Chapter 36 Ironclad Evidence Slaps Liu Kun in the Face, Qingxi County Government is About to Undergo a Change

The crisp sound of the ledger slapping against the face still echoed back and forth under the dome of the Great Hall.

County Lieutenant Liu Kun clutched his left cheek.

A red mark seeped through his fingers, extending all the way from his cheekbone to the base of his ear.

The entire hall was deathly silent.

The Bailiffs and scribes leaning against the walls didn't even dare to breathe too loudly.

The air in their chests was forcibly held back.

Only when their lungs began to ache did they dare to let a little out through their noses.

The older bailiff standing below the dais felt his legs give way from the knees down.

He knelt on the shattered porcelain pieces.

The sharp shards dug painfully into his kneecaps, but he didn't dare to utter even a single groan.

His peripheral vision flickered toward Secretary Wang, who was kneeling to his left.

Secretary Wang's bloated face was as pale as someone who had just crawled out of a coffin.

His lips quivered, and his upper and lower teeth chattered incessantly.

Lin Chen withdrew his right hand, which had just slapped the ledger, letting his fingers hang naturally at his side.

He looked down at the few pages of the ledger scattered at County Lieutenant Liu Kun's feet.

The page facing up happened to be flipped to several records of large-scale smuggling from the fourth year of yongan.

The numbers written in cinnabar were eye-searingly red under the candlelight.

“Lord Liu.”

Lin Chen's voice pushed out from the deepest part of his chest.

Word by word, it fell into the silent hall.

“You said just now that this official's entry into the hall with bloodstained items violates the laws of Great Qian.”

He bent down to pick up one of the scattered pages, pinching the yellowed edge with his thumb and shaking it twice in the air.

“Then this official would like to ask.”

He held the page half a foot in front of County Lieutenant Liu Kun's face.

The bright red thumbprint on the paper was directly in front of County Lieutenant Liu Kun's eyes.

“According to Article 73 of the Great Qian Laws, what is the penalty for colluding with bandits to smuggle military equipment?”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun's eyes darted over the thumbprint twice.

The last bit of light in his pupils was swallowed by that blob of cinnabar red.

The fingers covering his face began to spasm violently.

His nails dug into the flesh of his cheek, leaving several white marks.

“You—you are framing me!”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun's voice rose to the brink of cracking, his tone twisting twice at the end.

“The origin of this ledger is unknown; who knows if you forged it!”

He lowered the hand covering his face and pointed at Lin Chen, backing away repeatedly.

His lower back bumped into the wreckage of the tilted official chair.

The chair legs scraped across the floor tiles, producing a sharp, piercing sound.

“I am an eighth-rank County Lieutenant of the Imperial Court!”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun grabbed onto this life-saving straw, desperately wrapping it around himself.

“You are just a ninth-rank Chief Constable; what right do you have to interrogate a superior officer!”

Lin Chen folded the ledger page in his hand and held it between his index and middle fingers.

“You say this ledger is forged?”

He pointed the fingers holding the paper toward County Lieutenant Liu Kun twice.

“Then is this thumbprint on your face also forged?”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun's Adam's apple bobbed violently as he instinctively reached out to touch his left cheek.

Where his fingers touched, there was nothing physical.

It was the anti-pest powder from the ledger pages.

Mixed with the cinnabar ink, it had left a blurry, dark red mark on his cheek.

Lin Chen placed the ledger page on the desk.

“The seventh day of the fourth month, third year of yongan: three thousand catties of crude iron, transported through the South Gate into the Qingxi Mountain Range.”

He put his hands behind his back, speaking at a moderate pace.

“Handled by code name Old Man Liu, received fifteen hundred taels of silver; this entry is followed by a thumbprint.”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun's mouth opened and closed, then closed and opened again.

Lin Chen paced half a step forward, his official boots crunching against the broken porcelain.

“The ninth day of the second month, fourth year of yongan: three thousand taels of silver, used to grease palms for the Prefecture's performance evaluation.”

He tilted his head.

“After the matter was settled, the South Gate was opened wide to allow a hundred carts of crude iron through.”

His gaze lingered on County Lieutenant Liu Kun's face for two breaths.

“Following this entry is a line of small characters stating a ten percent commission, guaranteed by Old Man Liu's own handwriting.”

Lin Chen slowly turned his gaze toward the commoners crowded at the entrance of the hall.

His voice traveled through the quiet air, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

“October, fifth year of yongan: suppressed the County Yamen's investigation order regarding the Black Tiger Gang's kidnapping of people.”

A collective gasp came from the entrance; several commoners whose family members had been snatched by the Black Tiger Gang clenched their fists.

“Black Pine Stronghold offered fifty bars of pure gold.”

Lin Chen paused for a beat.

“And eight beauties.”

These words fell into the hall.

The resonance they stirred was more deafening than any gavel strike.

County Lieutenant Liu Kun's legs finally could no longer support his weight.

His entire body slid down the tilted official chair.

His buttocks scraped against the broken seat, and he finally slumped onto the floor tiles covered in porcelain shards.

The hem of his official robe, embroidered with dark patterns, was cut in several places by the fragments.

Revealing the white edges of the silk lining inside.

“Enough!”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun sat on the ground, his hands bracing against the stone slabs.

His ten fingers slid over the porcelain shards, his fingertips sliced until beads of blood seeped out.

“What do you want!”

He looked up at Lin Chen, his fleshy face alternating between fear and madness.

“You just want to use this piece of trash ledger with an unknown origin to bring me down!”

The veins on County Lieutenant Liu Kun's neck bulged, his voice raspy like a rusted iron lock being forced open.

“In your dreams!”

He slapped his palm heavily against the floor tiles.

Porcelain shards pierced his palm, and blood smeared several short marks on the bluestone slab.

“The Zhao family will not allow you to act recklessly!”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun squeezed the words out from the corner of his mouth.

“Once Old Patriarch Zhao makes a move, your dog life will be over!”

He used the name Zhao Cangyuan as his final shield, holding it firmly in front of him.

Lin Chen looked down at County Lieutenant Liu Kun sitting in the pile of porcelain.

His thumb rested on the bronze surface of his saber's crossguard, tracing a half-circle.

“Are you sure Zhao Cangyuan would make a move for a life like yours?”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun froze for a moment.

Lin Chen moved his thumb away from the crossguard and put his hands behind his back again.

“Ma Biao said the exact same thing to me before he died.”

He glanced sideways at the cracked, broken head on the ground.

“He said he had leverage over you and secrets of the Zhao family, so I wouldn't dare kill him.”

Lin Chen smiled slightly.

“Now his head is resting right by your feet.”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun's gaze moved downward involuntarily.

That half-head, less than two feet away, was staring at him with its cloudy, single eye.

A wave of churning nausea surged in his throat, but he forced it back down.

“Before me, Lin Chen.”

Lin Chen's voice was extremely low, so low that only County Lieutenant Liu Kun and the nearby Secretary Wang could hear it clearly.

“No one's name carries any weight.”

From behind the desk at the back of the hall, where a green gauze curtain hung, came the faint sound of fabric rubbing.

The hem of a crimson robe flickered in the gap of the gauze curtain.

Lin Chen's gaze went over County Lieutenant Liu Kun's head toward the gauze curtain.

The curtain was pulled aside from the inside by a slender, fair hand.

Magistrate Pei Qingxue walked out from behind the desk.

Today, she was wearing that crimson official robe embroidered with dark silver phoenix patterns.

Around her waist was a dark green brocade belt.

Her jet-black hair was pinned back with a white jade hairpin, with a few stray strands falling by her ears.

Her eyes shone brightly under the candlelight.

But the layer of chill covering the depths of her eyes was cold enough to freeze someone through.

Her gaze first landed on the cracked head on the ground.

It lingered for less than a breath.

Then it moved to the open ledger by Lin Chen's hand.

Finally, it swept over County Lieutenant Liu Kun, who was slumped in the pile of porcelain.

She came to a stop three paces in front of the desk, her hands folded over the belt buckle in front of her.

The hem of her crimson robe fluttered slightly in the evening breeze, brushing against the surface of the bluestone tiles.

“County Lieutenant Liu.”

Magistrate Pei Qingxue's voice was crisp, yet it suppressed all the noise in the hall.

“Regarding every entry Chief Constable Lin just read, do you have any rebuttal?”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun looked up from the ground, his face covered in cold sweat.

The moment he looked at Magistrate Pei Qingxue, a hint of madness—as if grabbing a life-saving straw—surfaced in his eyes.

“Lord Pei, you've come at the perfect time!”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun propped himself up on the porcelain shards.

Kneeling on the ground, he reached his hands forward.

“This Lin Chen assaulted a superior officer in court and brought a lethal weapon and bloody items into the hall!”

His voice was urgent and raspy.

“He is using his public office to settle a private grudge!”

County Lieutenant Liu Kun desperately crawled toward Magistrate Pei Qingxue.

“The origin of this ledger is unknown; it absolutely cannot be used as evidence in court!”

Magistrate Pei Qingxue's gaze lingered on County Lieutenant Liu Kun's distorted face for two breaths.

Then it moved to the open ledger on the desk.

She walked to the edge of the desk and reached out to flip to the third page of the ledger.

Her fingertip paused on a checkmark drawn in cinnabar in the top left corner.

"County Lieutenant Liu Kun."

Magistrate Pei Qingxue turned the ledger around, making the page face Liu Kun, who was kneeling on the ground.

"The cinnabar used for this checkmark—is it the same shade as the imperial cinnabar brush you usually use to sign official documents?"

Liu Kun's eyes widened.

His lips opened and closed several times, but his throat only produced a few dry, raspy breaths.

Magistrate Pei Qingxue placed the ledger back on the desk, her fingertip lightly brushing the edge of the page.

"And these fingerprints attached to every page."

She raised her head, her eyes filled with majesty.

"If you claim they are forged, you are more than welcome to press a new one right here in court."

She took a cinnabar inkpad from the stationery box on the desk and gently pushed it to the edge of the table.

"Let everyone present compare them; the truth will be clear at once."

Liu Kun stared at the cinnabar inkpad, his entire body collapsing amidst the broken porcelain shards, unable to crawl back up.

The corners of his mouth began to twitch uncontrollably, and saliva dripped down his chin into the collar of his official robes.

"You don't dare to press it."

Magistrate Pei Qingxue put the cinnabar inkpad back into the stationery box and snapped the lid shut with a click.

She turned to face the hall, her hands folded in front of her.

"Men."

Her voice was decisive, penetrating every inch of the hall.

"Take the criminal official Liu Kun into custody, throw him into the dungeon, and await further orders."

The command echoed twice under the vaulted ceiling.

The Bailiffs on both sides of the hall looked at each other, their feet seemingly rooted to the floor tiles.

Behind Liu Kun, several of his trusted constables hesitated for a moment before placing their hands on the hilts of the sabers at their waists.

The burly head constable leading them took a half-step forward and spoke in a gruff voice.

"Magistrate Pei, County Lieutenant Liu is a commissioned official of the eighth rank. Without a warrant from the Prefecture or documents from the Ministry of Personnel..."

The head constable pressed his palm firmly against his saber hilt, his knuckles tightening.

"As a seventh-rank County Magistrate, I'm afraid you don't have the authority, do you?"

When he threw those words out, he deliberately emphasized the words 'eighth rank.'

The two trusted men standing behind him also placed their hands on their weapons, assuming a posture ready to draw their blades at any moment.

The atmosphere in the hall grew several degrees colder.

Magistrate Pei Qingxue's eyelashes trembled slightly, and her lips thinned into a line.

Lin Chen did not speak.

He merely placed his thumb back onto the brass crossguard of the ten-tempered refined steel saber at his waist.

His thumb pushed very slowly against the brass surface.

The friction between the scabbard and the blade produced a faint metallic ring.

Just that one sound.

The burly head constable's fingers on his saber hilt felt as if they had been scorched by red-hot iron, and his entire arm jerked back half an inch.

Dense beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, trickling down the bridge of his nose.

His gaze swept over the long saber at Lin Chen's waist, which was still dripping with blood.

Then he looked toward the entrance, at the head on the ground that had been split in two.

His Adam's apple bobbed violently twice.

The two trusted men behind him sensed their leader's hesitation, and their fingers on their weapons also loosened significantly.

Lin Chen's thumb pushed another inch along the crossguard.

The long saber emerged from the scabbard, revealing a faint blue sliver of steel, its cold light particularly piercing in the dim candlelight.

"Everyone."

Lin Chen's voice drifted out calmly from behind that glint of light.

"I just killed over a hundred men who were blocking the road with blades at Black Pine Stronghold."

He lightly tapped the brass surface of the crossguard with his thumb, producing a crisp clink.

"Three more of you won't make a difference."

The burly head constable's knees buckled.

He didn't kneel outright, but his legs had already gone soft.

His hands left his saber hilt and were raised high above his head, palms open toward Lin Chen.

"I wouldn't dare! This lowly one wouldn't dare!"

The weapons of the two trusted men behind him slipped from their waists, clattering loudly against the floor tiles.

Both knelt at the same time, their foreheads pressed against the cold stone slabs, unmoving.

"Magistrate Pei!"

Liu Kun poured all his remaining strength into his voice, his roar echoing through the hall.

"You are using public office to settle a private grudge!"

He struggled to push up half his body from the pile of broken porcelain.

The hem of his official robe was caught by the shards, tearing a long gash.

"The Zhao Family is behind me!"

Liu Kun pointed a finger at Magistrate Pei Qingxue, the finger trembling like a withered branch in the wind.

"Old Patriarch Zhao Cangyuan is a master of the Tongmai Realm!"

He emphasized those words heavily.

"If you touch me, the Zhao Family will not let you off!"

The madness of a dying man swirled in Liu Kun's triangular eyes.

"When the time comes, not a single person in this entire county office will be able to protect your official hat!"

Magistrate Pei Qingxue stood before the official desk, the sleeves of her crimson robes fluttering slightly in the evening breeze.

After hearing Liu Kun's roar, she turned her gaze to the ledger spread out on the desk.

Her slender finger rose from the cover of the ledger, pausing for a beat in mid-air.

"The Zhao Family?"

Magistrate Pei Qingxue smiled slightly.

"Under my governance, there is no distinction between a Zhao family or a Liu family before the law."

She folded her hands over the belt buckle in front of her, enunciating every word clearly.

"Even if the Son of Heaven breaks the law, he shall be punished like a commoner."

Her gaze swept over Liu Kun's head toward the densely packed faces of the commoners at the entrance of the hall.

"If the Zhao Family dares to harbor a criminal, they shall be considered accomplices."

The sentence spread under the vaulted ceiling, rolling from the interior of the hall all the way to the steps outside.

It rolled into every corner of the long street.

The commoners at the entrance were quiet for a moment.

Then, a roar like a landslide or a tsunami of cheers erupted.

Magistrate Pei Qingxue looked at Liu Kun no longer.

She tilted her head and lifted her chin toward the Bailiffs on both sides of the hall who were still hesitant.

"Do my words need to be said a second time?"

After hesitating for half a breath, several Bailiffs finally gathered their courage and stepped out from the walls.

Holding their Water-Fire Staff across their chests, they walked quickly toward Liu Kun, who was slumped in the pile of broken porcelain.

Watching the approaching staves, Liu Kun opened his mouth wide and let out a series of incoherent screams.

Two Bailiffs grabbed his arms from either side and hauled him up from the ground.

The front of Liu Kun's official robe had been shredded by the porcelain shards, the white silk lining showing through the tears.

His feet kicked incessantly against the floor tiles, his boot soles scraping against the stone in a series of sharp sounds.

"Let me go!"

Liu Kun's voice was hoarse to the limit, the sound squeezed from his throat like a piece of cloth being violently torn apart.

"I am a commissioned official of the court!"

He was dragged across the center of the hall by the two Bailiffs.

As he passed Ma Biao's mangled head on the ground, his entire body convulsed.

That upward-staring, cloudy single eye was less than a foot away from him.

Liu Kun closed his eyes and turned his face to the other side.

His body was dragged over the threshold, his official boots clattering against the stone edges of the steps.

The commoners kneeling all along the street watched Liu Kun being dragged out and were silent for a moment.

Then, a thunderous cheer broke out.

Secretary Wang knelt amidst the broken porcelain, watching Liu Kun's retreating figure disappear into the twilight outside the hall.

He used his uninjured right hand to prop himself up on the ground.

He bowed even lower, his forehead almost touching the cold stone tiles.

He did not dare to look up.

He did not dare to look at Lin Chen.

And he certainly did not dare to look at Magistrate Pei Qingxue.

Lin Chen released his thumb from the crossguard, and the long saber sank back into the bottom of the scabbard with a soft click.

He took a step back, making space.

His gaze fell on Magistrate Pei Qingxue's profile, lingering for a breath.

Magistrate Pei Qingxue did not look back.

She stood before the official desk, the hem of her crimson robes swaying slowly in the evening breeze blowing in from the entrance.

Her finger rested on the cover of the ledger, her nail leaving a faint mark on the rough paper.

The cheers of the commoners outside rose wave after wave, the sound surging upward through the vaulted ceiling of the hall.

Magistrate Pei Qingxue lowered her head, her gaze falling on the dark stains on the ledger's cover.

Her lips moved slightly, uttering a few words that only she could hear.

"The sky over Qingxi County... it's time for a change."

Deep in the hall, a Horn Lamp hanging from a pillar flickered twice in the wind.

The shadows cast Magistrate Pei Qingxue and Lin Chen onto the white wall behind them.

Two long, dark shadows intersected and overlapped in the flickering light.