Ning Chen kept his eyes hard on Hu Maode, and his heart sank by degrees.

He had a bad feeling about it.

Chai Dazhuang’s wife was only a commoner’s wife. Handing her over now would not have been a large matter.

But Hu Qiang was nearly dead, and Hu Maode was still lying, and there was only one reason for that… something had happened to Chai Dazhuang’s wife.

Ning Chen said sharply, “I’ll ask one last time. Where is Chai Dazhuang’s wife?”

“My lord, I am not lying. She left an hour ago.”

Hu Maode held to it — the woman was not in the Hu house.

Ning Chen’s brows drew together slightly. He knew Hu Maode was lying, but he had no proof that Chai Dazhuang’s wife was in the Hu house.

And he was one man. He could not search a residence this size on his own.

“Hu Maode. Do you know what happens to a man who deceives the Inspectorate?”

Hu Maode said quickly, “I would not dare deceive your lordship. I beg my lord to look into it clearly!”

Ning Chen laughed coldly. “If I turn her up here, the Inspectorate’s cells will be glad to have you.”

The color went out of Hu Maode’s face.

The Inspectorate’s cells were the King of Hell’s own hall. Who was not afraid of them?

Hu Maode came forward two steps, drew a sheaf of silver notes out of his sleeve and heaped a smile on his face. “A small token. I hope my lord will accept it… And if my lord can see his way to raising his hand, I have a greater gift to offer besides.”

Ning Chen ran his eye over it. There were a good thousand taels’ worth of notes in Hu Maode’s hand.

Ning Chen put out a hand and took them.

Hu Maode was privately delighted. I knew it. There is no such thing as a man who doesn’t love money.

And in the next second his eyes went wide and his face filled with disbelief.

Ning Chen tore the silver notes to pieces and flung them hard into his face.

“I love money. But I don’t touch every dirty coin that’s offered.”

“Hu Maode, you have openly bribed a silver coat of the Inspectorate. I’m keeping that charge for you.”

“Now you listen to me. Until I find Chai Dazhuang’s wife, I don’t stop!”

Hu Maode’s face darkened by degrees.

He fixed his eyes on Ning Chen and said, “Since my lord is unwilling to have me for a friend, I have no choice but to go by the book.”

“My lord, I know the law of the Great Xuan very well myself.”

“First. A silver coat of the Inspectorate has no authority to work a case alone.”

“Second. Silver coat or not, to break into another man’s residence without evidence or warrant and cripple the innocent… by the law of the Great Xuan, I am entitled to resist.”

Ning Chen frowned. This old man is genuinely hard to handle.

It looked as though getting Chai Dazhuang’s wife’s whereabouts out of this old man’s mouth was going to be very difficult.

“Let me tell you something. Don’t try to hold the law of the Great Xuan over me… I’ve done more out-of-bounds things than you’ve had hot dinners.”

“Then let me tell my lord something in return. My house is not a place for you to run wild in… Take this before His Majesty himself and my lord still hasn’t got the right of it.”

Hu Maode had hardened too.

Since the soft way had failed, the hard way was all that was left.

And the harder Hu Maode went, the more uneasy Ning Chen became… Something really might have happened to Chai Dazhuang’s wife.

No more delay.

The old one’s mouth was hard. He doubted the young one’s was.

Ning Chen hauled Hu Qiang out of the tub and dropped him on the ground.

He crouched down, and his hand went like an eagle’s claw and locked onto Hu Qiang’s shoulder. He felt for it a moment, then turned his wrist, and with a crack the arm came out of the joint.

“Aah—”

Hu Qiang gave a scream like a pig on the block, and his whole body convulsed.

Bonebreaker.

Tao Qizhi had taught it to him in the Inspectorate’s cells.

It was the first time he had used it, and he was not entirely practiced at it.

Ning Chen took hold of Hu Qiang’s other shoulder and turned his wrist.

Crack!!!

Another grating sound of bone coming out of its place, and it went through everyone there like cold water.

Hu Qiang screamed in agony, his whole body convulsing violently.

Bonebreaker puts the bones out of their sockets, and the sinews stretch like a band pulled to its limit and about to snap… A man would rather be dead than bear it.

Hu Qiang was a young gentleman raised soft. How was he to endure pain like that? His eyes rolled back and he nearly fainted away.

A sour reek spread through the courtyard.

The pain had made Hu Qiang lose control of his bladder.

“Father, save me, save me…”

Ning Chen said without any warmth, “Stop shouting. Nobody can save you… If you want to live, you save yourself. Tell me where Chai Dazhuang’s wife is.”

“She, she left a long time ago, she isn’t in my house…”

“Oh,” Ning Chen said. “It seems to me the only hard thing about young Master Hu is his mouth… Conveniently, I specialize in every variety of hard mouth.”

As he said it he reached out and took hold of the man’s jawbone.

Crack!!!

Hu Qiang’s jaw came out of its socket.

Hu Qiang screamed again like a pig on the block, and the sound was no longer a human one.

“Stop, stop it… I’ll bring charges against you, I’ll go before His Majesty and bring charges against you—”

Hu Maode roared it hysterically.

Ning Chen glanced at him and laughed coldly.

“Go, then. Nobody’s stopping you… Only — what are you? Are you fit to stand in front of the Son of Heaven?”

As he said it there was another crack, and Hu Qiang’s jaw was back in place.

But Ning Chen didn’t ask him anything.

He put the jaw out again, and set it, and put it out again… back and forth, more than a dozen times.

The close, grating sound of bone on bone went through every man there like cold water, and they watched Ning Chen in horror.

They said the men of the Inspectorate were the King of Hell in the flesh, and there was not a word of exaggeration in it.

Ning Chen set Hu Qiang’s jaw for the last time and asked coldly, “I’ll give you one more chance. Answer my question again.”

“In… in the buh yard, in the wuh…”

“What? Where? Say it again!”

Hu Qiang’s jaw had been put out more than a dozen times and speech came hard, and Ning Chen hadn’t understood him.

The instant Hu Qiang opened his mouth, Hu Maode’s face went ashen — the face of a man who had buried both his parents — and he screamed until his voice tore: “Don’t say it, you mustn’t say it—”

“Shut your mouth!”

Ning Chen whipped his head around and roared at him. “One more word out of you and I’ll cut you down first.”

That said, he took a handful of Hu Qiang’s hair and put his ear down close to the man’s mouth. “Say it once more. Where is she?”

“In… the back, the back courtyard, in the wull.”

Ning Chen frowned. All he had understood was that she was somewhere in the back courtyard.

Then all at once his face changed and he said sharply, “Are you telling me she’s in the well in the back courtyard?”

Hu Qiang nodded with difficulty.

Ning Chen’s head roared.

He came up off the ground, went to one of the house servants and leveled his saber at him. “Take me to the back courtyard!”

The man nodded and nodded in fright and hurried out in front to lead the way.

Hu Maode sat down hard on the ground, his face like ash.

“Master, are you all right?”

The steward beside him was full of worry, and tried to get him up. He tried several times and failed every time. Hu Maode had gone soft as mud.

“Master, you have to pull yourself together. We have to find a way to save the young master.”

Hu Maode gave a shudder and murmured, “Yes… we have to find a way to save the young master… He’s the only son I have. He can’t die… Steward Liu, take the young master and run, as far away as you can get. When I’ve worked my connections and settled everything, you can come back.”

“Set your mind at rest, master. This old servant will keep the young master safe!”

(End of Chapter 99)