The death of Magistrate Xu was highly suspicious.
Li Yangu i was the young man in charge of Zhao Ke’s dozen or so personal guards.
As soon as they arrived at the county office in Danyu County, he immediately took Zhao Ke’s waist token and used it to request the case files concerning the murder of Xu Feng.
The case had remained unresolved at the county office for three days. Thanks to the deputy county magistrate’s thorough investigation, the general circumstances were already clear. Most of the constables had heard something about it, so Li Yangu i did not even need to read the files. By going around the office and listening to their conversations, he could piece together most of the story.
Magistrate Xu’s death was extremely suspicious.
He owned a residence in Danyu County but did not usually live at the county office. The day he was murdered happened to be his day off.
According to the servants in his household, he had returned home from outside and gone straight into his study. He had not come out since.
When it was time for dinner that evening, the servants knocked on the study door, but no one answered. When they tried to open it, they discovered that both the door and windows had been locked from the inside.
The servants hurried to inform Madam Xu. In the end, they had no choice but to break down the door.
By the time they entered, Xu Feng had already been dead for quite some time. He was slumped over his desk, with a knife sticking into his throat. Blood covered his body and had stained the surrounding area.
He had not been killed outside. He had died inside his own study, where the doors and windows were tightly locked. Furthermore, no one had entered or left the room after he went inside.
The scene itself was also strange. In one corner lay a chicken whose head had been chopped off. Rice, flour, broken pieces of gold and silver, and copper coins were scattered all over the floor.
As soon as the authorities received the report, they went to the Xu residence to investigate. They collected several clues, all of which were carefully recorded in the case files.
The first suspect was Madam Xu.
According to the servants, Madam Xu had been unable to bear children for many years. Because of this, Xu Feng had taken a beautiful concubine into his household two years earlier.
Over the past two years, Xu Feng and his concubine had been deeply devoted to each other. Their relationship had caused several disputes between his wife and concubine. Xu Feng openly favored the younger woman and repeatedly treated his wife harshly. A few days earlier, he had even struck Madam Xu.
If Madam Xu had grown resentful enough to murder her husband, it would have made sense.
However, when the constables brought her in for questioning, they discovered that on the day of Xu Feng’s murder, she had never left the rear courtyard. She had not even known when her husband returned home.
Before her marriage, Madam Xu had been a sheltered young lady who rarely stepped outside. After marriage, she had continued to live a secluded life and seldom interacted with others. Whenever she did go out, a group of servants accompanied her.
It was even less likely that she could have hired someone to murder her husband without attracting attention.
The authorities also dared not keep the newly widowed wife of a county magistrate locked up at the county office for long. They released her and sent her back to the Xu residence early on.
Soon afterward, however, a new lead emerged.
The personal maid of Xu Feng’s concubine secretly came forward and claimed that her mistress was the one who had murdered Magistrate Xu.
According to the maid, her mistress had already been involved with another man before entering the Xu household two years earlier. Even after becoming Xu Feng’s concubine, she had continued the affair in secret, meeting her lover several times over the past two years.
Unfortunately, a few days earlier, they had accidentally exposed their relationship, allowing Xu Feng to discover the truth.
Since the New Year was approaching and the affair was a terrible scandal, Xu Feng had not made it public. Instead, he had kept his anger to himself and planned to deal with the matter after the festivities. He intended to have both his concubine and her lover beaten to death.
Terrified and unable to sleep peacefully at night, the concubine eventually decided to strike first.
Two days before Xu Feng was murdered, she wrote a letter and asked her maid to deliver it to her lover. According to the maid, the letter contained their plan to kill Xu Feng.
Her story sounded plausible enough. However, when the authorities demanded evidence that could identify the lover as an accomplice, the maid had nothing to offer.
There was no letter, no man, and no proof beyond her own words. The authorities could not simply arrest a delicate young woman and torture her into confessing.
In the end, they could only follow the address the maid provided and attempt to arrest the alleged lover.
But he was nowhere to be found.
The constables searched several places he was known to frequent, yet it was as though he had vanished into thin air. To this day, no one had seen him.
After searching the Xu residence without finding anything useful, the authorities had no choice but to expand their investigation beyond the household.
This eventually brought them to a case from two months earlier.
Danyu County was situated near the mountains. Since it was a small place, no troops had ever been stationed there.
Years ago, when the Great Qi Empire was embroiled in fierce border wars, the empire’s internal administration had already been neglected. To make matters worse, the county magistrate at the time had been corrupt and had colluded with mountain bandits.
Robbery and looting had become common occurrences. The county authorities routinely turned a blind eye, allowing officials and bandits to protect one another.
As a result, the criminals grew increasingly brazen. They maintained close relationships with wealthy merchants in the county and eventually became powerful local figures.
After Xu Feng took office, he used harsh and decisive measures to deal with the local bullies and troublemakers. Only then were the mountain bandits forced to retreat to their strongholds, gradually losing the courage to come down and cause trouble.
Two months earlier, a local thug who spent his days doing nothing but causing trouble had taken a liking to an innocent young woman.
He insisted on dragging her home against her will. Rather than submit to him, the woman struck her head against a pillar and died on the spot.
The incident became a murder case.
As soon as Xu Feng received the report, he ordered the thug’s arrest. After a brief interrogation, he sentenced the man to death by the tiger-head execution blade, a punishment to be carried out publicly.
The thug’s father was a wealthy landlord named Wang, whose family possessed a fortune in money and property.
When Wang learned that his beloved son was going to die under the tiger-head blade, he sent silver and jewelry into the Xu residence in a steady stream, begging Xu Feng not to serve his son such an extravagant “feast.”
Xu Feng accepted the bribes and assured Wang that he would take care of everything.
He then secretly replaced the execution blade with a fake one. He also announced that if the blade failed to sever the thug’s neck, the man would be pardoned and allowed to return home.
Convinced that everything would go according to plan, Landlord Wang prepared a banquet to celebrate his son’s return.
But on the day of the execution, something went horribly wrong.
Although the blade was supposed to be fake, the thug’s head was severed anyway. It rolled across the ground several times in front of the crowd, his eyes still wide open with fear and resentment as they stared at his father.
It was as though he were asking, Didn’t you send word last night telling me not to worry? Why did things suddenly change? Why did they end up taking my head instead of sparing my life?
Overcome with grief and hatred, Landlord Wang swore that Xu Feng would pay for what he had done.
Only afterward did the authorities discover that Wang had maintained a close relationship with the leader of the mountain bandits for many years. Rumor had it that the two had even sworn brotherhood despite having different surnames.
Someone had recently seen Wang heading toward the mountain stronghold where the bandits were based. His behavior had been furtive and suspicious, leading people to suspect that he had joined forces with the bandits to murder Xu Feng.
Landlord Wang had indeed been arrested, but he had yet to undergo interrogation.
The people at the county office all knew, however, that questioning him would probably lead nowhere.
There was no evidence, and the accusations were based entirely on things people had supposedly heard. The county authorities were not bandits living beyond the law. They could not convict someone simply because of a few baseless rumors.
The final clue recorded in the case files had been written in red ink.
It was an unusual lead, and it was also the source of Feng Zong’s absurd claim that the underworld’s messengers had come to claim Xu Feng’s life.
Xu Feng had never shown any respect for gods or spirits.
Several years earlier, he had gone to a temple and publicly cursed the Bodhisattva because he was dissatisfied with the lack of response to his prayers. He had even ordered his men to smash the temple to pieces.
He had also abolished the traditional festival ceremonies and sacrificial rites that the county office had organized for years.
Furthermore, Xu Feng never avoided speaking about death or treated it as a taboo. He had repeatedly declared that if the gods truly controlled human life and death and rewarded good while punishing evil, why were there still so many wicked people in the world who could sleep peacefully and escape justice?
And if the gods truly existed, why had they never appeared to punish someone as disrespectful as him?
Perhaps he had made too many such statements and finally invited divine punishment upon himself.
On the night Xu Feng died, a night watchman passing through the streets claimed to have witnessed something strange. He had seen two ghostly figures, one black and one white, wandering around the Xu residence.
According to him, the figures drifted out through the high walls. In the blink of an eye, they transformed into wisps of smoke and disappeared.
After that, rumors spread throughout the county that the two underworld messengers, Black and White Impermanence, had come to claim the magistrate’s life and drag him underground to answer for his disrespect toward the gods.
Otherwise, how could anyone explain the fact that Xu Feng had been stabbed to death inside a study where the doors and windows were locked and no one had entered or left?
The rumor grew more and more widespread until practically everyone in the city believed it without question.
Feng Zong, however, was no fool.
He had served as an official for decades. He had seen plenty of unresolved murder cases in which people tried to shift the blame onto ghosts and spirits.
Besides, if the underworld’s messengers had truly come to claim Xu Feng’s life, why would they not simply use their supernatural powers to seize his soul? Why would they need an ordinary blade to kill him, leaving blood splattered everywhere and the room in complete disarray?
From the moment Feng Zong received the murder report, he had felt as though the sky were falling.
For the past several days, he had barely stopped moving and had hardly slept. He had exhausted himself trying to find the murderer, yet all he had managed to uncover were these few leads.
At present, aside from suspects who either lacked evidence against them or had disappeared without a trace, he had only two possible explanations left.
One was that the underworld’s messengers had claimed Xu Feng’s life.
The other was that Magistrate Xu had locked the doors and windows himself before taking his own life with a dagger.
But Xu Feng had been perfectly well and had worked diligently at the government office just the day before. How could he suddenly have committed suicide in his own study?
No one would believe such a story.
Moreover, a county magistrate taking his own life was no ordinary matter. If the authorities investigated it, the entire county office would be questioned.
For Feng Zong, the words awaiting execution might as well have been written across his forehead.
He did not dare submit such a conclusion.
Thus, this deputy county magistrate, whose body was round and stout but whose mind was sharp, gritted his teeth and swallowed his pride before submitting the explanation that the underworld’s messengers had claimed Xu Feng’s life.
The brazier burned fiercely, filling the warm room with waves of heat.
After listening to Feng Zong’s report, everyone fell silent.
According to Feng Zong’s account, Xu Feng had been a corrupt official who abused his authority and behaved disgracefully. This was completely at odds with the widely respected image of Magistrate Xu in the imperial court.
Prince Ling was already overwhelmed with grief as he listened to the details of his teacher’s murder. Hearing someone slander his teacher in this manner was more than he could bear.
He immediately flew into a rage.
His palm slammed heavily against the table with a dull thud. His face was filled with imposing authority as he roared, “How dare you! My teacher was an honest and upright man who never accepted bribes or abused his position. Who gave you the right to slander and insult him?
“You failed to do your job, so now you’re using such an absurd explanation to excuse yourself! I think you’re tired of living and are deliberately looking for death!”
Feng Zong’s legs gave way. He immediately dropped to his knees and begged for mercy repeatedly, so terrified that tears streamed down his face.
Seeing that Qi Xuan was about to draw his sword and cut Feng Zong down right there, Zhao Ke had no choice but to intervene.
“Your Highness, please calm down. This minor official may not dare to fabricate such a story without reason. There must be something else behind it.
“Besides, we have been ordered by His Majesty to investigate this case. We have only just arrived in Danyu County and are unfamiliar with the local situation. We still need this official’s help to conduct our investigation.
“If we later discover that he really has been making things up, we can always kill him then to vent our anger.”
Although Zhao Ke was trying to persuade Prince Ling to calm down, his rather outrageous suggestion immediately made Cui Hui, the official from the Censorate, want to take out his notebook and record the remark.
Cui Hui secretly rolled his eyes. He then stood up, cupped his hands, and said, “Your Highness, according to Great Qi law, a court official can only be sentenced to death after a joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices, with the final decision made by His Majesty. I respectfully ask Your Highness not to act on impulse.”
Zhao Ke had little patience for rigid-minded people who immediately invoked the law to lecture others. He was worried that Cui Hui’s words would only make Prince Ling even angrier, so he turned to Lu Zhuoguang and asked for his opinion instead.
“Brother Zhuoguang, what do you think?”
The room was brightly lit, and the lamplight gave Lu Zhuoguang’s face the smooth, luminous appearance of polished jade.
After entering the room, everyone had drunk some hot tea to warm themselves against the cold. Only Lu Zhuoguang’s cup remained untouched.
It was difficult to tell whether he had been listening intently or lost in his own thoughts.
When someone finally addressed him directly, he reacted rather slowly. He turned his head toward Feng Zong at an unhurried pace and waited a moment before speaking.
“I heard you say that a chicken with its head chopped off was found at the scene, and that rice, flour, and copper coins were scattered all over the floor. Is that correct?”
Feng Zong hurriedly replied, “Yes! Every word is true!”
Lu Zhuoguang’s eyes shifted slightly. A glimmer of lamplight seemed to appear in his dark eyes, making them shine faintly.
He asked another question.
“Was the study cleaned after the crime?”
“No. Magistrate Xu’s body was taken to the public mortuary, but everything else has been left exactly as it was when he was murdered.”
Lu Zhuoguang spoke in a gentle, unhurried voice that carried a faintly reassuring quality.
“In my humble opinion, the magistrate’s murder happened so suddenly that when the constables arrived at the study, they may have been too shocked to conduct a thorough search. We should return to the scene ourselves. There may be other clues we have yet to discover.
“Furthermore, although Madam Xu, the concubine, and Landlord Wang, who held a grudge against Magistrate Xu, have not yet been shown to have had the opportunity to commit the crime, nor is there clear evidence against them, these are the main external leads we have.
“Surely, if we investigate them carefully, we can find one that will lead us to the truth behind Magistrate Xu’s death.”
Qi Xuan’s eyes were still red with anger, but he understood that solving the case was the most important task. He had never truly intended to kill a court official on the spot; his earlier threat had simply been spoken in a fit of fury.
Seeing that the other three had all urged him to calm down, he took the opportunity to back down and suppress his anger.
He turned to Feng Zong and warned him sternly, “I have come here under His Majesty’s orders to investigate Magistrate Xu’s murder thoroughly. I must return with the murderer in custody.
“If I hear you utter another absurd claim about the underworld’s messengers coming to claim someone’s life, you will be severely punished!”
Feng Zong had clearly anticipated that things might turn out this way. Seeing that the prince’s anger had begun to subside, he immediately knocked his head against the floor in gratitude.
Then he brought out the backup plan he had prepared in advance, hoping to make up for his failure to solve the case.
“Your Highness, this humble official has sought out an extraordinary individual and arranged to meet him tomorrow morning.
“This person is incredibly capable and influential in Danyu County. He is practically all-knowing and all-seeing. With his assistance, we should be able to uncover the truth behind Magistrate Xu’s murder soon.”