Nowadays, no one in Wucheng pays attention to the kidnapper being pursued throughout the city. All the attention of the common people is drawn to the new wanted poster posted on the bulletin board. Upon seeing the person being wanted by the authorities, everyone gasps in shock.
What’s going on?
How did the county magistrate end up on the wanted list? Who issued the order? How audacious!
The news of the county magistrate being wanted spread throughout Wucheng like a storm, and even reached the ears of the Langhuan Army.
“Wang Xun?”
Lin Xie’s brows furrowed. Feng Luan, whom they had kept at their camp for a night, couldn’t lure out the person. Now, upon entering Wucheng, he had ordered the wanted poster for the Wucheng county magistrate?
Could it be that the assassination attempt on Chong Yu and the mist at Changming Mountain were indeed related to that Wang Xun?
“Guards!”
Lin Xie called in the soldiers and said to him, “Release all those who are being held.”
“Yes!”
The soldier responded and quickly left.
After the assassination attempt on Chong Yu, all those who were arrested, he had questioned and searched them, but found no evidence to prove their involvement. Since that was the case, he could not try them without evidence, so he could only release them first.
…
Guangde Tower.
The cook and the other two were finally reunited. Their eyes met, and for a moment, no one spoke.
Xiao Man couldn’t quite understand why Miss wanted to issue a wanted poster for Wang Xun. What was wrong with that upright-looking fellow?
Outside the courtyard, the assassins’ corpses were lined up on the ground.
Er Gou and the cook, upon learning from Si Tu Kong about what happened during their trip and combining it with their own experiences, quickly pieced together the whole story. He couldn’t help but smack his lips, “So, the people Wang Xun mentioned were sacrifices used by these lunatics?”
“Wang Xun used his authority to secretly shield… no, not shield, but instruct!” Er Gou recalled what he had heard that day. He had made a deal with those lunatics, trading the lives of Wucheng’s citizens for certain benefits. Hengyuan Chamber of Commerce’s rise was a knife in his hand, so all of this was instructed by Wang Xun.
“He instructed Hengyuan Chamber of Commerce to transport civilians to Liaojiang, personally sending them into the tiger’s mouth. He deserves to die, deserves to die!”
Er Gou gritted his teeth. How could such a venomous heart exist in this world? Officials should serve the country and the people, but he, for his own selfish gain, treated people like meat and sold and slaughtered them at will. This man was simply utterly wicked, his crimes were beyond description. If he were not torn apart by five horses, the public’s indignation could not be appeased, nor could his own inner anger.
Xiao Man blinked and looked up at Nan Shiying.
Is that so?
Everything was instructed by Wang Xun?
Xiao Man couldn’t quite understand, “Brother, why did he self-destruct?”
“What do you think?” Nan Shiying did not answer but asked back.
Xiao Man replayed the entire event and tentatively asked, “Is it because of… Cheng Chong Yu? He wanted to kill Cheng Chong Yu?”
Nan Shiying smiled without speaking.
It’s not?
Xiao Man blinked. If not, then for what reason?
Er Gou wanted to nod, but Nan Shiying did not respond. He looked at her, seeing the smile in her eyes and the slight curve of her lips. When the shopkeeper spoke to him with such an unfathomable expression, it was usually when he gave a wrong answer.
Not for this?
Er Gou was shocked!
This was impossible. If it wasn’t to kill Cheng Chong Yu, why would he self-destruct?
Nan Shiying patted Xiao Man’s head and pointed at the corpses on the ground. Xiao Man looked down along her finger. Did Miss want her to examine the corpses carefully? No, Miss should not mean that. Miss knew she couldn’t practice medicine and therefore couldn’t tell anything. So what did Miss mean?
Xiao Man pondered for half a moment, her face scrunched up like a bitter gourd. Nan Shiying vigorously rubbed her head and then said to her, “These people are all second-rate experts. If Wang Xun commanded such a force, would he need to use stratagems to kill Cheng Chong Yu?”
At this statement, silence fell all around.
This… that’s right!
Whether it was Miss or the Prince, when they were in an overwhelming situation, they never used stratagems. They always used force to push through. If they could use their hands, who would use their brains?
Unless Cheng Chong Yu’s skills were higher than Ying Yi’s, killing him would be as easy as killing a chicken!
Er Gou’s mouth opened, his mind struggling to catch up. Did her words mean that Wang Xun was not the mastermind? He wasn’t trying to use their hands to kill Cheng Chong Yu, but… Er Gou’s gaze moved down, settling on her hand.
In Nan Shiying’s hand was the letter she had searched from the Cheng mansion that he had given her earlier.
The letters he thought Wang Xun had deliberately planted.
“So, it wasn’t Wang Xun, it was… it was Cheng Chong Yu?”
Ying Wu suddenly looked up and asked Nan Shiying, “Sir, then the people who assassinated Cheng Chong Yu that day were actually…”
Nan Shiying knew what Ying Wu wanted to ask. She said, “You only tortured the same kind of dead soldiers as these people. Rest assured!”
Hearing this, Ying Wu let out a sigh of relief.
“Brother, what exactly is going on?”
Xiao Man’s head was faintly aching. Since leaving the capital, too many things had happened along the way. Every time Miss made a move, just when she thought she understood, she would discover that what she saw was only the most superficial layer that Miss wanted her to see. But the subsequent planning and layout, she couldn’t grasp at all.
The cook remained in a specific posture without moving until he heard Xiao Man’s question. Then, he slowly raised his head and looked at Nan Shiying.
Si Tu Kong looked down at the corpses on the ground. He remembered that when Er Gou mentioned Cheng Zimo earlier, he had mentioned something, bringing up a person!
“You just said that Cheng Zimo said that the true person in power in Wucheng all these years was actually the county assistant, Yu Dabou, right?”
Er Gou nodded.
“County Magistrate Wang Xun was transferred to Wucheng five years ago. At that time, the county assistant was Yu Dabou.”
“According to Cheng Zimo’s statement, Wang Xun has been sidelined by Yu Dabou since his transfer to Wucheng. However, Wang Xun was once the second-place scholar in the imperial examinations and had met the Emperor in the palace. Although he was sent to a local post to gain some experience before returning to the capital for his duties, even so, he would not easily let a county assistant sideline him.”
“But the fact is that he was indeed sidelined and even forced to enter temples daily.”
“Why is that?”
“Because Yu Dabou controlled the entire Wucheng. His influence was deeply rooted and difficult to shake,” Si Tu Kong said.
“Right!”
“So the truth is that Wang Xun discovered that Yu Dabou colluded with Cheng Chong Yu to abduct Lin Yuan’s citizens to Liaojiang and use them as sacrifices. However, the entire Wucheng was controlled by Yu Dabou, and there was Cheng Chong Yu, an accomplice of Yu Dabou, within the Langhuan Army. Therefore, when he discovered you…” Nan Shiying pointed at Er Gou, “…you were my spy left in Wucheng, he deliberately put on this act in front of you!”
“But why didn’t he just say it?” Er Gou was confused.
Why go through all these troubles?
Nan Shiying looked at him, “Because, in Wang Xun’s eyes, you and I are not trustworthy!”
He dared not gamble. He didn’t know if, in the eyes of these nobles, the lives of ordinary people mattered at all!