Chapter 1112: Revenge

Sang Hong was furious. "Do you know that falsely accusing a prince is a crime punishable by exterminating nine generations of your family!"

Tao Hong sighed. "You see, just hearing the name frightens you this much, so why ask me to confess?"

Sang Hong's face alternated between green and pale; he seemed to be contemplating something.

Pei You and Zu An exchanged a glance, their previous anger having vanished. The room suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

Only Zu An remained relatively calm. He asked in a deep voice, "Did Prince Qi send you personally, or was it someone under him?"

Tao Hong replied, "Prince Qi is a high-ranking individual; how could he personally handle such matters? It was naturally arranged by someone under him."

"Then how do you know someone isn't falsely using Prince Qi's name?" Zu An said in a deep voice.

Tao Hong snorted. "As secret agents, how could we not know who we serve?"

"Since that's the case, why betray them so quickly?" Zu An said lightly. Although the Embroidered Uniform Guards were skilled at interrogation, her confession as a secret agent seemed unusually swift.

Tao Hong said bitterly, "Do you know why I was caught by Yun Jianyue?"

Without waiting for Zu An to answer, she continued, "After I completed my mission here, I was targeted for assassination by Prince Qi's killers. Fortunately, I had a contingency plan and was able to escape. As fate would have it, I then ran straight into Yun Jianyue and was caught by him."

The others exchanged glances, all inwardly acknowledging her cleverness.

Just then, Pei You spoke up. "Last time I saw you at the Jade Pavilion, was the deep affection you displayed for Shen Zhou real or fake?"

Tao Hong sneered, "Given the circumstances, does it matter if it was real or fake?"

Pei You's voice was low. "Of course it matters."

Seeing his piercing gaze, Tao Hong was silent for a moment. After a long pause, she finally spoke. "I was trained as a spy since childhood; everything I experienced was cruel and cold. Even occasional displays of kindness from superiors were merely methods of control. Only Shen Zhou gave me genuine warmth and sincerity. Although he was clumsy and slow-witted, I truly fell for him."

Zu An said blandly, "It's a pity you still caused his death."

Tao Hong smiled sadly. "That's right, I indeed caused his death. When I reported his findings to my superiors, I knew what fate awaited him. Unfortunately, at that time, I didn't understand my own feelings, and I was also afraid of betraying the organization and facing retaliation, so I didn't think much about it."

"It wasn't until I learned of his death that my heart was cut as if by a knife, and I finally realized my mistake. But regret was already too late."

"But afterwards, you still acted as if nothing happened, continuing to work for Prince Qi, and even used Shen Zhou to mislead us in our investigation," Zu An said in a deep voice.

Tao Hong lowered her head. "What could I do? My life and death were in others' hands; could I say no? How would you powerful, high-ranking individuals ever know the sorrow of us ordinary people?"

Zu An was silent, knowing that what she said was true.

This woman most likely had feelings for Shen Zhou, but unfortunately lacked the courage to defy Prince Qi, which is why she lived in conflict and pain.

"Were the account books of the Zhenyuan Merchant Guild modified by you?" Sang Hong asked. He was old and had weathered countless storms; his heart had long become as hard as iron. He cared nothing for the romantic entanglements of these young people, focusing only on the most crucial questions.

Tao Hong murmured, "I didn't participate. There were specific people who disguised themselves to retrieve the real account books and then replaced them with new ones. I don't know what exactly was modified."

"Who was the person you met with? How can he be found?" Sang Hong asked.

"Manager Ma of Pingan Pharmacy in the west of the city. Because many girls at the Jade Pavilion often need to see a doctor, he could frequently enter and exit without arousing suspicion," Tao Hong replied.

Sang Hong quickly gestured to Xiao Jianren, who was nearby. Xiao Jianren understood and swiftly left with his men to make the arrest.

"Do you have any other evidence?" Sang Hong continued to press.

Tao Hong shook her head. "Those of us in this line of work all guard against each other. How could we possibly leave any evidence?"

Sang Hong frowned and continued the interrogation, but unfortunately, no further useful clues were obtained.

So he left Pei You to continue the interrogation, while he took Zu An to a secret room for discussion.

"Are we going to suppress this information too?" Zu An asked curiously.

Sang Hong shook his head. "Previously, Prince Yan was not the Emperor's target; if we had forced them to rebel, the Emperor might have blamed us instead. But Prince Qi is precisely whom the Emperor intends to deal with, so we naturally don't have those concerns."

"Unfortunately, there's only human testimony, no physical evidence," Zu An said worriedly. Prince Qi is, after all, second only to the Emperor and above everyone else. Relying solely on Tao Hong's confession would make it difficult to deal with him.

Sang Hong also sighed. "That's right. Now it depends on whether Sir Xiao can find anything, but I'm not optimistic."

Zu An also agreed with this assessment. An old fox like Prince Qi, after Tao Hong escaped, would hardly leave such obvious flaws.

At the same time, he also hesitated. Previously, in the capital, he had interacted with Prince Qi, and they had even formed an "alliance." Although both sides knew it wasn't reliable, Zu An genuinely needed Prince Qi to help him deal with the Emperor. It would be best if both sides suffered heavy losses; if Prince Qi were directly defeated, it would not be in Zu An's best interest.

Not long after, Xiao Jianren returned. The reason for his swift return was that Pingan Pharmacy was already deserted, with only a few completely unaware apprentices remaining.

"As expected," Sang Hong smiled bitterly, beginning to hesitate whether to hand Tao Hong over.

Although he had no direct interests with Prince Qi, he was considering another aspect: this charge was extraordinary. If they made a move without solid evidence, and Prince Qi ultimately survived, the Emperor, with his unfeeling nature, might push the Sang family out as scapegoats again.

They had already suffered a loss last time; this time, they didn't want to repeat the same mistake.

Just then, another subordinate came to report, "A village in the city's outskirts has caught fire."

Sang Hong snorted. "Why tell us about such a minor matter? Do you think we don't have enough on our plates?"

The soldier hastily explained, "It's the village where Shen Zhou's widow lives."

Because Zu An had previously investigated there, the envoy mission had sent people to secretly monitor relevant information. They just hadn't expected to receive such terrible news.

"What!" Zu An was shocked and hastily asked for details.

The soldier replied, "The specific situation isn't clear. It seems to have started in the middle of the night. Because everyone was asleep, the fire, aided by the wind, quickly spread. All 36 villagers, not one survived."

Zu An's voice was extremely cold. "There was heavy snowfall recently; how could it burn so easily? And not a single person in the entire village survived!"

"Silenced!" Sang Hong came to the same conclusion.

Soon, Zu An and Sang Hong led their men to the crime scene in the city's outskirts. Bailiffs were already there, collecting the bodies.

A terrible stench permeated the air. Looking around, it was like a hell on earth. Many bailiffs couldn't stand it and retched on the side.

Zu An's face was expressionless as he walked directly to the bodies of Shen Zhou's wife and child. Thinking of that lively, robust little boy now reduced to charred remains, a furious tide surged in his heart.

Although he already knew that to the powerful and influential, the lives of common people were as cheap as grass, he still hadn't expected them to be so utterly ruthless, not even sparing such small children.

Just then, a low-ranking official from the yamen came to report, "A preliminary autopsy has been conducted. The deceased's lungs contained a large amount of smoke and black ash, consistent with death by fire. Homicide can be temporarily ruled out."

Zu An looked at him coldly. "How did these people die?"

The man replied, "They died peacefully; they must have been burned to death in their sleep."

Zu An snorted. "No matter how soundly they slept, with the fire raging like this, would they have no reaction? Clearly, their pressure points were restrained before death, and then they were set on fire and burned alive!"

"Who... who could be so deranged!" The low-ranking official was clearly startled as well.

Zu An did not answer, but instead directly picked up the small skeleton and said in a deep voice, "These two don't need to be taken back to the yamen. I'll let them rest in peace first."

Since the murderer was known, there was no need to let their bodies be exposed at the yamen.

With Zu An's cultivation, he quickly dug a large pit, then split wood to make a simple coffin, and buried the mother and child.

He remained silent throughout the entire process. Sang Hong, who was nearby, comforted him, "Ah Zu, you shouldn't blame yourself too much. This has nothing to do with you."

Zu An did not answer, but silently took out the wooden sword the child had given him. "I swear by this sword, I will certainly avenge you, or may I be broken like it!"

After speaking, he channeled his power, and the wooden sword immediately broke into two pieces.

He was about to insert the broken sword into the grave mound when suddenly his gaze sharpened.