Southern Beijing, Rice Alley, Imperial Guard headquarters.

The Grand Secretariat, Imperial Temple, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of War, and several other major government offices were all located in this area. At dusk, these offices locked their doors and officials sealed their seals before heading home. Civil officials rode in sedan chairs, military officials rode horses, and high-ranking officials traveled in luxurious carriages—the streets were filled with the powerful and noble.

Mu Baihu and his men were still guarding the Imperial Guard headquarters entrance, straining their eyes but never seeing Wang Daxia emerge. They repeatedly urged the Imperial Guards to release him.

Lu Ying, annoyed by their persistence, made up a lie: “We released him long ago. He’s skilled at sneaking around—somehow he stole a set of our uniforms, disguised himself, and slipped away right under your noses.”

Hearing this, Mu Baihu realized this was indeed something Wang Daxia was capable of doing, so he had no choice but to sound the retreat and return to report.

Wang Daxia was hiding.

After escaping from Lu Ying, he had concealed himself in the Imperial Guard’s stables, which is why the Imperial Guards could never find him.

He had even enjoyed a long, pleasant afternoon nap in a luxurious carriage that was like a small house. When he woke, the evening glow filled the sky, and he heard someone outside saying: “Hurry and harness the carriage—Commander Lu is going home.”

So this was Imperial Guard Commander Lu Bing’s carriage.

Wang Daxia peeked through a crack in the curtains and saw several drivers hitching this luxurious large carriage to five horses.

All five horses were white without a single mixed color. Each horse was worth a hundred gold pieces—riding out on one would bring tremendous face. Actually, even someone like Wang Daxia couldn’t bear to ride them; he’d be satisfied just keeping them for viewing.

At the Imperial Guard headquarters, they were merely carriage horses.

Tsk tsk, what a waste of heavenly treasures! Wang Daxia’s jealousy surged.

After the drivers finished harnessing the carriage and began brushing the white steeds’ manes with brushes, Wang Daxia seized the opportunity to crawl out the window and under the carriage, using several ropes to create a simple net beneath the carriage and crawling into it.

To support a carriage body like a small house required giant wheels. This large carriage had wheels nearly half a person’s height, so there was considerable space between the chassis and ground. Wang Daxia could tie himself under the carriage and hitch a ride to get through this predicament.

It would soon be dark. Once the carriage left the Imperial Guard headquarters, Wang Daxia could find an opportunity to escape from underneath.

The wheels began rolling, and Wang Daxia swayed with the carriage’s vibrations beneath it. Soon the carriage stopped, two people boarded in succession, and the vehicle continued forward.

Wang Daxia’s body pressed tightly against the carriage floor, so he could hear everything happening in the cabin above clearly.

“What did you discover today?” Commander Lu Bing asked.

“Today we thoroughly investigated the guest list of the Sijia Inn across from the Prefectural Yamen, screened out several key suspects, and currently have people tailing them.”

It was actually Lu Ying’s voice!

Why was Lu Ying in Commander Lu’s carriage?

Lu Bing seemed somewhat disappointed: “That’s all?”

Lu Ying: “Father, since you’ve entrusted this case to me, please trust me and give me some time.”

Wang Daxia was shocked: Didn’t they say nephew? How is he calling him father? Lu Bing’s two sons were called Lu Yi and Lu Cai—he’d never heard of a third son!

Could it be… Lu Ying was Lu Bing’s illegitimate child?

It must be so!

No wonder he was so arrogant.

Lu Bing said: “Your direction of investigating the murderer is correct—searching for suspects from inns near the Prefectural Yamen. But this needle-in-a-haystack approach won’t solve the case quickly. You need to work on both fronts. To untie the bell, you need the person who tied it. Since both Qianhu Chen and his son were killed, you need to find someone who had blood feuds with both father and son.”

Lu Ying’s response was somewhat stiff: “I know. My people are investigating the social relationships of the Chen father and son, but there are no results yet.”

Lu Bing said: “My informants already have a lead. Want to hear it?”

“Father! You’re doing it again—” Lu Ying held back, then slammed the table with a bang. “Just this once—never again. I handle my own affairs. Stop always treating me like a child.”

“You’ll always be my child.” Lu Bing took a sip of tea. “Have you heard of Wang Daxia?”

Lu Ying: “How is it him again? He caused a ruckus at our Imperial Guard headquarters today. He has more water in his brain than Shichahai Lake—there’s no way he could have the meticulous, ruthless methods to hide poison needles in a saddle. He can’t be the murderer—he doesn’t have the brains or capability.”

Wang Daxia under the carriage: Thanks a lot!

Coincidentally, the carriage had now left the government compound and was traveling on the main road. Since it wasn’t yet dark, Wang Daxia didn’t dare rashly crawl out from under the carriage to escape.

This was peak time for officials from various government offices to return home, so the roads were somewhat congested, especially when passing through narrow board bridges. To transport this house-like luxurious carriage, all pedestrians on the bridge had to be cleared.

The carriage stopped at the bridge head, waiting for the guards ahead to clear the bridge surface.

When nature calls, horses are the same as people. During this brief waiting period, the middle horse of the five white horses pulling the carriage seized the opportunity to expel waste, accumulating it into a spiraling “small hill.”

Just then, the bridge surface was cleared of pedestrians. The driver raised his whip and urged the horses forward.

Wang Daxia under the carriage instantly collapsed: To hide his form, he had tied himself to the middle position under the carriage, directly aligned with that middle white horse…

Wang Daxia estimated the height of that pile of horse dung. If he was lucky, he might manage to brush past it.

If there was any mishap, he would plunge headfirst into the fresh pile of horse manure, getting a face full of dung.

Wang Daxia chickened out—he didn’t dare gamble.

He still wanted to keep his dignity.

So he cut the ropes and rolled out from under the carriage.

“Who goes there!”

“An assassin!”

“Protect Lord Lu!”

The disheveled Wang Daxia raised both hands high: “Don’t attack! I’m Wang Daxia! I was a guest at your Imperial Guard headquarters all day today! Commander Lu personally received me! If you attack me, you’re not giving Commander Lu face!”

Speak of the devil and he appears. Lu Ying looked out the window and came face to face with Wang Daxia, who looked like a homeless dog.

Wang Daxia even had the audacity to wave and smile: “Oh my, Commander Lu is still the most capable. No matter how well I hid, you still found me. Thanks for giving me a ride. Until we meet again—farewell!”

Lu Ying gritted his teeth: “Arrest him—”

Lu Bing behind him said: “Bring him up. This lead involves him. Face-to-face questioning will be clearer.”

Solving the case was urgent, so Lu Ying had to restrain himself and change his words: “Get in the carriage. I have questions for you.”

Wang Daxia was seized by a swarm of Imperial Guards and dragged into the carriage.

Lu Bing asked him: “I heard you and Chen Dalang fought at Red Sleeve Pavilion over Miss Yingying and exchanged curses? What exactly did you curse? No lies.”

Lu Bing held a high position—below one person, above ten thousand others—naturally possessing an aura of authority. He questioned directly. Wang Daxia, like a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, had experience from appearing in court at the Prefectural Yamen before. He responded calmly, completely unintimidated by Lu Bing:

“When cursing someone, naturally you expose their shortcomings. Commander Lu, wouldn’t you agree?”

The Imperial Guards and Northern City Military Commissioner had fought group battles. Wang Daxia thought: You can lose people but not momentum. Though I have no official position, I must maintain dignity on the surface. You can’t treat me as a suspect for questioning again.

“I’ve never cursed anyone, unlike your rich experience.” Lu Ying impatiently pointed at the carriage door. “If you keep speaking in riddles, you’ll spend a night in imperial prison.”

“Don’t be anxious.” Wang Daxia asked: “Do you know what Chen Dalang’s greatest shortcoming is?”

Lu Ying: “He has no scholarly achievements to this day—he’s a commoner with no learning or skills, just waiting for his father to die so he can inherit the Imperial Guard Qianhu title.”

Wang Daxia touched his nose and laughed: “In this respect, Chen Dalang and I are exactly the same. I’m also waiting to inherit a Qianhu title. If I exposed this shortcoming, wouldn’t that be killing the enemy while damaging myself by eight hundred?”

Lu Ying was truly eye-opening today: “You can still laugh? How can you be so shameless?”

Wang Daxia patted his chest: “Since my family has a title to inherit, why should I strive for scholarly achievements? Better to leave opportunities for commoner children. This shows my noble character—not competing with the people for profit.”

Hearing this, Lu Bing immediately became interested in Wang Daxia: This dandy was quite interesting.

Wang Daxia said: “Therefore, Chen Dalang’s greatest shortcoming is that the Chen family has had single-heir transmission for five generations. He’s already twenty-seven years old, been married for seven or eight years, yet has no sons under his knee—not even a daughter. I cursed him as a castrated rooster that couldn’t produce chicks even if put in a henhouse.”

Lu Ying paused: “Your mouth is quite vicious.”

Wang Daxia felt quite wronged: “He cursed me first, saying I was born but not raised by my mother, calling me a jinxed broom star who killed his mother. I returned the favor by calling him a castrated rooster. ‘Propriety’ reciprocated—how fair.”

Lu Bing asked: “What else? How did Chen Dalang respond afterward?”

Wang Daxia pondered a moment: “Well… we had both drunk quite a bit then. After exchanging curses, we started fighting. Chen Dalang’s body had long been hollowed out by wine and women—he was no match for me. I alone fought him and his book boy—more than enough.”

Wang Daxia was quite proud of his “battle record.” Lu Bing said: “My informant said when you called him a castrated rooster, he replied: ‘You’re talking nonsense. My fiancée was once pregnant with my child. I’ll definitely have another one eventually.'”

Wang Daxia sneered: “Men like to boast about their bedroom prowess. Miss Yingying once said not to believe a single word men say in brothels.”

“Of course, except for me.” Wang Daxia smiled at the Lu father and son: “You can trust me like Miss Yingying does. I’m a man of my word—what I say, I do.”

Lu Ying flew into a rage and wanted to charge over and beat him: “Who are you comparing to that courtesan?”

“Stay calm.” Lu Bing raised his hand to stop him. “This is a lead. Chen Dalang indeed has a fiancée surnamed He. Her father was once my subordinate. When the Chen and He families arranged the betrothal, they sent out many invitations, and I gave a gift. Later, the He family committed crimes, and Miss He became a government slave for sale. The Chen family bought her and reportedly settled her in the suburbs. Respectable people and slaves cannot intermarry—how did Miss He become pregnant with his child? And why didn’t the child survive in the end? This is terrifying to think about deeply.”

Author’s Note: The Imperial Guards are still well-informed. Daxia escaped, but Caiwei is in danger. Looking at the previous chapter’s comments, everyone seems generally younger than me and unfamiliar with neighbors sharing food. When I was little, I lived in a courtyard similar to Machang Alley in the novel. Whenever my family had something delicious, we had to share with neighbors. Once we got a basket of oranges, and I was forced to run around two apartment buildings (three floors total)—I was exhausted.

A neighbor on the first floor had built a pen in the courtyard to raise pigs. Every day I had to deliver our leftover food to the neighbor to feed the pigs. This usually happened around 6 PM after dinner, right when cartoons were starting. To avoid missing the opening theme, I would run downstairs like crazy with the bowl. Later, when they slaughtered the pig during New Year, it was also divided among the two apartment buildings. My mom cured our share into preserved meat. That year’s preserved meat was truly fragrant.