Chapter 667: Who is the traitor? (1/2)

Long Feiye was going to interrogate them personally?

Aunt Ru’s eyes flickered before she asked anxiously, “That’s not good, isn’t it? As I see it, you and Han Yunxi are better off showing your faces less. If there really is a traitor afoot, they’d expose the connection between you and the Tang Clan easily.”

Aunt Ru seemed to regret her words as soon as she said them, and a trace of annoyance flashed past her face at the slip.

Immediately, Han Yunxi asked, “I’ve been puzzled about this whole thing. Duanmu Yao still doesn’t know the connection between His Highness and the Tang Clan, only the location of his Yaoshui estate. Say, how do you think that traitor ended up colluding with her? And why did they only tell her the location of the Yaoshui estate and nothing else?”

With Duanmu Yao’s temper and intelligence, she would have exposed Long Feiye’s connection with the Tang Clan long ago if she knew. There was no way she could keep it under wraps for this long.

Long Feiye looked at Aunt Ru, his depthless eyes showing nothing. Tang Zijin stroked his beard, thoughtful. “Yiru, if you hadn’t mentioned that, this old man would’ve forgotten all about it.”

“It really is strange,” Aunt Ru said after some thought. “Because everything about this is odd, I think it’s better for Feiye to be more prudent. After all, Tang Li’s wedding is coming up. If anything goes wrong now, then it’ll be hard to go through with the marriage.”

“Do you think your lordship will release any potential traitors?” Long Feiye retorted back. He seemed to be directly the sentence at Aunt Ru herself.

Aunt Ru opened and closed her mouth before putting on a truly atrocious looking smile. “Perhaps the traitor isn’t even part of the Tang Clan, so they didn’t know the connection between the clan and the Duke of Qin’s estate?”

“Right! Maybe we guessed wrong from the start!” Tang Li exclaimed.

“In other words, you’re suspecting one of your lordship’s subordinates?” Long Feiye asked coldly.

“Your subordinates all know of the relationship between us and the Tang Clan. What’s there to suspect?” Han Yunxi asked. “The location of the Yaoshui estate has been a secret all this time. I refuse to believe that Duanmu Yao found it by chance! Nor would she be there right after we left the Tang Clan! The Tang Clan holds the greatest suspicion!”

“It really is a fishy affair!” Lady Tang muttered to herself. “This traitor only revealed the location of the estate. Did they have any other motives? What’s really going on?”

“Perhaps it was nothing more than ta desire to let Duanmu Yao find Long Feiye so he could treat her injury,” Han Yunxi said icily. Anyone could tell that her words carried thorns. Perhaps she already had a suspect in mind? Everyone exchanged glances as the atmosphere grew delicate.

Tang Zijin lost himself in thought before finally casting a glance towards Aunt Ru with a complicated look. He seemed to be suspecting something as well, but quickly dismissed the idea.

“Let’s interrogate the suspects first! If it’s someone from the Tang Clan, they won’t be able to escape!” he declared.

“Someone come, bring all of the suspects to the interrogation chamber!” Aunt Ru had no more objections.

Han Yunxi followed the rest there, silent the whole way. She was wondering how Long Feiye would choose to question the suspects. Like her, he had a suspect long in mind as well. He should know that all of the suspects in there right now were innocent. If this was inquisition by torture, was there anything crueler than rat torture? Cutting people in half by the waist, decapitating and displaying their heads, tearing them apart by five chariots, burying them alive, impaling them, or sawing them into pieces?

She knew his hands were destined to be dyed in blood for this lifetime, but she wished that the blood of innocents could stain them just a little less.

Because it was a matter of utmost importance, Lady Tang and Tang Li followed along. The interrogation chamber of the Tang Clan was simply Hell on Earth. The dimly lit room was covered in countless torture tools on its four walls. Most of them Han Yunxi didn’t even recognize, much less understand their use. There were both men and women among the ten suspects, ranging from young to old. All of them were bound with a length of rope wound around their necks that tied their hands behind their backs and crouching in a corner. They shrank back towards the walls as soon as they saw them enter.

But a single youth about 13 to 14 years old stood up and looked at them fearfully. “Your Highness Duke of Qin, we’ve been unfairly accused! We’re innocent! If you kill us, you’ll strike fear into the hearts of the Tang Clan disciples!”

Everyone was stunned that anyone would dare to step out and cry injustice. And it was only a boy? Wasn’t he afraid of being the first victim of interrogation?

“Impertinence! Someone come, gag him for me!” Aunt Ru said coldly.

Long Feiye stopped her. “Loosen his bonds and bring him here.”

He sat in the torturer’s seat, his black robes melting into the darkness along with his face. The stern visage and lack of anger stilled the youth until he didn’t dare to speak.

“Loosen his bonds?” Aunt Ru was incredulous.

“Why aren’t you doing it yet?” Tang Zijin said unhappily.

Aunt Ru personally untied the boy, who was too fearful to step any closer. She gave him a shove and he almost fell at Long Feiye’s feet.

“You lot are the only ones left who know the location of the Yaoshui estate. Don’t blame your lordship for being heartless!” It was rare for Long Feiye to show such patience to his victims. “Striking fear into the hearts of Tang Clan disciples is better than selling out the clan outright, isn’t it?”

If his connection to the Tang Clan was exposed, it would bring trouble both to himself and everyone else here!

The youth clenched his fists, as if in hesitation. Han Yunxi observed the whole thing and said, “The Duke of Qin is here. Whatever you want to share, just say it. You won’t get another chance once this is over!”

The youth glanced at Han Yunxi before immediately falling to his knees. “Your Highness Duke of Qin, esteemed wangfei, besides us few in the Tang Clan, you all know the location of the Yaoshui estate as well.”

Dead silence greeted his words! Long Feiye, Han Yunxi, Tang Zijin, Lady Tang, Tang Li, Aunt Ru, and Chu Xifeng were seven other people who also knew the location.

What interesting words from this child!

“What are you saying? Could it be that the Duke of Qin would betray himself?” Aunt Ru raised a hand to hit him, but Han Yunxi dashed forward to grab her arm angrily.

“We haven’t even gotten all the details yet and you’re already going to strike? Are you trying to make him confess to false charges under torture?”

Aunt Ru shook Han Yunxi off violently. “What kind of things are he saying? It’s simply sophistry. I think he’s the most suspicious one!”

“Is there anything wrong with his words? He’s talking about us, not singling out the Duke of Qin! He wouldn’t betray himself, but as for the rest of us…”