A Pawn's Passage

Chapter 1447: Following the Clues

Ma Jinguo suddenly raised his head and stared fixedly at the account book and Taiping Bank voucher in Qi Xuansu’s hands, as if trying to determine whether they were real or fake.

Qi Xuansu leisurely leaned back against the chair. “Do you want to inspect the contents more closely? After yearning for these things for so many years, you still can’t quite believe now that they’ve suddenly appeared before your eyes, huh?”

Ma Jinguo kept silent.

Qi Xuansu said, “Very well, I’ll grant you that wish.”

He then handed the Taiping Bank voucher to the Spirit Guard beside him and instructed him to bring it before Ma Jinguo.

This voucher was unlike ordinary cash notes. Cash notes were essentially anonymous fixed-term certificates of deposit, requiring full deposits and full withdrawals, with the highest denomination being 10,000 Taiping coins. When Madam Qi bought the Taishang Place residence for Qi Xuansu, she had used 145 cash notes worth 10,000 Taiping coins each.

The account left behind by Fang Linhou handled frequent transactions, allowing full and partial withdrawals and deposits. The transactions could be hundreds of thousands of Taiping coins, and even now, there were still several hundred thousand Taiping coins sitting in the account. Such vouchers were crafted with exceptional sophistication, almost like talismans. They were resistant to forgery and extremely difficult to destroy.

The Spirit Guard held the voucher before Ma Jinguo’s eyes so he could examine it clearly.

The longer Ma Jinguo looked, the more cold sweat formed on his forehead.

Qi Xuansu asked, “Seen enough?”

“Y-yes, I’ve seen it clearly,” Ma Jinguo replied, his speech beginning to falter.

The Spirit Guard then returned the voucher to Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu asked, “Tell me—who killed Liu Shiying back then?”

Ma Jinguo was startled, but he still refused to give up until the very end. Clenching his teeth, he said, “I would assume that perhaps Fang Linhou silenced him in order to escape blame. I am not a member of the Daoist Mansion, so I do not know the details.”

Qi Xuansu said, “Fine. Since you’re from the Imperial Court, a deputy general of Jinling, you should be familiar with the Green Phoenix Guard, shouldn’t you?”

Ma Jinguo could not deny it and could only reply, “Since we all serve the Imperial Court, we naturally had some dealings from time to time.”

Qi Xuansu said, “Since you’re familiar with the Green Phoenix Guard, then you must also be familiar with The Inn, correct?”

Ma Jinguo’s expression changed.

Qi Xuansu’s voice grew stern. “Answer the question.”

Ma Jinguo braced himself and said, “I have never had any dealings with secret societies.”

Qi Xuansu replied, “Whether you had dealings with them is not for you to say.”

After saying this, Qi Xuansu instructed the Spirit Guards to take Ma Jinguo into a hidden chamber nearby. Those inside the hidden chamber could see everything happening in the interrogation room, but the people in the interrogation room could not see into the hidden chamber.

There was only a single chair inside the hidden chamber.

Two Spirit Guards stood on either side, placing their hands on Ma Jinguo’s shoulders and firmly pinning him to the chair so he could not move. At the same time, a formation was activated, ensuring that not a single sound from the hidden chamber could escape.

Qi Xuansu instructed, “Bring him in.”

Soon, another man was escorted in by the Spirit Guards.

The moment Ma Jinguo saw this person, his expression changed drastically.

This man was Regional General Long, Ma Jinguo’s subordinate, who was also implicated in the case. General Long had actually been the first to be arrested, but he had been held separately from Ma Jinguo, so Ma Jinguo had been unaware of it. Only now did he learn that General Long had also been captured.

General Long was not wearing shackles. The moment he entered, he immediately knelt before Qi Xuansu and even kowtowed once. “Greetings, Sage Qi.”

Qi Xuansu remained expressionless and said nothing.

Two Spirit Guards lifted General Long from either side and placed him onto the interrogation chair, then pressed their armored hands onto his shoulders so he could not move recklessly.

Only then did Qi Xuansu speak. “I do not require grand gestures of kneeling and kowtowing. I only hope you will answer truthfully.”

General Long looked at Qi Xuansu and said, “I will certainly answer truthfully.”

Yet Qi Xuansu did not rush into questioning him. Instead, he spoke casually, as if making small talk. “General Long, is your family doing well?”

General Long froze for a moment, then followed Qi Xuansu’s lead and answered, “Thank you for your concern, Sage Qi. Everything is well at home.”

Qi Xuansu opened a case file. “You have three children. How blessed.”

General Long’s expression shifted slightly. “Sage Qi, I don’t quite understand... What do you mean by that?”

Qi Xuansu said, “Fang Linhou is dead. But his family seems to have vanished without a trace afterward. No one paid attention to them, and they were simply forgotten. No one even knows whether they are dead or alive. Tell me, do you think the grass on their graves is already one meter tall? Or perhaps they died without a proper burial, not even a grave mound.”

General Long’s face turned deathly pale.

Qi Xuansu said, “Jiangnan is prosperous, but it is also a place full of troubles. Two major Jiangnan cases happened one after another, and both ended inconclusively, with their lingering poison still not fully cleansed. I believe that you had little choice in the matter, but there is one thing you must understand. Which matters more—your family’s prosperity, or their safety?”

Although General Long was a Black Robes, he was not especially courageous. He was exactly the sort of vulnerable middle-aged man Madam Qi often described, with elderly parents and children. He could not act recklessly like those at the top, who possessed enough power to forcefully cover up the consequences, nor could he disregard losses like those with little left to lose. As a result, he was naturally cautious and fearful.

Qi Xuansu continued his psychological offensive. “I have already arranged for people to secretly protect your family. Anyone who attempts to seize them and force you into submission will fall right into our hands. So you need not worry about their safety. Before you answer my questions truthfully, I hope you will think carefully about whether protecting those people is truly worth it. Fang Linhou took all the blame upon himself, but what was the result? You were merely an accomplice in this case, and you didn’t even receive much money. Is it really worth gambling your entire life and family over such a small amount of money?”

General Long looked at Qi Xuansu. “I hope you can show me a way out, Sage Qi.”

“General Long, nothing matters more than staying alive. As long as you survive, everything else can still be discussed. Sometimes, when everyone is riding the same boat, no one can escape unscathed once the storm begins. But people always cling to luck. The truly frightening thing is that you may already be in the water while others still stand safely aboard the boat. Instead of pulling you up, they will pin every crime on you and shove you even deeper into the water, all to lighten the boat so they themselves can survive.”

How could General Long fail to understand the meaning behind Qi Xuansu’s words?

Qi Xuansu continued, “As long as you explain everything clearly, that will count as a major meritorious contribution, and I can speak on your behalf to reduce your punishment. I’m sure you’ve heard something about my character. Look at how Wang Jiaoying treated me, yet his son did not mysteriously disappear. He is still studying at Wanxiang Daoist Palace today.”

Qi Xuansu had always believed that credibility was important, so he always did his utmost to fulfill his promises. It was not out of stubborn idealism but for the sake of maintaining long-term trustworthiness. His reputation as a reliable person was excellent, which gave tremendous weight to his promises at this moment. Had he been the sort to go back on his word and disregard his own credibility, General Long would never have trusted him now or, at the very least, would have remained deeply suspicious.

At this point, General Long had no choice but to believe Qi Xuansu. “I am willing to confess truthfully.”

Qi Xuansu signaled for the Daoist responsible for recording testimony to begin writing.

Meanwhile, inside the hidden chamber, Ma Jinguo watched this scene unfold and understood that if General Long truly confessed, it might not necessarily implicate Li Tianlan, but it would certainly implicate him, as General Long’s direct superior.

Ma Jinguo tried to create some sort of disturbance to attract General Long’s attention outside. However, the two Spirit Guards’ iron fists pressed firmly upon his shoulders, preventing him from moving even the slightest bit. Furthermore, the chamber was protected by a soundproofing formation. Even if he somehow managed to make noise, not a single sound would reach the outside.

Outside, General Long had already begun confessing.

In matters like smuggling, the powerful figures at the top would never personally dirty their hands. They merely acted as a giant umbrella, shielding the business from the light of day. The people actually doing the work beneath that umbrella were others entirely.

General Long belonged to the operational layer that handled the actual work, so he knew many details even more thoroughly than Ma Jinguo.

Some might wonder why people at Ma Jinguo’s level were still only deputies rather than top officials. Part of the reason was that the evidence Qi Xuansu possessed only implicated people at this level. But there was another reason as well: those capable of climbing higher generally valued their reputations and would avoid tainting themselves with this sort of business. For people in high positions, no matter how many Taiping coins they accumulated, it was insubstantial. Real power was the true foundation.

Qi Xuansu himself was an excellent example. He liked Taiping coins because he had known true poverty. In his hardest days, he had to stretch the use of a single Taiping coin and would even carefully deliberate over spending a single Ruyi coin.

But now that Qi Xuansu had risen in status, he had not exploited his position for money. He was exceptionally clean, partly because of the support from Madam Qi and Zhang Yuelu, partly because of his own conscience, and partly because he valued his reputation for the sake of his future prospects.

The principles Qi Xuansu understood were equally clear to people like Zhang Jucheng and Qi Jiaozheng. They would never directly involve themselves in such matters. If they wanted to make money, they would do so through legitimate means, such as investing in companies like the Nanyang United Trading Company, rather than through outright smuggling.

Only those whose paths within the Daoist Order had already reached their limits would behave so recklessly. Since they could advance no further anyway, they simply devised other ways to rake in money. Since they lacked the power and influence necessary to acquire wealth legitimately, they could only settle for inferior methods.

For Li Tianlan, his resources within the Li family were limited. After all, Sage Qingwei would leave his inheritance to Li Zhuyu, not to Li Tianlan. The Imperial Preceptor’s wealth would most likely go to Li Changge. So people like Li Tianlan had to earn their own Taiping coins.

In this regard, Zhang Yuelu was also an excellent example. Though she belonged to the Zhang family, Zhang Jucheng had not simply handed her money. Before receiving the Heavenly Preceptor’s official recognition, Zhang Yuelu’s life had only been slightly better than Qi Xuansu’s.

General Long had an excellent memory. He described in detail what had happened, at what time, and who had done what.

Ma Jinguo closed his eyes in despair.

With General Long’s testimony, Qi Xuansu only had to follow this trail to implicate the rest. None of them could escape.