Where Immortals Once Walked

Chapter 541: Madame Cen Arrives

Cen Boqing immediately said, “He only mentioned it to me once in passing. Later, when Zhongsun Mou came chasing all the way to Baishajue to investigate the case, Uncle Wu was the one who asked me to step in.”

“And the Minister of Finance?” Bai Ziqi asked. “How deeply is he involved?”

“This has nothing to do with my father-in-law’s family!” Cen Boqing said hurriedly. “Uncle Wu acted in complete secrecy and never exposed a single flaw in front of them. The Minister of Finance knows absolutely nothing about what we were doing in secret!”

Fushan Yue let out a cold snort, fully conveying his contempt.

Bai Ziqi extended a hand toward the clerk recording the testimony. “Let me see it.”

The written confession was respectfully handed over.

He skimmed through it in two or three quick glances. Seeing that the account was fairly complete, he nodded and passed it to Cen Boqing. “Sign it and affix your mark.”

Cen Boqing read through it, signed his name, and pressed his fingerprint.

While he was doing that, the clerk hurriedly copied out a second version, which Cen Boqing then signed and marked as well.

There were now two copies in total.

They had only just finished when Bai Ziqi’s expression shifted slightly. “They’re here.”

A moment later, everyone heard a jumble of approaching footsteps.

At least seven or eight people were coming.

Very soon, He Lingchuan saw several figures rushing down the stairs. At the very front was, unmistakably, a beautiful woman.

She looked to be past thirty. Her eyebrows were sharp and heroic, her eyes long and phoenix-like. Though she had red lips and peach-blossom cheeks, her gaze was so cutting it seemed able to wound. One look from her was enough to cow petty villains where they stood.

With a presence like that, it was not hard for He Lingchuan to guess that this had to be Madame Cen, otherwise known as Yao Xingning, the Minister of Finance’s eldest daughter.

She came striding forward with her head high and chest lifted, every step forceful and brisk. Fan Sheng was, rather than truly blocking her, more or less moving along beside her, not daring to lay a hand on her.

The others behind her were her maidservants and attendants.

Madame Cen advanced as if the place belonged to no one else. Even when she saw Bai Ziqi, she only frowned slightly. As for Fushan Yue at her side, she treated him as if he were invisible.

And as for He Lingchuan, she seemed not to have noticed this living, breathing man at all.

But the instant she saw Cen Boqing inside the cell, her face changed sharply. She rushed forward in several quick steps, gripping the bars. “Dear, are you alright? Have they used private torture on you?”

Cen Boqing was overjoyed. Seizing her hand like a drowning man clutching a life rope, his eyes reddened at once. “Xing’er, how... how did you get here!”

Bai Ziqi cast a glance at Fan Sheng, who scratched his head and looked guilty as sin.

A moment ago, he had obstructed her in every possible way, even using the cloud envoy as a shield. But Madame Cen had simply held her head high and kept charging straight ahead, running directly into him.

Naturally, she also had cultivation of her own. Fan Sheng had blocked and dodged and blocked again, but he did not dare truly use force against her. In the end, Madame Cen found an opening, slipped past his center line, and charged straight into the county jail.

Yao Xingning’s brows shot up as she wheeled around and glared at Bai Ziqi. “Deputy Cloud Envoy Bai, my husband still holds office. How can he be thrown into prison and detained so lightly?”

At that, He Lingchuan could not help but feel that Lingxu City really was not that large. Small enough, at least, that all these people seemed to know one another.

Bai Ziqi smiled and shook the confession in his hand. “Madame Cen, Cen Boqing has already confessed.”

Without showing it outwardly, he let out a breath of relief. Hurrying as fast as he could, he had just barely managed to get Cen Boqing to sign and seal his confession before Madame Cen burst in. Otherwise, this interrogation might have dragged on who knew how long.

Madame Cen stared at Cen Boqing in disbelief. “Why didn’t you wait for me to arrive?”

Under her gaze, Cen Boqing lowered his head in shame.

He had indeed sent word back to Lingxu City asking for help, but the matter had been so serious that he had never felt confident anyone would actually come. So many days had already passed with no one showing up, and he had assumed his wife would not make it. Besides, Baishajue was in such chaos that he had completely lost his bearings. Otherwise, he would certainly have kept his mouth shut no matter what.

Meanwhile, He Lingchuan mentally gave this Madame Cen a thumbs-up.

She could say something like that right in front of a cloud envoy?

This was exactly the sort of fierce woman he absolutely did not want to provoke, so he quietly took a step backward and moved behind Fushan Yue.

Madame Cen drew two deep breaths, then extended her hand. “Let me see the confession.”

Bai Ziqi passed it over.

Madame Cen took it and read through it at top speed. The further she got, the tighter her eyebrows drew and the darker her face became.

By the time she reached the final word, she stayed silent for a long time.

Killing Lingxu City’s messengers, slaying Beijia monsterfolk to extract jiang beads, using them in the refining of the elixir of youth, attempting to assassinate the Chiyan prince’s special envoy, and fabricating evidence to frame others.

The first two charges alone were already grave crimes. The latter charges might or might not stick, but that hardly mattered.

This was far more serious than what she had heard.

What was worse, Cen Boqing also had ties to Mai Xuewen, who had attacked and murdered a touring commissioner from Lingxu City.

Worst of all, Cen Boqing himself had already confessed, and had done so in front of Bai Ziqi!

That makes retracting the confession nearly impossible. How could my husband have been this muddleheaded?

She had also never expected Bai Ziqi to arrive this quickly. If she had reached Baishajue even one day earlier, how could the situation have become this bad?

But now...

She was not so arrogant as to think she could seize a major criminal wanted by Lingxu City and fight her way out while standing right under a cloud envoy’s nose.

Only then did Bai Ziqi slowly say, “Madame Cen, may I have the confession back?”

Madame Cen returned it. Only after forcibly smoothing out her breathing did she say, “My husband handled things muddleheadedly and was used by Wu Kai. If you want the mastermind, you need to interrogate Wu Kai. My husband is, at most, an accomplice!”

The principal offender and the accomplice received very different sentences.

“Wu Kai and Cen Boqing are accusing each other, each claiming the other is the real principal offender.” Bai Ziqi shook his head. “From a matter-of-fact standpoint, how can a servant be the principal and the master merely an accomplice?”

Madame Cen let out a cold huff. “So in criminal investigations, we don’t talk about evidence anymore? We just talk about what seems reasonable?”

“Do you have other evidence?”

Madame Cen replied coldly, “Wu Kai worked in my household year-round and could not leave whenever he pleased. If he had intelligence to send out, it had to go through other channels. I have a witness here who can testify that Wu Kai frequently went to Lotus-Listening Garden to hear performances, and while pretending to drink tea and tip actors, he was actually passing information back and forth.”

It was common practice to tip performers at the theater[1]. Everyone in the audience would be paying out rewards, so Wu Kai would not have stood out at all. It really was a good way to conceal his movements.

“Oh?” Bai Ziqi visibly perked up. “Madame Cen, you have a witness?”

He had been worried that the elixir of youth case had reached another dead end.

“Of course.” Madame Cen lifted her chin slightly. “Without a witness, how would I dare come interfere in your investigation? I had that actor tied up and brought here.”

“Good, good, Madame Cen has done me a great service!” Bai Ziqi said with a smile. “How did you discover this?”

“My husband handed all outside affairs over to Wu Kai. It had to be that man dragging him down! Wu Kai stayed in Lingxu City for so many years, so how could he possibly have left no traces at all? He may have been cautious, but the people he used to meet and exchange messages with were nowhere near as cautious as he was. I only probed a little before they slipped up.” Madame Cen glanced at Cen Boqing. “To save this muddleheaded fool, I really had to go to a great deal of trouble!”

She made it sound easy, but it certainly was anything but.

Cen Boqing lowered his head and did not dare meet her eyes.

Madame Cen then asked Bai Ziqi, “Are you planning to keep him locked up in a place like this the whole time?”

“Your husband is now a suspect. He cannot go anywhere.”

“Is that so?” Madame Cen pointed at Cen Boqing’s cell. “Open the door. I’m moving in.”

Bai Ziqi’s brow furrowed. “Madame Cen, you haven’t committed any crime.”

“I need to stay with him. Otherwise, what if the true mastermind tries to kill him?” Madame Cen sneered. “Can you guarantee his safety? Even Zhongsun Mou ended up dead.”

Off to one side, Fushan Yue lowered his head and rubbed his nose without saying a word.

Madame Cen pressed him, “The rules here only say that a suspect can’t leave the cell. They don’t say I can’t go in, right?”

Bai Ziqi thought to himself that the jail rules actually said unrelated persons were not permitted to enter or loiter inside at will. But he had no desire to debate the definition of “unrelated persons” with Madame Cen, so he could only say, “As you please, Madame Cen.” As he said that, he shot the jailer a look.

The jailer came over, unlocked the cell door, and Madame Cen walked in with her head held high.

Bai Ziqi once again warned the husband and wife, “If Cen Boqing escapes again, whether on his own or with help, the Minister of Finance’s family will not escape implication. Do you both understand?” Cen Boqing was still wearing a cangue and could not use force, but Yao Xingning was not wearing restraints of any kind.

Cen Boqing nodded, while Madame Cen only sneered in silence.

Bai Ziqi turned and headed out to question the “human witness” Madame Cen had brought.

Fushan Yue also turned to leave.

He had observed the whole thing without saying a word, but Madame Cen suddenly called after him, “Fushan Yue, I hear it was you who had people sink their teeth into my husband and refuse to let go?”

Fushan Yue spread his hands and said, “Public business has to be handled according to the rules. I owe the murdered commoners an explanation.”

Madame Cen sneered. “Don’t think I don’t know what you father and son are really after, acting all righteous and dignified!”

Fushan Yue kept his mouth shut and did not argue with her. He simply quickened his pace and left the county jail.

* * *

As they crossed the county yamen courtyard, Fushan Yue suddenly called out to Bai Ziqi ahead of him.

“Deputy Cloud Envoy Bai, that Cheng fellow hasn’t been interrogated yet.”

Bai Ziqi blinked in realization. “That’s right. We’ll interrogate him now.” As he spoke, he ordered that the new prisoner whom Madame Cen brought be taken into the county jail.

But when they returned to the side room, they found Cheng Yu’s eyes shut tight, as if he had fallen asleep again.

“What happened here?”

One of the guards at the side reported, “My lord, he drank a few mouthfuls of water, but his injuries were too severe, so he passed out again.”

Bai Ziqi pressed two fingers against Cheng Yu’s neck pulse, then nodded. “It would be inappropriate to wake him again.” The best way to recover from injuries, after all, was still sleep. “We’ll interrogate him tomorrow afternoon. By then, he should be awake.”

He was keeping Cheng Yu alive because he wanted to investigate another case. Otherwise, he would not have cared in the slightest whether the man lived or died afterward—he would have simply woken him and tortured out the answers on the spot.

He Lingchuan quietly relaxed a little, then glanced at the candles in the four corners of the room.

He had known it. The injuries that Cheng Yu’s soul had suffered had not healed yet. The stronger the Hundred-Faced Nightmare had been, the more severe the backlash damage to Cheng Yu’s soul must have been in turn. If it had been another curse master, they might well have dropped dead on the spot.

Soul injuries were difficult to heal to begin with. And on top of that, Cheng Yu had just been blasted to pieces by the lamp spirit and had suffered major bodily injury as well.

Injury piled on injury. Even if Bai Ziqi had spirit medicine in hand, how could Cheng Yu possibly recover in a short time?

Fushan Yue crossed his arms. “Then what does Deputy Cloud Envoy Bai intend to do now?”

“Interrogate the others.”

Fushan Yue continued walking deeper into the county yamen as he asked, “Who?”

“A second-rank guard from the Cen Residence.”

“What’s so special about this guard?”

“Just come with me.”

Bai Ziqi found another side room. Before long, a guard from the Cen Residence was brought in.

“Xue San, you said just now that Cen Boqing sent you to guard Cheng Yu’s room?”

“Yes, yes. More than ten days ago, Uncle Wu assigned me to look after someone. That someone was Mr. Cheng.” The guard then added hesitantly, “When I first saw him, he was already unconscious. They called it looking after him, but really all I did was sit in the room and keep watch over him, feed him some water at fixed intervals, and keep an eye on the transparent spiral shell on the table as well as the cord-and-bell array outside the room.”

“The shell and the cord-and-bell array, what exactly were they?”

The guard described what both looked like, then said, “Uncle Wu instructed me that if the cord-and-bell array rang, I was to notify him at once. And if the lantern inside the shell went out, I was to pull out the stopper.”

1. Note that the garden mentioned earlier also acts as a performance venue. ☜