Those who were watching the commotion and being questioned saw that the two had co out of the inner city and looked as if they had been roughed up. Unsure of the situation, they didn't dare say much, only ntioning casually, “They say soone was caught stealing in the inner city and was personally executed by the Jailer.”
Another thief? Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang exchanged glances, both feeling a chill down their spines. They had been arrested on charges of theft.
The public interest surrounding the female corpse's cause of death ant most people didn't pay much attention to the two coming out of the inner city.
Most people coming and going from Zhixu City were in a constant state of flux; those who had seen the two arrested earlier had long since co and gone in waves.
Few would wait here continuously for them to erge, and those who were here weren't waiting for them.
“Oh, Chief Shi is out, are you alright?”
Soone asked in surprise, looking very concerned.
Shi Chun found the person familiar but couldn't recall who it was. He shrugged, giving a helpless gesture, then led the equally ragged Wu Jinliang away from the scene.
He saw Lan Qiaoyan in the crowd.
Lan Qiaoyan, who was being protected by several people from Far-Gazing Tower while watching the commotion, also saw the two of them.
She turned around first and led her people away, and Shi Chun and his companion followed.
After the two left, soone said to a bystander, “They actually ca out alive.
Thankfully, we didn't gloat to their faces earlier, otherwise, with those two rascals' temperant, they'd definitely co looking for trouble.”
Another person said, “Since they're fine, it'll probably be hard to see them again.
They shouldn't be returning to East Nine Plains, right? After Zhixu City is unsealed, they should be leaving the Land of Exile.”
The forr stroked his chin and nodded, “That's true.”
At Far-Gazing Tower, as soon as Lan Qiaoyan and her group entered, Shi Chun and his companion followed closely behind.
As they passed through the hall, the Young Apprentice, sitting in a corner guarding a pile of ledgers with a distracted look, his eyes lit up.
He stood up with a whoosh and quickly ran up to the two, examining them from head to toe.
Wu Jinliang chuckled, “Shatang, did you miss us?”
As he spoke, he unslung his satchel, rummaged inside, and pulled out a layered, colorful stone, handing it to the Young Apprentice.
This was an old habit of theirs; whenever they ca to see Miss Miao, they would collect unique stones as gifts for this Young Apprentice.
Their initial access to Miss Miao was gained by "bribing" this Young Apprentice effectively.
“Shatang” was the nickna Miss Miao gave the Young Apprentice because his surna was Sha and he loved sweets. Shi Chun and the others followed suit and called him that.
Seeing the stone with its distinctly layered colors, which had a strong visual impact, the Young Apprentice held it in his hand, clearly delighted. He looked at the two again and said, “It's good that you're alright.
I knew you'd be fine after the proprietress entered the inner city.”
Upon hearing this, Shi Chun's eyes flickered.
He had felt sothing was different when the interrogation style changed earlier, and he suspected if the proprietress had intervened, after all, when he was being arrested, he had wailed and called for his 'mother' while dragging Wu Jinliang along, precisely with that hope in mind.
This now confird his suspicion.
“Little Sha,” Old Tan's voice ca.
The few people looked over, only to see Old Tan, who had already entered the back hall, turn back and erge, glaring at the Young Apprentice with a warning look, clearly faulting him for speaking out of turn.
For Far-Gazing Tower, aside from doing business here, they would not interfere with anything in the Land of Exile; this was an unwritten rule.
The Young Apprentice seed to realize he had misspoken, stuck out his tongue, but didn't appear too afraid of Old Tan.
In any case, he quickly ran back behind the counter to flip through the ledgers.
Shi Chun, anwhile, quickly walked up to Old Tan.
Just as he was about to request an announcent, Old Tan already nodded slightly and said, “Co in.”
Shi Chun quickly cupped his hands in thanks.
Wu Jinliang hesitated for a mont but ultimately bit the bullet and followed.
After passing through the back hall and up the stairs, they found Lan Qiaoyan seated elegantly, brewing tea in the hall on the second floor.
That level of graceful enjoynt was sothing people in the Land of Exile could only envy.
“Thank you, Proprietress, for saving my life.” Shi Chun stepped forward, cupped his hands, and bowed.
Lan Qiaoyan flipped her hand, creating an invisible force that prevented him from bowing further, “I don't understand what you're saying.
Has the theft case been cleared up?”
Seeing that she refused the bow, he could sowhat guess the reason. Rembering the kindness in his heart was enough, so he imdiately gave up, shaking his head, “It hasn't been cleared up.”
Upon hearing this, Lan Qiaoyan and Old Tan both froze.
Old Tan interjected, “If it hasn't been cleared up, why were you released?”
“Alas,” Shi Chun sighed helplessly, then maintained his refined deanor, “That accuser was killed by .”
He felt that Lan Qiaoyan's rescue of him was sowhat related to the refined deanor he consistently displayed. He was clearly very different from those coarse brutes; otherwise, she wouldn't have treated him specially all this ti.
“Ah?” Wu Jinliang exclaid, dumbfounded. There was such a thing? How did I not know? But now he finally understood what the city guard who filed their case ant by the owner of the stolen goods being dead.
Both of the other two were also stunned. Old Tan asked in surprise, “You killed that owner in the inner city?”
His words clearly contained another layer of inquiry: you acted so recklessly, how co those people in the inner city didn't kill you?
Shi Chun imdiately explained, “It's not what you think.
It was a duel. They said the higher-ups gave the order, too lazy to fuss over trivial matters, telling and the accuser to duel.
The loser would be executed, the winner released. I won, and then we were released.”
Silence. The hall was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
Lan Qiaoyan frowned and muttered, “So capricious?”
She was also muttering to herself, after all that, it turned out her intervention hadn't been of much use; they had fought their way out themselves.
Then she heard Shi Chun's tone turn lancholic, “But the case isn't over yet.
They said because I killed the accuser, the case cannot be concluded. So they released us first, but if any new clues are found in the future, they'll bring us back from the outside for further interrogation.”
Speaking of this, he couldn't help but sigh, lanting what evil he had done. Others gained freedom upon leaving the Land of Exile, but he left with a loose end, which was tantamount to leaving a hidden danger, who knew when it would flare up.
It also left him with a lingering worry, making him unable to feel happy about leaving.
“There's such a thing?” Lan Qiaoyan was surprised, then turned and asked Old Tan, “Old Tan, can the Living Prison release people like this?”
Old Tan shook his head in astonishnt, looking as if he had never heard or seen such a thing before.
After another period of silence in the hall, the matter could only be temporarily put aside, and any questions would have to be clarified later.
Lan Qiaoyan changed the subject and asked, “What happened with Qi Yueru stealing sothing and being killed by the Jailer?”
Although Shi Chun was sowhat sensitive to the surna Qi, he had no idea who Qi Yueru was.
He reacted to the words 'Jailer' and retorted, “The one hanging on the city gate?”
Lan Qiaoyan said aningfully, “She's Shen Youkun's mother. You didn't know?”
“Ah?” Wu Jinliang exclaid first, and the two brothers exchanged glances again.
This ti, it was Shi Chun's turn to ask in surprise, “How could Shen Youkun's mother run into the inner city to steal sothing?”
Seeing that the two didn't seem to be faking it and genuinely didn't know, Lan Qiaoyan stopped asking. She picked up the brewed tea, took a sip, and after putting down the teacup, slowly said, “Qi Yueru ran to Zhixu City and was killed by the Jailer, who sits above the clouds, for stealing.
I don't believe it; there must have been sothing else that angered the Jailer.
Her son died, her brother also died, and Qi Yueru herself died.
That whole group might have done sothing unspeakable in the Land of Exile. I don't know how deeply you two are involved or if you know what it was, but the Qi family should know.
Your offending Shen Youkun is no secret. Now, with the Jailer personally killing Qi Yueru, those who know the truth understand what the Jailer is investigating.
The guilty Qi family will, at most, only dare to seek justice superficially without further visible involvent in that unspeakable matter.
Especially the process of your capture and release this ti is sowhat unclear, so the Qi family should not dare to have any further involvent with you.
I don't know if you can understand what I an, but in short, the Jailer's strong action this ti was a happy accident for you, helping you resolve a big problem.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)