Xie Zhifei was startled by her. “What’s wrong?”

Yan Sanhe acted as if she hadn’t heard, walking straight to the old man. “Elder, how often does Magistrate Zhou come to your village to fish?”

Both Xie Zhifei and the old man were shocked: Why was she asking about this?

Seeing the old man remain silent, Yan Sanhe deliberately said, “Magistrate Zhou is so busy—probably once every two or three months?”

“What nonsense are you guessing?”

The old man snorted. “Magistrate Zhou comes once every half month. He comes quite frequently!”

Yan Sanhe: “Then… it’s been a few months since he last went?”

The old man snorted.

Why should I tell you?

Yan Sanhe’s voice was flat. “I’ll remind him later. He can forget anything, but not fishing—someone’s waiting eagerly!”

The old man immediately said excitedly, “Exactly, exactly! It’s been two or three months since the magistrate came. Everyone’s been thinking about him.”

At this point, he got annoyed with himself.

“Aiyah, how could I take his money last time… finally got to see the magistrate… no, absolutely not… when I see him I must return that money to him.

What if he won’t take it… then I’ll kneel and not get up… Old Madam Jin often uses this method, it works really well…”

What gibberish was this?

Xie Zhifei couldn’t listen anymore. Turning around, he saw Yan Sanhe looking thoughtful and quickly asked, “What? Is there a problem?”

Yan Sanhe ignored him and walked off with her head lowered, lost in thought.

Xie Zhifei, thoroughly confused, chased after her.

Just then, Yan Sanhe suddenly turned around.

“Thud.”

Yan Sanhe’s head collided heavily with Xie Zhifei’s chest. Seeing stars, she said angrily, “Can’t you watch where you’re going?”

Xie Zhifei was amused by her turning the tables on him. He simply didn’t speak, crossing his arms and looking at her meaningfully.

Who exactly bumped into whom?

You tell me!

“That, uh…”

Yan Sanhe also knew she was being somewhat unreasonable. Looking embarrassed, she said, “Use your silver to make the millstone turn—find out where Magistrate Zhou went these past few months.”

Xie Zhifei was puzzled. “Why inquire about this?”

Yan Sanhe: “Eight hundred taels!”

Xie Zhifei was exasperated. “Are you still suspecting Magistrate Zhou…”

“Xie Zhifei!”

Yan Sanhe suddenly called his full name. “Don’t ask first. Find out first, then we’ll talk!”

Xie Zhifei was stunned. There seemed to be something else implied in those words.

“Wait in the guest room. I’ll be right there.”

…

Xie Sanye’s “right there” was truly immediate.

Yan Sanhe’s front foot had just returned to the room, and she’d just poured herself a cup of tea when his back foot pushed through the door.

The weather was hot, and he’d run so fast his throat felt like it was on fire. Xie Sanye walked to Yan Sanhe, grabbed the teacup from her hand, and drained it in one gulp.

Yan Sanhe: “…”

Pei Mingting, lying like a corpse in the grand armchair: “…”

“I found out.”

Xie Zhifei said between gasps, “Zhou Ye hasn’t come to the office in two months. He only just canceled his leave ten days ago.”

Pei Xiao propped himself up by the chair arms and sat straight, asking with a confused expression, “Why are you inquiring about Zhou Ye…”

Yan Sanhe: “Did you find out where he went?”

Xie Zhifei: “No one knows.”

Yan Sanhe frowned. “Did you ask whether Magistrate Zhou often disappears for months at a time?”

Xie Zhifei wiped the sweat from his forehead. “They said this was the first time. It never happened before.”

Pei Xiao: “Hey, why are you inquiring about…”

Yan Sanhe: “Can you remember whether Magistrate Zhou was wearing official robes that day at the herbal tea stall?”

“No.”

Xie Zhifei was very certain. “If he had been, I definitely would have looked more closely.”

Yan Sanhe found herself a new teacup.

“He goes to the old man’s village to fish every half month. Logically, he should be very familiar with the old man. Why did he leave in such a hurry that day?”

Xie Zhifei picked up the teapot from the table and poured her half a cup. “Perhaps he had some urgent matter?”

Yan Sanhe held the teacup and looked up at Xie Zhifei. “Not even time to say one sentence?”

Xie Zhifei froze, momentarily at a loss for how to answer.

“That, uh…”

Pei Xiao seized the gap. “May I say something?”

“Shut up!”

Two voices shouted simultaneously.

Pei Xiao: “…”

Xie Zhifei looked at Yan Sanhe. “What are you suspecting?”

Yan Sanhe: “Do you remember what the post station manager said?”

Xie Zhifei: “I remember. He said that person was also an official.”

Yan Sanhe: “Zhou Ye is an official—that’s one coincidence. The herbal tea stall had both him and that bundle of silver appear at the same time—that’s a second coincidence.”

“A third coincidence.”

Xie Zhifei: “He threw down silver without even greeting the old man, then left in a hurry, despite clearly being well acquainted.”

Yan Sanhe nodded slightly.

“My Bodhisattva!”

Pei Xiao finally understood.

“At such a critical juncture, how are you two still obsessing over those eight hundred taels? Think about serious matters, you two!”

Yan Sanhe stepped forward, her dark gaze boring into Pei Xiao’s eyes.

“Have you considered that if that thief really was him, could Third Master’s identity still be concealed?”

Pei Xiao’s entire body stiffened, all his blood rushing to his head.

“Since it can’t be concealed, does he have no suspicions about Third Master?”

Yan Sanhe: “About the purpose of our journey—no suspicions? Why did he so readily let us go to Great Qi?”

The air froze into ice.

After a long while, Pei Xiao finally broke free from his rigidity and asked with a sharp intake of breath, “Yan Sanhe, are you suspecting he and Wu…”

“No.”

Yan Sanhe shook her head very frankly. “I just feel things are a bit strange and want to investigate…”

“That’s good then!”

Pei Xiao breathed a long sigh of relief, looking shaken. “You almost scared me to death. After all, he did help us. As humans, we can’t be ungr—”

“After all!”

Yan Sanhe coldly interrupted. “The other group who knew we went to Great Qi—only him!”

“…”

Pei Xiao collapsed back into the grand armchair, giving up like a broken pot falling to pieces, continuing to be a wilted cucumber.

Can’t you finish speaking all at once?

Breaking it up like this…

Really could kill someone!

“Xie Zhifei.”

Yan Sanhe made a decisive call. “Let’s split up!”

Xie Zhifei’s expression grew grave. “You arrange it.”

Yan Sanhe took a deep breath. “I and ‘my brother’ will take three guards to Guanyin Chan Temple. Magistrate Zhou is entrusted to you.”

Almost the instant her words fell, Xie Zhifei understood her intention in this arrangement: again, one hidden and one revealed.

Guanyin Chan Temple remained a primary suspect.

Zhou Ye was Nanning Prefecture’s parent official—investigating him couldn’t be done openly. It required indirect probing, and indirect probing was Xie Sanye’s specialty.

Just go listen to songs at pleasure houses!

Pei Xiao struggled to stand up again. “Going to Guanyin Chan Temple, what else can we do?”

“Much can be done.”

Yan Sanhe didn’t rush to answer. Instead, she unhurriedly finished the cup of tea in her hand before speaking:

“Does Pei Daren dare to wield his official authority even more impressively?”