Chapter 461

"Yu Ziliang is the adopted son whom Yu Sicheng regards as a treasure."

When Seeing Pei Ye walked out of the Dali Temple, Xu Chuo's calm voice came from the black cat. "Yu Sicheng is forty-seven this year, knows the Inner Palace Province, serves as the Inspection Commissioner of the Three Palaces, and now controls the Left and Right Divine Martial Armies. He is the greatest powerful eunuch in the Great Tang, with no equal."

"No wonder. For the sake of adjusting a prison cell, summoning him is already the upper limit of what the Dali Temple can do. They certainly can't use torture—can the Immortal Terrace catch him?"

"In recent years, the Immortal Terrace also doesn't enter the palace," Xu Chuo said. "Moreover, we all know that this Wildman is not really connected to the Huan Si Lou. The Immortal Terrace cannot intervene too deeply in this case."

Seeing Pei Ye walked south along the street and nodded slowly. "Actually, I feel there is no need to investigate this person either."

"Hm?"

"Just like a sluice gate, the river and streams are usually open, but once the flood has the risk of backflow, the gate will drop with a snap," Seeing Pei Ye said. "This person is just such a gate. He probably doesn't know what he is doing, nor does he care—this person is troublesome, and secondly, even if he is killed or caught, it just brings trouble for nothing, and he has no value."

"That is so."

"I think behind him is probably directly the Yan Prince's Mansion, but we didn't not know who the enemy was from the beginning; rather, we need to find their weaknesses and movements," Seeing Pei Ye said. "So I think we should just let the Dali Temple grind away at this side."

"Mm, not bad."

Seeing Pei Ye smiled. "... I was waiting for the Pavilion Master to guide me; how come you are the one not speaking instead?"

Xu Chuo said calmly, "I was thinking the same as you. It's a pity that I just recited the line 'Wuyang's dead ash man' a few days ago. At this time, I must be a bit tougher, just in case you want to kill him."

"... Even Jing Ke entered the Qin King's palace while paying his respects," Seeing Pei Ye said earnestly. "The Pavilion Master has a misunderstanding of me."

"Is that so? Perhaps it's because we aren't familiar enough yet."

"... My temper is very good."

"Mine is not very good," Xu Chuo replied, changing the subject. "Where are you going now?"

"Changan County Office."

The case of the Wildman entering prison was indeed cut off here. The other party was not playing hide-and-seek; this person was right in front of them, but the Dali Temple had no way to interrogate him. Just as Xu Chuo said yesterday, what cannot be broken outside the Divine Capital is the case, and what cannot be broken inside the Divine Capital is power. As a death-row prisoner who escaped from the heavy prison of the Southern Office, Seeing Pei Ye had experienced this point as soon as he entered the capital.

However, the Wildman himself was still carrying another case.

—"The charge for entering prison is also normal. He killed a constable of the Prefecture Office. After being caught, he was also carrying other human lives on his back, so he was thrown into the heavy prison."

The Wildman and he were complete strangers. He entered the prison to kill him; behind this, of course, there existed a will.

Then, under the control of this will, why did he kill this constable?

Changan County.

The Divine Capital takes the center as the boundary; the west belongs to Changan County, and the east belongs to Wannian County. Situated in the Divine Capital, the political power of the two counties is severely compressed, basically just listening to orders and acting. However, they enjoy authority in matters such as household registration, theft, and public security litigation. The two counties directly manage the common people of the Divine Capital and are also often the highest government offices that the common people can reach.

Seeing Pei Ye came to the front of the office and showed his Yan plaque. The one who rushed out was a Registrar. The two exchanged greetings, and this middle-aged clerk asked somewhat cautiously, "Yan Inspector Pei, what brings you here?"

"Nothing much, Registrar Zhang. There is a small case at the Dali Temple side, and I remembered it was handled by your office, so I came to flip through it," Seeing Pei Ye said with a kind smile.

"Oh, easy to say, easy to say," Registrar Zhang said. "I wonder which case it is?"

"A few days ago, there was a Wildman killing a constable. I heard it happened in the West City," Seeing Pei Ye said. "I want to see the beginning and end of this case."

"... Oh, alright." Registrar Zhang frowned. "But I'm not too clear about this case either. The subordinates caught the person, and before they could handle it much, the Southern Office sent an order—I'll take you to ask."

"Sorry to trouble you."

The two came to the constable's room. Registrar Zhang walked straight to a person's desk and knocked on the table. "Zhao Yi, regarding the Wildman killing the constable two days ago, how did you record it here?"

The person at the table lifted his head from the pile of papers. "... Old Ding's case? Isn't it already closed? The criminal has already been escorted to the heavy prison."

"This lord wants to ask about the case; entertain him carefully."

"... Oh." Zhao Yi lifted his head and glanced at Seeing Pei Ye, then cupped his hands. "Alright, let me look."

Registrar Zhang gave a few instructions, and Seeing Pei Ye asked him to go busy himself. There were about twenty or thirty people in the constable's room, most of them also busy. Seeing Pei Ye pulled up a stool and sat down at this table, waiting for this clerk, who was also not young, to flip through the case files.

"Actually, nothing was recorded." Zhao Yi sighed lightly. "If you ask me, it's just bad luck. Old Ding was just strolling on the street in Pingkang Ward, that barbarian walked toward him, the two bumped into each other, and as a result, I don't know what was said, but the barbarian killed him with three punches."

"I'll add a word, why is the lord investigating this case?" Zhao Yi finally pulled out a thin case file.

"The Wildman has some connections, so I came here to take a look."

"Oh, then I'm afraid the lord has made a wasted trip. Even if that barbarian has something going on, it probably has nothing to do with Old Ding."

"How so?"

"It just doesn't touch him," Zhao Yi said. "Old Ding drank a little wine and played cards every day, and when it was late, he would go to Pingkang Ward to look at the young waists and bellies. He was a very satisfied and happy person."

"What case was this Constable Ding handling recently?" Seeing Pei Ye took the case file.

"He hasn't had any cases recently."

"No cases?" Seeing Pei Ye lowered his head and opened the case file.

【Ding Yukang, resident of Yongan Ward, Changan County, age 49, served as a Changan County constable for 11 years. On the night of the 10th of the 10th month, he clashed with the Wildman She Shi on Pingkang Right Street. His temple was hit heavily, collapsed, and he died.】

"No cases. He was old and didn't seek to move up. On weekdays, he just did some miscellaneous tasks in the room. Last month, he even told me he wanted to transfer to be a clerk." Zhao Yi pulled out another booklet and opened it. "Take a look, the last case he handled was in mid-September, mediating the relationship between the Xu mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in Yongping Ward; the one before that was at the end of August, handling the dispute over whose donkey it was between the Wang Chuan and Wang Fan brothers in Daixian Ward. He could handle such cases properly every time, and we were quite convinced by him."

"... What about your office? In this constable's room, are there any important cases recently, and do they have any connection to this Constable Ding?"

Zhao Yi was slightly stunned. "... I wouldn't call them important. Right now, there are four cases of wandering swordsmen fighting and seven cases of theft. No human life cases have been reported in the last month. These things happen every day, and they have even less to do with Old Ding. I'm still organizing the case files; he didn't care about these at all, and the head constable didn't give him any work either."

Seeing Pei Ye was silent for a moment. "Is the body still there?"

"... It's being kept. I remember he even had an apprentice a few years ago, who later said he was promoted to the Jingzhao Prefecture, but I haven't seen him since. Now that he's dead, no one has come to take the body," Zhao Yi sighed lightly. "We were just talking about pooling some money to bury him tomorrow."

Seeing Pei Ye picked up his sword and stood up. "Take me to see it."

Zhao Yi paused, tilted his head to look, and shouted at a young man, "Xu Liu! Lead this lord over."