Cao Xinggong feared his nephew would suffer greatly so he adjusted his plea. Sir this humble one fears that my nephew cannot withstand the terrifying methods of the Wolf Guard. I fear he may blurt out something he should not say. If by chance he reveals the matter of the exam questions this humble one would be unable to escape blame even if I died ten thousand times.
The old man inside slowly turned his head and looked out past the gauze curtain. He said indifferently What exam questions? This old man does not understand what you are talking about.
Cao Xinggong immediately understood the meaning. If the exam questions could not be covered up the one who would bear responsibility could only be himself and it would have nothing to do with the other party.
What alarmed him even more was that he realised he had spoken wrongly in his panic. He hurriedly slapped himself hard twice on the face. It was this humble one who got muddled in haste. It was this humble one who spoke without choosing his words. Then he kowtowed repeatedly without stopping. He kept kowtowing until blood flowed from his forehead yet he did not dare to stop. From time to time he slapped himself hard twice more on the face.
After a good while the old man inside slowly turned his head back. He sighed as if his heart had softened. All right all right. Quiet down a little on this late night. The one truly backing the Wolf Guard from behind is actually His Majesty himself. No one can save your nephew tonight. You can only help him seek his own good fortune.
Xinggong ah what this old man appreciates most about you is that you know your place and understand reason. Do not lose your composure. The situation is unclear now so just wait. Everything that happens tonight will require an explanation from the Wolf Guard tomorrow. Tomorrow everything will naturally become clear. This old man will decide as appropriate. Go back and rest early.
Cao Xinggong whose face was already covered in blood did not dare to say more. He answered Yes then quickly got up and took his leave.
In the nearby shadows someone appeared. They brought something to wipe with and cleaned the blood from Cao Xinggong’s face before directly applying medicine for him.
A bucket of water was also carried to the spot where Cao Xinggong had kowtowed earlier and the bloodstains on the ground were washed away with water.
In the military camp prison Xu Fei who had been shoved inside was seeing it for the first time.
The torture chamber in the prison in particular was something he had never laid eyes on before.
Xu Fei was pushed in front of a pile of torture instruments that were covered in rust or bloodstains.
Wei Lin paced over to his side. I will ask you one more time. In the confessions the three of you gave about the ancient tomb wasteland did you omit or conceal anything?
Xu Fei felt extremely uneasy inside but he still forced himself to say General I truly do not understand what you mean. I do not recall concealing anything.
Wei Lin immediately stopped speaking further. He raised his hand and made a forward gesture.
A stove-like furnace was lit at once and someone carried over a basket of charcoal and poured it onto the furnace.
Then Xu Fei was pinned down. His shoes and socks were stripped off on the spot. Someone pulled down an iron chain from above and bound his hands together.
The chain was pulled several times over a pulley and Xu Fei was immediately hoisted up.
He dangled in the air swaying unsteadily. Once he stopped swinging wildly his body was positioned directly above the furnace.
The chain began to lower again until Xu Fei’s feet could just step on the charcoal.
A kind hearted person lifted an iron plate and placed it on the charcoal while Xu Fei instinctively drew back his feet.
At this moment someone began working the bellows. Sparks flew out from around the iron plate with a whooshing sound.
Before long the iron plate began to glow red from the centre.
Xu Fei suspended above curled his feet and did not dare to lower them. His face full of terror he said I am a court appointed official. How can you do this.
Wei Lin gave a reply I have killed corrupt officials of higher rank than you before. Your waist and leg strength is not bad. It seems you have trained. He raised his hand and made another gesture.
The chain began to lower again. Xu Fei had no choice but to curl his feet up once more.
So the chain continued to lower slowly.
In the end even curling his feet was useless. Xu Fei drew his legs up in a curl and clasped his feet around the chain that bound his hands.
But it was no use. The chain kept descending.
The increasingly intense high temperature roasted him and the effort of clinging to the chain soon left Xu Fei drenched in sweat. The sweat that dripped down continuously sizzled into green smoke on the glowing red iron plate.
He kept shouting his innocence in his mouth claiming he was a court appointed official and so on.
He was not stupid and not without any experience. He knew that if he kept certain things unsaid he might still be fine but once he spoke there would be no way back.
Yet reality was cruel. After all only a very small number of people could truly withstand severe torture and he was not among that small number.
Until he felt the glowing red iron plate was about to brand his buttocks. If he lay down on it what would become of him?
His body strained desperately upwards but the chain kept descending. It was simply terrifying.
Xu Fei was finally driven near collapse by this set of torture. He ultimately shouted out I will talk.
Wei Lin tilted his head to signal so the chain began to rise again. It was hoisted until Xu Fei’s feet when lowered were still some distance from the glowing red iron plate.
The bellows lever for the furnace fire also stopped being worked.
Xu Fei was not released for the time being. Wei Lin stared at the sweat drenched Xu Fei and said Speak.
Xu Fei’s eyes were already filled with tears.
He had once yearned for the heroic spirit of the jianghu. He had fantasised about being a hard boned hero. He had fantasised about upholding justice. Yet he discovered he could achieve none of it.
For fame and fortune for a name on the golden list he had repeatedly committed cheating.
To survive under this chain that suspended him he had committed the act of betraying his friend.
At this moment he suddenly felt a bit heartbroken because he had truly recognised what kind of person he was.
It turned out he had already become the kind of person he once hated. He could not help letting out a sorrowful roar It was the new top scholar A Shi Heng. He forced me to conceal it.
He spilled out everything that Yu Qing had made him conceal.
Killing Hei Yunxiao to save his own life by fooling Tie Miaoqing and the others and having no choice but to help Tie Miaoqing find fire crickets and the like.
He cursed Yu Qing for being greedy for wealth and profit saying that he himself had spent four thousand taels of silver to get Yu Qing to help preserve his life.
He recounted all of Yu Qing’s various improper deeds and also revealed that Yu Qing had repeatedly instructed him and Chong’er not to tell the truth to the court escort troops.
He had already realised he had been dragged into a pit by the mess Yu Qing had created.
When he cursed Yu Qing for being greedy for wealth and profit it was subconsciously also to give himself an excuse. It was not that I wanted to betray my friend but that you A Shi Heng were never a good person to begin with.
After listening Wei Lin asked again You had already joined up with the escort troops yet you still obeyed him obediently? You are not a three year old child. You should know what can be said and what cannot be said.
Xu Fei wept bitterly with tears flowing I was possessed. I was momentarily possessed and got on his crooked boat. The first place in the word riddle guessing at Liezhou Wenhua Academy was not me. It was actually him. He then revealed how he and Yu Qing had jointly cheated at Wenhua Academy saying that Yu Qing had used this to blackmail him so he had no choice but to help deceive together.
Wei Lin felt somewhat speechless. He turned back to look at the clerk recording the confession. The latter nodded to indicate that everything had been recorded properly.
Shortly after Xu Fei was lowered down. He signed and fingerprinted the confession. The man was already crying in deep sorrow without knowing why he wept.
Wei Lin who had received the confession read through it once more and sighed repeatedly with emotion.
Truly one does not know until one digs and once one digs it is startling.
He had not expected that a single journey to the capital for the exams by that A Shi Heng could dig up so many things.
Who knew what other secrets that fellow was still hiding behind him.
No wonder he refused to admit knowing Bai Lan no matter what. It turned out he had committed murder for money.
Seeing the matter of taking first place in the word riddle guessing at Wenhua Academy he was truly impressed. He had confidence in taking first without even knowing what the riddle questions were. What powerful self confidence that required. A talented person is indeed talented. No wonder he could achieve full marks in four subjects and become the top metropolitan graduate.
There was also that drawing of talismans to preserve life and the unknown method used to help catch the fire crickets.
What was all this? He found it hard to imagine that someone who did these miscellaneous things could actually achieve full marks in four subjects.
Did these seem like things a proper scholar could do?
He just could not understand. With such talent and such methods why live like someone who values money more than life? With such abilities was it so hard to earn money honestly and openly?
For some reason the more he looked at this confession the more he felt that the top scholar had a somewhat evil air about him.
Of course none of that was important.
To him the most important thing was that he had finally clarified the truth behind this assassination incident.
He had finally clarified the relationship between Yu Qing and Bai Lan and clarified why Hei Ling’er and Bai Lan wanted to kill Yu Qing.
He could now give Duke Xuan of the State Ying Xiaotang an explanation.
After learning of the murder of the A Jiezhang family Duke Xuan of the State Ying Xiaotang had secretly issued an order and sent additional people to keep a covert watch on Yu Qing.
Ying Xiaotang suspected that the mastermind behind the scenes from back then would not easily give up and might strike again at the son of A Jiezhang.
Ying Xiaotang was waiting for the mastermind to act once more because the events from back then were too long ago and new clues were needed to follow the vine and find the melon.
The blood debt of the A Jiezhang family could not be treated as if it had never happened.
This was also why the moment Hei Ling’er and Bai Lan made their move it provoked such a large reaction from the military. The army directly sealed off Xiyue Fang and even ransacked the entire Xiyue Fang.
Afterwards although Bai Lan had escaped the pursuit of Bai Lan would not be abandoned and was being carried out at full speed.
Only then did the subsequent scenes occur.
Previously after Wei Lin learned that Bai Lan and her husband had participated in the assassination of the Liezhou examinees he had somewhat suspected it was a false front and that they were trying to cover up the assassination of A Shi Heng.
Yu Qing refused to tell the truth and Wei Lin could not use torture to force him. With no other choice he had to capture Xu Fei instead.
In the end he had managed to pry open Xu Fei’s mouth yet the truth turned out to be like this.
Only then did he learn that Yu Qing had murdered for money and profit. Yu Qing had killed Bai Lan’s husband and killed Hei Ling’er’s younger brother first.
Only then did he learn that Bai Lan and Hei Ling’er’s attack on Yu Qing was merely private revenge.
As a result they had also dug up a pile of shady deeds that Yu Qing had done in secret.
Even Wei Lin could not help sighing. He himself could not figure out what Yu Qing was thinking. Would it not have been fine to confess honestly? Why force the Wolf Guard to go to such great lengths to dig up a pile of your embarrassing affairs?
He felt that this A Shi Heng seemed to have a rather off relationship with their side and Duke Xuan of the State.
A carriage left the Wolf Guard station. The dishevelled Xu Fei swayed inside it looking somewhat lost and dejected.
The Wolf Guard did not trouble him further and had no interest in his those messy affairs. After obtaining the answers they wanted they sent people to escort him back. After all he was a court appointed official.