“All divine weapons in the realm come from none other than the Zhangsun clan. The Court of Judicial Review investigates cases, and even the Zhangsun clan must give us an explanation.” Zhang Yonglu was an old hand at the Court of Judicial Review. After examining the cut mark on the silver coin, he answered very decisively.
Di Renjie thought about the weapons he had seen in the Yun family’s storehouse and was somewhat dismissive. Tapping the table, he said to Zhang Yonglu: “Not necessarily. The statement that divine weapons come from the Zhangsun clan is itself a joke. Don’t bring it up again in the future, lest people say our Court of Judicial Review speaks irresponsibly and that those handling cases are all wine sacks and rice bags.”
“Taking ten thousand steps back, the Zhangsun family are merely the forgers of weapons. We still cannot attribute the deaths of these three constables to the Zhangsun family. Once we lack solid evidence, moving against the Zhangsun family will leave us without a burial place. Old Zhang, I know you’re resentful in your heart that I took your position. Rest assured, I won’t keep this position for long and will leave soon. Wait patiently for a year or half a year. Don’t play these little tricks. I’m no hothead. Are there any hotheads who come out of the Academy? I don’t know of any.”
Zhang Yonglu had never imagined that Di Renjie would expose his petty thoughts on the spot. His face flushed bright red, and if there were a mouse hole in the ground, he would have wanted to crawl into it.
“Old Zhang, you’re a capable person, it’s just that your birth wasn’t good—there’s no helping that. Your father was a ward official, my father was a fourth-rank remonstrance official. You haven’t attended much schooling, I came from Yushan Academy, and my teacher is also a great general. In the future, use your brain. What you did simultaneously offended both the Zhangsun family and me.”
“One thing is certain: the Zhangsun family won’t give me trouble. Even if I offended their family, they’ll only go ask my master about it. At that time, my master will invite Zhangsun Chong for a drink and nothing will happen. However, the Zhangsun family’s tiger whiskers aren’t for just anyone to touch. To vent their anger, they’ll torment you to death. Remember this in the future—don’t play such high-stakes games. People can die.”
Only then did Zhang Yonglu suddenly start in alarm and wake up sharply. Di Renjie was absolutely right. When a tiger has no way to deal with a lion, it will vent its anger on wolves—this was a principle that held true from ancient times to the present.
Having thought it through, he gave up the idea of making things difficult for Di Renjie. He laid out the three constables’ waist badges one by one on the table and said: “Your subordinate believes these three constables were just three unlucky fellows. After stealing someone’s things, they inadvertently glimpsed someone else’s secrets while climbing over a wall, which brought them fatal disaster.”
“The murderer has superior martial skills and possesses a divine weapon, so he certainly won’t be an ordinary person from the martial world. Judging from the knife wound on the deceased’s neck, this person must be a killer-class figure, and moreover one who wields the blade with his left hand.”
“That’s right, Old Zhang. There aren’t many famous figures who use a left-handed blade. Since he can afford to use a divine weapon, his status won’t be too low. Can we connect this person with the recent wolf smoke on the beacon towers?”
“If there’s a connection, this will necessarily be a major case. If we solve it early, I’ll be promoted, you’ll necessarily be promoted—these are certainties. Last time we could solve the Dragon King case, so this time why can’t we solve the divine weapon case? Find him—find this fellow lurking in Chang’an who habitually uses a left-handed blade.”
“I’ve already questioned the constables on night duty last night. After curfew last night, there were a total of thirteen groups of people still walking the main streets. I believe the murderer is among these people. I’ve already obtained the list. You go and investigate them one by one. I’ll go directly to Daixian Ward. I always feel that place is very suspicious. In the three surrounding ward markets, people have died unnatural deaths these past days, but only this Daixian Ward has remained unharmed. I’ve calculated the distances and discovered they’re remarkably consistent. Draw a circle, and the center is Daixian Ward. Most importantly, the people living there are all surrendered captives. Your status isn’t sufficient to enter there, so I’d better go.”
Zhang Yonglu took the list and walked straight out. Di Renjie stretched a big lazy stretch, glanced at the sun outside, and prepared to leave work. Xiao Wu said that punctually arriving for duty and punctually leaving work each day was a virtue. Di Renjie was very unwilling to want this virtue, but after considering the consequences, he still tidied up the desk and prepared to go home.
Di Chun held the horse waiting respectfully outside the Court of Judicial Review gates. Master and servant headed straight for the Western Market. Persian carpets had risen sharply in price recently. Xiao Wu wanted Di Renjie to pick up two on his way home. This counted as getting some fresh air—an unexpected delight.
The household had completely become one where Xiao Wu had the final say. Father now spent each day attending morning court, leaving court, handling official duties, then going to find old friends to drink wine and play chess. Mother spent all day hiding in the inner courtyard with Xiao Wu calculating what things the household had acquired, taking the opportunity to organize the storehouse—this was her greatest hobby. As for his two younger brothers, they lived even more miserably than himself, shut in the study all day not permitted to go out. They could only leave if they were admitted to Yushan Academy. Their learning wasn’t as good as Xiao Wu’s, and most importantly, they couldn’t even beat Xiao Wu in a fight. They were completely dominated by their sister-in-law. The two concubines only knew to surround Xiao Wu asking for jewelry and fabric. The entire family worshipped Xiao Wu like an ancestor.
No wonder Master said he was pitiful. The illustrious name of Di Renjie resounded when spoken. When the bigwigs met him, they would pat his shoulder and encourage him a few times, telling him to handle his duties with peace of mind, and in a few years he could shoulder great responsibilities.
Now, even going to the Western Market to buy two carpets had become an extravagant hope—a rare leisurely time.
“Women become stupid after giving birth!” Thinking of Xiao Wu wearing light clothes, leaning sideways on the soft chair exposing a large expanse of her bosom and saying this sentence to him, Di Renjie’s whole body grew hot. This wouldn’t do. He had to quickly buy the carpets and return home early. As long as Xiao Wu became pregnant, ha ha ha, he would be completely liberated. Women who gave birth would put their thoughts on their children.
The Western Market was still bustling with people coming and going. Nobody took the beacon fires burning everywhere as anything serious. Those with well-informed sources took it even less seriously. In the wine houses, they put on the appearance of superior people and told others: “The Lingnan Navy has already greatly defeated the enemy army. I heard even the enemy commander was captured alive and is being escorted to Chang’an for a parade. I heard the Lingnan Navy people are very domineering. After His Majesty interrogates them, they want to take these people back, planning to impale them on wooden stakes and place them on Crab Island to feed the birds as a public display. They won’t allow the Chang’an people to behead them at the execution ground.”
“Zhang Jian, leading his great army at Wonsan, has already blocked the Silla and Baekje people and is planning a great counteroffensive to drive all those bastards into the sea to feed the fish. Zhang Liang is killing people on the seas off Silla and Baekje—blood has dyed the sea surface red. So these jumping clowns aren’t worth gentlemen worrying about. Drinking a few more cups of wine is what’s real. Our Great Tang’s majesty is wise and brilliant, with fierce generals like clouds beneath him and strategists like rain…”
Di Renjie shook his head. The smile on his face gradually disappeared. The northwest was the real big trouble. He had lost even the mood to buy carpets. Leading the horse, he prepared to return home. It would be better to discuss his master’s safety with Xiao Wu.
Just as he was threading through the crowd, suddenly a disturbance occurred ahead. The crowd became alarmed and frantically ran backward, continuously shouting “Murder!”
Di Renjie pulled out his waist badge and shouted: “Court of Judicial Review investigating a case! Unrelated persons, clear the way!”
The crowd seemed not to hear this sentence. Who knew how many people were trampled to the ground? If the scene wasn’t quickly brought under control, who knew how many would be trampled to death?
With one leap he mounted his warhorse. The warhorse gave a long neigh and pushed forward through the crowd.
It turned out a barbarian had gone mad, wildly swinging a blade and slashing people. Di Renjie retrieved his Swallow Wing crossbow from the horse pack, loaded the string, and positioned himself between the crazed barbarian and the common people.
The Great Tang people’s love of watching excitement even exceeded cherishing their own lives. Seeing someone block the barbarian, they immediately stopped, stretched out their necks, and watched how this young official would kill the barbarian.
That barbarian cried out strangely, the curved saber in his hand continuously flipping up and down. Though there were no enemies around him, he seemed to be fighting valiantly. Six or seven people already lay on the ground. Among them, two half-naked barbarian dancing girls had already been separated from their bodies. The remaining people also lay in pools of blood shouting for help. The Swallow Wing crossbow in Di Renjie’s hand sounded—three bolts in one shot all nailed into the barbarian’s face. The arrowheads pierced deeply into the brain, with one arrowhead already protruding from the back of the head.
The barbarian fell unconsciously to the ground. Di Renjie dismounted, came to the barbarian’s corpse, used his horizontal blade to turn the barbarian’s head around, and ordered the hastily arriving bailiffs from Chang’an County office to send the injured to medical halls for treatment. He himself, gripping the horizontal blade, stepped into this barbarian’s shop.
The bloody smell grew ever more intense. In the courtyard lay more than ten corpses in disarray, all women and children, also all barbarians and barbarian dancing girls. The murderer was extremely cruel. There was more than one knife wound on each corpse. Many corpses had knife wounds that seemed deliberately cut. Moreover, they were cut while still alive, because there was too much blood flow. Every corpse’s mouth had been bound with walnuts—very eerie.
Seventeen corpses—this was the count Di Renjie tallied. In the room also lay two corpses of elderly barbarians. After Di Renjie finished counting the corpses, the people from the Court of Judicial Review finally arrived.
“This barbarian suddenly went mad, killed his entire family, then when he rushed to the main street to slash people, he was killed by the Deliberation Officer. If the Deliberation Officer hadn’t been there, the consequences would be unthinkable.”
Di Renjie shook his head, came to the side of the fallen barbarian, lifted his clothes, and indeed discovered traces of being bound by ropes. He mercifully closed the barbarian’s eyes and said to the colleagues who had arrived: “His family wasn’t killed by him. The murderer is someone else. I speculate that murderer tied this barbarian to that pillar over there, gagged his mouth, then made him watch with his own eyes as his family members were tortured to death one by one. The murderer waited until the barbarian had already lost his reason, then loosened his bindings and gave him a blade. Having lost his reason, the barbarian then went out to slash people with the blade. I saw this fellow killing people on the street and struck him down—I still fell into the murderer’s trap.”
After finishing speaking, Di Renjie looked at those curious common people outside the main gate who were stealing glances at the situation inside the compound and said: “I dare say the murderer is also watching his masterpiece right now.”