Chapter 334

With the Imperial Merchant’s word given, those waiting outside finally felt at ease. They were certain they had done nothing wrong, and thus, there was no risk of being left out of the notification. They dispersed one after another. Though missing out on three days of triple wages was a pity, they knew that if they pushed their employer too far, losing their monthly pay entirely would be far worse; there was no need to dwell on these few days. As the crowd dispersed, Wang Xiujin looked toward the manager. "Have all the workers arrived?"

"Not all," the manager replied respectfully. "At the very least, the one who first discovered the scene has not come. I do not know if he is at home waiting for your summons, or if he is being held by the soldiers."

"Haha, that young man is still in our custody," a soldier who had overheard them interjected, spilling the details like beans. "Our leader said that the man should be kept for the Imperial Merchant to handle personally. You were busy at the shipyard all day yesterday, and the boss was afraid of disturbing your important work, so he planned to arrange things once you were settled."

"Let's go take a look." Wang Xiujin gestured for the soldier to lead the way. After a few steps, he noticed the manager following and told him to go back and have lunch, warning him not to let the other workers eat his share, and to keep a close eye on the laborers while he was at it.

The manager didn't think much of it, assuming there were some dishonest characters among the workers. Reflecting on the crowd that had gathered today, he felt he needed to have a serious talk with those inside.

Wang Xiujin followed the soldier with a manservant in tow. Upon entering the room where the first discoverer was held, he found the man in a wretched state. However, once Wang Xiujin saw the label hovering above the man's head, he turned to the soldier. "What have you managed to extract from him?"

"Either this kid hasn't been bought, or he’s a tight-lipped one. He keeps insisting it was a coincidence." The soldier shrugged. They had taken turns interrogating him, but couldn't get anything substantial out of him.

Wang Xiujin shook his head. "There is another possibility: he is a remnant of the Kou Kingdom who has lived in the Great Liang since childhood." The label above the man's head clearly read 'Kou Kingdom Remnant.' He had escaped the previous purge, and this time, perhaps for the sake of restoring his nation, he had been forced to take such a risk. Such people were trained from a young age, though he wondered if, after living in the Great Liang for so many years, they felt even a shred of attachment.

Unable to fathom it, Wang Xiujin asked the soldier for a chair. He prepared to face this tight-lipped man who had orchestrated the burning of his shipyard. Did he think that by silencing the other refugees, he could safely remain at the shipyard? Did he think Wang was a fool, or that everyone else was? "Should I call you by your Great Liang name or your Kou Kingdom name? Oh, wait—the Kou Kingdom has already been conquered and absorbed into the Great Liang, so you only have one name now." Wang Xiujin folded his arms across his chest, watching the man hanging there with a detached expression.

The soldier returned quickly with a chair, followed by his leader. Seeing Wang Xiujin, the leader bowed respectfully. Wang Xiujin returned the gesture and asked to borrow a basin of water with a generous amount of salt added. "Look at him, he’s filthy and foul-smelling. He needs a wash."

The soldier's leader was confused but ordered his men to comply. Before the price of salt had dropped, he wouldn't have dared let Wang Xiujin use it so wastefully, but now that salt prices had plummeted, he wouldn't dream of stopping him, even if it were a whole barrel. The soldiers worked quickly, bringing over a large basin of saltwater. At Wang Xiujin’s command, they splashed it over the prisoner, who let out a shrill cry of agony.

"You’ve lived in the Great Liang for many years, haven't you? I fear you’ve even forgotten your ancestors' tongue. You must have gone a long time without a drink, and you probably never sleep soundly at night for fear of talking in your sleep!" Wang Xiujin rested his foot on the railing, looking entirely relaxed.

The leader, still oblivious, assumed the Imperial Merchant knew something he didn't. He looked at the bound man in shock. "So, you’re a fish that slipped through the net last time. Speak—are there others? If you confess now, you might suffer less when your time comes. We’ll find out about your situation eventually, and the others are only a matter of time. If we uncover the truth before you speak, death by slow slicing is all that awaits you. Do you know what that is? It’s blade by blade..."

Wang Xiujin rolled his eyes. He finally understood why they hadn't gotten a straight answer in days; with interrogation methods like this, even he would keep his mouth shut. Sure enough, the prisoner looked at the leader with a pathetic, victimized expression, pleading his innocence. If not for the fact that the leader had no special label above his head, Wang would have suspected him of being in league with the spy.

He patted the leader on the shoulder. "I’m taking this man with me. Make the arrangements." Wang Xiujin then rose and walked out. The soldiers standing nearby had noticed the change in the Imperial Merchant’s expression after the leader spoke; clearly, the leader had said something to offend him. Weighing the pros and cons, the soldiers decided to side with the Imperial Merchant. Their leader was merely a minor official, and even their superior didn't dare offend the Imperial Merchant—one word from him could strip their boss of his official robes, let alone a small-time leader.

The manservant stepped forward and hauled the bound man up, taking custody. He wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere, and even if he had to carry the man indefinitely, he wouldn't find it heavy.

Wang Xiujin sent a soldier to fetch Li Linshan, telling him to take the prisoner away. He trusted that between Li Linshan and his manservant, they would make the man talk.

The leader was still reeling, wondering why the man had been taken away so suddenly. If he could have helped get a confession, he might have earned favor with the Imperial Merchant. Now, with the man taken, he was left with nothing! What could he do? Stop them? He didn't have the authority. The Imperial Merchant hadn't been asking for his opinion. Watching the manservant drag the prisoner away, the leader gnashed his teeth in frustration. If only the man had spoken sooner, he might have gained something—even if not a promotion, at least some other reward.

Li Linshan arrived quickly, took the prisoner from the manservant, and left without a word. He threw the man into a cell with the two other spies. He didn't plan on an immediate interrogation; he wanted to see if they were all working together. Wang Xiujin told him about the labels he had seen, framing it as a guess. Li Linshan frowned the more he heard. If the "nails" hadn't been cleared out previously, were there more hidden within the Great Liang?

Wang Xiujin did not involve himself in the subsequent interrogations. Three days later, Li Linshan provided a detailed confession. The man was indeed a "nail" planted in the Great Liang since childhood, one of over a hundred such individuals. He didn't know their exact locations. Their primary goal in the Great Liang was to make money to either buy land or purchase enough grain to ship back to the Kou Kingdom. The spy had been taken in by a craftsman and raised as his own; because they had learned the Great Liang language from a young age and spoke it fluently without a trace of a foreign accent, they were easily accepted by kind-hearted families.

The spy had learned his craft from the artisan, thinking that if he could return home after making enough money, he could open a shop in the Kou Kingdom and support his family. But before he could earn his fortune, the Kou Kingdom was conquered by the Great Liang. The spy’s emotions were complex upon hearing the news; aside from the sorrow of never returning to his homeland, he felt a sliver of relief that he could finally live openly as a citizen of the Great Liang.

However, despite all his plans, he hadn't counted on the Kou Kingdom remnants finding out what he was doing through another spy, who forced him to facilitate the burning of the shipyard. The spy didn't understand the shipyard's importance to the Great Liang, but to the remnants, it was the root of all evil—without it, the Great Liang could never have conquered the Kou Kingdom. Desperate to keep his identity hidden, the spy agreed to the remnants' proposal. He had planned to burn all the remnants who came looking for him in the ensuing chaos and then fake his discovery of the scene, hoping to avoid suspicion. He never expected to be exposed.

"Is the other spy still alive? Can we get anything out of him? And what about those other scouts?" Wang Xiujin didn't judge the man’s choices. If the spy had told the manager before the fire, he might have saved his own life, and the shipyard wouldn't have suffered such losses.

"We have already sent men to capture him. As for the scouts, they have nothing to do with the Kou Kingdom; they were sent by other restless factions. I am having those two escorted to the capital to be handed over to your father-in-law. The investigators are already in place, and in another ten days or so, we will have a clear picture," Li Linshan said, outlining his arrangements.

Wang Xiujin smiled and gave Li Linshan a thumbs-up. "Well done. I hope we can return soon; I miss Yachang."

Li Linshan stiffened at the sudden shift in topic. He realized that ever since Yachang was born, his position in Wang Xiujin’s heart had steadily declined. Fortunately, Wang Xiujin hadn't adopted a second child, or he feared he would be forgotten entirely.

Wang Xiujin and Li Linshan stayed at the shipyard for over twenty days before packing up to return to the capital. The reconstruction of the shipyard was left to the manager. All notifications were sent out, and Wang Xiujin specifically instructed his messengers to add: "You are a person of trust, but not everyone around you is. Do not let this slip."

This trick wasn't particularly clever and could only be used once; it would never work again. The other spy was captured, along with seven or eight refugees—an unexpected bonus. They extracted a significant amount of information from those captured, though some remained fiercely loyal, biting their tongues to commit suicide rather than speak a word.