Chapter 174 The Stone Bridge Finally Appears, Lin Chen Uncovers the Dark Secrets of Jishantang

The desk in the Archives Room was no longer large enough.

Liu Buyu pushed two benches together, spread a layer of old official documents over them, and laid out the booklet from Liucha Estuary side-by-side with the secret ledgers of Tongbao Firm.

He held a brush in his left hand and turned pages with his right.

The brush shaft spun rapidly between his fingers.

Lin Chen stood before the table, his gaze sweeping over the items on it.

The Tongbao Firm ledger was placed in the center, with the Liucha Estuary booklet pressed beside it. Liu Ruohan's scimitar lay horizontally at the corner of the table, the patina on its bronze buckle darkened by the candlelight.

The three pieces of silver scrap recovered from the fishing shed were stacked on a sheet of white paper.

Beside the silver scrap was the bronze plaque engraved with the two characters "Yongchang."

"Have you cross-referenced the entries yet?"

Liu Buyu didn't even raise his head, answering in a hoarse voice.

"Nine of the seventeen secret ledger entries match the dates in the booklet, with a margin of error of no more than a day."

He set down his brush and tapped his fingertip on a line of text on the paper.

"The handling code for six of them is Stone Bridge."

Lin Chen gave a hum of acknowledgment and turned to look at the doorway.

Pei Yan was leaning against the doorframe, the strap of the old cloth pouch at his waist resting above his hip bone, swaying slightly as he adjusted his stance.

"You should tell me about Stone Bridge now."

Pei Yan straightened up from the doorframe and walked in.

He did not sit, but stood before the table, pulling a folded slip of paper from his sleeve and placing it on the table.

The paper was unfolded, revealing three lines of text.

Shopkeeper Liang. Forty-five. Renhe Hall medicinal herb shop in the east of the city.

Lin Chen picked up the slip of paper, read it once, and put it back on the table.

"How long has the Censorate been watching him?"

"One year and two months."

Pei Yan's fingers rested on the edge of the table, his fingertips rubbing along the wood grain for half an inch.

"He is not an ordinary contact; he is the core communication node for the Sheng Family between Nanyang Prefecture and Qinghe Prefecture upstream."

Pei Yan looked up, his eyes fixed on Lin Chen.

"If we move against him, the Sheng Family's entire line from Jiangnan to the Northern Border will be severed."

Lin Chen's thumb paused on the bronze edge of his scabbard.

"So you haven't moved against him for a year."

"Correct."

"What are you waiting for?"

Pei Yan's voice dropped, each word delivered slowly.

"Waiting for him to accept a large order, which will contain the real name and signature of the Sheng Family's manager upstream."

Lin Chen tapped his fingers twice on the edge of the table.

The sound landed in the quiet Archives Room, piercingly clear.

"Is that large order in three days what you're waiting for?"

Pei Yan nodded.

Lin Chen didn't respond, withdrawing his hand from the table edge and resting it on the scabbard at his waist.

He turned and walked to the window, standing with his back to Pei Yan for five breaths.

Outside the window, in the Main Courtyard, some brothers were moving iron chains, the metal clanking together, one sound after another.

"We cannot wait three days."

Lin Chen's voice drifted back from the window.

Pei Yan's fingers stopped on the edge of the table.

"Nan Du is dead."

Lin Chen turned around to face Pei Yan.

"Of the nine names you gave me, six are already dead. The speed of their silencing is faster than your footsteps, and faster than my men."

Pei Yan didn't move.

Lin Chen walked back two steps to stand before the table.

"I raided Tongbao Firm last night, and I locked Liu Ruohan in the dungeon this morning. How long will it take for these two events to get out?"

Pei Yan's voice lowered.

"There are Sheng Family informants in the city; at the latest, tomorrow morning."

"And what will Stone Bridge do after he learns this news?"

Pei Yan didn't answer, but he moved his hand from the edge of the table.

Lin Chen stared at him.

"He will run. Once he runs, you will never get that large order."

Pei Yan's throat bobbed, his voice carrying something that had been forcefully suppressed.

"But if we move against him now, the Sheng Family's upstream manager will receive a warning, pull back, and change people and lines. To touch someone at that level again will take at least two years."

"Two years?"

Lin Chen lifted his hand from the scabbard and pressed it onto the table.

"How many more boat trips will they make in two years?"

The Archives Room fell silent for a moment.

Liu Buyu set his brush down beside the inkstone, leaning back into his chair, not daring to breathe loudly.

Outside the door, Zhao Gang's boot soles scraped against the stone tiles twice, and his hand rested on the hilt of his waist saber.

Pei Yan's voice came from the bottom of his throat.

"Inspector Lin, I have been chasing this line for over a year, and four of my undercover agents have died on the road."

"I know the cost."

"You know?"

Pei Yan's two eyes stared at Lin Chen, holding something that remained after being ground down for too long.

"A twenty-three-year-old girl under my command, because she took one extra look at the hold of a Yongchang ship, was pushed into the river from the ferry crossing; her body only washed downstream three days later."

"You're telling me about the cost?"

The air in the Archives Room sank to the floor.

Lin Chen looked at Pei Yan's thin, long face for three breaths.

Then he spoke.

"The large order in three days contains living people."

Pei Yan's fingers clenched at his side.

"If you wait another three days, you are trading human lives for your case."

This sentence landed in the Archives Room, and even the sound of the iron chains colliding outside went quiet for an instant.

Pei Yan stood before the table, his spine never leaning against anything from start to finish, both hands hanging at his sides, his knuckles tense.

After a dozen breaths, his chest heaved, and the tension originally held in his voice loosened.

"Then what do you intend to do?"

Lin Chen withdrew his hand from the table.

"I will go see Shopkeeper Liang today; I won't give him time to run."

Pei Yan stared at him for two breaths, his lips moving.

"I have one condition."

"Speak."

"During the interrogation, I will listen from the secret compartment next door."

Lin Chen nodded.

"Fine."

Pei Yan's shoulders dropped slightly, the first relaxation after being tense all night.

He turned to walk toward the door, then stopped after two steps.

"Inspector Lin."

"Hmm."

Pei Yan didn't look back, his voice drifting over his back.

"If you can make him open his mouth and say the name of the upstream manager, I will owe you one."

Lin Chen didn't respond to this.

Pei Yan stepped over the threshold and left.

Zhao Gang poked half his head in from outside the door, his canine teeth biting his lip, his expression strange.

"Inspector, what was the situation in there just now? I could smell gunpowder from outside."

"Prepare the horses."

Zhao Gang was stunned.

"Where to?"

"Renhe Hall medicinal herb shop in the east of the city."

Zhao Gang closed his mouth and turned to run outside, his boot soles slapping loudly on the stone tiles.

In the afternoon, during the Wei hour, Sun Qi's men squatted at a tea stall opposite Renhe Hall medicinal herb shop in the east of the city for half an hour.

The message sent back was only two characters.

He is there.

Lin Chen led He Jian and two brothers in from the north entrance of the alley, his pace unhurried.

Renhe Hall's storefront was not large; the two old wooden doors were half-open, and the bitter scent of medicinal herbs and the sour smell of dried tangerine peel drifted out.

Behind the counter stood a short, fat, middle-aged man with broad shoulders and a thick build, wearing a faded blue cloth apron, holding a bronze balance scale in his hand, with a pinch of astragalus piled on the scale pan.

Opposite him stood an old woman buying medicine, digging for her money pouch.

Lin Chen stepped over the threshold and walked in.

He Jian did not take the front door, but circled around from the side alley toward the backyard.

The short, fat man looked up and saw four people in Patrol Division uniforms walking in; his hand holding the bronze balance scale shook, and a couple of pieces of astragalus from the scale pan spilled onto the counter.

He set the balance scale on the counter, the speed at which the smile on his face was pulled up being a beat slower than it was retracted.

"Officials, are you here to fill a prescription?"

Lin Chen walked to the counter, took the bronze enforcement token of the Governor's Mansion for night duty from his waist, and placed it on the counter.

The bronze face was up, clattering against the wood with a sound.

"The Patrol Division is handling a case; Shopkeeper Liang, please come with us to cooperate."

Shopkeeper Liang's eyes paused on the bronze token for a breath, rolled to the black abyss blade at Lin Chen's waist, and then rolled back to the bronze token.

"Lord Inspector, I have run this medicinal herb shop for over a decade and have always done business honestly..."

His voice rose.

Halfway through his sentence, his peripheral vision drifted toward the back door.

At the back door, He Jian's figure was already blocking the doorframe.

A narrow, short blade hung behind his waist.

With both arms crossed, he didn't say a word.

Sweat beads broke out on Shopkeeper Liang's neck.

His smile still hung on his face, but the curve of his mouth could no longer hold its tension.

The old woman buying medicine was frightened by this scene and walked out clutching her money pouch, her steps hurried.

Lin Chen didn't look at her; his gaze remained fixed on Shopkeeper Liang's face.

"You choose which path to take. Take the front door, and it's decent. Take the back door, and He Jian will help you choose the direction."

Shopkeeper Liang's throat bobbed with a gulp, and he withdrew his hands from the counter, wiping them on his apron.

"I will cooperate, I will cooperate."

Interrogation room.

The oil lamp on the stone wall was turned to its brightest setting, the flame illuminating the entire room thoroughly.

Shopkeeper Liang sat on a chair, his wrists unbound, with a cup of clear water on the low table in front of him.

The water cup was made of coarse pottery, with thick walls and a narrow rim.

Lin Chen sat opposite, the black abyss blade lying horizontally on the table, the bronze edge of the scabbard pointing directly at Shopkeeper Liang, the candlelight reflecting on the bronze surface to cast a thin, bright line of light.

A secret compartment was embedded in the side of the wall, the partition board made of thin wood; it looked the same as the wall surface, but sound could pass through it.

Pei Yan pressed against the back of the secret compartment, his fingertips resting on the wooden board, his breathing held to the lightest level.

Lin Chen did not speak.

He looked at Shopkeeper Liang for a while first.

The other man's posture was shrinking backward, his buttocks occupying only the front half of the chair, both hands resting on his knees, his fingers rubbing against the fabric of his trousers, making a faint rustling sound.

"Shopkeeper Liang, how has business been at the medicinal herb shop lately?"

Shopkeeper Liang blinked twice.

"It's, it's alright."

"Has the rent in the east of the city gone up?"

"Gone up a little; it went up after the New Year."

"How many people in your family?"

Shopkeeper Liang swallowed his saliva.

"Four, a son and a daughter, with the wife at home."

Lin Chen gave a hum, his hand resting on the table, his fingers slowly walking a circle along the scabbard of the black abyss blade.

"How old are the children?"

Shopkeeper Liang's throat moved.

"The older one is sixteen, the younger one is twelve."

"Are they both at home?"

"Yes."

Lin Chen nodded, not responding.

He pulled the secret ledger of Tongbao Firm from the stack of files beside him, turned to that page, and pushed it in front of Shopkeeper Liang.

His finger pointed beside two characters on the paper.

Stone Bridge.

Just those two characters.

Shopkeeper Liang was reaching out to pick up the water cup; the moment his five fingers touched the cup wall, he shook, and half a mouthful of water splashed out, soaking into the table.

His hands withdrew, resting back on his knees, his ten fingers intertwined.

Lin Chen gave him no time.

He pushed the second item over.

The Liucha Estuary booklet, turned to the last three pages.

Stone Bridge's handover records.

Date, quantity, location, listed clearly, entry by entry.

The most recent record was from six days ago, with the quantity written as eight.

Shopkeeper Liang's face turned white starting from his forehead, down to his cheeks, down to his lips.

His mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Lin Chen reached out and pulled a sheet of paper from the bottom of the files.

On the paper was a crime scene diagram drawn by Liu Buyu, a cross-section of the grain shop's firewood cellar, marking the location of the dirt trench and the posture of the corpse, the direction of the cut on the neck, and the model of the iron chain shackle used to bind the wrists.

He placed the paper in front of Shopkeeper Liang, his finger pressing on the two characters marked beside the corpse.

Nan Du.

"Do you recognize him?"

Shopkeeper Liang leaned back a bit, his back hitting the chair back, his whole person shrinking smaller in the chair.

"Nan Du, silenced three days ago."

Lin Chen's finger moved away from the paper and back onto the scabbard.

"The people who killed him were not the Patrol Division; it was your own people."

Sweat beads rolled down Shopkeeper Liang's forehead, following the bridge of his nose to the tip, hanging for an instant, then dripping onto the corner of the scene diagram on the table, soaking a small patch of the paper.

"You know the Sheng Family's rules better than I do."

Lin Chen's voice was delivered steadily.

"Kill after use, leaving no one behind."

Shopkeeper Liang's lips trembled twice.

"Do you have any idea who is next to be silenced?"

The interrogation room fell silent.

The oil lamp's flame was flickered by a slight breeze, and the shadow on the stone wall shook.

Shopkeeper Liang sat in the chair, his whole being sinking downward from the inside out.

A quarter of an hour.

He sat in that chair for a full quarter of an hour without opening his mouth.

Sweat streamed down from his forehead, and the fabric of his chest was soaked, creating a dark patch.

Lin Chen sat right opposite, his hand resting on the scabbard of the black abyss blade, his thumb pressed against the bronze edge, not moving.

Not rushing.

Not pursuing.

Just sitting and watching him.

Shopkeeper Liang's fingers slowly clenched from his knees into the fabric of his trousers, the fabric twisted into a ball by his grip.

He opened his mouth.

"I will talk."

The voice squeezed out from his throat, muffled as if blocked by something.

"But you must ensure my whole family stays alive."

Lin Chen's finger paused on the scabbard.

"Your life is in my hands now, not in the Sheng Family's."

His gaze landed on Shopkeeper Liang's face, each word enunciated clearly.

"The difference is that after they silence someone, they bury the corpse in the firewood cellar's dirt trench, with iron chains shackled to the wrists. After I finish interrogating you, I will give you a way to live."

Shopkeeper Liang's Adam's apple bobbed up and down twice, the moisture in his eyes flashing for an instant under the lamplight.

He released his hands from the trouser fabric; his palms were full of sweat.

"That batch of people in three days."

He spoke, his voice hoarse, the intervals between each word drawn out.

Behind the secret compartment, Pei Yan's fingernails embedded into the thin wooden board.

"They are not coming from upstream."

Shopkeeper Liang swallowed his saliva, the sound of his Adam's apple rolling ringing clearly in the quiet interrogation room.

"They are collected locally in Nanyang Prefecture."

Lin Chen's finger stopped on the bronze edge of the scabbard.

"Locally?"

Shopkeeper Liang's gaze moved away from the scene diagram on the table, looking up at Lin Chen, the whites of his eyes full of red bloodshot veins.

"Where?"

Shopkeeper Liang's lips moved twice, and he swallowed a mouthful of saliva into his throat.

"West of the city, Jishan Hall."

Lin Chen's hand lifted from the scabbard.

Jishan Hall.

The largest orphanage in Nanyang Prefecture.

Founded by the former Assistant Prefect's wife.

And that former Assistant Prefect was the old rival of Nangong Xiong, the one who had already retired and returned to his hometown.

A very light breath came from behind the secret compartment, the wooden board creaked half a sound as if being ground by something, then stopped.

Lin Chen sat in the chair, his hands resting on the table, his five fingers spread flat, his fingertips touching the rough wood grain.

The lamplight cast his shadow on the stone wall, and the shadow did not move.

He did not speak.

But the numbers marked on that map in the Archives Room, those three to fifteen written beside the twelve villages and towns, all took on a new weight in this instant.

It was not an external line.

It was rotting from the inside.