Translator: Myuu Editor: Myuu
At night, in the Prefectural Governor’s study room…
Sun Bingchen was now the new owner of the study room, which Ye Tiancheng had just recently used a few days ago. Since Ye Tiancheng rarely stayed in the Prefectural Governor’s Office, everything in there still looked very new. The place was decorated like any standard Prefectural Governor’s official residence. The rear courtyard, in particular, looked like one found at a high-class hotel. After Sun Bingchen moved into the Prefectural Governor’s Office, the entire place revolved around him.
In just a few days, the entire Pingxi Prefecture settled down under the efforts of Sun Bingchen. Correspondingly, in addition to Ye Tiancheng, the prison also gained a few more county magistrates and officials. These people had been identified as Ye Tiancheng’s henchmen, so naturally, nothing good awaited them.
Sun Bingchen was currently sitting in his study room, with a thick stack of testimonies on the table. Upon closer inspection, one would find that all these testimonies were from the Wang Clan of the Huanglong County. All of them had already been marked and the red circles stood out clearly among the black handwriting, akin to spilled blood. The future of more than a hundred lives in the Wang Clan hinged on those testimonies…
As soon as Sun Bingchen heard footsteps outside his door, he pinched the bridge of his nose then placed the nearly half-foot-thick stack of testimonies down heavily on the table. He picked up his teacup, took a sip of the tea which had long cooled down, then cleared his throat before he spoke to the person standing outside the door. “Come in, Yijie…”
“Sir…!” Liang Yijie came in then bowed to Sun Bingchen.
“How did it go?”
“We have inspected everything we seized from the Ye Residence and didn’t make any discoveries from them. A few Wanderers from the Wise Ruler Sect have also conducted another search in Ye Tiancheng’s manor, but similarly made no discoveries. Do you think…” Liang Yijie hesitated with his words a little.
Sun Bingchen shook his head. The expression on his face was as cold as steel. “The information from the Imperial Capital is definitely reliable. That person has personally communicated with the Ye Clan three times by letter over the course of the past few years in the Imperial Capital. After communicating twice, the Ye Clan suddenly seemed to be very in favor of the Shatu people. Aside from directly misappropriating the weapons produced by the Gan Province army and making deals with the Shatu Seven Tribes, the Ye Clan also secretly smuggled things like ballistas to the Shatu people through the Shatu Seven Tribes. As you know, items like ballistas have been banned under the imperial court’s order. They have thoroughly lost their minds after being blinded by self-interest and personal gain. According to Ye Tiancheng’s personality, if that person had given even the slightest hint in one of his letters, Ye Tiancheng would definitely keep it as a protective amulet instead of simply destroying it. As long as we can find that as evidence, only then can we hope to defeat that man in the imperial court back at the capital. Apart from this, there should also be some letters left from the communication between Ye Tiancheng and those Shatu people in the Gan Province…”
“I understand!” Liang Yijie nodded calmly. “Will you be able to pull some more tricks on Ye Tiancheng, sir?”
“When one has attained the same cultivation realm as Ye Tiancheng, one can then utilize Qi as a defense mechanism. As long as he still breathes, he won’t feel any pain even if you decapitate him. Therefore, those so-called ‘tricks’ are no longer effective on someone like him!” Sun Bingchen shook his head.
“I understand now. If that doesn’t work, then please grant me a few more days, sir. If he indeed used some secret spots to hide those things, I’ll uncover them even if it means tearing down that manor or digging three feet down into the ground!”
“Good!” Sun Bingchen nodded, then suddenly seemed to recall something. “How is Yan Liqiang’s performance today?”
“According to the few guards I’ve planted around him, they reported that during the search, Yan Liqiang actually had a few opportunities where he could have embezzled a few valuable items for himself. However, he never laid a finger on any properties while he scrupulously carried out his duties. In the end, he only took several dozen taels of silver as a reward for our hard work, the same amount as me…”
“Several dozen taels of silver? What is that about?”
Liang Yijie proceeded to explain how they came to share some money today.
“Would you have done the same as Liqiang did when you were fifteen, Yijie?”
The question made Liang Yijie think for more than ten seconds before he honestly shook his head. “When I was fifteen, I would have beaten him in terms of strength and martial techniques. I wouldn’t lose to him either when it comes to staying loyal to my duty and keeping calm, even in the face of money’s temptation. However, at fifteen, my insight on the ways of the world was not as clear as his, and I wouldn’t have been as capable in handling such difficulties with ease. Perhaps there are many youths of his age who are stronger than him. Even so, if they are compared to each other by different aspects, none can outshine him or even come close to him. Furthermore, his impressive memory and the strength he possesses are indeed rare qualities. I still suspect that he hasn’t fully revealed his true capabilities! I have to say that you indeed have a pair of sharp eyes and have good insight to be able to identify such a talented individual, sir!”
Sun Bingchen smiled without commenting on anything else. “How about the situation of his clan? Have you found out everything?”
“I have already arranged for someone to investigate and indeed we have verified that what Yan Liqiang said was the complete truth without any lies!” Liang Yijie smiled wryly. “At this point in time, even I’m starting to believe that his claim of receiving a deity’s teachings to save those drowned people is real…”
“How can we possibly know everything about the mysteries of the universe, heaven, and earth?” Sun Bingchen remarked rather emotionally.
Liang Yijie was slightly shocked because Sun Bingchen’s words were quite inconsistent with the character he usually displayed. It was worth noting that Sun Bingchen mostly quoted things like ‘human wisdom will definitely prevail over the heavens’, ‘a martial practitioner is one with martial arts’, or ‘to not speak of supernatural, puissance, disorders and deities’. Then why did he seem to be so moved today…?
Sun Bingchen seemed to also realize that his previous statement was a little out of character. Even so, he wasn’t obligated to explain himself to Liang Yijie, so he only cleared his throat. “Do you have any other business with me, Yijie?”
“Oh right, there’s still something else from my side. Over the past few days, I’ve gathered quite a lot of information from outside claiming that the Wang Clan incident in Huanglong County was orchestrated by Ye Tiancheng, and that the Wang Clan was falsely accused. Not only that, they also wished for Lord Sun to decide their fate…”
“Hoho, I was just reading those testimonies from the Wang Clan a few moments ago…” Sun Bingchen gently patted the stack of documents on his table before a smile broke out on his face. “Although Ye Tiancheng is guilty of terrible crimes, his action towards the Wang Clan might not necessarily be wrong. The Wang Clan has only brought trouble upon themselves through their own actions, and they are also guilty of monstrous crimes. Hence, they can’t say anything about being wronged. Even so, in the attempt to clear his name of suspicion, Ye Tiancheng’s actions towards the Wang Clan was indeed too brutal. He didn’t let anyone go, regardless of their age or gender and this has violated the Will of Heaven. I shall amend the verdict — all properties of the Wang Clan shall be confiscated. The verdicts passed to all adult males shall remain as they are; those who should be killed, will be killed. The punishments for minors shall be reduced by half, their capital punishments shall be deferred but they will work out their sentence through penal servitude. The women shall be banished to Pan Province, and any children below the age of twelve shall be settled away from their mothers…”
“Lord Sun is wise!”
After Liang Yijie left the study room, Sun Bingchen shut his eyes and sat down at his desk for a while. However, he couldn’t sit still so he stood up and started pacing around the study room. After pacing for two rounds, he couldn’t help but carefully take out a brocade pouch he stashed close to his chest and opened it, laying his eyes once again on a note inside the brocade pouch.
There were only two lines on that note — ‘The youth of the Northwest daringly boasts to devour the heavens in two mouthfuls.’
The note was very new and seemed to be freshly written. The handwriting was rather sloppy and there were specks of red between the two lines of words…
The person who wrote this note had passed away after he penned it, and this was also the last item he left on the surface of this world.
The person who passed this note to Sun Bingchen was the present emperor of the Great Han Empire.
As the Patrol Inspector, Sun Bingchen’s real objective behind his visit to Gan Province this time was only known to two people in this world…
Sun Bingchen carefully stashed the note away into his brocade pouch again, then walked to the side of his desk. He dipped his writing brush into some ink and then wrote the Chinese character ‘Yan’ (嚴) on a piece of white paper. He looked at the character ‘gan’ (敢) — for dare, at the bottom of the ‘yan’ character, the ‘han’ (厂) character in the middle — which is half of the ‘yong’ (用) character which meant ‘to use’, and the two ‘kou’ (口) characters for ‘mouth’ at the top. He then frowned, his eyebrows knitted together.
A voice kept endlessly circling his heart, as though interrogating him with the question — ‘Are you that person?’
…
After Yan Liqiang returned to his courtyard and paced around in it the entire day, he finally made up his mind that it was Goldie’s time to shine…
