Chapter 2326 - Going to Wuzhou (V)

He looked at his palm, covered with fresh blood. How much hatred did it take to think of using a writing brush as an assassination weapon?

Chen Baibin came over to support him. "Director Ji, are you okay? Your wound..."

"Not serious. Just a flesh wound." Ji Xin's shock was settling slightly, and he stood up with effort. Several orderlies rushed over. Chen Baibin scolded: "Quickly, fetch the medicine chest! Find a doctor!"

Ji Xin only felt pain and numbness in his lower jaw, his mouth full of fishy sweetness. He spat on the ground—full of blood foam. He was somewhat worried about whether his teeth were damaged. Although the Senate had dentists, due to limitations in materials and medicines, tooth inlay and filling were worlds apart from old-timeline standards. Ji Xin really didn't want to end up with a gold tooth.

Fortunately, the teeth seemed undamaged—just the inside of his mouth was bleeding in multiple places from the violent impact. Just as he was secretly calling it lucky, a burst of sharp pain shot through his right arm. Rolling up his sleeve to look, he saw a pitch-black circle of grab marks on the forearm. He couldn't help being stunned.

"Give me a cup of water—rinsing my mouth will do." Ji Xin barely calmed his mind. That strike just now had been completely unexpected. He had interrogated countless criminals and captives, seen all kinds of people. But no one had been like this person, exploding with such powerful hatred in an instant...

With almost panicked hands, Ji Xin unfolded the blood-stained paper. Amidst scattered blood spots, thick ink strokes filled the page with a single character: "Injustice" (冤). It was a shocking sight.

He raised his head, staring at Jiang Suo, who was now shackled and pressed into the chair. "Who are you?!"

"Bandit Thief! Do you still remember Sai Qingxia of Sanliang Market?!" Though Jiang Suo had missed his strike, he had completely painted this bandit's face with fresh blood. The blockage in his chest that had accumulated for years loosened, and he laughed loudly. "Look at you, sanctimonious one! You also have today!"

The three words "Sai Qingxia" poured into his ears, instantly opening his memory's floodgates. That trial he had presided over in Sanliang Market many years ago reappeared like yesterday, returning to his mind scene by scene. In an instant, he remembered everything.

"You are Jiang Suo!" He cried out involuntarily.

"Correct! I am Jiang Suo—same given name, same surname, never changed!" Though Jiang Suo was beaten until his head had split and blood flowed, and was bound in chains at this moment, he showed no sign of wilting. Instead, he raised his head high and spoke loudly.

Ji Xin couldn't say another word. He actually stood there stunned. Chen Baibin was afraid something else might happen and immediately ordered: "Take him back! Watch him carefully—don't let him die!"

Jiang Suo laughed loudly: "Die? I won't die. I want to watch you bandit thieves cut into a thousand pieces..." Then he burst into loud crying. "Senior Sister! Did you see?! I have no ability to avenge you, but I made him bleed! Bleed! I'm coming to find you right now..."

Before his voice faded, several bailiffs had already dragged him out. Only his wild laughter still echoed in the air.

Chen Baibin hurriedly ordered sedan chairs prepared, sending Ji Xin and the arriving doctor together back to the residence in San Zong Fu. The doctor was of naturalized citizen origin but had at least received three years of medical education from the Ministry of Health. He cleaned the wound for Ji Xin, saw that the wound was deep, and said sutures were needed.

"Stitch it then. Just—this wound is on my face. Stitch with care!"

"Chief, please rest assured. Though my medicine isn't considered the best, I've done countless small surgical operations like suturing and debridement."

The doctor seemed very confident. He immediately stitched Ji Xin's wound and applied a layer of anti-inflammatory powder before bandaging it. Chen Baibin saw his stitches were neat—he indeed hadn't been bragging.

"Take oral anti-inflammatory drugs on time. I will come again tomorrow to change the dressing for the Chief."

Senators on business trips carried relevant medicine rations in their emergency kits. The efficacy was much stronger than the anti-inflammatory tablets distributed by naturalized doctors, so no prescription was needed. Chen Baibin took out the pills, brought water for Ji Xin to swallow, and only then showed a relieved expression upon seeing him roughly normal.

"Your appearance just now really scared me to death." Chen Baibin packed up things. "Face completely covered in blood! Who is this Jiang Suo?"

"An old account from years ago." Ji Xin felt no major issues besides the faint pain from the wound. He leaned back on the rattan chair. "I had long forgotten this matter. Never expected there would actually be a day like today!"

He didn't conceal anything either, telling the past events that had occurred in Sanliang Town during the "Pearl River Estuary Operation" years ago, one by one.

"...Speaking of which, my heart was also too hard. Qingxia was just forced by circumstances—completely a bottom-level small figure unable to act independently." He closed his eyes. "At that time, the Senate's attitude toward armed militia who resisted was execution without exception. I felt it was excessive. But this was the Senate's decision after all. 'Injuring a Senator' was actually not a mandatory death sentence either. At that time, I also thought about pleading for her, asking President Wen for a special pardon. But thinking we had already killed many people similar to her before, if now I pleaded just because she was a woman, when it spread to the Senate, wouldn't it be a huge joke?" Speaking of this, Ji Xin shook his head, full of bitterness. "Since ancient times, people's words are fearsome. I am no exception. So I hardened my heart and ordered her execution. Since ancient times, sticking to beliefs is never without cost. Sticking to wrong beliefs requires cost, sticking to correct beliefs is the same—even the cost is greater..."

Chen Baibin saw his miserable expression and tried to comfort him: "You don't need to blame yourself. How many things that can't see the light has the Senate done purely over these years! These sins of yours count as nothing."

"I don't feel guilty, just feel I was duplicitous." Ji Xin sighed. "This Jiang Suo was upright and straightforward, neither hiding his name, and during my interrogation, referenced past events in every sentence. I was completely unaware, only thinking about what secrets of the Senate Standing Committee—probably having been in a high position for too long, I have long lost the capacity for empathy with people at the bottom..."

Just as he was speaking, Xie Erren arrived. Hearing that Ji Xin had been injured while interrogating a prisoner, he was nearly scared out of his wits. If Ji Xin had any serious problem, the Senate would certainly eat him alive.

Seeing that Ji Xin seemed to have no major issues except for a piece of gauze wrapped around his face, Xie Erren finally let down half his heart. He hurriedly stepped forward to grasp his hand, asking with concern:

"How is it? Nothing wrong?"

"Just a scrape on the face, no hindrance." Ji Xin waved his hand. "This was me being careless—didn't expect this fierce disciple would actually use a writing brush to assassinate!"

"This Jiang Suo is truly a daring fellow!" Xie Erren said. "Looks like we need to give him some suffering to taste!"

"That's not necessary." Ji Xin shook his head. "Besides, he's an important criminal. Many things haven't been verified yet. If he's killed accidentally, it would be hard to explain."

"Correct, correct, what you said is right." Xie Erren regretted speaking impulsively. "Wait until the interrogation is clear, then punish him by law!" With that, he hurriedly ordered various comfort gifts sent over, making Ji Xin laugh and cry.

After finally seeing off the overly enthusiastic Xie Erren, Chen Baibin asked: "Director Ji, there's one point I don't understand. Since this Jiang Suo was a person in the case back then, and you sentenced him to exile, how could he become a squad leader in Xiong Wencan's family retainer team? Aren't exiled people all escorted back to Hainan?"

"I also find it strange." Ji Xin said. "At that time, we didn't yet have Kaohsiung or Jeju. Those sentenced to exile were customarily sent to several counties in Southern Qiongzhou. Which specific county, I don't know. Though exile isn't imprisonment, escaping from these counties and returning to the mainland probably wasn't easy."

Several counties in the south of Qiongzhou were truly places at the ends of the earth. Except for the round-island highway built by the Senate and scheduled liner ships, there were almost no ways to leave. As a purely exiled criminal, Jiang Suo had no legal ID and no money. It was fundamentally impossible to leave by land or sea, let alone reach Guangdong.

Obviously, from the place of exile to Guangdong, Jiang Suo still had a hidden past he hadn't told.

Chen Baibin then suggested Ji Xin investigate this matter first.

"Jiang Suo alone doesn't have such great ability—definitely someone helped him. If we can clarify his escape process, maybe we can dig out some underground organization or several collaborators. I suggest interrogating him directly, focusing on questioning this experience."

"Jiang Suo's current state has probably fallen into semi-madness. Ordinary torture won't be of much use to him. If we push too hard and kill him, that would be even more inexplicable." Ji Xin said. "We start from the periphery first. See if there are any points to cut in."

Immediately, a document was sent to Xie Erren, asking him to interrogate the original retainers, staff, and relevant personnel of Xiong Wencan currently detained and stranded in Wuzhou, one by one, focusing on interrogating Jiang Suo's situation.

This interrogation turned up a major problem.

It turned out not a single person knew Jiang Suo's origin exactly. They only knew he had been suddenly sent to the retainer team as a squad leader—and this retainer team had been recruited by Xiong Wencan from his hometown Guizhou, equipped with Nanyang rifles, regarded by Xiong Wencan as a "mighty brigade." And Jiang Suo had come to train this team.

Such a team Xiong Wencan relied on as his belly and heart, and instead of asking a veteran of bloody battlefields to take responsibility for drilling, he got a person who ran horses and performed arts to train them? Whether Ji Xin or Chen Baibin, both faintly sensed something was wrong.

Next, they learned from the interrogation that Jiang Suo had trained the retainers to use Nanyang rifles, drilled them in formation, and taught various combat tactics. Moreover, he worked seriously, never embezzling or skimming military pay and rations, and rarely beat or scolded soldiers. He could be counted as an anomaly among lower-ranking officers.

"Needless to say, he was definitely a soldier!" Chen Baibin said. "He most likely defected from the Fubo Army! Otherwise, none of this can be explained!"

"Wasn't he an exile? I remember sentencing him to seven years of exile. It hasn't expired yet this year. Even if expired, with this criminal record, how could he join the army?"

"Because of this Liangguang strategy, the Fubo Army recruited soldiers comprehensively. To avoid crowding out workers, recruitment restrictions were relaxed. An exile like him who has been exiled for many years, if he had no bad deeds locally, could totally be recruited. Pity we're in Wuzhou. In Guangzhou or Lingao, we could look up the missing personnel list of various military branches since going north. Nine out of ten, he made it to Guangdong with the Fubo Army, then absconded."

(End of Chapter)