Chapter 15: A Fragrant Morning
The bang-bang sound of the watchman’s clappers spread through the street.
The darkness before dawn made the lights inside the city dim.
The watchman, who had stayed up all night, perked up; dawn was about to break.
This night was finally over.
He had been following the elders on watch duty almost since he could run. Even in the most chaotic years at the end of the previous dynasty, Zhao County had never been this deathly still. It was truly chilling.
It would be better once it got light.
But thinking of the row of corpses at the city gate, the watchman couldn’t help shrinking his shoulders again.
Zhao County was scary even during the day.
Originally, an annihilation of a family had occurred in the county, and they were urgently investigating the case to avenge the dead. Then the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrived and directly ordered the corpses dragged to the city gate for public display, saying the Jiang Family were treasonous thieves. When the county magistrate asked for evidence, that Embroidered Uniform Guard lord actually smiled and said his words were the evidence.
“You all…” He even pointed at the officials present and the local gentry, “must have connections to the treason.”
Then he made everyone who had dealings with the Jiang Family recount their interactions one by one.
Jiang Wangchun was the teacher in the county; all the children in the county had studied with him to some extent and opened their minds to learning. Otherwise, one could say the entire Zhao County was connected to treason!
This was clearly bullying people!
He clearly looked handsome like Erlang Zhenjun, but he was actually a dog thing!
The watchman took advantage of the thick night to spit viciously, then struck the clappers again. Suddenly, he saw lights on in the shop front facing the street ahead.
The watchman, familiar with the county town, recognized it at a glance as the Weiyuan Escort Agency.
Because the Embroidered Uniform Guard acted inhumanely, everyone in Zhao County avoided them. With no one around, most shops didn’t open during the day, and the escort agency’s business was not as good as before. Moreover, the agency’s owner Li Zhen had been summoned to the county office to be detained, and his son Li Hao, who had taken over the family business, had gone out to escort goods and hadn’t returned.
So late at night, who was there?
The watchman slowly approached and saw not only lights on, but also the four main gates of the escort agency open.
This…
Opening the door so early?
The watchman thought, drawing closer, and saw shadows moving inside.
Heh, quite a few people.
Could they have taken a big job?
The watchman walked to the door thinking this, stopped, prepared to greet them, and had just opened his mouth when his face twisted. His eyes fixed on the hanging figure inside the open door—
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.
The urgent watchman’s clappers, stripped of their fixed hourly meaning, shattered the deathly silence before dawn.
“Murder—”
……
……..
Yang Luo jolted awake, seeing the room bathed in hazy blue light.
She pressed her heart, her heartbeat racing.
She must have had a nightmare. Actually, since her rebirth, she had nightmares every night when she fell asleep—no, more precisely, reliving the past reality once over.
Before, among the beggars and sleeping outdoors, she hadn’t dared sleep too deeply, fearing she might say something she shouldn’t.
Last night was the first time sleeping alone, so she had slept soundly with peace of mind.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help thanking A Sheng’s choice again.
Before setting out, she had suggested continuing to disguise as a man. Although her mother had used another corpse to fake her death, just in case, or simply continue as beggars, which wouldn’t draw attention on the road.
But the hunter youth shook his head in opposition.
“Disguised as a man, you and I would eat and live together. Although Young Lady trusts me, men and women are different after all, and it would be inconvenient. Neither of us would rest well, and poor rest could lead to illness on the road, which would be troublesome.”
“Moreover, pretending to be beggars would invite trouble. Beggars are weak and can be bullied by anyone, but if we appear wealthy, others would hesitate and weigh their options. That’s why they say ‘poor at home, rich on the road.'”
Yang Luo was not stubborn. Especially now, her only goal was to have A Sheng accompany her and go to the capital together, so she listened to whatever he said.
So as A Sheng said, they bought good horses and a good carriage. She also bought some nice clothes, stayed in the best rooms at inns, and was generous to the shop assistants. Sure enough, they were treated politely.
Yang Luo rubbed her neck; perhaps from sleeping too well in one position, it was a bit sore.
She got up, moved her body around the room, washed up simply, saw the sky brightening, and thought to check if A Sheng was awake. These days she hadn’t slept well, so the hunter youth naturally hadn’t either. She hoped he had slept well last night too.
Just as she opened the door, she saw a shop assistant downstairs holding a food box and looking up.
“Young Lady is awake.” He greeted with a smile, pointing to the food box in his hand. “Your guard boiled calming soup for you.”
A Sheng? Yang Luo quickly asked, “He’s already up?”
The shop assistant came up with the food box: “He woke before dawn, fed the horses, cleaned the carriage, and even picked some herbs to brew medicinal soup for you, saying our calming soup wasn’t effective enough. Now he’s preparing breakfast.”
Although A Sheng was from a hunter family, he was truly thoughtful in taking care.
“The few years I took care of my grandfather who raised me were just like being a guard or caring for the elderly; I’m used to it.”
A Sheng had told her this.
Yang Luo took the calming soup from the shop assistant; the herbal scent was stronger than the inn’s yesterday.
The shop assistant said A Sheng had personally selected the herbs.
Yang Luo wanted to give the shop assistant reward money, but he refused.
“That young man did all the work; we can’t take more money.”
A Sheng really knew how to win people over. Yang Luo couldn’t help laughing, then suddenly saw someone running out in the inn’s courtyard, and noisy sounds came from ahead.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” Yang Luo asked, a bit nervous.
The shop assistant didn’t know either and was about to ask when the hunter youth, now in a set of black cloth clothes, returned.
His face was somewhat grim.
“Young Lady, there’s a dead person outside.”
A dead person? Yang Luo and the shop assistant looked shocked.
The whole street was surrounded by guards in black with gold embroidery.
One guard in black knelt on the ground, his bright red robe hem fluttering. Wei Jiao stepped on his back to come down and took a deep breath.
“This blood smell is really strong.” He said.
The blood smell was indeed very strong, so intense that people at the street corner felt like vomiting.
But Wei Jiao showed no disgust; instead, he looked intoxicated.
He looked inside the open door and pointed at the hanging people in the room.
These people had either their hearts pierced or throats stabbed; blood dripped from their bodies, soaking their robes and congealing on the floor beneath, a scarlet expanse.
“One, two.”
Wei Jiao pointed and counted with his finger.
“Fourteen.”
A total of fourteen corpses.
“The gate guard said Li Hao returned last night.” A guard in black said softly beside him, pointing to the gate guard who had already been dragged over and restrained.
Wei Jiao glanced at the gate guard and saw those few with pale faces kneeling on the ground, clearly badly frightened, their eyes dazed, as if they couldn’t believe that the lively person they had just greeted and joked with last night had become a corpse.
“The person was killed in the storeroom in the back.” The guard in black reported again, pointing to the long blood trail on the hall floor. “Then dragged here and hung up.”
Wei Jiao looked at the chaotic bloodstains in the room. Although this wasn’t the fight scene, it was still a bloody mess. One could imagine the hellish scene in the storeroom.
His gaze stopped in the center of the hall, where there were four large blood-red characters.
“Murderers must pay with their lives.” Wei Jiao read, then laughed. His pitch-black cold eyes turned to the Zhao County officials and prominent families who had followed—or rather, been escorted—behind him. “You people in Zhao County really know how to kill each other!”
The Zhao County officials and prominent families, over a dozen people, had pale faces. Among them, an old man around sixty in a wheelchair was trembling all over.
Suddenly, the old man let out a strange heh-heh-heh laugh, bit down hard, blood flowing from his mouth and nose, then his head lolled and he died.
“Captain!” A guard in black stepped forward to check and shouted, “Li Zhen poisoned himself to death.”
Wei Jiao wasn’t angry but pointed: “Fifteen.”
Then he laughed.
“Oh, exactly fifteen, just like the Jiang Family. They’ll look great displayed at the city gate.”
