Chapter 494: Written Confession

"Didn't you go to the Pavilion Master to ask for the consultation fee?" Pei Ye asked in surprise, warmly reminding him, "I got almost fifty taels of silver."

Yan Feiqing raised his head to look at the young man who had walked into the courtyard gate, and for the first time, he was silent for a moment, actually not knowing how to respond for a while.

Then Pei Ye looked at him, also silent, and frowned: "... You don't want to ask me for it, do you?"

Yang Zhenbing stopped the sound of his sword at this time: "The little cat is back."

Pei Ye saw that Yan Feiqing didn't seem to have this idea, relaxed his face, and laughed: "Brother Yan, Brother Yang, I have an idea for the name of the courtyard gate—have you seen the new sword review in "Changan Sword Affairs"? That person said that the only three who are still stunning are the three of us."

Yang Zhenbing put down his sword and walked over, standing still beside Pei Ye, slowly extending his hands toward the black cat, holding them in the air and waiting.

The black cat looked at him calmly, and he also looked at the black cat expressionlessly.

"... Therefore, I think the three of us can be called the 'Three Swordsmen of the Great Tang'," Pei Ye found the feeling of reading storybooks when he was a child. "Brother Yan, you are the ninth on the Crane-Duck Ranking, Brother Yang is the nineteenth, and I'm not much different. Therefore, this courtyard might as well be called 'Residence of the Three Tang Swords'."

"..."

The courtyard fell silent.

Pei Ye picked up the black cat and placed it on Yang Zhenbing's palm: "Brother Yang, do you think it's okay?"

Yang Zhenbing stiffened, looking at his palm earnestly without moving: "Okay."

Pei Ye smiled with satisfaction and looked at Yan Feiqing: "Since Brother Yan doesn't object either, come and write it quickly. We agreed last time."

Yan Feiqing was silent for a moment, seeing that the general trend was gone, and said somewhat wearily: "Write it yourself."

Pei Ye didn't spoil the fun, picked up the pen and ink, went outside the courtyard, wrote it down earnestly, and tilted his head to admire his masterpiece.

From this day on, Pei Ye spent two days of regular and stable life in the Sword Academy, practicing sword and listening to lectures, and practicing sword in the sword field with Yang Zhenbing. Of course, he couldn't avoid being squinted at and questioned by Wang Shousi about "who is showing off" and so on, and finally asked him casually if there were any other poetry and sword gatherings to introduce.

When he met Ning Shuhong, he earnestly told her that she must call her next time there was such a job of killing people.

After two days like this, Pei Ye had just finished his morning class on the third day when he received a short note delivered from outside. Pei Ye took it and looked; the handwriting was Xie Chuantang's, and the seal was the Jingzhao Office's.

"Taiping Wharf, there is some progress in the case, you can come."

When Pei Ye returned to this wharf, everything had become orderly and bright. Constables in official uniforms and clerks were walking around busy, and all kinds of things were classified and recorded, and finally summarized in the house where the red-clothed official sat.

Everyone knew that this Di official was about to be promoted. Lu Yu Gu had already been dismissed from his official position, and the counterattack in the imperial court was currently extremely fierce. Once this case was slightly settled, it would be time for Di Jiu to change his red clothes for purple robes.

Pei Ye didn't go in to say hello, but went straight down the wharf to the warehouse by the river. Xie Chuantang was standing here, still in the same clothes, her figure upright, her sword hanging at her waist, but she was holding a horse whip in her hand.

Hearing the footsteps, she raised her head: "... Since your arm hasn't healed properly, you don't have to rush over."

"Staying idle is just staying idle." Pei Ye looked at her, "Has that person been found?"

Xie Chuantang was silent for a moment and shook her head: "About the Illusion Tower matter, Di official said we'll talk about it later."

Pei Ye nodded: "Settle this case first, and then together."

Xie Chuantang took a breath and pointed: "Let's talk about the case: we have been checking and verifying for two days, and we have finally figured out a line hidden below."

"What?"

"According to rumors, the Taiping Taiping Cao Bang has an 'Inner Hall', with few people, but each one is powerful, and they only take orders from Qiu Tianyu himself. We checked the number of people and the confessions, and found that there is indeed such a hall."

"But they are gone?"

"No, they all died in the cleanup that night, and you killed half of them," Xie Chuantang said. "We traced the identities of these people, and many of them have no background."

"Like Qiu Tianyu... experts who suddenly popped up."

"About the same."

"Then these people are soldiers who were dismissed from the north."

"Di official also said so."

"What do these people usually do?" Pei Ye asked keenly.

Xie Chuantang looked at him: "From the confessions of many people and our own verification, we found that such a hall actually does not take charge of the 'Winter Prison'."

"..."

"They don't even follow Qiu Tianyu, and they don't disperse to other halls to supervise."

"Then they..."

"Are responsible for canal loading and unloading."

"..."

Pei Ye suddenly understood.

Secretly operating the Winter Prison, yet scattering all the money obtained—then the purpose of Qiu Tianyu establishing the Taiping Taiping Cao Bang was of course the canal transport itself.

It was too much of a matter of course.

"Is there anything unusual about the canal transport?" Pei Ye asked immediately.

"We checked almost everything, and there was nothing unusual; the goods and account books could all be matched," Xie Chuantang shook her head and handed a confession to him, "until today we finally found an insider."

Pei Ye lowered his head to look; it was a record with very fresh ink.

"Name."

"Zhang Er-cai."

"Age."

"Forty-six today."

"Canal worker?"

"Yes, official. I live in Chang'an Ward and have been helping out at the wharf for almost six years. The food and clothing here are sufficient, and the wages are paid quickly, so I've been doing it."

"You said, what did you see on the west bank of the wharf that night?"

"..."

Zhang Er-cai had been working at Taiping Wharf for five years and had never been disobedient.

If he was told to do more, he did more; if he suffered some deductions, he suffered them. His parents, wife, and children at home all relied on this hard-earned money. Searching the entire Changan City, it would be hard to find an employer who paid as readily as this one.

That was why when those cold-faced, sword-bearing stewards warned them not to approach the east or west banks, Zhang Er only nodded repeatedly. Having worked for five years and eight months, he had always silently gone straight back and forth loading and unloading at the South Bank wharf. Taiping Wharf was vast, and the vast majority of the boatmen, just like him, only operated within this quarter of the territory.

However, as one of the longest-staying canal workers, Zhang Er-cai inevitably heard and saw some rules.

That east bank was guarded very strictly and was not allowed to be approached from far away. From time to time, carriages that were sealed very tightly would drive in, and then drive out lightly on two wheels. Very occasionally, he seemed to hear faint crying inside, but in the next instant, he was kicked down and told to get lost by someone pointing a knife at him. In addition, there was one time he heard someone showing off a waist token from the official family, saying something about "Jin Wuwei" and so on.

And the west bank was not as forbidden to approach, but that was the narrow part of the canal, and no boats stopped there, so naturally, no one went there.

And it was only after working for four years that Zhang Er-cai knew that a large ship would dock there in the middle of the night.

That was the first month he brought his neighbor's second son to do this hard labor. The young man in his early twenties hadn't succeeded in his studies, hadn't practiced martial arts well, and usually just mixed with those wandering knights. Fortunately, his figure was still strong, so his neighbor's brother entrusted him to bring him a way out.

Who knew that in the first month, he would make a mistake. ===== CHAPTER 495 =====