The dog days of summer sun was so fierce it seemed to boil a layer of oil from the ground.
This low-lying wasteland five li outside Taoyuan County had now become a forbidden zone, off-limits to outsiders.
The air was thick with a smell that made one's scalp tingle. It wasn't just stench; it was a "biological weapon" concocted from high-temperature fermentation, rot, and a mysterious, pungent sourness. Taking just one whiff downwind could send your breakfast swirling in your throat three times before you'd inevitably retch.
This was the masterpiece of Xu Qinghuan's "Night Soil Department"—the centralized composting site.
Li Wencheng stood upwind, a handkerchief soaked in aged vinegar pressed tightly over his nose and mouth. His official robe clung to his back, soaked through with sweat and unbearably sticky, but his eyes shone with a terrifying intensity.
It was the excitement of a hunter who had finally caught the fox by its tail.
"Physician Wu," Li Wencheng called out, his voice muffled yet vibrating with barely suppressed fervor.
Beside him, an old man carrying a medicine chest trembled, his face as pale as freshly applied plaster. He was the resident physician of Huichun Hall, competent enough for checking routine pulses, but having been dragged by the Assistant Prefect to this "toxic land," his soul was nearly scared out of him.
"Y-Your servant is here."
Li Wencheng pointed at the distant, blackish mounds of earth emitting faint wisps of white steam, demanding sharply, "Look at that steam. Is it poison?"
It was merely the normal heat generated by the high-temperature composting process, but in the eyes of Li Wencheng, eager for merit, this was the "evidence" that would send the Xu family to their doom.
Physician Wu squinted his old eyes for a long time, the stench making his tears flow uncontrollably. In this era, people firmly believed that "great plagues arise from filth." Such extreme foulness, in the eyes of ancients, equated to the precursor of pestilence—miasma.
"Your Honor..." Physician Wu wiped his runny nose and tears, stammering as he recited textbook knowledge, "Ancient texts say, accumulated filth begets miasma. This... this vapor has a yellowish hue, its smell akin to rotting corpses. If it remains gathered and does not disperse, I fear... I fear it may breed a great epidemic."
Li Wencheng slapped his thigh fiercely. Even as the stench churned his stomach, he couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh.
"Good! A great epidemic, excellent!"
Li Wencheng turned and strode away, his steps swift. Behind him, those were no longer mere dung heaps; they were his paved road to promotion and wealth, leading straight to the Six Ministries in the capital!
The Xu family was finished.
Monopolizing privies and amassing wealth would at most brand them unscrupulous merchants; the Emperor, upon hearing of it, would likely just impose a fine. But creating a plague and breeding poisonous vapors near the capital region? That was the grave crime of treason!
That very night, an eloquently worded memorial was dispatched to the capital by express courier.
True to his scholarly background, Li Wencheng proved that slander required only a silver tongue. In his memorial, he wrote: "The Xu woman's heart is as venomous as a serpent's. She gathers the filth of the entire city in one place, under the guise of composting, but in truth, she brews poison. The toxic vapors reach the heavens, birds dare not fly over. Her intent is to use pestilence to shake the very foundations of our Great Qian Dynasty. Her heart deserves execution!"
This move of "shaping the narrative" was played masterfully.
The news spread as if on wings, reaching every corner of Taoyuan County overnight.
Just two days prior, farmers outside the city had been fighting to purchase the "liquid gold" fertilizer, praising Xu Qinghuan as a "living bodhisattva." But "effective" was one thing; "poisonous" was another.
The rumor Li Wencheng released was exceptionally malicious—he didn't say the fertilizer was ineffective. He said: "This stuff is brewed using corpse poison. The crops grow fast, yes, but anyone who eats the grain will die, their entire family perishing suddenly!"
This strike was precisely aimed at the common people's lifeline.
Fear swiftly overcame greed. Public opinion shifted faster than turning a page.
"Have you heard? That's not composting at all; it's nurturing a plague god!"
"No wonder the place reeks so unnaturally. It's poisonous vapor! My second uncle's neighbor's dog passed by there and vomited!"
"How vicious! The Xu family aims to poison our entire county to profit from the dead!"
Panic fermented rapidly under the scorching heat, even overpowering the stench of the pit.
Members of the city's "Night Soil Department" immediately faced misfortune. Those disabled workers in yellow uniforms, who had once walked the streets with their backs straight, now found themselves pelted with rotten vegetables and eggs, cursed as "poison slaves" and "the Xu family's lackeys" whenever they showed their faces.
The refugee camp outside the city descended into utter chaos.
The wages Xu Qinghuan had paid lost their appeal; the braised pork they'd eaten now seemed suspect. The refugees covered their noses, staring at the enormous composting site not far away, their eyes filled with an instinctive fear of death.
...
The sun dipped westward, yet the heat waves remained scalding.
A troop of cavalry without formal insignia galloped forth, their hooves churning up yellow dust, heading straight for the contentious site outside the city.
The young man at the lead wore dark casual attire, his expression stern. It was the Third Prince, Xiao Jingyan.
His brows were tightly knit, his grip on the horsewhip making it creak.
Xu Qinghuan's previous "profligate antics," though absurd, had always contained an underlying economic logic he could discern. But this was different. If a plague had truly been unleashed, it would be a catastrophe of immense proportions.
He didn't understand scientific farming, but he knew one thing: no one in this world dared to jest with pestilence.
"Your Highness, we're almost there," a guard beside him reined in his horse, his face turning greenish. "This smell... it's truly not right."
The guard's reminder was unnecessary; Xiao Jingyan had already caught the odor.
The foul stench was so intense it made one's scalp crawl. The very air seemed to carry grayish-green dust, triggering an instinctive urge to flee.
What alarmed him more was that the road ahead was completely blocked.
Ahead, several hundred bailiffs, thick white cloths masking their faces and holding staffs, had formed an iron-clad cordon around the composting site. Several large cauldrons were set up at the crossroads, boiling pungent vinegar solutions and mugwort, creating swirling smoke that made the scene resemble some grand exorcism ritual.
Li Wencheng pointed at the group of Night Soil Department workers, now herded into a corner by the bailiffs and trembling, his voice brimming with grief and indignation as he addressed his subordinates: "These crippled individuals are the 'dregs' the Xu family uses to test their poison! The plants and trees within five li have all withered and yellowed; birds dare not alight here. What is this if not a plague?"
In truth, the plants had yellowed due to root burn from the heat of fermentation, and birds avoided the area purely because of the overwhelming stench.
But in this moment of collective panic, no one was listening to scientific explanations.
Li Wencheng, tears streaming down his face as if possessed by the spirit of an Oscar-winning actor, declared: "Xu Youde and his daughter harbor wolfish ambitions. Under the guise of night soil collection, they commit this heinous act that would end our lineage.
If we do not immediately fill in this pit and imprison the entire Xu family, once the wind changes direction and the poisonous vapors enter the city, the hundred thousand citizens of Taoyuan County... will meet a gruesome end with no place for burial!"
The surrounding onlookers, hearing this, recoiled in fear. Some of the more timid burst into tears outright.
"Arrest the Xu family!"
"Fill the pit! The pit must be filled!"
Someone in the crowd shouted, and it was immediately followed by a roaring, tidal wave of fury. These were people whose sentiments had been manipulated by Li Wencheng, driven mad by fear, and desperate for an outlet.
Xiao Jingyan watched this scene of impassioned fury from a distance, his heart sinking.
Public opinion had spiraled out of control. Whether Xu Qinghuan had been wronged or not, the situation at hand seemed like a checkmate.
Just then, a series of urgent and audacious hoofbeats, accompanied by the heavy rumble of wheels, came charging headlong from the other end of the official road.
"Out of the way! Everyone, get out of my way! Are you blind?!"
Pockmarked Liu's grating voice exploded across the scene.
An extremely luxurious carriage bearing the Xu family crest forcefully plowed through the crowd. With a sharp, skillful turn, it came to a halt right in front of the several large pots of boiling vinegar.
The carriage curtain was lifted.
Xu Qinghuan, dressed in a bright red silk dress and fanning herself with a round fan, showed not a hint of alarm. Instead, her face wore a look of utter disdain, as if watching fools at play.
She surveyed the farce before her, her gaze finally settling on Li Wencheng, who was kneeling on the ground with an air of righteous indignation. The corner of her mouth lifted in a sneer.
"Magistrate Li, quite the romantic scene you've set."
Xu Qinghuan covered her nose with her fan. "On such a hot day, you're boiling vinegar at the entrance to my family's vault... What's the plan? Trying to give my pit full of treasures a nice, tangy aroma?"
Li Wencheng sprang up from the ground, his pointing finger trembling, the malice in his eyes nearly overflowing.
"You dare to be insolent even with death at your doorstep! Xu Qinghuan, the evidence of your crimes—brewing poisonous fumes and endangering the populace—is irrefutable! Not even a mighty celestial immortal could save you today!"
He took a deep breath and roared with all his might: "Guards! Seize her!!"
