Chapter 214

At Flower and Bird Street, Xu Qing had just arrived at the entrance of Second Master Feng's residence when he saw the front gate standing wide open. Inside, everything was in shambles; not to mention living people, he couldn't even spot a single live chicken.

To prevent petty thieves from sneaking in, Xu Qing closed the door on his way out and climbed over the wall to leave Second Master Feng's house.

Leaving Flower and Bird Street, Xu Qing wasted no time and arrived at the location of the agency. This time, there was actually a clerk on hand to receive him.

"Where are your managers?"

"Shopkeeper Xu, you've come too late. The managers were just taken away by the officials at noon."

Not far from the agency was the Tai'an Escort Agency. Xu Qing made a quick detour, but inside, only some menial laborers remained.

Upon asking, he learned that the young proprietor, Xie Yunyan, and over a dozen prominent martial artists from the pugilistic world had all been seized by the people from the Mirror Reflection Bureau.

Xu Qing asked further about exactly where they had been taken, but no one knew.

You could say this was quite the mess; he, the main culprit, ended up perfectly fine, while the group of people who had joined in the clamor after the Jinmen Gang was wiped out were taken as examples and hauled off for interrogation.

The law does not punish the masses, so Xu Qing wasn't worried about the safety of these old acquaintances. The former Jinmen Gang had been used to being arrogant and domineering, offending quite a few people. Back then, it wasn't just people like Second Master Feng who had "kicked them while they were down" or "added fuel to the fire."

However, for the sake of caution, Xu Qing still took off his cloth shoes and tossed them onto the ground.

The "tossing shoes to divine the path" method—the longer you've worn the shoes, the more pungent and effective they are. Xu Qing had been busy lately and hadn't changed his shoes for many days; now was the perfect time to put them to use!

Avoiding the crowds, Xu Qing moved as if on flat ground. When he encountered high walls, he used the Gecko Wall-Walking Skill to walk straight across; when he met ponds or puddles, a light leap made the distance of several yards a matter of one or two steps.

Meanwhile, on the hundred-mile-wide Baisha River, several large grain transport ships were escorting a towering vessel with high-flying banners, anchored on the river surface.

Inside the large ship, Eunuch Liao Jinzhong stood by a porthole, admiring the misty, vast scenery in the distance.

Behind Liao Jinzhong was a senior eunuch, about forty years old, wearing a nickel-blue robe embroidered with a peacock pattern. Judging by this attire alone, he had to be at least a fourth-rank palace official.

"Superintendent, by summoning all these people for interrogation, aren't you afraid of alerting the enemy?"

"Eunuch Xu, I am different from ordinary people. Chief Steward Feng is timid, and working under him has made you cautious, but I am different."

Liao Jinzhong brushed a strand of white hair from his temple, squinted at the passing ships outside the window, and said, "The capital and Jinmen are quite close, but the local customs and people here are different in every way. I am not familiar with this place. If I were like everyone else, hesitating and looking back at every step, how long would it take to get the information I want?"

"What does the Superintendent mean?"

Liao Jinzhong chuckled, "Since you and I aren't familiar with Jinmen, we'll just bring in people who are. I don't believe that among so many of them, not one knows a whisper of what happened."

"Superintendent, some of these people have connections with nobles in the capital. If we offend them too much, I fear it won't be easy to wrap things up."

"What is there to fear!" Liao Jinzhong glanced sideways at Eunuch Xu, then raised his hand to flick his heavy cloak back. He strode back into the cabin and sat in the head seat, his every movement possessing a certain heroic spirit.

"This world is still the Zhao family's world, and this Jinmen is still the Son of Heaven's Jinmen. I am acting on behalf of Heaven; who dares to disobey?"

Having said this, Liao Jinzhong let out a cold snort and continued, "Eunuch Xu, you don't need to keep an eye on me. Chief Steward Feng's foster son is gone, but do you think my foster son died in vain?"

The two eunuchs together couldn't make a single man, but they cared more for their non-biological sons than if they had been their own.

Upon hearing this, Eunuch Xu immediately beamed and said fawningly, "The Superintendent never forgets old promises and acts with lightning speed. I, little Xu, am convinced from the bottom of my heart."

Over here, the two flat-chested old ladies were still talking when a group of red-clad imperial guards, swords and blades in hand, escorted dozens of people from the Red Horse Boat, set up a portable gangplank, and boarded the towering vessel.

Liao Jinzhong sat upright in the cabin, holding the documents submitted by the seal-holding official.

On the mere two pages of documents, information was listed in detail regarding the agencies, escort firms, and shipping companies of Linjiang County, as well as the major market leaders and local tyrants.

The matters inside were a mixed bag, including but not limited to: the young proprietor of the Tai'an Escort Agency, Xie Yunyan, having his father murdered by a vendetta, Xie Yunyan using a "beauty trap" to seduce the enemy's concubine, poisoning the enemy's household, and after killing the enemy with his own hands, being forced to return to Jinmen; then there were private matters like where the agency managers lived, how many villas they had, and how many concubines they kept; and the fact that Second Master Feng, the head of the Flower and Bird Market who played both sides of the capital and Jinmen, had a young wife who had just entered the household and was two months pregnant, but was actually an adopted daughter he had taken in years ago...

There was also the matter of the shipping company boss purchasing "idle" warships from the Jinmen Naval Camp at a low price and converting them for commercial use.

Liao Jinzhong read through it, his eyelid twitching incessantly.

How could this tiny Linjiang County have so many talented people?

And that was without counting the two officials surnamed Wu who had recently hidden their identities to report an imperial official to the court.

"People say a place is good because it produces outstanding people, but this Jinmen area..." Liao Jinzhong felt it was nothing but evil.

"This place is not suitable for a long stay. Once things are done, it's better to return to the capital as soon as possible."

Beside him, Liao Jinzhong's confidant, Zheng Chunbao, the seal-holding official of the Mirror Reflection Bureau, asked with concern, "Does the Superintendent have some discovery?"

Liao Jinzhong shook his head, "I just feel in my heart that this area seems to clash with my horoscope. A few days ago, that boy surnamed Shang nearly ruined my major plans. Since then, I have never felt truly at ease, and today that feeling has grown even stronger."

"The Superintendent's intuition has always been accurate. If you are truly uneasy, let little Bao watch over things here, and you can return to the capital to take command..."

"As expected, only little Bao understands my thoughts."

As he spoke, Liao Jinzhong reached out to take Zheng Chunbao's hand and patted it gently, his appreciation evident.

Zheng Chunbao immediately knelt on one knee, like a lamb kneeling to suckle, staring at Liao Jinzhong with fervent eyes. To avoid being offensive, he took one look and then hurriedly lowered his head.

"Serving the Superintendent is little Bao's good fortune. In little Bao's heart, the matters entrusted by the Superintendent are more important than the heavens themselves..."

"Do not speak nonsense! Slap yourself!"

Zheng Chunbao did not hesitate in the slightest, raised his hand, and slapped himself across the face, followed by a second slap, then a third...

As long as the Superintendent didn't tell him to stop, he wouldn't stop.

However, just as Zheng Chunbao was about to deliver the third slap, Liao Jinzhong raised his hand to stop him: "Let this be the last time. In the future, follow me and learn well. Don't be like little Wu, who didn't even understand how he died."

"Thank you, Superintendent, for your guidance. This servant will always keep it in mind and will never dare to forget!"

Hearing Liao Jinzhong group him together with his former foster son, Lou Xiaowu, Zheng Chunbao was ecstatic, completely ignoring his already swollen cheeks.

When Second Master Feng and the others boarded the ship, they happened to hear the sound of slapping coming from the cabin. Everyone looked at each other in dismay, completely unaware of what had happened.

Before long, a eunuch with swollen cheeks and palm prints on his face walked out of the cabin. That eunuch had one face in front of people and another behind their backs. Now, in front of everyone, he immediately looked down his nose at them. Xie Yunyan couldn't help but laugh, and for that, he was taken as an example by Zheng Chunbao and brought into the cabin first.

Inside the cabin, before Xie Yunyan could even look around, he saw an old eunuch at the Eight Immortals table smiling and beckoning to him.

Young Master Xie gave a light laugh and sat down gracefully opposite the table.

However, the old eunuch then spoke leisurely, revealing how he had seduced the enemy's female relatives and how he had used his beauty to poison the enemy to death.

Xie Yunyan's smile faded, and Liao Jinzhong spoke again, "The young proprietor wouldn't want the family business passed down by his ancestors to be destroyed in his hands, would he?"

"What exactly do you want?"

"What I want, would the young proprietor not know?" Liao Jinzhong, who was over fifty and entering the age of rarity, looked back and forth at the handsome Young Master Xie, making Xie Yunyan's hair stand on end. "Eunuch, please don't toy with me. Aside from protecting and escorting goods, I have no other talents!"

"That's not necessarily true." Liao Jinzhong put away his smile and suddenly asked, "The person who destroyed the Jinmen Gang and killed the Celestial Master's Mansion's spirit child back then shouldn't be a stranger to you, right?"

Xie Yunyan frowned and said, "The Jinmen Gang ruined my business, and I did have a grudge against them, but I don't know the person who wiped them out. Perhaps the people at the government office know more about this than I do. Moreover, when my brothers and I arrived, the Jinmen Gang was left with only their leader, and even that leader didn't know which enemy had destroyed his family business."

Liao Jinzhong used both soft and hard tactics, but Xie Yunyan's answers were airtight.

After inviting the young proprietor out of the cabin, Liao Jinzhong asked Eunuch Xu, who had arrived late, "In your opinion, is he telling the truth?"

"It doesn't seem fake. This servant just went to ask the other martial artists of the Tai'an Escort Agency, and their accounts are all consistent."

Liao Jinzhong waved his hand, and before long, the managers of the agency were also interrogated.

Next was Boss Kong of the Jinmen Shipping Company. This one was even more sensible; as soon as he arrived on the ship, before Eunuch Liao could speak, he handed over a stack of silver banknotes.

"Eunuch, I am a crude man, and it's inevitable that I might be lacking in manners. I hope you can be understanding."

"Easily said, easily said." One does not hit a smiling face. Liao Jinzhong's attitude toward Boss Kong was clearly much better than toward the previous ones. "Headman Kong, I ask you, back then the Jinmen Gang..."

Boss Kong told him everything: "I paid special attention to this matter at the time. The person who wiped out the Jinmen Gang was no ordinary figure. Even in the pugilistic world, he would be an unparalleled expert. But I heard from the survivors on the ship that this person used evil arts and seemed to be a demon!"

Upon hearing Boss Kong mention the rumors of paper dolls again, Liao Jinzhong's mind stirred.

Sure enough, as Feng Dehai said, one place couldn't produce two nameless experts. If there were, it was mostly likely the work of the same person.

You must know that when Lou Xiaowu died, his body was also taken away by paper dolls, not even leaving a single hair behind.

"This person's caution has reached the point where once they strike, they must destroy the body and erase the traces. If that's the case, wanting to drag them out won't be an easy task."

Eunuch Xu, who had arrived late again, spoke up: "Reporting to the Superintendent, the only one left outside is Second Master Feng of the Flower and Bird Market. His real name is Feng Junbao. He was originally from the capital, but later his family suffered from evil spirits and disasters, so he abandoned his business and fled alone to a foreign land. Later, guided by a shaman, he raised a rooster and became a 'Chuma Immortal,' and after that, he settled in Jinmen."

"This Second Master Feng travels between the capital and Jinmen all year round, and I hear that the Chuma Immortal is the most well-informed. If the Superintendent puts some effort into him, perhaps you can find out something."

"Chuma Immortal?"

"Just some crazy women and men who raise little ghosts and snakes. Anyone who wants to live a long life wouldn't learn such life-shortening methods."

"So it's just these low-level things."

"Superintendent, do not underestimate them. These people are crazy, and the little chickens and snakes they carry have some tricks to them. In this servant's humble opinion, it might be better to have the experts from the Bureau come forward to interrogate him."

Liao Jinzhong sneered upon hearing this: "I entered the palace at seven, and after only two months of learning etiquette, I was spotted by the Minister of the Imperial Household Department and began cultivating the martial Dao. To this day, I have stepped into the realm of a Grandmaster, and in a few years, it is not impossible to break through to the Heavenly Human realm."

"Do you think I would be afraid of some side-door, dark, and invisible things?"

Although he said this, when Second Master Feng entered, there were still several people in strange costumes in front of Liao Jinzhong.

A middle-aged Daoist priest holding a precious mirror, shining it back and forth at him.

A foreigner wearing pheasant feathers on his head, wrapped in silver and gold ornaments, and dressed in colorful, flowery clothes.

And another was a martial officer in the uniform of the imperial court, with the words "Demon-Hunting" engraved on his waist sword.

Looking at Second Master Feng's side, besides him and his uncle, there were only Ji Ruinian, who had been brought along due to an unprovoked disaster, and his own little Willow Immortal.

The little white snake in Ji Ruinian's sleeve flicked its tongue anxiously, and the uncle, with pure Yang blood, had his fur standing on end in the cage, looking like he was suffering from stress because the Yang energy here was too weak and the Yin energy too strong.

Liao Jinzhong waved his hand, and immediately the ship's cooks and servants brought delicacies. Eunuch Liao seemed to treat Second Master Feng and the other as if they weren't human at all. He smiled at the Daoist priest from the Celestial Master's Mansion and said, "Daoist He Yi, this Linjiang port has countless merchants coming and going from all over the world, and all kinds of food can be seen. People living here actually know how to enjoy life better than I do, living in the palace."

"Look at these lychees, the leaves are still green, and these fragrant fruits, loquats... what kind of fish is this?"

"Answering the Superintendent, it is shad and tiger-palm fish. In previous years, the tribute to the palace was limited; they are very rare."

Beside him, Li He looked at his nose and heart, unmoved. Only after Liao Jinzhong finished speaking did he say, "This poor Daoist traveled the world in his early years and has tasted all these things. Even the food from the southern and northern regions, I have seen and heard of. Eunuch, you don't need to be so polite."

Liao Jinzhong was not offended upon hearing this, but instead asked with a smile, "Then has the Daoist ever eaten the imperial banquet's snake liver and phoenix marrow?"

"That, I have not."

Liao Jinzhong's smile grew wider. He turned the spearhead and used the topic to make a point: "This snake liver and phoenix marrow are made from the male snake of Yishan and freshly killed male pheasant. Today, there is no male pheasant on this ship, but there is a male chicken. As for the male snake..."

Ji Ruinian hurriedly tucked his sleeves in. Seeing his good brother's appearance, Second Master Feng followed suit, forcing the birdcage housing his uncle under his long robe.

"..."

Liao Jinzhong waved his hand, and Zheng Chunbao led his men like bandits passing through, sending the uncle, along with the priceless gold cage, and the little white snake, which was stiffening its body and sticking out its tongue to play dead, to the back kitchen.

After doing this, Liao Jinzhong ordered his men to escort the two to the dining table and sit down.

"Eunuch, I have always raised my uncle as a son. You cannot do this. If you really want to eat chicken, I will immediately have someone find the best chicken..."

Beside him, Ji Ruinian reasoned, saying that what Eunuch Liao was doing was wrong. To put it heavily, it violated the law; to put it lightly, it damaged the dignity of the imperial court and was too rude; to put it in a moderate way, it was also immoral.

Facing the two men's bitter pleas, Liao Jinzhong said unhurriedly, "It's not that I must eat this snake liver and phoenix marrow today, but before that, I have to ask one thing..."

Liao Jinzhong didn't ask about anything else, but about the murder of Lou Xiaowu, Long Engui, and the Celestial Master's Mansion's spirit child.

Hearing this, Li He Yi, who came from the Celestial Master's Mansion, couldn't help but tense up.

"Feng Junbao, you say you raise a white chicken as your own son and want to watch it live, but does my foster son not deserve to live?"

Second Master Feng broke out in a cold sweat. He had been a coward since he was a child, otherwise, he wouldn't have abandoned his family to hide from enemies in another place. Now, hearing Liao Jinzhong's words, Second Master Feng wanted to be tough, even if it meant risking his life to plead for his uncle again.

But the moment he thought about how he had just started a family and his wife was pregnant, he didn't dare to provoke the old eunuch in front of him.

Ji Ruinian had backbone. Seeing that Liao Jinzhong was unmoved, he began to argue based on reason.

"Superintendent Liao, the matter you are asking about, the Second Master and I do not know. We Chuma disciples only do small things within our power. How could we be capable of such a major case that only the most vicious and evil people could commit?"

Seeing that the sky had already darkened.

Inside the towering vessel, the local Jinmen tyrants and the powerful dragon from the capital were pulling back and forth, while not far outside the vessel, a water zombie in a dark blue robe had already touched near the front, without anyone knowing.

(End of chapter)