The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 27

The torture chamber door closed behind Zhao Li.

A duet of screams sounded from within, interspersed with the torturer’s cheerful patter.

Only when Zhao Li had gone some distance did she pull the thick fur cloak more tightly around herself.

She asked Lu Zhao beside her, “Lord Lu, who in the world is that torturer?”

In the era Zhao Li came from, anyone that deranged would have been kept under close observation in a high-security psychiatric ward.

Lu Zhao chuckled. “That is Old Liu. He is very honest and kind. He just likes putting on an act to frighten people while he works.”

Honest and kind?

Zhao Li had serious doubts.

“Old Liu is an expert at his work. High official, famous scholar, or notorious bandit—it makes no difference. Few can hold out under his hands without talking.”

As if suddenly remembering something, Lu Zhao said, “I’ll send out invitations and arrange a dinner tonight. I’ll introduce you to the rest of the fellows.”

At the mention of dinner, Zhao Li brightened. “I want braised mutton! I heard there is a place in northern Shengjing whose braised mutton is unrivaled.”

“That brat Zheng Lian told you, didn’t he? Fine. We’ll have braised mutton.”

“Thank you, Lord Lu! When I receive next month’s salary, I’ll treat you.”

“Keep your money and buy yourself snacks.”

The two chatted quietly as they emerged from the dark second underground level.

The moment they entered the duty room on the surface, they saw Shen Yan sitting there in a broad, imposing posture.

One elbow rested on the table, and his face was dark.

“My lord.” The two hurriedly saluted.

Shen Yan’s gaze settled on Zhao Li, and his brow drew tight.

The torture chambers below were damp and cold. The yin energy inside her had not yet dispersed. What was she doing in a place like that?

Zhao Li saw the dark look on his face and assumed he was in a bad mood.

Provincial Graduate Wang possessed scholarly rank, so they had brought him to the Pacification Office on suspicion of livestock-transformation sorcery and Gu practices.

Today, those idle-beyond-belief censors had impeached Shen Yan yet again.

Believing the pressure of solving the case was weighing on him, Zhao Li hurriedly offered the confession in her hand.

“My lord, Lin Lan confessed.”

Shen Yan pursed his lips. He wanted to tell her not to enter the underground torture chambers again, but found it difficult to say.

He tipped his chin toward a stool, kicked the brazier by his feet over to Zhao Li, and accepted the confession she held out.

He spoke with his usual economy.

“Sit.”

Zhao Li remembered that Shen Yan was somewhat obsessed with cleanliness. Since the smell of blood from the torture chamber still clung to her, she shifted her stool farther away.

Shen Yan noticed.

Disappointment darkened his eyes.

Zhao Li did not.

She said, “According to Lin Lan’s confession, Lin Yu was not the only person she harmed with the Gu Arts fifteen years ago.”

“Her victims included scholars who had quarreled with Provincial Graduate Wang and one of his clan uncles.”

“However…” Zhao Li paused. “She could not provide any useful clues about the Daoist.”

Lin Lan had been unable to withstand the torture and confessed everything.

But regarding that Daoist, she said only that he had selected Lin Yu’s grave site fifteen years ago.

They could extract nothing more.

Shen Yan swiftly finished reading the confession. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “The estate built south of Mount Jin—the family that altered the canal—belongs to the Zhao family.”

Zhao Li stared blankly for a moment before realizing that the idiotic household responsible was the same Zhao family she had already disowned!

She suddenly remembered Zhao Yaoguang’s maid flaunting before the original Zhao Li that her mistress owned a prosperous dowry estate on Mount Jin.

The original Zhao Li had secretly cried for a long time.

Later, her eyes swollen, she had asked her mother for a similar property and been flatly refused.

What had that biased mother said?

“Yaoguang is marrying into a respectable household. Naturally, she requires a respectable dowry.”

“An ignorant creature like you could not even understand the account books if we gave you an estate.”

The brief memory nearly made Zhao Li recoil in disgust.

Thank goodness she had severed ties with them. Otherwise, she truly feared she might one day lose control and wipe out that entire family.

Her expression shifted repeatedly. Shen Yan assumed he had mentioned something that upset her.

He turned toward Lu Zhao. “You will handle this matter.”

Zhao Li was about to say that she wanted to go make trouble for the Zhao family too, but Shen Yan gave her a look.

“Your injuries have not healed. Remain at the Pacification Office and recuperate.”

The young woman was far too devoted to her career. Keeping her still was impossible. It gave him a headache.

Zhao Li froze. Assuming Shen Yan wanted her to avoid the appearance of impropriety because the case involved the Zhao family, she said nothing more.

Shen Yan folded Lin Lan’s signed confession, tucked it inside his robe, and stood.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhao Li looked eagerly toward Lu Zhao.

The delicious braised mutton in the north of the city!

Shen Yan saw the look, and his eyes darkened.

“You have not recovered. Daoist Xuanxu sent over two boxes of Vitality-Nourishing Pills. You should rest quietly for a while and stop running about, all right?”

At the mention of those pills, Zhao Li’s face fell.

The medicine was excellent. Its taste simply made it unfit for human consumption.

Avoiding medicine was precisely why Zhao Li had spent every day finding excuses not to return to her quarters.

Shen Yan looked at her without speaking.

Zhao Li surrendered.

Who could refuse a direct superior who cared about their health?

Did she still want a promotion and a raise or not?

Lu Zhao could only offer her a helpless look.

The braised mutton would have to wait.

…

The fourteenth year of Longqing, the sixteenth day of the third lunar month.

Fragrant Orchid Courtyard lay beneath the moonlight in the residential compound of the Pacification Office.

A lone lamp flickered bright and dim, making the courtyard even more unsettling.

Huang Li shifted uneasily in his round-backed armchair.

When he heard the Jingning Guard would deal with a supernatural anomaly, curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he had come to watch the excitement.

Now that he was truly here, the ghostly chill and deathly silence made his scalp prickle.

But when Huang Li saw Lin Zhu beside him, his sagging spine immediately straightened again.

That damned need to win.

A white line of incense ash extended from Fragrant Orchid Courtyard.

The path was several inches wide, with a red chopstick planted at every pace.

Red cords strung with bells connected the chopsticks. Ten zhang from the gate, they formed a circle the size of a room.

“Using incense ash as a road gives a hanged, earthbound supernatural anomaly something to walk upon, allowing it to leave temporarily. Marvelous!”

Daoist Xuanxu stroked his beard nearby and nodded repeatedly.

Only after hearing his explanation did Huang Li and Lin Zhu understand the purpose of the white lines and circles on the ground.

They could not help looking toward Zhao Li, who stood a short distance away.

She was carving and drawing on a stone slab with a small knife.

“My lords, would you like to open your sight?” Lu Zhao approached carrying a white porcelain bottle.

It contained willow-leaf water prepared by Zhao Li.

Wiping it across the eyes would temporarily suppress the body’s yang fire and allow a person to see things normally invisible.

After Lu Zhao gave a brief explanation, hesitation appeared on Huang Li’s and Lin Zhu’s faces.

In the end, curiosity won. They accepted the willow leaves and rubbed them across their eyelids.

A cool sensation spread over his eyes. Huang Li carefully turned his head and looked around.

Nothing seemed particularly different.

He relaxed.

At that moment, Zhao Li straightened.

Only then did the others see the exceedingly strange characters she had carved into the stone slab, interspersed with obscure symbols.

The script and symbols violated every convention of writing they had ever known. They were enough to drive anyone obsessed with order to madness.

The sight provoked instinctive discomfort.

Daoist Xuanxu shot to his feet.

“That is Nether Script!”