Qin Qiong’s brow furrowed, Cheng Yaojin’s face darkened, and Niu Jinda said, “If there’s no other way, this is all we can do. Though this method is bloody, it truly is a way to break the deadlock. We’re all from military families—strength is the most persuasive evidence. It’s just that as people of the Central Plains, using barbarian methods is somewhat unseemly.”
“Ha ha ha, Old Niu, Old Qin, Old Cheng, Junji is right. A case of such massive proportions—solving it in six days is completely impossible. Moreover, whoever did this couldn’t be from some insignificant household. Perhaps several families worked together. Once they’re exposed, who knows what chaos will erupt in the court. Better to cut through this tangled mess swiftly and decisively.”
After thanking Hou Junji for his offer of aid, Yun Ye said with a smile, “Uncle Hou underestimates your nephew’s abilities too much. A mere case like this is nothing. Just now, after hearing He Tianshang’s brief introduction to the case, your nephew already knows who did this. To tell the truth, I’ve implicated the Zhang Family—someone used the Zhang Family to make things difficult for me. So this time, I’ve wronged all the young and old of the Zhang household. Honestly, I dislike Zhang Liang, but I’ve never thought of harming a single hair on the Zhang Family’s women and children.”
“All the uncles present actually have their own moral bottom lines. Once these bottom lines are set, you strictly adhere to them. Your nephew has one too—not to make things difficult for women and children. Taking out Zhang Liang wouldn’t be difficult. The Lingnan naval forces have countless miraculous techniques. Even if Zhang Liang brought a thousand men, they could all be killed at any time. Once the Academy’s knowledge is applied to killing, even if you gentlemen dreamed about it, you couldn’t imagine how terrifying it would be.”
“Targeting women and children is an extremely vicious precedent. We cannot encourage such behavior. Once such a trend appears, it must be quickly snuffed out. We all have large families. If not for them, each of you uncles is a great hero, a great warrior—who would care about life and death? Uncle Qin would surely drink to his heart’s content, Uncle Cheng would surely run amok in Chang’an, Uncle Niu would surely become a bandit specializing in robbing grain, Uncle Yuchi would surely charge to the frontlines of battle with his blade and horse, and as for Uncle Hou, those Western Region kingdoms would surely become excellent places for you to find silver.”
Before he finished speaking, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda, Yuchi Gong, and Hou Junji were laughing so hard they swayed back and forth. Yun Ye had truly hit upon their innermost thoughts. Qin Qiong had lived heroically his whole life but was now plagued with ailments. For his family’s sake, he’d given up wine and meat, living in unbearable misery, having long wished to get thoroughly drunk and die.
Cheng Yaojin’s greatest dream was to do things as he pleased, mixing with street wanderers and vagabonds, enjoying gratitude and revenge freely. Niu Jinda couldn’t bear to see people go hungry. Among these families, his was the poorest, for no other reason than he distributed grain to those with nothing to eat. Anyone who said they were hungry at the Niu Family gate in Chang’an City would immediately be served food.
Yuchi Gong came from humble origins, and all his merit came from horseback, so he wanted to prove himself in battle formations—that was his true stage. As for Hou Junji, he’d long coveted the Western Regions’ prosperity. He always believed these Western Region kingdoms had grown wealthy relying on the Great Tang, so taking some of it back was perfectly justified. He’d submitted three memorials requesting military action in the Western Regions.
These four men were forced to suppress their true natures and live half-dead lives in Chang’an only because of their families’ burden.
“Boy, speak up about what you know. This old man wants to see who exactly is so bold.”
“They’re not Great Tang people—they’re Goguryeo people, or perhaps also Japanese people. No matter what, it can’t escape them.” Yun Ye said the answer with a smile, but the four old generals remained silent, as if they didn’t quite agree with Yun Ye’s assessment.
“Boy, the Goguryeo people left eight days ago, escorted by officials from the Court of State Ceremonial. To sneak back to Chang’an and commit crimes without anyone knowing—that’s impossible. You must know they were sent back to their country by His Majesty’s order. Whether they left or not wasn’t up to them.” Qin Qiong still voiced his doubts.
“Precisely because of this, they could deceive everyone. If they were in Chang’an, I believe His Majesty’s first suspects would be the Goguryeo people. Our court officials have a habit that’s hard to say if it’s good or bad—they love making plans. This is also a bad trend your nephew brought about. Court of State Ceremonial officials now make plans even for how much distance to travel each day. They absolutely won’t stop until they’ve completed these distances, and they absolutely won’t rush their journey. His Majesty ordered the Goguryeo people to get out of the Great Tang within a month—the officials definitely won’t let them stay for thirty-two days.”
“This way, everything falls within a measurable range. Gae Suwen exploited exactly this point, having the Court of State Ceremonial officials serve as his alibi. As long as he claimed illness and hid in his room refusing visitors, just one day’s time would be enough for him to secretly leave the official ship, take revenge by killing, frame me, then take a fast boat to catch up with the official ship. Then he’d say he’d recovered. I dare bet that when the Court of State Ceremonial officials return, you only need to ask whether Gae Suwen fell ill to make everything clear. After all, there aren’t many people who could torture a fierce warrior like Zhang Judao to death. Moreover, according to He Tianshang, Zhang Judao’s wounds were inflicted by someone striking twenty-six blade blows in an instant, in one continuous motion. I wonder if you uncles could accomplish this?”
Qin Qiong nodded, “If this old man switched his twin maces for twin blades, I could barely manage twenty continuous strikes.”
Cheng Yaojin, who habitually used a single blade, shook his head, “This old man can at most deliver thirteen strikes—that’s my limit.” Niu Jinda shook his head. Yuchi Gong said, “Speed alone isn’t enough—sometimes you must consider force. Delivering twenty-six strikes with twin blades, each drawing blood—extremely difficult to achieve. This old man can’t do it either.”
Hou Junji laughed loudly, “Boy, as long as you can make this case ironclad, we’ll all go to Goguryeo together and slaughter them until heaven and earth overturn.”
“There’s no way, Uncle Hou. I’ve calculated—by now, Gae Suwen has already boarded the official ship. He’s probably drinking and exchanging pleasantries with those Court of State Ceremonial people. If we now try to claim he’s the murderer, the Court of State Ceremonial people will say Gae Suwen never left, if only to save their own lives. So there’s no way to convict him.”
“Gae Suwen may not be a match for you uncles, but this fellow has four blades. I’ve seen him use both hands, plus a blade clenched in his mouth—fighting with three blades simultaneously. The scene was simply a wheel of blades grinding over his enemies. So I immediately determined that the killer was Gae Suwen.”
“However, to completely slaughter the Zhang Family, they couldn’t deploy just a few people. He Tianshang also told me there were one hundred eighty or more. Gae Suwen alone could easily sneak onto the official ship, but these Goguryeo death warriors must be hiding near Chang’an. Perhaps they’re waiting for Zhang Liang to return home, then launch another surprise attack on my household, making Zhang Liang and me kill each other until heaven and earth overturn. Your nephew is eighty percent certain this fellow will do exactly that. If my friends can’t find this group’s whereabouts within six days, we’ll have to wait until Zhang Liang returns and set this trap together. I just don’t know whether Zhang Liang still has any rationality left.”
Hou Junji’s eyes sparkled as he said to Li Chengqian, who’d been listening silently beside him, “Having a brother like Yun Ye is Crown Prince’s good fortune. Such a person isn’t someone every emperor can encounter. Cherish him well.”
Li Chengqian nodded with a smile. Seeing that Yun Ye had clarified matters, he felt his continued presence served no purpose, so he took his leave to return to the palace with a delighted Li Tai, leaving behind only five formidable Eastern Palace guards.
Qin Qiong and the others exchanged glances and also took their leave one after another. Each left five guards—all clearly battle-hardened elite soldiers. Yun Ye always accepted others’ goodwill with a grateful heart, regardless of their status. Liu Fang quietly came to the Yun Family estate. Wu She felt the Academy’s food wasn’t as delicious as the Yun Family’s, so he stayed in the guest room playing chess with Liu Fang.
Lishi brought his aunt, whose belly was already quite large, to live back at the Yun Family home. The family retainers from the distillery patrolled ceaselessly day and night. Grandmother also issued a martial law order for the Yun Family estate. The market was undergoing repairs, so at the Yun Family’s instruction, it was closed for ten days. The rebuilt market would have an enormous canopy, thoroughly transforming it into the largest marketplace outside Chang’an City. Especially for the trading of mules, horses, cattle, and sheep—the sales volume here already surpassed Chang’an’s markets.
The now-gaunt He Shao had been so busy these past days his feet barely touched the ground, going from one establishment to another—all major figures among Chang’an’s merchants. Ever since He Shao’s medicine shop became a massive money-losing operation jointly run with the imperial family, all of Chang’an’s merchants gave him a thumbs up, praising how brilliantly He Shao conducted business. The money-losing medicine shop became a pillar industry the He Family would never relinquish, even unto death.
Going to the medicine shop daily to see how much money he’d lost had become He Shao’s daily routine. If he made money, he’d fly into a rage. If they broke even, he’d be in a bad mood. Only if he lost spectacularly would he beam with joy. Trading a few copper coins for a heartfelt thanks—He Shao felt he’d profited enormously.
With a good reputation, even if the He Family’s other businesses now cheated people to death with irrefutable evidence, Chang’an people would magnanimously consider it a momentary oversight by the He Family, or entirely the fault of poorly chosen shop managers.
Finding one hundred eighty people in a city with a million inhabitants was extremely difficult, but He Shao continuously collected various information through his commercial channels.
Strange customers at the Zhang Family’s cloth shop had bought large quantities of black fabric. The Lei Family’s rice shop had conducted a peculiar transaction of moderate size a few days ago—the buyer asked them to deliver the purchased rice to East Dao Bridge, and the shopkeeper found it strange how three people would transport thirty bags of grain. The Yihe Hall in the Eastern Market, which specialized in wound medicine, had been selling injury remedies very well lately. A veiled woman kept coming to purchase medicine, paying in silver on the spot without speaking, just handing over a list to collect the medicine.
After synthesizing these strange transactions, Yun Ye continuously drew circles on a map. Just as he located where the circles were most densely concentrated, Old Qian came to report: Zhang Liang, dressed entirely in mourning clothes and accompanied by his two other biological sons, was kneeling before the Yun Family gate, requesting that Yun Ye send them to hell as well, so they’d no longer suffer the agony of being separated from their flesh and blood by the barrier between yin and yang.