The division between rich and poor in Yinshuang City was very clear. The east and north of the city were prosperous and flourishing, with wealthy people’s residences everywhere. The south city was home to ordinary common people in plain clothes. The west city, however, lived up to its reputation as a violent district. A large number of brothels and gambling dens gathered here, and wanton violent conflicts could be seen at any time in the streets and alleys. At the very western edge of the city, past a dilapidated stone tower, was the slum district. The people here either had no proper work, or were injured, disabled, sick, or elderly—all surviving by begging for food.
Wu Wen remained at the inn while Lao Sitou led Li Si and Bai Zhenzhu toward the slum district. Along the way, drunkards and gamblers filled the yellow dirt streets. Lao Sitou half-closed his eyes, not even glancing at them.
“Isn’t the old senior afraid of taking the wrong road with his eyes closed?” Bai Zhenzhu tugged at Li Si’s sleeve and said very quietly.
Before Li Si could speak, Lao Sitou replied first: “I won’t be wrong. Because the Yizhuang is right inside the slum district.”
“As long as there are dead people somewhere, Lao Sitou will never take the wrong road.” Li Si quite admired this point about Lao Sitou.
Past the middle of the wei hour, they entered the slum district. With just a few inquiries, they found Blind Xu Niang.
Blind Xu Niang’s home consisted of two simple, shabby little wooden rooms. They had just walked nearby when a figure darted out from inside the door, nearly colliding with Bai Zhenzhu. Bai Zhenzhu was startled. Looking more carefully, she discovered the one who rushed out was a little boy.
The little boy was eleven or twelve years old. Layer upon layer of scars covered his cheeks, and several were still dripping blood.
The arrival of the three clearly surprised the little boy greatly. He vigilantly blocked the doorway. Li Si wanted to explain a few words to the little boy when a little girl walked out of the small wooden house. She gripped the little boy’s arm tightly and said: “A’Mao, Grandma told you not to fight. Don’t make her angry anymore. When she gets angry, she coughs terribly.”
The little boy paid no attention to the little girl. His stubborn gaze still fixed on the three people as he pretended to be an adult and asked: “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“I’d like to see your grandmother,” Li Si said.
“No way!” The little boy refused quite decisively. Violent coughing came from behind him, and a hunched old woman with a face full of wrinkles and cloudy eyes appeared behind the little boy. The old woman looked at those outside the door with her dim eyes and suddenly asked: “Has something happened to A’Shu?”
Li Si was taken aback. “We don’t know A’Shu. We came here because we picked up a kite. On the yellow paper of the kite, it said to come find you.”
The old woman revealed a deeply worried expression and nodded silently. “I am Blind Xu Niang.”
“Please come in.” Blind Xu Niang pushed little A’Mao aside. Li Si, Bai Zhenzhu, and Lao Sitou ducked into the small wooden house. A’Mao maintained a hostile attitude throughout but after pausing also ducked inside.
The small wooden house was very simple but quite tidy. Blind Xu Niang had them sit on the bed. The well-behaved little girl supported her.
Blind Xu Niang touched the little girl’s hand. “Her name is Xiao Qin. The boy from earlier is called A’Mao. They’re both orphans I’ve adopted, just like A’Shu. Sigh, although he did some bad things, his nature isn’t bad. At the very least, he showed great filial piety toward me, this blind old woman.”
Blind Xu Niang’s face showed grief. “Two days ago, A’Shu came to find me and said someone might want to harm him. I urged him to report it to the authorities, but A’Shu insisted the people at the yamen wouldn’t believe a thief like him. Then he gave me a letter. He said if something happened to him, I should give the letter to whoever comes seeking the truth.”
“A’Mao,” Blind Xu Niang called. A’Mao grunted in acknowledgment, turned around, and retrieved a letter from a crack in the wall.
Li Si originally thought the letter would hide some secret, but unexpectedly it only told a story. The story was one A’Shu had heard from a cellmate named Sun San. The setting was right here in Yinshuang City—an experience that sounded thoroughly eerie:
It was a torrential rainy night. Sun San, hoping to steal some valuables, infiltrated the study of the wealthiest man, Cui Yunhai. Just when he was about to commit the theft, the study door suddenly opened. Cui Yunhai stood inside the door.
Sun San inwardly cried out in dismay and was about to turn and flee when he suddenly saw Cui Yunhai’s expression was bizarre. Sun San looked at him carefully… and with just that one look, Sun San was nearly scared out of his wits!
From Cui Yunhai’s gaping mouth, a crimson dagger emerged. The dagger severed his tongue, and the tongue fell with a plop right in front of Sun San. Fresh blood spurted from Cui Yunhai’s mouth, splashing into Sun San’s eyes. In that instant, everything turned a horrifying blood-red color.
Cui Yunhai collapsed in despair. Behind him, Sun San saw another Cui Yunhai…
This other Cui Yunhai, wearing a tragic smile, walked toward him—Sun San’s vision went dark. Regardless of everything, he shouted for help and then fainted. Afterward, he was sent to the prison by Cui residence’s servants.
The story ended.
An absurd and incredible story. If not for the fact that the story’s protagonist, Cui Yunhai, was still alive and well, Li Si would think it more like a murder case.
On the back of the letter were two more lines of small characters: On the eighteenth day of the twelfth month, Sun San died, Scarface Huang died, three prisoners in the neighboring cell also died, along with two jailers named Chen Bing and Man Cai. I hope I’m thinking wrongly, but everyone who heard Sun San’s story has died.
No—except for me. But I seem to feel I’m being watched. If I die, it will certainly be because of this story…
The story’s content was already memorized. Li Si passed the letter to Lao Sitou, who glanced at it and asked: “Was this A’Shu really killed by accident?”
Li Si couldn’t answer, but as long as they performed an autopsy on A’Shu, there would be an answer.
Li Si said to Blind Xu Niang: “Old madam, if A’Shu was murdered by someone, I won’t stand by and do nothing.” Li Si walked out of the small wooden house. Lao Sitou slowly followed. Bai Zhenzhu smiled kindly at the little girl, then looked at A’Mao. “You’re the only boy. Don’t go fighting. Take good care of Grandma and Xiao Qin, understand?”
A’Mao said nothing, only grunted.
Li Si prepared to go to the county yamen’s dark room, but Lao Sitou stopped him.
“A’Shu died in an accident. The yamen won’t treat it as a murder case. Plus, he has no relatives, so the body should have been sent to the Yizhuang,” Lao Sitou analyzed.
Li Si smiled. “Sometimes I think you’re more suited to be a constable.”
Lao Sitou’s face twitched twice. “I’ll go be a constable, and you come be a coroner.”
“No way!” Li Si answered decisively.
The Yizhuang was in the west city. From a distance, they first saw a field of chaotic grave mounds. The Yizhuang was right in the center of the grave field. “The Yizhuang has no main gate—it sends and receives travelers to the Yellow Springs.” This was an internal saying about Yizhuangs. True enough, the Yizhuang had no door. On the left and right were more than a dozen coffins—some sealed with lids, some not yet sealed.
The one guarding the Yizhuang was a hunchbacked old man who was deaf and dim-sighted, dressed in ragged clothes stained with quite a bit of the lacquer ink used for painting coffins.
Li Si expended great effort to make the old man understand they were looking for A’Shu’s corpse. The old man shook his head and said: “Someone took it away and even gave me ten taels of silver.”
Li Si hurriedly asked who took the body, what they looked like, and which direction they went. The old man shook his head again and said with faltering steps: “My eyes are too dim to see clearly. I don’t know.”
Li Si felt he could only return to the county yamen first, hoping to find some clues there. But after leaving the Yizhuang, Li Si kept feeling a tightness in his chest. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks.
Bai Zhenzhu asked puzzled: “What’s wrong, Big Brother Li?”
“Something’s not right! The shoes he’s wearing aren’t his. Those shoes are bigger than his feet. Also, his hemp garment is stained with much lacquer ink, but there’s none at all on his hands. He’s an impostor. Quickly, go back…” Li Si rushed back to the Yizhuang, but the deaf and dim-sighted old man had already disappeared without a trace.
Lao Sitou circled around and frowned. “Not only is the person gone, but a coffin is also missing.”
“A’Shu’s body is in that coffin. Damn it, we’ve been tricked!” Li Si stomped his foot in frustration, raising much dust.
“However, this also proves one thing: someone doesn’t want us to find A’Shu’s body. That is to say, A’Shu died by homicide, not accident,” Lao Sitou said, his eyes cloudy.
Li Si nodded calmly. “Perhaps we should start investigating from Yinshuang City’s prison.”