Card Room

Chapter 174 – Beacon in Troubled Times 24

The several assassins were arrested. Qin Rui and the third young lady hadn’t expected Yu Hanjiang and his team to come to the forest and glanced at each other. In any case, Yu Hanjiang was the prefectural magistrate of Jiangzhou and it was hard to pretend not to see him. Qin Rui had to step forward and grip his fist in one hand toward Yu Hanjiang. “Yu daren, why did you come here?”

“Naturally, I was tracking the assassins and happened to come here.” Yu Hanjiang saw that he was dressed in black like the surrounded shadow guards and became clear about something. “Are you also a shadow guard?”

Qin Rui nodded. “Yes.”

Since the shadow guards were usually dressed in black and masked, they didn’t know each other. It was understandable that Long Sen didn’t recognize him.

In this way, everything that happened in Jiangzhou was clear to the emperor in the capital. Perhaps His Majesty suspected there was an assassin and intelligence organization in Jiangzhou for a long time. Thus, he asked the prince to put on a good show and lead all the assassins out.

Yu Hanjiang and Long Sen exchanged a look and Long Sen immediately flew over to take off the assassins’ hats. Sure enough, it was the girls from the Fragrant Sky House. Aunt Qing wasn’t present. The ones who came today were those who were rescued from the prison last night.

The assassins thought that the second young lady was too careless to take precautions. She left Jiangzhou City and ran to the forest where people were rarely seen… they hadn’t expected it to be a trap.

After realizing the plan, the girls were about to bite the poison in their teeth and commit suicide. Long Sen, Mo Xuemin and Xiao Lou were quickly to use their hands and held the mandibles of the girls.

Xiao Lou glanced at Yu Hanjiang. “I will pull out the tooth with poison. Then you can take them back for interrogation.”

Xiao Lou had long been familiar with teeth extraction. The previous hunters liked to commit suicide after their mission failed. Xiao Lou always had experience. The girls in the Fragrant Sky House had eyes wide in disbelief. They saw Madam Yu look calm as she put silk thread into their mouths and neatly pulled out the poisonous teeth, without a breath of martial arts at all. All the poisonous teeth in the girls’ mouths were dealt with by Madam Yu.

The girls, “……”

All of them had dead faces.

The third young lady and second young lady stared at each other.

The frightened Ninth Princess was also relieved at this time. She looked at Qu Wanyue beside her with fright. “Madam Yu doesn’t only do autopsies but also pulls out teeth? What is her origin?”

Qu Wanyue thought that Professor Xiao could do even more. He could also use the compass to make a brazier. Unfortunately, the compass couldn’t be used in this world and Professor Xiao could only exert 30% of his strength.

Facing the curious eyes of the Ninth Princess, Qu Wanyue had to say in a perfunctory manner, “This subordinate doesn’t know. You’ll have to ask Yu daren.”

The Ninth Princess had a complicated expression. It wasn’t good for her to cheekily ask Yu Hanjiang, ‘What is your wife doing?’

“Madam, you worked hard.” Yu Hanjiang walked to Xiao Lou’s side and gently hugged his shoulder, acting as a loving couple in front of the crowd. Then he looked at the assassin who had fallen to the ground and ordered, “Bring them back to the prefectural magistrate’s office for interrogation.”

The third young lady suddenly cried out, “Wait!”

Yu Hanjiang looked back. “Third young lady, do you have any questions?”

The third young lady frowned. “The assassins were caught by us. I want to take them back to the prince’s mansion. How can it be possible for Yu daren to take them away?”

Yu Hanjiang gazed calmly at her and spoke lightly, “Did the third young lady forget that the prince has given me full power to investigate and deal with this?”

The third young lady, “But…”

Yu Hanjiang interrupted her. “As the prefectural magistrate of Jiangzhou, the assassins were seized in Jiangzhou and should be interrogated by the government. The prince didn’t ask about political matters so you don’t have to bother the prince about this matter. I will try to find a report as soon as possible and report it to the prince.”

The third young lady still wanted to speak but Yu Hanjiang waved his hand. “Take them away!”

Long Sen immediately tied up the assassins and prepared to take them back to the Jiangzhou bailiffs.

Yu Hanjiang told her, “The princess is kind.”

He nodded to the princess, turned and took the assassins back to Jiangzhou.

There were a total of six assassins caught this time. Yu Hanjiang locked them in the woodshed, sent Long Sen to personally guard them and then called Ye Qi to recognize the people. Ye Qi quickly said the names of the girls. They all took on names such as Hong Mei (Red Plum), Xiang Ning (Fragrant Attention), Zi Tian (Red Sandlewood), etc. Ye Qi didn’t know what their real names were.

Xue Yan and Aunt Qing weren’t present and might have other tasks.

Yu Hanjiang called these assassins one by one to question them. “Are you from the Yan state?”

The girl was pale but refused to nod.

Yu Hanjiang continued coldly. “Where did Aunt Qing and Xue Yan go? Who is the ‘master’ you talked about? Who is giving orders behind the scene?”

However, there were no responses, just like stones sinking into the sea. Since these girls were willing to leave their hometown to do intelligence collection and assassination work, they must’ve been prepared to die a long time ago.

Yu Hanjiang tried for an hour but couldn’t pry their mouths open. Every girl’s eyes were extremely stubborn, as if saying, ‘Don’t bother, I won’t explain anything.’

Judging by their attitude of ‘regarding death as coming home’, these girls have been professionally trained and brainwashed. They were Yan people and it was their honor to sacrifice for Yan. Once they had this idea, Yu Hanjiang couldn’t obtain any information at all.

Yu Hanjiang had a headache as he left the interrogation room. Xiao Lou looked at his expression and knew the interrogation hadn’t gone well. “Are they unwilling to explain?”

“Yes.” Yu Hanjiang pinched his brow. “They didn’t say a word. The leader behind the assassin organization isn’t Aunt Qing. Aunt Qing is only responsible for Jiangzhou’s affairs. The identity of Aunt Qing’ boss is the key to the investigation.”

Mo Xuemin’s face was full of anxiety. “They didn’t speak. Then do we have to wait for new clues to come out or should we try to torture them to extort a confession?”

Ye Qi wondered, “Is torturing them to extract a confession okay?”

In ancient times, the torture of prisoners was common. In dungeons, there were various tools such as bamboo boards with finger marks, iron blocks with body imprints and iron cables…

Ye Qi thought of these blood-stained torture tools and shuddered. “The girls are only 20 years old. They might not be able to bear the torture but they might not necessarily give us clues.”

The use of torture was a method but Yu Hanjiang didn’t want to take this step.

They might be in ancient times but they still had the mindset of modern people. He didn’t want to torture these young girls with all type of cruel torture instruments.

Seeing Yu Hanjiang’s frown, Xiao Lou suddenly said, “I have a way. Perhaps it might be useful.”

Yu Hanjiang immediately looked back at Xiao Lou. “Madam, please tell me.”

“Do you remember Liu Qiao’s Twin card? She can copy any person or animal she saw within half an hour. Her card is equivalent to the transfiguration skill in ancient times and it should still work. She can copy the appearance of an assassin, mix in with the assassin and discuss their ‘master’ with them.”

Yu Hanjiang, “……”

This approach was really good. They could send Xiao Lou to the assassin organization as an undercover.

Thinking of this, Yu Hanjiang immediately had Old Mo call Liu Qiao over.

Liu Qiao arrived and told everyone that her Win card really could be used. Thus, Yu Hanjiang quickly made arrangements to have Old Mo bring the youngest girl and shut up in the study. Liu Qiao went to take a look and immediately copied the girl’s appearance and voice. Then Yu Hanjiang pretended to finish the interrogation and had Old Mo tie her hands behind her back and escort her back to the woodshed.

Liu Qiao entered the woodshed and walked quietly to a corner. An older woman cared for her. “Xiang Ning, are you okay?”

The girl Liu Qiao copied was called Xiang Ning. She nodded and replied, “I’m fine.”

Another woman asked, “Yu daren didn’t torture you?”

Liu Qiao shook her head. “No, he just asked me about our master. I said nothing.”

The group was relieved.

The room fell into a strange silence. Everyone was uneasy wand worried that Yu daren would use all types of cruel punishments and torture on them. They thought of the bloody tools in the dungeon and the girls were white, their bodies slightly trembling.

The afternoon passed quickly but no one came to question them again.

After nightfall, everyone’s uneasiness reached the peak. Liu Qiao observed their expression and asked, “What is Yu daren intending? He isn’t letting us commit suicide or torture us. He is just locking us up. Does he want to starve us for a few days and then torture us when we’re about to mentally break?”

Another person said, “It is better to do it directly. Is a slow torture interesting?”

Liu Qiao pretended to be very worried. “I heard that Madam Yu’so origin is mysterious. She can do autopsies and also use poison. What if she paralyzes us with a type of drug that makes us fall into a trance and then interrogate us? What will we do if we unknowingly confess?”

This possibility made everyone’s expression change.

An old woman declared coldly, “No matter what means they use, everyone must shut their mouths and not reveal any information on the organization! Don’t forget the oath you made in front of the master. Whoever dares to betray the master will surely die without your body being left behind and it will also affect your family members at home!”

Hearing this, everyone was silent.

A young girl sobbed. “Sister Hong Mei, of course we won’t betray the master. I am ready to die. I hope my parents and younger brother can have a good life in Yan…”

Liu Qiao asked, “Sister Hong Mei, have you seen the master’s real face?”

Hong Mei shook her head. “No, the master’s whereabouts are unknown. We only listen to Aunt Qing’s orders and don’t need to know anything else.”

Liu Qiao in the corner slightly frowned. It seemed the group of assassins only knew a limited amount of information and the identity of the master was hidden. In addition to vowing to serve their master, the girls’ relatives were also in the hands of the ‘master.’ Once they betrayed their master, their relatives far away in the Yan state might be implicated. It was the reason why they were reluctant to say a word.

There must be no evidence from this interrogation. The clues Liu Qiao could obtain were very limited.

Early the next morning, Liu Qiao’s transformation was over but she purposely wore clothes similar to the girl. She kept her head down and no one around her realized that her face had changed.

She was the first one to be questioned by Yu Hanjiang and Liu Qiao told him what she had heard.

Xiao Lou listened and carefully analyzed it. “Since the leader of the intelligence organization can control the families of these girls, he should have great power in the Yan state. He is either a high-ranking official or a noble.”

Mo Xuemin was confused. “However, we have absolutely no way to understand the situation on the Yan stat side. I have examined all the books on my bookshelf. There are no records of the Yan state’s royal family and their court. I only know that the emperor of Yan is around 45 years old and is very tough.”

Ye Qi scratched his head suspiciously. “This shouldn’t be? The secret room involved the Qi, Zhao and Yan states. We have found the assassins are from Yan and we can’t get clues from the assassins’ mouth. Then shouldn’t something else give us clues?”

Xiao Lou touched his chin and thought about it. After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, “My younger brother definitely isn’t dead.”

Everyone’s eyes were blank. “Brother?”

Yu Hanjiang looked at him in an unexpected manner. “Do you have a younger brother? Why am I completely unaware of this?”

Xiao Lou coughed. “Actually, I don’t know him either. It is a plot setting that I have a younger brother. The first time I entered 8 of Hearts, I received the background of my identity. My father was a coroner, my mother was a doctor and my brother was said to be in the army and fighting on the front lines. His whereabouts are unknown.

He paused before continuing, “Thinking carefully, the word ‘unknown’ is very meaningful. If my younger brother wasn’t someone important to the case, why should it say that his whereabouts are unknown? I could be set as the only child or he could’ve died on the front lines.”

Ye Qi was excited. “Yes, since your brother is on the front lines of the war between QI and Yan, it is okay to say he died in the war. The fact that his whereabouts are unknown proves he isn’t dead at all.”

Liu Qiao stated, “According to the routine of ordinary TV dramas, people with their whereabouts unknown will usually appear at critical moments.

Xiao Lou nodded. “Besides my younger brother, don’t forget there is someone else on the front lines.”

Mo Xuemin’s senses returned. “You mean, the prince’s eldest son… Qi Fenghua?”

He previously suspected there would be an accident in the royal family and investigated the interpersonal relationships. Mrs Yun married the prince and gave birth to a son and a daughter. Qi Fenghua followed General Zheng Xi to fight against Yan on the front lines and hadn’t been home for three years. Qi Yiyao, the eldest daughter, was now killed. If Qi Fenghua was just a passerby, why have such a setting? Why not just say that the prince had four daughters?”

Xiao Lou’s brother was the same. If his whereabouts were unknown then he definitely wasn’t dead. These two people were on the front lines of fighting between Yan and Daqi and Yu Hanjiang’s team had just encountered a bottleneck while investigating the Yan assassins.

Xiao Lou glanced at Yu Hanjiang. “I remember that after entering the secret room, we didn’t receive all the memories. It was only when we saw a person that we remembered the past related to them, right?”

Yu Hanjiang also experienced this and nodded. “Yes, when I went to the palace to see the emperor, I thought of my childhood of being his companion. When I saw the Ninth Princess, I thought of the late emperor suggesting marriage to her. When I went home to see my parents and grandfather, I thought of my childhood experience in Jiangzhou. Many memories are triggered by seeing the corresponding person.”

Xiao Lou told them, “I don’t have detailed memories of my younger brother but as long as I see him, I will be able to recognize him immediately. I just don’t know what type of identity he will appear in.”

Yu Hanjiang thought carefully and speculated, “Is it the masked man who came to the prison the night before? The man in the assassin group?”

Xiao Lou asked, “Why do you say that?”

“Your brother is on the front lines. If he died on the battlefield and his body couldn’t be found then his whereabouts will naturally be ‘unknown’. Obviously, your brother didn’t end up like this. So his whereabouts are unknown. Where else can he go on the front line? Since the Yan state can send spies to us, why can’t we send spies to the Yan state?”

Everyone, “……”

Xiao Lou’s eyes suddenly lit up. “If he is going to be a spy then he naturally can’t say anything. He must forget a new identity. Isn’t his original identity ‘missing’? He is a person on the front lines so what reason would he have to return to Jiangzhou? The best chance for him to return to Jiangzhou is to join the assassin ground and participate in the plan to assassinate Jiangzhou’s prefectural magistrate and the prince.”

The two of them stared at each other and tacitly nodded in agreement with the other person.

His teammates, “……”

So many possibilities could be speculated from a simple ‘whereabouts unknown’. Everyone could only worship the brain holes of the two big gods!

Ye Qi was confused for a moment before finally understanding the analysis of Yu and Xiao. He scratched his head and said, “In other words, Madam’s brother went missing from the front lines because he probably sneaked into Yan as an undercover. Recently, he returned to Jiangzhou and brought some clues about the Yan state?”

Think about it carefully. What was the identity of the younger brother who had been missing for so many years on the frontlines, only to suddenly appear in Jiangzhou? The possibility speculated about by Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou was indeed the most reasonable arrangement.

Yu Hanjiang suggested, “Madam, why don’t we lead the snake out of the hole?”

Xiao Lou nodded in agreement. “Okay, tonight we will go outside Jiangzhou City to lure my brother out. If he has really gone to Yan as a spy and took this opportunity to return to Jiangzhou, he will surely find a way to contact me.”

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