Man, the things you think and worry about are too many.
Mo Li studied under Elder Qin. Not only did he learn medicine and martial arts, but he also dabbled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
The six arts of a gentleman were naturally included, but he was somewhat lacking in poetry and prose. He loved reading and enjoyed books, never imagining that there could be a book he couldn’t understand.
Meng Qi, the national teacher of the Chu Dynasty.
Although he seemed like a mere figurehead among the fourteen founding ministers, overshadowed by colleagues who could transform decay into miracles, compose eloquent prose effortlessly, and excel in various fields, he was indeed a man of extraordinary talent and knowledge.
He could write beautifully and was proficient in foreign languages and scripts. The Chu Dynasty’s prosperity wasn’t solely due to military prowess.
Such two individuals now found themselves troubled by a ledger.
Because there was no universal method of bookkeeping, most people recorded each transaction individually without separating income from expenses. Merchants who wanted clear accounts might classify goods and keep a general ledger.
Each family had its own rules and habits, drastically different from each other. Subordinates seeking personal gain amidst the chaos, and heads of families unwilling to let their business be easily taken over by relatives, meant that without learning, one couldn’t do business.
——The existing people had various ways to tightly control the entry of others, requiring anyone seeking benefits to gain their approval.
Being an apprentice or serving for three years without pay was common practice.
The Si family planned a major rebellion, so their rice shop’s ledger was already discreet. Now, with the involvement of an assassin organization like Piaoping Pavilion, they were even more cautious.
They wrote everything in jargon and abbreviations, which to Meng Qi was more cryptic than Sanskrit. He pulled the ledger from Mo Li’s hand and shook his head at the doctor.
To understand it, one would first need to figure out the rice shop’s jargon, the local dialect of Yuzhou, and finally the Si family’s bookkeeping habits.
Meng Qi waved the ledger in front of the two men in black.
They hesitated, then looked up in recognition, their eyes glazing over.
Meng Qi smiled slightly and closed the ledger.
“If you don’t tell the truth, you’ll suffer like you did just now for three days and nights… don’t worry, you won’t die.”
“We are indeed members of Piaoping Pavilion.” The death warrior showed an angry and unwilling expression.
One of them, neck stiff, eyes unwavering, growled lowly, “Our identities exposed, we’d die if we went back anyway. Why don’t you just give us a quick death? You don’t believe the truth, what more do you want to ask?”
“Hey, what kind of talk is that?” Meng Qi wagged his finger with a half-smile.
Mo Li watched impassively, though he couldn’t understand how Meng Qi discerned that these two were still lying.
The story of the Si family’s rice shop secretly aiding Piaoping Pavilion in transporting gold and silver sounded very convincing!
“You claim to be assassins from Piaoping Pavilion, and your methods are similar, but handling such a matter with just you two? No backup? Where do you receive orders, and where do you report after completing a task? Where do you eat and rest, and do you know other assassins? Were you recruited into the organization, or did Piaoping Pavilion train you? What does your trainer look like, how tall, what accent? What do you eat each meal, and at what times?”
Meng Qi bombarded them with questions.
The two death warriors initially tried to answer, then couldn’t help but look at each other.
Even if they had prepared their statements in advance, such detailed and even seemingly insane questions about eating habits were too difficult to answer.
They were two people, and if separated for questioning on these details, they would inevitably slip up.
Realizing this, both men began to resent Mo Li.
—After all, one of them had successfully bitten the poison pouch.
Before they could come up with a suitable answer, Meng Qi waved his hand casually and said, “Alright, I know you are assassins trained in secret, living in an old mansion deep in the mountains, not allowed to leave unless on a mission. You never see ordinary people and don’t even know where the place is. When sent on a mission, you drink a potion and wake up in a deserted area near a small town. Returning involves lighting incense at the arrival point, and someone will take you back. So, you know nothing and can’t figure anything out.”
Assassin: “…”
Mo Li: “…”
It turns out interrogation can be done through mockery and sarcasm.
By stating the possible lies directly, leaving them speechless.
This seems unreasonable, thought Mo Li.
But seeing Meng Qi’s confident demeanor, Mo Li reconsidered. Is there supposed to be reasonableness in interrogation?
Hmm, such is Meng Qi, almost like an old fox.
Cunning, more so than the white fox of Qimao Mountain, better looking, and perhaps rounder…
It’s not easy for a plump sand rat to be sly, thought Mo Li, watching someone continue to challenge this difficulty.
“I’ve heard this same excuse at least thirty times, though some details need changing. As I said, you assassins are utterly unoriginal, each family likes to use the same tactics. Do you know what you have more than the common folk?”
“What?” asked the assassin instinctively.
“A brain.”
The graveyard fell silent, only the sound of wind rustling through the banners.
Mo Li almost laughed, having to remind, “Brother Meng, that’s enough.”
The two men in black were nearly humiliated beyond words by Meng Qi’s sarcasm, and yet he still claimed they had brains? The doctor thought the old habit of the sand rat’s smugness was acting up again.
“I’m not complimenting you,” Meng Qi raised an eyebrow, speaking slowly, “It’s just that common folk are simpler. Even when trying to hide secrets, they wouldn’t play so many tricks. Assassins, apart from those in the underworld, are often raised by noble families or powerful ministers.”
In other words, others don’t have the money or the time.
“All assassins are prepared for what to say if captured but not killed. I kept breaking your habits, disrupting your thoughts, and you still tried to mislead me with a lie. Common folk aren’t so cunning.”
“…You insist we aren’t from Piaoping Pavilion, why?” One man in black couldn’t help but ask.
Meng Qi smiled at the question, speaking slowly, “Because of the ledger!”
The three present still couldn’t react.
With good intentions to explain to the doctor, Meng Qi generously provided the answer to the two assassins.
“Before seeing the ledger, I almost overlooked this point. According to what you said, the Si family’s rice shop might have glimpsed secrets of Piaoping Pavilion, so people had to be silenced and the ledger destroyed. But you hadn’t found the ledger before, and even if you did, you couldn’t understand it. So, how could you determine this ledger was the one you needed? The most reliable method would actually be arson.”
“If the shop was burned down, there would be no concern about the ledger.”
“The strange thing is, you don’t have any incendiary items on you, nor in the shop, so you never planned to set a fire.”
Meng Qi smiled faintly, and the two assassins felt a chill in their hearts.
Mo Li timely cooperated by asking, “I see they indeed want this ledger. It doesn’t seem like a pretense, so why not burn the shop?”
“The reasons for not setting a fire are only two: first, not wanting to cause a disturbance; second, they still have use for the rice shop.”
Meng Qi looked at the two stunned men in black and casually made his judgment, “Regardless of which reason, it doesn’t match their earlier confession. Piaoping Pavilion comes and goes without a trace, not caring about causing trouble. As for wanting to keep the rice shop for transporting gold and silver, that’s impossible. The Si family’s background can’t withstand scrutiny, and Fengxing Pavilion wouldn’t miss a shop where all the staff were suddenly replaced.”
At the same time, Meng Qi used a secret technique to speak to Mo Li: “Fengxing Pavilion’s Qiu Jing claims he came to investigate the six hundred taels of gold and Piaoping Pavilion’s whereabouts. He brought many skilled hands and probably started tracking this line from Jiangnan, waiting for the Dragonhead Association to connect Piaoping Pavilion with King Wu’s men.”
At this point, Piaoping Pavilion detecting something amiss and starting to kill people to cover their tracks was normal.
This was why Mo Li initially believed their confession, but as Meng Qi explained, he gradually saw through the fog.
“So the ledger is real? And it indeed belongs to the Si family’s rice shop, secretly tracking Piaoping Pavilion’s silver flow? But they aren’t Piaoping Pavilion’s people, nor here to completely erase this trail?”
“Correct.” Meng Qi guided patiently, waiting for Mo Li to figure out the truth.
The two assassins were pale, still with a trace of disbelief.
Mo Li pondered, “They decided early on to frame Piaoping Pavilion for the murders, leaving the shop untouched to leave clues, so when Fengxing Pavilion investigates, they can escape and obtain secrets about Piaoping Pavilion?”
Several forces could find the Si family’s rice shop: Holy Lotus Sect, and Qi Dynasty’s Jinyiwei.
But the most likely ones to trace the money flow to the shop recently were the Dragonhead Association.
However, the Dragonhead Association had no reason to do this. Elder Cai wasn’t foolish, handling such deadly matters was out of the question.
Moreover, Meng Qi had pointed out these two men weren’t common thugs, so it had to be—
“King Wu?”
The two assassins’ faces turned pale, then blue, speechless.
Upon reflection, besides Yuzhou’s local gangs, the place had seen the arrival of Fengxing Pavilion, selling and buying information, Eight Rhymes Hall wanting to regain fame, the sinister Holy Lotus Sect, Piaoping Pavilion’s assassins, Jianghu people bought by King Wu, and Qi Dynasty’s Jinyiwei.
Add in the unintentional intrusions of Mo Li and Meng Qi, and it was truly a mess.
Mo Li, once enlightened, immediately saw the connections, the previously unclear points now clear as day.
Yuzhou’s four gangs and twelve assemblies, to drive out Holy Lotus Sect under the guise of eliminating evil and supporting justice, roped in Eight Rhymes Hall willing to help. To guard against Holy Lotus Sect’s hidden experts, they hired Piaoping Pavilion’s assassins.
Qi Dynasty’s Jinyiwei, mingling with the local gangs, aimed to gain credit for eliminating Holy Lotus Sect, thus not reporting the matter and happily fanning the flames, doing their job as an escort agency.
The Dragon Head Association was the main player in this matter, but they had also taken on a job to facilitate a meeting between King Wu’s people and Piaoping Pavilion.
This deal involved six hundred taels of gold. It was still unclear who King Wu hired the Jianghu assassins to kill, but Meng Qi suspected it was the Tianshou King.
The experts from Fengxing Pavilion moved upon hearing the news. It was uncertain if they were pursuing the large sum of gold, Holy Lotus Sect, or both. However, the presence of their master indicated it was not just to watch the four gangs and twelve associations fight.
The employer who paid six hundred taels of gold wasn’t honest either, as they were also plotting against Piaoping Pavilion.
The Si family’s rice shop was the only clue that could trace the six hundred taels of gold.
Mo Li even started to wonder if Ge Changxin’s infiltration of the rice shop was intentional or accidental.
If intentional, the news of the ledger falling into their hands would spread immediately. Mo Li thought various forces would soon come to probe, making things lively.
“How should we handle this ledger?” Mo Li asked, frowning.
Meng Qi unleashed his internal energy, and the entire ledger instantly turned to ash.
“You!”
The assassins cried out, extremely agitated.
Mo Li was somewhat surprised but felt the ledger was of no use to keep.
With another wave of Meng Qi’s sleeve, the two assassins felt darkness overwhelm them and fainted.
“Do you remember the contents of the ledger?” Meng Qi asked with a smile.
Mo Li nodded, his photographic memory ensuring he did. He was sure Meng Qi could too.
However, without understanding its meaning, memorizing it might lead to some errors.
But that was fine; they could each recall and correct any mistakes.
Meng Qi brushed off the dust from his hands and sighed, “Actually, destroying it wasn’t necessary; we just didn’t know if the ledger was real.”
“What do you mean?” Mo Li was startled.
“Not burning the shop might have been to leave a fake ledger for others to find.” Meng Qi clicked his tongue and, folding his arms, said, “The ledger was hidden in a secret compartment, clearly an important item. It’s uncertain if the assassins didn’t have time to search for it or if they had already hidden the real one and left a fake. Considering we didn’t find another ledger on them and their reactions didn’t suggest the ledger was fake, they might just be incompetent assassins. But what if the real ledger was hidden, and they planned to deceive Fengxing Pavilion with the fake ledger that fell into our hands? We shouldn’t underestimate these seemingly insignificant people; they’re skilled at misleading interrogators.”
Mo Li: “…”
Alright, interrogation might never be his strong suit.
Author’s Note:
Because each party has its own interests and plans, and their perspectives differ, things can appear very complicated.
——
Ge Changxin: Wronged QAQ, I really did mistakenly enter the rice shop.
——
Mo Li counted the factions present in this place and decided to criticize the Qi Dynasty’s Jinyiwei, who, apart from running an escort agency, did nothing else.
——
Meng Qi: I’ve spent half my life in war, pacifying the world, using both wit and bravery!
