Yang Chengye left Zhou Tai's house already in the deep night, at this time Yang Chengye was in a dilemma.

  Zhao Si and Zhou Tai were key figures in the disaster relief grain case, but now one is dead and the other has gone mad. It seems that their opponents are more formidable than they had imagined.

  Now that the trail has gone cold, where should we start again?

  Yang Chengye walked and thought, unknowingly arriving at a location not far from the city gate.

  At this time, the city gate had not yet been closed, and several soldiers guarding the city were dozing off.

  Yang Chengye looked around and saw that there was still a hotel open near the city gate, so he walked in casually.

  Yang Chengye was already starving at this time, and it was almost time for lunch, but he didn't expect to hear about Zhao Si's murder and hastily left.

  "Sir, would you like to stay in our hotel or just have a meal?"

  Yang Chengye had just entered the door when the shopkeeper welcomed him with a smile.

  Yang Chengye looked around and saw that there were only two middle-aged men drinking in the hotel, so he said: "Let's eat first, cut two catties of beef, and a pot of wine."

  "Please have a seat!"

  The shopkeeper called out and went to the back room.

  The shopkeeper placed two plates of sliced braised beef and a jug of wine on Yang Chengye's table.

  "Sir, it's quite late, why are you still on the street?"

  Put down the wine and dishes, the shopkeeper asked curiously.

  "Can't sleep, come out for a walk."

  Yang Chengye ate beef while asking the shopkeeper, "Do you guys stay open all night?"

  The shopkeeper replied: "Yes, Xiao Er is on night shift, and there's another Xiao Er who's on day shift. We take turns."

  "Sir, I see you're still young, so I'd advise you to stay in at night, it's not very safe out there these days."

  "Oh?"

  Hearing this, Yang Chengye asked: "How did you know?"

  The young shop assistant said in a low voice: "A few nights ago I heard someone shouting for help, it was terrifying!"

  The shopkeeper looked out at the hotel entrance while speaking.

  Yang Chengye raised an eyebrow and asked, "Was it two days ago?"

  "This..."

  The shopkeeper looked at Yang Chengye hesitantly.

  Yang Chengye took out two scattered silver coins from his body, each weighing one or two liang, and handed them over to the shop assistant.

  The shopkeeper took over and said to Yang Chengye, "Yes, it was the night before last. I heard someone fighting and Zhao caught them in the act."

  Upon hearing this, Yang Chengye was suddenly overjoyed. Indeed, when one is at the end of their rope and sees no way out, a new path opens up. Wasn't it just the other night that Zhao Si and his men were transporting disaster relief grain?

  Yang Chengye put down his wine cup and said: "Tell me carefully, what did you see?"

  "At that time..."

  The shopkeeper was just about to say something when one of the two middle-aged men suddenly shouted, "Shopkeeper, don't talk nonsense, or your life won't be guaranteed."

  Upon hearing this, the shop assistant was suddenly startled and hastily accompanied a smile to say: "This official sir, I won't speak."

  The shopkeeper wanted to return the two taels of silver to Yang Chengye, but was refused by Yang Chengye.

  Yang Chengye stood up and clasped his fists together, saying: "Please, both of you, I don't know what to call you?"

  "We are the Yamen of the Prefect..."

  "Shut up, we should go!"

  A middle-aged man was about to answer Yang Chengye's question when he was stopped by another person.

  Watching the two leave, Yang Chengye's eyes narrowed slightly.

  Although the two were dressed in casual clothes, what was exposed inside was the attire of a constable, and they also held waist knives in their hands, which was indeed the standard sword for constables. It seemed that they were indeed constables from the prefecture yamen.

  "Sir, they are all constables from the prefecture yamen, don't mess with them!"

  The shopkeeper reminded Yang Chengye and then left.

  Yang Chengye put down two silver coins again and walked out of the hotel, chasing after the two catchers.

  Those two captives moved quickly, and in the blink of an eye, they turned into a lane. Yang Chengye relied on his intuition to feel that these two must know something, and it was possible that they were involved in the transportation of disaster relief grain the day before, otherwise they would not have warned the shopkeeper.

  Just as he was chasing into the alley, a sudden breaking sound came from behind, Yang Chengye instinctively dodged to the side, and the cold knife light cut down along Yang Chengye's shoulder.

  Yang Chengye had already seen through the newcomer, who was one of the people he had been tracking.

  Yang Chengye swung his fist at the approaching person, but suddenly a knife light cut towards his arm.

  Yang Chengye suddenly withdrew his arm, turned around and whipped out his leg, hitting the incoming person's arm, causing the long knife to fall to the ground with a "clang".

  Yang Chengye immediately followed up with the Thirty-six Routes of Empty Fist, and in an instant, he knocked down two captors, rendering them powerless and unable to resist.

  Yang Chengye picked up the knife on the ground with a swift motion and pointed it at the two of them, asking in a cold tone: "Speak, why did you want to launch a sneak attack on me?"

  One of the captors twisted his neck and said: "It's hard to escape death even if you're caught, why not take a chance and maybe there's still a way out?"

  Upon hearing this, Yang Chengye furrowed his brow and said: "Do you know me?"

  "It's already spread among our constables that you, Young Master Yang, thoroughly investigated the case of the relief grain. How could we not recognize you?"

  Another catcher said.

  Yang Chengye slightly withdrew the blade and said, "It seems that you are indeed involved in the disaster relief grain case. Now that you have fallen into my hands, I suppose you should know what will happen to you?"

  "Hmmph!"

  Two catchers snorted and said harshly: "Things have come to this, why say more, if you want to kill, just kill, frowning is not a good man."

  Yang Chengye sheathed his knife and said, "You're thinking too much. I won't kill you. I'll just disable you and let the imperial envoy punish you himself. Whether you'll be executed by lingchi or beheaded after autumn will depend on heaven's will."

  "How vicious you are!"

  Two bailiffs stared at Yang Chengye, and Yang Chengye did not kill them not because he was so merciful, but to make them like useless people, waiting to be tortured to death, just thinking about it made them feel cold.

  "Slap slap"

  Yang Chengye slapped each of them and angrily said, "To execute you by slow slicing would be too light a punishment. Do you know how many refugees will starve to death because of the sand you mixed into the relief grain?"

  "How many people have been separated from their wives and children because of you?"

  "If it weren't for wanting to clear Official Shen's name, I'd have you two skinned alive right now!"

  Yang Chengye's words grew thicker with killing intent, and in an instant, the temperature around him dropped by over a dozen degrees.

  "Master Yang, spare me, I have elderly and young at home, I cannot die. Whatever you want to know, I'll tell."

  One of the captors suddenly begged for mercy from Yang Chengye.

  "Don't say!"

  Another catcher shouted to stop him, but was knocked unconscious by Yang Chengye with a palm.

  Yang Chengye blew a breath and said: "Now it's quiet, what do you have to say?"

  "Actually, we're also helpless!"

  Yang Chengye frowned and said, "What do you mean by 'beyond one's control'?"

  Bao sighed and began to recount the events of that night to Yang Chengye.

  The catcher's name was Li Gui, and that night happened to be their shift. Suddenly, Zhao Si found them, gave each of them a 50-tael silver ingot, and said they had to transport the disaster relief grain to Shenjia overnight, which was the reward silver given by Master Zhifu.

  Li Gui and the others were overjoyed when they heard this, and set off with Zhao Si to transport the relief grain to Shen's house. The journey was not far, and it wasn't hard work either; what's more, they would receive a reward of fifty taels of silver - truly a windfall from heaven!