As soon as he stepped into the inner hall, Xu Qi An felt three sharp gazes directed at him.
The one in the crimson robe must be the Prefect, embroidered with clouds and wild geese. Hmm, a fourth-rank official… The uncle with a silver gong embroidered on his chest, whew, from the Night Watchmen organization… Wow, this girl is stunning, incredibly beautiful… Is she married?
After glancing at her chest, Xu Qi An calmed down considerably.
He quickly lowered his head, displaying a very humble attitude.
Prefect Chen sat high in his chair, expressionless, his tone carrying the dignity of interrogating a criminal:
“Xu Qi An, when you were imprisoned three days ago, you didn’t mention having any important clues. Do you know the consequences of concealing information?”
An old hand in officialdom, even if he was dying of anxiety inside, he wouldn’t directly ask about the clues but instead applied psychological pressure.
Being able to come here meant half the plan had already succeeded. Xu Qi An remained relatively calm: “Your Honor, just now, the second young master of the Xu family came to see me, and I asked him for the case files.”
First, he had to be honest.
All three present knew about Xu Xinnian, not because he was famous, but as Xu Pingzhi’s eldest son, the three main officials naturally would have investigated.
“What does this have to do with the clues you mentioned?” Prefect Chen asked.
“This humble one has deduced the truth of the case from the case files…”
“Wait,” Prefect Chen interrupted, leaning slightly forward. “From the case files?”
This wasn’t what he had expected.
“I’ve already solved the case,” Xu Qi An nodded, indicating that this was indeed the case.
Prefect Chen suppressed the urge to call someone to send this youngster back to jail, his expression serious: “Tell us what you’ve found, but I warn you, if you’re spouting nonsense, two hundred strokes of the cane can separate your flesh from your bones.”
“The tax silver robbery case wasn’t the work of supernatural creatures, but of humans.”
One sentence shocked all three of them.
Prefect Chen slammed the table, shouting angrily: “Nonsense! Guards, drag him out and give him two hundred strokes!”
The supernatural creatures stealing the tax silver was almost a foregone conclusion, a consensus among the three officials in charge.
If they had previously hoped Xu Qi An might provide valuable clues, now they were thoroughly disappointed.
It was nothing more than the desperate ravings of a cornered youth.
The middle-aged man’s eyes lit up slightly, waving away the yamen runners who had rushed in. “Prefect Chen, please calm down.”
He turned his gaze to Xu Qi An, his eyes burning with scrutiny and expectation: “Go on, tell us.”
This Prefect Chen has quite a temper… Xu Qi An knew it was time for him to perform. “According to the testimony of the city gate guards, my Second Uncle entered the city at the second quarter of the Mao hour. At the first quarter of the Chen hour, the convoy escorting the tax silver reached Guangnan Street. At this time, a strange wind suddenly arose, startling the horses into the river.”
He tried to keep his tone neither servile nor overbearing, appearing more composed to increase his persuasiveness.
Prefect Chen nodded: “This is why we concluded that supernatural creatures were hiding in the river, waiting for an opportunity to snatch the tax silver.”
“No!” Xu Qi An loudly refuted. “The strange wind was just a smokescreen, as was the explosion in the river. It was actually to make you overlook a flaw, a fatal flaw.”
Prefect Chen urgently asked: “What flaw?”
The middle-aged man assumed a listening posture.
The young woman in the yellow dress stopped chewing her preserved fruit, her spirited eyes fixed on Xu Qi An with interest.
They had pored over the case files many times, familiarizing themselves with every detail of the incident, yet they hadn’t noticed any flaws.
“My Second Uncle was escorting 150,000 taels of tax silver. May I ask, honored officials, how many jin does 150,000 taels of silver weigh?”
The middle-aged man’s face stiffened, while the young woman in the yellow dress tilted her head, taking a while to straighten it.
Prefect Chen said displeasedly: “If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t keep us in suspense.”
Xu Qi An had originally intended to provide a hint, letting the officials discover this huge flaw themselves, but it seemed to have backfired.
Your mental arithmetic skills are a bit low, you ancient people… Xu Qi An immediately said: “It’s 9,375 Jin.”
According to this world’s mass conversion formula, one jin equals sixteen taels, so 150,000 taels of silver is 9,375 jin.
The middle-aged man frowned slightly, vaguely grasping something.
The young woman in the yellow dress furrowed her brow: “What does this prove?”
Her voice was as clear as silver bells.
It proves you’re not very clever!
Xu Qi An asked: “How far is it from the city gate to Guangnan Street?”
The middle-aged man replied: “Thirty li.”
“How many busy markets does it pass through?”
“…Four.”
“How fast can a poor-quality horse travel?”
“A poor-quality horse…” The middle-aged man suddenly widened his eyes and stood up abruptly.
He stared intently, revealing an expression of “so that’s how it is” and “I see now.”
After three days of tracking and searching for traces of supernatural creatures with no results, this experienced Night Watchman had already realized they might be heading in the wrong direction.
But without a clear train of thought, he hadn’t dwelled on it after being dismissed earlier.
Prefect Chen’s scalp tingled, as he still hadn’t heard what the problem was, making him, as Prefect, seem particularly unwise.
Prefect Chen glanced at the young woman in the yellow dress, feeling somewhat better.
The young woman in the yellow dress asked dejectedly: “Where’s the problem?”
The middle-aged man said excitedly: “The time, the timing is off.
“Guangnan Street is a full thirty li from the South City Gate. Given the speed of poor-quality horses and passing through four busy markets along the way, entering the city at the second quarter of the Mao hour, it’s impossible to reach Guangnan Street by the first quarter of the Chen hour.”
He had been influenced by preconceptions, believing supernatural creatures had stolen the tax silver. After Xu Qi An’s step-by-step analysis, he immediately grasped the issue.
“But the tax silver did arrive at Guangnan Street at the Chen hour. Many civilians witnessed the horses plunging into the river at that time. It couldn’t have been fake,” the young woman in the yellow dress said crisply.
Prefect Chen nodded with satisfaction, agreeing: “How do you explain this?”
This… The middle-aged man was stunned, instinctively looking towards Xu Qi An.
“Because what they were escorting wasn’t silver at all,” Xu Qi An said emphatically.
“Absurd!” Prefect Chen refuted. “Let’s not even mention whether your Second Uncle and the escorting soldiers have eyes or not. The case files include statements from civilians present at the scene, stating that when the horses plunged into the river, gleaming silver rolled into the water.”
He shook the case files in his hand: “Is this false too?”
“Seeing isn’t always believing… This humble one is willing to personally demonstrate for Your Honor,” his gaze fell on the desk. “May I borrow some paper and a brush?”
Prefect Chen waved his hand, indicating he could help himself.
Xu Qi An, dragging his chains, came to the desk, mixed water with ink spread out the paper, and began to write crookedly.
“Your Honor, please prepare the items listed on the paper according to this humble one’s request,” he said, handing the paper to Prefect Chen when he finished writing.
Prefect Chen took the paper and glanced at it, completely bewildered.
“Let me see,” the young woman in the yellow dress came over to join in, extending her snow-white, delicate hand to take the paper.
Then she was equally confused.
“…” The middle-aged man Li Yuchun glanced at the paper, maintaining an expressionless face, inconspicuously smoothing out a folded corner of the paper before handing it to Prefect Chen.