By morning light, Jin Yue was already moving through the town.
He kept his hood low, blending into the flow of early workers, vendors, and servants rushing to start their day. The city felt different in the morning…less chaotic, more exposed. Secrets hid better in shadows than in sunlight, but whispers… whispers were everywhere.
He didn't ask questions directly.He just listened.
At a noodle stall, two men argued over rising taxes.
"Ever since that man took charge of this district…nothing but trouble."
"That man? You mean Han Duqing?"
Jin Yue dipped his head slightly, memorizing the tone, the anger.
At a well, a group of women gossiped while drawing water.
"I heard he seized old Ma's orchard last month."
"No, seized isn't the right word. Stole. He claimed Ma violated some land law, then changed the deed overnight."
"Who can fight him? He controls the guards."
Jin Yue paused mid step.
He changes land deeds… like the woman said.
Near the marketplace, he passed a group of street children playing with sticks. One boy stumbled and complained loudly:
"Don't push me like that! I'm not some criminal for Han Duqing to beat!"
The others laughed, but Jin Yue didn't.
Even the children know his cruelty.
Further down the road, he overheard two elderly men talking in hushed frustration.
"They executed that poor farmer too quickly. No trial. No investigation."
"Han Duqing wanted that land. Everyone knows."
"But who dares challenge him?"
The first man shook his head bitterly.
"Only ghosts would listen to the widow now."
Jin Yue held the fishing rod a little tighter, though his face remained as calm as ever.
She wasn't praying to ghosts.She was praying to anyone willing to hear.
He continued walking, letting the voices thread themselves together…each gossip, rumor, and complaint forming a larger, clearer truth.
A bribe taken here.A forged document there.A man who climbed through rank by bending laws.A district that feared him more than they respected him.
The more Jin Yue listened, the more the shape of Han Duqing's corruption rose in his mind…like a dark stain spreading across the district.
Soon, he noticed something else.
People avoided one street.Even the breeze seemed to hold its breath there.
Tall walls.High gates.Red lanterns hanging untouched by dust.
Han Duqing's residence.
A place where power, greed, and corruption pooled like stagnant water.
Jin Yue stepped closer, eyes calm, face unreadable.
So this is where it starts.And where it will end.
With a silent breath, he slipped through a narrow alley running along the side wall, searching for a way in…
ready to unravel the truth with his own hands.