During the shen hour, An Hu went to Xue Ci’s tent as usual, intending to fetch him so they could feed the horses and mix their fodder together. But as he approached, one of Xue Ci’s tentmates came outside and told him that Xue Ci had fainted during halberd practice that morning. Commander Qin had taken him away, and he had not returned.
An Hu was stunned. He had heard nothing of it. That someone as formidable as Xue Ci could faint was almost impossible to accept.
Xue Ci might be absent, but the stables still needed tending. Most of the work would fall to An Hu. He was about to go and mix the fodder when a startled cry sounded from the tent behind him.
He wheeled around. Something enormous and gray-white flashed past his side, followed by a swirl of freezing air that raised goose bumps all over him. When he tried to follow it with his eyes, there was nothing to see. Only the merciless midday sun and the hot air rising from the sand remained.
“…Did something just rush past?” An Hu muttered. Suspecting that the strange gust was connected to the shout, he lifted the tent flap. “What happened?!”
“J-just now there was a white tiger, or something like one! I don’t know why it was in our tent. It looked right at me, then ran out!” The man was so frightened that he could scarcely speak.
An Hu was sure he was talking nonsense. “You must have seen wrong. How could a white tiger appear here? Getting a beast that large into this camp would be harder than sneaking enemy soldiers inside.”
“I saw it with my own eyes! How could I be mistaken? It’s not as if it was dark!” The man grew frantic when An Hu refused to believe him.
In fact, the man had seen correctly. It was Xue Ci, who had transformed into his beast form inside the tent. He reckoned that leaving as a human would bring far more trouble afterward, whereas a wild animal might simply be dismissed as a beast that had wandered in. No one would pursue him.
Besides, he could create bullets of wind to propel himself forward continuously. Moving so quickly, he might be little more than a blur to anyone who glimpsed him hurtling through the gale.
But he was already weak, and using spiritual power without pause placed a tremendous strain on his body. The northwestern sun was at its fiercest. As the snow leopard struggled forward, his head swam and his eyelids grew heavy. He forced himself to keep looking ahead, ignoring the way sand and stones tore his paw pads raw. Every scrap of strength went toward reaching one particular person.
*
When the ox cart entered town, He Jie ordered Zhang Wu, still wearing the inspector’s robe, to get off first. “Your clothes are too conspicuous. Go home. But don’t imagine you can wash your hands of what happened, understand?”
Zhang Wu nodded grimly and disappeared into an alley. The cart continued toward the Patrol Inspector’s Office.
Beneath the Patrol Inspector’s Office.
He Yi was carried into an iron-barred cell and thrown to the ground.
Ning Fuwen looked at his near-lifeless state, his pulse and breathing both terribly faint, and could not resist asking He Jie, “Should we fetch a physician?”
He Jie gave him a look that asked whether he was an idiot. After studying He Yi for a while, he said, “Lock him in and leave him. Tomorrow, when that Wu fellow returns, we’ll bring him up for questioning.”
Whether He Yi survived until then was another matter. Suspects dying in their cells before they reached court were hardly unheard of. He could only blame his bad luck. It would have nothing to do with He Jie.
He Jie almost laughed at the thought, but restrained himself, arranged his features into a solemn expression, and led the way out of the dark, damp prison.
Ning Fuwen hesitated, but finally hardened his heart. He locked the cell door, closed his eyes, and hurried away without looking back.
Tang Huai was reclining in the sun when he heard footsteps. He turned and found Zheng Yuanfeng and Uncle Zheng hurrying toward him.
He had not expected such a breach of manners from the Zheng family. They had barged straight into his eastern courtyard.
Annoyed, he was just about to make a cutting remark when Zheng Yuanfeng rushed up and grabbed his hand, voice shaking. “He Yi… He Yi lost so much blood from his head. He was lying on the ground and wouldn’t wake up. He Jie probably beat him, and then He Jie took him away!”
Tang Huai could rarely be shaken from his seat, but this did it. He quickly demanded that they tell him everything from beginning to end.
A moment later.
“That’s all we know. We don’t understand what happened earlier. By the time we reached He Yi’s house, he was already lying there… You’ll help him, won’t you?” Zheng Yuanfeng had heard villagers speak ill of Madman Tang so often that he had once thought poorly of him. But when Tang came to dinner with the carpenter, he seemed difficult rather than truly disreputable. He Yi had also told Zheng Yuanfeng how much Tang had helped him. That was why Zheng Yuanfeng had swallowed his pride and come begging.
In the span of half an incense stick, Tang Huai considered a great many things. He had a plan and did not conceal it. “I know whom to ask for help. First go back to He Yi’s home and check whether anything else is amiss. Come find me again afterward.”
The two Zhengs suddenly understood. “We really forgot to inspect the house. Right. We’ll see if we can find any clues. We’ll be back soon.”
Once they left, Tang Huai entered the main hall and called out. Two sword-carrying guards emerged from hiding and knelt on one knee before him.
“Prepare horses. Summon your master here. This cannot wait.”
“Yes, sir!”
Tang Huai returned to his eastern courtyard. As he passed the beds of medicinal herbs, his expression grew even graver.
After separating from Ning Fuwen, He Jie did not go home. Having finally vented some of his anger, he decided to visit that woman Chang Xinyi.
He went to the Chang residence and reached the study without obstruction.
Ordinarily Chang Xinyi would be playing the qin there at this time, but today the room was empty. After he waited a while, a servant unexpectedly arrived and invited him upstairs to the second-floor pavilion.
“…” He Jie knew that pavilion belonged exclusively to Chang He. Chang He drank tea and played chess there, spending much of his time inside. Others neither used nor dared enter it casually. Even an unfavored good-for-nothing like Chang Gui had never been admitted.
He Jie had visited once, making this his second invitation. Somewhat smug, he sat opposite Chang He.
He was in such high spirits that he was wondering what lucky day this was, with good things appearing one after another. Then a single sentence from Chang He sent his mood plunging, and cold sweat broke out over his skin.
“You threw someone into a cell and simply left him there?”
He Jie slowly turned his eyes toward Chang He, taking a long time to focus. How did this man know? He had only just left the Patrol Inspector’s Office and arrived here. How could word have reached Chang He already? Did he have informants in the office? Was Chang He having him watched?
Chang He watched the man’s agitation with interest and then, faintly disappointed, remarked, “When you fail to attend to details, those are precisely what bring you down.”
He Jie disagreed. “In the state he was in, he won’t survive tonight anyway.”
Chang He’s expression chilled. “He Yi has no family left to seek justice if he dies. But if he wakes up, he won’t merely demand justice. He’ll be the most important witness against you.”
Chang He despised fools. Unfortunately, He Jie was now aboard the same boat as him, and the consequences might spill over. He spelled it out. “Hasn’t the Town Supervisor’s Office recently detained a man who has killed someone? Arrange to transfer He Yi there. You needn’t concern yourself with what happens afterward.”
Even He Jie understood the implication. He disliked being ordered about, but since Chang He knew of the affair and was willing to shield him from its consequences, that was preferable.
The sun was already setting. Whatever arrangements Chang He wanted could not be completed until tomorrow. Perhaps there would be no need in any case; He Jie was convinced He Yi would not live through the night.
He nodded and agreed perfunctorily.
Chang He gave a servant an impatient look. The servant immediately announced that the young lady had returned. Relieved, He Jie excused himself and went downstairs, never noticing the venomous, snake-like gaze Chang He fixed on his back.
As the sun set and the moon rose, an utterly ordinary day was ending for most people. For a few, however, the night would pass without sleep.
Wu Yundi was not due back in town until the following day, around the si hour. But he remembered that several case files still needed organizing. His office had never managed to hire a suitable clerk, so he dealt with most of the paperwork himself.
He was the kind of man who could not sleep easily with work unfinished. He had his driver bring him home during the night and entered the office carrying a lamp.
The night watchman had already sounded the fourth watch. The wooden clappers rang especially loudly through the silent streets, their knocks echoing across the empty hall of the Patrol Inspector’s Office.
The oil in his lamp was running low, and Wu Yundi was growing too sleepy to resist. Perhaps he should spend the rest of the night here and resume work in the morning.
As he prepared to lie down, he heard a faint clatter of iron bars nearby. His hearing was keen. Without betraying his attention, he slipped his shoes back on and moved slowly outside.
He made no sound, listening carefully to determine where the noise came from.
The clatter soon stopped, but after a while he heard something like a heavy object being dragged. It was still faint enough that an ordinary man would probably have missed it.
The sounds became clearer. Now he was certain they came from underground.
“…” He distinctly remembered that no one was being held below. If there were no detainees, there would be no guards assigned to the cells. Had someone been arrested while he was away?
Yet when Wu Yundi descended the stone steps on tiptoe, everything was pitch-black, with not a candle burning. It did not look as though anyone was standing guard.
He would rather not alert whoever was there, but he could not see in the dark. He took a fire striker from his pouch and lit one of the wall-mounted candles.
At the instant the flame caught, a short, low growl came from deep within the cells. He could not identify what had made it, and the uncertainty sent a small shiver through him.
Wu Yundi immediately reached for the dagger strapped to his boot and bent slightly, prepared to fend off an attacker from the darkness.
Then the candlelight spread down the narrow corridor. His eyes widened. Fewer than ten paces away, a huge white beast covered in black markings was licking the forehead of someone lying on the ground. Blood covered the person’s head, neck and clothing.
“Let him go!” Wu Yundi drew his dagger instantly, fear surging through him. Using such a small blade against this powerfully built tiger-like beast might be no different from feeding a sheep to a tiger.
But he could not retreat. Struggling to steady himself, he looked for a way to stop the beast from what he mistook for an attempt to eat the man.
The great beast was wary too. Supporting He Yi’s head with its broad paw, it lowered him gently to the ground. Then it stepped in front of him and fixed its animal gaze on the newcomer, growling under its breath.
“Awoo… awoo…” The beast’s calls carried a vibration of force and air, seeming at once resentful and threatening. Yet Wu Yundi could hear overwhelming grief beneath them.
What was happening?