Chapter 154: Have A Taste
“You’re not bad, kid.” Shang Wan smiled approvingly. “So young and you already know quite a lot.”
“Of course, this young master is very smart.” Chu Xu raised his little chin. If he had a tail, it would definitely be sticking up to the sky right now.
Shang Wan ruffled his head. “Don’t get cocky. Hurry and go write it. We’ll send it out tomorrow.”
Chu Xu asked curiously, “How will we send it?”
“Find an Escort Agency.” Shang Wan pondered. “Idlers can’t enter the military camp. The letter definitely can’t be sent directly into the military camp. We need to think of a way.”
Chu Xu said, “After arriving in Mao City, we can find the shopkeeper of the Lucheng Restaurant. He can deliver the letter to Elder Brother.”
Shang Wan nodded. She figured this shopkeeper must be from the Chu family, specially responsible for passing messages to the military camp.
Having settled on a way to send the letter, Chu Xu excitedly ran off to write it.
Shang Wan checked the peddler from head to toe. She found no other valuable clues and dragged him into the mountains to bury him.
Ever since picking up Chu Xu, she felt like she was becoming a professional at burying bodies.
She would absolutely never casually pick up people and bring them home again!
After burying the man, Shang Wan still had an important task to do.
The man who abducted the three children was tied to a tree by her. The villagers originally wanted to send the man to the government, but Shang Wan said she would take him. After all, she was the one who caught him, so the villagers left the man with her.
Now that all matters related to the assassin were handled, Shang Wan had plenty of time to interrogate this man.
Beyond Shang Wan’s expectations, this man turned out to be spineless. He confessed after just two slaps.
The man was named Jiang Bo and worked at the Tooth Agency, that is, as a human trafficker.
He had heard that Elm Tree Village had many children, so he came to try his luck and see if any families wanted to sell their kids.
It wasn’t a famine year, and no families were starving. Who would be willing to sell their children?
Jiang Bo didn’t buy even one child, so he immediately came up with crooked ideas.
He knew some martial arts and had sleeping potion on hand. With heavy rain pouring from the sky, grabbing a few straggling children was a piece of cake.
Shang Wan asked, “You grabbed kids, so why set fire to the Gao Family?”
Jiang Bo said sheepishly, “I was just taking money to handle affairs for someone, earning a couple of silver to make a living.”
“Who gave you the money?”
Jiang Bo looked troubled. “Saying it out would break the rules. Please don’t make it hard on me.”
“Alright, I won’t make it hard on you.” Shang Wan flexed her wrist. “I’m just short a punching bag, and you seem perfect for it.”
She swung her fist straight at Jiang Bo’s face.
“Spare me!” Jiang Bo shut his eyes in fright. “Don’t hit me! I’ll talk! I’ll tell everything!”
The fist stopped an inch from his nose tip. Shang Wan regretfully withdrew her hand. “Speak. If you dare lie to me, I’ll crush your bones inch by inch.”
Breaking one bone hurts, let alone having every bone in your body crushed inch by inch.
Jiang Bo turned pale as paper in fright. He no longer dared to conceal anything and hurriedly said, “That person didn’t reveal his name, but I checked through the Tooth Agency. He’s the Second Boss of the Long Ling Escort Agency, named Sang Qi.”
To Shang Wan, this was a completely unfamiliar name.
“What does this person look like?”
Jiang Bo gave a rough description of Sang Qi’s appearance.
In Shang Wan’s words, Sang Qi was a lean man skilled in martial arts, with a square face as his distinguishing feature. He believed in metaphysics and always went to a fortune-teller before escorting goods to divine auspiciousness or inauspiciousness.
Jiang Bo begged for mercy. “I’ve confessed everything I know. I just set a fire but didn’t kill anyone. Please have mercy and let me go. I won’t dare do bad things again.”
Shang Wan’s response was to knock him out and throw him into the cellar.
Releasing him was impossible, but sending him to the officials now wasn’t convenient either—it might alert the enemy. She’d decide after this matter was settled.
The wounded at home were all exhausted. Shang Wan checked on each one; they were all sleeping like they were comatose.
Chu Xu yawned while writing the secret letter, his little head nodding lower and lower.
Seeing the child so sleepy, Shang Wan simply let him go to bed. He could write after resting; it wasn’t being sent until tomorrow anyway.
Of the six people in the household, only Shang Wan was still awake.
She lay on the stone slab looking at the dim yellow sky, one hand pillowed behind her head. She quickly reviewed recent events in her mind and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
Now there was a major problem urgently needing solution: with Xiao Huan down, who would cook dinner?
The Golden Crow withdrew its last ray of afterglow, and nightfall slowly descended.
The He family master and disciple returned right at dinnertime.
Shang Wan brought the last dish to the long table and enthusiastically waved at the four. “Perfect timing. Come try my cooking.”
From afar, it looked like the long table was full of dishes.
He SIZhi thought the host family must have some happy event and pondered whether he should give a gift.
Ma Jieyong pulled Liang Liang to the table. At a glance at the dishes, his brilliant smile instantly froze on his face.
Liang Liang blinked in confusion. These black mushy things on the table were… dishes?
He sniffed, and a strange odor rushed into his nose, making him sneeze.
Shang Wan handed chopsticks to the two. “Don’t just stare. Hurry and taste them.”
Seeing Shang Wan’s confidence, Ma Jieyong thought they just looked unappetizing but probably tasted fine.
The host family personally cooked, so he had to give face.
He stretched his chopsticks to pick up a piece of some square thing he didn’t recognize and shoved it into his mouth.
Instantly, tears streamed down his face.
“Spicy spicy spicy spicy!!!”
He flailed around like a monkey with his mouth open, searching everywhere for water.
Shang Wan immediately ladled a bowl of her homemade egg drop soup and handed it to him.
Ma Jieyong’s eyes were blurred by tears from the spiciness. He didn’t see clearly what was handed over and gulped it down.
Then… with a thud, he collapsed to the ground.
Shang Wan quickly caught the porcelain bowl. Good thing it didn’t shatter.
The other three were stunned.
Liang Liang tilted his head hesitantly. “Dead…?”
“No…” A weak voice came from the fallen Ma Jieyong’s mouth. One hand clutched his neck, the other reached toward Gao Yan. “Water… water…”
Gao Yan hurriedly untied his water skin and poured water for him.
Shang Wan handed a pair of clean chopsticks to He SIZhi, inviting him to try as well.
Seeing his disciple’s miserable state, He SIZhi’s hand trembled holding the chopsticks, his voice stammering. “I I I already ate. I’m not hungry.”
“Still, have a taste.” Shang Wan enthusiastically pushed a plate of black stuff toward him. “Secret recipe braised rabbit meat.”
He SIZhi held the chopsticks, hesitating for a long time not knowing what to pick. He strained to open his eyes wide to distinguish. “Which piece is charcoal and which is rabbit meat?”
Shang Wan was certain she hadn’t added charcoal. “All rabbit meat. Pick any. I think that big piece on top looks great.”
He SIZhi: “…”
Other host families just deducted wages and didn’t feed them enough, but this host family was out for blood.
He asked euphemistically, “Have you tasted these dishes yourself?”
Shang Wan shook her head firmly. Why would she let them taste if she had?
She had originally worried that feeding these things to the three wounded at home would make their injuries worse. Luckily, the four returned just in time.
They came right at dinnertime. What a waste not to have them try the dishes.
He SIZhi felt a pang in his chest. If not for the fact that she was the host family standing right there, he really wanted to roar: Weren’t their lives lives too?!
