According to their prior agreement, Pei Xiao’s face showed eight parts embarrassment, nine parts guilt, and ten parts apology. Finally, he took a deep breath.

“Magistrate Zhou!”

Yan Sanhe coughed lightly.

“Xie Zhifei’s identity is our first pledge of allegiance to you. My identity is the second pledge. I’m not surnamed Pei—I’m surnamed Yan, named Sanhe.”

Clatter—

Zhou Ye was shocked, dropping a chopstick.

“Who exactly are you? What’s your relationship with those two? What are you doing in Nanning Prefecture? And…”

He seemed to choke.

“Why are you presenting me with pledges of allegiance?”

Zhou Ye’s reaction was exactly as predicted—in one word: fake!

“Magistrate Zhou, this matter is not only long to explain but also bizarre.”

Pei Xiao’s expression had never been so gentle in his life.

“My maternal grandmother was surnamed Hu, originally from Dongxing County by the North Cang River in Nanning Prefecture. She entered the capital at sixteen and became my grandfather’s concubine.

Later she was elevated from concubine to wife. She bore children, managed the household, and lived an ordinary life. At year’s end, my grandmother passed away. After death, we discovered her coffin lid wouldn’t close.”

“Wait!”

Zhou Ye was greatly alarmed. “What did you just say? The coffin lid wouldn’t close?”

“Correct. The coffin lid wouldn’t close because during her lifetime she had obsessions that, over time, became demonic.”

At this point, Pei Xiao himself froze.

How strange!

When Xie Fifty first told me these things, I cursed him as a turtle bastard.

Now these supernatural words roll off my tongue so smoothly?

“To make the coffin close, we must resolve the old madam’s heart demon.”

Yan Sanhe naturally took over. “Magistrate Zhou, I, Yan Sanhe, am the one who dissolves obsessions and resolves demons.”

Clatter—

The one remaining chopstick in Zhou Ye’s hand also fell on the table.

Beyond shock, his sharp gaze shot toward Yan Sanhe’s face, his eyes motionless.

Pei Xiao and Xie Zhifei’s gazes lightly touched—

So far, Zhou Ye’s reactions were within their expectations.

Zhou Ye took quite a while to digest what “coffin lid won’t close, must resolve demon” meant.

He picked up both chopsticks and placed them neatly beside the bowl. “I’d like to ask—what is that old madam’s heart demon?”

Yan Sanhe: “The old madam’s heart demon is a black dog.”

“A black dog?” Zhou Ye’s expression became almost ferocious with shock.

Yan Sanhe nodded seriously.

“We discovered that dog was given to her by someone else, so her heart demon isn’t about the dog itself, but about the person who gave it to her.”

Zhou Ye was stunned for a good while before asking: “You’ve been searching for Wu Guanyue father and son all this time. Could the person who gave her the dog be…”

“Wu Guanyue!”

Yan Sanhe softly uttered three characters.

After hearing these three characters, the expression on Zhou Ye’s face suddenly vanished.

His gaze, laden with meaning, swept over Yan Sanhe and Xie Zhifei before finally settling on Pei Xiao, as if understanding something.

“So Lord Pei presented me with two pledges of allegiance to get me to help find Wu Guanyue father and son?”

“Magistrate Zhou, I traveled a thousand li to Nanning Prefecture for this one matter. My grandmother’s coffin remains open to this day.”

Pei Xiao looked dejected.

“As the weather grows hotter, I can’t just watch her corpse exposed under the open sky.”

Zhou Ye sighed heavily.

“Lord Pei’s filial piety is moving. Unfortunately, this humble official has spent these years desperately searching for those father and son, yet there’s been no trace of them. I’m powerless to help!”

Powerless to help your mother!

Pei Xiao looked at Zhou Ye’s falsely sympathetic face, gritted his teeth hard, and forcibly swallowed the profanity that had risen to his throat.

“Magistrate Zhou.”

After this call, Pei Xiao fell silent for a long while. His eyes slowly reddened, the painful struggle on his face obvious to all.

“My Pei family is a family of hereditary physicians. The clan’s men either serve in the Imperial Medical Bureau or practice medicine to help the world. Only I, this worthless one, am neither scholarly nor martial, and have no talent for medicine either.

This position of Right Counselor of the Buddhist and Daoist Registry was bought by my family through connections—just to give me some face. But at the end of the day, I’m still just muddling through life.”

Zhou Ye said: “Lord Pei is being modest. Who in this world isn’t muddling through?”

“It’s truly not modesty. I’m not like Magistrate Zhou who has the world in his heart and brings fortune to the local people. I have no ambitions of ruling vast territories or becoming a general or minister. I have no aspirations to cultivate myself, regulate my family, govern the state, or bring peace to the world.”

Pei Xiao looked forlorn. “I just want my parents’ home, my brothers safe, and my grandmother at peace.”

“Lord Pei lacks grand ambitions but values loyalty greatly—you’re a sincere person!”

Zhou Ye was quite moved by this. “But what’s Lord Pei’s intention in telling this humble official all this? I still don’t quite understand.”

Damn!

After I’ve spoken to this extent, you’re still pretending not to understand?

Are you even human?

Pei Xiao took a deep breath, his voice trembling slightly.

“Magistrate Zhou, I’m searching for Wu Guanyue father and son. As for what crimes they committed, how they committed them, what the court plans to do with them… all of this has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

Zhou Ye seemed not to understand what “nothing to do with” meant, staring at him silently.

Pei Xiao’s lips twitched slightly.

“As long as they help me resolve my grandmother’s heart demon and let her rest in peace, I won’t tell anyone I’ve seen them, much less repay kindness with enmity.”

By this point, the meaning was crystal clear, but one final step remained.

Pei Xiao raised his right hand solemnly. “Magistrate Zhou, if I violate these words, may I be struck by lightning and die a terrible death.”

Zhou Ye looked at him and nodded silently.

Pei Xiao’s heart eased slightly—this person’s movements and demeanor all suggested he seemed moved by his words.

“Lord Pei!”

Zhou Ye sighed.

“These words shouldn’t be spoken now, and shouldn’t be spoken to this humble official. But I promise you—this matter passes from your mouth to my ears and will reach no third person.”

Huh?

Pei Xiao’s expression was like he’d been struck with a hammer.

His eyes shifted, glancing at both Yan Sanhe and Xie Zhifei—

We predicted this too. We presented our pledges, played the emotional card, yet this bastard still won’t admit it, still playing dumb with us!

Xie Zhifei and Yan Sanhe simultaneously blinked—

If the soft approach doesn’t work, then only the hard approach remains!

“Clack!”

Pei Xiao suddenly slammed his wine cup heavily on the table and sneered coldly.

“Magistrate Zhou, don’t push people too far. If you provoke me, I’m capable of anything.”

“Lord Pei, how have I pushed you too far?”

Zhou Ye looked surprised, even more aggrieved.

“Wu Guanyue father and son are heinously evil. If you want to find them, this humble official fully supports you. Once you find them, if you want to conceal their whereabouts, I’ll turn a blind eye. So tell me—”

Zhou Ye paused, cold light blazing in his eyes.

“Where is the pushing too far? Where is it excessive?”