SES Chapter 117 Part 2

“Words can kill.”

She thought he was joking. “Words can kill?”

“Do you know who Yuan Chonghuan was?”

Mu Dai nodded faintly. She remembered—he was a Ming dynasty general who fought the Manchus, until they tricked the emperor into killing him.

“Back then,” Luo Ren explained, “Yuan Chonghuan was guarding Liaodong, a huge obstacle to the Manchus’ plans. Huang Taiji knew the Chongzhen Emperor was suspicious by nature, so he set a trap.

“He had two of the emperor’s attendants captured and tortured. They refused to confess. One night, though, the men woke up and overheard the guards whispering.

“The guards said, since Yuan Chonghuan had defected, conquering the capital would be easy. The other guard hushed him quickly—‘Don’t let anyone hear such secrets.’

“Those two men were outraged. Yuan Chonghuan, a traitor? They wished they could tell the emperor.”

He glanced at Mu Dai. “Sure enough, the next day, the two of them found a chance to escape.”

Mu Dai guessed, “On purpose, right? They let them go.”

Luo Ren nodded. “After that, rumors spread like wildfire that Yuan Chonghuan had betrayed the empire. The Chongzhen Emperor, furious, threw him in prison. The next year, he was executed by slow slicing—three thousand cuts. It’s said nearly ten thousand people scrambled for his flesh, some even eating it raw.”

Mu Dai sighed.

“If that story’s true,” Luo Ren said, “what really killed Yuan Chonghuan? Was it the executioner’s knife? Or those few whispered words overheard in the dark?”

Mu Dai’s eyes turned. “Neither. It was Huang Taiji’s intent. He had already decided Yuan Chonghuan must die.”

Luo Ren thought that wasn’t wrong either.

One thought. A few words. Three thousand cuts.

He pulled out his phone and showed her a picture. Caught off guard, Mu Dai gave a soft gasp.

It looked like the bloody face of a dead man.

“This was right after Ma Chao’s accident,” Luo Ren said. “I took the photo myself. Look closely at his face. Yi Wansan was injured earlier—he had blood on his hand. He pressed down on Ma Chao’s face, so it looks like a handprint.”

Mu Dai exhaled deeply and zoomed in.

It really was a handprint, but faint. Oddly, in the middle of the print was a circle—like a blister, or maybe a burn.

Mu Dai picked up a pebble and drew the shape on the ground.

It looked like the character ‘日’ with the top stroke cut off.

That shape…

Mu Dai’s mind stirred. “A pictograph?”

It looked like a tongue. Could it be…

Luo Ren nodded. “It’s the pictographic character for mouth.”

From the front of the traffic bureau came a burst of noise—people were coming out. Luo Ren tugged Mu Dai, and she quickly stood, pulling her mask back on.

When they reached the mouth of the alley, they saw Cao Yanhua there too, craning his neck over the railing to watch.

At the building’s entrance stood quite a few people—Yi Wansan, Yan Hongsha, several other witnesses, and police officers in different uniforms.

Yan Hongsha was blocking the other witnesses, refusing to let them leave.

Luo Ren and Mu Dai exchanged a glance, then stepped forward a little closer.

They heard Yan Hongsha snap, “What, cat got your tongues? Weren’t you all just saying you saw it? How he pushed, how he fell? Why so quiet now, huh? Now that you’ve seen the video, why aren’t you talking?”

The group looked at each other, two of them even coughing awkwardly.

A traffic officer stepped in to mediate. “It’s been cleared up, so let it go. Miss, have a little mercy, eh?”

But Yan Hongsha wasn’t having it. Before the surveillance footage came out, it had been one against four, and she’d taken their sneers and jeers until she was burning up inside. Now that the tables had turned, this was her chance to pay them back.

“This isn’t about mercy. These people tried to frame him—lying through their teeth! That deserves punishment, harsh punishment!”

She turned to one of the local officers helping with the case. “Openly framing someone like this, telling bald-faced lies—shouldn’t that be worth at least ten days in detention? If you just let them walk, aren’t you putting public safety at risk?”

The officer, stung by her words, turned his anger on the witnesses instead. “If you didn’t see anything, don’t make things up! This is a country of law—every word you say has consequences!”

The witnesses bristled. One of them raised his voice. “We’ve done our part, coming in to cooperate. Things happened fast—we might’ve been mistaken. But framing someone on purpose? What would we get out of that? Even the guy involved isn’t complaining. You, just some passerby, why are you making all this noise?”

With that, he shoved Yan Hongsha aside and stalked off.

Yi Wansan tried to calm her. “Let it go. The problem’s solved, and now’s not the time to argue. Besides, fighting’s exhausting.”

To be lectured to “let it go” by the person at the center of it all—Yan Hongsha nearly passed out from anger. “Fine, just wait. Next time, if you land yourself in prison for life, don’t expect me to lift a finger.”

She spun on her heel and stormed off.

Yi Wansan watched her disappear into the distance before staggering toward the entrance. There, Cao Yanhua leaned idly against the railing, pretending to glance this way and that with an almost flirtatious air.

Yi Wansan came up beside him. “Brother Cao, how’d it go?”

Cao Yanhua slowly pulled back his coat to show him.

Yi Wansan peeked inside—several wallets and different sets of keys hung from the lining.

Cao Yanhua smirked. “What else? One look from you, Brother Sansan, and I knew exactly what to do.”

Not far away, Luo Ren looked at Mu Dai. “As someone’s master, shouldn’t you maybe keep your apprentice in check?”

Mu Dai replied, “I didn’t see anything.”