It would take about a week by carriage from the capital to Huzhou, but only four or five days on horseback. Ye Zhizhou endured the jolting ride, nestled in Shen Tingwei's arms, anxiously calculating the timeline.
By now, the son of the wealthy merchant should have been slaughtered along with his entire family. Zhang Xuemi, the son of the scholar, was likely still meeting acquaintances in Qianzhou. He had met Zou Qing on the way back from Qianzhou to the capital, probably two days after Zou Qing had recovered from his injuries. Zou Qing's injuries were not severe, though he had faked his death, and his body had healed completely after just four days.
Ye Zhizhou couldn't help but turn his head and urge, "Tingwei, go a bit faster. Let's stop in Luzhou when we get there."
Shen Tingwei glanced down at him, wrapped his cloak around him a bit tighter, and increased their pace.
With a horse at full gallop, Ye Zhizhou finally arrived at the inn where he and the protagonist, Chunfeng, had stayed once. He chose the room next to Zhang Xuemi's and lay down, applying ointment to his chafed legs. In ancient times, transportation was too primitive, and people's skin was as delicate as girls'. He suffered quite a bit; he preferred the robust bodies from his previous worlds.
Shen Tingwei frowned and sat beside him, taking the ointment and applying it without a word. His movements were gentle, but his expression was frightening.
"Are you angry?" Ye Zhizhou poked him, feeling a bit guilty. This trip was something he had begged for, and Shen Tingwei had postponed a lot of official duties for it. Initially, he had wanted to go alone, but he knew his lover wouldn't allow it. Plus, he was in a hurry at the time. He wished he had just sneaked away.
"What are you thinking?" Shen Tingwei's voice was icy, and his tone was ominous. Ye Zhizhou was startled and quickly pushed the idea of sneaking away out of his mind. Seeing that the ointment had been applied, he quickly got dressed and threw himself at his lover, kissing him and promising, "Don't be angry. I have something important to do, I swear it's only this once, not a precedent."
Shen Tingwei's expression finally softened a bit, and he held onto Ye Zhizhou's waist, asking solemnly, "What exactly are you up to? You were in a hurry to go to Huzhou at first, but now you've stopped in Luzhou. Is this related to Zou Qing?" He remembered that Zou Qing had married into a wealthy merchant family in Huzhou from the countryside.
Ye Zhizhou hesitated for a moment and nodded, "It is indeed related to Zou Qing. If nothing unexpected happens, my father should have received a letter from Huzhou by now. On the second night of Zou Qing's wedding, his husband's family was wiped out by a group of bandits."
"Wiped out?" Shen Tingwei's expression darkened. "Wasn't his husband's family in Huzhou City? How could such bold bandits infiltrate the city and commit such a heinous act? The city's guards in Huzhou are nothing more than decorations!"
"I find it strange too." On this journey, he had thought about the plot and found many things didn't add up. First, the wealthy merchant's family - how did they suddenly encounter bandits? And those bandits weren't after money; they only killed people and left no trace. There were no clues for the authorities to find. Then there was the sudden appearance of that divine doctor, who disappeared immediately after saving Zou Qing, as if his appearance was solely for Zou Qing's sake. Finally, there was the matter of Zou Qing being officially registered as deceased. When Zou Qing discovered this, he only needed to show up at the local authorities to nullify the death registration. With his father's official position, he wouldn't have needed to go to the capital alone. As long as he revealed his identity, the local authorities would have surely taken care of him, and he could have waited for his father's men to come and fetch him."
In any case, it's very strange. Looking at the original plot and the altered plot, Zou Qing doesn't seem foolish, so why is he putting himself through all this?
Shen Tingwei furrowed his brows and pondered for a moment. He suddenly let go of Ye Zhizhou, got up, and went out to find a waiter for writing materials. He quickly wrote a letter, then called over a guard, gave him the letter, and instructed him before sending him away.
"Do we still have guards following us?"
Ye Zhizhou was surprised. He had been monitoring his surroundings with his psychic powers all along and hadn't sensed anyone following them. But just now, that guard...
"I left marks along the way, and a few guards have been trailing us closely," Shen Tingwei explained briefly. He then called over a waiter to fetch bathing water and food. Walking to the bedside, he touched Ye Zhizhou's hair and said gently, "Qingqing, if you want to do something, just tell me directly. I'll help you with it. There's no need to tire yourself out like this."
The touch on his head was gentle, and Ye Zhizhou, whose emotions had been tossed around by the rising chances of falling in love, suddenly calmed down. He couldn't help but embrace Shen Tingwei's waist after considering for a moment and said, "Well, I happen to have something on my hands. In about four days, in a mountain hollow on the shady side of Tiger Peak Mountain outside Luzhou City, there will be a poisoned assassin. You should go and capture him."
"An assassin?" Shen Tingwei sat down beside him and didn't ask how he knew this. He naturally trusted his words and thought along with him. He began to worry about his safety and asked, "How did you get involved with an assassin? Is someone trying to kill you?"
"It's not like that. The assassin thing is just information I happened to come across. It has nothing to do with me." He comfortingly held Shen Tingwei's hand and squeezed it, then squinted as he thought, "I'm curious... After an assassin who's taken more than a dozen lives is caught by the authorities, does he have any way out?"
"No," Shen Tingwei answered decisively. After a pause, he added, "Unless all those he killed were heinous criminals. The court has a policy to pardon such special assassins. If their identity is confirmed, they can join the army or some of the court's covert organizations, but they will lose their freedom."
He mentally went through the list of murder tasks that Kang Run had received and found that the male protagonist seemed to have some twisted values, taking tasks based on his preferences. Although most of the people he killed were bad individuals, there were a few whose deaths were inexplicable.
How would this balance out in the end?
The sound of a waiter knocking on the door to deliver something interrupted his thoughts. He snapped out of it, shook his head to clear his mind of various plotlines, and focused on having a meal with his lover. Later, they took an intimate bath together.
At midnight, the guard who had delivered the letter came back. The news he brought completely disrupted Ye Zhizhou's sleepiness.
"What did you say? They suspect that Zou Qing killed the wealthy merchant's family?"
"The authorities only have suspicions and are trying to suppress this matter." The guard handed over a document written by the local officials and said respectfully, "There are no signs of the main gate being forcibly entered, and there are no clues indicating the entry and exit of any culprits on the surrounding walls. Residues of a sleeping drug were found in the well. Although most of the bodies were burned beyond recognition, judging from a few bodies with clear signs of knife wounds, it seems that the killer was relatively weak, and there were no signs of struggle when the victims were killed, indicating that they were likely unconscious due to the drug."
Shen Tingwei wrapped Ye Zhizhou in a cloak and took the document, reading it before continuing to ask, "Have they found Zou Qing?"
"No." The guard lowered his head further and replied, "The Huzhou authorities are wary of the Zou family and... General Shen's influence, so they dare not openly suspect Zou Qing. Moreover, there was a corpse at the scene dressed in Zou Qing's clothes and jewelry, burnt beyond recognition. So, they..."
"So they directly registered Zou Qing's death and planned to cover up this matter, even if they noticed something was amiss with that corpse?" Shen Tingwei's face turned cold as he took over the conversation and threw the document onto the table. "This is outrageous! How can they be so hasty in closing a case involving loss of human lives? Just because they're afraid of offending the Zou family and the Shen family?"
Ye Zhizhou picked up the document from the table and browsed through it, his expression becoming very grave. He hadn't expected that the massacre of the wealthy merchant's family might be Zou Qing's doing. If he hadn't rushed here as soon as he noticed the plot change, and if Shen Tingwei hadn't sent someone to investigate, this case might have been directly attributed to bandits, just as described in the plot.
So, there was no fake death, no passing divine doctor at the unmarked grave to save someone, and no heartbroken return to the capital by Zou Qing after discovering that his husband's family had been annihilated. There was only a meticulously planned murder, followed by a clever escape, and then a return to the Zou family, continuing to play the role of the young master and develop his virtuous life. Shen Tingwei's power had unexpectedly become a prop for Zou Qing to shake off suspicion of murder.
He unconsciously tightened his grip on the document. He had thought the new plotline would be a story of the protagonist gradually falling in love with the male lead on their journey back to the capital, with a bit of mindless fan service. But now, as he peeled back the beautiful veneer, he found a ruthless executioner's escape route, smeared with blood.
"How many people died in that wealthy merchant's family?"
"Seventy-three in total, including servants, two infants, and five children. None survived."
Seventy-three, including children and infants... His psychic power swirled uncontrollably around him. He put down the document and reached for the small mirror in his pocket. No wonder it was labeled "Difficult Mode." The protagonist's level of cruelty truly lived up to the term "difficult." Damn it!
Shen Tingwei keenly sensed that something was wrong with his emotions. He approached and embraced him, waving to the guard. "You can rest for now. I'll send someone else to Huzhou to ensure there's no cover-up. This matter must be thoroughly investigated."
The guard seemed to have retreated, and Shen Tingwei lifted Ye Zhizhou onto the bed, covering him with a blanket. He leaned down to kiss his forehead and comforted, "Stop thinking about it, go to sleep. I'll handle this matter."
Ye Zhizhou reached out and grabbed his sleeve, frowning. "You're not sleeping? What are you going to do?"
Shen Tingwei held his hand and spoke softly, "I'm going to make arrangements with the nearby military forces. We might need their help later. There are people outside guarding, don't worry. At the latest, I'll be back tomorrow morning."
He furrowed his brows, slowly released Shen Tingwei's hand, and then buried his head in the blanket, mumbling, "Well, go then. Be careful."
Shen Tingwei stroked his hair, got dressed, and left the room.
Once the room was empty, Ye Zhizhou sat up from the bed and took out the small mirror from under the pillow. With a serious expression, he asked, "Tongtian, what's the deal with 'Difficult Mode'? I haven't asked about it in the previous worlds. What does the soul flag above the protagonist's head represent?"
[Host's permissions are insufficient to access this information.]
Damn, not enough permissions!
He angrily scratched at the gem on the small mirror's surface, feeling extremely frustrated. Seventy-three lives! Right now, he didn't want to pull that darn soul flag at all; he just wanted to grab the protagonist and kill him. But unfortunately, external forces couldn't directly kill the protagonist.
[Host, please remain calm.]
Calm down my foot! He stuffed the mirror back under the pillow, tapped his forehead, and began to think about a plan. The plot had changed, and although he could raise the plummeting favorability, pulling the flag would no longer be of much use in this world. He needed to find a way to address the root of the problem.
... He had to capture the protagonist and send him to the celestial prison. Seventy-three lives would be enough for countless death sentences!
Thinking about this, he couldn't sit still. Tomorrow morning, Zhan Xueli would arrive in Luzhou, and that night, he would meet the protagonist at this inn. Should he wait here or go ahead and capture the protagonist?
"Who are you?"
"Sir, I'm a guest staying in the room next door. I'm not a bad person. That knife of yours..."
"Who is the person you're holding?"
"He's, he's my older brother. He got drunk, so I'm helping him back to his room."
"Wandering around in the middle of the night, with your face wrapped up like that... Where are you from? Is it in the direction of Huzhou?"
"No, no, we're from Qianzhou, sir. Look at this..."
"...Oh, so you're from the Marquis of Weiyuan's residence. Alright, you can go in. There was a recent murder case in Huzhou, and the culprit hasn't been caught yet. You should stay indoors at night and be careful."
The surging psychic power transmitted the conversation from outside clearly. Ye Zhizhou's heart raced, and he quickly got up and ran towards the door. From Qianzhou, the Marquis of Weiyuan's residence... Why did Zhan Xueli arrive in Luzhou so early? Moreover, Zhan Xueli had left alone and hadn't brought any younger brother. So, who was the person with him?