CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 56: UNCANNY

"Don’t cry, don’t cry! I’m still alive and well, when you cry like that, it seems as if I’m already about to leave!" Dou Dajiang patted the mute boy’s head, comforting him, "For these years, you’ve been living like a walking corpse, so have I!

If it weren’t for our similar circumstances, allowing me to empathize with you, I wouldn’t have steeled my heart to help you seek revenge.

You have no place to settle, struggling with hunger and cold, while I can afford to eat, yet it’s tasteless, and I can’t sleep at night. Living isn’t much different from dying.

Therefore, you don’t need to feel sad for me. It’s only right and proper that a murderer pays with his life."

"Whether a murderer pays with his life being right and proper depends on who is killed." Lu Qing strolled to the outer part of the prison and interjected.

He wore a golden mask, hiding his expression, and his voice was deeply restrained, revealing no emotions, making him even more enigmatic.

Dou Dajiang, upon seeing them arrive, felt somewhat intimidated, and quickly shut his mouth, saying nothing more.

"Earlier, you said you had a familiar spice trader you used to deal with. Why did you choose an unfamiliar shop that time?" Zhu Yu now had the chance to ask some questions he couldn’t earlier because of the crowd.

Dou Dajiang looked with some confusion at this official with the leather mask. He seemed more amiable than the one with the golden mask, and his aura was weaker, making him less intimidating. The other’s warm demeanor even put him a bit at ease.

He explained, "To the master, it was my mistake for not making myself clear earlier.

That time, when I went to find the spice trader I knew, I found the shop closed. I asked around, but no one knew why it was shut for so many days without reason.

Some said perhaps they went out to get supplies, but even going out for supplies shouldn’t mean everyone leaves and the shop closes.

Moreover, that time of year wasn’t typically when they would have to go out for bulk purchases.

I waited there for a day without anyone returning and didn’t want to keep delaying, so I decided to buy from another shop. It was then that I encountered that newly opened one. Having already been delayed a day, I was eager, and upon seeing the much cheaper prices, I lost my head..."

As Dou Dajiang spoke, he punched his own leg in frustration.

"How did you discover something was amiss?" Zhu Yu asked again.

"Simply because everything at home seemed normal, no different from usual. My brother wouldn’t go into a furious madness without some shock or stimulus. The only thing different was that my wife mistakenly used the fake cinnabar cream as incense, poured it into the burner, and burned it.

When I returned home, the house was filled with an overwhelming fragrance, a scent I had never encountered before, certainly not from any spice I recognized.

Later, I found the fragrance coming from the burner, which contained the fake cinnabar, with some blood on the lid.

The coroner told me that my wife had a wound on her finger before she died, likely from being cut by something. I inferred that she might have cut her hand on the burner lid’s iron spike when pouring the substances into it, dropping blood inside.

I secretly tested it myself afterward, grinding some fake cinnabar, cutting my finger to drip blood into it, and lighting it like regular incense.

I dared not stay in the room, leaving a dog inside. Eventually, the dog became extremely agitated, barking nonstop until it collapsed from exhaustion, foaming at the mouth.

That’s when I confirmed how sinister that stuff was."

"Thinking back, was there anything unusual about the people who sold you the fake cinnabar?"

"Unusual..." Dou Dajiang was uncertain of what Zhu Yu was getting at, but he had replayed their images countless times day and night, fearing he would forget, so they were already imprinted in his mind. "They didn’t look much different from others. If I had to say something different, it was just that their speech was gentler, slower, and they were physically much smaller than us."

Zhu Yu furrowed his brows.

Before marriage, she had always lived in Shuo Country, on the border with Lan Country. Even if she hadn’t been to Lan Country, she had seen Lan traders who traveled through Shuo Country.

Unlike Shuo’s mountainous and rugged terrain, Lan Country had more water and less land, being warm and humid, with people generally smaller in stature, regardless of gender, often with fair skin and a delicate nature, speaking gently and smoothly, making one feel comfortable just listening.

It was often joked in Shuo Country that even if Lan people cursed, it sounded better than Shuo people singing opera.

Lu Qing had previously mentioned that the Blazing Jade mine was discovered in Lan Country, and it was Prince Lan himself who ordered it destroyed.

Now, hearing Dou Dajiang’s description of those selling him the fake cinnabar as gentle and small in stature, Zhu Yu couldn’t help but ponder further.

"Did those people have skin as white as mutton fat?" she asked hastily.

Dou Dajiang shook his head, "No, those people were sallow, thin, and small, none of them were more robust than the mute boy."

Zhu Yu glanced at the mute boy kneeling beside him. Although seventeen or eighteen, he was stunted from frequent hunger, appearing no older than a child of fourteen or fifteen from a good family.

Lan Country was lush and fertile. While its people might not be tall or muscular like those from Jie Country or Shuo Country, they were well-proportioned and not typically frail and diminutive.

If Dou Dajiang’s words were true, the people he encountered were unlikely to be from Lan Country.

"How many times have you used that ’fake cinnabar’?" Lu Qing asked Dou Dajiang.

Dou Dajiang raised a finger, "Believe it or not, Master, I’ve only used it once. That stuff is wicked and killed my entire family. If not for the mute boy’s pitiful situation, I wouldn’t have dared touch it.

This boy’s entire family was killed by Lu’s. When I found him, he was huddled alone behind some bushes by the road, burning with fever, nearly dead, nothing but skin and bones from starvation.

I had no other recourse, so I used that stuff to help him vent his anger, so his family could rest in peace."

"Do you still have any ’fake cinnabar’?" Zhu Yu asked.

"I do," Dou Dajiang quickly replied, "Before, the mute boy and I lived in a dilapidated house near the ruined temple, abandoned by a farmer.

All the ’fake cinnabar’ is stored in an iron box, buried under a tree in the backyard, intending to retrieve it if I could escape unscathed after revenge.

If caught, I couldn’t allow that sinister thing to easily fall into others’ hands."