113: Chapter 113 Unraveling the Mystery and Discovering the Truth

The lamp in the side hall had been lit for an hour.

The Envoy sat on a chair, his back held very straight. The tea on the side table had been sitting there since morning, untouched—a thin layer of dust had formed on the surface. Su Qingli had come in to add water once in the middle, replacing the old tea with new, but he still hadn't touched it.

The door was pushed open from the outside. Lu Changyuan walked in, carrying the file box in his hand. Su Qingli followed behind and placed a chair opposite the side table.

Lu Changyuan sat down, opened the box, and pulled out the third stack of old files, placing them on the side table. The top page was the text of the dispatch order—Governor Xue Zhen's seal was clear and neat. At the bottom of the text, the cut edge faced upward.

The Envoy's gaze paused on the cut edge. His lips moved—as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

"The Envoy has been waiting since morning—you've worked hard." Lu Changyuan's voice was very calm. "While waiting, have you ever thought about one thing: Why did Governor Xue Zhen cut this page?"

"This official does not know. Lord Lu—the old files were like this when retrieved."

"The old files were complete when retrieved." Lu Changyuan took a slip of paper from his sleeve and placed it on the side table—it was the note Su Qingli had written in the afternoon. "There is a smell of fresh ink on the paper fibers at the cut edge. Governor Xue Zhen opened and read it himself before sealing the box—after reading it, he personally cut off this page."

The Envoy didn't speak. His two hands, resting on his knees, slowly clenched into fists.

"It's not that you don't know—it's that you don't dare to say." Lu Changyuan flipped over the dispatch order text and pointed to the blank space beneath the words "This order is sent to—". "This page contained who the temporary dispatch order was finally sent to. Governor Xue Zhen saw that name—he felt I couldn't handle it."

The side hall was quiet for a long while. The sound of the receding tide outside the window rang out unhurriedly.

"Envoy." Lu Changyuan leaned forward a step. "Did Governor Xue Zhen tell you—why he was afraid I couldn't handle it?"

The Envoy's Adam's apple rolled.

"Because of the person in the old files—Governor Xue Zhen is afraid of them too."

The Envoy's fists clenched tighter.

"Lord Lu—"

"Let me guess." Lu Changyuan interrupted him. "Three days before the Sealed Fleet incident seventeen years ago, someone sent a temporary dispatch order from the East Sea Governors Office to the Liyuan Ferry military warehouse. The signatory of this dispatch order was Governor Xue Zhen—but Governor Xue Zhen had just taken office that year, and he didn't know the person who asked him to sign this dispatch order. He only knew that his direct superior called him over and had him stamp a dispatch order."

The Envoy's breathing became heavy.

"Seventeen years later, Governor Xue Zhen found this dispatch order in the old files. He reread the complete flow of the dispatch order—and saw who it was finally sent to." Lu Changyuan paused for a breath. "That person was able to make a newly appointed Governor sign a dispatch order seventeen years ago. Seventeen years later—Governor Xue Zhen recognized the name and realized that this was a person he still couldn't afford to offend."

"Lord Lu—"

"But Governor Xue Zhen had already given his word. He told me in the transmission that the old files were still there—that he was retrieving them. It would be strange if he didn't retrieve them. So he had no choice but to retrieve them. After doing so, he got scared—scared that I would follow the complete old files to that person, scared that the person would know the old files flowed out from his hands. So he cut a page." Lu Changyuan pushed the cut edge half an inch closer to the Envoy. "Holding back the most critical page—to see if I dare to continue investigating. If I dare—it means I have backing and ability behind me. If I don't dare—it means it ends here, and he doesn't have to take the risk."

Beads of sweat as large as beans flowed down the Envoy's temples. He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"Lord Lu—this official truly does not know the content of that page. Before Governor Xue Zhen sealed the box, he removed that page separately—he didn't leave a copy."

"I know you didn't." Lu Changyuan leaned back into his chair. "So I won't ask you what was written on that page. I will ask you another thing—Governor Xue Zhen held this page in his hands; did he say, if I came to ask him about this page—what conditions he would have?"

The Envoy looked up at Lu Changyuan. This was the first time he had looked at him directly since entering the door—the kind of look one gives when seeing someone completely unexpected.

"Governor said—if Lord Lu asked about this page, it meant Lord Lu was deeper than he thought. When that time comes—" The Envoy took a palm-sized transmission jade tablet from his sleeve. "Let this official use this jade tablet to contact him in person."

The transmission jade tablet was a cyan long-distance transmission Array Pattern jade dedicated to the East Sea Governors Office. This type of jade tablet was not cheap—people outside the departments directly under the Governors Office had no authority to use it. The Envoy placed the jade tablet on the side table and pressed his fingertips onto the activation Array Pattern on the front of the jade.

The Array Pattern lit up.

A vortex of pale cyan spiritual light bloomed three feet above the jade tablet. After the vortex spun three or four times, it stabilized, revealing a light screen in the center—Governor Xue Zhen's face was inside the light screen.

Governor Xue Zhen sat behind a desk. A map of the East Sea was hanging on the wall behind him, with the corners of the map curled. A half-foot-high stack of official documents was piled on the desk, and next to the pile of documents was an open file box—exactly the same as the one the Envoy had sent to Blue Moon Island. He looked much older than when he came to apologize three months ago—the hair at his temples had turned from gray to completely white.

"Lu Changyuan." Governor Xue Zhen's voice came through the transmission light screen, a bit hoarse. "You are faster than I thought—I thought you would at least finish reading the old files and ponder for a day or two before coming to find me."

"Saved those one or two days—I finished reading the old files."

"What do you think after reading them?"

"I know after reading them." Lu Changyuan picked up the dispatch order text on the side table and pointed his finger at Governor Xue Zhen's seal. "Governor Xue Zhen—seventeen years ago you had just taken office, and someone made you sign a dispatch order; you didn't ask too much. Seventeen years later, you found the complete flow of this dispatch order in the old files—you asked. After asking, you discovered that the dispatch order you signed back then was sent to someone you couldn't afford to offend."

Governor Xue Zhen didn't speak. His hand resting on the desk slowly tightened.

"If I say no—would you believe it?"

"I don't believe it." Lu Changyuan put the dispatch order back on the side table, cut edge facing up. "Because your technique is exactly the same as the technique used to cut the miscellaneous items list of Zhou Laogen's Old Seal Bid Case—both were official paper cutters, and both happened to cut off the recipient's name. Seventeen years ago, someone cut the recipient's name to hide it—seventeen years later, you cut the flow to test."

Governor Xue Zhen took a deep breath. That breath sounded like wind squeezing through the cracks of wooden boards on the transmission light screen.

"Who was written on that page?" Lu Changyuan asked.

"It's too early for you to ask this now." Governor Xue Zhen's voice dropped. "But I can tell you another thing. Warehouse Chief Cui—the receiving team leader of the Seventh Warehouse back then. After working as a deputy warehouse chief at the Liyuan Ferry military warehouse for two years, he suddenly resigned due to illness—after resigning, the person disappeared. I searched through the old files of Liyuan Ferry and the personnel rolls of the Governors Office, and there is no record of him leaving the East Sea jurisdiction."

"He is still in the East Sea?"

"Yes. I found a patrol record from a sentry station on the edge of the East Sea ten years ago—near Broken Star Reef, fishing boats had seen a one-eyed old man appearing on the reef. Broken Star Reef is in the southeastern-most corner of the East Sea jurisdiction's map—a magnetic reef area, foggy all year round, with no Spiritual Vein, not suitable for living. Patrol ships wouldn't go there once in ten years."

"Why do you think that one-eyed old man is Warehouse Chief Cui?"

"Because the patrol record had a sketch of a stone house on the reef—a sign was carved at the entrance of the stone house." Governor Xue Zhen picked up a yellowed old piece of paper from the desk and brought it close to the light screen. "This Array Pattern—is the symbol used to mark the warehouse number inside the Zhenhai fortress military warehouse. The warehouse number Array Pattern of the Outer Ring Seventh Warehouse."

Lu Changyuan stared at the sketch on the old piece of paper in the light screen. The Array Pattern carved on the stone house lintel was not complex—three horizontal lines with a circle in the middle, and a tiny "seven" character carved inside the circle.

"Only those who have managed the Outer Ring Seventh Warehouse know how to carve this Array Pattern. Warehouse Chief Cui was the receiving team leader at the Seventh Warehouse for twelve years—he treated this Array Pattern as his own identity mark." Governor Xue Zhen put down the sketch and looked at Lu Changyuan. "Broken Star Reef—the southeastern-most corner of the East Sea jurisdiction, magnetic reefs, foggy all year round. Be careful if you go."

"Is Governor Xue Zhen's words—sincere?"

Governor Xue Zhen was silent for a while.

"Lu Changyuan—I have sat in this position of East Sea Governor for seventeen years. It's not that I don't want to investigate the Old Seal Bid Case—it's that I don't dare to." His voice was half a degree lower than before. "Seventeen years ago, I had just taken office and was called over by a high-level figure to approve a dispatch order. Seventeen years later, I saw the complete flow of that dispatch order in the old files—the person it pointed to was at least two levels higher than me. I cut off that page because I was afraid—but giving you Warehouse Chief Cui's whereabouts is also true."

"Why?"

"Because you dare to take it." Governor Xue Zhen looked at Lu Changyuan, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes stretched very deep in the light screen. "I have been hiding from this case for seventeen years—now that someone is willing to investigate for me, I will give it."

His finger pressed on the desk.

"But giving is giving. I gave you Warehouse Chief Cui's location—what he took away back then was not just secrets, but also a load of trouble. That trouble followed him for ten years—now that you go to take it, that trouble will follow you too."

The transmission light screen went out. The Array Pattern on the jade tablet dimmed, and the Envoy's fingers moved away from the surface of the tablet—his fingertips were trembling.

Lu Changyuan stood up and put the dispatch order on the side table back into the file box.

"Envoy, take a message back."

The Envoy stood up—his knees knocked against the chair, but he didn't care about the pain.

"Tell Governor Xue Zhen—Blue Moon Island is not Governor Xue Zhen's blade. But I will continue to investigate this case. How far I investigate—he can decide for himself."

The Envoy backed out of the side hall, bowing. When he backed out of the door, his shoulder hit the door frame—he didn't even have time to look at the door frame, turned around, and walked quickly toward the Outer Port.

Su Qingli stood at the door of the side hall, watching the Envoy's back disappear at the end of the stone path. She turned around and closed the door of the side hall.

"Broken Star Reef—do you know where it is?"

"A reef area in the southeastern-most corner of the East Sea map. The three words marked on the map—'Not suitable for approach'." Lu Changyuan closed the file box. "The ten-year-old files only go this far—an old man with one blind eye hiding in a foggy reef area, guarding a load of trouble."

"When are you going?"

"No rush. Stabilize the agency line of Jubao Pavilion first—after the first batch of goods for civilian channels is delivered, we'll talk." He handed the file box to Su Qingli. "Broken Star Reef won't run away. Warehouse Chief Cui has waited ten years in that fog—he won't mind waiting another month or two."

Su Qingli took the box and wrote two lines in the ledger. The first line: 'Jubao Pavilion civilian agency contract—first half-year prepayment entered into storage.' The second line: 'Next stop for the Old Seal Bid Case—Broken Star Reef. Warehouse Chief Cui, one-eyed, southeastern-most corner of the East Sea jurisdiction.'

After writing, she turned the ledger back a page—to the line she wrote on the title page of the ledger three months ago: 'Blue Moon Island will no longer rely solely on windfall profits to eat.'

Three months ago, the first payment for the purification liquid entered the public treasury. Three months later, there were three more entries in the ledger in front of her—the monthly long-term contract for the military, the first half-year prepayment from the Jubao Pavilion civilian agency, and a place name called Broken Star Reef.

The sound of the receding tide was still ringing outside the window. In the distance, outside the berths of the Outer Port, the cold light of the Starlight Coral mother branch spread out a few more inches. It spread very slowly.

Su Qingli put down her pen and looked at Lu Changyuan.

"'A load of trouble'—how much of these four words do you believe?"

"I believe all of it." Lu Changyuan stood in front of the window, looking at the direction where the Jubao Pavilion treasure ship disappeared toward the Outer Port—only a faint red spot of light remained on the sea surface. "Governor Xue Zhen—he won't say what he shouldn't say. He said the words 'a load of trouble' twice."

"Then you are still going?"

"Going. If I don't go, Warehouse Chief Cui will die on the reef holding the secret—then this case will truly be broken."

He opened the hidden compartment and took out Commander Tie Zhan's reply, Zhou Laogen's testimony, and Xu Sanlan's list—laying them on the table in chronological order. Seventeen years ago, the Sealed Fleet incident → twelve batches of seal bid Array Pattern materials were shipped out through the "scrap" channel → Warehouse Chief Cui handled the receiving at the Seventh Warehouse → seven batches of exemption from inspection were cleared by the dispatch order from the East Sea Governors Office → three days after the fleet incident, another temporary dispatch order was sent to Liyuan Ferry → Warehouse Chief Cui was transferred → resigned and disappeared → Broken Star Reef.

The chain on the paper went up link by link. Now the top link—is the name on the page that Governor Xue Zhen held in his hands.

Lu Changyuan put these papers back into the hidden compartment in order. The papers in the hidden compartment were getting thicker. From Xu Sanlan to Yongtai Firm to Zhou Laogen to Warehouse Chief Cui—now there was one more coordinate.

Broken Star Reef. The southeastern-most corner of the East Sea. A magnetic reef area, foggy all year round.

The sound of wind on Qixia Peak poured in from the half-open window, carrying the faint fragrance of new tea. Luo Qingcheng was not meditating tonight—a very light sound of turning pages came from the stone platform.

Lu Changyuan closed the hidden compartment.