Chapter 0116: You’re So Naughty, Second Prince~ Just Basic Operations
On a moonless, windy night—the perfect time for murder and arson.
Xie Chengze and Wuji silently infiltrated the county magistrate’s office.
“We’ll go straight for the harsh approach later,” Xie Chengze said, a mischievous smile appearing on his charming little face.
He pulled out a long black triangular face covering from his chest and deftly tied it around Wuji’s face with his small hands, leaving only a pair of slender peach blossom eyes visible. This prevented Wuji’s delicate features from being fully exposed, which would have made him look completely unlike a fierce bandit.
Wuji nodded, then flipped through the window and stood before the bed of Heihu City’s magistrate.
With a sharp “shing,” the long blade left its sheath, gleaming coldly under the moonlight. Wuji pressed the blade against the magistrate’s neck, then kicked him awake from his slumber.
Seeing the blade at his throat, the magistrate nearly wet himself in fear and instinctively wanted to cry for help.
“Shut up, or you die.” The long blade pressed closer to the magistrate’s neck, frightening him into silence as he frantically begged for mercy, “Good sir! Great hero! Whatever you want, this official can give it to you! Please, I beg you, don’t kill me!”
“That depends on your performance.” Wuji’s usually smiling peach blossom eyes now radiated an intensely bloodthirsty coldness. He tapped the blade against the magistrate’s terrified face, stepped onto the bed, and said distractedly, “I’ll ask you a few questions. Answer them truthfully.”
“Yes, yes, yes! Great hero, please ask!” the magistrate replied with keen awareness.
“Why haven’t you gone to suppress bandits in other mountains, but made so many trips to Heihu Mountain?”
“This…” the magistrate hesitated, “Because Heihu Stronghold is too hard to find, so this official had to put in more effort.”
Wuji suddenly sneered, “It seems you have a death wish.”
With that, the long blade moved closer to the magistrate’s throat.
“No, no, no! Great hero, don’t kill me!” Seeing that Wuji meant business, the magistrate broke out in cold sweat and had no choice but to tell the truth. “Because this official heard there was a tiger on Heihu Mountain and wanted to claim it for myself, so I frequently went up the mountain to search for it!”
Wuji snorted coldly, the blade scraping against the magistrate’s neck and drawing blood with its sharp edge. “Do you think I believe that?”
The magistrate instantly shut his eyes tightly, trembling like a leaf. “Great hero! I’m not lying! I really just wanted to claim that tiger for myself, but I searched several times and never found the tiger’s den!”
“With courage like yours, you wanted to claim a tiger for yourself?” Wuji scoffed, loosening the blade slightly. “Is there really a Heihu Stronghold on Heihu Mountain?”
“No! Absolutely not! There’s a tiger on Heihu Mountain—who would be so reckless as to steal a tiger’s territory?”
“Then what’s the story about the leader of Heihu Stronghold riding a white tiger as his steed?”
“That’s all hearsay! This official has searched Heihu Mountain so many times—where would there be a Heihu Stronghold, let alone a leader riding a tiger!” The magistrate smiled bitterly. “Great hero, why are you asking all this? Do you have a grudge against Heihu Stronghold?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Wuji thrust the blade hard into the pillow, startling the magistrate into silence, not daring to say another word.
Just then, a faint voice came from outside the window, tinged with amusement, “Hearsay? Could it be that the story of the tiger-riding leader started as hearsay from your mouth?”
Wuji turned to look at the magistrate.
The county magistrate guiltily averted his gaze: (；д)
Wuji chuckled at once, “To claim the tiger for yourself, you spread rumors that the First Leader of the Black Tiger Stronghold rides a tiger, so others wouldn’t dare go up the mountain to search for it. Quite the clever move, Magistrate.”
“Not at all, not at all! I was just trying to prevent anyone from getting hurt by the tiger on the mountain,” the magistrate replied with a dry laugh.
“Alright, Shen Yuan, we’ve asked everything we needed to.” Outside the window, Xie Chengze curved his lips into a roguish smile. “Let’s go.”
Wuji raised an eyebrow, knocked out the wide-eyed magistrate with the back of his blade, then flipped out the window. After pulling down his face covering, his eyes sparkled with a flirtatious gleam. “Your Highness, you’re so wicked~”
To think he’d shifted the blame onto Shen Yuan again.
“Not at all, just the basics~” Xie Chengze brushed back the stray hairs on his forehead, then turned serious. “I think I have a rough idea now.”
Back at the inn, Xie Chengze pieced together the information and confirmed, “Shen Yuan probably didn’t go missing. He entered the Black Tiger Stronghold to rescue someone.”
“But doesn’t the Black Tiger Stronghold not exist?” Wuji asked, puzzled.
Xie Chengze smiled. “The Black Tiger Stronghold may not exist, but that doesn’t mean the bandits don’t. Perhaps they go by another stronghold name, or maybe they have dual identities.”
Wuji suddenly understood. “You mean their stronghold isn’t on Black Tiger Mountain, but on another peak!”
Xie Chengze nodded approvingly. “Very clever.”
“Then who is he rescuing?” Xie Zimiao asked, confused. “Could it be the people transporting the official grain?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Xie Chengze tapped the table. “Wuji, when we infiltrated the magistrate’s residence, did you notice how cold it was inside?”
Wuji nodded. “Yes, only firewood was burning.”
“If craftsmen from Jingcheng came to this county, they would’ve first installed heated kang beds for the prefect and magistrate to keep warm, and passed on the skills to local craftsmen. Yet there wasn’t a trace of a kang in the magistrate’s home…”
Xie Chengze analyzed, “The common folks only know that firewood has been selling well lately, but they have no idea what a kang is. Shen Yuan wouldn’t be so careless as to forget to assign craftsmen to Heihu City. That can only mean either there weren’t enough craftsmen to go around, or the ones assigned to Heihu City met with trouble.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “And it might not be just the craftsmen for Heihu City.”
With winter’s harsh arrival, the greedy mountain bandits likely had their eyes set on more than just grain and winter clothing—they wanted heated kang beds too.
Bandits knew how to indulge themselves better than ordinary folks.
Whether this was the truth would be revealed tomorrow.
…
Under the midday sun, a carriage led the way along the road, followed by two carts piled high with goods. A tall, slender male servant sat at the front of the carriage, cracking his whip as he drove, calling out loudly, “Master, Madam, it’s still a long way to the next county. Should we take a break?”
From inside the carriage came intermittent, soft coughs, delicate as a kitten’s sneeze, tugging at one’s heartstrings. A middle-aged man’s voice replied, “Yes, let’s stop and rest. The madam is tired anyway.”
As the carriage halted, the middle-aged man lifted the curtain and stepped down, standing by the roadside to admire the snowy mountain scenery. The young coachman began setting up a stove to cook porridge, chatting with the middle-aged man as he worked. “Master, I heard craftsmen in Liaozhou are making good money lately. Weren’t you a craftsman in your youth? Ever thought of starting up the trade again?”
“Hmm, I do have that intention.” The middle-aged man stroked his beard, unable to conceal his pride. “I’m not boasting, but back in the day when I was in Chang’an, I was a renowned genius craftsman. Just look at all the craftsmen who’ve made names for themselves in Jingcheng now—which one wasn’t once my sworn brother? If I hadn’t taken a fancy to my humble wife, I wouldn’t have moved here to do business and become a live-in son-in-law brought in to ward off bad luck!”
“Fortunately, I’ve got a knack for business too, and I outlived my father-in-law. Now this vast family fortune is entirely in my hands!”
The middle-aged man stood with arms akimbo, chest puffed out as he laughed triumphantly. Suddenly, a cold-gleaming arrow pierced the frigid air with a sharp twang, then lodged firmly right beside his feet!