Chapter 46 (1/2)

Chapter 46 Rising Wind: Conundrum

By the time the Administrator entered the courtyard, the two aides dragged behind him by the officers, Feng Luodi had already packed up the food and wine. The three of them sat upright by the stone table.

“Your Grace, Grand Tutor, Miss Feng.” The Administrator greeted the few of them before taking a seat.

“How is it going?” Situ’s eyes narrowed as they swept over the two aides kneeling on the floor. These two look normal and harmless, but of course, looks can be deceiving. I myself have trained many soldiers well versed in the arts of deception before.

“Follow your tip off, my officers had shadowed these two to the oleander fields in the outskirts of the city. They had been seen collecting the oleander flowers, and we caught them when they were about to place the toxins into the base of the statue.” The Administrator explained.

“Have they confessed yet?” Situ took a sip of tea. Feng Luodi and Jiang Moyin were only here to watch and a.s.sist in the case, Situ was in charge.

“Yes they did.” The Administrator waved for the officers to bring the two aides forward. “They had tried to convince us that they were innocent, but confessed when we ignored their pleas and brought them straight here. Your Grace, do you have any other questions for them?”

“What were you intending to do?” Situ’s raven black eyes looked coldly at the two men shaking involuntarily on the floor.

“We…we had intended to let the poison slowly seep into the statue throughout autumn and winter, which will then be dispersed in a thick smog over Chang’an when the heat from spring and summer releases all the toxin at one go.” One of the aides spoke up.

“How malicious.” Situ smirked. “Who’s instructions are these?”

“n.o.body. We did it on our own accord.”

“n.o.body?” Situ said it slowly, his voice as cold as ice. He drew a bundle of cloth letters1 from the folds of his robe. “Then why did I find letters exchanged between the two of you and the Ailao amba.s.sador in your houses? Your deaths alone would not be enough to pay for this crime; this will implicate all nine generations of your family.”

The two aides were scared half to death, shaking and whimpering uncontrollably on the floor.

“Your Grace, please spare us! We had no other choice! We will tell you everything!”

“You had no other choice?” Situ laughed, a cold and sharp sound. He slowly took a sip of his tea. “Tell me about it, then.”

“My wife and son has been kidnapped by the Ailao amba.s.sador.” One of the aides spoke up, his face full of anger and pain. “They threatened to kill them if I did not obey their orders. I had no choice!”

“Your families were kidnapped?” Situ put down his teacup, and rubbed his chin. “Are you stupid? You could have turned to your Chief or the yamen for help, yet you decided to take their money and poison the thousands of civilians, all the while lying to yourselves that you were only doing it for the sake of your family. If we hadn’t caught you before spring, you would have killed thousands of people. They would be your neighbours, your colleagues, or your friends. How foolish.”

Feng Luodi listened to Situ’s speech, a look of awe on her face. I have never seen Situ speak so many words in the same breath before! His words are so sharp and critical! He is so….

“Isn’t he charming?” Jiang Moyin leaned in and whispered quietly in her ear.

Feng Luodi quickly shook her head, and Jiang Moyin smiled.

Situ turned to the Administrator. “We will have to trouble you to bring them back to the yamen for their statement. Keep the entire case under wraps, and have them in solitary confinement. n.o.body can speak a word about this.”

“Of course, your Grace.” The Administrator look worriedly at Situ. “I’m worried about something else. We have to destroy the statue in the North Plaza, but that is exactly something we cannot do because of its significance! Moreover, what should we do about the Ailao amba.s.sador?”

“I will see to that. Of course, I will require the statements of these two to be sent to me. I will convene with the Emperor on both matters, and act according to his wishes.”

“I see. I thank you for your help in this matter, your Grace. I will take my leave now.” The Administrator looked relieved, and quickly left with his men and the two aides.

Feng Luodi was confused. “Putting the matter of the statue aside, can’t you just bring in the amba.s.sador as well, seeing as how you already have evidence of their partic.i.p.ation in this? They are blatantly harming the lives of our citizens; surely there is no need to be diplomatic!” Her tone was raised at the end.

Situ did not speak, but Jiang Moyin pointed at the bundle of cloth letters on the table. Feng Luodi reached over to open them, and was surprised to see it all empty.

“You put on a show for them! And they bought it because you were so convincing!” Feng Luodi exclaimed, but her brows furrowed again. “Since they had bought your fake, can’t we just bring the amba.s.sador in with the statements of the two aides?”

“But at the end of the day, we don’t have concrete evidence of their involvement in the matter.” Situ poured himself a cup of tea. “He can simply claim that they are innocent, and convince the rest of the other countries at the meet of being mistreated by us.”

“You sound very experienced in this; has it happened before?” Feng Luodi’s focus quickly s.h.i.+fted.

Situ turned to look at Jiang Moyin, and Feng Luodi followed his gaze.

Jiang Moyin smiled. “It has happened before, but it was said by an amba.s.sador from our kingdom.”

Feng Luodi’s eyes widened. “Brother, you were the one who did that? That can’t be possible; you don’t look like that kind of person to me.”