Yan Tongshu lowered her eyes.
Zhang Alley was the second of the three households.
That meant it was probably Mu Yi. Since all three households had found someone to fill in for Mu Yi, the time periods she had calculated overlapped, but none of the suspects matched them completely.
Yan Tongshu continued asking, “Has Mu Yi ever hunted wild geese, deer, or anything similar?”
Chen Yong shook his head.
By now, Zhang Lei had realized that this youngest high-ranking official was not here to investigate their hiring of temporary workers. She was investigating something else.
Now that his own crimes had been exposed, perhaps he could help this official. Maybe she would lessen his punishment.
Zhang Lei immediately said, “This humble one knows. Mu Yi is strong, but his archery is poor. He’s simple and honest, not one for talking. You could beat him three times with a stick and still not get a fart out of him. So he can’t earn much as a hunter. Usually, he just sets a few traps and catches wild rabbits and pheasants. But he’s honest and willing to work hard. Whenever the hunters need to bring down a large animal, they’ll call him along and give him a share. He’s definitely received a share of deer before. As for wild geese, I don’t know.”
Yan Tongshu asked, “What about tigers? Have they ever hunted a tiger?”
Zhang Lei shook his head. “My lord, you must be joking. A tiger is the king of the mountains. Hunters run for their lives the moment they see one. Who would dare hunt it?”
Yan Tongshu frowned. “Where is Mu Yi now?”
Zhang Lei shook his head. “At this hour, it’s hard to say. He might be at home, out hunting, or working somewhere else. Mu Yi is poor and often has to travel from place to place doing odd jobs.”
Traveling from place to place… That fit with the possibility of encountering his victims by chance and committing random murders.
At that moment, Chen Yong timidly raised his hand. “He should be preparing to leave the city.”
Yan Tongshu’s gaze swept sharply toward him. “How do you know?”
The inspector’s eyes were even more murderous.
Chen Yong’s lips trembled as he said, “Today is my turn to deliver the beef. The day before yesterday, I was feeling lazy, so I asked Mu Yi if he could take my shift. He said he’d already taken Zhang Alley’s job today. Judging by the sky, he should be getting ready to leave the city by now.”
Yan Tongshu immediately called Pearl and several constables to block the city gates.
With Chen Yong in custody, the group hurried to the city gate.
Yan Tongshu stepped out of the carriage and, sure enough, saw a burly man driving a donkey cart while waiting in line to leave the city.
Pointing at the man, Yan Tongshu asked Chen Yong, “Is that Mu Yi?”
Chen Yong nodded repeatedly. “Yes, that’s him. Without a doubt, that’s Mu Yi.”
Xu Qiu was just about to lead the constables over to arrest him when Yan Tongshu grabbed his arm. “Wait. Something isn’t right.”
Xu Qiu stopped and followed Yan Tongshu’s gaze.
The line ahead began to move.
Mu Yi climbed down from the donkey cart, walked to the front, and pulled on the reins to make the donkeys move forward.
The two donkeys strained together, but the cart did not budge. They let out a simultaneous bray. Under Mu Yi’s urging, they pulled with all their strength. The wheels creaked and finally began to turn slowly.
Yan Tongshu compared this with the two times she had seen donkey carts carrying cargo.
The weight that two donkeys could pull happened to be just enough to carry two cattle after they had been bled, skinned, beheaded, and gutted. That was why the donkeys always struggled when starting, yet were still able to get moving.
But this time, Mu Yi’s donkeys had not only failed to start the cart—they had even caused the cart to roll backward after moving it a short distance.
A chill entered Yan Tongshu’s eyes.
So he had committed another murder.
She ordered in a low voice, “Go. Take him down.”
“Yes!”
The constables charged forward together.
When Mu Yi saw the officers heading straight toward him, he remained motionless.
The surrounding people, however, were so frightened that they immediately scattered, creating a vacuum around him.
His face was expressionless. His eyes held a cold, hollow look, and his entire body seemed shrouded in gloom. He appeared mentally unstable.
The constables put Mu Yi in shackles.
Yan Tongshu looked at Pearl. “Stay here. Don’t follow us.”
“Huh? Oh.” Pearl took a moment to react, then immediately nodded.
Yan Tongshu walked up to Mu Yi and asked coldly, “Mu Yi, do you know why you’ve been arrested?”
Mu Yi lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Yan Tongshu studied him, then pulled the wooden cudgel he carried for self-defense from his waist. She lifted the hemp cloth covering the cart.
Inside were two cattle that had been skinned, beheaded, and gutted.
Mu Yi’s eyes shifted slightly.
Yan Tongshu inserted the cudgel into the belly of one of the cattle and stirred it from side to side. Sure enough, she felt something inside.
“Xu Qiu,” Yan Tongshu ordered. “Get a tool and come help me.”
“Yes.”
Working together, the two of them pried open the flesh around the cattle’s bellies.
One strange blood-soaked bundle after another was dug out with the cudgel and dropped onto the dusty ground with wet smacks, leaving dark-red stains behind.
The surrounding people fled in terror.
At last—
Clang!
A crisp metallic sound rang out.
Yan Tongshu used a handkerchief to cover her hand as she picked up the smallest bundle and opened it. An oiled-paper package rolled out.
She peeled away the paper. Inside were a jade thumb ring, silver ingots, gold leaves, a golden belt buckle, banknotes, and other valuables.
They were all possessions taken from the victims who had been dismembered.
Yan Tongshu walked over to Mu Yi and looked straight into his eyes. “Where did these come from?”
Mu Yi had a broad, square face, a high nose, and thick lips. He looked particularly honest and trustworthy.
He lowered his head and replied in a dull voice, “I stole them.”
That was an admission of guilt.
Yan Tongshu ordered, “Take him back.”
The constables on either side answered, “Yes.”
Yan Tongshu returned to the carriage. Pearl was standing with her back to the murderer.
It wasn’t that she was afraid to look at the murderer. She was afraid to look at the bundles.
They were covered in blood. It was horrifying.
The group quickly returned to Kaifeng Prefecture.
From a distance, Qin Yi saw the constables escorting someone in custody. He raised his brows with interest, set the memorial he was holding aside, and went with Lu Xi to listen from behind the courtroom.
Yan Tongshu took the seat of honor.
Feng Jien also hurried over when he heard the news.
The courtroom attendants’ cry of “Mighty!” rang out, and Mu Yi was brought inside.
Yan Tongshu struck the magistrate’s block and shouted coldly, “Mu Yi, whose severed fingers and remains were found inside the cattle’s stomachs?”
Mu Yi knelt on the floor, his head lowered. His shackles clanked as he spoke in a voice heavy with exhaustion. “They belonged to the cloth merchant Wu Zhou.”
Yan Tongshu’s expression was solemn. “How did he end up inside the cattle?”
Mu Yi said, “Last night, Wu Zhou was walking along the riverbank on South Street. While he wasn’t paying attention, I struck him from behind with a cudgel and knocked him unconscious. Then I tied him up, stuffed him into a sack, and carried him back home. I killed him there and searched his body for all his valuables. Afterward, I dismembered him and put the pieces back into the sack. Today, when I was exchanging the cattle with the worker from the Zhang Alley cattle yard, I hid the body parts inside the cattle’s bellies. I intended to leave the city and dispose of the remains.”
Yan Tongshu asked again, “Were Jiang Han and Yu Weizhu also killed by you?”
Mu Yi answered, “Yes.”
Yan Tongshu said, “Since that is the case, tell us from the beginning how you committed the crimes.”
Mu Yi confessed readily enough, but when asked to describe how he had committed the crimes, he fell silent. No matter how they questioned him, he only remained quiet.
Yan Tongshu narrowed her eyes. “What are you avoiding?”
Mu Yi fell silent once more.
Feng Jien said, “Mu Yi, even if you refuse to describe the process, Lord Yan personally caught you red-handed. You cannot escape the death penalty.”
Mu Yi remained silent.
He was determined to die and had no desire to live.
Yan Tongshu flipped through the case files, her eyes settling on the string of tiger-bone beads.
The cattle yard had no suspect who matched the worker on duty. Someone had lied.
But why was there no corresponding suspect in Jiang Han’s case?
Yan Tongshu slowly said, “This die isn’t made of tiger bone. You lied to Jiang Han.”
“N-no.” Mu Yi suddenly lifted his head, his lips tinged blue.
Yan Tongshu sized him up. Mu Yi was a hunter, and he certainly had a fine physique. Even beneath his clothes, the full contours of his broad chest were clearly visible.
In Jiang Han’s painting, Mu Yi was tall and slender.
But the real Mu Yi was only about five foot seven, perhaps even shorter.
Jiang Han had painted an idealized version of him—a more perfect Mu Yi, shaped by his own imagination.
Yan Tongshu’s voice was firm. “You are.”
She stroked the die, each word as sharp as a blade. “You didn’t just lie to Jiang Han about this one thing. You lied to him about many things. Your relationship was built on deception. That’s why you’re willing to admit to murder and even die for it, but you refuse to tear away the false image you’ve created and expose your own filthy, despicable nature!”
Mu Yi shook his head frantically. “No, that’s not true.”
“It is!” Every word Yan Tongshu spoke was like a sharp knife, flaying Mu Yi alive and forcing him toward the edge of despair.
Her voice was cold and heavy. “Just now, you were willing to admit to killing someone, but you refused to admit that you raped and murdered them. Otherwise, why would you risk knocking the person unconscious and taking them home before strangling them? Why not simply beat them to death on the spot and then bring the body home? You deceived your lover, betrayed him, and then, in your shame and fury, killed to silence him…”
“No! I didn’t!” Mu Yi suddenly raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot as he shouted hoarsely, “It was Jiang Han who lied to me!”
To force Mu Yi to speak, Yan Tongshu had deliberately placed all the blame on him. His sense of injustice and fury boiled like oil over a raging fire, scorching every inch of his flesh. He wanted to explain. He wanted to scream. He wanted to prove that he wasn’t a despicable villain.
He had killed those people because they were all cold-hearted, faithless wretches.
Hypocrites. Liars.
He wasn’t like them!
He had never lied!
Mu Yi completely broke down and finally confessed everything through his sobs.
His relationship with Jiang Han had begun by accident.
Mu Yi had been only seventeen at the time.
Jiang Han was twenty.
One day, Mu Yi had been hired to deliver a deer to a tavern. Jiang Han spotted him. Mu Yi was dull and inarticulate, and had never been popular. Even his own parents favored his second older brother, who was more glib and sociable.
Mu Yi had no idea what Jiang Han had seen in him.
In any case, that day Jiang Han walked past him with a wine cup in hand and pretended to trip, spilling the entire cup over Mu Yi’s chest.
It was summer, and Mu Yi hated the heat. He was wearing very little, his clothes covering only his chest and back.
Jiang Han’s acting was terrible. Mu Yi could tell he had done it on purpose. But Jiang Han was dressed in finery and was clearly the young master of a wealthy family.
Mu Yi was a poor country boy. He didn’t dare provoke such a person, nor could he afford to, so he said nothing.
Using the excuse of wiping the wine away, Jiang Han ran his hand recklessly over Mu Yi’s chest. Mu Yi found it deeply unpleasant and shoved him away.
Jiang Han wasn’t angry. Instead, he followed Mu Yi with a grin all the way outside the tavern, then pulled out two taels of silver and insisted on compensating him.
Two taels was far too much. Mu Yi didn’t dare accept it, so Jiang Han said, “Brother, I overheard what you were saying to the tavern keeper just now. You’re a hunter?”
Mu Yi nodded.
Jiang Han smiled. “How about this? I’ve loved hunting since I was a child, but my parents have always kept a close watch on me and won’t let me go near anything dangerous. If you think this money is too much, then teach me how to hunt instead. Would you?”
Mu Yi asked, “Why me?”
“I’m not from Bianjing. I only came here to do business, and I don’t know many people here—let alone any hunters.” Jiang Han lowered his gaze, peering through Mu Yi’s collar at the muscles that fascinated him. “Oh, come on, brother. My parents really do keep a very close eye on me. This is the only time I get to slack off while I’m away on business. Please help me.”
Jiang Han looked at Mu Yi imploringly.
Mu Yi had always believed that he was an unlikeable person. No one around him liked him.
Even when people from the village asked him to help with hunting, he would receive the smallest share despite doing just as much work as everyone else—and what he got was always scraps and offcuts.
This was the first time anyone had needed him. The first time anyone had asked him for help.
Mu Yi’s heart softened, and he agreed without thinking.
They arranged a time to meet.
After going hunting together several times, they gradually became familiar with each other.
However, Jiang Han always avoided being seen with him. Whenever other people appeared, he would pretend not to know Mu Yi.
Mu Yi didn’t understand why. Jiang Han merely said that he was afraid word would get out and his family would learn that he was secretly hunting in Bianjing. If they found out, they would forbid him from coming back.
Mu Yi believed him without question.
As time passed and they grew closer, Jiang Han often brought Mu Yi food and drink. The two of them got along like friends.
Mu Yi would occasionally think that Jiang Han was exactly what one would expect from a young master raised in a wealthy family. His manners, education, and bearing were all different from those of poor people like them.
The wealthy were more approachable, more refined, more knowledgeable, more intelligent, and more capable.
Mu Yi was deeply insecure, and as a result, he admired Jiang Han all the more.
Even so, Mu Yi sometimes felt uncomfortable around him.
For instance, Jiang Han would frequently touch him inappropriately. After drinking, he would also use his hand to relieve Mu Yi’s physical needs.
Of course, whenever Mu Yi saw Jiang Han suffering, he would do the same for him.
One time, after they got drunk, Mu Yi hazily ended up sleeping with Jiang Han.
Afterward, Mu Yi thought it was far too absurd and began avoiding him.
Jiang Han sought him out every few days, insisting that there was nothing unusual about what they did between brothers.
Mu Yi had no friends, and his family disliked him as well. He was too lonely, so he tacitly allowed Jiang Han to continue drawing close.
Once led to a second time, and a third… then countless more.
Mu Yi gradually discovered the pleasure in it and began to lose himself.
The first major turning point in their relationship came when Mu Yi turned eighteen.
Eighteen was a significant age for a man.
At last, Mu Yi’s parents remembered that their eldest son was still a bachelor, and decided to find him a wife.
Normally, no matchmaker would find a woman willing to marry into such a poor family. But by sheer coincidence, there was a widow whose husband had recently died. She had a son, and her late husband had been a man who drank, gambled, visited brothels—in short, he had done everything a man could do wrong.
All she wanted now was an honest, dependable man.
Whether he had money or could earn much money didn’t matter. She knew how to weave and grow flowers, and could support herself. All she wanted was someone upright, with no bad habits.
Mu Yi happened to fit the requirements perfectly.
The widow was also quite beautiful, so Mu Yi’s parents were extremely pleased.
Mu Yi himself was delighted as well.
The two families were in the process of arranging the marriage when Jiang Han and Mu Yi began quarreling. Jiang Han insisted that Mu Yi break off the engagement, threatening to sever all ties with him otherwise.
Mu Yi refused. This might be his only chance in life to marry.
When Jiang Han saw how determined he was, he immediately vanished from Mu Yi’s world.
Mu Yi was devastated.
Until then, Jiang Han had paid for Mu Yi’s food, clothing, and lodging. Without him, Mu Yi returned to the impoverished life he had lived before. Yet even so, he couldn’t bear to give up such a good opportunity to marry.
Jiang Han left Mu Yi hanging for a long time. When he saw that Mu Yi still hadn’t come begging for forgiveness, he flew into a rage. He went straight to the widow and confronted her in private.
The widow was no fool. She wanted to find someone honest and dependable, not someone who merely looked honest and dependable, so she decisively called off the engagement.
The widow did not want to invite trouble, so she only told people that the two of them had not gotten along and said nothing else.
But Jiang Han sought out Mu Yi himself and proudly told him that he had been the one to ruin the engagement.
In a fit of rage, Mu Yi hit Jiang Han.
Mu Yi had lost a perfectly good marriage prospect, and his parents disliked him even more. They cursed him every day, calling him useless and good for nothing. He began thinking again of Jiang Han’s kindness, and so he went to look for him.
To make peace, he even brought a bracelet as a gift. He had bought it himself.
Jiang Han was delighted when he received it. He asked excitedly whether Mu Yi had made it with his own hands, and whether he had made it from prey he had hunted.
Wanting to reconcile, Mu Yi hesitated, then nodded.
Jiang Han asked what kind of animal it had come from.
Mu Yi had intended to say fox. He had barely gotten out the first syllable when Jiang Han excitedly cut in, “A tiger? A tiger? Mu Yi, you’re incredible!”
He threw his arms around Mu Yi and kissed him wildly, leaving Mu Yi unable to explain himself.
And just like that, the two of them made up.
Another two years passed.
By then, Jiang Han was twenty-three.
He had had enough of playing around and was ready to marry.
He had refused to marry all these years because he was raising Mu Yi in Bianjing, while refusing to keep concubines or bedchamber companions back home. He worked hard to maintain the image of a refined gentleman in Yunzhou, all so he could marry into a better family.
He was waiting for an opportunity to leap from obscurity into the ranks of the privileged.
At last, that opportunity arrived.
The Li family’s eldest daughter—the Yunzhou magistrate’s niece—had originally been engaged. For some unknown reason, however, the marriage had been delayed until she was eighteen, an advanced age for an unmarried woman. Just when she was finally about to marry, her betrothed drowned while out boating on the river.
Her age put her in an awkward position. If she looked for someone older, she could no longer find a suitable match—except Jiang Han.
If she looked for someone younger, the other family would consider her too old.
So Jiang Han took the initiative and approached a matchmaker to propose marriage to the Li family. Sure enough, they were willing.
Since that was the case, Jiang Han naturally had to sever things with Mu Yi to prevent any accidents.
After all, Mu Yi was merely a diversion for his spare time. He was not important.
But before ending things, Jiang Han intended to enjoy himself thoroughly one last time.
Thus, while Mu Yi was out hunting, Jiang Han spent three days and three nights having sex with him in the house halfway up the mountain where Mu Yi rested temporarily. Then he pulled up his trousers and immediately announced that they were breaking up.
The expression on Jiang Han’s face as he spoke was one Mu Yi had never seen before: cold and indifferent.
He said bluntly, “We’ve been playing around for so long. It’s about time we got tired of each other. Let’s end it. You can find a woman and get married, and I’ll go back to Yunzhou to look for a match.”
Jiang Han was afraid Mu Yi would sabotage his marriage the way he had once sabotaged Mu Yi’s, so he did not tell him directly that he had already found a definite marriage prospect.
Mu Yi felt as if he had been struck by lightning. “What did you say?”
Jiang Han cast a cold glance at Mu Yi, who was sitting on the bed. “Can’t you understand? I said I’m tired of you. Besides…”
His gaze swept over Mu Yi from head to toe.
“What are you, anyway?”
Mu Yi stared at him, bewildered.
Jiang Han let out a cold laugh. “Did you think I didn’t know? You’re nothing but a good-for-nothing. The tiger, the deer, the wild geese—did you really hunt those yourself? I was merely humoring you, pretending not to know.”
Mu Yi stared at him in shock. “You lied to me?”
“Lied to you?” Jiang Han reached out and gripped Mu Yi’s chin. “Are you even worth lying to? It was just a game. I’ve met plenty of poor men like you. Insecure and stupid, shortsighted and lowly. Give you a little favor, and you rush to become someone’s ox or horse. Mu Yi, you’ve gotten plenty out of me. Don’t put on that look of a victim.”
“You’re talking nonsense! I really love you!” Mu Yi broke down.
He had never imagined that what he thought was romance and happiness had merely been a rich young master’s game.
“And then?” Jiang Han looked at him with disgust. “You didn’t actually think I could marry you, did you? Never mind that you’re a man. Even if you were a woman, just look at yourself. You look poor and shabby, yet you’re dreaming of marrying above your station.”
“Have you truly never liked me?” Mu Yi asked in anguish.
“Liked you?” Jiang Han gave a cruel smile. “I liked your body. Your muscles are genuinely impressive. Of course, if you were a little taller, had longer legs, and looked a little better, I would have liked you more.”
When he finished speaking, Jiang Han turned and left.
Mu Yi clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. His voice emerged bit by bit from between his teeth.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll ruin your marriage?”
Just as he had once ruined Mu Yi’s marriage.
Jiang Han turned back and walked over to Mu Yi. Then he raised his hand and slapped him.
“Try it.”
He threatened him, “Mu Yi, recognize your place.”
Then he smiled faintly. “It won’t matter much if I lose one marriage prospect. But do you dare risk your life? Mu Yi, I can afford to play this game. Can you?”
With that, Jiang Han strode away.
Mu Yi’s eyes turned bloodshot as he watched Jiang Han’s figure gradually disappear, taking everything that belonged to him with him.
The only chance Mu Yi had ever had to marry in this life had been ruined by Jiang Han.
And now Jiang Han wanted to abandon him and marry someone else.
Was that fair?
Why should it be this way?
Mu Yi rushed after Jiang Han, determined to bring him back. Jiang Han naturally refused. In desperation, Mu Yi grabbed a stone and struck Jiang Han unconscious.
The house halfway up the mountain belonged to Mu Yi. It stood in a sparsely populated area, which was why they had chosen to meet there in secret.
Now that he had knocked Jiang Han out, Mu Yi knew no one would find out.
He tied Jiang Han up and had sex with him, just as he had every time before—only now he did it frantically and without restraint.
Jiang Han was jolted awake.
He immediately began cursing.
Mu Yi ordered him to beg for mercy, but Jiang Han refused.
In a fit of fury, Mu Yi wrapped his hand around Jiang Han’s throat and threatened him. Jiang Han became frightened. He began to cry and plead, but by then Mu Yi had lost control and could not stop.
By the time Mu Yi regained his senses, Jiang Han was dead.
Mu Yi panicked.
He stared at his own hands. How had he ended up killing someone?
He had no idea what to do.
He sat on the ground for a long time. At last, he remembered that he was supposed to leave the city the next day.
That was right. He could not leave Jiang Han’s corpse here.
Otherwise, if people searched the mountain, they would discover that he was the murderer.
He stripped Jiang Han of all his valuables, banknotes, and silver, placing them to one side. Then he took a cleaver and dismembered Jiang Han.
He had never dismembered a corpse before, and it was exhausting work. His hacking was crude and chaotic.
At last, he wrapped Jiang Han’s naked body in his clothes and stuffed the remains into a burlap sack.
Mu Yi was a hunter and often used burlap sacks to carry game. When people saw him carrying such a heavy sack, no one suspected a thing. Instead, they praised him, saying that he had come a long way and was now capable of bringing down such enormous prey on his own.
When the appointed time came to meet the people from the cattle office, he left the sack in an alley. Once he had obtained a donkey cart, he loaded the sack onto it, drove to an uninhabited place, and stuffed the pieces inside the sack into a cow’s belly.
It was his first time killing someone, his first time dismembering a corpse, and his first time passing through a city gate inspection. He was terrified and anxious.
Fortunately, Heaven knew he was a good man, and everything went smoothly. He left the city without incident and, under cover of night, dumped the pieces in the wilderness where no one was around.
After that, Mu Yi kept his nose clean. He wanted to continue being an honest man.
But perhaps because he had gained experience dismembering corpses, whenever he went to the cattle office to deliver wild chickens and rabbits, he could not help mingling with the crowd to watch how the others slaughtered cattle and broke down their bones.
Just when Mu Yi thought everything was finally behind him, he encountered a second victim.
