Great Tang Idyll

Wang Juan listened to Zhang Xiao'bao's calm explanation. She didn't know what to say. She still remembered that case because it was so major that it was handed over to her department. Twenty-six people, twenty-six lives. They didn't even know who caused their own deaths.

All of them spent their final moments talking about their possible rivals. However, after these clues were investigated, quite a few corrupt officials were disposed of, but no one confessed to putting the snakes there. Zhang Xiao'bao, your tactic was impressive.

"Xiao'bao, don't always pick shrimps for me. If I wanted to eat shrimp, then I could just eat them directly. Why do I need to eat the ones in the chive pockets? Tell me, how much did you spend on doing this? As far as I know, the cost of that snake is not cheap, and it has to be transported from such a far place, and more than one was bought. A lot of people died along the way, right?"

Wang Juan was smiling as she asked Zhang Xiao'bao. Seeing that Zhang Xiao'bao still had that blank look in his eyes, she continued, "Even though you have confessed, no one can hold you accountable anyway, so what are you afraid of?"

For example, the provincial level officials often went to some underground entertainment venues. That snake must have put a lot of thought into this. When that rascal looked for a courtesan, he didn't forget to bring a guard. The snake had to sneak pass, right? It also had to discuss with the other snakes to arrange a time and then bite the people all at once."

Zhang Xiao'bao frowned his eyebrows and pouted his mouth while he depicted the scene to Wang Juan in words.

"Fine, Zhang Xiao'bao, you're cunning. You're a dead duck that refuses to open it's a mouth1. Unfortunately there's no lie detector here, otherwise I will definitely pry the truth out from you."

Wang Juan didn't care how many things Zhang Xiao'bao had done in the past; she just wanted to hear the truth from his mouth. Unfortunately, this bad guy here, Zhang Xiao'bao, refused to loosen his lips, and his mouth was full of lies.

Zhang Xiao'bao smiled at Wang Juan, and took another bite of the chive pockets. "Well, yes, if there was a polygraph, it should really be used on me. That way, I can show you what it means to have a strong psyche.

Lemme tell you something. If a person kills someone, he will be scared of being caught and being tested with a polygraph. So he decided to stand in front of a mirror, and looked at himself while continuously saying, ‘I didn't kill anyone. Did you kill anyone? I didn't kill anyone...', guess what happened in the end? "

"What happened?" Wang Juan asked cooperatively.

"In the end, when all the evidence pointed at him, and he saw the body and the evidence, he stared blankly at the detective standing in front of him and said, 'Who is this dead person? Did I kill this person? I didn't kill anyone. Did you make a mistake?' As a result, all the data collected from his body by the polygraph indicated that he did not lie. In the end, the doctor concluded that he was unconscious when he committed the murder."

Zhang Xiao'bao picked up a piece of marinated beef, and put it in his mouth and chewed down hard while he talked to Wang Juan.

After Wang Juan was done listening, she was in a daze. She did not know what to say. Just as Zhang Xiao'bao had described, after a person hypnotizes himself, you won't be able to get any information from his physiological response--- unless you know what his psychological weakness was.

These people were not scary. As long as you're willing to look, you will definitely be able to find their psychological weakness since only hypnosis was used. It is people like Zhang Xiao'bao who are really scary. He understands people's mental activities and physical responses, and he was capable of giving himself psychological hints at any time so that his body could synchronize with his thoughts.

For example, when Wang Juan and Zhang Xiao'bao went to rest at the same time and had to enter deep sleep, she tried, but the fastest time it took her was three minutes and twenty seconds. However, Zhang Xiao'bao, who laid right beside her, only needed twenty-six seconds. He hypnotizes himself. If he could use some props, he can hypnotize others at about the same speed.

"I can't teach it. When I first learned it, it took me five minutes. Later, I experienced a lot of things, and thus, I didn't care much about honor and disgrace anymore. This shortened the time a little bit. Every time I suffered a loss, every time I failed, every time I was insulted, I pushed through. I realized that nothing can shake me.

This is a kind of self-adjustment psychology. If you suffered a lot when you were 20 years old, and by the time you live to 30 years old, you would have had ten years to adjust. If I suffered a lot when I was 50 years old, and if I can live to be a hundred years old, I would have 50 years to adjust. When you suffered and lost pride today, during that moment, why would you think about losing your life tomorrow? At that time, you will find that honor and disgrace are not so important, but existence is. Then, sleep. "

When Zhang Xiao'bao was talking, he picked up a chive pocket with his chopsticks and stared at it. This made Wang Juan follow his gaze and look at it too. When Zhang Xiao'bao finished speaking, Wang Juan yawned and shook her head. She reached out and pinched Zhang Xiao'bao.

"You little thing, who do you think you are? You dare try to hypnotize me? What were you thinking, did you think that I'm an easy target?? This is what you get for trying to scheme against me, this is what you get. I'll pinch you to death."

"I miscalculated. I forgot about the most important part of hypnosis---don't apply it on people who are strong willed. Yes, you are a qualified fighter, a leader of flowers2. Using this kind of trick in front of you is an insult to you. It's like using a polygraph on me."

Zhang Xiao'bao endured the pain of being pinched, and he pretended to be indifferent and placed a chive pocket directly into his mouth. He chewed down hard on it.

"Tell me, why did you try to pull that move on me?" Wang Juan spoke angrily.

"Just practicing. If I say I wanted to take advantage of you, do you believe me?" Zhang Xiao'bao answered truthfully. This was what he was really thinking of; he didn't have any evil intentions.

"What are you thinking of. Humph, let's see if you can sleep tonight? Try not to hurt yourself when you fall, the floor is hard." Wang Juan's face was stern, and her hands were still pinching and twisting. However, Zhang Xiao'bao bear with it and stayed motionless like a mountain.

"You're threatening me. Separate, and I want to sleep separately. At night, I'll get Shi'liu to tie me to the bed with a death knot. The rope has to be one inch thick, so thick that it can't be bitten through." Zhang Xiao'bao was really afraid of being schemed by others. These kinds of threats were the most effective.

"Thanks." Zhang Xiao'bao leaned his head over the soup bowl and spoke with a muffled voice.

*

The night was dark, and when everyone else was in their dreams, the officials in the Qin Family's village couldn't stand the long night. They found Magistrate Cheng and asked to leave that very night.

After Magistrate Cheng made several attempts to convince them, he had no choice but to follow their request and lead everyone back. This time was better than when he returned here since there were torches to light the way.

Magistrate Cheng still chose the road they had used to come here. No matter what, he couldn't let them know that there was a shortcut. Otherwise, it would be troublesome. These people will hate him to death even if he tried to explain that he didn't know about it at the beginning.

The group of people carried lit torches and walked through the mountains. At this time, there was no sound of willow flutes anymore, but there were the occasional calls of night owls in the woods, which made people feel horrified. Even so, the group never stopped, and they continued moving. These officials were determined to leave this heartbreaking place quickly.

As for revenge, they have thought about it, but they saw that there were only a few people in the entire village so if it was discovered that they were behind it, the consequences would be too frightening to think about. In particular, they also had to make sure Magistrate Cheng didn't know about it.

"My lords, are you tired? Take a rest, and then continue later." Magistrate Cheng felt that these officials were a bit different from ordinary people that were in a rush; they all had a fierce expression on their faces, which made him feel a little worried and afraid that they had become ill from exhaustion.

These officials heard Magistrate Cheng's words, but none of them answered any of his words. They were all conserving their energy. They wanted to leave as early as possible, and were panting heavily as they stared ahead and rushed forward.

After walking another distance, Magistrate Cheng had no choice but to stand in the front to stop them. These officials used their last bit of energy to move forward, but the two Deputy Chiefs couldn't. The Deputy Chiefs had a good rest these past two days and did not have to suffer too much.

These officials, who were still walking with vigor, had to stop when they heard Magistrate Cheng's words. They were also afraid that something would happen to the two Deputy Chiefs at the back, and if that did happen, then they would not be able to get away with it through simply suffering just a little bit. .

Every one of them stopped and waited for the two Deputy Chiefs and the bailiffs that were accompanying them to catch up. When they were walking earlier, they forgot about their tiredness, but now that they stopped, they realized that their entire body was aching. The tiredness that has been pent-up these past few days finally burst out at this moment.

When the night breeze blew past again, their awoken minds turned hazy. Magistrate Cheng quickly instructed his men to get some dry wood to burn, and serve food and water to everyone. Then, they arranged them to sit near the fire so that they wouldn't get cold. If not, they might catch a cold and fall ill here.

In fact, Magistrate Cheng knew that even if he made these arrangements, many people will fall ill by the time they reach the bottom of the mountain, and they will still need a doctor to see if they have contracted a cold. These people's bodies are still healthy, so they won't die.

Just as Magsitate Cheng had guessed, after everyone had rested for a while, they continued to make their way down the mountain, but when they saw the carriages that came to pick them up, some of them faintedand had to be carried onto their carriages. The doctor was called over to treat them. When they returned back to the administrative office, they just needed to rest for a while.

Translator's Notes

1. dead duck that refuses to open it's a mouth 死鸭子嘴硬

This phrase describes a person that refuses to tell the truth or admit to their mistakes. The literal translation is "dead ducks have hard beaks".

2. Leader of flowers 霸王花

This reference appeared in Chapter 69 before when Zhang Xiao'bao praised Wang Juan for being a good role model policewoman.