Chapter 252: Origin

"How many of my men have come in here?" Xu Yuan asked.

Jia Yi: "Including this subordinate, there are six."

"Can they be trusted?"

Jia Yi clasped his fist and said in a deep voice: "If my lord does not trust us, this subordinate will immediately call the other five men in here to commit suicide before my lord!

We only ask my lord to look after our families!"

Jia Yi knew that before my lord, his weakness was "trust."

It was all his own fault for insisting on loyalty and setting conditions with my lord back then.

Xu Yuan couldn't help but laugh and scold: "Nonsense!"

Xu Yuan stepped forward, approached closer, and examined this head carefully.

Around the neck position, a ring of thorns had even grown.

He pried open the mouth to check the teeth; the tooth roots glowed with a faint golden yellow.

Indeed, it had already begun to transform into a dragon!

Judging by its state, this pig-dragon had been dead for at least several decades.

But since the Iron-Backed Cover possessed such a fine thing, why not respectfully present it to Lady Fu Shuanghui?

Xu Yuan closed the iron box and instructed: "Lock it up; do not tell anyone else."

Jia Yi nodded: "This subordinate understands. I will strictly instruct all the men on this matter; it will rot in our bellies forever."

Xu Yuan nodded. After Jia Yi locked it, Xu Yuan placed the iron box inside his own carriage.

"Let each of them pick one gold ornament; you get three."

"Five hundred taels of silver for each person; you take one thousand taels."

Jia Yi's body trembled: "My lord, that is too much..."

Xu Yuan waved his hand: "It is settled. Do your work well; from now on, we are all one family."

Then Xu Yuan climbed out of the hole and ascended along the rope.

Only Jia Yi remained in the cave, a surge of wild joy welling up in his heart.

At the wellhead, the five men under Jia Yi's command formed a circle to guard it, forbidding anyone from approaching.

When Xu Yuan came up, they looked tense.

Xu Yuan nodded to them: "Go down and distribute the silver."

The five immediately understood and bowed together: "Thank you, my lord!"

After the five went down, Jia Yi distributed the gold and silver according to the amounts my lord had specified.

Then, with a dark face, he drew his sword and stabbed it into the ground with a swish: "Listen to me all! Because of this matter, my lord has finally regarded us as one of his own!

This is not just a matter for us six; there are other brothers who did not come!

From now on, keep your mouths shut even in your dreams!

Whoever dares to leak even half a word, do not blame old Jia for not showing mercy!"

The five immediately spoke seriously: "Brother Jia, rest assured; if anyone dares to leak this out, the brothers will all cut out his heart and liver!"

Taking advantage of the fact that it was not yet dark, Xu Yuan led a group of men, urging their horses on, and rushed back to Champa.

A carriage accompanied them.

The carriage held several boxes of gold and silver.

The rest of the people stayed in the mansion to search again tomorrow to see if anything else could be found.

The crowd rode into the city before the city gates closed, then headed straight for the Nancheng patrol station.

The excuse announced to the outside was: "We confiscated a large amount of dirty silver from the Iron-Backed Cover; it is not safe to leave it at Little Beizhuang."

After everyone took their share of that gold and silver, more than thirty thousand taels remained!

Smuggling private salt really makes money.

This is only one of the many hiding places for the Iron-Backed Cover's silver.

Xu Yuan instructed Yu Yunhang: "Unload the silver from the carriage; you personally lead men to guard it closely!"

"This subordinate obeys!"

Then Xu Yuan asked again: "Where is the Iron-Backed Cover?"

"He is locked up in the prison."

Xu Yuan entered the prison. In the adjacent cell, a filthy object whose color could not be distinguished leaped up, crashed against the iron bars with a clang, and screamed miserably: "My lord! I know my mistake; I beg my lord to spare me! I will kowtow to you; whatever you want, I can give you..."

Xu Yuan was startled, then suddenly realized: "Wei Yunhua!"

My Lord Xu had truly forgotten about this matter.

"Enough." Xu Yuan waved his hand: "Since you know your mistake, someone, release her."

Mao Dabin, who was following behind, stepped forward, unlocked the lock, and released Wei Yunhua.

Wei Yunhua was so filthy she was unrecognizable; looking at the now-open prison door, she suddenly felt it was unreal.

Just one sentence and I am released?

Locking me up in this dark, sunless prison, where I cry to heaven and heaven does not answer, cry to earth and earth does not hear, was just a matter of one sentence from this person!

As a Fire Priestess of the Third Sister Society, she usually felt very good about herself.

But now she suddenly understood the huge gap between their statuses.

Wei Yunhua walked out cautiously—walking around Xu Yuan.

"Thank you, my lord, for your magnanimity."

Wei Yunhua offered her thanks, then ran out quickly; she fell and hit the ground, but did not want to stay for even a moment longer, scrambling out on hands and knees.

Mao Dabin, without waiting for my lord's orders, went out and handled all the paperwork for Wei Yunhua.

When Wei Yunhua was originally arrested, the charge was that she had attacked public officers.

Now that she has been detained for half a month and released, these documents cannot be missing.

This is to prevent her from filing a lawsuit again.

Although it is almost impossible, our Purification Bureau always operates without a single flaw!

After Mao Dabin left, only Xu Yuan, Tiebei Gai, and the old brother, still like a statue, remained in the cell.

Tiebei Gai had been fed a bowl of thin porridge today, yet he remained on the verge of death.

Xu Yuan said, "Get up. This official has some questions for you."

Tiebei Gai was now extremely obedient, answering whatever was asked; his skin clinging to his bones was more terrifying than death.

Xu Yuan then learned that this pig-crocodile head had been obtained by Lady Fu Shuanghui through clues from somewhere, and she had ordered him to investigate it secretly.

However, because the time was long past and the clues were vague, Lady Fu Shuanghui was not very concerned about it.

Similar clues had been discovered by Lady Fu Shuanghui after she arrived in Zhan Cheng; she had investigated several of them.

Ironically, just a few days after Lady Fu Shuanghui died, Tiebei Gai suddenly found it in the home of a wealthy rural household.

He personally led men to exterminate the entire household and quietly brought this item back.

When Fu Chongjiu arrived, Tiebei Gai truly believed the other party had come to avenge Lady Fu Shuanghui.

For a moment, he was undecided whether to present this item.

If he had found this head earlier, Lady Fu Shuanghui would not have needed to go to Yu Jing Village, and thus would not have died.

Tiebei Gai feared that Fu Chongjiu would transfer his anger to him because of this.

Yet in the end, it fell into the hands of my lord Xu.

Xu Yuan left the dungeon and returned to rest.

It would not be until tomorrow morning that the Captains would discover Tiebei Gai was already dead.

The notorious salt smuggler Tiebei Gai, whose name was feared for hundreds of miles around Zhan Cheng, simply vanished silently from the prison of the Nancheng Patrol Station.

This place was dark as night, dirty and foul-smelling; for the thoroughly wicked Tiebei Gai, it could be said he died in a fitting place.

When Wei Yunhua came out of the Nancheng Patrol Station, it was already dark.

She did not dare to delay and ran back to Huode Jishitang, stumbling along.

Her knocking at the door startled the people inside.

They thought my lord Xu had come again.

Wei Yunhua announced her identity, but the people inside peered through the door crack for a long time without recognizing her as Wei Huoshi.

Only when Wei Yunhua showed her badge did they open the door and invite her in.

After more than half a shichen, Wei Yunhua had bathed, eaten a full meal, and tidied herself up before the Great Fire Master finally arrived.

"You have suffered greatly."

Sorrow overwhelmed Wei Yunhua; first she bowed her head and shed tears, which quickly turned into wailing sobs.

At this moment, she bitterly regretted why she had provoked that person.

The Great Fire Master patted her shoulder: "It is all right, it is all over. Rest a while; tomorrow I will send someone to take you back to Luocheng."

Wei Yuhua was stunned: "I am not returning to Luocheng..."

"This," the Great Fire Master said awkwardly, "you are not suitable to remain in Zhan Cheng. If my lord Xu sees you, he will likely find you an eyesore, which would be detrimental to our sect."

Wei Yuhua stood dazed, a feeling of desolation rushing straight to her head.

The Great Fire Master walked to the door, thought for a moment, and out of regard for past friendship, added one more warning: "Once you return to Luocheng, try to use your connections to arrange a transfer from Luocheng as soon as possible.

My lord Xu is destined to be promoted; when he goes to Luocheng..."

With these words spoken, the Great Fire Master shook his head and left through the door.

Wei Yunhua, lost in thought, fell onto the bed and, covering herself with the quilt, began to cry loudly again.

Her entire future had been completely ruined because of her own stubbornness and unreasonableness.

(End of this chapter)