Chapter 7 This is a secret between me and your garrison commander.

Looking at the group of Mingjing Guards dressed in black official robes, with swords at their waists and exuding a menacing aura, no one dared to do business anymore; they all wished they could close down immediately.

In the short time it took Ah Chan to turn around, the people carrying the goods disappeared into the crowd, whether to watch the excitement or to take the opportunity to leave.

The West Market was already in some chaos because of the appearance of the Mingjing Guards. Achan was still clutching the hemp rope tied to the wooden stake in her hand. Since she couldn't leave anyway, she might as well stay here and watch the excitement for a while.

Many people shared her thoughts. Although everyone was wary of the Mingjing Division, they couldn't suppress their desire to watch the spectacle.

The group of Mingjing Guards headed towards the vicinity of the spice stall where Achan had just bought her spices. The shopkeepers there were probably frightened and stood frozen in place.

The leader shouted, "Arrest them!"

The guards from the Mingjing Guards swarmed forward, heading straight for the jade stall next to the spice stall.

After the fat jade seller was pinned down, he turned his head left and right several times, and then burst into tears.

Crying and shouting, "My lord, I'm innocent!"

This boss, whose origins are unknown, speaks with a strange accent and cries out his grievances in a convoluted and humorous way.

"Shut up," the team leader snapped rudely.

Achan then noticed that the person leading the team was actually Feng Yang.

The two people behind Feng Yang came to the stall. One of them picked up a jade pendant and handed it to the other. The other person just rubbed the pendant in his hand, and it crumbled into powder.

The two exchanged a glance, and just as they were about to pick up another fist-sized, peeled rough stone, the boss, who had just closed his mouth, started howling again.

"My lord, let's talk this out. These jade stones are all my possessions. If they're all crushed, I'd rather be dead."

The two people who were examining the jade didn't care about the boss's life or death, and broke the rough stone in half.

They handed the broken piece of raw stone to Feng Yang, who glanced at it and threw it back to the shopkeeper: "Look, this is all you have. Only the outer shell is jade; the inside is worse than a stone."

The shop owner held his rough stone and examined it for a long time, then sniffed: "Impossible, all the jade stones on my stall have been tested, how could they have turned out like this?"

"Are you the only one looking after this stall?"

"There's another guy."

"name?"

"Call him Jiang San, that's what everyone calls him."

Where are the others?

The shopkeeper looked around, somewhat puzzled: "He was just here a moment ago."

Feng Yang frowned and looked around. Unexpectedly, he saw A Chan watching the commotion outside the crowd, but his gaze did not linger.

He pondered for a moment, then raised his voice, a voice with penetrating power that reached everyone's ears: "Whoever can help me find Jiang San at the jade stall, I will reward him with ten taels of silver."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than someone nearby shouted, "There he is! He's trying to run away!"

Everyone looked toward the voice and saw a tall, thin boy pointing toward the north gate of the West Market.

Jiang San was fast; in the blink of an eye, he was almost out of the North Gate.

"Arrest them." Feng Yang gave the order, and half of the Mingjing Guards behind him rushed out like the wind.

However, before they could catch up with Jiang San, a group of people suddenly appeared at the north gate. The leader kicked Jiang San, who was about to run out, back down.

Jiang San was kicked more than ten meters away. His body twitched once, and then he fell silent.

Feng Yang strode towards Jiang San, and when he reached his side, he half-squatted down to check the pulse on the side of his neck. There was no pulse; the man was dead.

He stood up and looked at Xue Mingtang, who was walking towards him with several clerks from the Ministry of Justice, with an unfriendly expression.

Xue Mingtang seemed oblivious to Feng Yang's hostility. He glanced at the waist badge hanging on Feng Yang's waist, then cupped his hands in a salute: "I am Xue Mingtang, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice. I acted a little too hastily just now. Please forgive me, Commander."

"What are you from the Ministry of Justice doing here?" Feng Yang asked coldly.

Xue Mingtang said frankly, "In order to investigate a murder case caused by a malevolent spirit, I happened to have a clue pointing to the West Market, so I came to investigate."

Feng Yang didn't ask any further questions. He had no evidence to prove that Xue Mingtang was involved in the matter, but his arrival was too coincidental.

"Take Jiang San's body back," Feng Yang ordered.

Four people stepped forward and produced two ropes that looked like they had been soaked in blood. They went forward in pairs to tie up the corpse, but the corpse's head suddenly lifted up.

Just as everyone was screaming, a white light shot out from the corpse and rushed towards the crowd.

Afraid of being pushed over, Achan stood outside the crowd, but this only made her more conspicuous. The white light was originally heading towards her, but for some reason, it suddenly turned a corner halfway through, seemingly deliberately avoiding her, and disappeared through the crowd.

After changing bodies, Achan's eyesight wasn't as good as before, and she couldn't see clearly what the white light that flew out was.

However… she glanced down at the willow stump at her feet, then at the corpse lying on the ground, and a guess formed in her mind.

Suddenly she felt an extremely uncomfortable gaze upon her. Turning her head, she found Xue Mingtang looking at her.

Xue Mingtang only learned yesterday that Ji Chan was not dead.

He didn't know what had happened that night that allowed someone who had been shot through the chest with an arrow to survive, but he wanted someone to die, so there was no reason for that person to live.

Achan sensed Xue Mingtang's malice towards her, and she knew even more clearly that Xue Mingtang would not give up so easily if he failed to kill her once.

She had no chance of winning against Xue Mingtang, but she didn't want to die yet.

Achan shifted her gaze away, finally fixing it on Feng Yang.

"Lord Feng." Her voice wasn't loud, but Feng Yang caught it keenly.

Feng Yang turned around and looked at A Chan with some confusion.

Achan smiled at him: "I have something I want to say to Lord Feng."

Feng Yang frowned, unsure of Ji Chan's intentions, but seeing her open and honest demeanor, he still stepped forward.

The others wanted to listen, but were all driven away by the Mingjing Guards who caught up with them.

"Just say what you have to say."

"I guess the adult doesn't have a clue about that thing from earlier?"

"Do you have it?" Feng Yang wanted to say what it had to do with him, but seeing how easily the other person could be blown away by a gust of wind, he changed his words before speaking.

Achan nodded slightly: "I don't know what case you are investigating, sir, but I do have some thoughts on that thing just now. Lord Feng, would you like to hear them?"

Feng Yang looked at A Chan with a scrutinizing gaze. The order to release Ji Chan was given personally by the garrison commander, which meant that Ji Chan was innocent.

But the garrison commander did not tell him why she had changed so much overnight.

After a slight hesitation, Feng Yang said, "Go ahead and speak."

"Legend has it that when a dragon dies, it attracts a black snake that lives in an extremely yin place. This snake is only an inch long and loves the dragon's spinal cord. After eating it, it will shed its black skin and become a white snake, and its attributes will change from extremely yin to extremely yang. This snake is considered a rare species of heaven and earth, without any demonic aura, and it will not dwell on anything but beautiful jade."

Feng Yang's expression grew more and more serious as he listened, and every detail matched the clues he had found.

He was investigating the theft from the forbidden warehouse a few months ago. Although the officials involved were beheaded or exiled as appropriate, such as Ji Chan's maternal grandfather's entire family, the person or the item that broke into the forbidden warehouse had never been found.

The forbidden vault was equipped with layers of defenses and traps for demons and monsters, but the thing that went in never triggered any of the traps. When they finally investigated, they only found that a few precious jades in the forbidden vault had become abnormal.

It's been almost half a year, and they finally found a clue by following the jade. But before they could catch the person, Xue Mingtang kicked him to death, and the thing attached to the person disappeared.

Their investigation, which lasted so long, was less effective than a few words from Ji Chan.

"How did Miss Ji know all this?" Feng Yang couldn't help but ask.

Achan raised the corners of her lips and looked at the other party mysteriously, saying, "This is a secret between me and your garrison commander. If you are really curious, you can ask him."

“…I will.” Of course, he wouldn’t believe Ji Chan’s one-sided story.

After listening to Ji Chan's words, Feng Yang was about to leave when she called him back.

"Master Feng."

"Is there anything else?" Feng Yang turned around, concealing the slight unease on his face.

For some reason, he felt uncomfortable whenever this person called him.

Achan lowered her eyes slightly, seemingly a little embarrassed: "Lord Feng, could you send someone to help me carry this piece of wood home? As you know, I'm weak, and with all this stuff on my hands, I really can't walk any further."

Feng Yang was speechless. Ji Chan's expression and words were completely out of sync.

"this……"

Seeing his hesitation, Achan added, "Sir, why don't you take this opportunity to familiarize yourself with my family's place? If I have deceived you, you can bring people to arrest me and take me back to the Mingjing Division at any time."

Feng Yang was persuaded. He thought that if the clues provided by Ji Chan were true, it would be a great help. Sending someone to deliver some things to her would be too easy.

He called over two subordinates and asked them to help Ji Chan deliver the things she bought to her home. The two subordinates looked at him with particularly strange eyes.

He had no way to explain, so he could only leave with his men, his face cold.

Feng Yang left, but left two Mingjing Division centurions by Ji Chan's side. Upon seeing this, Xue Mingtang suppressed the murderous intent that surged within him.

Before he could ascertain the exact nature of the relationship between Ji Chan and Ming Jingsi, he could not act rashly.

Achan stopped looking at Xue Mingtang. This person shouldn't bother her for the time being. As for what happens next... well, we'll talk about that later.

With two people helping to carry the things, Achan went to stroll around the West Market again without any hesitation.

With the Mingjing Guard by her side, even buying things could be half price. Achan was so excited that she even took a quilt back with her.

The two guards from the Mingjing Division diligently helped her carry all her belongings home, and left in a hurry without even drinking a bowl of water.