Perfect Encounter - Chapter 102.1

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Chapter 102.1

After waiting for a long time, the master of the temple still failed to show up. Lu Zheng led people to search the mountain while Tian Qing accompanied An Ruochen to ask villagers about the place.

They finally found two village women who had been to the Jing Xin Temple before. They said that there was only one priestess in the temple. Her name was Jing Yuan.

Master Jing Yuan was around thirty or forty, looked thin and solemn, living in extreme poverty. She didn’t like to talk, giving out the feeling of cold and quiet. But she was good. Sometimes, people would chat with Jing Yuan, who would give advice, and although the words she used were not nice, she was honest. However, it was only that. If you wanted to hear joyful words from her, that would be impossible. She spoke harshly and was not pleasing.

In short, in the hearts of those two village women, Priestess Jing Yuan was a silent, simple, and straightforward person.

That was somewhat unlike the behavior of a spy. An Ruochen had doubts. Doesn’t like to socialize with people, doesn’t live around the marketplace, is not smooth-talker – how could she find out any information this way?

An Ruochen carefully inquired, but no one knew Priestess Jing Yuan’s origins. Only that, a few years ago, they inadvertently found a temple buried in the mountains. The village women also asked Jing Yuan why she built a temple there. Although this place was not far from Zhonglan, it was inconspicuous and unknown, not really a place an incense-bearer would choose.

As a result, Priestess Jing Yuan told them that this mountain held a mystery. The village women could not say clearly what that mystery was supposed to be, but thought that this Master must be a noble person. She liked quiet, and her temple had a sense of spiritual wonder and mystery. So they also came up to donate some money for oil and pray for luck.

The village woman spoke in a lively manner, while An Ruochen listened on speechlessly. This master’s ability to make up nonsense is quite big, ah. In the end, everyone only remembered that this temple was mysterious and didn’t care about the suspicious priestess. Where Priestess Jing Yuan usually went or with whom, no one knew.

An Ruochen ran out of ideas. She didn’t find any clues, so she let Lu Zheng arrange for forces to continue searching. At this end, Lu Daniang quietly gave rewards to capable villagers. Everyone’s new task was to find Jing Yuan.

An Ruochen returned to the county government office, and Governor Yao Kun had already waited for her. Earlier, he heard from the Wang villagers that something had happened at Mount Xiu, and Meng Jiayue was at the bottom of the mountain. Yao Kun was so anxious that he led his men to rush there. As a result, he was dumbfounded when he got there. From the loss of a child into driving out wolves, from fighting wolves into catching bandits, and finally, finding out that there were indeed bandits, and not only bandits, a suspected spy as well.

It was too incredible for Yao Kun to describe. What does An Ruochen possess, how can she go anywhere, stroll around, and uncover a suspected spy?

He wanted to find An Ruochen to ask some questions, but she ran to the top of the mountain to check the temple. Yao Kun couldn’t go because there was a mess before him. A bunch of villagers heroically escorted a suspect over, and he had to deal with this first. Only, after returning to the local government office, he interrogated the suspect carefully and instantly got a headache.

Is this suspect suspicious? Yes. There’s nothing to see in the mountains, and he lied about being there for the first time. But did he do anything he could be punished for? No. He went down the mountains alone. He didn’t hit or kill anyone. He just ran away.

Say he lied because he was guilty and ran away because he was scared, that makes sense. Say that the villagers recognized the wrong person and he fled because he was afraid of the bandits, that was also reasonable.

Yao Kun only had one head and could only temporarily detain Tang Xuan. He was waiting for An Ruochen to come back to ask about it.

An Ruochen returned and asked Yao Kun first: “My Lord, how was Tang Xuan’s interrogation?”

Yao Kun didn’t have the good sense to answer. In the end, who’s the higher official? Who should ask first? For the sake of General Long, he did not bother with her. Yao Kun explained the matter and said, “His temporary residence is in Fu’an County. He came to Zhonglan City to talk about business. With whoever, his registration, his time of arrival, and his purposes, all of these he could answer clearly. You had him arrested, and for what?”

“I recognized him. He had followed me.”

Yao Kun froze and became solemn.

“Right after Young Master Min became a wanted man, I saw this man. He followed me to the Zhaofu Restaurant. That was the first time. And the second time, he covered his tracks. He went to Mount Xiu more than once and made up some excuses. Third, he was in cahoots with those bandits. When I asked him questions, those bandits suddenly jumped out and attacked to allow him to escape. The villagers thought they were bandits, but I thought they were spies. The Temple on Mount Xiu may be a stronghold of these spies. After such a scene happening on the mountain today, the temple’s owner, Priestess Jing Yuan, disappeared.”

An Ruochen didn’t mention that Jing Yuan had left a note before and only made Tang Xuan’s suspicious point more obvious. “The villagers didn’t recognize the wrong person, and I didn’t recognize the wrong person either. This Tang Xuan is indeed suspicious.”

Yao Kun took it seriously, “Those bandits didn’t leave a single survivor?”

An Ruochen was also upset by this matter. However, Tian Qing and Lu Zheng said that those three people were skilled in martial arts and fought for their lives. It took them several people to defeat only these three people. Their brothers were also wounded, and two people died. With the fight being this intense, it was not easy to capture them alive.

An Ruochen talked to Yao Kun about the situation and said, “People with such high martial arts skills, how could they be ordinary bandits.”

Yao Kun agreed but was also worried. This Tang Xuan was indeed suspicious, but there was no evidence. He couldn’t rely on their hearts’ feelings and suspicions and then torture someone to force a confession. It wasn’t even clear what kind of confession this person could offer. Moreover, Tang Xuan talked about Great Xiao’s laws and claimed he was framed and insulted in Pingnan. He would return to Shixi County to sue the officials and seek justice.

If he has the slightest possibility of being innocent, there would be no need to return to Shixi County. The inspector will be here in a while. The death of Huo Mingshan has already given him trouble. If Tang Xuan was not a soft persimmon and gave him another problem, Yao Kun could already envision what he would be accused of.

“Let it be this way.” Yao Kun said, “He is indeed suspicious. I will imprison him. But we can’t investigate a case without evidence. We can’t let people criticize us. I will send someone to carefully investigate the things he mentioned. Where he lives, the people he wanted to talk to about trading, and Shixi County’s Yunhe City. I’ll send people to check them all out. I’ll make sure to get to the bottom of him. If there’s even the slightest hint of doubts, I can interrogate him.”

An Ruochen opened her mouth to speak, but Yao Kun raised his hand and stopped it. He continued, “Otherwise, just based on the fact that you said that he followed you or that the villager said that he had seen him coming down the mountain before, these are not enough. He said that you people recognized the wrong person. How can you prove that what you saw was actually him?”

An Ruochen could not refute this. After thinking about it, she could only remind Yao Kun, “My Lord, every spy has a fake identity. In Liu Ze’s case, these spies had four or five years to lurk here and made extensive arrangements. Even if their identity is valid, please pay attention to the time they surface. Also, the spy net is deeply rooted, lurking in the depths. I hope you are vigilant. The government may not be all trustworthy.” An Ruochen felt that the Lord Governor was also quite suspicious. But nowadays, there was no one to rely on except him. “I hope the Lord will strengthen the guards and not let this Tang Xuan be silenced.”