery of the fake silver.

Well, now he’s a constable in the Night Watchmen’s Office.

No wonder His Majesty personally appointed him as the lead official of the Night Watchmen’s Office… It was only at this point that the magistrate’s officials truly understood.

“Indeed, there have been some findings!” Xu Qi An nodded.

He originally didn’t want to say anything, because the Ministry of Justice and the magistrate’s office were both competitors, and there was no reason to share clues with these dogs.

But when he noticed the young eunuch taking notes, and the open discussion between the Ministry of Justice and magistrate’s office officials without regard for others, Xu Qi An suddenly realized that this might be an opportunity to perform.

To perform for His Majesty the Emperor.

Most likely, this record would be submitted for the Emperor’s review. Imagine, when Emperor Yuanjing finished reading the record and found that the Ministry of Justice and the magistrate’s office were actively discussing and providing clues, working hard to solve the case, while the Night Watchmen’s Office remained silent.

What would he think?

Although sharing information was a bit of a loss, the credit was already recorded on paper.

“Regarding Constable Lü’s speculation, I have a few questions,” Xu Qi An said methodically as everyone looked at him:

“I went to Sangbo this morning to check, and to destroy the entire Yongzhen Shanhe Temple and demolish the high platform would require an enormous amount of gunpowder.”

“Yes, what’s the problem?” Lü Qing had also inspected the scene at Sangbo.

“Here’s the issue,” Xu Qi An continued, “As you just said, gunpowder is a strategic resource that the court pays extremely close attention to, with various strict and comprehensive security and anti-theft measures. Smuggling out this much gunpowder would be incredibly difficult in itself, let alone erasing all traces of it.”

“What kind of person do you think could accomplish this?”

Lü Qing hesitated for a moment: “The Minister of Works, or the two Vice Ministers.”

Everyone was surprised, even the young eunuch who was taking notes paused for a moment.

Xu Qi An nodded: “If it were the Minister of Works and the two Vice Ministers, then everything would make sense. With their capabilities and resources, they can bribe court attendants or officials from the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Rites. However, wouldn’t that be too foolish?”

Lü Qing frowned: “You mean…”

Xu Qi An said: “Smuggling such a large amount of gunpowder, even if done very discreetly, wouldn’t stand up to thorough investigation. I believe those who have risen to the positions of ministers and vice ministers wouldn’t be so stupid.”

Lü Qing nodded: “If it’s not them, then besides the Ministry of Works, where else could provide so much gunpowder?”

Xu Qi An asked: “Is it possible that it was brought in from outside the city?”

Lü Qing shook her head: “Let’s not even talk about the outer city, the inner city collects an entry tax, and the soldiers guarding the city inspect the goods. The imperial city would be even more impossible. How could such an obvious thing as gunpowder be smuggled in? Unless what was brought in were the raw materials, not the gunpowder itself…”

Lü Qing and Xu Qi An were reasoning as if no one else was present, leaving no room for others to interject. Liu Gonggong didn’t rush them, patiently listening.

The young eunuch responsible for taking notes was writing at an increasingly rapid pace.

If it wasn’t gunpowder that was brought in, but the raw materials, among the ingredients for gunpowder, sulfur, and charcoal weren’t precious items, especially in winter when Beijing’s charcoal consumption was terrifying… but saltpeter was strictly controlled by the Great Feng… As Xu Qi An was pondering, a lightning bolt struck in his mind.

“Saltpeter mine!?” He widened his eyes, staring at Lü Qing.

The female constable’s delicate face froze for a moment, then she understood and exclaimed: “Saltpeter mine!!”

Both their faces were filled with shock. On the other side, Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao exchanged glances, their expressions slightly changing.

The four of them had personally inspected Dahuang Mountain and discovered a saltpeter mine there.

Lü Qing calmed her shocked emotions, various thoughts flashing through her mind, raising new questions: “If it was them, what about the nine missing people?”

Xu Qi An slowly said: “It’s simple, they’re framing others!”

Then he shook his head: “No, they’re diverting our attention, buying time to escape from the capital.”

Lü Qing nodded slightly: “Right, making us think the gunpowder came from the Ministry of Works, believing that spies had been planted within the court, shifting our investigation focus to the Ministry of Works, Ministry of Rites, and Ministry of Justice.”

Liu Gonggong frowned, realizing he was starting to lose track of the conversation between these two.

Except for the high-ranking Minister of Justice and Magistrate Chen, who remained expressionless, everyone else looked at each other in confusion, equally unable to understand what Xu Qi An and Lü Qing were talking about.

It felt like they had missed an episode.

Xu Qi An shook his head: “If that’s the case, there’s one point we can’t explain: how did they transport the gunpowder to Sangbo?”

Lü Qing said: “It’s simple, those nine missing officials were probably bribed, or they were coerced. I lean towards the former.”

That made sense. For the demon race to smuggle gunpowder into Sangbo, there must have been accomplices. Without insiders in the court, they couldn’t have done it.

Let’s put aside the traitors in the court for now; why did the demon race want to blow up Sangbo?

To be precise, they were after the sealed object beneath Sangbo. What use did this sealed object have for them?

As he was pondering this, he heard Lü Qing say: “I think we might have gotten off track because I just noticed a detail…”

The spirited female constable stared at Xu Qi An: “Of the nine missing people, three were court attendants, three from the Ministry of Rites, and three from the Ministry of Justice… How did they manage to smuggle in the gunpowder without their colleagues noticing?”

Xu Qi An wasn’t very clear about the procedures of the ancestral worship ceremony and hadn’t had the chance to inquire with the officials and attendants responsible for the cleanup, but hearing Lü Qing’s words, his heart stirred: “You mean, three people alone couldn’t have smuggled in the gunpowder without their colleagues noticing. Yes, why deliberately separate these nine people? If all nine were from the Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Justice, or court attendants, it might have been possible.”

Lü Qing smiled genuinely, quite charmingly.

This was what she admired most about Xu Qi An: his intelligence and ability to immediately grasp her meaning. Discussing matters with him wasn’t tiring; instead, it brought a sense of mutual understanding.

Xu Qi An said: “So, among those helping them, there must be others, and this person must have the ability to freely enter and exit the imperial city, or at least be able to send gunpowder into the imperial city…”

As he said this, Xu Qi An and Lü Qing exchanged glances again, remembering a case.

The case of the Jinwu Guard’s junior officer.

This case happened the day before the ancestral worship ceremony, and they had personally handled it.

The Jinwu Guard’s junior officer was silenced… Before being silenced, he had told his wife about planning to leave the capital with his family… He was on duty just before he died… Xu Qi An suddenly understood, connecting the saltpeter mine and Officer Liu Han’s case, it wasn’t difficult to deduce the truth.

The demon race drove away the grey households to mine saltpeter from Dahuang Mountain, making gunpowder to blow up the Yongzhen Shanhe Temple and release the sealed object in Sangbo.

The reason for using gunpowder was that the imperial palace was heavily guarded and couldn’t be forcibly entered, but gunpowder could be smuggled in undetected.

Whether it was the Director of the Imperial Observatory, the female National Preceptor of the Human Sect, or high-ranking martial artists in the imperial army, they could sense the intrusion of powerful beings but couldn’t detect the presence of an inanimate object like gunpowder.

Liu Han was just a junior officer and couldn’t smuggle gunpowder into the imperial city without his superiors knowing.

He was just an executor, and the one who instructed him was his superior, who also killed him to silence him.

Damn, the demon race’s actions were like putting a bra on an old sow – one scheme after another.

A brothel full of clients — orderly and well-organized.

As long as they arrested and interrogated Liu Han’s superior, the Jinwu Guard’s centurion, everything would be revealed!

Xu Qi An quickly locked onto a suspicious figure: Centurion Zhou!

Xu Qi An stood up, cleared his throat, and said: “Eunuch Liu, gentlemen, I have some business at the Ministry of Works, so I’ll take my leave now.”

His expression remained normal, his tone relaxed: “Night watchmen, come with me.”

He quickly withdrew with his people.

The officials present weren’t fools. Although Xu Qi An appeared normal, his facial expressions changed several times during his conversation with Lü Qing, and although they only half-understood the content of their talk, it didn’t prevent them from deducing that Xu Qi An had discovered important clues.

Everyone immediately looked at Lü Qing.

Lü Qing played dumb.

Liu Gonggong tapped his fingers on the table and urged: “Did Xu Qi An discover something? Has there been progress in the case? Speak quickly!”

Lü Qing thought to herself, I’ve already done my best. After all, although she admired Xu Qi An, they didn’t have any special relationship, it’s not like they were engaged or anything.

Helping him buy some time was already very loyal of her.