Chapter 506: How Could You Possibly Not Know?

"My Lord, let me tell you the truth. It is not that this commoner is unwilling to hand the person over to them, but that there is truly no one to hand over!"

Feeling his skin crawl under Shen Yu's gaze, Manager Qian finally gritted his teeth and told the truth.

"This Miss Qinghan did not die suddenly; in fact, she has gone missing. Some time ago, she suddenly vanished without a trace. No matter how we searched, we couldn't find her, so we assumed she had run away!"

"Missing? If she was missing, why didn't you say so earlier? Why were you stammering?"

"This, this..."

"It was for the money, wasn't it!"

Glancing at the villagers from Qiaoshan Village over there, Shen Yu immediately understood. This shameless wretch clearly wanted to swindle the money the villagers had raised to redeem Miss Qinghan.

He must have known that the people from Qiaoshan Village were saving up to redeem Miss Qinghan, and that after she went missing, these villagers did not stop their efforts to save money.

Therefore, he played along, claiming that Qinghan had died suddenly, so they would pay to redeem her corpse.

The local custom here places the greatest importance on returning to one's roots. He was gambling that the people from Qiaoshan Village would definitely be willing to pay.

As for the so-called corpse of Miss Qinghan, that was easy to handle; he could just get some ashes and tell them it was her remains. You couldn't exactly sift through them to check, could you?

"My Lord!" Carefully glancing at Shen Yu, Manager Qian said with extreme caution, "Miss Qinghan was of noble character. This commoner also respected her and took good care of her in daily life."

"But as you know, with Miss Qinghan missing, how could Qingzhu Yuan let it go? After all, she was the top star here."

"That is why this commoner simply played along and claimed Miss Qinghan died suddenly. I did this for the sake of these villagers. Redeeming a dead person is much cheaper than redeeming a living one!"

"This way, Miss Qinghan would not have to hide and dodge. After all, the transaction is complete; even if she isn't dead, Qingzhu Yuan cannot say anything more!"

"Is that so? You certainly know how to think for others!" Greedy for money, yet painting yourself as so noble—it's disgusting to hear.

"My Lord is too kind; it is all what this commoner should do!"

"You really think I'm praising you? Chu Hong!"

"My Lord!"

"Take my official warrant, go and summon the Black-Clad Guards stationed here, and have them investigate this place thoroughly!"

Looking at the opulent Qingzhu Yuan, a hint of coldness radiated from Shen Yu. His Super Perception covered the area, and Qingzhu Yuan fell completely within his awareness.

Most of the girls inside had looks of panic and unease in their eyes, especially when they looked at this Manager Qian; their expressions were filled only with fear.

Coupled with the scars inadvertently revealed on these girls' wrists, they certainly didn't cause those themselves.

It seemed that this timid-looking Manager Qian had quite a fearsome reputation in Qingzhu Yuan. Only, this reputation was likely built up through years of oppression!

"Chu Hong, whether there are women in this Qingzhu Yuan who were trafficked, and whether they all sold themselves willingly—these are all questions!"

"Take your men and investigate thoroughly, do you understand?"

"This subordinate understands!" Shen Yu had spoken so clearly; how could he not understand?

For someone running a Brothel like this, especially in a place like Xiaozhou, how could there not be cases of forcing good women into prostitution? As long as one wanted to investigate, there would be no problem that couldn't be uncovered.

"My Lord, this, this... our Qingzhu Yuan has always done business honestly and has never forced anyone into prostitution. My Lord, please investigate clearly!"

"Isn't that exactly what I'm having people do now? Rest assured, the innocent will clear themselves; Magistrate Chu will not wrong you!"

"My Lord!" Hearing this, Manager Qian became even more anxious. Did he not know whether Qingzhu Yuan could withstand an investigation?

If the Black-Clad Guards were allowed to keep investigating, hacking him to pieces eight times over wouldn't be enough to vent their hatred.

"Chu Hong!" Shen Yu instructed Chu Hong, "I leave this place to you. You must not wrong a good person, but of course, do not let a single bad person go!"

"My Lord, rest assured, this subordinate will handle it impartially!"

"Something's not right!" Shen Yu, who was about to leave, suddenly stopped. For some reason, he felt as if something was off.

This feeling was very strange, and for a moment, he couldn't put his finger on it. But under his Super Perception, his senses were infinitely amplified, so this feeling was definitely not baseless!

He looked around, pushing his Super Perception to the maximum. Where exactly did this faint sense of incongruity come from?

Soon, Shen Yu's attention shifted to the villagers. That was it; this feeling came from these villagers of Qiaoshan Village!

These villagers were currently still immersed in grief, appearing to be overcome with sorrow, yet it gave one a sense of incongruity.

This incongruity was almost non-existent, yet it was still detected by his Super Perception.

Seeming to have thought of something, a zither appeared in Shen Yu's hands at some point, and he began to play it lightly.

He was known as a master of both zither and sword, and his famous battle back then was fought using the Tianlong Eight Tones. Yet, the people of the Jianghu today only knew of his sword, and had never seen his zither.

In fact, Shen Yu's zither skills were not weak at all. The Six Chapters of Zither Dao he had obtained through "signing in" previously had extraordinary power, though they consumed much more energy.

He had always used them quite reluctantly, so he didn't use them often. It was only now that he had entered the True Soul realm that he could truly play these six chapters completely and unleash most of their power.

The Six Chapters of Zither Dao are divided into Kill, Bewilder, Illusion, Array, Seal, and Momentum. The "Illusion" among them can not only set up an Illusion Technique through the zither music, but also break Illusion Techniques and bewilderment spells.

There are thousands of Illusion Techniques in the world, but very few can withstand the Six Chapters of Zither Dao.

As the zither music rang out, Chu Hong and Manager Qian were completely unaffected, but the villagers of Qiaoshan Village nearby were instantly covered in sweat, as if they were experiencing something painful.

It was not until the zither music faded that they completely regained their clarity. It was as if their previous thoughts had been obscured by some mysterious power, and only now had they fully recovered.

Soon, after all the villagers returned to normal, they began to whisper to each other with faces full of confusion.

"Second Brother, why did we come here?"

"Why did we come? I've forgotten that too. Right, we were going to redeem Qinghan. But that's not right—who is Qinghan? Why would we scrimp and save to redeem her!"

"Great Uncle, I seem to remember such a person. She seems to have sent us money every year. But we don't know this person, do any of you have any impression of her?"

For a moment, all the villagers were constantly discussing among themselves, and the place instantly became noisy and chaotic.

These villagers' words inevitably reached Chu Hong's ears, leaving him stunned.

These villagers were actually discussing who Miss Qinghan was? Had they gone mad?

"Everyone, I just heard you discussing that you seem to say you don't know Miss Qinghan? Isn't the reason you came here to redeem Miss Qinghan?"

"My Lord, we really don't know any Miss Qinghan!"

"You really don't know her?" The villagers' answer made Chu Hong somewhat incredulous, and he then asked subconsciously, "Then do you know me?"

"Aren't you the Assistant Prefect of Xiaozhou? We just met!"

"Since you know me, how could you not know Miss Qinghan? How could you possibly not know her?"

"Miss Qinghan is the only daughter of your old village chief. Back when Qiaoshan Village suffered a two-year drought, your old village chief took out his own rations to provide relief to others, while he himself starved to death."

"And Miss Qinghan, in order to save everyone, willingly sold herself into a Brothel, and only then was the entire village saved. Those two, father and daughter, are the great benefactors of all of Qiaoshan Village!"

"My lord, it is indeed true that our old village chief gave us his only rations back then. But as for the Miss Qinghan you speak of, we have absolutely no memory of her!"

"That's right, my lord, we don't know any Miss Qinghan at all!"

An old man nearby also looked full of confusion, then whispered, "Our old village chief was always alone and never married; where would an only daughter come from!"

"What did you say? That's impossible!"