Patrol Bureau
Commander Lin rested his eyes on a chair, the Left Wing and Right Wing commanders standing beside him. The surrounding head constables were dead silent, and the atmosphere was suffocatingly oppressive. They had never felt time pass so agonizingly slow.
“How is the investigation going?” Commander Lin asked indifferently, without opening his eyes.
Beside him, the Left Wing Commander hurriedly stepped forward to report, “Commander, the constables checked the gate logs. Over the past ten days, only Fengqingzi and Zhu Shu entered the city.”
Commander Lin opened his eyes, his gaze sharp as he asked in a cold voice, “Fengqingzi the Swordsman? Zhu Shu the Ghostly Hand? Do you think either of those two could kill a man with a flying leaf?”
The Left Wing Commander remained silent. Those two were figures who had risen in the jianghu over the past two years. Though their martial skills were respectable, they were nowhere near that level...
“Those two entered through the gates openly; they can't be the killers. There are unknown martial artists in the city. I suspect they came for the upcoming auction at the Heavenly Pavilion.”
“Issue the order: lock down the entire city temporarily. Starting today, people are only allowed in, not out. I will personally handle the explanation to the other factions.”
Cold sweat dripped from the Left Wing Commander's forehead. Not daring to say another word, he quickly accepted the order and withdrew, only letting out a breath of relief once he stepped out of the government office.
Thinking back on this command, he couldn't help but sigh softly in his heart.
The commander was convinced the murderer was still in the city and intended to attend the Heavenly Pavilion's auction. This lockdown order was clearly a move to catch a turtle in a jar!
However, if his judgment proved wrong and the killer wasn't in the city after all, this plan would offend a great deal of influential people.
On this seemingly ordinary day, undercurrents raged beneath the surface of Fengcheng...
Jiang Moran was completely unaware of all this. Today, he intended to buy some Peach Blossom Wine; that was the sole reason he had come out in the first place, and he planned to head back as soon as he got it.
He had no idea that a story with flawed reasoning but an accurate conclusion was currently unfolding.
“You, head to the wine shop on the west side of town and buy three jars of Peach Blossom Wine,” Jiang Moran instructed the girl like a grand lord, casually tossing a pouch of money to her.
The girl behind him instinctively caught the money pouch. A faint light gleamed in her eyes, and even the corners of her lips curved upward. As if assigned a monumental task, she turned and sprinted off without looking back.
“Is she really that happy...?”
Jiang Moran shook his head, letting out a helpless chuckle.
A petite figure darted through the city streets, weaving past the crowded throngs with a long-absent smile on her face. She hadn't smiled like this in a very long time.
As long as she completed her task successfully, he would surely accept her!
She tightly clutched the money pouch as if holding the most precious treasure in the world. But in the next second, her foot tripped, the smile froze on her face, and she tumbled hard onto the ground.
A wave of pain washed over her, and her vision briefly went dark. She rubbed her eyes vigorously until her sight cleared once more.
A face filled with disgust entered her vision, causing her to freeze. Standing before her was a man with a somewhat scholarly air, but his eyes reeked of contempt, as if he were looking at something filthy.
“Blind useless brat,” the man snorted coldly. He stepped squarely on the girl, wiping off the dirt that had smudged his shoe.
The heavy force of his foot forced a muffled groan from the girl, yet she dared not resist. She merely clutched the money pouch all the tighter...
Thud!
The foot pressing down on her suddenly kicked out, sending her frail body flying backward. She crashed heavily onto the ground nearby, a trace of blood oozing from the corner of her mouth...
“If we weren't in Fengcheng, you'd be a ghost on the road to the Underworld today,” the man said icily. Without giving her another glance, he turned and strode off.
The surrounding crowd quickly cleared out of the way. Their gazes fell upon the girl lying on the ground—some filled with sympathy or pity, but even more with gloating relief that the trouble hadn't fallen on them.
Pain...
Every inch of her body throbbed with intense pain. Biting her lip to endure it, she slowly scrambled back up, the money pouch never leaving her grasp.
This was enough...
Under the strange looks of the crowd, she kept her head lowered and limped away.
Inside a teahouse.
A storyteller was vividly recounting tales of the jianghu, and the crowd below was listening with rapt attention—everyone except Jiang Moran.
The tea before him had long grown cold. His fingers tapped rhythmically on the tabletop. Waiting until the storyteller's throat had dried, watched him drink his third cup of tea, and heard the sharp slam of the gavel, Jiang Moran slowly rose to his feet.
As he walked toward the door, he pulled the last piece of loose silver—exactly enough for three jars of Peach Blossom Wine—from his robe. Tossing the silver up and catching it again, he acted as if he had long expected that the girl wouldn't return.
After all, that bag of silver was enough to ensure that countless ordinary citizens lived without worrying about food or clothing, let alone a starving child.
Pushing the door open, the dazzling sunlight made him squint slightly. Just as he was about to step out, the corner of his eye caught a petite figure.
As his eyes adjusted, his pupils reflected the girl's battered appearance. She tightly held three jars of wine in her arms, staggering toward him step by step...
For a moment, he felt a wave of trance-like confusion. The girl before him overlapped with a figure in his memories, causing him to lose himself in thought. He only snapped back to reality when she stopped before him and gently placed the three jars of wine on the ground.
“I... I came back a bit late... but I saved you thirty copper coins on the wine,” the girl said nervously, her head bowed, not daring to look at his face. Her voice grew quieter and quieter.
“What happened?”
Jiang Moran didn't look at the wine on the ground. Instead, he stared at her as he asked. His tone was as casual as asking what to eat for dinner, yet the girl felt the surrounding air instantly freeze.
Seemingly at a loss from his abrupt question, she couldn't help but raise her head to look him in the eye.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Silently, she lowered her head once more, her fingers clutching the corner of her shirt so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
A warm, broad hand suddenly rested on top of her head, brushing away her anxiety.
“Tell me.”
His tone was no longer cold, carrying a gentle reassurance like soothing a child. In that moment, the grievances of being bullied and the pain of being mocked by onlookers seemed to find an outlet, bursting forth all at once.
Tears poured down uncontrollably as she sobbed through the whole ordeal. Jiang Moran listened silently, only speaking up after she finished and her emotions had stabilized:
“You're in your teens and still crying—aren't you ashamed? Come back to the inn with me first and wash the dirt off yourself.”
The girl gave a soft “Mm,” wiped her tears, and followed him.
“By the way, this time... you did pretty well.”
Hearing this, the corners of her lips quietly curved upward, and behind the mist in her eyes shone a star, sparkling bright.
The moment they returned to the inn, the female waiter arranged for the girl to take a bath. Soon, Jiang Moran was the only one left in the room. The warmth in his eyes faded, leaving behind nothing but endless frost.
A shadow flickered inside the room, leaving behind only a window squeaking faintly in the breeze...
In an inconspicuous alley, there was an open window where an errand boy resembling an inn waiter was seeing off guests.
“Safe travels, sir! Do drop by again!” The errand boy waved to the departing customer, only pulling back his gaze once the figure vanished. Resting his chin on his hands, he dozed off against the windowsill.
Knock, knock, knock.
A sudden knocking startled the dozing errand boy. He hurriedly raised his head, only to see a man clad in a black robe standing before the window.
“How can I help you, sir? Are you looking to buy wine, or exchange loose silver?”
“Neither.”
“Then what brings you here?”
“I'm here to buy a breeze.”
The errand boy froze in momentary astonishment before his expression shifted drastically. He glanced guardedly to the left and right of the alley, only letting out a breath of relief once he was sure no one was around.
“May I ask your code name, sir?”
“A rabbit doesn't pluck its fur.”
At this, the errand boy nodded. This phrase was secret code in the underworld—A rabbit doesn't pluck its fur, a man doesn't reveal his name. It meant he was unwilling to disclose his identity. This man was a seasoned veteran of the jianghu!
“What do you wish to know?”
“A man bullied a young girl just now. I want information on him.”
The errand boy thought for a moment before lowering his voice. “That man is Zhu Shu. He only made a name for himself two years ago. Supposedly, his hands are covered in bulging veins like ghostly hands, and many have had their necks snapped by those very hands. His reason for entering the city this time is likely the auction at the Heavenly Pavilion this afternoon.”
“Mm.”
Having obtained the information he wanted, Jiang Moran didn't linger. He tossed a silver ingot onto the windowsill, turned, and walked out of the alley.
Watching Jiang Moran's departing figure, the errand boy murmured thoughtfully, “Who on earth is he...?”
At this moment, Commander Lin had no idea that what he believed to be a trapped turtle was actually a dragon with concealed fangs.
...
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