Chapter 68#

What those children were being raised for was now perfectly clear.

After Liu Kangren was arrested, no one secretly opened the granaries to cook rice gruel anymore, and the people of Mianzhou fell back into famine.

Taking advantage of the disaster, the Wen family bought up all the starving, half-dead children at the low price of ten white-flour steamed buns, raising them in the cavern known as Dongyazi, which was cut off from the outside world.

They might even have put on a kind face and said to the desperate parents selling their children, “Lord Wen is merciful and cannot bear to see young ones suffer. He will look after your children for a time. Once the famine eases and life stabilizes, you may come at any time to take them back.”

On one hand, they feigned charity; on the other, they lured people into the abyss. They actively told these commoners they could walk to the coast and search for ambergris—just a small piece would fetch a considerable amount of silver and change their fortunes forever.

Little did they know the journey was fraught with deadly peril, and only a handful would survive. Yet in the depths of despair, even the faintest glimmer of false hope was enough to make the people venerate Wen Ying as a god, offering endless gratitude.

And the Wen family, knowing that most of these children’s parents would never return, grew even more brazen in using human bodies to refine incense.

No one knew who had invented such a sinister method. They fed the children specially prepared food, causing the incense to solidify into lumps inside their bodies. When the lumps grew large enough, the children would suffer excruciating abdominal pain. At that point, they would cut open the children’s bellies while they were still alive and extract the incense lumps.

As for the corpses? The swift currents of Wangtian Gully served as the most convenient disposal system.

When they had first entered the city, that haughty woman captured by the archers spoke of “truly fine things”—most likely referring to this vile incense.

Originally, no one outside their profit chain should have known about this. But who would have expected someone like Six Monkeys—a boy with exceptional swimming skills—to survive and walk out of Dongyazi alive?

“Move aside, move aside! Don’t wander around in such troubled times!”

Shouts from the yamen runners suddenly echoed through the alley again. Shen Zhi moved quickly, clamping his hand over Six Monkeys’ mouth.

Only after the runners had passed through the alley did Six Monkeys pull Shen Zhi’s hand away. His chest heaved violently, and he said in a panic, “You’re right! The Wen family are the real villains! When my big brother and I entered the city, we saw the searches getting fiercer. From the city gates to the streets, the soldiers are turning over every stone! With the Mianzhou Incense Fair approaching and more people pouring in every day, you need to run, now!”

He remembered how he’d foolishly suggested they apologize to Wen Yingjing at the fair, and his face burned with shame—ridiculous and pitiful.

But then he thought of those refugees who had risked their lives to find ambergris, only to rush into town hoping to trade it for their children’s ransom. Weren’t they fools too?

They had no idea their children had long been swept into Wangtian Gully, food for the fish, never to be seen again.

Shen Zhi knew that Lou Changsui wasn’t searching for them now—he was hunting for Liu Kangren.

But since losing a death-row prisoner was an embarrassment, the authorities used the pretext of catching a murderous swindler.

Fortunately, their assumption was wrong. They thought Liu Kangren would surely try to escape the city, so they dispatched all their forces to the city gates, neglecting the area near the government office.

Wen Zhuo closed his eyes. He knew the old man’s final wish would never be fulfilled. He could only hope that in the next life, he and Girl Zhi would live a less tragic existence.

After a long moment, he opened his eyes. His gaze had become as still as an ancient well.

He asked, “Six Monkeys, is that piece of ambergris still on you?”

“What does incense matter at a time like this?” Six Monkeys stomped his feet in anxiety. “Once the officials search here, not one of you will escape!”

Though he complained, he instinctively felt his chest and pulled out a small lump from his inner garment.

After seven or eight days of wear and tear, the ambergris had broken down into an even smaller fragment—like a human life, impossible to hold onto, destined to vanish entirely at some point.

Wen Zhuo cupped it in his hand and put it away. “The top priority is to rescue the children at Dongyazi and make the Wen family pay. Then Zhi Wa and her father won’t have died in vain.”

Six Monkeys looked as if he’d heard a fantasy. In his eyes, the Wen family ruled Mianzhou with an iron fist. There would be no price to pay.

“What are you thinking? We’re just little shrimps. If we die, we die. Do you really expect the lords to repent?”

“What use is repentance?” Wen Zhuo sneered, a chilling ruthlessness seeping through his eyes, which were usually as gentle as water. “I want them to pay with their lives.”

“Crazy! You’re out of your mind!” Six Monkeys stared at him in disbelief. “You may be handsome, but you’ve got no brains. If you keep waiting, you’ll all die!”

He was frantic for them but helpless. Biting his lip, he said, “Don’t blame me. I want to live. I still want to find my mother! I’ve delivered my message. If you insist on seeking death, I can’t do anything about it.”

Having spoken these decisive words, Six Monkeys hardened his heart, pushed Shen Zhi away, and ran off with tears in his eyes. He was small but quick as a monkey, darting into the backyard and, in the blink of an eye, squeezing through the small doghole to disappear into the morning mist.

“Hey!” Shen Zhi didn’t dare shout loud. He reached out but grasped only air.

He immediately signaled the guard beside him. “Keep an eye on him. Don’t let anything happen to him!”

The guard acknowledged and silently pursued.

“Wait, Master, I have a question.” As soon as the guard left, Shen Zhi frowned. “If Liu Kangren is missing, shouldn’t Lou Changsui lock the city gates and turn every rock over? Why won’t he give up the fair? And how did you know they wouldn’t close the gates and trap Six Monkeys outside?”

Liu Kangren, standing nearby, thought: “?”

Yesterday, he called me “Wanshan.” Today, it’s back to “Master”? If they are truly master and student, how can the student be so presumptuous as to use his master’s courtesy name?

The relationship between His Highness the Fifth Prince and Director Wen was truly baffling.

Wen Zhuo’s tone was calm as he patiently explained, “Your Highness may not know this. First, hastily closing the city would cause panic. The city is now filled not only with locals but also with merchants from all over who came for the fair. With so many people and tongues, if chaos erupted, Lou Changsui couldn’t bear the responsibility. Second, the fragrance of storax dissipates over time. The Wen family has stockpiled a huge inventory, all counting on the fair to clear it. They can’t afford to wait, so they have to let buyers into the city.”

He paused and added, “Besides, in my plan, Six Monkeys was supposed to arrive at the Wen residence before Liu Kangren. He just came back late.”

Shen Zhi nodded in understanding. “I see.”

Wen Zhuo shifted the topic. “In fact, I suspect the vile incense they refine from human bodies must have a short shelf life, too. Otherwise, they could hoard it and sell it overseas in batches. Why take the risk of dumping it in every prefecture?”

Hearing this, Liu Kangren seemed to recall something. He hurried forward and said urgently, “About half a year ago, when I was patrolling the coast, I overheard a few red-haired barbarians chatting. They said Mianzhou had produced a kind of ‘bone-penetrating incense.’ When mixed with balm and applied to the body, the fragrance seeps into the bones and could ‘revitalize’ a person. It was highly sought after by noblewomen in their country. But the incense was extremely rare, easily cracked and rendered useless if not stored properly, and required special connections to purchase. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now, recalling it, I feel a chill run down my spine. The Wen family must have started making this incense secretly a year ago.”

Jiang Man clenched her fist. “That must be it! The incense is hard to preserve, so they need to get rid of it quickly!”

Shen Zhi raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Oh? You could understand what the red-haired barbarians said?”

In the Great Qi Dynasty, the Dutch were called red-haired barbarians. They were ten thousand miles away and rarely set foot in the Central Plains. Meeting one was rare enough, let alone understanding their language.

Liu Kangren’s face flushed with shame. He bowed his head. “This guilty official is ashamed. Banned to Mianzhou for a decade, I had nothing to do all day. My heart was stifled. When the Military Command ordered me to patrol the coastline, I often listened to passing merchants and foreigners talk. Over time, I picked it up.”

Shen Zhi thought, Banned for ten years. Life must have been hard. Understandable. So he casually added, “Red-haired barbarians are rare. It’s no small feat to learn their language.”

“Indeed, red-haired barbarians are rare—nowhere near as common as people from Malacca, Java, Bengal, Hormuz, Franks, Russia, Arabia, Calicut, and so on,” Liu Kangren replied honestly.

Shen Zhi, again offhandedly, asked, “You don’t understand all those languages, do you?”

Liu Kangren’s head sank lower, nearly touching his chest. His voice was full of mortification: “This guilty official is ashamed… The years were truly hard to endure, each day like a year. Unknowingly, I learned seven or eight languages.”

Shen Zhi: “?”

Well, shit! Then what are you so ashamed of!

With such a prodigious language talent, why did he have to lead troops into battle in the first place? As a simultaneous interpreter, he could have had a brilliant career!

Shen Zhi’s original plan was to hide Liu Kangren for now, deal with Lou Changsui and the Wen family, then report everything to his father the Emperor. Whether Liu Kangren would eventually be pardoned depended on his own luck.

But now, he truly understood the essence of Wen Zhuo’s earlier lesson: “To judge people with the art of an emperor, not merely in terms of ‘good’ or ‘bad’—it all depends on how Your Highness wields and drives them.”

He suddenly didn’t want Liu Kangren to die. He had a critically important task for him, one that concerned the fate of the Great Qi Dynasty.

Of course, Wen Zhuo didn’t know what Shen Zhi was thinking. But at this point, he had a thorough grasp of the situation in Mianzhou.

He looked up at the sky and said calmly, “Over in Gezhou, things should be moving soon.”

Jiang Man responded, “The guards sent to Xing and Jing prefectures should have completed their missions too.”

Earlier, Wen Zhuo had dispatched five men out of the city, each with a clear assignment.

Two were to intercept the Imperial Guard Commander. One was to wait midway and, when the time was right, put on an act for Lou Changsui.

The remaining two were to head straight for Xing and Jing, spreading word along the way that the Wen family in Mianzhou was buying grain at high prices, inviting all grain merchants to come and make a killing.

The grain merchants from Xing and Jing, who had lost everything due to the court’s relief efforts, had no choice but to gamble. They hauled their massive hoards of stored grain to Mianzhou, hoping to turn a loss into profit.

The Mianzhou government granaries had long been empty. Though these merchants were unscrupulous profiteers, they were also a timely rain. Wen Zhuo had no choice but to use them.

Liu Qiyin added, “The Imperial Guard Commander should arrive at Mianzhou Prefecture in about two days. By then, Lou Changsui will be dumbfounded.”

“The Mianzhou Incense Fair is also only two days away.” A contemptuous smile curled at Wen Zhuo’s lips. “The Wen family has set up such a grand stage. If I don’t play the whole show with them, I’d be wasting all these years of their bullying arrogance backed by power.”

At the same time, yellow sand filled the sky. The windows and doors of the Gezhou Station (post station) rattled with dust.

The Imperial Guard Commander sat in a corner of the main hall, his fingers absently rubbing his leather belt.

He had been waiting here for eight days. The initial fatigue had long passed, replaced by an unbearable restlessness.

A half-cold, hard pancake sat on the table. He took a couple of bites, then went upstairs to check his luggage.

But just as he lifted his foot, the station door burst open with a bang. Two dusty figures rushed in, their hair matted and their faces so caked with grime they were almost unrecognizable.

Slapping the dust off themselves, they shouted, “Where is the Imperial Guard Commander?”

The commander’s heart tightened. Instantly gripping his saber, he said gravely, “I am here! Who are you?”

The two guards who had been waiting with him clattered down the stairs. Recognizing the newcomers, they stepped forward and said, “They’re our people!”

The commander said, “Speak quickly! How far away are His Highness the Fifth Prince and Director Wen? Do they have any instructions?”

The two wiped the yellow sand from their faces, revealing chapped, peeling lips. They looked miserable. “Director Wen and His Highness were originally planning to meet up with you here in Gezhou. But along the way, they received a secret report that Mianzhou Prefecture had suddenly seen unusual activity—officials conducting massive searches for unknown reasons! Worried that something might go wrong in Mianzhou and that delays could cause problems, the Director decided to take a shortcut and head straight for Mianzhou. He ordered us to rush here immediately and tell you to set off at once and meet up in Mianzhou City!”

“What!” The commander was stunned, his brow instantly furrowing. But there was no time to dwell on the reasons. He hurried upstairs to grab his luggage. “No time to waste! I’m leaving now!”

“Sir, we’ll accompany you!” The four guards immediately packed their belongings as well, quickly led out the horses, and followed closely behind the commander.

Another day passed.

The Mianzhou Prefectural Office was still brightly lit, as bright as day. Lou Changsui was growing more and more anxious.

For two days, the yamen runners had turned the city nearly upside down, but found nothing.

Lou Changsui finally realized: Liu Kangren had never planned to leave the city or hide in some remote place. He was right in the city center!

But he had wasted too much time. The imperial edict could arrive at any moment, and tomorrow was the annual Mianzhou Incense Fair.

Lou Changsui felt his heart tighten. He was at his wit’s end. He could only douse the unconscious Wang Liu with another basin of ice water, forcing him awake after torture and interrogation.

Grabbing Wang Liu by the collar, he slapped him across the face. “Tell me! Where did Liu Kangren go? Which direction did they run?”

Wang Liu’s head snapped to the side. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He barely managed to lift his head and said weakly, “My—my lord… I really don’t know… I don’t know…”

Lou Changsui stared down at him, his teeth grinding audibly. A terrifying darkness seeped from his eyes, like a beast about to go berserk.

“Bastard! Bastard! I’ve plucked geese all my life, and now a goose pecks out my eye!” He lashed Wang Liu several times with his whip. Wang Liu let out two agonized screams and then fell unconscious again.

Wen Ze stood nearby, his expression equally grim.

For the past two days, he had dispatched all of the Wen family’s thugs. They had tried threats, bribes—every trick in the book—but there was still no clue.

“Your Excellency,” he said in a sinister tone, “do you think it could be people from Duke Liu’s faction who kidnapped Liu Kangren?”

People had to eat. Liu Kangren was in prison garb, starving. If he had managed to stay hidden, it meant he had help—someone preparing food and drink for him.

And those helpers couldn’t be locals from Mianzhou. They must have entered the city recently.

Otherwise, since Liu Kangren had been locked up for two months, they would have acted long ago.

That narrowed the scope, and it should have been easier. But the problem was that with the Mianzhou Incense Fair approaching, the influx of people into the city was huge and varied. If they were all ordinary folks, that would be fine—but they were wealthy gentry, scholars, and prominent families from all over, each with tangled connections to officialdom. It was impossible to offend them.

Lou Changsui suddenly stopped pacing. His face grew darker. “If it’s Duke Liu’s people, that’s one thing. But I’m more afraid it’s Director Wen’s people!”

Wen Ze’s heart jumped, his eyelids twitching. He immediately retorted, “How is that possible!”

Lou Changsui’s thoughts were unusually clear at this moment. “Who else could know about the relief team in Xing and Jing prefectures? Who else could know what orders the Fifth Prince issued along the way? It has to be their own people. That man really did look like an official from the capital. Maybe he wasn’t lying. Maybe Prince Xian did send people—just none of them made it out. They were all detained at the post stations!”

The candle flames flickered, distorting the air. Wen Ze’s face showed several transparent ripples.

“Your Excellency, don’t scare yourself. I’ve asked the merchants from Xing and Jing. Wen Zhuo is still there carrying out relief work. Besides, when your memorial reached the capital, he had only just left the capital. How could he have known about Liu Kangren? Even if he has connections at court, the news and the imperial edict were sent together. Xing and Jing are still days away from Mianzhou. He wouldn’t have time to plan all this!”

“What you say makes sense… makes sense… If it was Duke Liu’s doing, then he’s guilty of a capital crime too. Liu Kangren wouldn’t dare to accuse him before the Emperor. He’ll just become a nobody living in obscurity. As long as I still tell the Imperial Guard that Liu Kangren committed suicide out of guilt, and find a disfigured corpse to pass off as him, that might settle the matter. Duke Liu will probably cooperate and acknowledge the body as his son’s.”

Lou Changsui muttered to himself. Cold sweat dripped from his twisted features onto the floor. He couldn’t tell if he was comforting himself or making a logical analysis. But he still felt uneasy, as if something big was going to happen tomorrow.

“Tomorrow’s fair. Lord Wen the Elder will be entering the city too, won’t he?” Lou Changsui said distractedly.

“Naturally. My father values this business deal the most. But I haven’t had time to tell him about Liu Kangren yet.”

“If it weren’t for your family’s sake this time, I would have locked the city gates and searched everyone one by one.” Lou Changsui slowly lifted his eyes, fixing them on Wen Ze without moving.

Wen Ze understood immediately. He slipped a new box of “bone-penetrating incense” into Lou Changsui’s arms, patted his pudgy belly, and gave a mirthless smile. “If we get through this safely, naturally you’ll get your reward.”