Chapter 5

A Riddle To Be Solved

In 15 minutes, two bailiffs entered with the things Xu Qian requested.

The trio surveyed the items, then turned to look at Xu Qian.

Governor Chen’s deep voice boomed. “The things you requested are here. I expect a satisfactory answer.”

There was less indignance in his tone.

During the wait, the fourth-ranked court official had processed the prisoner’s words and saw the sense in them. However, further clarification was needed on certain parts of the case—what happened to the silver taels that fell into the river?

Governor Chen had no clue about the whereabouts of the missing silvers.

“If my contribution to the case proves fruitful, can you appeal to the Emperor for an absolution of the Xu family?”

Dafeng placed heavy emphasis on the male lineage—a father’s crime can be absolved by a son’s merit.

“Naturally,” Governor Chen said.

Xu Qian nodded and knelt before the assortment of items: a candle, salt, a porcelain cup and some metal wire.

He planned to perform a high school chemistry experiment, sodium metal extraction.

The ancient world lacked two things for the extraction to work, electricity and the heat source.

However, Xu Qian knew this world had a specialized occupation who could perform such feats.

The sixth-ranked sorcerer of the Imperial Astronomer specialized in alchemy.

The role of an alchemist was well-known throughout Dafeng. They were responsible for new inventions that made life easier for the common folk.

While the material that fell into the river might not be pure sodium, Xu Qian wanted to introduce an alternative explanation for the river explosion.

The initial phase of an investigation often required a bold hypothesis and strong reasoning, followed by rigorous testing and evidence collection.

A murder case from his past life resurfaced in his mind. He and his fellow detectives had missed many nights of sleep to pour through the case file and evidence locker.

They had gone through the details again and again—switching up the variables and forming new hypotheses.

An alchemist could cause an explosion even if the cart was not loaded with sodium metal.

That was good enough.

Xu Qian only wanted to point the investigators in the right direction.

With the right theory in mind, they should be able to apprehend the true mastermind.

Persistent efforts in tracking down the elusive monster would only bring failure and if or when they realized their mistake, Xu Qian would have been long gone.

Xu Qian dissolved the coarse salt in water and after a simple filtration, he poured the salt water into the porcelain cup.

Then, he heated the cup over the candle flame. He stirred the contents with a bamboo toothpick.

After some time, the water turned into steam and what was left was a crystalline solid, sodium chloride.

This was a purification step to obtain sodium chloride crystals.

Governor Chen, the middle-aged man and the beautiful young woman gathered around Xu Qian.

Xu Qian raised his head and gave the young woman in yellow a smile. “The lady is a disciple of the Imperial Astronomers?”

He took note of the Feng Shui compass at her waist—a specialized instrument used by those associated with the Imperial Astronomers.

The young woman made a sound of agreement and smiled. “My mentor is the Principal Imperial Astronomer.”

Her oval-shaped face was as fair and flawless as a peeled egg.

‘The disciple of the Principal Imperial Astronomer… Well, I guess I can overlook the disappointing chest area…’ Xu Qian said in a gentle tone, “Can I trouble the lady to melt these crystals?”

The melting of sodium chloride is 800 degree Celcius.

The young woman pursed her lips. “Only an alchemist has the ability to control fire, I’m at the rank of a Feng Shui sorcerer.

“I have a magic tool given by my master,” the young woman said as she held out the Feng Shui compass. Her fingers danced across the instrument and the word ‘fire’ glowed.

“Stand back!”

Xu Qian took a step back. In a flash, a bright flame shot toward the porcelain cup.

“Stop!” Xu Qian shouted. He approached the cup and placed two metal wires into the container. He asked the young woman, “Electrici— No, lightning! You have to control the energy. It’s a difficult step and we might need to repeat if it fails.”

The young woman spun the compass and the word ‘lightning’ glowed. Sparks of electricity danced above the porcelain cup and made contact with the wires.

Hiss. A chemical reaction was ongoing in the porcelain cup.

“Stop!”

Xu Qian held his breath as he inched forward. Inside the porcelain cup laid a piece of metallic solid—surrounding the pure metal were the salt crystals and other impurities.

Success on the first try! To Xu Qian’s joy, the voltage delivered was precise.

The electrolysis of sodium chloride required a voltage between 6 to 15 volts. Xu Qian had expected a few trial rounds were needed to produce the pure metal.

Who knew luck was on his side.

Governor Chen and the middle-aged man rushed forward to look into the cup. The extracted metal had a silvery appearance.

Governor Chen’s eyes narrowed as his heart rate picked up.

Li Yuchun clenched his fist. He stared at the metallic solid—the fog in his mind was cleared away with the lightning strike.

Xu Qian used paper to wrap the pure metal. “Please have a look. This metal is lighter than silver but has a similar appearance. Someone could have passed it off as silver taels. Something to ruminate on.”

He handed the piece of metal to Governor Chen. The surface of the metal was slowly becoming dull and the end result was no different from the color of a silver tael.

The middle-aged man palmed the wrapped metal in his hand and said, “It is very light. The timing would make sense if the horses were carrying this instead of actual silver. Lady Caiwei, have a try.”

The young woman took stock of the wrapped metal. She shot Xu Qian a curious look. “Are you an alchemist?”

‘No, I studied chemistry.’

The learned man knew to ask the right questions. After the initial surprise, Governor Chen shook his head and said, “Maybe the silvers were replaced, but how do you explain the explosion? If it wasn’t a monster, why would there be such a huge explosion?”

Xu Qian did not answer him. Instead, he walked to the table and tossed the sodium metal into the brush-washing jar.

A blinding flash emanated from the jar as smoke billowed out.

Boom!

The sodium reacted violently with the water and caused a crack to form on the jar.

“This—” Governor Chen was agog.

“The fake silver will explode upon contact with water, hence the huge river explosion,” Xu Qian explained.

The middle-aged man muttered, “We were misled since the beginning. The explosion and the demonic wind were just red herrings. We wasted time tracking and hunting non-existent monsters. No wonder the Qi reading showed no signs of monsters.”

Xu Qian said, “The soldiers only managed to find around 1,000 silver taels because those were placed on top to mask the true contents of the cargo.”

The puzzle pieces fit together and revealed the truth.

“Xu Qian! Commendable, what you did is praiseworthy!” the middle-aged man lauded.

The man patted Xu Qian’s shoulders. A frown formed on his face when he saw Xu Qian’s disheveled attire and proceeded to fix Xu Qian’s collar.

Xu Qian was taken aback by the man’s kind gesture.

Governor Chen frowned. “If the silvers are counterfeit, where are the real ones?”

The young woman spoke in a serious tone, “The tax money must have gone through many hands before entering the city. To carry out the interrogations, many officials will have to be called to jail. Tracing the silvers will be like finding a needle in a haystack. I believe the matter is beyond our jurisdiction and we should report to the Emperor.”

Governor Chen nodded in agreement.

The middle-aged man had a different opinion. “The cargo had a guard detail throughout the journey. The fakes would have been noticed at one of the many checkpoints. The swap must have been carried out when the load was near the city.”

A glimmer of hope flickered in the governor’s eyes. The pool of suspects was narrowed down significantly.

“Ready the litter!” Governor Chen called out as he exited the hall.

The middle-aged man hurried after the governor.

Xu Qian shouted after them, “Please remember your promise to me!”