Chapter 69

Chapter 69

Si Guang was out for two days before coming back, and to take a shortcut, he hopped the wall.

"Who's there?" Li Gandang whipped out his blade.

"It's me." Si Guang rubbed his nose. "Si Guang."

Seeing it was Si Guang, Li Gandang relaxed and looked him up and down.

Si Guang's clothes were stained with yellow dust, his boots caked in mud, and his hair was slightly disheveled—he looked completely grimy, like he'd been dug up out of the dirt.

"How the hell did you get like this?" Li Gandang frowned.

"Two days on the road, what do you want?" Si Guang patted the dust off his clothes and picked a dead leaf from his hair. "Where's the magistrate?"

"In his room with the Marquis."

Si Guang: "Let me get cleaned up first, then I'll report in."

He looked like a refugee right now—having spent two days in the mountains, filthy, hardly fit to see the magistrate.

It took him the better part of half an hour to get cleaned up. Si Guang headed to Xie Zhiwei's door and knocked.

"Come in." Xie Zhiwei's voice called out from inside.

Si Guang pushed the door open and shut it behind him.

Xie Zhiwei sat at the table, papers spread out in front of him, brush in hand, scribbling something. Pei Dinglan was beside him, hovering attentively, grinding ink like a loyal aide.

"You're back?" Xie Zhiwei set down his brush and looked up at Si Guang.

Si Guang clasped his fists in greeting: "Magistrate."

"Sit down." Xie Zhiwei gestured to a stool.

Si Guang sat down.

Xie Zhiwei had Pei Dinglan clear the stuff off the table, then spoke with Si Guang: "So, what'd you find?"

Si Guang pulled a cloth pouch from inside his jacket, untied the cord, and poured several things onto the table—a few chunks of ore, a small packet of powder, and several sheets of paper.

"I followed the wheel tracks of the ore carts for two days and a night, and found where they smelt the copper ore." Si Guang recalled. "It's up in the mountains northwest of Linyuan County. From the mine, it's about sixty li on the main road, then a turn onto a small path, another thirty li, and over a ridge to get there."

Xie Zhiwei's eyes landed on the ore chunks. They were small—the biggest no bigger than a fingernail—dark brown, with fine crystalline grains on the surface. Definitely copper ore.

"I watched the place for a day." Si Guang pointed to the sheets covered in writing. "I drew up some sketches. It's a valley, boxed in by mountains on all sides, with just one road in and out. The entrance is guarded—four guys out in the open and two hidden."

Pei Dinglan put away the writing stuff and came over to check out the sketch. Si Guang wasn't much of an artist, but the sketch was clear—valley terrain, roads in and out, and sentry spots were all marked plainly.

"Inside the valley, there's a smelting operation." Si Guang continued. "Ore goes in, copper ingots come out. In the time I watched, I counted six convoys going in with ore and four coming out with ingots."

Xie Zhiwei: "Which way did the ingot convoys go?"

Si Guang: "They went two ways. One went north on the main road. I tailed it for a bit—heading toward the prefectural capital, probably the mint. The other went deeper into the mountains."

Xie Zhiwei squinted: "Deep in the mountains, huh."

Si Guang nodded: "I followed that road for a bit. That place is out in the middle of nowhere, and the road's narrow. I didn't want to tip anyone off, so I didn't push it. But there were wheel tracks the whole way—if we need to go back, we won't have any trouble finding it."

Pei Dinglan looked at Xie Zhiwei: "Zhiwei, what do you figure's deeper in those mountains?"

Xie Zhiwei raised an eyebrow, ignoring Pei Dinglan's question. Instead, he asked Si Guang: "Who was guarding the copper ingots?"

"Government soldiers." Si Guang's face turned serious. "I'm sure of it—they were government soldiers."

This lined up with what they'd guessed back at Xingqing Palace—military officers in the southwest were in on the counterfeit coin operation too.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Xie Zhiwei said slowly. "The people behind this know that too."

Pei Dinglan got it: "So there's more than one smelting site?"

Xie Zhiwei gave a quiet "Mm." "The Linyuan County minting operation is probably Hu Shoulian's responsibility. And there are probably plenty more sites like it elsewhere."

Pei Dinglan clicked his tongue, annoyed: "So we can't just charge in."

"We don't have a choice." Xie Zhiwei spread his hands in a helpless shrug. "We don't even know who's behind this. If we move too fast, we'll tip them off."

"Magistrate, what do you want me to do next?" Si Guang asked.

Xie Zhiwei thought for a moment: "Keep an eye on Chen Wanguan and his son. The Chens are itching to get out of Linyuan and head to Luoqi—they probably know something. The second they hit the border, have Guo Sheng take a team and grab them."

Si Guang: "Got it."

With Si Guang keeping tabs on the Chens, Xie Zhiwei planned to let them sweat it out, not signing the contract too fast. So when Chen Jinan showed up again, Xie Zhiwei refused to see him and had Zhao Wuwei send him packing.

To make sure Chen Jinan couldn't just camp out at the inn, Xie Zhiwei and Pei Dinglan took Xiao Yang out for the day. Taking the kid out was a perfectly normal thing to do—no one would think twice.

The storyteller at Linluo Pavilion was famous all over Linyuan County, spinning wild tales about the southwestern frontier—gu worms, mountain demons, Luoqi secrets—all with plenty of embellishment.

Xie Zhiwei remembered that a lot of Xiao Yang's storybooks were mysterious tales with a Luoqi twist, so he figured he'd take the kid to Linluo Pavilion today.

Linluo Pavilion was on the south side of town, about two streets over from the inn. Right as they were about to reach the teahouse, Xiao Yang stopped dead.

He turned his head, eyes landing on a narrow, shadowy alley off to the side. The alley was narrow, with vines crawling up both walls.

"What is it?" Xie Zhiwei followed Xiao Yang's gaze. The alley was empty—not a thing in it.

Xiao Yang frowned slightly: "I heard something rustling."

Xie Zhiwei nudged Pei Dinglan: "You hear anything?"

Pei Dinglan shook his head: "Nope."

Even Pei Dinglan, a trained fighter, hadn't heard a thing?

So what the hell did Xiao Yang hear?

"I'll go check it out." Pei Dinglan was about to step into the alley when a clear bell rang from deep inside.

Jingle-jingle.

Getting closer.

A figure stepped out of the shadows of the alley.

"It's him." Xiao Yang, for some reason, had a gut feeling this person was safe, and let out a relieved breath.

Luo Qiyan hadn't expected to run into the young man he'd caught a glimpse of last time either. The bamboo basket hanging at his waist shook hard. He reached out and patted the side of the basket, muttering something under his breath. But instead of settling down, the basket got even more worked up—the whole thing rattled and clattered.

A strange feeling crept over Xiao Yang—was that thing in the bamboo basket trying to lunge at him?

The second the thought crossed his mind, the basket lid popped open from the inside, and a silver blur shot out, moving crazy fast, arcing through the air and flying straight at Xiao Yang.

Before Xiao Yang could even react, the silver blur had already landed on him.

It was ice-cold—like a snake but not really a snake, no scales, more like some kind of slug. Xiao Yang shuddered as it pressed against his skin.

He looked down, and the thing had already slipped into his sleeve, crawling up his arm at an insane speed. Before he could even grab for it, it had disappeared into his collar.

"Xiao Yang!" Xie Zhiwei nearly jumped out of his skin.

Pei Dinglan drew his blade, his eyes narrowing sharply at the young man in the alley.

Luo Qiyan just stood there, staring at Xiao Yang in disbelief, his amber eyes wide with shock.

"It crawled inside me." Xiao Yang looked like he was about to cry—a worm had literally crawled into his body!

Xie Zhiwei was furious. "Get that thing out of him right now!"

Pei Dinglan moved in a flash, pressing his blade to Luo Qiyan's neck.

Luo Qiyan pressed his lips together. "The gu worm has chosen him as its master."

Xie Zhiwei: "?" So gu worms are actually a real thing?

"Can gu worms just pick any master they want?" Pei Dinglan didn't buy it, pressing the blade a little harder against Luo Qiyan's neck.

Xiao Yang was confused. "Why would a gu worm pick me as its master?"

Xie Zhiwei's head was pounding. "Take him back to the inn. This isn't the place to talk."

Pei Dinglan: "Let's go."

Luo Qiyan: "Alright."

They'd missed the storytelling, and now Xiao Yang had a worm inexplicably inside his body.

Back at the inn, Pei Dinglan was still on edge and had Li Gandang find a rope to tie Luo Qiyan up. Xiao Yang tugged at Pei Dinglan's sleeve—he didn't think Luo Qiyan seemed like a bad guy.

Xie Zhiwei put Xiao Yang between himself and Pei Dinglan. "We shouldn't have ill intentions, but we also can't let our guard down."

Li Gandang was the most confused of all. He watched Lord Xie and the others leave, and before long, they came back with a tied-up guy who, by his clothes, looked like a Luqiren. And of course, Zhao Wuwei wasn't around, so he didn't even have anyone to talk it over with.

Xie Zhiwei was on full alert. "What's your name? Who are you?"

Luo Qiyan replied, "Luo Yan. I'm a Luqiren."

Xie Zhiwei: "So what's the deal with that gu worm you mentioned?"

Luo Qiyan's gaze lingered on Xiao Yang for a moment. "That's my gu worm, Lingxi. Lingxi likes him."

Xie Zhiwei suspected Luo Qiyan was lying. "Your gu worm just abandons you, its master, because it likes someone else?"

Luo Qiyan fell silent.

Pei Dinglan growled, "Talk."

Luo Qiyan said slowly, "Lingxi is the female gu. The male gu is in my body."

Xiao Yang, the least tense of the bunch, asked, "A love gu?"

Xie Zhiwei: "???"

Pei Dinglan: "!!!"

"At your age, talking about love gu!" Pei Dinglan clamped a hand over Xiao Yang's mouth.

Xie Zhiwei figured Xiao Yang had just read too many storybooks. Even if gu worms existed, could there really be such a thing as a love gu? Haha... ha...

"It's a love gu," Luo Qiyan said.

Xie Zhiwei felt like he'd been hit by lightning and let out a piercing shriek.

"Get that worm out of him right now!"

He'd brought Xiao Yang out of the capital, and now he'd have to bring him back with a love gu worm inside him—how could he face Xiao Yan?

But Luo Qiyan said, "Lingxi has chosen its master. It won't leave its master."

Xie Zhiwei was crushed. "So there's no way?"

"There is." Luo Qiyan dropped another bombshell. "If the master dies, the gu worm dies with them."

Pei Dinglan grabbed Luo Qiyan by the collar. "Your Luoqi people have studied gu worms for generations. I refuse to believe there's no way."

Luo Qiyan blinked slowly. "Gu worms protect their masters. Luoqi people don't let them leave their bodies."

Xie Zhiwei: "But this is a love gu. Do all you Luoqi people get married using gu worms?"

Xiao Yang whispered, "Brother Lan, let him go. He doesn't seem like a bad guy."

Pei Dinglan shot Luo Qiyan another fierce glare before letting go, clearly reluctant.

"Love gu are rare, and having one inside doesn't mean you have to get married." Luo Qiyan spoke vaguely.

He didn't reveal too much to the three of them. The love gu was tied to the Holy Sovereign and the Holy Son of Luoqi—only they had love gu; ordinary people didn't. It was originally created to stop the Luoqi monarchy from becoming a hereditary bloodline, so the first Holy Sovereign came up with it.

The Holy Sovereign and Holy Son carry the male gu. The female gu picks a new master based on its master's wishes. If the one chosen doesn't want to be with the Holy Sovereign or Holy Son, then the Holy Sovereign or Holy Son just stays single for life—no big deal.

Xie Zhiwei let out a mournful wail. "Pei Dinglan, pinch me. I've got to be dreaming."

Pei Dinglan didn't pinch him. Instead, he pulled Xie Zhiwei closer and stared at Luo Qiyan with a look that said "You'd better explain yourself."

"You said love gu are rare?" Xie Zhiwei took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Then where did your love gu come from?"

Luo Qiyan answered honestly, "It's been passed down through my family."

Xie Zhiwei clenched his fist—were they using a love gu as a family heirloom?

Xiao Yang patted Xie Zhiwei and asked on his own, "This gu worm won't hurt me, right?"

Luo Qiyan looked at Xiao Yang with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry. I couldn't control Lingxi. But don't worry, Lingxi will only protect you, never hurt you."

Xiao Yang looked at Xie Zhiwei. "Maybe we should just let him go, then."

After all, it's not going to hurt him.

Xie Zhiwei patted Xiao Yang's head. "Nope."

Xiao Yang was confused. "Why?"

Pei Dinglan sneered. "A Luqiren sneaking around Great Zhou territory—how could he be a good guy?"

Xie Zhiwei chimed in, matching Pei Dinglan's sarcastic tone. "It's not like he's here looking for a wife, right?"

Xiao Yang: "..."