Chapter 63: Chaoyang Residents

Chaoyang Hamlet lies against the hills and by the water, with sixty or seventy households and a population of four hundred — the most populous hamlet under Huyang Precinct's security jurisdiction. But a closer look reveals its layout is not much different from Blackie's own Sunset Hamlet: still a single wall enclosing the settlement, like a self-contained mountain stronghold, with the hamlet gate as the only way out.

This layout served two purposes: first, since ancient times, village communities built walls to guard against bandits and raiders; second, it was mandated by the Qin state to control the population and prevent people from roaming or migrating at will.

Blackie was sincerely grateful for this system. If a hamlet could be freely entered and exited, no matter how great his abilities, he would never be able to catch the letter-dropper.

When the three of them arrived outside the hamlet gate, the hamlet gatekeeper was squatting by the entrance, holding a pottery bowl and eating with a wooden spoon. The red headband and crimson uniform Blackie wore were unmistakable markers — his status was obvious without asking. The gatekeeper hurriedly spat out the food in his mouth, wiped his lips, and came up smiling to greet them, bowing with clasped hands.

"I heard early on that Huyang Precinct has a new Precinct Chief taking office. I never imagined he would come to my Chaoyang Hamlet on the very first day — truly a great honor for this hamlet."

The hamlet gatekeeper appeared to be a simple and honest middle-aged man, in his forties, with a sallow face and black whiskers, his hair bun wrapped in a crimson cloth — clearly a Second-Rank Holder. Blackie did not slight him either, and cupped his hands in salute: "An unannounced visit — sorry for the disturbance."

The hamlet gatekeeper waved his hands repeatedly: "Not at all! The Precinct Chief is a senior official — we could not even get you to come if we tried! What disturbance? Just yesterday the Hamlet Head was discussing with me that once the snow melts, we should go to the precinct to pay a visit…"

He was quite courteous, but in the end his gaze fell on the rope tied at Blackie's waist. He narrowed his eyes and asked, somewhat warily: "I only wonder — what business brings the Precinct Chief here? Could someone in this hamlet have committed an offense?"

Blackie shook the two-foot wooden tablet in his hand and smiled: "Nothing in particular, just a routine patrol. After winter sets in, there are always thieves about. Yesterday at Poplar Hamlet we caught a wandering Common Soldier — he has already been sent up to the township. Chaoyang Hamlet is a large hamlet; one cannot afford to be lax about guarding against thieves…"

The two-foot wooden tablet and the rope — these were the two items a Precinct Chief carried on his person. The two-foot wooden tablet was inscribed with the law and served as the equivalent of a police badge; the rope was for binding criminals, the equivalent of handcuffs.

Hearing it was only a routine patrol, the hamlet gatekeeper seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. If someone in this hamlet committed a crime, he might well be implicated.

Blackie chatted idly with the hamlet gatekeeper at the entrance for a while, mainly asking: had anyone from outside the hamlet entered yesterday?

"Yesterday?"

The hamlet gatekeeper stroked the whiskers on his chin, his eyes swiveling as he thought carefully. He looked at Ji Ying and said: "I dare report to the Precinct Chief — yesterday, aside from this postman here, no one from another hamlet entered."

"Then from yesterday afternoon until today, has any hamlet resident gone out and not yet returned?"

"Those who went out hunting have all come back. Apart from the two men who went to the county at the start of the month to serve their rotational labor duty, no one else is lingering outside."

At this, Blackie was basically certain: if the hamlet gatekeeper was not lying, the letter-dropper was still inside the hamlet at this very moment!

"Li Xian."

Blackie said: "You stay here and keep the hamlet gatekeeper company. Ji Ying and I will go pay a visit to the Hamlet Head." As he spoke, Blackie shot Li Xian a meaningful glance.

They had agreed on this beforehand: a Precinct Chief bringing precinct constables to Chaoyang Hamlet on an inspection could not possibly be kept secret. Once the letter-dropper learned of it, he might panic and hurriedly try to leave the hamlet, so Blackie had Li Xian stand guard here — in truth, even the hamlet gatekeeper could not be fully cleared of suspicion at this moment.

"What if that person climbs the wall and runs?" Ji Ying asked quietly as the two of them walked side by side.

"That is possible."

Blackie nodded: "In that case, as long as we have the Hamlet Head do a headcount of the hamlet's people, we will know who ran. The one who ran is the letter-dropper. Even if we cannot catch him for now, at least we will know who did it."

The two of them headed in the direction of the Hamlet Head's house. On the other side, Li Xian and the hamlet gatekeeper chatted idly, exchanging a word now and then, while watching Blackie's retreating figure — their feelings were somewhat mixed.

Li Xian came from a better background: he was a distant branch descendant of a relatively large clan in this township, the Li clan. He could read and write and had a rough grasp of the laws and ordinances. But because his father had not designated him as "heir" — that is, the successor — he could not inherit the title or the land and had to make his own living as a Common Soldier. He had originally wanted to become a minor clerk in the county, but in Qin, one had to hold a rank to serve as a clerk. With no other choice, he had first come to the understaffed Huyang Precinct to serve as a precinct constable, just to earn a living — after all, he had a wife and children to support at home.

Yet even so, Li Xian still harbored a certain pride in his heart. Not only did he look down on his fellow precinct constables Xiao Tao and Yu Liang, he did not really take the Thief-Catcher Dongmen Bao seriously either. Over this past month or so, if not for him, the precinct's affairs, great and small, would probably have fallen into chaos long ago.

And so Li Xian was somewhat conceited, feeling that with his abilities, he could perfectly well serve as Precinct Chief himself.

After Blackie arrived, however, Li Xian's pride slowly faded away.

This Precinct Chief had earned his rank through solid merit in battle and had taken first place in the rotational conscript martial contest, winning the favor of the County Right Commandant. He was not the sort who rose through nepotism or connections, so Li Xian had nothing to say — only a small, lingering unwillingness in his heart.

But when he heard that during the assessment, Blackie had answered all twenty legal questions perfectly, Li Xian was stunned. Even he was not confident he could achieve such a result.

In the anonymous letter incident that followed, Blackie had demonstrated even more meticulous judgment, narrowing down the range of suspects step by step — this point astonished Li Xian even more. He could not shake the feeling that this Precinct Chief seemed to have undergone specialized training in case investigation under a law clerk…

And so Li Xian felt both admiration and reluctant resentment toward Blackie.

Time passed quickly. A quarter-hour later, Blackie and Ji Ying returned from the Hamlet Head's house.

"Well?" The moment Blackie reached him, he called Li Xian over and asked in a low voice: "Did anyone try to leave just now?"

Li Xian shook his head: "I kept watch the whole time. No one came."

Blackie mused: "That means… either the letter-dropper is too timid, still clinging to hope and hiding in the hamlet, not daring to come out; or he is too bold, thinking we could never find him; or else… he has already climbed the wall and fled!"

"Should we have the Hamlet Head summon everyone in the hamlet and do a headcount?" Ji Ying felt they were already very, very close to that letter-dropper, and was itching for action.

"If we can avoid alarming the hamlet residents, then avoid it. If we stir the place up until even the chickens and dogs are restless, we will have fault with no merit to show for it."

Blackie thought for a moment and said: "Just now I questioned the Hamlet Head in detail and learned that the people in this hamlet who are literate number only twenty. And among those twenty, those who had contact with Ji Ying yesterday and had the opportunity to drop the letter — only three!"

"Three?!" Li Xian's eyes lit up. That made them much easier to find.

"Should we arrest all three together and question them?"

"No rush." Blackie said: "We do not know what matter that person actually intends to report. If we rashly arrest so many, we may alert the snake and scare off the rabbit as well."

At this point, what concerned Blackie most was not the identity of that "Chaoyang resident," but the content written in that letter. The person clearly knew that dropping an anonymous letter was against the law, and that the postman or Precinct Chief might simply burn it unread — yet despite that, he still took the risk and dropped it. When something is out of the ordinary, there is always a reason. He had to proceed like a surgeon, peeling away the layers thread by thread, investigating bit by bit until everything was clear!

Blackie thought for a moment, then said: "Here is what we will do. We will not make any noise for now. We will separately go find these three people, see whether they are still at home, and then sound them out with a few words!"

…

Bang, bang, bang.

In Chaoyang Hamlet, the courtyard gate of a certain First-Rank Holder's house was pounded until it shook thunderously!

"Who is it?"

This First-Rank Holder was inside holding his son. Only after a long while did he come out impatiently, yank the gate open, and glare fiercely at the person knocking — it was a grinning, skinny fellow, none other than the postman who had come by the day before to congratulate him on the birth of his son…

"What is it?" The First-Rank Holder was thoroughly puzzled. He had no relatives serving in the army; it was impossible for anyone to be sending him a letter.

"First-Rank Holder, come here, I have something to tell you." Ji Ying was all mystery. Once the First-Rank Holder leaned in close, he whispered in his ear: "That object — I have seen it!"

"What?" The First-Rank Holder's face was full of bewilderment.

"That object, you know!" Ji Ying blinked, desperately hinting at the First-Rank Holder.

"You're sick!" The First-Rank Holder was still utterly confused. He cursed Ji Ying crossly, then slammed the courtyard gate shut with a bang and went back to soothing his son…

"You scoundrel, so rude — you must have something to hide!" Ji Ying was so angry he yelped, drawing the neighbors to poke their heads out and look at him. Only then did he hastily cover his own mouth and slowly retreat.

At the same time, at the other end of Chaoyang Hamlet, Li Xian was also taking his leave from the Field Clerk's house. His expression was grave as he gazed in the direction of the eastern part of the hamlet, his brow furrowing.

"The Field Clerk's son, the most suspicious one, has also been ruled out. This ploy of the Precinct Chief's — deliberately mystifying, pretending to know and asking questions, tricking the letter-dropper into revealing himself without exposing our hand — can it really work?"

Li Xian's heart was full of doubt. At the same time, his curiosity about who the letter-dropper really was, and what his purpose in dropping the letter might be, grew ever stronger…

"I wonder how things are going on the Precinct Chief's end?"

PS: Recommending everyone a super good fantasy novel, Dragon That Devours Worlds. The author is a pervert who openly clamors that if readers send crossdressing photos he'll release extra chapters. His character may not be much, but the book is great — even Qiyue couldn't resist giving him an Alliance Leader sponsorship.

The Dragon That Devours Worlds

In Norse mythology, the Vikings revered me as the Serpent Coiled Around the World — Jörmungandr. In Christian mythology, Christians reviled me as the Ancient Dragon, the Ancient Serpent — Satan. In Greek mythology, the gods feared me as the Hundred-Headed Giant Dragon — Typhon. In Kunlun mythology, the shamans fanatically called me the Torch Dragon — Zhuyin...

Mayan mythology, Buddhist mythology, Slavic mythology, Celtic mythology, Nahua mythology, Japanese mythology, Assyrian mythology, Egyptian mythology, Finnish mythology...

Through countless myths and legends, I travel back and forth under the name of a monster, yet all I seek is the truth.

The story of an evil god.

(End of chapter)