Chapter 397

Chapter 397: Eight Victims

Dusk had just settled. Curfew hadn’t started yet, and the streets were full, even busier than daytime. A veiled woman walked out of the inn. The veil hid her features, but it couldn’t hide her beauty or the noble air about her. In the shadows, a pair of greedy eyes stared, obsessed, until she vanished into the flow of people. Then the owner of those eyes slipped from the dark and followed.

The woman strolled and browsed without stopping, always choosing crowded streets, likely for safety. Suddenly, as she passed a narrow alley, a faint baby’s cry sounded from within. The alley was pitch black, with no light at all. Even the moon couldn’t reach in. The woman hesitated, but the cry grew weaker and weaker. At last, she stepped inside.

She had gone no more than two meters when a large hand reached from behind. A handkerchief with a strange smell clapped over her nose. She struggled twice, then her body went limp and slid to the ground. Two heavy hands hoisted her up and carried her toward the alley’s end. The man set her down, breathing fast with excitement.

A weak voice spoke: “What… what are you going to do?”

The man wasn’t surprised. The drug he used didn’t knock people fully out; it left their minds hazy and their bodies limp. In short, the victim would be awake, watching herself be defiled. He said nothing and reached to tear her clothes.

The woman struggled weakly and asked in fear: “Are you the one who committed all eight rapes?”

He gave a low laugh but didn’t answer.

She pleaded: “Let me go! I’m not someone you can afford to offend. If you touch me, I’ll make sure you die with no place to be buried!”

He paused, then sneered: “How high can your status be? Higher than the dean of the Hanlin Academy’s daughter?”

The official whose daughter had been raped was indeed the dean of the Hanlin Academy.

“So it’s you!” gasped the woman. “Let me go! I have money. If you don’t touch me, I’ll pay you a huge sum!”

He snorted: “I’ve got plenty of money! Who’s your father, then? Is he more important than the dean of the Hanlin Academy?”

He was strangely stuck on this question, even breaking his own rule of never speaking during a crime.

She begged and pulled away: “You already raped the dean’s daughter-spare me!”

“That’s different. She is her, and you are you. She wasn’t as pretty as you.”

The words had barely left his mouth when he noticed something wrong. The woman who had been struggling with all her might suddenly went still. The change startled him-and, oddly, left him feeling off balance. As confusion rose, the woman gave a soft laugh: “With that one line, that’s enough.”

Before the man could react, someone grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him up. His feet left the ground, and no matter how he kicked, he couldn’t touch it again.

Yu Zhi Yi stood, brushed dust from her clothes, and said evenly: “The culprit is caught. The proof is at his home. He has a collecting habit. After every crime he takes one item from the victim, mostly handkerchiefs. Search and you’ll see.”

Sure enough, the constables soon found the victims’ handkerchiefs in Sun Can’s house. The stormy case that had raged for over a month finally came to an end.

At first, Sun Can refused to confess. But when he saw the handkerchiefs, his hope died, and he had no choice but to admit it. Though he came from a well-off family, drew two hundred taels in dividends each month, and made extra from the grain estate, his spirit grew emptier day by day. Everyone compared him to his elder brother, and the result was always the same-he fell short. Over time, he twisted in silence.

Cowardly by nature, he didn’t dare strike back at those stronger than him, nor at those who mocked him. Instead, he reached for weak women. The fathers of several farm girls were peasants near his grain estate. Two of the girls’ fathers were his own hired hands, and one family’s field neighbored his land. That’s how he met those victims. The merchant daughters were from families that did business with his. Only the dean’s daughter he spotted by chance. She wasn’t a great beauty, but her gentle looks, high birth, and good manners drew his eye at once.

He waited a long time to act. The dean was a clean official and lived in a modest two-courtyard home. After more than half a month of watching, he learned which courtyard the young lady used and the family’s habits. Most important of all, the official’s house had no night patrols. That gave him his chance. On a dark, windy night, he slipped into the young lady’s room while her maid stepped out to relieve herself, pressed a drugged handkerchief to the girl’s nose, finished his crime quickly, and left. The whole thing took less than a quarter hour. By the time the maid returned and sensed something wrong, Sun Can was long gone.

Once the culprit was in custody, the rest moved fast. A single rape charge might not mean death, but Sun Can’s crimes were severe and their impact vile. After the facts were set in order, he was sentenced to beheading, to be carried out in seven days.

Eight strands of merit-gold light sank into Yu Zhi Yi’s body as she took her leave of the minister of the Court of Judicial Review, her face calm.

It was late. The black sky glittered with stars. Yu Zhi Yi looked up out of habit. She always glanced at the heavens while walking. One look, and her face changed slightly. The Ziwei Star had shifted!

She remembered the reading she had done before for the Great Sheng Empire. The empire’s national fate was strong and would keep rising. There would be some small setbacks, but nothing to change the overall trend. But that was the empire’s fate, not the emperor’s. If the emperor’s fortune rose, the empire’s would rise. Yet the empire’s rise did not guarantee the emperor’s personal fate would be good.

She lifted her hand to divine, and a chill pricked her heart. Pressure-again! That oppressive weight wasn’t as strong as before, but it pressed on her all the same. She instinctively thought to head outside the city, then abandoned the idea at once. [No need to run. Walk as if nothing’s wrong.] Bearing the pressure, she continued through the crowd, step by step, until she reached the Prefect’s Manor and walked in.

In the Imperial Palace, on the Stargazing Terrace, Immortal Qing Feng watched Yu Zhi Yi enter the Prefect’s Manor, and a cold light slid through his eyes.