Du Heng sneered coldly. “Rest assured?”
“He paid with his life for the blame he committed before. What does that have to do with me?”
The two guards could not refute him. They shook their heads and returned to the original gate to stand guard.
“Who is causing a disturbance here?”
From within the Criminal Investigation Department, a man dressed in extremely gaudy colors stepped out, exuding a very flamboyant air. Fortunately, he had not painted his face with floral ornaments or worn jewelry, or Du Heng would have turned around and left on the spot.
The two guards went forward and whispered a few words to the flamboyant man.
The flamboyant man turned and said impatiently to Du Heng, “Go on. That prisoner is already dead. Stop blocking the entrance and making noise.”
“If you hinder my Lord’s proper business, be careful I don’t arrest you too.”
“Oh? What proper business?” Du Heng teased.
The man’s eyes kept darting toward the women passing by on the street. Du Heng knew at a glance exactly what he was plotting.
“None of your damn business. Get lost, get lost. I already told you the man is dead.”
Du Heng not only did not leave, but even stepped closer.
“Dead he may be, but how do I know some people weren’t afraid he might spill something, so they tampered with him?”
The man’s impatient expression instantly darkened.
“Are you questioning my Lord?”
“So what if I am?”
“Guards! This man is openly slandering me. Arrest him!”
The two guards hesitated for a moment, while a squad of petty clerks from inside the Criminal Investigation Department had already rushed out at the man’s command.
Mingzhu, who had been silent all this time, was already about to draw his sword.
Du Heng smiled and pressed down on his hand, while with his other hand he was about to pull out the waist token from the marquis residence.
After all, everyone on the street was already insulting him as a bully who abused his power, an unlearned and incompetent wastrel son.
He did not want to fight with anyone, so he might as well abuse his power for once.
But then, beside them, a ripple of spiritual energy stirred in the air, and a squad of shadow guards, dressed in black with the character for “phoenix” embroidered on their chests, materialized.
The man at the front flashed a red sandalwood token.
Miss Mingzhe had told them to inform Du Heng in advance, but they had never found a moment when no one was around. Then they saw Qiting about to make a move against Du Heng, so they simply stepped out to stop him.
The flamboyant man, seeing at once that these were not people he could afford to offend, hurriedly called off the clerks and guards under him.
His face was full of shock, and sweat had already started to break out on his back. His legs felt weak.
There was no way to fake the phoenix pattern on that token.
“The Eldest Princess’s personal guards?”
“Who are you?”
Du Heng smiled at him. “Lord, aren’t you going to invite me in for tea first?”
“I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare. You are the Lord. Please.”
Du Heng was not surprised to see this squad of guards appear in front of him. After all, ever since he left the residence, they had been following behind him. He had even wanted to see what they were planning to do. He had not expected Yun Shuyu to send them to back him up.
The man invited him inside. Just as he was about to strike up a relationship with the people sent by Yun Shuyu, the other side did not even spare him a glance. Another ripple of spiritual energy passed through, and the entire squad of guards vanished without a trace.
The two guards at the gate were so stunned that their mouths hung open, both of them secretly relieved that they had not spoken rudely to Du Heng at the start.
The man escorted Du Heng to the place where he handled cases.
“I am Qiting, a second-class executioner of the Criminal Investigation Department. May I ask who you are exactly?”
Du Heng said calmly, “People on the street have been cursing me for almost an entire day. Take a guess who I am.”
“Young Lord Du?” Qiting was stunned.
“Her Highness the Eldest Princess even sent people to protect the Young Lord. Then this rumor…”
Mingzhu said unhappily from the side, “Of course it’s just a smear campaign planted by someone with ulterior motives.”
“That being the case, the Young Lord did not bump into the carriage?”
Mingzhu did not hide anything either. He had always spoken bluntly: what could be said, he said; what could not be said, he kept quiet.
“My Senior Brother really did bump into it.”
“Then this…”
Qiting was shocked. Du Heng really had bumped into the Eldest Princess’s carriage, and yet the Eldest Princess had still sent people to protect him. That relationship was probably far from simple.
“Mingzhu, go tell the big brother guard sent by the Eldest Princess to wait for me at the corner later.”
Du Heng did not want to talk about this. Blind complaints would not solve anything, and there was no need to tell Qiting these things, since it could easily create more trouble.
“Senior Brother, they are hiding their spiritual power aura. How am I supposed to find them?”
“Go out, turn left, take three steps, and reach out to feel along the wall on the left.”
The squad of shadow guards sent by the Eldest Princess were all around the mid-level of Tier 3 in the Illumination realm. Mingzhu was about as strong as they were, and the shadow guards also had their own unique concealment technique, so naturally Mingzhu could not detect their spiritual power aura.
At this point, Mingzhu believed even more firmly what his master had said about Senior Brother Du being someone who kept his true abilities hidden. His cultivation looked low, but he could somehow guess where the shadow guards were hiding.
After Mingzhu went out:
“Were those villains really executed by you this morning?” Du Heng asked.
Qiting nodded. “Yes.”
“Did anyone pressure you? The person sent by the Eldest Princess was beheaded just like that?”
Qiting shook his head.
“I’m not clear on that either. Executions are not under our executioners’ jurisdiction. But if the Young Lord wants to look at the case files, I can take the liberty of letting you see them.”
Qiting was extremely respectful now.
Du Heng sighed inwardly. Power really was useful. He wondered whether, if Yun Shuyu’s shadow guards had not appeared, he could have been treated like this just by relying on his identity as the Young Lord.
“Then let’s go take a look at the case files.”
Qiting led Du Heng to look at the case files for that villain.
They detailed the villain’s past crimes and the motive for the offense.
As expected, there was no record of the villain’s tampering on the street after his escape. After being captured by Mingzhe and the others and sent to the Criminal Investigation Department, he was not interrogated again and was directly imprisoned.
“On what day did this villain escape? Who let him escape?”
“About seven days ago.”
“As for the matter of letting him escape, I am not very clear either.” Qiting shook his head again.
“I heard that one day the jailer on night duty dozed off and let someone escape.”
“After that, that squad of jailers was held accountable, and they have now been dismissed and sent back to their hometowns.”
Seven days ago? That was the third day after Ye Mingshan’s letter arrived in Great Luo.
Du Heng was going home. The marquis residence would certainly make some arrangements to celebrate, and the servants in the residence would know about it. In Luodu, there was no way to keep it hidden.
Du Heng laughed coldly to himself. These people really were quick with their hands.
The moment they learned he was coming back, they made this move against his reputation. Just when Yun Shuyu had gone to Qingping Mountain to pray for blessings, perhaps they were so bold as to replace the daughter of some noble or high-ranking official who had originally been chosen to travel on the day Du Heng returned to Luodu with Her Highness the Eldest Princess.
That was a one-shot deal.
They had originally wanted to ruin Du Heng’s reputation so that Yun Shuyu would despise him. Now they had directly made Du Heng bump into Yun Shuyu. If things had developed according to their expectations, Du Heng would have been arrested on the spot.
He might not even have been able to keep his life. After that, the Marquis Zhenyuan residence would either be uprooted directly by Yun Shuyu or fall out with her.
This small dirty trick involved many hidden threads.
Du Heng narrowed his deep eyes.
Moreover, the person who first contacted the villains behind the scenes might have been coaxed into being used as a pawn. The real mastermind was probably aiming much higher.
After all, to be honest, this plan was rather laughable. If Du Heng had really bumped into the carriage and angered Yun Shuyu, with so many people present, the villain had openly pasted talismans on him. Yun Shuyu would have easily realized that someone had deliberately plotted this.
But if it really succeeded… for example, if they handled it well and directly made Du Heng fall into Yun Shuyu’s carriage, then it would become an open scheme.
By common sense, Yun Shuyu disliked outside men getting close and would certainly fly into a rage, so it would be easy to achieve the result they wanted.
Perhaps with another man, the moment he entered the carriage, Yun Shuyu might have killed him on the spot, and then Du Haoqing would naturally have become mortal enemies with the royal family.
Furthermore, even if Du Heng escaped unharmed, Yun Shuyu would still hold a grudge over the matter. Then they could use the opportunity to bring down Du Haoqing, or provoke a falling out between Du Haoqing and Yun Shuyu.
Even if Yun Shuyu later investigated the villains, as long as they pushed the coaxed person out as a scapegoat, they would be able to sit back and relax.
And although the scheme itself was crude, the aftermath cleanup was watertight. The person who carried it out had been executed, and the jailer who let the prisoner escape had been dismissed and vanished without a trace — and he had probably been killed on the road as well.
Du Heng felt both amused and chilled. It could only be said that if not for the fact that even he himself could not fully fathom Yun Shuyu’s attitude toward Du Heng…
If it had been another man, this open scheme might actually have succeeded.
For now, if Du Heng wanted to keep investigating, it was not impossible. As long as something was done, clues would be left behind, and the Criminal Investigation Department would surely still have an informant from the other side here.
It was just that this was not his territory, and using it would take too much effort.
Du Heng was extremely lazy and did not want to spend too much energy here. In any case, he had other methods.
Seeing that Du Heng had finished thinking, Qiting asked, “Was the matter of the Young Lord bumping into the Eldest Princess’s carriage caused by someone?”
Du Heng smiled and gave no answer.
“I beg your pardon for asking, but what exactly is the relationship between the Young Lord and Her Highness the Eldest Princess? Those personal guards…”
“Hm? What about those personal guards?” Du Heng became a little interested.
Qiting, recalling that Du Heng had said those personal guards were outside and not inside the room, continued.
“On the token held by that personal guard captain, it says ‘Heavenly Qian.’ I heard my father say that among Your Highness’s Phoenix Shadow Guards, the most elite squad is the one code-named Heavenly Qian.”