Inner hall. After finishing her meat bun, the young girl continued gnawing on sugarcane, occasionally fishing out a few preserved fruits from her deerskin pouch to eat together.

On one side, the atmosphere was gloomy; on the other, carefree and unconcerned.

“His Majesty ordered me to solve the case internally because too much time has passed, and the tax silver may never be recovered.” Mr. Brooks paced back and forth in the hall, unable to sit still:

“But with time so tight, we are at our wits’ end.” Solving a case takes time.

The magistrate clapped his hands with a sharp “pa!” and said in a deep voice, “I will personally go to beg George Washington to hand over the case files to me.”

John Carter hesitated for a moment. “I’ll go with you.”

The girl in the yellow dress glanced at him, smiling sweetly: “That’s fine. With our Great Feng’s top national hand taking the lead, you two won’t have to worry about being held accountable by His Majesty.”

“But, in George Washington’s eyes, losing points is far more serious than being questioned by His Majesty.” She laughed, revealing two gleaming little tiger teeth.

The middle-aged man’s face darkened.

A yamen runner in black clothes hurried in, bowed, and said, “Lord Magistrate, the prison guard reports that Peter Bennett’s nephew, Andrew Bennett, just said he has an important clue about the tax silver robbery and wishes to see you.”

All three of them focused their gaze at once.

Andrew Bennett... If memory serves, he’s just a peripheral figure unrelated to the case, and after the initial interrogation and torture, he was deemed an irrelevant bystander.

Mr. Brooks pondered for a moment and said, “Bring him in.”

Shortly after, Andrew Bennett, dressed in prison clothes and bearing dried bloodstains, was brought in by the yamen runners. As he walked, his handcuffs and shackles clattered noisily.

PS: As an eighteen-year-old, a newcomer writing my first book, I feel nervous.

That’s all for today, just three chapters.

Chapter Four: Time to Show Real Skill

As soon as he stepped into the inner hall, he felt three sharp gazes fixed on him.

The one in the crimson robe should be the magistrate, embroidered with clouds and wild geese—hmm, a fourth-rank official... The uncle with the silver gong on his chest, tsk, from the Nightwatchers... Wow, this girl is gorgeous, so beautiful... Is she married?

Glancing at her chest again, Andrew Bennett calmed down a lot.

He quickly lowered his head, adopting a very humble posture.

Mr. Brooks sat high on the main chair, expressionless, his tone when interrogating prisoners full of authority:

“Andrew Bennett, when you were imprisoned three days ago, you didn’t say you had any important clues. Do you know the consequences of concealing information?”

A seasoned official, no matter how anxious inside, would never ask about the clue directly, but instead apply psychological pressure.

Being able to get here meant the plan was already half successful. Andrew Bennett managed to stay calm: “My lord, just now, Thomas Bennett came to see me, and I asked him for the case files.”

First, be honest.

All three present knew William Bennett, not because he was famous, but because as the eldest son of Peter Bennett, the three main organizers would naturally have investigated him.

“What does that have to do with the clue you mentioned?” Mr. Brooks asked.

“I deduced the truth of the case from the files...”

“Wait,” Mr. Brooks interrupted, leaning forward slightly. “From the files?”

This was not what he expected.

“I’ve already solved the case.” Andrew Bennett nodded, indicating that was indeed the case.

Mr. Brooks suppressed the urge to have this kid sent back to prison, his face stern: “Go ahead, but let me warn you—if you talk nonsense, two hundred strokes of the rod can break your bones apart.”

“The tax silver robbery was not the work of monsters, but of men.”

With one sentence, he shocked all three people.

Mr. Brooks slammed the table and shouted angrily, “Nonsense! Guards, drag him out and give him two hundred strokes.”

It was almost a foregone conclusion that monsters had stolen the tax silver; this was the consensus of the three main organizers.

If they had previously hoped Andrew Bennett could provide valuable clues, now they were completely disappointed.

Just the desperate ravings of a reckless youth.

The middle-aged man’s eyes lit up slightly. He waved away the yamen runners who had rushed in. “Mr. Brooks, please calm down.”

He turned his gaze to Andrew Bennett, eyes burning with scrutiny and expectation: “Go on.”

This Mr. Brooks has quite a temper... Andrew Bennett knew it was time to show his skills. “According to the testimony of the city gate guards, my second uncle entered the city at the second quarter of the Mao hour. At the first quarter of the Chen hour, the team escorting the tax silver arrived at Guangnan Street. At that moment, a strange wind suddenly arose, the horses were startled, and they plunged into the river.”

He tried to keep his tone calm and composed, making himself appear more steady and thus more convincing.

Mr. Brooks nodded. “That’s why we concluded that a monster was hiding in the river, waiting for a chance to steal the tax silver.”

“No!” Andrew Bennett retorted loudly. “The demonic wind was just a smokescreen, and the explosion in the river was also a smokescreen. The real purpose was to make you overlook a flaw—a fatal flaw.”

Mr. Brooks pressed urgently, “What flaw?”

The middle-aged man assumed a listening posture.

The girl in the yellow dress bit into her preserved fruit without chewing, her bright, lively eyes fixed on Andrew Bennett with great interest.

They had pored over the case files countless times and knew the sequence of events by heart, yet had never noticed any flaw.

“My second uncle was escorting two taels of tax silver. May I ask, my lords, how many jin does two taels of silver weigh?”

The middle-aged man’s face froze, while the girl in the yellow dress tilted her head, unable to straighten it for a long time.