PFC Chapter 41 Prefect of Yongcheng
Chapter 41 Prefect of Yongcheng
"Let's not jump to conclusions yet," Chu Ling interrupted their speculation.
Unlike usual, he wore no adornments tonight, not even his ever-present folding fan. He wore a simple white robe very similar to Xie Yan's, which made his beautiful face appear rather aloof.
He sighed almost inaudibly and gestured for his men to close the coffin. "We'll report this to the authorities at dawn. That way, once the news spreads, no matter who the culprit is, they won't dare to commit another crime for a while."
The sky was just beginning to lighten, still tinged with the lingering darkness of night. People were still sound asleep when a flurry of hurried, chaotic footsteps suddenly shattered the silence of Yongcheng.
"What happened?"
Someone opened their window and looked out; the noise was coming from a group of government officials.
They were in a hurry, pulling several carts, and ran through the street without even having time to form a proper procession. They were heading towards the city gate.
"What happened...?"
The man complained a few times, and was about to close the window when he suddenly saw something and his expression froze.
Then a horse galloped from the side of the street, and sitting on it was none other than their prefect!
The person who was woken up stared in disbelief at the prefect, who looked like he had just gotten up and hadn't even had time to straighten his clothes, as he passed by like the wind. Now, he was wide awake.
"My goodness, what on earth is going on..."
While they were reporting to the authorities, Chu Ling and his group were not idle. In addition to the dozen or so coffins they had unearthed, they also collected and reburied the numerous skeletons that had been discarded in the mass grave.
"Look, this is a very strong and robust man."
Uya held up the two leg bones in her hand for Yu Bai and the others to see, with a regretful expression: "But he must have broken his leg when he was a child, that's why the two legs are different lengths."
"oh oh!"
Meng Lan followed suit, picking up a thin, short bone with both hands and analyzing, "Then this must be the bone of a child who hasn't fully grown yet."
"What a poor child."
It's unclear what he was thinking, but with teary eyes, he began to stroke the bone.
Then Uya glanced at his hand and coldly retorted, "No, that's a lackey."
Meng Lan: "..."
Fine, if you're going to be a lackey, then you're still just a pitiful dog.
Before long, the sound of horses' hooves came from afar.
They stopped what they were doing and all stared at the approaching horse, from which a thin young man jumped down.
The man stumbled a step before turning back, then casually straightened his clothes.
After completing a series of movements, he raised his head and scanned the crowd, finally fixing his gaze on Xie Yan and Chu Ling, who were dressed identically.
He hesitated for a moment, then walked over and glanced at the two faces. He immediately dismissed the "ordinary" Xie Yan and turned to bow to Chu Ling.
"Ning Liang, Prefect of Yongcheng, pays his respects to His Highness the Prince."
Chu Ling lowered his eyes to look at him, but did not let him get up immediately.
Xie Yan took the opportunity to sized up the prefect.
He was slender and had a refined appearance; at first glance, he looked like a scholar who couldn't even kill a chicken.
However, he looks quite young, and to have reached the position of prefect, he must have some skill.
For example, right now, Chu Ling didn't tell him to get up, and his lowered face didn't show any panic or fear.
"Flat body."
When Chu Ling spoke, Ning Liang straightened up, but then knelt down on both knees and bowed in worship.
"The lower official is guilty!"
Everyone was surprised, but Chu Ling remained calm. "Oh? What crime have you committed?"
The ground, soaked with dew and trampled by many people, was muddy and slippery, but Ning Liang seemed completely unconcerned.
His forehead struck the ground, his expression solemn: "My fault lies in failing to investigate the case of the unexplained disappearance of the women from the brothels of Yongcheng."
Xie Yan was somewhat surprised. Everyone said that the government was letting these women disappear without a trace and doing nothing. But now it seemed that wasn't entirely true.
At least this prefect clearly knew something.
At this moment, everyone heard hurried footsteps coming from the end of the road, and they could vaguely see a group of people in official robes running towards them.
"Get up first."
Chu Ling turned around, his tone softening slightly.
Ning Liang stood up, his forehead covered in mud. He quickly wiped it off and walked to the row of cleaned coffins. His voice trembled as he asked, "Are these... are these all the missing women?"
Silence fell; no one spoke. Only a gust of cold wind answered him.
The officials rushed over, clearly shocked by the scene before them. Before they could even begin to discuss it, Ning Liang scolded them to stop and ordered them to carefully transport the corpse from the coffin back to its original location.
These officials were indeed well-disciplined; they didn't glance anywhere else and began opening the coffin and transporting the corpse in an orderly manner without saying a word.
Xie Yan sighed and shook her head silently: "Sigh, look at other people's subordinates."
Turning his head to look again, he saw Chu Ling's men gathered around a bone, studying what kind of animal it was.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, Ning Liang walked to Chu Ling's side, cupped his hands, and said, "Please rest assured, Your Highness, apart from this humble official and a few close confidants, no one else knows about your presence here."
Chu Ling glanced at him leisurely and said, "Seeing this scene, Lord Ning doesn't seem surprised at all."
Upon hearing this, Ning Liang paused, his expression gradually becoming serious. "To be honest, when I took office as the prefect of Yongcheng two years ago, I had already made some guesses when I heard about the repeated disappearances of women in brothels."
"Then why don't you investigate?" Xuan Feng stood behind Chu Ling, his tone icy.
Seeing that the person questioning him was clearly a subordinate with no official rank, Ning Liang showed no displeasure whatsoever.
He sighed softly, looking very distressed: "I have also led people to investigate. But investigating the case requires closing down the brothels, and the most famous thing in Yongcheng besides the Flower Goddess Festival is the brothels. Once those brothels are closed, countless people come to make a scene at the government office."
"I sent people to investigate three times, and they caused trouble each time. At one point, they even trampled several people to death in front of the government office. I had no choice but to turn the overt investigation into a covert one. But unfortunately, there has been no progress in the past two years."
"Is there absolutely no progress?"
At this moment, Xie Yan also chimed in, "Is there anything wrong with Shi Hanxi?"
Ning Liang glanced at him, honestly shook his head, and answered his question: "At first, I also had my doubts. But—"
Such statements are often followed by a twist.
"Firstly, he lived outside the city, and guards would always notice him whenever he entered or left the city, so he was always seen alone. Secondly, when several women went missing, he was painting for someone else elsewhere."