Chapter 22

Time quickly came to the afternoon.

A troop of cavalry appeared outside Wu Family Fort, led by Zhu Xiuzai.

The strongmen guarding the wall, upon seeing them from afar, hurried to inform Qin Shaoyou.

By the time Qin Shaoyou arrived, the cavalry had already reached the foot of Wu Family Fort.

Apart from Zhu Xiuzai and the few strongmen he had taken, there was another familiar face in the group—Xu Zongqi.

Xue Qingshan had sent his trusted commander, indicating that he took this case very seriously.

Looking at the people Xu Zongqi had brought, they were all new recruits added to Luocheng Town Demon Suppression Bureau in the past few months.

Qin Shaoyou instantly understood his brother-in-law's thoughts.

"It seems my brother-in-law is also worried that some of the old hands in the Luocheng Town Demon Suppression Bureau might have been bought off by the Wu family, and would cause trouble, obstruct the investigation, or even destroy evidence..."

Outside Wu Family Fort, Zhu Xiuzai saw Qin Shaoyou and shouted loudly, "Sir, we're back!"

"Open the gate."

Qin Shaoyou snapped out of his thoughts, turned to instruct Ma Heshang, then walked down from the wall to welcome Xu Zongqi and Zhu Xiuzai.

The gate of Wu Family Fort was quickly opened, and the cavalry entered one after another.

Qin Shaoyou first thanked Zhu Xiuzai and the strongmen for their hard work, then bowed to Xu Zongqi.

Xu Zongqi, seeing Qin Shaoyou, was very pleased. He grabbed him and said, "Lord Xue asked me to tell you—'You did a great job, you're truly a lucky general!'"

After passing on the message, Xu Zongqi had his subordinates take over from Zhu Xiuzai and Ma Heshang, and sent the Demon Suppression Bureau's medical officer to check on the unconscious merchants, trying to wake them up.

Xu Zongqi himself continued talking to Qin Shaoyou.

"Lord Xue just took over the Luocheng Town Demon Suppression Bureau and needs to make some achievements to prove himself and silence his critics. You've brought him such a big case, he's overjoyed and keeps praising you. This time, we must follow the trail and root out all the Night Watchmen and officials who have ties with the Wu family!"

Qin Shaoyou immediately understood.

His brother-in-law was using the Wu family case to establish his authority!

Besides the Night Watchmen bought by the Wu family, he might also take the opportunity to deal with those who didn't listen to him.

Qin Shaoyou had no interest in getting involved in such political power struggles.

Xu Zongqi also noticed this, so after a brief chat to let Qin Shaoyou know the general situation, he ended the topic.

The two of them went to the handover site.

Xu Zongqi asked as a matter of course, "Are all the people and property of the Wu family here? You didn't let any of them escape or take any of their wealth for yourselves, did you?"

"No, we are not that kind of people!"

Qin Shaoyou looked very righteous.

Xu Zongqi nodded, not asking any more, but glanced casually at the few strongmen under Qin Shaoyou.

The strongmen all smiled back, but their smiles were a bit forced.

One of the strongmen, feeling nervous, instinctively reached for his waist when Xu Zongqi looked at him, as if trying to hide something.

What he didn't expect was that as soon as his hand touched his belt, it pressed the hidden object out, and it clattered to the ground.

A gold ingot, shining brightly in the sunlight.

The strongman, realizing he had caused trouble, broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly bent down to pick up the gold ingot.

Before he could pick it up, two silver ingots fell from his chest.

The strongman froze, not daring to move.

The atmosphere immediately became tense, and everyone felt awkward.

Qin Shaoyou was the first to react, glaring at the strongman and pretending nothing had happened, he said:

"What are you standing there for? Pick up the money! You've finally saved a bit, and now you're showing off, are you?"

"Yes, yes."

Although scolded, the strongman breathed a sigh of relief and quickly picked up the gold and silver ingots, stuffing them back into his chest.

His colleagues also breathed a sigh of relief, whispering, "What's wrong with you, so careless?"

The strongman replied in a lower voice, "I didn't mean to. Lord Qin gave us too much gold and silver, and I couldn't fit it all in my sleeves or chest. When Xu Zongqi looked at me, I got nervous..."

Qin Shaoyou turned back, maintaining a calm expression as he explained to Xu Zongqi, "This strongman has served the Demon Suppression Bureau for many years, so it's normal for him to have some savings, right?"

"Right, very normal." Xu Zongqi chuckled dryly.

In his heart, he was thinking: "Normal my ass. Do you think I don't know where this gold and silver came from? How could a strongman possibly save so much just on his salary?"

But Xu Zongqi didn't expose Qin Shaoyou.

On one hand, it was because of Qin Shaoyou's relationship with Xue Qingshan.

On the other hand, taking some money and goods from the seized property was an unwritten rule.

Although the Great Xia Law explicitly forbade it, as long as it wasn't excessive, it was usually ignored.

Not to mention Qin Shaoyou and his men, even Xu Zongqi himself would take his share before sending the Wu family's property back to Luocheng.

Qin Shaoyou's strongmen had done this many times before, but this time they had received more money, which made them nervous.

Seeing that his men had almost finished the handover with Qin Shaoyou, Xu Zongqi waved them away.

"Alright, you'd better leave quickly. The rest is up to us. If you don't leave soon, you might not reach your destination before dark."

He was eager to get them out of there, fearing that the unlucky strongman might cause more trouble and make everyone lose face.

Qin Shaoyou was more than happy to leave, bowing and saying, "We'll be on our way. Thank you, Xu Zongqi, for your hard work here."

Xu Zongqi returned the bow, "It's no trouble, it's my duty. I wish you a safe journey and hope you solve the case soon. When you return to Luocheng, I'll treat you to a drink."

He was benefiting from Qin Shaoyou's success and wanted to build a good relationship with him, so he offered his friendship.

"Thank you, Xu Zongqi."

Qin Shaoyou naturally didn't refuse the offer, accepted it, then mounted his horse and led Zhu Xiuzai and Ma Heshang out of Wu Family Fort, galloping towards Mianyuan County.

The journey went smoothly, and they encountered no further incidents.

When they arrived at Mianyuan County, it was still daylight, and the city gates were open.

Compared to Luocheng, Mianyuan County's walls and gates were much smaller, but there were quite a few dogs inside and outside the city.

A group of soldiers guarded the city gate, checking the identities and luggage of people entering and leaving.

Seeing Qin Shaoyou and his group arrive, the soldiers immediately became alert because they were all tall and muscular and carried weapons.

A burly man, who seemed to be the leader, placed his hand on his sword and shouted, "Halt and dismount! Who are you, and what brings you to Mianyuan County?"

"We are bailiffs from Luocheng, sent to Mianyuan County on official business."

Qin Shaoyou took out a Luocheng bailiff's badge and relevant documents from his bag and had Zhu Xiuzai show them to the soldiers.

The bailiff's identity was their cover for this mission.

It gave them the authority to investigate without alarming the demons that were stealing children.

After all, ordinary bailiffs were no match for demons.

The soldier leader examined the badge and, though he couldn't read the documents, carefully compared the seal.

Satisfied, he returned the items to Zhu Xiuzai, signaling his men to let them pass, and asked, "Official business? Are you here to investigate the missing children case?"

"How did you know?" Qin Shaoyou asked casually, putting away the badge and documents.

The soldier leader chuckled.

"Is that even a question? In the past two months, what other case in Mianyuan County would be important enough to bring bailiffs from the capital?

But if you ask me, you won't find much.

Because this case isn't the work of humans, but of demons. The Demon Suppression Bureau should be handling it!"

"The Demon Suppression Bureau is currently dealing with the Black Lotus Sect, so they can't spare anyone right now," Qin Shaoyou said, half-truthfully, then asked, "Have any children gone missing in the past two days?"

"Of course! Just last night, the eldest grandson of Zhang Shilang went missing.

The county magistrate was summoned to Zhang Shilang's residence in the middle of the night and was scolded severely.

The bailiffs and Night Watchmen searched the entire city, causing chaos, but found nothing."

"Zhang Shilang's eldest grandson is missing too?"

Qin Shaoyou couldn't help but frown. This was not good news.

As they were about to enter the city, one of the strongmen couldn't help but comment, "There are so many dogs in Mianyuan County."

"These are stray dogs," the city gate soldier replied. "In the past few months, many stray dogs have come to Mianyuan County, even entering people's homes. Some people have caught and killed them for meat, which is said to be very delicious."

"Stray dogs, huh?"

Qin Shaoyou raised an eyebrow and cast a scrutinizing glance at the dogs wandering around.

"Hmm?"

After looking, he was somewhat surprised.

He actually saw despair and pain in the eyes of these stray dogs.

Do dogs... feel despair too?