Chapter 424: The Buried Fragrance of a Suspected Tomb

Jin Ling, Mingze Alley.

Lingguan hummed a little tune in the kitchen, rinsing rice, simmering porridge, and preparing dishes—busy yet efficient.

She had done all these tasks in her opera troupe, so when she was occupied, it came naturally, effortless as breathing.

When Jia Cong first brought her here, she was startled to see Zou Min'er lying gravely ill in bed.

But she was sharp and perceptive, and never asked why; since Jia Cong had brought her here, there must be his reason.

Moreover, she had noticed that Zou Miss had suffered serious injuries, and Master San had been coming here constantly these days.

She couldn't see him at the old house in Xinglong Fang—better to stay in Mingze Alley, where things were more interesting.

In the room, Zou Min'er heard the sounds from the kitchen and said to Jia Cong, who had just changed her medicine: "Why did you bring Lingguan here?"

Jia Cong smiled: "Your condition is special, and I can't be here all the time. In Jin Ling, apart from Lingguan, no one else is suitable—or trustworthy."

Zou Min'er smiled: "This girl is capable enough, but she's a bit fiery. In the Teaching Bureau, where all kinds gather, I fear she won't last long."

Jia Cong paused slightly—he remembered that when Zou Min'er had been procuring opera girls for the Teaching Bureau, Lingguan had signed a bond of servitude to them, and upon returning to Shen Jing, she would enter the bureau's theatrical troupe.

This girl had refused to submit to coercion, even smashing her own floral crown rather than sing vulgar tunes like "Golden Fan."

Zou Min'er was right—such a stubborn, fiery nature would not survive long in the Teaching Bureau's chaotic environment.

But Jia Cong wasn't truly worried—he had never intended to send Lingguan to the Teaching Bureau when he first brought her to the Jia household.

Once matters in Jin Ling were settled, returning to Shen Jing would offer many ways to handle this.

…

Zou Min'er said: "The Zhongche Office has sent fifty of your men to scour the riverside prefectures for information. Daily coordination and planning require someone to oversee it."

"I can no longer appear in public, and since you hold the Zhongche Office's Chief Superintendent token, I will give you full details of the Zhongche Office's Jin Ling branch and personnel—you will now have full authority over them."

Jia Cong asked: "Shouldn't we first report this to the Zhongche Office in Shen Jing? Will it raise suspicion if I directly command them?"

Zou Min'er smiled faintly: "Say I entrusted it to you on my deathbed. A dead woman doing something unconventional—who dares to object?"

"Besides, a fast horse between Jin Ling and Shen Jing takes ten days round-trip under normal circumstances. Why waste time? Better to claim I'm already dead."

"Gaining swift control of the Zhongche Office's Jin Ling personnel will greatly aid your pursuit of Zhou Zhou Zhengyang and purging the lingering poison of the Water Surveillance Bureau case—that's exactly what I want to see."

Since Zou Min'er had nearly died from her injuries and barely survived thanks to Jia Cong's aid, her mindset had changed profoundly.

In many matters, the two of them had moved from mutual suspicion to deep interdependence, unconsciously standing on the same side.

Jia Cong knew well that Zou Zou Huaiyi had killed himself to protect his wife and daughter, hoping to conceal his complicity—but it had failed. This had become Zou Min'er's wound.

Only by purging the lingering poison of the old Water Surveillance Bureau case could Jia Cong truly close Zou Min'er's heartache.

…

Zou Min'er told Jia Cong the names and traits of six key Zhongche Office officers in Jin Ling, each with their own subordinate networks.

Control these six, and you control the Zhongche Office's broader network and resources in Jin Ling.

Zou Min'er added: "The Zhongche Office has a crucial branch in Jin Ling—I used it to coordinate and dispatch personnel.

It's in Chengdong, Xinghua Alley, Yao Family Wine Shop. The shopkeeper's wife, Xu Qiuniang, is one of the six I mentioned.

She's been in Jin Ling for years, knows every connection and backdoor, sharp and capable—she'll be a great asset to you."

When Zou Min'er named the location, Jia Cong froze, a sudden chill rising in his chest.

Seeing his strange expression, Zou Min'er asked: "What's wrong?"

Jia Cong smiled: "Nothing. Just distracted for a moment."

Though his words to her were light, his heart churned like a storm-tossed sea!

Chengdong, Xinghua Alley, Yao Family Wine Shop.

That address had lain buried in his mind for two years—he had come to Jin Ling twice, yet never set foot there.

For him and Qu Qu Hongxiu, it was a forbidden place, never to be touched unless absolutely desperate.

Two years ago, when Jia Cong first came to Jin Ling on official business, the Longtan Port massacre had erupted—dozens of Japanese ronin stormed the city, plunging Jin Ling into chaos.

Worried for his safety, Qu Qu Hongxiu had given him an iron token of the Hidden Gate before he left.

She told him that if he faced an unmanageable crisis, he could use the token to seek aid from the Hidden Gate's secret branch in Jin Ling.

She had warned him solemnly: never take this step unless there was no other choice.

If he had truly gone to the Hidden Gate for help back then, he might have opened a door to ruin.

Whether Qu Qu Hongxiu could have quietly severed ties with the Hidden Gate, whether they could have focused on the Xinchun Company's growth in the following two years—all became perilous unknowns.

And that secret branch's location? Xinghua Alley, Yao Family Wine Shop. The Xu Qiuniang Zou Min'er mentioned was very likely the same shopkeeper Qu Qu Hongxiu had spoken of.

…

Since moving from the East Courtyard to Lady Rongguo's Western Mansion four years ago, Jia Cong had faced many risks—but none as cryptic or unsettling as this.

Two possibilities existed.

One: Xu Qiuniang had betrayed the Hidden Gate and defected to the Zhongche Office.

Two: Xu Qiuniang was a Hidden Gate mole embedded within the Zhongche Office.

If the second were true, the Zhou Dynasty's tightly structured secret police apparatus had been deeply infiltrated and corrupted—the Hidden Gate's covert power was terrifying.

Either way, Jia Cong had no intention of touching or alarming it lightly.

In all of Zhou territory, the court treated the Hidden Gate like flood or beast—always preferring to kill the innocent than let one escape.

Anyone tainted by the Hidden Gate ended up dead, and badly.

The old Jin Ling Du family was a precedent—he knew of that one. How many others had he never heard of?

…

Beside him, Zou Min'er was still detailing the Zhongche Office's personnel structure, especially the Xinghua Alley shopkeeper's wife.

Though sharp and perceptive, she had no idea her mention of Yao Family Wine Shop had sent shockwaves through Jia Cong's mind.

Zou Min'er said: "Our operatives in the riverside prefectures send their reports first to the Xinghua Alley branch, then Xu Qiuniang forwards them to us.

So you must contact her quickly, or you'll miss vital information. Also, before you meet her, you must do one thing for me."

"I suspect the assassination at Qingyin Pavilion's inner courtyard has already been reported in full to Xu Qiuniang."

"Even the Yingtian Prefecture coroner was fooled—she won't suspect I'm merely feigning death. Once she's convinced I'm dead, deceiving her won't be hard."

"My mother was originally buried in the eastern city's unmarked graves. After I came to Jin Ling, I moved her to Fuzhou Hill west of Taiping Gate. Dig a mound beside her grave…"

As Zou Min'er's voice faded at the end, Jia Cong comforted her: "I'll see it done. No one will notice a thing."

Yet inwardly, he felt helpless—he could no longer avoid Xu Qiuniang.

All riverside reports flowed through Xinghua Alley. Before, Zou Min'er handled it—now, he had no choice but to contact Xu Qiuniang quickly.

…

Zou Min'er reached for the tiger-patterned jade belt beside her bed.

After her assassination attempt, she had believed she would die, and revealed the secret hidden within the belt to Jia Cong.

But at the time, Jia Cong had been focused solely on saving her life—he never opened the belt to see what she had concealed.

He knew the belt held deep meaning for her; since bringing her to Mingze Alley to recover, he had kept it beside her pillow.

Zou Min'er traced the smooth, lustrous jade on the belt, as if recalling something, a faint blush rising on her cheeks.

She asked Jia Cong for scissors, then gently slit the seam behind the third jade clasp, pulling out a tightly folded sheet of paper.

Jia Cong saw it was a receipt stamped with intricate patterns, bearing some writing—resembling a pawnshop's pledge slip.

Zou Min'er said: "That day in the Qingyun Pavilion's back courtyard, the female assassin kept demanding whether my father had left behind secret ledgers of the Water Surveillance Bureau."

"But my father left me nothing."

"This paper is a storage receipt from the Four Seas Money House on Jinhongwen Street in Jin Ling. It's the only thing my father left me—and it wasn't meant for me."

"Before his birthday, his longtime servant Wei Bo was returning home to mourn his family's death. Father, sensing something amiss—or perhaps just habitually cautious—gave him this receipt and told him: if Jin Ling remained safe, he could return with it."

"The receipt was sealed in a hidden box with wax, showing how seriously Father regarded it."

Later, when Jin Ling erupted, Wei Bo dared not return. But the Investigative Court must have learned of him from other servants in the Zou household.

They hunted him for over half a year—he eventually fled north to Shen Jing and gave me this receipt.

As soon as I arrived in Shen Jing, I sent someone to claim the item stored at Four Seas Money House.

But the storage receipt was highly specialized—it had a special contract with the money house: only the original depositor could retrieve it, and only after verifying appearance and handwriting.

But this storage receipt is extremely strict—it once had a special contract with the Four Seas Bank, requiring only the depositor themselves to claim it, along with verification of appearance and handwriting.

The original depositor was my mother—Father must have had her deposit it.

And she used a name she hadn't used in years, clearly to conceal the fact that the Zou family had such a storage receipt.

I believe all this was Father's doing, a precautionary escape route.

When the Zou household was seized, my mother died in the Yingtian Prefecture prison. According to the Four Seas Money House's contract, this storage receipt can no longer be claimed."

When the Zou family was confiscated and my mother died in the Ying Tian Prefecture prison, according to the Four Seas Bank's contract, this storage receipt is now nearly impossible to withdraw.

Jia Cong listened, a thought stirring in his mind: "Do you think your father hid something so cryptically because it's the Water Surveillance Bureau's secret ledgers?"

Zou Min'er replied: "He had no reason to use such convoluted methods to hide silver or valuables. If it were gold or treasures, he'd have told his only daughter."

"But if Wei Bo hadn't told me, I'd have known nothing—Father must have believed knowing this would harm me."

"My mother was the depositor, but she surely didn't know what was stored."

"If what was hidden at Four Seas Money House were the Water Surveillance Bureau's plundered overseas ledgers, my mother—given her nature—would have begged Father to abandon it."

"Yet until the Zou household was seized and Father committed suicide, she remained ignorant of what crime he had committed."

"Only after the prison guards read his charges did she learn the truth—and died of grief and despair."

"Even at her death, she never mentioned the Four Seas Money House storage—she must have thought it unimportant, and dismissed it unconsciously."

Until her very last moment, she never mentioned the Four Seas Bank storage matter—she must have considered it unimportant, and thus unconsciously overlooked it.

The Water Surveillance Bureau case two years ago involved too many lives and staggering wealth.

Your father, as the head of the Water Supervision Office, already bears a tremendous burden of responsibility.

If there is a mastermind behind this matter, he must have left behind some fallback plan to save himself.

I believe the so-called secret ledgers serve precisely this purpose—and they're not baseless rumors, otherwise the assassin wouldn't have pressed you so hard.

These items are your father's means of survival, but to you and your mother, they are not talismans—on the contrary, in most cases, they are death warrants.

I believe your father fully understood the danger, which is why you never knew of the secret ledgers, and though your mother deposited items at the Four Seas Money House, she didn't know what exactly she deposited.

The assassin entered the back courtyard of Qingyin Pavilion precisely because he feared you knew of the ledger's existence; since they couldn't get the items, they decided to eliminate you to cut off all future threats."

…

Zou Min'er's eyes gleamed as she said, "The items hidden at the Four Seas Money House are very likely the secret ledger of the Water Supervision Office from back then—we just don't know how to retrieve them."

The Four Seas Money House is owned by the Zhen family of Jin Ling; the Zhen family wields immense wealth and influence in Jin Ling, and the money house enjoys an outstanding reputation there—trying to withdraw items illegally would likely be impossible."

When Jia Cong heard the Four Seas Money House belonged to the Zhen family, his heart stirred slightly, and he naturally thought of Zhen Zhen Fangqing.

But now the Zhen family is suspected of illegally manufacturing firearms; even if Zhen Zhen Fangqing's offer to partner with Xinchun Company was genuinely sincere, Jia Cong could not afford to be careless.

The business deal hasn't been finalized, and Jia Cong has no grounds to ask them to facilitate his withdrawal from the money house—after all, business is business, and such an act would severely damage the money house's reputation.

Zou Min'er handed Jia Cong the deposit slip and said, "You keep this deposit slip."

Jia Cong took it with a look of surprise; this slip should have been vital to Zou Min'er—why was she giving it to him?

Zou Min'er's gaze softened as she told Jia Cong, "I am now a woman 'dead' to the world—I can no longer appear publicly, so this deposit slip holds little use for me."

You're resourceful—perhaps you can find a way to retrieve what my father stored. If it truly is the Water Supervision Office's secret ledger, it will be immensely valuable for solving this major case."

Jia Cong noticed that after narrowly escaping death, Zou Min'er's former sharpness and icy beauty had quietly softened—especially when facing him.

And her trust in and reliance on him seemed to be growing day by day.

He carefully stored the deposit slip and said, "I'll take charge of the item—rest assured. The Zhen family and my Jia family have been old kin, with longstanding ties."

In ordinary times, there might be ways to negotiate between our families—but now the Zhen family is under suspicion of a matter of critical importance, and has drawn the attention of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

If proven guilty, they face great disaster, so any contact with the Zhen family must now be handled with extreme caution.

Moreover, the Zhen family's chief business manager, Third Miss Zhen, is no ordinary woman; gaining any advantage from her won't be easy—I'll think of another way."

Zou Min'er then asked Jia Cong to retrieve her personal documents and belongings—all of which Jia Cong had taken from the inner courtyard of Qingyin Pavilion.

He spread them out on the table and, following Zou Min'er's guidance, sorted and categorized the useful items to quickly gain control over the situation within Jin Ling's Zhongche Office.

Zou Min'er pointed to one iron token and said, "This is my official identity token. With this, Xu Xu Qiniang will know it's my order."

Holding the cold Zhongche Office token, Jia Cong's mind churned with thoughts.

He realized that before meeting Xu Xu Qiniang, he must first discuss this matter in detail with Qu Qu Hongxiu.

The Yao family's wine shop in Xinghua Alley is entangled with both the Hidden Sect and the Zhongche Office—this place is a taboo that he and Qu Qu Hongxiu must treat with the utmost caution.

A clear and prudent strategy must be devised for how to approach it in the safest possible way. (End of Chapter)