Why Does Mr. Xie Favor Me? Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Connection Between Wang and Xie

The warehouse was, in fact, a dilapidated three-entry courtyard in the eastern part of the city. When Xie Heng arrived, the gates were wide open, and dozens of wooden crates were stacked neatly in the yard. Their lids were flung back, revealing nothing but emptiness.

The warehouse officials were kneeling all over the ground. May the Director be our witness! The Governor’s office only sent the order yesterday afternoon, saying the warehouse needed to be reorganized and all records had to be crated for inspection. We worked through the night to organize them. The registers were still here this morning…

What time were they moved this morning? Xie Heng asked.

At the start of the hour of Chen.

Who moved them? Xie Heng asked again.

Soldiers from the Governor’s office.

Xiao Jue kicked over an empty crate. This is clearly a case of the guards stealing what they were meant to protect!

Xie Heng raised a hand to stop him and walked over to an elderly official. How many years have you managed this warehouse?

Twelve years…

Twelve years. Xie Heng crouched down to meet his eyes. Then you must remember what records were originally stored in these empty crates?

The old official trembled, his lips quivering, but he did not dare to speak.

Xie Heng pulled a copper plate from his sleeve. It was engraved with the words: Danyang Land Records, Year 3 of Yonghe, Warehouse A.

I will ask a different way. He displayed the copper plate. In which warehouse are the land records from the third year of Yonghe kept?

Fearing he would be held responsible, the old official simply collapsed onto the ground in a heap.

Just then, a commotion broke out outside the courtyard. Wang Yan arrived in a hurry with dozens of men. He looked shocked at the scene. What is going on? Where are the records?!

He’s quite the actor, Xiao Jue thought, nearly drawing his sword.

Xie Heng, however, walked slowly toward the ancient well in the center of the yard. The moss on the well’s edge was damp, and the hemp rope on the windlass still held droplets of water.

Adjutant Wang, he said suddenly. You said the records were moved this morning?

That is correct…

Then why is the water on this well rope still fresh? Xie Heng reached out and wiped it. The records were moved at the hour of Chen, two hours ago. The autumn air is dry. If the water had touched the rope then, it would have dried long ago.

Wang Yan’s expression shifted slightly.

Xie Heng turned to his personal guard. Xiao Jue, go down the well and take a look.

You cannot! Wang Yan said urgently. That well has been abandoned for years…

Before he could finish, Xiao Jue grabbed the rope and leaped down. A moment later, a muffled sound echoed from below. Director, there is a secret chamber down here. It is full of records.

Wang Yan took a half-step back. Behind him, his attendants placed their hands on their sword hilts.

Xie Heng’s guards instantly drew their blades. Twenty against dozens, the atmosphere became thick with tension.

The autumn wind blew through the empty crates, making a sound like a low wail.

Xie Heng stood by the well, his black official robes fluttering in the wind. His voice was terrifyingly calm. Adjutant Wang, you may explain yourself now. Why did you hide the household registers in a secret chamber beneath a well without informing me?

Wang Yan’s hand slowly moved away from his sword hilt. A smile returned to his face, though it did not reach his eyes.

The Director misunderstands. He took a step back and signaled his attendants to put away their weapons. The secret chamber below the well was built by the previous dynasty to store duplicate copies for fire protection. The Governor’s office was concerned that the household record warehouse had fallen into disrepair, so we ordered the records to be temporarily moved here until the new warehouse is completed.

What a silver tongue.

Xiao Jue leaped out of the well, holding several scrolls wrapped in oilcloth. Then why wasn’t it reported? Why the secret transfer in the early morning?

Emergency measures, Wang Yan replied smoothly. The wind was strong last night, and the warehouse roof tiles were loose. We feared the records would be damaged. I thought it best to move them first and file the paperwork today. He turned to Xie Heng and bowed. I have startled the Director. It was a lapse in my judgment.

Xie Heng’s gaze fell on the oilcloth bundles. The oilcloth was brand new, and the knots used to tie the ropes were sailor’s knots commonly used in the military.

These were certainly not things an old structure from a previous dynasty would have.

In that case, he said indifferently, please have Adjutant Wang bring the records out for an inventory. Xiao Jue, take your men and assist them.

There is no need to trouble General Xiao. Wang Yan raised a hand, and his attendants immediately went down the well. The people from the Governor’s office are familiar with the classification of the records. It will be faster for them to count.

The two groups stood in a standoff by the well. Xie Heng’s guards held their sword hilts, and the Governor’s attendants looked equally unfriendly. The air was thick with the scent of wood ash and the damp stench of mud from the bottom of the well.

Adjutant Wang, Xie Heng said suddenly. I recall that after the great flood in Danyang during the third year of Yonghe, the imperial court sent Li Su, a Secretary of State Farms, to oversee the reclamation. Where did this Secretary Li go afterward?

Wang Yan’s expression remained unchanged. I do not know. That was an old matter from seventeen years ago…

Then let me help you remember, Xie Heng cut him off. Li Su, a native of Linyi in Langya, was demoted to Jiaozhou in the fifth year of Yonghe for failing to oversee the reclamation properly. And the person who replaced him… He paused. Was surnamed Wang, with the given name Hong.

Wang Yan’s smile finally froze.

That is my uncle, he said, his voice tight. What does the Director mean by this?

It means nothing. Xie Heng walked to an empty crate and brushed his fingers along the edge. I simply recalled that between the third and fifth years of Yonghe, the Governor of Danyang was replaced three times. Every single one of them received an evaluation of ineffective water management upon leaving office. Only after Wang Hong took over the state farm duties were there no more such records.

He turned to look at Wang Yan. What I am curious about is whether those first three governors were truly incompetent, or if someone intentionally made them appear so to pave the way for their successor?

The attendants below the well continued to bring out the oilcloth bundles, stacking them half a man high in the courtyard.

Xiao Jue’s sharp eyes caught sight of charred edges peeking out from under the oilcloth of several bundles—marks left by fire.

Adjutant Wang, Xiao Jue stepped forward and pulled out a scroll, unfurling it. Why is this record burned?

On the yellowed pages, there were indeed scorch marks left by flames, yet the crucial numbers for the land acreage remained perfectly intact.

Wang Yan stepped forward to look closely, his face changing drastically. This… this is impossible. They were clearly in perfect condition when they were crated this morning!

This morning? Xie Heng took the record, his fingers tracing the edge of the scorch marks. This ash was left at least three days ago. Adjutant Wang, are you certain you inspected them this morning?

Cold sweat broke out on Wang Yan’s forehead.

He suddenly realized that the records in the well were not the ones they had moved in this morning at all.

Xie Heng let out a cold laugh and led his men away, leaving Wang Yan standing stunned in the wind.

We have been played. Wang Yan sat across from a middle-aged scholar. This was Cui Yan, the Chief Secretary of the Yangzhou Governor’s office and a member of a branch of the Qinghe Cui clan.

Xie Heng knew all along that the warehouse had a secret chamber, and he knew we would move the records. He intentionally let us move them so he could swap them halfway.

Swapped? Wang Yan gritted his teeth. Thirty crates of records, hundreds of pounds—how could he swap them?

Have you forgotten who he brought with him? Cui Yan tapped the desk. Xiao Jue, who came from the Left Vanguard Camp of the Beifu Army. Those men can slip into a Hu camp in the Northern Frontier as if entering an empty room. What is swapping a few crates to them?

Hurried footsteps came from outside the window, and a confidant pushed open the door. My Lord, it has been investigated. The convoy moving the records this morning happened to encounter a funeral procession at the entrance of the West City alley. They were blocked for fifteen minutes. At that time…

At that time, the records were swapped. Wang Yan sat down dejectedly. What a man, this Xie Heng. He even calculated the funeral procession into his plan.

Cui Yan, however, did not seem to mind and even let out a laugh. Panic is useless now that things have come to this. Fortunately, we still have a trump card.

He pulled a secret letter from his sleeve. The wax seal bore the family crest of the Langya Wang clan. Your uncle has sent word. There is already a rift within the Xie clan.

Wang Yan looked up sharply. Truly?

Xie Chong, Xie Heng’s third uncle, has managed the Xie clan’s land holdings in Danyang for twenty years. Cui Yan pushed the letter over. He does not want to see Xie Heng’s land reform audit reach his own head.

After reading the letter, hope flared in Wang Yan’s eyes again. Xie Chong is willing to cooperate?

It is not cooperation; it is self-preservation. Cui Yan picked up his teacup. Xie Heng wants to touch the very foundation of the Great Clans. How can the Xie clan remain unscathed? Xie Chong has simply made a smart choice. Rather than waiting for Xie Heng to investigate his own family, he would rather help us first.

How will he help?

Cui Yan’s smile looked somewhat eerie in the candlelight. Doesn’t Xie Heng want to investigate hidden households? Then let him. However, the hidden households he finds will insist that they are not the Wang family’s protected households, but the Xie family’s.

Wang Yan gasped. This…

This is called pulling the rug from under his feet. Cui Yan set down his teacup. When Xie Heng discovers that his audit has led him to his own family, let’s see if he still has the courage to continue.

At the same time, Xie Heng placed a charred household register under the lamp. The edges of the scorch marks were neat, as if they had been deliberately singed, but the crucial names and land acreage were clearly legible.

Fake. Xiao Jue watched for a long time before concluding. The heat was controlled too well. It looks like it was intentionally aged.

It was meant for us to see. Xie Heng pulled a genuine old register from his desk—a copy made three days ago by secret guards from the Wang family’s villa. Look at the handwriting in these two.

Xiao Jue compared them, his pupils shrinking. Written by the same person?

The same group of people. Xie Heng pointed to a spot on the copy. These records were all re-transcribed within the last five years. The original records from the Yonghe era were likely burned long ago.

Xiao Jue clenched his fists. Then what are we even investigating? It’s all fake accounts.

Fake accounts are better. Xie Heng closed the register. Those who make fake accounts are most afraid of someone being meticulous. For a fake account to be convincing, it needs to be consistent and interconnected. And as long as there is one flaw…

He took his brush and wrote a name on the paper: Li Su.

Find Li Su, who oversaw the reclamation back then, and find out exactly what happened in the third year of Yonghe. All the fake accounts will collapse on their own.

But Li Su has been demoted to Jiaozhou for over a decade…

That is why we must find him. Xie Heng looked out at the pitch-black night. The more the Wang family doesn’t want us to find him, the more it proves he knows.

Before he could finish, a commotion broke out downstairs. An attendant hurried upstairs, his face pale. Young Master, someone has come from the Xie residence. It is Zhao Ning, the steward of the Third Elder. He says he has urgent news to report.

Zhao Ning was Xie Chong’s trusted steward, yet he had rushed to Danyang overnight.

Xie Heng and Xiao Jue exchanged a look, both seeing the gravity in each other’s eyes.

What was meant to come had finally arrived.