The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 58

While Zhao Li held the large orange cat and studied the system, Marquis Ningsu’s Estate in Shengjing descended into chaos.

Song Xiu sat beside his eldest son Song Hongjun’s bed without even removing his outer robe.

After Zhao Li left, the physician brewed a calming decoction and poured it down Song Hongjun’s throat with a crane-bill pot.

Following Zhao Li’s instructions, he also boiled mugwort water and washed the patient.

Although black patches still covered Song Hongjun’s skin, after taking the medicine, he slept far more peacefully.

Nor did he continue secreting mucus like a slug.

Song Xiu feared that a careless maid might damage the straw doll beside the pillow and cause another disaster.

He personally guarded his son throughout the night.

With a pounding heart, he watched densely packed spots spread across the doll.

By morning, sesame-sized black marks covered its entire body, and it emitted the fishy stench of rot.

Even the rooster bones inside had turned charred black and foul.

Song Xiu grew anxious.

He brought silver to the Jingning Guard commandant stationed outside, hoping the man would summon Zhao Li to inspect it.

“Commandant, please do me this favor and carry a message to Hundred-Household Commander Zhao. Tell her the straw doll is nearly rotten and ask her to come take a look.”

As Song Xiu spoke, he passed a small silver ingot from beneath his sleeve.

In ordinary times, a marquis like him would never need to lower himself before a mere commandant.

But his second son’s crime was grave, and Song Xiu had no idea what the future held.

The commandant stared and pushed the silver back.

“Marquis Song, it is not that this humble one fails to appreciate your offer, but Hundred-Household Commander Zhao is not someone anyone may casually summon.”

Zhao Li’s background and identity were no great secret.

Everyone in the Jingning Guard knew she had severed ties with the Zhao family.

But they had also witnessed how she resolved the unnatural incident in Fragrant Orchid Courtyard.

Who did not know she possessed genuine ability?

Song Xiu studied the commandant’s expression and saw that the man was not trying to extort him.

He smiled awkwardly and was about to say more when the steward hurried over.

“Marquis, the heir is awake.”

Joy spread across Song Xiu’s face.

He quickly returned to his eldest son’s courtyard, where people hurried in and out.

When he drew near, he saw that the doll formerly beside the pillow had already blackened with decay.

Song Hongjun’s body now secreted pale-yellow pus.

Miraculously, the more fluid poured out, the more the large black patches across his body faded.

When Song Xiu entered, Song Hongjun choked out one word.

“Father.”

Father and son looked at each other in silence, tears flowing down both faces.

…

With Song Hongjun’s recovery, the Mother-and-Child Bane was formally resolved.

But the affairs of the living were far from over.

After Zhao Li left, Shen Yan remained in command.

The spirit tablets in the hidden chamber should have been retained as evidence.

But because they implicated the emperor, no one dared leave them standing. Daoist Xuanxu conducted a rite, and every tablet was burned.

The bodies inside the black vats Zhao Li had broken had already been consumed by fire, leaving only charred black bones.

Shen Yan ordered a coffin purchased and the remains collected. They would later be returned to the Chen family.

Following Zhao Li’s instruction, Lu Jianxing dragged Granny Oil’s corpse from the hidden chamber and burned it clean over peach branches.

After the chamber was thoroughly searched, a register of believers’ donations was presented to Shen Yan.

Although called a donation register, a considerable portion recorded who in Shengjing wanted to curse whom.

It included principal wives and concubines from official households who had spent silver and donated lamp oil in hopes of cursing rivals to death.

If every entry were investigated, there was no telling how many families would be implicated.

One record was especially shocking.

A concubine-born daughter wanted to harm her legitimate elder sister.

Through her ruffian uncle in the countryside, she obtained a half-grown dog made with the Beast-Making Art.

That art involved poisoning an abducted child until they could no longer speak, then cutting wounds across the entire body.

Next, a dog of similar size was killed and its intact hide flayed away.

While the skin was still warm with blood, it was wrapped around the child, drawn tight, and sewn closed.

After some time, the result was a small dog that understood human speech and obeyed perfectly.

It could be led through the streets to amuse passersby and earn money.

But the dog obtained by this concubine-born daughter was different.

Beneath the dog skin was not a child but an adult male dwarf.

The young woman knew her legitimate elder sister loved dogs.

Through some unimaginably vicious scheme, she arranged for her sister to purchase the dwarf disguised as a dog and keep it close.

The dwarf was to find an opportunity to rape her sister at night and destroy her chastity.

Even if he failed, the concubine-born daughter could someday expose the creature in public and ruin her sister’s entire life.

The story was so appalling that even Eunuch Zhang, who had spent years in the palace and witnessed countless filthy secrets, could not help frowning.

More frightening still, the family involved was not some insignificant household.

It belonged to a censor in Shengjing.

For such a thing to occur in the home of an imperial censor was horrifying beyond measure.

The White Lotus Sect’s infiltration of Shengjing and Great Jing likely extended far beyond anything they had seen.

Eunuch Zhang was plainly not the only person to realize it.

Lin Zhu, Huang Li, and the others all frowned deeply.

When layer upon layer of white bones were excavated from the rear courtyard of the pickling workshop, no one could remain seated.

“Lord Shen, continue overseeing matters here. I will take this register back for His Majesty to inspect and decide how to proceed,” Eunuch Zhang said.

Shen Yan’s brows were tightly drawn.

He ordered a wooden message box brought over, personally placed the register inside, and sealed it with sealing clay before handing it to Eunuch Zhang.

“Thank you, Eunuch Zhang.”

Eunuch Zhang wasted no time. He saluted and left immediately.

Only Huang Li, Lin Zhu, and several others remained.

Lin Zhu hesitated for a long time before finally approaching Shen Yan.

“Lord Shen, may we speak privately?”

Shen Yan looked at him.

He had not forgotten that Lin Zhu had nearly caused Zhao Li’s death, but another thought suddenly occurred to him.

He nodded and followed Lin Zhu somewhere secluded.

Conflict covered Lin Zhu’s face. Only after a long pause did he ask, “Lord Shen, is A-Li all right?”

Guilt was a uniquely torturous emotion.

For a man like Lin Zhu, who prided himself on integrity, it had kept him tossing and turning ever since Daoist Xuanxu explained the consequences.

His elderly wife repeatedly asked what was troubling him and how he had injured his waist.

But how could he admit the disgraceful things he had done?

His wife had always doted most upon Zhao Yaoguang, her granddaughter. Whenever Zhao Li was mentioned, she sighed that the girl was too competitive and lacked generosity.

Lin Zhu did not know how to untangle the family’s mess and simply never discussed the matter at home.

Now, after seeing the child taken away in such a condition, he could no longer restrain himself.

He had summoned Shen Yan to ask and obtain a little peace of mind.

Shen Yan coldly studied his reddened face.

He did not answer directly.

“In what capacity does Lord Lin ask?”

Lin Zhu flushed with shame and anger, but could not reply.

Only then did Shen Yan continue.

“Does Lord Lin know how A-Li received the scar on her face?”