The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 41

Many people had gathered in the courtyard. They surrounded a sallow-faced woman, some offering quiet comfort while others loudly cursed the traffickers.

Two elderly men crouched in a corner, puffing on long-stemmed pipes.

Their brows were drawn tightly enough to crush a mosquito, and a cloud of misery hung over their faces.

In any world, human trafficking seemed forever linked to one phrase—ritual harvesting and mutilation.

The practice had originated in sorcery and survived since the Han dynasty.

Its earliest form came from sacrificial rites. Living people were hacked apart with blades and axes, dismembered and tortured to harvest their living souls for every manner of heretical art.

Some victims were tortured and maimed, then reduced to lives as beggars or thieves.

However evil the human heart could become, ritual harvesting and mutilation could become equally depraved.

Living victims might be used as medicinal ingredients or sacrificial offerings. Before death, they inevitably suffered exceptionally cruel torment and murder.

Children and pregnant women, whose souls were considered uniquely pure, were among its principal targets.

Once a young child was abducted, the chance of recovery was almost nonexistent.

At the thought of the rumors circulating among the people—at the thought of the horrors that might befall his youngest son—Cuixiang’s father felt as though a knife were twisting in his heart.

The officers of the Five Cities Military Patrol Office, in whom he had placed his greatest hopes, had come only once. They had walked around the village, then left.

The common people knew perfectly well that the officers were merely going through the motions, yet could only humble themselves and beg them to make a greater effort.

The family’s sole laying hen had been slaughtered and served at the table to entertain those officers. They ate and drank their fill, wiped their mouths, and departed.

The common folk still had to suppress their anger and see the men off with smiles. They dared not offend them for fear that even this last shred of hope would be destroyed.

As he thought of it, Cuixiang’s father drew hard on his pipe.

The acrid smoke flooded his lungs. He coughed twice, then secretly raised his sleeve and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.

“Cuixiang’s father, you…” The village head squatted beside him, smoking as well.

He wanted to tell the man not to grieve, but how could anyone remain calm after a living child vanished?

He wanted to promise that everything would be fine, yet abducted children had never come home.

In the end, the village head could only release a long sigh.

“I’ll ask around again. I’ll think of something.”

His son studied at White Deer Academy. Perhaps there was some connection he could use.

But the village head sighed inwardly. Even if he found a connection, a few baskets of dried farm potatoes and eggplants would never cover the cost.

He raised his head and looked around, about to say more, only to shudder all over and stare blankly at the arrivals by the gate.

The village head watched the three figures Cuixiang was leading into the courtyard. His legs trembled and began to fold beneath him.

Their distinctive Flying Fish Robes were far too recognizable.

Even the most ignorant man or woman in the remotest village had heard of the Jingning Guard.

There were stories of peerlessly virtuous officials at court framed by the Jingning Guard and having all nine generations of their clans exterminated. There were stories of pretty village girls who went into the city to sell pancakes, only to be spotted and abducted by some high-ranking Jingning Guard official.

From framing loyal ministers to buying steamed buns without paying, no one had ever heard of the Jingning Guard doing anything good.

The appearance of a Flying Fish Robe practically announced that disaster had arrived.

When Zhao Li and her men reached the entrance, they found everyone in the courtyard staring with mouths agape.

“Old He, I still have water boiling at home. I-I should go.”

“Yes, yes, me too.”

The villagers hunched their shoulders and filed outside.

Yet each one involuntarily shuddered when passing Zhao Li and her men.

It made Zhao Li wonder whether this village practiced some strange form of greeting.

Once the villagers had cleared out, only Cuixiang’s parents remained in the courtyard.

“Father, Mother, this is Young Mistress A-Li. She came to help us find my little brother!”

Cuixiang had not been certain that Zhao Li would truly involve herself. She had feared that hope followed by disappointment might destroy her parents’ health.

She had no idea that her father’s heart had almost stopped at the sight of them.

Cuixiang’s mother alone did not think so much. She dropped to her knees and knocked her head against the ground twice.

As far as she was concerned, whether savior, monster, or ghost, anyone who could help find her child could demand her life in return.

Zhao Li helped her up.

“Time is short. There is no need for courtesy. I will ask questions, Auntie. Think carefully before you answer. Do not omit or misstate anything.”

“When did Hutou disappear, and how?”

Cuixiang’s mother wiped her tears. “Hutou disappeared three days ago. He is still young and followed the older village children everywhere, but that afternoon, he did not return when it was time to eat.”

She choked on a sob before continuing.

“We searched everywhere, but could not find him. Someone in the village said they saw Hutou holding a pellet drum and eating spun-sugar candy as he followed an old woman away.”

At that, she could no longer restrain herself and burst into loud sobs.

“I failed to watch Hutou. It’s my fault!”

Zhao Li frowned amid her crying. “Other families have lost children too?”

“Y-yes, my lord!”

Perhaps Zhao Li’s face looked kind, or perhaps Cuixiang’s whispered explanation of her identity had given him courage. Cuixiang’s father answered, “Four children disappeared from the village that day.”

“All on the same day?” Zheng Lian asked in surprise.

They had looked over the village on the way in. It was not large. How many children could possibly live here?

Four abducted in a single day?

And all on that same day?

Zhao Li and Lu Jianxing had thought of the same problem.

With his years of experience, Lu Jianxing immediately saw what it might mean. He stepped forward and cupped his hands.

“Hundred-Household Commander Zhao, shall I make inquiries in the neighboring villages?”

“Go quickly.”

A bad feeling rose in Zhao Li’s heart. So many children being abducted in such a short period could not bode well.

With the spiritual resurgence underway, anyone deliberately plotting something like this could unleash a disaster.

“Yes.”

Lu Jianxing saluted and turned. After two steps, he stopped and looked back.

“Should I notify Lord Lu and ask him to bring more men?”

“Do so,” Zhao Li answered tersely.

Zhao Li always put caution first. If this was organized, there was no sense trying to take it on alone.

After Lu Jianxing left, Zhao Li asked Cuixiang’s father to summon the families of the other missing children.

Before long, a crowd of trembling villagers stood in Cuixiang’s small courtyard.

Zhao Li sat on a bamboo chair while Zheng Lian recorded their statements in the Register of Impermanence he carried with him.

The results of the interviews were grim. Every child, boys and girls alike, had disappeared during the same afternoon.

Zhao Li listened to the villagers’ accounts with a frown, but something felt wrong.

She pressed two fingers of her right hand to her brow, opened the Mind’s Eye, and looked again.

Most of the villagers trailing gray smoke had gathered in this courtyard.

Only one plume remained isolated in the distance.

“Has a child been abducted from that household too?” Zhao Li pointed. “Why did they not come?”

The villagers followed her finger. They thought for a long time, unable to recall which family in that direction had lost a child.

They exchanged puzzled looks.

After a while, someone ventured timidly, “Could it be the Chen family?”

The speaker continued, “But the Chen family’s daughter-in-law wasn’t lost. She ran away on her own.”