Chapter 134 The Truth Behind the Poisonous Chess Game, Ten Years of Avengers

When Shen Yue returned, the morning light was already pouring over the courtyard walls, illuminating the stone steps of the Archives Room until they shone white.

She held neither the iron box nor the account books. Instead, she carried only a thin booklet wrapped in three layers of black cloth, walking even more steadily than usual, as if afraid the item in her hands might break.

Lin Chen was sitting behind his desk, with the newly sealed Qingyun Ridge drug trial files spread before him. His brush rested beside the inkstone, the ink not yet completely dry.

He looked up to see Shen Yue, his gaze falling upon the thin booklet.

"This is the only thing in the hidden compartment?"

Shen Yue peeled away the black cloth layer by layer, revealing a booklet with a cowhide cover. The cover had been soaked in some kind of liquid medicine; its color was dark, and its edges were ringed with uneven yellow spots.

She placed the booklet on the desk, her fingers lingering for half a breath before she pulled them away from the cover.

"There was also a letter in the hidden compartment, which has already been sealed in an evidence bag."

"The letter says this booklet is the original copy, and the key is merely a guide."

Zhou Tie leaned half his body in from outside the door.

"Just one booklet? The Wanbao Pavilion had such a large hidden compartment, and it only hid something this thin?"

Shen Yue glanced at him.

"This booklet has been soaked in liquid medicine. If an ordinary person opens it, they will only see blank pages. The characters only appear when heated over a fire."

Zhou Tie was taken aback.

"Then how did you know there were words inside?"

Shen Yue pulled a half-burnt thin candle from her sleeve.

"The letter explained the method. I heated the first page behind the tea stall, read three lines, and then closed it."

Her voice was lower than usual, as if she were suppressing something.

Lin Chen shifted his gaze from the booklet to her face.

"What did you see?"

Shen Yue stood before the desk, her fingers tightening around her cuffs.

"This is Escort Officer Lu Qingshan's diary."

The Archives Room fell silent for two breaths.

Lin Chen's fingers rested on the cover of the booklet, his thumb slowly rubbing over the yellowed medicine stains.

He was in no hurry to open it. Instead, he simply brightened the oil lamp on the desk. The wick flickered, and the light and shadow wavered across the cowhide cover.

"Bring the candle."

Shen Yue handed over the thin candle.

Lin Chen lit the candle. Once the flame stabilized, he flipped open the first page, held the paper about three inches above the candle flame, and moved it slowly.

Under the heat, characters began to appear on the yellowed page.

The handwriting was very small, yet the brushstrokes were pressed very hard. Every stroke seemed carved into the paper, carrying a heavy weight that could only be written with utmost effort.

Lin Chen read the first line aloud.

"'Autumn of the 307th year of the Great Qian Calendar. My name is Escort Officer Lu Qingshan, an escort officer of the Criminal Chamber. Today, I uncovered the first lead regarding the Wang family.'"

Zhou Tie walked inside and pulled the door shut behind him.

Lin Chen continued to heat the second page.

The handwriting grew denser. In some places, the liquid medicine had seeped unevenly, making the revealed words fragmented, but the meaning could still be pieced together.

"'Winter of the 307th year. News of Qingyun Ridge reached the Criminal Chamber. Someone reported that there was a well on the mountain, and crying could be heard from inside. I went there, but couldn't find the wellhead. However, I saw a child's shoe at the foot of the mountain.'"

Shen Yue stood beside him, her breathing extremely light.

Lin Chen turned to the third page.

"'Spring of the 308th year. Following the clue of the shoe, I found an old man named Zhou Huaiyi. He told me those children were sold up there, and the buyer was surnamed Wang.'"

The veins on the back of Zhou Tie's hand bulged.

Lin Chen did not stop, continuing to heat the subsequent pages.

The fourth page.

The fifth page.

The sixth page.

The characters appearing on each page grew heavier, as if the writer was using more and more force, writing with increasing urgency.

"'Autumn of the 308th year. I reported the leads to the Criminal Chamber's registrar. The registrar said he would follow up and told me to stop investigating.'"

Lin Chen's finger paused for half a beat at the edge of the paper.

"'Winter of the 308th year. The registrar was transferred away. A page of my file was altered, with an extra line added, claiming I had privately embezzled official silver, to the amount of thirty taels.'"

A muffled grunt came from Zhou Tie's throat.

"A frame-up."

Lin Chen set this page down and heated the seventh page.

"'Spring of the 309th year. I was thrown into prison. My wife went to the government office to submit a petition, but she never returned.'"

Shen Yue's fingers tightened on her saber hilt.

"'Summer of the 309th year. Someone told me my wife died on her way home, claiming she drowned. But in that river where she allegedly drowned—she who couldn't swim—the water only reached the knees.'"

Lin Chen's voice did not waver. He read every word steadily, as if reading an official document that had already been filed.

Yet, the veins on the back of the hand holding the candle bulged tightly.

Zhou Tie turned his head away to look at the wall, his throat bobbing twice.

Lin Chen turned to the eighth page.

"'Autumn of the 309th year. Someone came to see me in prison and gave me two choices: one was to plead guilty and be exiled three thousand miles, and the other was to die in prison.'"

Shen Yue asked in a low voice,

"Which one did he choose?"

Lin Chen held the ninth page close to the candle flame.

The characters that appeared were larger than on any of the previous pages, consisting of only a single line.

"'I chose the third path.'"

Zhou Tie turned back.

"The third path?"

Lin Chen placed the paper on the desk. The lamplight shone on that line of characters; the ink emerged under the heat and then slowly faded, like a wound opening and closing on the paper.

"He did not plead guilty, nor did he die in prison."

Lin Chen shifted his gaze from the paper to Shen Yue's face.

"He crawled out through the Criminal Chamber's escort passage, exchanging his name for the identity of a death row prisoner."

Shen Yue's eyes narrowed.

"That death row prisoner was the 'Escort Officer Lu Qingshan' who died in the Wang family's records later on?"

Lin Chen nodded.

"He made the world believe Escort Officer Lu Qingshan was dead, while he himself became a nameless Grey Sparrow."

Zhou Tie twisted the shaft of his spear.

"Faking his death ten years ago, and carrying this burden alone for ten years?"

Lin Chen did not reply, continuing to flip forward.

Starting from the tenth page, the content of the diary changed.

It was no longer accusations and records, and the handwriting was no longer so heavy. It had become fine and calm, as if the writer had swallowed all his pain, leaving only calculations.

"'The 310th year. I returned to Nanyang Prefecture. Under another name, I rented a shop on the street behind the Provincial Administration Commission and began selling kites.'"

Zhou Tie cursed.

"Selling kites... He was selling kites right under Official Chen Zhili's nose."

Lin Chen ignored him and continued to read.

"'Winter of the 310th year. I found the first child discarded by the Wang family. His name was Liu Xiaoshuan, and he was begging in the south of the city. He was missing a finger on his left hand, severed by the Wang family with a knife.'"

Shen Yue's breathing hitched.

"'I didn't take him away immediately. I taught him how to read, how to speak, and how to live as another person within the government files.'"

Lin Chen turned to the next page.

"'The 311th year, I found three more children. The 312th year, five. The 313th year, two.'"

He flattened the paper, his fingertip tapping lightly on the edge of the page.

"Beside each child, two lines of text were written: one was their original name, and the other was their new name."

Zhou Tie's voice grew tight.

"Liu Xiaoshuan became Liu Cheng, and Tao Donger became Tao Jiu."

Lin Chen looked at him.

"And there are thirteen other names, all in this diary."

Shen Yue suddenly spoke.

"How many names on the list of the seventeen impeachers match the names in the diary?"

Lin Chen pulled the list of seventeen names from the document box and placed it side-by-side with the diary.

He compared them while heating the paper.

One by one, the names emerged.

"Liu Cheng, a match."

"Tao Jiu, a match."

"Zhang Erzhuang, a match."

"Li Tong, a match."

Of the seventeen names, eleven appeared in Escort Officer Lu Qingshan's diary. Beside each one, their origins and arrangements were noted, with a time span stretching from ten years ago to half a year ago.

Zhou Tie stared at the two lists, his lips pressed into a thin line. It took him a long while to squeeze out a sentence.

"These seventeen people are not the Wang family's lackeys."

Lin Chen shook his head.

"They never were."

Shen Yue's finger slid across the list, stopping beside the remaining unmatched names.

"What about the remaining six?"

Lin Chen's fingertip tapped the desk.

"Escort Officer Lu Qingshan wrote a sentence on the final page of the diary."

He held the last page close to the candle flame, and a line of characters slowly appeared on the paper.

"'There are my pieces on the board, and there are also the Wang family's pieces. I cannot replace them all, so I can only insert fake pieces among the real ones. When someone comes to overturn the board, the fake pieces will naturally expose themselves.'"

A bloodshot tint appeared in Zhou Tie's eyes.

"Six of the seventeen are actual members of the Wang family, and eleven are those he planted?"

Lin Chen closed the diary, pressing his palm against the cover.

"The impeachment petition was never the killing blow from the very beginning."

Shen Yue finished his thought.

"It was a signal."

Lin Chen looked at her.

"Escort Officer Lu Qingshan waited ten years, waiting for someone who dared to investigate the Wang family to appear. Then, he pushed those seventeen people forward at once, forcing the Wang family to take action to protect them or silence them."

It took a moment for Zhou Tie's brain to process this.

"Once the Wang family moves, the identities of those eleven people will be exposed, and the lines Escort Officer Lu Qingshan buried for ten years will all come alive."

Lin Chen stood up and walked to the window. The morning light poured in from outside, illuminating half of his face.

"He wrote a sentence at the very end of the diary."

Shen Yue looked at him.

"What sentence?"

Lin Chen's gaze fell on the distant direction beyond the courtyard walls—the street behind the Provincial Administration Commission, where the Tingfeng Pavilion stood, a two-story old wooden building guarded by a lame old man who had sold kites for ten years.

"He wrote: 'If anyone reads this booklet, it means my life is no longer important. What matters is that those children can return to their own names.'"

No one spoke in the Archives Room.

Zhou Tie laid his spear shaft across his knees, bowing his head, his teeth clenched tightly.

Shen Yue's eyelashes fluttered twice. She released her grip on her saber hilt and slowly withdrew her hand.

Lin Chen picked up the diary from the desk and placed it side-by-side with the files of the drug trial evidence.

"From today on, the seventeen impeachers will no longer be treated as enemies."

He turned around, his gaze sweeping from Shen Yue to Zhou Tie.

"They are witnesses."

Zhou Tie raised his head.

"What about Escort Officer Lu Qingshan himself?"

Lin Chen tucked the diary into his robes, pressing it close to his chest, right against the crescent-shaped key.

"He has waited ten years at the Tingfeng Pavilion, waiting precisely for today."

He walked to the door. The moment he pushed it open, the morning breeze rushed in from the end of the corridor, carrying with it the faint scent of the old wooden building from the north of the city.

Zhou Tie took two steps forward to keep up.

"Inspector, are we going to the Tingfeng Pavilion now?"

Lin Chen's steps paused on the threshold. He glanced back at the two files lying side-by-side on the desk.

The irrefutable evidence of the drug trials, and a diary written by a man over ten years.

When he spoke, his voice was slightly drowned out by the morning light, yet every word fell with immense weight.

"We go."

Before his voice could fade, another flurry of hurried footsteps echoed from the courtyard entrance.

Qian Xiaoliu ran into the courtyard for the third time. This time he did not shout; he merely clutched a crumpled slip of paper, his face as white as a sheet.

Lin Chen looked at him.

Qian Xiaoliu's throat trembled twice before he could make a sound.

"Inspector, the Tingfeng Pavilion is on fire!"