No sooner had Ye Tian stepped into the inner hall than he felt three sharp gazes fall upon him.
The man in the crimson robe must be the prefect, embroidered with wild geese—a fourth-rank official, indeed... The middle-aged man with the silver gong embroidered on his chest, a member of the Night Watchman Office, huh... And this young woman—wow, what a beauty. She's stunning... Is she married?
After a quick glance at her chest, Ye Tian calmed down a bit.
He quickly lowered his head, adopting a humble posture.
Prefect Chen sat high in his chair, his expression unreadable, and questioned him in a tone full of authority. "Ye Tian, three days ago when you were imprisoned, you didn't say you had any important clues. Do you know the consequences of holding information back?"
This old hand in the bureaucracy, despite being on edge, didn't ask for the clue directly. Instead, he started with psychological pressure.
Making it this far meant his plan was already half-successful. Ye Tian remained calm. "My lord, just now, my cousin Ye Cijiu came to see me, and I asked him for the case file."
First, he had to be honest. All three officials knew of Ye Cijiu, not because of his fame, but because as Ye Hongtu's eldest son, the three investigators would naturally have looked into him.
"What does that have to do with the clue you mentioned?" Prefect Chen asked.
"This commoner deduced the truth of the case from that file..."
"Wait a moment," Prefect Chen interrupted, leaning forward slightly. "From the file?"
This was not what he expected.
"I have already solved the case." Ye Tian nodded, confirming his claim.
Prefect Chen suppressed the urge to send the boy back to prison. His face grew serious. "Tell me what you think. But I'll warn you: if you speak nonsense, two hundred strikes from a rod will break your bones and separate your flesh."
"The tax silver robbery wasn't done by a demonic creature. It was a human act."
This sentence shocked all three of them.
Prefect Chen slammed his hand down on the table, yelling, "Nonsense! Guards! Take him away and give him two hundred strikes!"
A demonic creature stealing the tax silver was almost a foregone conclusion and a consensus among the three investigators. If they had been holding out hope for a valuable clue, they were now thoroughly disappointed. This was nothing more than a desperate, arrogant outburst from a young boy.
The middle-aged man's eyes lit up slightly. He waved off the yamen runners who had rushed in. "Lord Chen, please calm down."
He turned his gaze to Ye Tian, his eyes burning with scrutiny and a hint of anticipation. "Go on."
This Prefect Chen is a bit short-tempered... Ye Tian knew it was his time to shine. "According to the testimony of the city gate guards, my second uncle entered the city at 6:30 a.m. At 7:15 a.m., the escort team reached Guangnan Street. At that time, the strange wind suddenly appeared, and the horses were startled, rushing into the river."
He tried to make his tone neither servile nor arrogant to appear more composed and persuasive.
Prefect Chen nodded. "That's why we concluded that a demonic creature was hiding in the river, waiting for a chance to steal the silver."
"No!" Ye Tian argued loudly. "The strange wind was just a diversion, and the river explosion was also a diversion. They were meant to make you overlook a fatal flaw."
Prefect Chen eagerly pressed. "What flaw?"
The middle-aged man adopted a posture of keen listening.
The young woman in the yellow skirt stopped chewing her candied fruit. Her spiritual eyes stared at Ye Tian with great interest.
They had gone through the case file countless times and knew the details of the incident by heart, yet they had never noticed any flaw.
"My second uncle was escorting 150,000 taels of tax silver. May I ask, my lords, how many pounds is 150,000 taels of silver?"
The middle-aged man's face stiffened. The young woman in the yellow skirt tilted her head, unable to come up with an answer.
Prefect Chen said impatiently, "Say what you have to say. Don't play games."
Ye Tian had intended to provide a hint and let the officials discover the huge flaw themselves, but it seemed to have backfired.
Your mental math skills are a bit lacking, you ancient people... Ye Tian said immediately, "It's 9,375 pounds."
According to the world's weight conversion formula of 16 taels to a pound, 150,000 taels of silver was exactly 9,375 pounds.
The middle-aged man frowned. He vaguely grasped something.
The young woman knitted her brows. "What does that prove?"
Her voice was as clear as a silver bell.
It proves that you're not that smart!
Ye Tian said, "How far is the distance from the city gate to Guangnan Street?"
The middle-aged man replied, "Thirty li."
"How many crowded markets did you pass through on the way?"
"...Four."
"And what is the walking speed of a packhorse?"
"A packhorse..." The middle-aged man's eyes suddenly went wide. He stood up abruptly.
He stared, his expression one of sudden realization—"So that's it!" and "That's how it happened!"
After three days of tracking and searching for a demonic creature's traces to no avail, this experienced Night Watchman had already realized he might be on the wrong path. But he didn't have a clear idea, so he hadn't given it much thought after his previous suggestion was dismissed.
Prefect Chen's scalp tingled because he still couldn't see what was wrong, making him appear particularly unintelligent as a prefect.
He glanced at the young woman in the yellow skirt and felt a little more balanced.
The young woman said miserably, "What's the problem?"
The middle-aged man was a bit excited. "The timing is wrong, the timing is off."
"Guangnan Street is thirty li from the South City Gate. With the speed of a packhorse and the need to pass through four busy markets, they couldn't have possibly arrived at Guangnan Street at 7:15 a.m. after entering the city at 6:30 a.m."
He had been influenced by a preconceived notion that a demonic creature had stolen the silver. After Ye Tian's methodical analysis, he immediately understood the problem.
"But the tax silver was indeed transported to Guangnan Street at 7:15 a.m. Many people witnessed the horses rushing into the river. It can't be fake," the young woman said crisply.
Prefect Chen nodded in satisfaction and agreed. "How do you explain that?"
The middle-aged man was stunned. He instinctively looked at Ye Tian.
"Because what was being transported wasn't silver at all," Ye Tian said, his words ringing with certainty.
"Nonsense!" Prefect Chen retorted. "Not to mention whether your second uncle and the soldiers had eyes, the file records the testimonies of the commoners who were present. The horses rushed into the water, and white, shiny silver rolled into the river."
He shook the case file he held. "Are you saying this is fake too?"
"Seeing isn't always believing... This commoner is willing to personally resolve your confusion, my lord," he said, his gaze falling on the table. "Lend me paper and a brush."
Prefect Chen waved his hand, gesturing for him to help himself.
Ye Tian dragged his shackles to the table, poured water to grind the ink, laid out a sheet of paper, and began to write in a wobbly hand.
"My lord, please prepare the items on this paper according to my request." After he finished writing, he handed the paper to Prefect Chen.
Prefect Chen took the paper and scanned it, completely lost.
"Let me see." The young woman came over to join in on the fun, reaching out her fair, delicate hand to take the paper.
She was just as lost.
"..." The middle-aged man, Li Yuchun, glanced at the paper, maintained a poker face, and subtly flattened a folded corner of the paper before handing it back to Prefect Chen.