Chapter 463 - 462: The Plot Is Exposed

Chapter 463: Chapter 462: The Plot Is Exposed

He had, of course, already washed up, though his eyes were still a bit bloodshot.

The County Magistrate sat down, and an attendant immediately served hot tea.

He took a sip, set down his cup, and then asked the two, "What’s the matter? Why come running to my office so early in the morning?"

Li the Wealthy said angrily, "That fellow Tu actually sent a message to the Crown Prince’s Special Envoy to report us."

The County Magistrate was unconcerned. "A trivial village matter like this isn’t worth a second glance from the Crown Prince’s Special Envoy. You’re being paranoid." ’How could a man of his station care about their petty dealings? These country bumpkins really can’t keep their cool.’

Wang the Wealthy suddenly changed the subject. "The mineral deposits in the Porcupine Territory... Magistrate, who did you grant them to?"

The White Stone County Magistrate was taken aback. "What are you talking about? Since when are there mineral deposits in the Porcupine Territory?"

Li the Wealthy was fuming. "That Special Envoy went into the mountains to check the Porcupine Den today. He brought back a good deal of mineral powder to my Shuojin Hall for appraisal. It was Stone Lattice! There might be an ore vein near the den!"

The White Stone County Magistrate looked completely lost. "Stone Lattice? I’ve never heard of it. Is it important?"

"It was identified by Mr. Lü, the Medicinal Ape my Shuojin Hall hired at great expense. Stone Lattice is the very essence of the mountains. You might not find a single Stone Blood Vein in a thousand mountain ranges. You tell me, isn’t that precious?"

"What exactly is this stuff used for?"

"It’s essential for many folk remedies, and it’s used for forging Magical Artifacts." Li the Wealthy lowered his voice. "It’s also said to be a key ingredient for the Fountain of Youth—or, the Longevity Medicine."

The White Stone County Magistrate sucked in a sharp breath.

The Fountain of Youth was a legend in the Beiga Kingdom. The stories that circulated among the common people were vague and dubious; only those in the upper echelons knew the truth of its existence. But anything connected to it was bound to be incredibly precious!

"It was really retrieved from Yulun Mountain?" The White Stone County Magistrate considered another possibility. ’Could the Special Envoy have brought it with him?’

"Well, we’ll find out if we just send someone into the Porcupine Den for another look, won’t we?" Li the Wealthy sighed. "That whole den of Porcupines died under mysterious circumstances. It was previously said they were killed by an avalanche, but the Special Envoy says that’s unlikely. What if someone killed them because they wanted to claim the Stone Lattice ore for themselves?"

Wang the Wealthy continued, "That den of Porcupines has been dead for more than half a year. The culprit has likely been secretly mining Stone Lattice ore there for just as long. This... this... Magistrate, you have to do something about this!"

"Nobody has filed a mining claim with me!" the White Stone County Magistrate said irritably. "If I had approved one, do you think you wouldn’t have heard about it?"

In the countryside, news like this travels faster than anything. It’s nearly impossible to keep it under wraps.

Li the Wealthy hadn’t slept all night, mulling this over, and his eyes were more bloodshot than anyone’s. Seeing it was time to present the fruits of his labor, he cleared his throat with a loud cough. "Magistrate, as I see it, the only ones who could be digging and chiseling in the Porcupine Territory without attracting attention are the Wan Family!"

The White Stone County Magistrate was stunned. "The Wan Family? The ones building the lake and dam?"

"No one usually goes to Yulun Mountain; only their crew is up there, clanging and banging away. What could be easier than using the lake project as a cover to start mining?"

Li the Wealthy shot Wang the Wealthy a look. The latter understood and chimed in, "The lake project is behind schedule. It was supposed to be done by the end of this year, but the Wan Family insisted the ground was too soft and pushed the deadline all the way to next summer."

"Exactly. My family’s Medicinal Ape, Mr. Lü, says that the reserves in a Stone Blood Vein are extremely limited. It’s nothing like copper or iron, where you can find a rich deposit and just keep digging. By next summer, I bet the Wan Family will have mined all the Stone Blood, filled in the pits, and poof—no one will be the wiser!"

Wang the Wealthy sneered. "They’re making a fortune in silence, and they want us—who painstakingly run our medicine businesses—to take the fall for them? That’s not right. Not right at all!"

They were all prominent local figures in the medicinal herb business; the Wan Family was not. Now the Wan Family was reaching into their territory to rake in money, yet they expected them to be the scapegoats?

As if!

’Stone Blood is being produced in the lands under my jurisdiction?’ The White Stone County Magistrate was first shocked, then displeased. But he was a cautious man and preferred to play things safe. He nodded and said, "I’ll send men into the mountains to investigate at once. We’ll wait for conclusive evidence before doing anything else. For now, stay calm, and above all, do not let a word of this get out!"

The two landowners said they understood.

No one noticed a crow standing on the eaves outside, which tilted its head as it listened.

...

That evening, the men sent out by the White Stone County Magistrate finally returned from Yulun Mountain. Just as reported, they brought back a small amount of powder:

Stone Lattice Powder scraped from the walls of the Porcupine Den.

The man had also secretly spied on the Wan Family’s lake construction project. He discovered that while the crew was digging and chiseling inside a giant cavern with a great CLANG and BANG, they would occasionally unearth small, deep-red chunks of ore. When they did, the foreman would immediately scurry over and take them away.

The White Stone County Magistrate was furious. He dispatched an Official to summon Wan the Wealthy.

To his surprise, the Official returned quickly, not with the man, but clutching a letter. "Magistrate, Wan Xianneng has already been interrogated by the Special Envoy! Both his legs were broken, and he just had a doctor tend to the wounds..."

The White Stone County Magistrate was shocked. "What? The Special Envoy has already found Wan?" He snatched the letter from the Official’s hand. "Did the Special Envoy leave this?"

"Yes. The Special Envoy took one of the Wan Family’s stewards and has headed to Frost and Dew Town."

The White Stone County Magistrate’s hand trembled as he tore open the letter. By the time he finished reading the short message, sweat was pouring down his face.

...

In fact, earlier that morning, Hee Lingchuan had taken Jiao Yu and stormed directly into Wan the Wealthy’s residence.

The crow had come to stake the place out during the night, so he knew very well that Wan the Wealthy was at home.

Wan the Wealthy was in the middle of breakfast. Before he could even set down his chopsticks, a ferocious tiger burst through the door and fixed its eyes on him like prey.

A man followed the tiger in, strolling leisurely to a stop with his hands clasped behind his back. He smiled at the man. "Wan Xianneng, the jig is up."

CLATTER. The chopsticks fell to the floor.

Knowing the intruders’ identities, the steward, servants, and guards didn’t dare to step forward. Hee Lingchuan said to Wan the Wealthy, "How did that den of Porcupines on Yulun Mountain die? Are you going to confess willingly, or do you want to suffer through some torture first?"

Cold sweat beaded on Wan the Wealthy’s forehead. But he knew confessing was a death sentence either way, so he secretly gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Special Envoy, I have no idea what this is about! You met all the families who had grudges against the Porcupine Demons at the banquet the day before yesterday. I wasn’t one of them!"

Hee Lingchuan didn’t waste any more words on him. He looked at Jiao Yu. "Lord Jiao?" He didn’t dare send General Antelope, afraid his Wind-Drilling Beast would accidentally crush the man to death.

Jiao Yu gave no answer, simply pouncing into the house.

Screams, pleas for mercy, and agonized cries echoed ceaselessly.

The ferocious tiger did... things... to Wan the Wealthy. Oof... Hee Lingchuan covered his face, unable to watch. He turned to the dumbfounded Wan Family servants and declared, "While I, the Special Envoy, am conducting my investigation, anyone who takes a single step out of the Wan residence will be treated as Wan Xianneng’s accomplice and flayed alive!"

The servants were scared into absolute silence.

A few of the guards felt guilty taking their Master’s pay for nothing and were itching to do something. But the moment they saw three large, tall rams walk in, they immediately abandoned the idea.

Commoners don’t fight with officials. It was a lesson seared into their very bones.

The scene in the room was rather bloody, so Hee Lingchuan could only move a chair into the courtyard to sit and wait.

After a moment, the Cangying circling overhead suddenly dove.

A human scream rang out from the west.

A moment later, a man was herded in, staggering, with several bloody puncture wounds on his shoulder.

The moment he entered the courtyard, he fell to his knees before Hee Lingchuan, crying, "My Lord, I was just following orders!"

The Cangying landed on a tree branch behind Hee Lingchuan. "From the sky, I saw him secretly grab a bundle and try to slip out the back gate of the Wan residence."

Hee Lingchuan asked the Wan Mansion’s steward, "Who is this?"

"That’s the master’s chief steward, Lu."

After a brief Q&A with Steward Lu, Hee Lingchuan walked to the door of the house and knocked. "Wan Xianneng, your Steward Lu is about to talk. If you confess after he does, I guarantee your suffering will be doubled."

The words had barely left his mouth when Wan the Wealthy’s cries came from within. "I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Please, make him stop!"

Jiao Yu’s methods were too brutal. He finally broke.

"In Zhitian Village, the herb business is too tough, so I switched to quarrying, road building, and mining. But last summer, a great flood washed away a bridge I’d built, and all the villagers decided I was unreliable. That line of work dried up overnight." ’He felt truly wretched.’ "Then, someone reported the discovery of a Stone Blood Vein on Yulun Mountain. I knew Stone Blood was valuable, but that mountain wasn’t my property. As it happened, my nephew specializes in handling Mountain Demons and Wild Beasts, so I asked him to scare off that herd of Porcupines... I really didn’t mean for them to be killed!"

"How did your nephew do it?"

"I don’t know." Wan the Wealthy looked lost. "Not long after I asked him, he came back and said it was handled. The following spring, after the snow melted, the den of Porcupines was discovered, all dead in their burrows."

"After they died, there was no more opposition to the lake project. The County Magistrate gave the job to me, and I just... I just..."

...started mining on the side.

"So it seems your involvement in this is minor?"

"It is minor, truly. I never wanted to harm that den of Porcupines! I wasn’t the one who killed them!"

Hee Lingchuan asked him, "Is this the only dirty deed you’ve ever done?"

"Just once, only this once!"

"Oh? But that’s not what Steward Lu told me." Hee Lingchuan yanked Steward Lu forward. "You just told me, how many trips did Wan the Wealthy have you make to Frost and Dew Town?"

"N-nine times!" Seeing Wan the Wealthy’s wretched condition, Steward Lu didn’t dare to lie.

’He was just a hired hand earning a meager salary. Why should he sell his life for his unscrupulous boss?’

"Including the trip yesterday!"

"So Wan the Wealthy wasn’t only in contact with his nephew?"

"That’s right," Steward Lu said at once. "He was always making me deliver Blood Pearls to Frost and Dew Town!"

The moment the words "Blood Pearl" were spoken, Wan Xianneng swallowed with an audible GULP.

’It’s over. He even confessed to that.’

"What exactly is this Blood Pearl?"

Steward Lu lowered his head. "It’s a kind of round, red bead, about the size of a pellet. I don’t know its exact purpose or where it comes from. I was just following orders!"

Hee Lingchuan shot Wan Xianneng a glance and said grimly, "Once he’s finished telling me everything, you’ll have no more use."

Sweat dripped from Wan the Wealthy’s forehead to his chin. He suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "My Lord, investigating this will do no good for you—or for the Crown Prince!"