Chapter 159 – Rouge Immortal Mountain, the Human-Head Lantern, and the Serpentine Brush of Fate - Part 3
Later that evening.
Dong Xiaolan found herself in the county office, looking uneasy. She was telling her story to a Blood Blade Sect inner disciple, who sat in the county magistrate’s seat, fuming. “Silver Creek has always been peaceful, and now we have thieves flitting through the skies? Audacious! Fear not, Miss Dong. Tell me exactly what happened, and we’ll see justice done.”
Spurred on by her desire to recover her rouge box, Dong Xiaolan spilled every detail she knew. Not long after, she left with red-rimmed eyes, clutching onto hope that the Blood Blood Sect would catch the culprit and return what was hers.
Once the doors were shut and the servants dismissed, the disciple stepped behind the nearby screen and bowed deeply to Li Yuan, who had been seated out of sight. “Patriarch, is there anything else you want me to do?”
Li Yuan replied, “Help her search, make a big show of it. We can’t allow thieves in Silver Creek, after all. Use this chance to pry into everything. If there are more rouge boxes like this one, gather them all.”
“Understood!” the disciple said at once. Then, hesitating, he added, “That rouge box was originally a gift from Qian Da...so about Qian—”
“Question him as well,” Li Yuan said. “No exceptions.”
“Yes! I understand!”
And so, in the name of helping a distraught victim, the Blood Blade Sect expanded its search, determined to find every last rouge box hidden within the county’s borders.
After scoping out potential targets, Li Yuan went in himself to seize the rouge boxes. As for the so-called thieves, they grabbed a few petty criminals from outside the township walls and pinned the theft on them. Word on the street was that the rouge boxes had been tossed away somewhere, and once these scapegoats were executed, the matter was declared settled.
The original owners of the rouge boxes were left helpless, wailing in despair as though they had lost a loved one. Yet there was nothing they could do. If the thieves had thrown the boxes away and those same thieves were now dead, what recourse was left?
Qian Da, meanwhile, was dumbfounded. He had originally planned to offer a rouge box to Li Yuan, but when that didn’t pan out, he gave it to a singer from Heavenly Scent Pavilion instead. Once he heard Li Yuan himself had ordered an investigation, he went to great lengths to assist.