Within their line of sight, three men wearing prisoner uniforms recklessly charged into the crowd of commoners. Boss Gu and Zhou Yuan chased after them with their sabers drawn, and the unsuspecting commoners, panic-stricken, caused the scene to instantly become even more chaotic.
“Why would they dare to run?” Li Chenghuan couldn’t understand. The original owner’s memories told her that if prisoners sentenced to exile fled midway, not only would they be hunted down as fugitives, but they would also lack official identity documents, forcing them into a lifetime of hiding from place to place.
Most importantly, whether they successfully escaped or not, it would implicate their entire clan. Especially for those implicated by Wang Yue this time around—whether the Emperor was being merciful or not, the prisoners’ relatives had not been liquidated.
Otherwise, with her submachine gun in hand, she would have long since overthrown the entire escort team. Unfortunately, the original owner’s clan tree was massive, and her conscience wouldn’t allow her to let so many innocent people lose their lives.
Jiang Jinyue let out a light sigh: “Either they aren’t afraid of implicating their relatives, or…”
Or they wanted to gamble—gambling on this empire falling into chaos, where the flames of war would rage everywhere and the country would no longer be a country, rendering any talk of implication meaningless.
Li Chenghuan fell silent. For a fleeting moment, a secret expectation actually welled up in her heart: if this world fell into chaos, that might not be so bad after all. But thinking of the devastation of common folk beneath the fires of war, she sighed inwardly and turned instead to praying for peace under heaven.
“My good Yue’er, do you think they can get away?” Old Madam Li felt her heart fluttering with panic, her hand holding Li Chengle’s tightly as she stayed close to Jiang Jinyue, wearing a complicated expression.
If they could really get away, if they truly could get away…
Jiang Jinyue’s gaze landed on the main road: “The bailiffs won’t chase too far. They’ll manage to escape.”
Sure enough, Boss Gu and Zhou Yuan soon returned empty-handed. Neither of their complexions looked good; if someone took the lead, others might follow suit. They simply didn’t dare to drop their guard with so many prisoners around—what if even more people ran away?
Grasping his saber, Boss Gu spoke in a high, booming voice: “Don’t blame this old man for not warning you: whoever dares to flee, just count whether your nine agnatic kin are enough heads to be chopped off.”
Damn it all, he had never heard of prisoners running away and disregarding even their nine clans just to save their own worthless skins—these three Liu brothers were truly despicable.
The saber in Zhou Yuan’s hand remained unsheathed. Compared to Boss Gu, he understood the background details of every single prisoner, and after a brief thought, he understood why the three Liu brothers had dared to run.
Old Madam Liu had been a widow for many years, raising four sons all by herself. The eldest Liu son was last year’s newly-minted imperial provincial graduate, and also one of the crown prince’s personal private counselors.
On the day the case broke, all the crown prince’s counselors had perished. Old Madam Liu had been extremely decisive; before the bailiffs arrived, she took it upon herself to divorce her daughters-in-law and grandchildren out of the family, leaving only herself and her three sons to be pressed onto the exile road.
Old Madam Liu’s corpse was already stiff, meaning she must have breathed her last breath last night, yet the three Liu brothers hadn’t made a sound about it, waiting until now to make their escape in the chaos.
This family was cunning, and ruthless enough.
Most crucially, the Liu family’s ancestral home was right here in Youlong County; their relatives had either fled to who-knows-where to save their lives, joined the rebellion, or perhaps even died. If he were in their shoes encountering such a situation, he would have risked everything to escape too.
Pondering this, Zhou Yuan spoke in a low voice to Boss Gu: “Both the third and fourth Liu sons followed along to search yesterday, so they knew that Hu Er and the others were all dead.”
This was probably one of the reasons the Liu brothers had dared to run.
Hearing this, Boss Gu shook the saber in his hand and asked in a low voice, “What about the other two?” Should they be killed?
He remembered there had been four prisoners who followed along to search and bury bodies yesterday. Now that two had run off, the remaining ones were hidden hazards.
Zhou Yuan shook his head: “Unwise. In case the expert who used hidden weapons to kill Hu Er and the others is still around…”
He stopped before saying more, as he couldn’t guarantee whom that expert hiding in the shadows was actually protecting.
Boss Gu gritted his teeth: “Can we just leave it alone?”
Zhou Yuan pondered for a moment: “Keep an eye on them first.”
Of the two remaining informants, one was Lu Chongzhi, the second young master of Minister Lu’s family, and the other was the youngest Censor from the Censorate, whose surname was Gao.
Boss Gu nodded; that was the only option left.
Calling the Lu and Gao families to the front of the procession, Boss Gu wrestled with a new dilemma: “Should we change our route or not?”
Zhou Yuan shook his head and said meaningfully: “Why not ask the capable people in our procession?”
Boss Gu was slightly stunned at first, but then it clicked. There were quite a few capable figures in this procession, foremost among them being Tutor Yu. As the Crown Prince’s Tutor, his literary talent had long been famous in the capital; surely he could help brainstorm some ideas.
As for the others, he was merely a bailiff; aside from knowing Tutor Yu was erudite and talented, he didn’t know anything about the rest.
“Who do you think we should ask? Bring them all over here.”
Boss Gu wasn’t a fool either. Under standard protocol, the duty of escorting prisoners was arranged by the Shuntian Prefecture office—for instance, he and Hu Er were both Shuntian bailiffs, with Zhou Yuan being the sole exception, coming from the City Guard Command.
He could guess even with his toes that Zhou Yuan had pulled strings or been specially planted here. Right now he had no one usable left under his command, and this kid was still somewhat sensible, so why not test his competence?
As long as it didn’t hinder him from carrying out his official duties, he didn’t mind turning a blind eye.
Without declining, Zhou Yuan turned around to fetch the people.
Tutor Lu, Minister Lu, and Grand Justice Magistrate Xu were all familiar to Boss Gu, and he considered them reasonable people to discuss matters with. However, what was up with this whole trailing family in tow behind them?
What kind of ideas could a bunch of old folks, women, and children possibly come up with? Were they messing with him?
Zhou Yuan was helpless too. He had originally intended to summon only Jiang Jinyue; after all, she enjoyed the reputation of the capital’s premier talented woman, and her various reactions had demonstrated she was a quick-witted, clever person who also possessed medical skills.
Yet the moment Jiang Jinyue nodded, Li Chenghuan grabbed her hand: “I cannot be separated from Sister-in-law.”
Immediately following that, Li Chengle chimed in: “I want to protect Sister-in-law.”
Then came Old Madam Li: “I must tag along too; we can’t let anyone bully my good Yue’er.”
Even Xie Yuwan insisted on following: “I swear to live and die, advance and retreat together with everyone.”
In the end, a whole string of people tagged along…
Boss Gu raised his eyebrows in a silent query: What is the meaning of this?
Zhou Yuan silently shook his head. He hadn’t wanted to call so many people over either, but when he refused, these people simply wouldn’t let Jiang Jinyue come alone.
What else could he do? He had almost drawn his saber, yet not a single one of these people had shown any fear.
Well, except for Old Madam Li, who had retreated a few steps in fright, yet still mustered up the courage to follow along anyway.
Frowning slightly, Boss Gu waved his hand to signal everyone to gather closer: “Youlong County might have fallen into chaos. All of you think about it: should we change our route?”
The moment those words fell, Wang Yue blurted out: “Utter nonsense! Youlong County is right at the feet of the capital and has three thousand garrison troops guarding it—it’s impossible for it to fall into chaos.”
Everyone looked at her in silence. Though they said nothing, their gazes all conveyed the exact same meaning: If it hasn’t fallen into chaos, why are the commoners running away?
Taking a deep breath, Wang Yue looked toward Tutor Yu: “Tutor.”
Only then did Tutor Yu stroke his beard and say: “What Her Highness says is not without reason. This Youlong County either has some hidden trick behind the chaos, or the commoners are spreading wild rumors, with three people making a tiger out of a falsehood.”
Boss Gu’s brows knitted into a tight frown, and he said impatiently, “Stop babbling this useless nonsense. This old man is asking just one thing: should we change our route or not?”
All they knew was how to talk empty words; why couldn’t they just come up with a decisive idea!
Minister Lu swept his gaze around, resolving in his mind not to speak up. To think of his lifelong reputation—he headed the Ministry of Rites, advocated for legislation, and supported the legitimate crown prince; what did he do wrong?
Who could have known that this crown prince was actually a princess? It had utterly scammed him to death.
Old Madam Li and Li Chengle gazed up at the sky, casting their brains aside and purely acting as human statues.
The rest of the people also couldn’t ascertain what the situation in Youlong County truly was, and for a moment dared not jump to premature conclusions.
Amidst the silence, Jiang Jinyue said flatly: “In my opinion, we cannot change our route.”
Everyone instantly looked toward her, and Boss Gu hastily pursued: “How so?”