It was not entirely clear whether the county magistrate was fearful because he offended Chu Yunshen or he was surprised by the visit.

Chu Yunshen pursed his lips slightly and ignored the county magistrate as he knelt before him. Instead, he walked up to the desk and sat down.

There was a stack of opened letters on the desk. Chu Yunshen flipped through them leisurely as he looked at the county magistrate kneeling on the ground.

“You sure seem rather busy to me!”

The county magistrate was so anxious that more sweat oozed from his forehead as it trickled down his face onto the bluestone tile on the ground.

He gasped as he knelt and contemplated. The god of hell had just seen his correspondence with Su Ming. How could he explain himself now?

No one had announced Prince Jing’s arrival. Otherwise, he would be able to do something about the letters.

Chu Yunshen seemed capable of reading the county magistrate’s mind. He looked at him sternly as he said threateningly, “Don’t tell me you are coming up with some excuse to make me go away?”

“Erm…erm….” The county magistrate felt powerless when he realized that Chu Yunshen knew what he was trying to do, so he muttered nonstop and was incapable of lying.

A look of profundity emerged on Chu Yunshen’s well-chiseled face. “Enough. You can cut with the act.”

Xiaowu quietly studied the county magistrate’s face and wanted to squeeze some useful information from him

He turned to glance at Chu Yunshen with tacit understanding before he said, “The justice department has already investigated the case. Are you having trouble contacting Su Ming and receiving new orders?”

The moment the county magistrate heard what Xiaowu said, he hastily raised this head and stared at Xiaowu with his beady eyes in disbelief in the hope that he could see through him.

The sweat from his forehead had trickled down to his eyes and blurred his vision. Even though his eyes were burning, his heart felt cold. He genuinely hoped that Xiaowu was trying to pull a fast one on him.

He turned to look at Chu Yunshen once more.

Chu Yunshen looked at him expressionlessly without saying a word. No one was able to read his mind.

Cheng Xiaoxiao couldn’t help feeling sorry for the county magistrate.

Sigh! Chu Yunshen was running circles around the man, but he was oblivious. Chu Yunshen was such a cunning fellow.

Cheng Xiaoxiao was even more surprised that Xiaowu ended up so devious despite his typically silly behavior.

The calmer Chu Yunshen was, the more nervous the county magistrate became, but he didn’t dare to admit his crimes.

The county magistrate was incapable of getting in touch with Su Ming and Prince Jing found evidence against him, so there was no way he could explain himself.

Judging from what Prince Jing just said, Su Ming was already arrested. If the county magistrate continued to retaliate, he would be in bigger trouble.

What had Su Ming confessed about him? Had Su Ming already pushed all the blame on him?

If he confessed to the parts that only involved Su Ming and didn’t implicate Prince Qing, Prince Qing probably wouldn’t get angry with him, right?

He felt sorry about Su Ming.

After all, the county magistrate was incapable of even saving himself.

He kept contemplating in his heart for the best way to take care of this.

Xiaowu seemed to detect his hesitance, so he persisted in pushing him to spill the truth, “Have you decided? Have you remembered something? After all, Su Ming has told us everything.”

“Your Highness, I have genuinely exchanged secret correspondence with Mr Su.” The county magistrate knew there was no way to conceal the truth, so he did his utmost to get Chu Yunshen to let him off lightly and hurriedly added, “But I have only followed Mr Su’s orders and refused to receive guests. Other than that, I know nothing.”

Simply refused to receive guests?

Chu Yunshen seemed tickled by what Chen Fu said, so he sneered before glancing at Xiaowu.

“I believe that Mr Su mentioned that you are close to a rich man called, Hu Guangzhong. Your latest concubine was even from his family.” Xiaowu decided to mess with Chen Fu since he kept beating around the bush.

Well done, Su Ming. He had even told them about his relationship with the rich man and attempted to push the blame on him.

Since he was disloyal, there was no sense for the county magistrate to hold back!

The moment the county magistrate heard what Xiaowu said, he gnashed his teeth angrily.

“Your Highness, I only got to know Hu Guangzhong because I was introduced by Mr Su. As for my concubine, it was a pure coincidence.”

A coincidence?

Xiaowu retrieved a piece of paper from his sleeve dutifully and read it methodically, “On 15th October, you, Hu Guangzhong, Prefect Magistrate Liu and Mr Su dined at a restaurant together. You started around noon and left a couple of hours later. Why were you there?”

Chen Fu was genuinely startled and lost all confidence, but he continued to defend himself, “We were just hanging out. We were chatting about… the people’s suffering! Yes, that’s right! We were just talking shop!”

Chen Fu kept stammering and made no sense whatsoever.

Despite the admission, he didn’t say anything definitive.

The guard who was interrogating the advisor walked in and whispered to Xiaowu before handing him something.

The guard was so swift that Chen Fu was incapable of seeing what happened, so he continued to defend himself desperately, “I am genuinely innocent. You are an honorable man, so please seek justice for me!”

Sadly, Chu Yunshen merely smiled at Chen Fu ambiguously as he listened to Xiaowu’s report.

Xiaowu resumed his position beside Chu Yunshen and placed the object on the table.

“Before you continue misleading us, why don’t you take a look at your advisor’s confession?”

Chen Fu trembled as he stood up and walked over to the table and picked up the piece of paper to see that it was a confession signed with a bloody handprint.

It was filled with details from the advisor of the county magistrate’s role in the crime. He was in cahoots with the rich merchants and allowed salt prices to soar. The citizens of Jin City attempted to report it to him, but he ignored their suffering and failed to report it to his superior. Every single one of his crimes was in there.

“Erm…erm… This is one-sided evidence! These are just lies!”

Chen Fu crawled up to Chu Yunshen and implored desperately. He was unable to even make a good excuse and could only claim innocence repeatedly.

He was fighting like a cornered beast. Xiaowu looked at Chen Fu pitifully. “are you not going to confess? Your advisor has already handed all the evidence to His Highness. Your official seal and the people’s petition are hard evidence. If you continue to refuse to come clean, you are going to have an even harder time in the future.”

Chen Fu knew that his time was up, so he obediently confessed to most of the crimes. He kept trying to find a way out while he howled in regret.

“I was wrong to help Mr Su do this! I am willing to make amends by handing over the accounts as a show of my sincerity.”

Income from the sale of salt was the backbone of the country, so adjusting prices was punishable by death.

Now that he had offered to shoulder the crime and pushed all the blame on Su Ming, Prince Qing might be willing to help him get a light punishment.

Also, Prince Qing had the foresight to prepare a fake set of accounts and now was the perfect time to use it.

There was no way that Prince Jing would realize that only the list of conspirers was real while the accounts were fake!

That way, he could escape execution and prevent Prince Qing from getting implicated.

It was two birds with one stone!

Since there was no way for Su Ming to wriggle out of this, he would have to resign himself to this fate.

Chen Fu played by ear and retrieved a set of accounts from the cabinet beside him and handed it to Xiaowu obediently.

Chu Yunshen had gotten what he came for. He looked at the county magistrate in disdain as he cried and begged for forgiveness. Chu Yunshen did not want to linger for a moment longer.

“Xiaowu, take care of this.”

He carried Cheng Xiaoxiao and turned to leave and left Xiaowu to finish up on his own.

“Tell County Magistrate Chen that he will get a lighter sentence if he gives us more names.” Chu Yunshen pondered before he added, “We will spend the night here.”

Chu Yunshen’s secret guards were highly efficient and swiftly cleaned up an empty room for him.

Cheng Xiaoxiao noticed how much it resembled Chu Yunshen’s room back home, so she couldn’t help applauding the secret guard for being so good with their hands.

After Chu Yunshen and Cheng Xiaoxiao had settled in, Xiaowu came over with the accounts and name list.

“Master, all set.”

Chu Yunshen took the name list from Xiaowu and glanced at it. The names of Hu Guangzhong and some other rich merchants he had close ties with were all listed in it.

At least the county magistrate was honest with him.

Xiaowu was hesitant and didn’t take the name list back from Chu Yunshen right away. “Master, why didn’t we go straight to the prefect magistrate’s office? Why bother coming to this small town?”

Chu Yunshen chuckled without saying a word and left Xiaowu in utter suspense. “Master, you knew there was something wrong with Country Magistrate Chen. Why didn’t you let me expose him?”

“Is that so? Then what do you think we should’ve done?” Chu Yunshen said intriguingly before he awaited Xiaowu’s response.

Wow! Was Chu Yunshen seeking his opinion?!

Cheng Xiaoxiao was overwhelmed by the suspense as well. She pricked her ears and craned her head out of Chu Yunshen’s arms and wanted to listen more clearly.

“I think that Su Ming is just a deputy minister of revenue, so he couldn’t have done it alone.

Xiaowu continued to analyze cautiously, “Also, the moment you probed, he pointed his finger at Su Ming and admitted to his crime decisively, so I think he clearly isn’t working for Su Ming. If the county magistrate did, he wouldn’t have scattered the moment Su Ming was caught. Could the county magistrate be sacrificing himself to save someone else?”

“Now that an important puzzle piece like Su Ming has gone missing, it doesn’t make sense for the county magistrate to have the accounts.” Xiaowu felt motivated when he saw Chu Yunshen nodding in agreement, so he blurted everything on his mind, “Could the mastermind have given new orders for Su Ming to disappear when he realized things will get exposed? Perhaps the county magistrate is waiting for further instruction from the mastermind and trying to keep us from the truth?”

“Master?” Xiaowu was so blatantly seeking Chu Yunshen’s approval that Cheng Xiaoxiao couldn’t stand the sight.

Chu Yunshen looked out the window with his profound eyes as he gave off an intensely noble aura.

“Thereabouts.”

Chu Yunshen’s words failed to offer Xiaowu any comfort. Instead, Xiaowu hung his head dejectedly.