At this point she suddenly gave a sound of surprise shook her head and said. “No that is not right. The Earth Mother went to the Zhong residence first and only afterwards took the two girls as her disciples. The sequence of events is like that correct?”
Kong Shen nodded. “Correct.”
Mei Sanghai asked at once. “The Earth Mother is such a noble and transcendent person. Why would she descend at will to a mere merchant’s household? There must be some reason behind this.”
Kong Shen replied. “My lord I made inquiries. I specially sought out those in the know and asked them including the eunuch Tang who oversaw the raid. But everyone who knew anything was extremely guarded and had clearly been silenced. Those who were kind enough gave a hint not to ask more or it would bring trouble upon oneself.”
“Do not ask more or it will bring trouble?” Mei Sanghai muttered to himself. His brows furrowed tightly and he fell into deep thought.
Kong Shen continued. “Once the Earth Mother spoke the situation here changed at once. The truth from all the investigations came out immediately. It proved that Ah Shiheng did not throw away his official hat and leave. The hat slipped from his hand by accident while he was being retained and rolled down the steps. Many witnesses from the Censorate can testify to this.
No one heard Ah Shiheng make any complaints when he resigned and no witness could prove that Ah Shiheng had killed anyone. Many people from the Ministry of Justice even came forward to say that Ah Shiheng could not possibly have done these things and that the murderer must be someone else. In short they were all preparing a quick way to step back.”
“Humph!” Mei Sanghai gave a cold laugh as if he had seen it all before. Yet he still let out a deep sigh towards the sky. “Alas!”
Kong Shen knew he was feeling regret. They had been secretly watching Ah Shiheng for a long time and had finally seized an opportunity to act. They had also secretly pushed things along thinking that the Ah family matter could finally be ended completely. Who could have known it would conclude in such an unbelievable way? All their efforts had been in vain. How could he not feel regret?
After a long time Mei Sanghai gave a self mocking smile. “Send a congratulatory card and gift to the Sinan Mansion to congratulate the Earth Mother on accepting such excellent disciples!” With that he flicked his sleeve and left looking dispirited.
…
Stars and moon filled the sky. Clear radiance covered the mountains. Thin mist curled upwards. The mountains looked like dragon spines.
In the deep mountains and old forests a group of court trackers and pursuit experts dressed in practical tight clothes gathered together. They held torches and surrounded a map.
A cold faced man pointed at the map and said. “We have finally closed in. That clever fellow has been surrounded at last.”
A man with sunken cheeks sighed. “This guy. Before the sky darkened we could still follow his tracks closely and determine his direction to cut him off. But once the sky darkened and the mist rose he became as slippery as a mudfish. His courage is also too great. After our reinforcements arrived and so many people formed a net to search he still dared to slip through the gaps and even go back the opposite way. If not for the sufficient numbers of people we brought this time with repeated counter pushes and encirclements he would have almost escaped.”
“It is good that Fang Tou used a trick and made him rush straight into the pocket. This time he should not be able to run anymore.”
“Indeed. This is the first time we have met such a slippery person.”
“One must admit that being able to circle with us in these deep mountains and old forests for half the night against so many people who have caught others for half their lives shows real skill. I am convinced of his ability.”
“A top scholar after all. The top scorer with full marks in four subjects. A rare talent in a hundred years. His mind must be extraordinary and his brain must work well. I have seen it for myself today.”
“Yes it is quite a pity. How could such a talented person not think clearly and resign? He clearly had a great future ahead. It makes no sense. I still do not believe that he killed Lord Gao and those colleagues.”
“I did not believe it before either but… after being led around by him for half the night with so many people I am starting to believe it a little. Tell me a scholar with this kind of skill and such calm composure. Does he not seem like a habitual offender? It is possible that such a person quietly killed Lord Gao and those colleagues.”
Upon hearing this the few people gathered and talking fell silent for a moment. They all nodded slightly with similar agreement.
“What shall we do now? Close the net?”
“Wait a little longer. That top scholar is too slippery. Everyone has been tired out by him for half the night. Now that we are finally about to finish we must not let any accident happen at the last step and allow him to run again. If he runs this time he will have learned from the experience. With his reaction and mind it will be almost impossible to trap him in the net again. Catching him will become much harder.
If so many people and such a large operation still cannot catch a single man and let him escape then we will have nowhere to put our faces or the court’s face. We few who are in charge of the specific capture will have to go back and face the consequences.
Do not loosen the mouth of the net at all. Keep it tightly closed and do not move. Wait until the other personnel gather then send people in to encircle him. The outer perimeter must not relax and must not give him any opportunity.”
“Correct. We have already been at it for half the night. We do not mind waiting a little longer. This top scholar is truly too slippery. It is better to be steady.”
Everyone made sounds of agreement.
Soon lights appeared from behind. Several torches protected a man wearing a deep crimson fourth rank official robe. He made his way with deep and shallow steps through the rugged mountain forest.
The few people who had been discussing stood up at once and bowed together. “Lord Qiao.”
The newcomer stamped the mud off his feet and could not help cursing. “Damn it. In my many years doing this job I thought since it was not far from the capital and the men came quickly it would end soon. Who could have thought it would drag on until the middle of the night? It is truly seeing a ghost.
This top scholar must have read books until his mind went crooked. Do the books even teach people how to drill through mountains? Forget it. Let us close it. Once we get out of the mountains and back to the capital it will probably be dawn. Someone give me a clear word. I heard he has been surrounded. Is it confirmed?”
The man with sunken cheeks said. “My lord it is confirmed. This time he should be surrounded and unable to run. I think it is still not advisable to act now. Wait for more of the scattered personnel to arrive then go in with the net unloosened. That would be steadier.”
Lord Qiao waved his hand. “Not acting rashly is good. Keep the men in place and do not move. Do not accidentally injure anyone. A message just came from above saying that the arrest order for this top scholar has been revoked. It says that Gao Zeyu was not killed by him.”
“Ah after all this fuss it is revoked again. Are they playing with us?”
“If it was not him who killed then who did? Have they caught the real murderer?”
“How would I know? We just do as those above say.”
“But if they have not caught the real murderer then this top scholar is still the prime suspect. At least we should catch him first. After interrogation if it turns out to be a misunderstanding we can release him. It would not be too late. We guarantee we will not wrong him.”
“Exactly. If he is not guilty why did he run? Why lead us around for nothing?”
“Old Qiao I say we all crawled out of the same pit. You cannot put on official airs just because you got promoted right?”
“Oh come on. You are all elites of the Ministry of Justice. You are all my ancestors alright. How would I dare put on airs with you.”
“Then what exactly is going on? Give us a straight answer. Either catch him or let us go. What does it mean to keep the men surrounding him without moving? Are you making us brothers accompany you to watch the stars in the mountains?”
“I really do not know the specific details yet. The message from above was exactly like that. It said someone would come to coordinate with us on this matter.”
In the depths of a mountain ravine covered in thin mist Yu Qing who had been drilling through the mountains until he no longer looked human carefully approached the edge of the ravine to observe for a while. He noticed that there was still a group of people blocking the front and had to shrink back again.
He had already realised that he seemed to be trapped to death in this ravine.
Yet he was still unwilling and kept searching in all directions for a breakthrough.
He felt that the encircling people would definitely make a move. As long as there was movement there might be a flaw and he might be able to slip through.
However the people surrounding him gave him no opportunity. They simply held the encirclement tightly without moving.
This made him secretly anxious. Could they be planning to drag it out until dawn? If dawn really came and the mist dispersed it would be hard for him to escape.
Suddenly large areas of light appeared all around.
Yu Qing quickly looked around. He saw that many torches seemed to have appeared in the hazy mist surrounding him.
The firelight formed a circle then many lines of fire dragons poured in from all directions. The fire dragons did not insert directly into the encirclement but swirled like a vortex towards the centre.
“…” Yu Qing was speechless and kept turning to observe the surroundings.
Soon a group of people holding countless torches surrounded him tightly in the middle.
He suddenly drew his sword preparing to fight to the death.
He was also ready to face death.
Since escape seemed impossible either way he did not want to die in humiliation.
He was after all the sect leader of a faction. Dying with some dignity would not disgrace the disciples of Linglong View. At least the three fugitive senior brothers hiding in Linglong View had no right to laugh at him.
He only felt some unwillingness. The three senior brothers had all escaped the court’s pursuit yet he as the sect leader could not get away?
His final resentment in his heart was left for his little martial aunt.
He had always felt that his little martial aunt was the most capable in Linglong View and he had always trusted her words.
His little martial aunt had taught him to resign and run.
He deeply agreed and so he did it.
Damn it. He had not expected such an ending.
He might be the shortest lived sect leader in the history of Linglong View.
He did not know which bastard would end up with the pile of silver notes he had worked so hard to earn in his pocket…
Suddenly several figures flew over horizontally. Four grey clothed men carried a chair over using a makeshift litter pieced together from wooden sticks and the chair. A woman sat on it.
The simple litter landed in front of Yu Qing. The four grey clothed men then retreated and signalled for those who were too close to retreat together.
The woman on the chair stood up. She looked at the scene of the large force surrounding them then stared blankly at Yu Qing’s extremely bedraggled appearance.
It was hard to imagine that the unparalleled talent who had ridden through the streets on horseback receiving admiration from countless people would fall into such a situation where the whole world was his enemy.
Tears fell instantly. She lifted her sleeve to wipe her eyes and sobbed. “Brother in law how did you end up like this?”
Yu Qing smiled. He had seen this woman at the Zhong residence before when she was dressed as a maid.
He had heard that the eldest daughter of the Zhong family was gentle and the second was mischievous. He had guessed at the time that this was Zhong Su’s daughter Wen Ruowei.
Now hearing the way she addressed him it confirmed his guess. Of course at this moment he also felt some doubt and asked. “Why have you come?”
Wen Ruowei sobbed. “Come brother in law. Let us go back.”
“Go back?” Yu Qing laughed. So she had come to persuade him to surrender. He looked at the firelight all around and chuckled. “Go back my arse. Several thousand people to catch me alone. I refuse! If you want to catch me alive it is impossible!”