Chapter 117 Chen Zhili's impeachment memorial arrives; Lin Chen uses the case records to turn the tables.

Before the door to the Archives Room had even opened, Zhao Gang's cursing arrived first.

When he turned the corner from the front veranda, he was clutching a copy in his hand. His face was dark and gloomy, and the sound of his boot soles striking the stone slabs was loud enough to suggest he was trying to crush the bricks beneath them.

Shen Yue emerged from the side room and glanced at him.

"What happened?"

Zhao Gang slammed the copy onto the desk with such force that the inkstone on the table jumped.

"Impeachment."

He pointed at the paper, his voice squeezing out from his throat as if ground by gravel.

"Official Chen Zhili is impeaching the Inspector."

Shen Yue's footsteps faltered for a beat. She walked over, picked up the copy, and scanned it from the first line to the last, her brows furrowing bit by bit.

Liu Buyu poked his head out from the doorway of the Archives Room. Hearing the word 'impeachment,' he clutched his case files and followed.

"Read it."

Shen Yue glanced at him and handed over the copy. Liu Buyu took it, stood by the table, and read it word for word.

"Patrol Division's Lin Chen utilized official business to perform a private Breakthrough, resulting in the damage of seventeen street-level shops and alarming over thirty citizens. We request the Governors Mansion suspend his authority as lead investigator, pending review."

His voice tightened when he reached the words 'suspend his authority as lead investigator.'

Zhao Gang slammed his palm onto the edge of the table.

"Damn it! He didn't say anything when the Death Warriors were shooting people with crossbows, but he shows up just when the Inspector kills the Death Warriors."

Shen Yue took the copy back from Liu Buyu and tapped her finger on one of the lines.

"Here."

Zhao Gang leaned in to look. Shen Yue read it aloud, her tone very low, but each word sounding like a knife tip scraping across the tabletop.

"'Utilized official business to perform a private Breakthrough'—this means they are claiming the Inspector intentionally performed a Breakthrough during the escort to create chaos."

Zhao Gang's anger flared up to his head instantly.

"Intentional? Did the Inspector shoot those crossbow bolts himself? Did he bring the coffin himself? Did he invite the white-shrouded assassins himself?"

He grew louder as he spoke, his voice echoing under the front veranda.

"Is Official Chen Zhili's vision clouded with mud, or has he been bought off by the Wang family?"

Shen Yue glanced at him.

"Keep your voice down."

Zhao Gang forced his anger down, but after two breaths, he couldn't suppress it any longer. He smashed his fist onto the corner of the table, chipping off a piece of lacquer.

"I can't stand it."

The door to the Archives Room opened from the inside.

Lin Chen walked out, holding a bowl of tea that had long since gone cold. His face still bore the pallor from his cultivation session last night, but his eyes were deep and calm, showing not a hint of panic.

Seeing him, Zhao Gang rushed over in two or three strides and held the copy up in front of him.

"Inspector, look at this."

Lin Chen took the copy and scanned it at an even pace, as if reading an ordinary official document.

Zhao Gang stared at his face.

"Aren't you angry?"

Lin Chen placed the copy on the table and turned back into the Archives Room.

"Come in."

Zhao Gang followed him in, and Shen Yue and Liu Buyu followed as well.

Spread out on the desk was the case record Liu Buyu had written yesterday. The ink was dry, and every character on the paper was neat and tidy, as if the spacing had been measured with a ruler.

Lin Chen's fingers flipped to the page regarding Second Young Master Wang Pei's threats. He paused for two breaths, then flipped to the page containing the complete record of the coffin ambush.

He looked up at Liu Buyu.

"Organize the complete record of yesterday's street battle."

Liu Buyu immediately put down the case file, took some blank paper from the corner of the desk, and spread it out, his brush tip dipped in ink and hovering over the page.

"Where should I start?"

Lin Chen said, "From the moment the coffin appeared until the last Death Warrior was captured—every time node, every action, every witness."

His tone was steady, as if ordering a routine task.

"Who from the City Defense Battalion was present, who from the Criminal Division was present, where the citizens were located, from which direction the crossbow bolts were fired, at which point the white-shrouded assassins acted—write it all down clearly."

Liu Buyu's brush tip descended, the scratching sound exceptionally clear in the quiet Archives Room.

Zhao Gang stood to the side, watching the brush move rapidly across the paper. The anger in his chest was dampened somewhat by Lin Chen's unhurried instructions, but he still felt a lump of frustration in his throat.

"Inspector, is writing down the record enough?"

Lin Chen glanced at him.

"How much truth do you think is written in Official Chen Zhili's impeachment memorial?"

Zhao Gang was stunned for a moment.

"What truth? It's all nonsense."

Lin Chen picked up the copy from the table and pointed to the second line.

"'Seventeen shops damaged.'"

Zhao Gang nodded.

"That was done by the Death Warriors shooting their crossbows. What does that have to do with the Inspector?"

Lin Chen pointed to the third line.

"'Over thirty citizens alarmed.'"

Zhao Gang's voice grew louder.

"The coffin stopped in the middle of the street, the white-shrouded assassins drew their blades—those thirty people were frightened by the Death Warriors, not by the Inspector."

Lin Chen put the copy down.

"That is why we need a timeline."

Zhao Gang opened his mouth, then suddenly understood.

"Inspector, are you saying we should set the sequence of events in stone so everyone can see clearly who acted first?"

Lin Chen did not answer, but looked at Shen Yue.

"During yesterday's escort, what position were you walking in?"

Shen Yue replied, "The third person on the left side of the formation, two steps away from the cloth sedan."

Lin Chen asked, "Where were you when the coffin lid was lifted?"

Shen Yue's memory was very clear.

"One and a half zhang in front of the corner of the alley on the left, facing the direction the formation was moving."

Lin Chen nodded.

"When the crossbow bolts were fired, how many breaths did it take you to judge the direction the arrows came from?"

Shen Yue recalled.

"Less than one breath. The sound arrived first, then the arrows."

Lin Chen looked at Liu Buyu.

"Record it."

Liu Buyu set his brush to paper.

"During the escort, the coffin stopped in the middle of the street. The coffin lid was lifted from the inside, and four iron-armed crossbows fired simultaneously. Patrol Division's Shen Yue was positioned one and a half zhang in front of the alley corner on the left side of the formation; it took her less than one breath to determine the direction of the crossbow bolts."

Zhao Gang looked at the lines of text and rubbed his hands together.

"Writing it like this makes it clear at a glance who acted first."

Footsteps approached from outside the door, unhurried and steady, carrying the distinctive rhythmic precision of military personnel.

Sun Qi's voice came from outside.

"Inspector, someone is here from the City Defense Battalion."

Lin Chen looked up.

"Who is it?"

Sun Qi pushed the door open and entered. The medicinal dressing on his face had been changed, and there was less sweat than last night, but the dark circles under his eyes showed he hadn't slept much either.

"The City Defense Battalion Captain sent a clerk over, saying he wanted to ask about the records of yesterday's street battle and whether the City Defense Battalion should also issue a report."

Zhao Gang turned back to look at Lin Chen.

Lin Chen tapped his finger lightly on the desk.

"He asked voluntarily?"

Sun Qi nodded.

"The Captain's exact words were that his men saw with their own eyes the Death Warriors fire the crossbows first, and the Inspector drew his blade afterward; the order cannot be reversed."

Hearing this, the frustration that had been clogging Zhao Gang's chest all morning finally eased halfway.

"There are still sensible people in the City Defense Battalion."

Lin Chen said to Sun Qi, "Invite the City Defense Battalion clerk in and have him go over the time nodes with Liu Buyu."

Sun Qi acknowledged and went out, his footsteps two beats faster than when he entered.

Shen Yue stood by the window, her fingers pressed against the lattice, her gaze fixed in the direction beyond the courtyard wall.

"Inspector, Official Chen Zhili's memorial arrived too quickly."

Lin Chen looked at her.

Shen Yue turned her head, her voice very low.

"Before the Zi hour last night, Grey Sparrow met with Official Chen Zhili, and by the Chen hour, the memorial had already been delivered to the Governors Mansion. There was only the latter half of the night in between."

Her fingers traced lightly over the window lattice.

"The wording of the memorial—'utilized official business to perform a private Breakthrough,' 'creating chaos'—it doesn't look like it was written in a hurry. It looks more like a pre-prepared draft, just waiting for a pretext to be filled in."

Zhao Gang cursed.

"They had the knife ready long ago, just waiting to stab someone."

Lin Chen did not reply, only looking at the impeachment copy on the desk. His finger paused for three breaths on the line 'utilized official business to perform a private Breakthrough.'

He spoke, his tone heavy.

"Liu Buyu."

Liu Buyu looked up.

"After all three records are organized—the Patrol Division version, the City Defense Battalion version, and the Criminal Division version—combine them to form a complete timeline."

Liu Buyu nodded.

"And after combining them?"

Lin Chen said, "Send it to the Governors Mansion."

Liu Buyu acknowledged, his brush tip not stopping.

Lin Chen added another sentence.

"Attach the case record of Second Young Master Wang Pei's threats from yesterday at the end."

Liu Buyu's brush tip paused on the paper, and he looked up at Lin Chen.

"Send them together?"

Lin Chen pulled that page of the case record from the file and placed it next to the impeachment copy.

The two sheets of paper lay side by side on the desk.

On the left was every word Second Young Master Wang Pei had said in the morning; on the right was Official Chen Zhili's impeachment memorial from the next morning.

He looked at Zhao Gang.

"Second Young Master Wang Pei threatened in the morning, sent the coffin in the afternoon, and Official Chen Zhili impeached the next day."

Zhao Gang's eyes lit up instantly.

"Putting these three things together…"

Lin Chen said, "The Governor will understand."

Zhao Gang grinned, exposing a full set of teeth, but this time his smile was a bit more somber than usual.

"Good, what a good line."

Liu Buyu lowered his head, his brush moving swiftly, the curve of his lips slightly more pronounced than usual.

"This brush… it's getting easier to write with."

Shen Yue glanced at him and didn't speak, but the line of her lips relaxed compared to before.

After the City Defense Battalion clerk entered, he sat face-to-face with Liu Buyu to verify the time nodes. From the first sound of the gong from the coffin to the last Death Warrior having their hands bound, every action was detailed down to the exact breath.

The two of them wrote for more than half an hour.

When the three records were combined, they spread out to seven pages.

The timeline began with the departure of the escort team in the afternoon and concluded before sunset. The sequence of cause and effect was crystal clear, like a taut rope; one could see at a glance which knot came first and which came last.

Lin Chen compiled the seven pages of paper and the case record of Second Young Master Wang Pei's threats into a single document and handed it to Shen Yue.

"You deliver this yourself."

Shen Yue took the document, turned, and walked out the door.

Zhao Gang stood in the courtyard, watching her back disappear around the corner of the front corridor, his fingers rubbing back and forth against the hilt of his blade.

"Inspector, what will the Governor say?"

Lin Chen walked to the corridor and looked up at the sliver of gray-blue sky visible above the courtyard wall.

"Wait."

The wait was not long. When Shen Yue returned, her pace was slightly faster than when she left. She kept the expression on her face steady, but there was a flicker of brightness in her eyes.

Zhao Gang went to meet her.

"What did he say?"

Shen Yue walked up to Lin Chen and handed over a new token.

"The Governor has finished reviewing the three records."

Zhao Gang was anxious.

"And then?"

Shen Yue glanced at him before looking at Lin Chen.

"Official Chen Zhili's impeachment memorial has been shelved."

Zhao Gang clenched his fist tightly at his side, nearly shouting aloud.

Liu Buyu poked his head out from the doorway of the Archives Room, his voice a notch higher than usual.

"Shelved is as good as rejected."

Shen Yue did not stop, continuing.

"The Governor also said one more thing."

She flipped the token over. On the back, the characters "Lin Feng" were engraved, with a fresh mud seal pressed along the edge. It was identical in style to the one from yesterday, but the mud seal had an additional vertical line.

"The three-day lockdown of the outer residence in the east of the city is to be recalculated starting from today."

Zhao Gang did not understand.

"Recalculated?"

Shen Yue said.

"We were attacked yesterday during the escort, and the Wang family was still taking action during the lockdown, which means three days is not enough."

She paused for a beat.

"It has been changed to five days."

This time, Zhao Gang nearly jumped, his boot heel stomping heavily against the stone floor.

"Five days! The Governor gave us five days!"

Sun Qi walked out from the corner of the back corridor, and the half of his face visible behind the medicinal gauze rarely showed a hint of relaxation.

Liu Buyu at the doorway also let out a long sigh of relief, setting his brush down on the case files without even wiping the ink from his fingers.

"Five days, that's enough."

Lin Chen took the token, his fingers tracing the newly added vertical line on the back, but his expression remained tense.

He tucked the token into his robes and looked at Zhao Gang and Liu Buyu, his tone remaining steady.

"It is not a rejection; it is merely being held."

Zhao Gang's smile still hung on his face, but his brows had already begun to knit together.

"What does that mean?"

Lin Chen said.

"The Governor is giving me time, but if we cannot produce enough evidence within five days, this impeachment memorial will be dug up again."

Zhao Gang's smile slowly faded.

The ink stain on Liu Buyu's finger remained on his fingertip, and he also fell silent. The Archives Room was quiet for two breaths.

Shen Yue broke the silence when she returned from outside. She held a very small note in her hand; the corners were folded twice, in the style of communication typically used by the consultants of the Wanbao Pavilion.

She walked up to Lin Chen and lowered her voice.

"A message from the Wanbao Pavilion."

Zhao Gang perked up his ears.

Shen Yue unfolded the note, glanced at it, and then looked up at Lin Chen.

"Official Chen Zhili met with Grey Sparrow last night."

Zhao Gang's eyes narrowed instantly.

"Where did they meet?"

Shen Yue handed the note to Lin Chen.

"The abandoned dye house, the third dark alley in the west of the city."

Zhao Gang's breathing grew heavier.

"I knew it. Official Chen Zhili didn't write that impeachment memorial alone; those specific phrases were fed to him by Grey Sparrow."

Lin Chen finished reading the note, twirled the corner of the paper between his fingers, and then handed it to Liu Buyu.

"Seal it."

Liu Buyu took the note, carefully tucked it into the middle of the case files, and wrote a line of small text on the cover page to note the source and date.

Lin Chen looked at Sun Qi.

"Watch the dye house."

Sun Qi nodded, his fingers pressing against the edge of the medicinal gauze on his face.

"How close should I get?"

Lin Chen said.

"Do not go inside. Just record who comes and goes."

Sun Qi acknowledged, turned, and disappeared around the corner along the back corridor, his footsteps so light they were almost silent.

Zhao Gang watched his back and muttered.

"Grey Sparrow and Official Chen Zhili—one sets fires in the shadows, the other brandishes the knife in the open. These two threads are twisted together..."

He did not finish his sentence because Lin Chen had already turned to the other side of the desk. Piled on the desk were several stacks of old files organized the previous night. The top page was yellowed, the corners were curled, and the ink on the paper had faded until only faint gray shadows remained.

Lin Chen looked at Liu Buyu.

"Did you find the Criminal Chamber duty roster from ten years ago?"

Liu Buyu pulled a sheet of paper from the very bottom of the pile, carefully spread it out on the desk, and held down the corners with his fingers to prevent it from curling.

"I found it."

His finger pointed to the seventh line on the page.

"Escort Officer Lu Qingshan, Constable of the Prefecture Criminal Justice Department, specialized in escorting refugees."

Zhao Gang leaned in to look, his gaze falling on that name.

Liu Buyu continued.

"Ten years ago, he disappeared from the duty roster at the same time as Zhou Huaiyi."

His finger moved half an inch to the right, pointing at a record noted in small cinnabar script next to it.

"The reason for the disappearance is written as 'transferred to an outside county'."

Zhao Gang interrupted.

"Is there a receipt record from the outside county?"

Liu Buyu shook his head.

"I checked the duty roster archives of the three neighboring counties; there is no name like Escort Officer Lu Qingshan."

Zhao Gang sneered, his throat sounding as rough as a blade scraping iron.

"Just like Zhou Huaiyi, he was erased."

Shen Yue stood by the window, her fingers pressing against the hilt of her short blade, her voice very soft.

"One erased the roster, the other handled the escort; both disappeared at the same time, and the reason for their disappearance was filled in with the same falsified file."

Liu Buyu's finger slowly traced over the old page, as if stroking an old wound that had not healed in ten years.

"Who wrote the annotation on this duty roster?"

He flipped to the back of the paper, his gaze stopping on a blurry little seal in the bottom left corner.

"It was stamped by the Criminal Chamber Registrar."

Zhao Gang leaned forward half a step.

"Who was the Criminal Chamber Registrar ten years ago?"

Liu Buyu held the small seal closer to the lamp to identify it for a moment, his lips moving slightly.

"I can't see the full name clearly, but the radical has the 'metal' character component."

Shen Yue's fingers tightened slightly on the hilt of her short blade.

Lin Chen did not speak, simply placing the old page side-by-side with the three depositions from the previous night on the desk. The archer's deposition stated that Grey Sparrow had an old scar on the right side of his chin. Deputy Chief Meng Huaian's deposition stated that ten years ago, one of Director Wang Gang's subordinates, named Old Lu, had an old scar on the right side of his chin and had served in the Criminal Chamber. The deposition of the Death Warrior with the broken leg stated that Grey Sparrow's real name was Escort Officer Lu Qingshan, that he was a Constable in the Criminal Chamber ten years ago, and that he was Zhou Huaiyi's partner. The old Criminal Chamber duty roster stated that Escort Officer Lu Qingshan disappeared at the same time as Zhou Huaiyi, with the reason given as a transfer to an outside county, with no receipt record in the outside county.

With the four items placed together, it was like four broken pieces of porcelain being pieced back into their original shape.

Lin Chen tapped his fingers on the desk twice; the sound was not heavy, but everyone in the Archives Room heard it clearly.

"Ten years ago, Zhou Huaiyi was responsible for erasing the registers, and Escort Officer Lu Qingshan was responsible for the escort. The two worked together to wipe refugees and orphans from the household registers, then sent them to the Yiyang Foster Home at Qingyun Ridge."

Liu Buyu continued, his voice very low.

"Later, both disappeared from the Criminal Chamber. Zhou Huaiyi was locked in the well beneath the Yiyang Foster Home to write the registers, and Escort Officer Lu Qingshan became Grey Sparrow, running secret operations for the Wang family."

Zhao Gang's fist clenched, his knuckles cracking with a click.

"The Wang family either locks up those who know the truth or turns them into their own people."

He gritted his molars, each word sounding as if it were chiseled from an iron plate.

"Those who don't listen are locked in the bottom of a well; those who listen wear iron masks. From beginning to end, only the Wang family is clean."

Lin Chen gathered the four documents together, tied them with a string, and placed them into the document box he carried with him. He stood up, picked up the black abyss from the desk, and hooked the scabbard to his waist, the buckle clinking with a soft sound.

"Today, we go to the outer residence in the east of the city."

Zhao Gang immediately followed half a step.

"What are we investigating?"

Lin Chen walked out, his voice coming back over his shoulder.

"The 'living accounts'."

Zhao Gang paused, his steps slowing for a beat before he caught up.

"Didn't Grey Sparrow say the 'living accounts' were transferred into the medicinal herb cart? That cart was overturned yesterday, and there was nothing in it but a child."

Lin Chen stopped in the corridor and looked back at him.

"The cart was empty, which means the 'living accounts' didn't make it out."

Zhao Gang's brows knitted together, then, after two breaths, they suddenly relaxed.

"Are they still inside the outer residence?"

Lin Chen nodded. Zhao Gang opened his mouth.

"Then Steward Wang Dehou keeping his doors closed..."

Lin Chen finished the sentence he hadn't completed.

"He isn't stalling for time; he is waiting for the second cart."

Zhao Gang ground his boot sole heavily against the stone floor, squeezing one word through his teeth.

"Let's go."

He turned and walked with large strides toward the courtyard gate, then, after three steps, he suddenly turned back.

"Inspector, is five days enough?"

Lin Chen looked at him, the blood scab on the corner of his mouth appearing very pale in the morning light, like an old wound about to fall off.

"Whether it's enough, we'll know today."