Chapter 49

Xun was about to ride to Juxian to investigate, and Cao De insisted on going with him. Xun glanced at his arm, which had just been bandaged, and Cao De smiled, saying, "It's just a minor injury, nothing to worry about." He clenched his teeth and said, "I want to know who is trying to take our lives!"

Xun stared into his eyes, "Actually... you don't trust me, do you?" You're afraid I'll destroy the evidence or something, so you insist on coming with me to Juxian, right? Cao De smiled bitterly, "How can I not trust Mr. Shi? But after this ordeal, who else can I trust?"

This guy is really straightforward. Xun glanced into the inner room and asked, "Lord Cao..." "My father is old and not very clear-headed," Cao De smiled, "but he has been through many storms in his years of service, so there's no need for me to stay and comfort him."

Thus, the two of them, along with the two soldiers from Tancheng, mounted their horses and left the Shi family estate—Xun's horse was his own, while the other three were from the Cao family. Juxian was over a hundred miles northeast of Haiqu, and by the time they reached the city walls, it was already dark, and the gates were firmly closed.

Xun raised Tao Qian's official document on his horse and called out loudly. A guard was lowered from the wall to inspect it, and only then did they open the gate a crack to let them in. Xun asked for directions to the county office and galloped ahead, dismounting at the entrance.

The other three bent down to massage their legs as soon as they dismounted. Cao De praised, "Mr. Shi, your horsemanship is excellent." Xun thought to himself that his horsemanship had improved, but it wasn't quite "excellent" yet; it was his stirrups that were good. Without responding, he rushed over and knocked on the door.

He knocked on the main door, but a side door opened, and a gatekeeper poked his head out, shouting, "Who is it at this hour of the night..." Xun rushed forward, waving the document, "By the order of the governor, I am here to see the magistrate of Juxian. Where is the magistrate?"

The gatekeeper was startled and hadn't even had time to answer when Xun and his companions had already rushed in. As they reached the entrance of the main hall, a steward came forward, "Who are you..." Xun repeated his purpose, and the steward hurriedly bowed, "Please wait in the hall, sir, I will inform the magistrate."

Xun entered the hall, and the servants lit the lamps. He was pondering whether, as Tao Qian's special envoy, he should sit in the honored position or wait in the guest position, when he suddenly heard a commotion from behind. Someone was shouting in alarm, and others were weeping. Xun thought, "This is bad," and in a few quick steps, he circled the screen and kicked open the back door of the hall, "What's going on?"

He heard the steward's voice reporting, "The magistrate has hanged himself..."

Xun felt a buzzing in his head—damn, this is deep! He heard Cao De's voice, "Don't lie, take us to see." Yes, Cao De was much calmer in the face of this crisis.

The steward led the four of them into the study, where several servants and maids were kneeling and weeping. They faced a corpse, dressed in a simple robe, without a hat, eyes wide open, tongue protruding—indeed, there was a deep勒痕 on his neck. Cao De asked, "Is this the magistrate of Juxian? When did he hang himself?"

The steward, tears streaming down his face, replied, "The magistrate was reading in the study after work. I only went to inform him of your arrival, and when I opened the door, I saw him hanging from the beam..." Xun noticed a piece of white silk still hanging from the beam, and the table overturned on the ground—there were no chairs or stools in those days, so he must have used the table to hang himself.

He felt a sense of confusion and chaos in his mind, and the sight of the corpse with its eyes and mouth open was truly terrifying. He turned away, unable to look, and stumbled to the door, his legs giving way, and he sat on the threshold.

He heard Cao De's voice behind him, "Who, exactly, is behind this?!"

Xun took a deep breath and turned to Cao De, "Who else knows where Lord Cao is staying?"

Cao De came over and sat down next to him—kneeling, in a very proper posture, quite different from Xun's—asked in a low voice, "I was going to ask you. Cao Zhonghui told you where my family is staying, but did you tell anyone else?"

Xun's mind flashed, "Could it be... you foresaw the danger to the Cao family in Langya, so you only revealed the address to Cao Zhonghui..." Cao De neither confirmed nor denied, but asked again, "Did you tell anyone else?"

Xun took a deep breath, "Chen Yuanlong and Governor Tao... if they told anyone... if those people had come a day earlier, the Cao family would not have survived!"

"Indeed," Cao De said doubtfully, "If you brought soldiers to protect us, why didn't they attack our estate earlier?" Xun explained that he first went to Huaxian and then asked Zang Ba for the soldiers— "So it must be that Governor Tao told someone else, and that person ordered the magistrate here to send troops to attack you."

Cao De suddenly asked, "The alliance between Xu and Yanzhou, even offering Xu Province to my brother, did the Cao and Mi families agree?" Xun realized that the idea of offering Xu Province to Cao Cao was his own, and Cao Hong and Chen Deng had shown limited agreement, but there was one person whose stance was still unknown— "Mi Zizhong!"

Indeed, Cao Song's whereabouts were likely only known to Tao Qian's confidants, and apart from Chen Deng and the Cao brothers, that would be Mi Zhu. Of course, Cao Bao might have plotted to kill Cao Song, but he would have known Cao Song's location long ago and would not have waited until now. However, the fact that the attackers claimed to be acting on Tao Qian's orders—would Tao Qian's reputation being ruined benefit Mi Zhu in any way?

"There are two more people," Cao De, after hearing Xun's analysis, offered a different opinion, "If Governor Tao were still alive, you would not have offered Xu Province, and if he were to die, who would be most unwilling to see Xu Province fall into others' hands?" "You mean Tao Shang and Tao Ying?" Xun shook his head, "If they had such foresight, we would not have considered offering the province."

"Who's to say they don't have wise advisors around them?"

As Cao De spoke, Xun suddenly had an idea and stood up, saying, "Go and check his correspondence." Cao De shook his head, "I noticed the ashes of bamboo slips in the fire basin..." Xun was taken aback and quickly rushed back into the room. The steward and the servants were still gathered around the corpse, waiting for someone to take charge. Xun, with a cold expression, ordered, "Turn the body over."

The steward looked up, tears in his eyes, and stared at him in surprise. Cao De followed, eyes wide, and shouted, "Turn it over!" As the son of a high-ranking official, his authoritative demeanor was deeply ingrained, and the small-town steward could not resist. He immediately called a few servants to turn the body over.

Xun lifted the corpse's collar and took a look, gasping, "It's a murder!"

In his previous life, he wasn't a fan of detective novels, but he had read a few and had some idea of the differences between a typical hanging and strangulation. The marks on the magistrate's neck extended to the back and were slightly crossed—had it been a proper hanging, the marks would have only extended to the sides of the neck. This clearly indicated that the person had been strangled first and then hung to create the appearance of a suicide.

He explained his analysis to Cao De, who also changed his expression and turned to the steward, "In the past few days, has anyone visited the magistrate?" The steward was recalling when he heard a voice from the doorway, "Who are you?"

It was the county magistrate's assistant, whom the steward and the others were waiting for to take charge. Xun showed the assistant the official document, and he immediately put on a fawning smile. Turning to the steward, he asked, "A few days ago, did anyone visit the magistrate?" The steward replied, "Indeed, a stranger came two days ago, met with the magistrate in private, and then the magistrate sent out troops..."

"Who was that person? Where is he now? Where did he come from?"

The steward replied that the person claimed to be from Tancheng, looked like a servant from a wealthy family, but was strong and muscular. As for his name and specific background, he was not clear. After the meeting, the person left, and no one knew if he had left the city.

The trail ended there. Xun, not being a detective, could not deduce any further. He asked the steward for pen and ink, wrote down the events and his initial analysis in detail, and instructed the assistant to send someone to Tancheng to deliver it to Chen Deng. He also requested that the magistrate's body be temporarily preserved and not buried, and that all the people in the county office be kept under watch, awaiting further investigation from Tancheng—hoping that Chen Yuanlong's wisdom could quickly uncover the mastermind.

Cao De watched him write and commented, "Mr. Shi, your handwriting is quite interesting." Xun realized that his writing was not pure clerical script—since he had practiced calligraphy in his previous life but not clerical script, he unconsciously used many regular script techniques and even some cursive, making it a mix of clerical, regular, and cursive. He could only say, "My mind is not at ease, and the situation is urgent, so my writing is not good. Please forgive me."

He looked up at Cao De, "Given this, your family should leave Xu Province immediately and go to Yanzhou to avoid danger!"

Cao De nodded, "I will try to persuade my father..." He suddenly paused, his thoughts shifting, "Mr. Shi, according to you, Tao Shang and Tao Ying are not capable?" Xun nodded. Cao De suddenly slapped his hand and said through gritted teeth, "I know, I know who is determined to take our lives!"

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Cao De has suddenly realized who is behind the plot to take their lives.