Chapter 66 An Accidental Encounter is Better Than an Invitation

Dengzhou.

Tan Jinlong had been having a very distressing few days.

As the Prefect of Dengzhou, the highest-ranking official in the region, his life had always been smooth sailing. No one had ever dared to oppose his commands. Yet, to his utter dismay, the imperial court had dispatched Cao Heyong to Dengzhou as the Vice-Prefect.

Ordinarily, a Vice-Prefect was expected to take orders from the Prefect.

However, how could Cao Heyong—a former Vice-Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs and a high-ranking official of the second rank—possibly bend to the will of someone like Tan Jinlong?

Thus, the Dengzhou prefectural office fell into a bizarre deadlock.

The Prefect dared not manage the Vice-Prefect, and the Vice-Prefect looked down upon the Prefect.

The officials and clerks of various ranks caught in the middle were left in an agonizing dilemma, completely unsure whether they should heed the Prefect or the Vice-Prefect.

What if Cao Heyong, this Vice-Prefect, was merely experiencing a temporary setback like a tiger trapped in the plains?

If he ever made a comeback, those who had offended him would simply wait to have their accounts settled in the autumn!

Consequently, Tan Jinlong found his position as Prefect rather awkward and untenable.

Growing more and more stifled by the day, Tan Jinlong simply claimed to be gravely ill and dumped all the duties of the prefectural office squarely onto Cao Heyong.

Wasn't he fond of holding absolute power?

Then let him work!

Work that old codger to death!

Tan Jinlong tossed and turned drowsily, reaching out to embrace the waist of his favorite concubine, only to clutch at empty air as his hand met with a patch of chilling coldness.

He snapped wide awake in an instant, jolting upright into a sitting position and staring blankly into the pitch-black surroundings.

With the arrival of May, the weather was growing steadily warmer, and the willow trees lining the official road were as verdant as if washed clean.

Dusk was also falling later; even past the hour of You, the sky remained brightly lit.

A troop of cavalry charged through the gates of Dengzhou City. The guards stepped forward to block them, but the lead cavalryman merely flashed a waist token, causing the guards' expressions to shift instantly as they quietly stepped aside and stood down.

Every member of this party wore a fierce and menacing expression, whipping their horses through the bustling streets without a care, kicking up choking clouds of dust.

Some commoners, failing to leap out of the way in time, narrowly avoided the horses' hooves and cursed under their breaths with lingering terror.

"Hey, have you got a death wish? How dare you curse them?"

"What's wrong? They come barrelling through like this and they're still in the right? We can't even curse them?"

"They're men from the Military Intelligence Directorate!"

At the mere mention of the Military Intelligence Directorate, the man who had previously been full of righteous arguments looked as though someone had clamped a hand around his throat; his expression changed completely, and his mouth fell silent.

After a long pause, the man muttered awkwardly, "Weren't the men of the Military Intelligence Directorate all stationed in the capital? What are they doing all the way out here in Dengzhou?"

"The Directorate is tyrannical beyond compare. Who would dare pry into their affairs?"

Terrified by the dreaded reputation of the Directorate, the onlookers dared not discuss the matter further and dispersed in twos and threes.

The man who had just narrowly escaped the horses' hooves stood as if still dazed, staring blankly in the direction where the cavalry had vanished before turning away with an inscrutable expression.

Sheng Yanming and his entourage dismounted in front of the Dengzhou prefectural office. Before they could even express surprise at the unusual quietness of the courtyard, they were startled by a sudden, piercing shriek of grief erupting from within the compound.

Sheng Yanming and Ji Qinglin exchanged a bewildered glance, each reading a hint of ominous foreboding in the other's eyes.

Notified by a runner, the Dengzhou Secretariat Adjutant hurried out to greet them in trembling terror. At the sight of Sheng Yanming's official attire, his knees turned to jelly. Before he could even finish bowing or utter a word, a chorus of women's desperate wailing drifted out from deep within the offices.

Sheng Yanming slightly furrowed his brow and demanded, "I have come here on imperial orders; why is Prefect Tan nowhere to be seen? And why are women weeping bitterly within the official yamen? What kind of decency is this?"

Though it was a May evening and hardly hot, the Adjutant broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this, replying with utmost caution, "Reporting to your lordship, Prefect Tan has met with a mishap. As for the weeping... that is the Prefect's wife."

"What!" Sheng Yanming's expression darkened. He shoved the Adjutant aside and strode rapidly inward.

The Adjutant called out nervously from behind, "Men from the Military Intelligence Directorate arrived already this afternoon. Might I ask which department of the Directorate your lordship belongs to?"

Hearing this, Sheng Yanming halted in his tracks.

Ji Qinglin was even more baffled. "There are already men from the Directorate inside the yamen?"

The Adjutant nodded. "Indeed. This subordinate checked his waist token; it is genuine."

Ji Qinglin and Sheng Yanming exchanged a look. "Who has come?"

"The Deputy Commander of the Reconnaissance Department, a man surnamed Li."

Sheng Yanming and Ji Qinglin were utterly dumbfounded.

Without asking another word, they hurried toward the inner courtyard.

The Dengzhou prefectural office was no different from any other regional yamen: the front quarters were dedicated to managing official state administration, while the inner quarters served as living quarters for the families of the Prefect and Vice-Prefect, as well as for hosting visiting officials.

However, the newly appointed Vice-Prefect, Cao Heyong, was a fastidious man who disliked the somewhat austere lodgings of the official residence. Even before arriving in Dengzhou, he had instructed his steward to purchase a lavish mansion not far from the prefectural office, renovating it to be impeccably neat and comfortable.

Consequently, the only family currently residing within the Dengzhou prefectural office was that of Prefect Tan Jinlong.

Those with equally blank expressions were not only Sheng Yanming and Ji Qinglin, but also Li Xubai and Song Shiyu.

After bustling about all afternoon, the two of them had finally paused to sip some hot tea and steady their nerves.

"Hey, didn't you say Cao Heyong was going to meet his end? How did it turn out to be Tan Jinlong?" Li Xubai asked, lowering his voice.

Song Shiyu was utterly perplexed as to why there were so many variables in this lifetime, with numerous events unfolding in ways drastically different from her past life.

Where on earth had things gone wrong?

Unable to puzzle it out, she asked in a low voice, "What did the coroner's examination report say just now?"

Li Xubai sighed softly. "They said it was a fatal blow delivered with a single strike. It seems the murderer moved with absolute precision and ruthlessness."

Song Shiyu pondered this. "Tan Jinlong was the Prefect of Dengzhou. The interior of the prefectural office must be heavily guarded, and ordinary people cannot simply walk in. For Tan Jinlong to be killed with a single blow without even a chance to cry for help—either the killer was someone he knew and trusted, leaving him completely off guard, or the murderer's skills were so transcendent that he was given no opportunity to resist at all."

Li Xubai said, "Just now, I went to inspect the room where the crime took place. There were no signs of a struggle or things being rummaged through. It looks as though the killer came with the sole intention of murder."

"Has the concubine been found?" Song Shiyu asked.

"No. They say she had been in the household for less than half a month, and Lady Tan had not even caught a clear glimpse of her appearance. Trying to find someone without a proper portrait or description is proving extremely difficult," Li Xubai lamented with a shake of his head.

What kind of breathtaking beauty could she possibly be to have utterly bewitched Prefect Tan—a man who had seen countless people in his lifetime—and ultimately cost him his life beneath the embroidered bed curtains?

Although the identity of the killer remained unknown, it was clear that everyone regarded the mysteriously vanished concubine as the primary suspect.

"Deputy Commander Li, it really is you!" Suppressing his fury, Sheng Yanming strode into the reception hall and locked eyes with Li Xubai.

Li Xubai was genuinely startled by Sheng Yanming's sudden appearance.

He never in his wildest dreams expected to run into Sheng Yanming here in Dengzhou.

The previous night, Sheng Yanming had deliberately gotten him drunk and left him behind at the Fan Tower. He knew the man must have had an ulterior motive, but he never imagined their destinations would be the exact same.

Still, there was nothing shameful he needed to hide.

Rising to his feet, he met Sheng Yanming's gaze with open candor. "What a coincidence, Commander."