Volume I: River City Song Chapter 35: The Arsonist in the Cold Night

For the past two days, Li Ling had been busy in the archives, organizing piles of documents and records into their respective categories and placing them in order. Although the work was tedious and mechanical, he couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment as he watched the once-chaotic shelves become orderly under his care.

There was another benefit to organizing these papers: it gave Li Ling a deeper understanding of the current officialdom. The archives contained not only official documents sent from higher authorities but also the imperial gazettes issued by the court—essentially the internal news bulletins of the time, something ordinary citizens could never access. In the evenings, when he had nothing to do, he used these as his pastime.

This allowed Li Ling to discern the shifts in the policies of the Great Yue Dynasty. In the early period after the dynasty’s founding, the country was truly in a state of reconstruction, and many of its regulations carried a hint of a modern, progressive style. For instance, both civil and military service were valued equally, and becoming an official did not necessarily require passing the imperial examinations; even the exams themselves covered more than just the Four Books and Five Classics. Yet, after the founding emperor passed away, as the throne passed through several successions, these rules were gradually abandoned—not necessarily officially repealed, but slowly pushed aside and forgotten.

Upon discovering this, Li Ling clicked his tongue. "Tsk, it seems I was right. Sun Tu, the founding emperor of this dynasty, was a transmigrator, and he actually achieved great things! It’s just a pity that many of his ideas were too ahead of his time. With his death, his policies withered, and in the end, it was all corrected by the relentless inertia of history. A transmigrator, after all, cannot fight against history."

After sighing, Li Ling felt a sense of inferiority. He and that emperor were both transmigrators, yet the other had managed to change history and build a dynasty, while he could only struggle to survive. The gap between people was truly staggering.

Beyond the official documents, what Li Ling read most were the ledgers. Though they were years old, he found them fascinating. Through them, he could clearly spot loopholes, imagining how the officials had siphoned government funds into their own pockets. It was no exaggeration to say that these archives held the secrets and leverage against many of the county's officials.

Leverage... As that thought crossed his mind, Li Ling’s heart skipped a beat. He grasped a crucial point: "If the contents here are so vital, they should have sent a trusted confidant to manage them. Why would they send a commoner like me? And it was specifically arranged by Zhuang Hong. What kind of conspiracy is hidden in this?"

Once this suspicion took root, Li Ling could no longer find peace. Listening to the biting night wind howling outside, his sense of unease grew stronger. By the second watch, he still hadn't fallen asleep, tossing and turning as he felt a encroaching danger.

Suddenly, Li Ling heard a sound other than the wind—faint and indistinct, yet clearly approaching. He tensed up, rolled out of bed, and while throwing on a thick coat, reached under his pillow to retrieve a two-foot-long short blade.

Ever since thieves had broken into his home months ago and injured him and his sister, Li Ling had kept the blade hidden as a final means of defense. Now, with the knife in hand, he crept down from the second-floor loft. Though he hadn't lit a candle and the room was pitch black, he had grown familiar with the layout over the last two days and reached the locked door without a sound.

Li Ling pressed his ear against the wooden door and held his breath. He heard a splashing and dripping sound, as if someone were urinating outside. Then, he smelled a pungent odor drifting in. He froze for a moment, then shuddered as he realized what it was: "Vegetable oil! He’s trying to set a fire!"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Li Ling lifted the door latch. He weighed it in his hand, raised it high, and peered through a crack in the door. His eyes, now adjusted to the dark, caught the silhouette of someone bending over to pour oil. The person was only four or five paces away, and by the look of it, the oil was nearly gone.

Li Ling lunged forward with all his might, throwing the door open and rushing out. He swung the door latch down toward the intruder’s head.

The man, still focused on pouring the oil, never expected the supposedly sleeping occupant to burst out. He was caught off guard and couldn't dodge in time. He tilted his head, narrowly avoiding the full force of the blow, but the latch still slammed into his shoulder and neck. With a dull thud, he staggered to the side.

Li Ling didn't let up. He surged forward, switching the latch from a vertical strike to a horizontal sweep, while simultaneously slamming his left elbow into the man’s ribs. The man, quick to react despite the pain, dodged the second blow, but couldn't avoid the elbow strike. He let out a muffled grunt as his body jerked.

Li Ling seized the opportunity and let out a loud shout: "Thieves!" Taking advantage of the man’s panic, he swung the latch down once more. This time, it struck the man squarely on the forehead with a loud crack, shattering the brittle wood into two pieces!

After taking repeated blows, and the final one to the skull, even a man of strong build couldn't hold on. With a groan, he went limp and collapsed at Li Ling’s feet. The near-empty clay jar fell to the ground and rolled away.

Li Ling was breathing heavily; this was the first time he had ever hurt someone. It took him a long while to steady his nerves before he knelt to check on the man.

The intruder lay on his back, his face covered in blood, eyes tightly shut. It was a gruesome sight, but when Li Ling checked his pulse, he found the man was merely unconscious. He breathed a sigh of relief, then picked up the jar and sniffed it to confirm it was indeed flammable vegetable oil.

He waited for a moment, but the surroundings remained deathly silent. Li Ling’s brow furrowed. This was the interior of the county office; his shouts should have been heard far and wide. The guards should have rushed over by now. The fact that no one had come made the implication clear without needing further thought.

If Li Ling had been suspicious before, he was now one hundred percent certain that this was a trap set by Zhuang Hong—the man before him had been sent to burn him alive in the archives. A fire of rage ignited in Li Ling’s eyes. He didn't want to make enemies, but if someone was determined to harm him, he would have to strike back!

He found a rope, bound the unconscious man’s hands and feet tightly, and dragged him inside. Before long, the man groaned and came to. He looked around in confusion before realizing he was bound on the floor and began to struggle.

"Don't waste your energy. The rope is strong and I tied a dead knot; you won't get out," Li Ling said, crouching down to look him in the eye. In the candlelight, the face looked somewhat familiar.

"Let me go, or I'll make you regret this!" The man remembered what had happened. Despite his fear, his tone remained harsh and threatening. As he struggled to rise, Li Ling kicked him back down. "You still want to intimidate me at a time like this? Don't you realize your situation? You dared to attempt arson on the archives—tell me, who sent you?"

Li Ling’s sharp interrogation was met with a contemptuous glance and a spit from the man. "You think you're worthy of knowing? Let me tell you, you're a dead man. Let me go now, and I might let you die quickly. Otherwise..."

Li Ling laughed, genuinely amused by the man's audacity. He hadn't expected the man to still be threatening him when he was the one tied up. Li Ling crouched down, pulled out a sharp knife, and held it against the man's throat. "I think you don't understand your situation. Do you really think I don't dare to do anything to you?"

"You... you wouldn't dare..." Only now did a flicker of terror cross the man’s eyes. He tried to recoil, but he was bound and could barely move. The blade remained pressed against his skin, and his voice trembled—a clear case of cowardice disguised as bravado.

"Why wouldn't I dare?" Li Ling said coldly, pressing the blade slightly until it broke the skin and a trickle of blood appeared. "This is the county archives. You attempted arson, which is a capital crime. If I hold you here, even if I kill you, I’m merely removing a scourge for the people. The county office might even reward me!"

Li Ling’s tone grew even more menacing as he stared into the man’s eyes. "Speak! Who sent you here? If you want to take the fall for them, I don't mind—but you'll be leaving your life here!"

The palpable murderous intent finally broke the man’s resolve. He wasn't a desperate criminal and had no intention of throwing his life away for anyone. He shrank back and begged, "Wait... wait! I'll talk, I'll talk!"

"Speak!"

"Move the knife away first, I can't talk like this."

Li Ling clicked his tongue and pulled the knife back slightly, though it remained close enough to strike at any moment. He glared at him and urged, "Hurry up. Who are you, and who sent you here to start this fire?"

"My name is Xu Fei... It was Master Zhuang who told me to come here and set the fire..." the man finally confessed, his eyes darting nervously toward the blade.