Solving the mystery… Did they figure it out?!
Everyone present displayed expressions of wild joy but also found it hard to believe. How was it done? There seemed to be no clues at all.
Such a baffling case, and he easily solved the mystery. Everyone had been involved in the case and participated in discussions. With the same information and the same clues, everyone was at a loss, so how did he figure it out?
Was Xu Ning’yan truly that terrifying?
Governor Zhang, who had been stuck on the riddle “Miss Wen getting married,” suddenly jolted as if breaking through a seal. He grabbed Xu Qi An’s arm in ecstasy, losing his composure as a governor, and asked repeatedly:
“You solved the mystery? Is it true? Is it true?”
At this moment, if I were to say, “Just kidding…” I’d probably be beaten to death… Xu Qi An stood up and walked out, saying: “At least we’ve made a breakthrough.”
Under everyone’s watchful gaze, he went to the courtyard of the relay station, retrieved the topographic map from the horse’s saddlebag, returned to the main hall, and spread it out on the table.
“The key to the riddle lies within this topographic map,” Xu Qi An said, pressing both hands on the map. He looked up, surveying everyone, and explained:
“A single jade pendant alone cannot convey enough information. Zhou Min would have found a way to make Madam Ying bring more information, but for secrecy, he used the method of solving riddles. He deceived everyone, including Madam Ying herself.”
“But with the wisdom of the Purple Sun Recluse, he would surely uncover the secret of the riddle with careful questioning.”
“Then why is the secret of the riddle in the topographic map?” Zhu Guangxiao asked with a frown.
“Because the topographic map is the easiest thing to obtain, and it’s something the Purple Sun Recluse, visiting Cloud State for the first time, would acquire,” Xu Qi An answered.
Indeed, the topographic map was available at the relay station, and obtaining one would be the first choice for newcomers… Everyone suddenly realized.
“Let’s verify whether my deduction is correct or not together,” Xu Qi An said, looking down at the map. “The five characters provided by the riddle are si (思), bo (伯), Gao (告), Huang (皇), ming (明).”
Everyone crowded around the table to look at the map with him.
The topographic map, when unfolded, almost covered the entire table, encompassing the whole of Baidi City. Streets, buildings, lakes, bridges, government offices, and more were all marked on it.
Everyone silently recited those five characters while searching for corresponding names.
Song Tingfeng suddenly pointed at a spot: “Siming Bridge!”
People’s gazes followed his finger to where he was pointing. There, the outline of an arched bridge was drawn, with tiny characters labeling it: Siming Bridge.
Another constable immediately pointed to another location: “There’s a Huangbo Street here.”
The characters “gao” (告) and “huang” (皇) weren’t found in corresponding locations. Especially the character “huang” (皇), which was too taboo to appear anywhere on the entire map.
“The clue is likely to be at one of these two locations,” Xu Qi An analyzed.
“Are the remaining two characters useless?” someone asked.
“The other characters might be red herrings, mixed in to confuse us. Let’s not worry about them for now. We’ll search these two places first and see if we find anything before considering the others,” Xu Qi An said.
Governor Zhang selected six-night watchmen, had them change into plain clothes, and sent them to investigate Huangbo Street. Xu Qi An took his two good friends, Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng, to explore Siming Bridge.
Huangbo Street was neither near nor far from the relay station, about ten li away. Siming Bridge, however, was a full twenty-li distant.
The three men galloped their horses along the wide streets. The buildings and residences along the way showed obvious Southern characteristics, with white walls and dark tile roofs. The courtyards often featured loquat trees.
Loquat was one of Cloud State’s specialties.
Moreover, the clothing style of the common people differed greatly from that of the capital. The dress here was more relaxed, and little yellow people were everywhere.
In the capital, the yellow fabric was exclusively for royal use, but in Cloud State, Xu Qi An saw many passersby wearing bright yellow robes.
“Although customs vary from place to place, isn’t the imperial court’s control over Cloud State too weak?” Xu Qi An worried inwardly.
“The climate here in Cloud State is uncomfortable, damp, and cold,” Song Tingfeng frowned.
“Our capital is still better. It’s colder, but not as penetrating. When I was seeing off the merchant earlier today, I saw people shivering as they walked,” Zhu Guangxiao commented.
“You two are like northern wolves, freezing like huskies in the south,” Xu Qi An said with a laugh. Of course, cultivators at the Qi Refinement realm were no longer affected by heat or cold; he was purely teasing them.
… The two looked at him blankly. What was a husky?
Actually, in this era, winters in the south were much better than in the north. Poor families in the south could collect straw in winter, and with shelter from wind and rain, they could survive the winter.
The north was different. Many poor people who couldn’t afford charcoal quietly died in winter.
After all, the northern Great Shang had no central heating.
Another point: riding horses in the south during winter, one’s nose would start running after a while. Riding horses in the north during winter, one’s nose would become useless after a while.
Half an hour later, they arrived at their destination.
Siming Bridge spanned a small river, a stone arch bridge with two large and two small arches, carved from white marble. The bridge’s body was covered in moss.
The three men carefully inspected the bridge for a long time. Finally, Xu Qi An’s gaze locked onto a protruding stone brick on the outer side of the bridge.
Pinching the stone brick with two fingers, he slowly pulled it out, gradually extracting the brick-sized stone.
He reached into the hole and felt around for a moment, pulling out a brocade pouch.
Indeed, it was because of this pouch that the stone brick couldn’t fit tightly.
“There is something!” Song Tingfeng was overjoyed. He moved closer and urged, “Open it and see what’s inside.”
Xu Qi An opened the pouch. Inside was a piece of paper. He unfolded the paper, which read:
默壹佰陆拾贰
叁佰肆拾柒肆壹贰
Mo, 162.347, 4, 1, 2… What do these two sets of numbers mean… Damn, Zhou Min was a talented bastard… Too fancy… Too bad he’s already dead… Xu Qi An stared at the paper, falling into silence.
Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao exchanged glances, and the former asked in confusion, “What does it mean?”
“How would I know!” Xu Qi An replied irritably. “We’re all night watchmen, but how can the gap be so big? Look at this undercover agent, so much stronger than you two… No comparison, no comparison at all…”
“Undercover agents are the cream of the crop, each with their specialties. Otherwise, how could they carry out covert missions?” Song Tingfeng argued, unwilling to admit defeat. “We night watchmen in the yamen only need to handle the physical stuff.”
Undercover agents were talented individuals with special skills, either meticulous or exceptionally intelligent, while night watchmen in the yamen were only responsible for violent output. The two were different.
By now, it was approaching dusk.
Xu Qi An put away the paper and said helplessly, “Let’s head back for now.”
What awaited them… No, what awaited him, would be another brainstorming session.
…
At the relay station.
Since Huangbo Street was closer to the relay station, the night watchmen who went to investigate there had already returned, bringing disappointing news.
“You didn’t find anything? Did you investigate thoroughly?” Governor Zhang questioned.
“That street was almost deserted during the day. We asked residents from the neighboring street and found out it was a dog market. It only opens at night, so there was nobody there at the time,” the constable replied, frustrated.
A street isn’t particularly large or small, but barging in without direction like headless flies, what results could they expect? Went around asking everyone if they knew Zhou Min, the Executive Officer from the Command Post.
“Ah!” The night watchmen sighed collectively, shaking their heads.
Governor Zhang took a sip of tea, sat for a moment, then couldn’t sit still anymore and began pacing back and forth in the main hall.
With no clues from Huangbo Street, they could only wait for news from Xu Ning’yan’s side. If they didn’t discover anything either, the case would be back to square one.
They would be back where they started.
“There must be some findings, or this will truly become an unsolvable case…” Governor Zhang muttered.
His muttering reached the ears of several Silver Gongs and Jiang Luzhong without missing a word.
“They’re back,” the constable at the door exclaimed joyfully.
Everyone turned their heads in unison towards the door, watching Xu Qi An return with his two colleagues.
“How did it go?” Jiang Luzhong quickly asked.
Governor Zhang’s hand clenched into a fist under his sleeve, staring at them with anticipation and nervousness.
Xu Qi An took out the paper and placed it on the table. In an instant, more than a dozen hands reached for it.
Smack!
Jiang Luzhong slapped away all the hands, snatched the paper eagerly, unfolded it, and looked at it. His brow furrowed again:
“What is this written here?”
Alright, it’s not the code of the Night Watchmen Yamen… Xu Qi An concluded.
“Let me see!” Governor Zhang rushed over, snatched the paper, and saw two sets of numbers written on it:
默壹佰陆拾贰
叁佰肆拾柒肆壹贰
Governor Zhang fell into a long period of silence, flipping through the books of sages he had read in his mind, then ruled out the option of corresponding to allusions from those books.
This is like the “Miss Wen getting married” riddle, both are bullying people… As Governor Zhang was pondering, he saw Xu Qi An silently going upstairs.
“Ning’yan, where are you going?”
Xu Qi An turned back on the stairs, looking listless: “Back to my room to meditate, otherwise I feel like I might drop dead at any moment. Well, I haven’t slept for twelve days.”
“!!!” Jiang Luzhong’s eyebrows twitched violently.
He already knew that Xu Qi An was attempting to break through to the Spirit Refining realm. Back on the Grand Canal, Xu Qi An had asked similar questions about how to break through to the Spirit Refining realm.
Seeing his dark circles deepening day by day, Jiang Luzhong guessed that this young man might be attempting to break through to the Spirit Refining realm, but he didn’t know how many days he had been pushing himself.
Twelve days, and still not breaking through the limit, even fighting a battle in between…
This meant that Xu Qi An’s spiritual potential was very great, extremely great. If he entered the Spirit Refining realm, his spirit would undergo a qualitative change.
When Jiang Luzhong himself had advanced to the Spirit Refining realm, he had endured for sixteen days, and other Golden Gongs were not much different.
“Looking at this kid’s condition, twelve days is not his limit. Who knows how long he can hold out in one go.” Thinking of this, Jiang Luzhong said in a deep voice: “Remember not to fall asleep.”
Back in his room, Xu Qi An took off his shoes, and sat cross-legged on the bed, practicing Qi breathing while visualizing the Giant image, occasionally switching to the Golden Lion Roar image.
As he was getting into the state, he suddenly heard a knock on the door.
“What is it?” He opened his eyes.
“Ning’yan, are you feeling better?” Governor Zhang’s voice came from the door. After receiving Xu Qi An’s affirmative reply, he immediately said:
“Come with me to attend the banquet and meet the officials of Cloud State.”