Wu Wen took the God-Catcher Order token to the yamen, and County Magistrate Huang Youdao soon rushed to Fulai Inn. After Li Si exchanged a few pleasantries with Huang Youdao, the county magistrate approached the carriage to look at the corpse inside and said, “Hu Hai?”
“County Magistrate Huang recognizes the deceased?”
Huang Youdao replied hurriedly, “I recognize him, I recognize him. His name is Hu Hai, the wealthiest man in Jinxi County. He operates seven or eight rice and grain shops in the southern and northern parts of the city. Last year, when three towns under the jurisdiction suffered from famine, Hu Hai alone donated thirty thousand taels of silver.”
“Who would have thought that today he would meet such a violent death? Truly, the affairs of the world are unpredictable,” Huang Youdao sighed with clicking sounds.
After Li Si let him finish speaking, he ordered him to transport both the carriage and the corpse back to the yamen’s morgue, also known as the Black House. Li Si and Bai Zhenzhu then went to the official road where the carriage had been discovered, circling around the nearby low forest twice, but found nothing suspicious before returning.
As they passed through the Jinxi city gate, two gate soldiers stood in the shadows within the gate, conversing in low voices.
The slightly taller one said, “Qiaozi, do you know who died?”
The other person kept his gaze lowered, appearing not particularly interested. “Who?”
“Hehe, I got curious and went to inquire. The one who died was actually Hu Hai, the wealthiest man in Jinxi.” The tall one smacked his lips and said, “Now that he’s dead and gone, I wonder which lucky fellow will get his gold and beautiful concubines.”
“If you want them, you can go ask for them.”
“Nonsense, how would they know who I am?” The tall one’s eyes turned deep and somber as he said slowly, “Who actually killed Hu Hai? Was it for wealth or personal revenge… Tsk tsk, rather interesting.”
Qiaozi, who had kept his gaze lowered, suddenly raised his head. His eyes flashed like lightning as he said, “Since someone killed him, it means he deserved to die.”
Li Si stopped in his tracks and turned back to look for the gate soldiers who had been speaking. Both gate soldiers had already turned to go up to the gate tower. Li Si hesitated for a moment. Bai Zhenzhu tugged on his sleeve and asked, “What’s wrong, Big Brother Li?”
Li Si collected his thoughts and smiled faintly. “Nothing. Let’s hurry along.”
A quarter of an hour later, Li Si arrived at the Jinxi County yamen and went straight to the Black House. Wu Wen was already waiting there. Inside the Black House, the stench of corpses was foul. Li Si had Bai Zhenzhu remain outside while he went in with Wu Wen.
The coroner had completed a brief examination and bowed to Li Si. “My lord, the deceased’s neck is bruised, black, and swollen. His tongue is turned outward, and both eyes are protruding and bloodshot. These are precisely the symptoms of someone being strangled to death by having their throat squeezed. Additionally, the deceased’s abdomen was cut open, and his intestines were crushed and torn apart. Alas, such cruelty—it’s clear the killer harbored tremendous hatred toward the deceased.”
The coroner retreated to the back. When Li Si examined the oral cavity, he unexpectedly discovered a small strand of coarse white thread. He carefully extracted it with tweezers and placed it in a wooden tray. Wu Wen immediately said, “The deceased’s mouth was stuffed with coarse cloth or something similar.”
Li Si nodded. “This is what you call ‘unable to speak.'”
“However, even so, Hu Hai still left us a small clue.” Li Si deeply inhaled the surrounding air and turned to ask Wu Wen, “Do you smell a particular scent?”
Wu Wen sniffed forcefully through his nose and shook his head. “The entire room reeks too much of corpses. I can’t smell anything else. What kind of smell is it?”
Li Si stared at Hu Hai’s fierce and restless expression and said slowly, “The scent is somewhat strange, as if one has suddenly walked into a crowded, bustling vegetable market.”
“A vegetable market?” Wu Wen’s eyes widened, unable to conceal his incredulous expression.
Bai Zhenzhu had long grown impatient waiting outside the Black House. She had just pinched her small nose and was about to duck inside when suddenly the door opened and Li Si and Wu Wen came out. Bai Zhenzhu blinked and asked, “Well? Well? Any discoveries?”
Li Si scraped her small nose and said, “Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“The vegetable market.”
In a dim little room, the outside was bustling with activity, while his numb nerves made his entire body feel cold. Before his eyes was complete chaos, as if a pair of skeletal, bony hands were about to reach out from some corner and fiercely strangle his throat. He felt suffocation in advance.
He brought in a basin of water from outside and gazed at the young, cold, handsome face reflected in the basin, as well as those pitch-black, bottomless eyes. Gradually, a trace of cruel smile appeared on his face.
“I understand… Continue, continue…”
He rapidly disturbed the water’s surface. His expression changed swiftly—wild joy, wild fury, wild sorrow, wild fervor—various emotions briefly settled on his cheeks before finally returning to calm.
He resumed his wooden expression and uttered only a single word flatly: “Kill.”
The largest vegetable market in Jinxi was in the western part of the city. Li Si, Bai Zhenzhu, and Wu Wen stood at the market’s entrance. From within the market wafted various smells—the fishy stench of fish and greasy meat, the foul odor of chicken and duck excrement. Bai Zhenzhu’s beautiful eyes furrowed tightly as she held her breath, already finding it somewhat unbearable.
“Little girl, if you can’t stand it, just wait here,” Li Si said with concern.
Bai Zhenzhu raised her head. “Who says I can’t stand it? Big Brother Li, don’t underestimate people. I’ll go first.”
With that, Bai Zhenzhu truly walked at the very front, and Li Si allowed her to, following behind. The vegetable market was neither particularly long nor short—from head to tail it spanned over two li. As Li Si walked, he rubbed his nose, searching for a scent similar to what he’d detected in the Black House.
Suddenly, he stopped. Beside him was a shop that slaughtered pigs and sold pork.
White meat and red blood, pig heads and offal were exceptionally distinct. Bai Zhenzhu wrinkled her jade-like nose slightly and asked, “Does Big Brother Li want to eat pork?”
Li Si discerned that the scent was similar but not identical. He waved his hand. “Eating too much pork makes it hard to walk. Better to eat less, eat less.”
“Hehe, so you know this too.” Bai Zhenzhu’s bright black eyes rolled as she covered her mouth and laughed. “I heard from Senior Lao Sitou that Big Brother Li once drank meat soup boiled from human flesh. Is that true or false?”
Li Si immediately felt his stomach churning and signaled Bai Zhenzhu to stop talking. Who knew this little girl would become more interested, clinging to Li Si and continuously asking about the story of the human flesh soup? After walking for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Li Si stopped in front of four pork shops during this period, but ultimately shook his head and left each time.
Li Si thought to himself: The scent on Hu Hai’s corpse resembles fresh pork, yet not entirely. What could it be?
The heavens were not cooperative. After several rumbling thunderclaps, the clouds grew thicker, and a pattering cold rain poured down from the clouds. People in the vegetable market clutched their heads and rushed home. Bai Zhenzhu, afraid of wetting her lotus-hemmed skirt, took shelter from the rain under the high eaves of a teahouse, with Li Si accompanying her nearby.
Behind the teahouse was a deep, narrow alley. Nearby were the back doors of two restaurants, and the sizzling sounds of deep frying could still be heard across the alley. Li Si glanced into the alley and saw a burly, bare-chested man pushing a round wooden cart to the back door of a restaurant. On the cart sat a sealed wooden barrel. Before long, someone who looked like a chef came to the back door, lifted the barrel lid to sniff it, and gave the man several strings of copper coins.
Li Si had not been paying particular attention, but after the wooden barrel was opened, a faint scent drifted over on the alley wind. Li Si’s eyes brightened. He leaped into the rainy alley and strode to the bare-chested man’s side. “Wait a moment, brother. May I ask what’s inside the barrel?”
The bare-chested man said impatiently, “Mind your own business. Get lost.”
The man casually pushed Li Si. According to his thinking, after such a push, he would surely send Li Si tumbling flat on his back like a toad. But who would have known he seemed to push against a standing boulder—the other person didn’t move a hair, while the recoil made his own palm go numb.
The bare-chested man froze, looking at Li Si with alarm. Li Si asked again, neither humbly nor arrogantly, “May I ask what’s inside the barrel?”
The bare-chested man no longer dared to use force and answered honestly, “Inside is… is lard.”
“Lard.” The corner of Li Si’s mouth lifted at an angle. “So that’s it.”
The heavy rain became increasingly torrential. In a magnificent and splendid residence in the southern part of Jinxi, a graceful woman holding a lotus-leaf umbrella walked with elegant steps into a pavilion in a corner of the courtyard. She casually spun the lotus-leaf umbrella, and the bean-sized raindrops shot out like silver bullets, scattering in all directions.
The woman beneath the lotus-leaf umbrella had beautiful features, especially her pair of willow-like eyebrows that were deeply moving. Yet at this moment, they were covered with an unfathomable layer of anxiety. The woman gazed at the curtain of rain and lightly parted her vermilion lips to say, “Fifteen years have passed, yet the nightmare of that night remains vivid before my eyes. Can it truly never be escaped?”
The woman sighed miserably. From the darkness behind the pavilion came an abrupt cold laugh.
“Fifteen years have passed. It’s time for the nightmare to end.”
The woman hastily turned around. A shadow swaying in the darkness slowly entered the pavilion, holding in his hand a blinding blade. The woman let out a short scream. Half an arc of blade light that tore through the black night fell before her eyes. Immediately after, a pair of rough, cold hands gripped what had been an elegant, slender neck and gradually applied more force. The woman’s vision slowly blurred… until the moment the face before her merged into her vision, she seemed to want to speak but could not open her mouth. Unable to speak!
The dark figure brought his mouth close to the woman’s ear, murmuring brief words as if asking something. The woman’s face showed horror, constantly shaking her head.
The man laughed coldly twice and suddenly exerted deadly force.
The night’s radiance was heavy. He set down the dead woman, picked up the fallen lotus-leaf umbrella, and slowly walked to the outer edge of the water pavilion. The pond water was struck by silver rain, creating countless pockmarks that momentarily formed complete circles before instantly dispersing. In the moments between gathering and scattering, his figure was reflected—a young man in black robes. But the expression condensed at the corner of his eyes was entirely incompatible with youth—a tremendous hatred, like a death spirit from the netherworld, carrying endless torrential killing intent.
He stood there for a long while, then suddenly waved his hand and threw the lotus-leaf umbrella into the pond water.