Chapter 97

Sanfu was brought over by the guards. Neither of them knew how to ride horses, so they were escorted by guards on horseback, one guard for each of them.

The guard let Sanfu down, and Shen Yu jumped off the carriage. With a swift motion, she drew a knife from a guard’s waist.

Sanfu was terrified and tried to run, but he was caught by the collar and thrown to the ground by the guard.

Trembling on the ground, Sanfu kept muttering, “Master, spare me, master, spare me.”

Four Xi hurriedly knelt beside him, begging, “Master, what did my brother do wrong?”

Shen Yu stood upright with the knife in hand, plunging its tip into the ground.

She stared at Sanfu intently and said, “I told you I don’t tolerate lies. If you’re not honest, I’ll cut out your tongue.”

Sanfu’s forehead repeatedly knocked against the ground. “On my honor, everything I said is true.”

“You spoke ill of others, using coarse language and shouting at your colleagues,” Shen Yu continued.

Sanfu fell silent immediately. Who would have thought that those casual words would be so memorable to her?

He quickly kowtowed, “Master, spare me. It was just a slip of the tongue.”

Shen Yu narrowed her eyes. “You have one chance to speak again.”

Sanfu’s mind was not hard to guess. He intentionally portrayed the people as worse than they were, hoping to make their crimes seem more severe. That way, no one would defend them, and no one would investigate him for stealing swords.

Cowering on the ground, Sanfu dared not rise. “Although they looked fierce, they were actually quite kind. They never shouted at our colleagues.”

“Anything else you missed?” Shen Yu asked.

Struggling to think, Sanfu wished he could open his head and search inside.

“I remember,” Sanfu suddenly got up. “Those people called the old man ‘Dirty Uncle.’ I don’t know which ‘Dirty’ they meant. That’s all I can remember. We have many customers in our shop, and I can’t keep an eye on just a few of them.”

Shen Yu looked at Sanfu and suddenly swung the knife.

The sharp wind of the blade passed by his cheek, leaving him breathless, watching strands of hair fall.

Shen Yu said coldly, “When you go back, watch your tongue. If you can’t, I’ll do it for you, just like I did with your brother.”

Shen Yu sheathed the knife back into the guard’s scabbard, returned to the carriage, and continued the conversation with Xie Tingzhou. “Sanfu said they came to the capital to file a complaint, looking fierce but actually kind. They might really be righteous bandits.”

Xie Tingzhou frowned. “Are you suggesting that you suspect the Ghost Clan members of the Three Absolute Legs might have gone to Qichang and are now in the capital to file a complaint?”

Shen Yu’s thoughts were chaotic, linking seemingly unrelated events together, forming a tangled mess. It seemed like everything was about to connect into a line, but she couldn’t make sense of it.

Xie Tingzhou gazed at the flickering candlelight on the table and said softly, “Let’s assume your speculation is correct. When did you ever hear of bandits daring to file a complaint in the capital after robbing grain? And why would the Ghost Clan, as bandits, risk their lives to come to the capital? “

Xie Tingzhou’s voice suddenly stopped, and he looked sharply at Shen Yu, saying in a deep voice, “Because they’ve already heard that the court will send troops to eliminate the bandits after the New Year. But what if they didn’t rob any grain at all?”

A bolt of lightning seemed to strike through Shen Yu’s mind, and every hair on her body stood on end.

With those words, everything seemed to make sense.

The bandits in Qichang did not rob the grain. Hearing that the court was sending troops to eliminate the bandits, they risked their lives to come to the capital to file a complaint. But after being connected to a certain noble, they were silenced.

The person who silenced them knew them, indicating that the noble was involved in the grain case and wanted to kill them to cover it up.

Once the bandits were eliminated, the bandits in Qichang would be blamed for the crime. By then, the real culprit involved in the grain theft could rest easy.

If the bandits in Qichang didn’t rob the grain, then where did the grain go?

Seeing her shock, Xie Tingzhou poured her a cup of tea, “Speculating won’t help. Let’s send someone to investigate.”

Shen Yu naturally took the tea and took a sip. “But after the New Year, the bandit elimination will be on the agenda. Whoever goes, the bandits in Qichang will have no way out. By then, the evidence will disappear, and the truth will be buried.”

He sensed her disappointment, and his gaze deepened.

“If the truth comes to light, and justice is served, what will you do next?”

The cup was brought to her lips, and Shen Yu froze with the tea.

She hadn’t thought about this question. After being reborn, her trajectory seemed to be guided by fate, first wanting to save her father and brother, then seeking revenge for them.

If revenge were truly achieved, the pillar supporting her would seem to vanish, leaving her at a loss for what to do next.

“Perhaps,” she sighed, “perhaps I’ll go to Hezhou to accompany my grandmother, and maybe wander the rivers and lakes afterward.”

She shook her head. “But I don’t know for now.”

Xie Tingzhou looked deeply into her face, and when she suddenly looked at him, he said, “And you? What do you want to do in the future?”

Xie Tingzhou was silent for a moment, his eyes fixed on the flickering light, then he suddenly smiled. “What can I do? Continue being a hostage in the capital.”

The night was quiet and desolate, with only the sound of horse hooves treading on dry grass.

Shen Yu suddenly saw a great sadness in his smile.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Xie Tingzhou said without raising his eyes, but he could still feel her gaze on him.

Supporting his chin with one hand and turning the teacup with the other, a sinister gleam seemed to rise in his eyes again.

“What’s wrong with being a hostage? I have the Northern Army behind me, they fear me but dare not touch me, and they have to respectfully call me ‘Young Master.'”

Shen Yu remembered clearly the last time she saw him with such eyes, it was when they encountered danger on their way to the capital. Before he fainted on her shoulder, his eyes were flashing with the same madness.

“But you’re trapped.”

Xie Tingzhou’s movement of turning the teacup stopped abruptly. He put the cup back on the table and suddenly leaned in.

Staring into her eyes, he asked, “You don’t know what you want to do? Then do you want to be trapped here with me?”

For the first time, they were so close, their faces less than a hand’s breadth apart.

Shen Yu’s heartbeat suddenly accelerated, as if struggling to escape her throat.

She calmed her breathing, succumbing to his piercing gaze. “No one should be trapped here. You should be like Baiyu, soaring in the sky.”

Xie Tingzhou leaned back, a casual smile on his face, as if everything just now was a joke.

“Who says Baiyu isn’t trapped?” he said.

Shen Yu replied, “It’s trapped by itself, willingly staying by your side.”

At this moment, she couldn’t have imagined that one day this statement would come true for herself.