Bloody Kyoto

Shaking off the butler and lifting the white sheet, Chen Chusheng could barely breathe after just one glance.

His eyes were bloodshot, he was making wheezing noises, and his face had turned bluish-purple.

The butler, realizing the danger, immediately beckoned to a tree. A man in black appeared and knocked Chen Chusheng unconscious.

"Take good care of the master. I'll go and fetch some imperial physicians."

Even someone as mentally strong as Chen Chusheng couldn't bear Chen Shifeng's miserable state, let alone his wife and two daughters.

If they don't want to go see him, that's fine, but if they can't be stopped, the imperial physicians will definitely have to be called in several more to be on standby.

After Chen Shifeng's body was discovered at the city gate, he became the talk of the town.

The main topic of discussion is his death.

"You know what? The moment I looked up and saw that corpse, I was so scared I peed my pants."

While the dockworkers were resting by the canal, a pale-faced man patted his chest in lingering fear and recounted the embarrassing incident that had happened to him that morning.

"You peed, so you haven't changed your pants yet today!" The person who spoke moved a little further away from him.

So does everyone else.

The man rolled his eyes. "I only wet my pants. If you saw me, you'd probably be more than just wet; you'd probably poop out of fright."

"Really?" someone asked skeptically. "Tell me, what did that corpse look like?"

The 1.8-meter-tall strong man vividly recalled the scene he had just witnessed, and instinctively hugged his knees, drawing continuous laughter from those around him.

"Hmph, let you laugh. I'll tell you right now and see if you can still laugh."

The man's fear lessened considerably after everyone laughed at him.

"That person had no flesh anywhere except for the head; it was all bones, completely cleaned out, with only the head intact."

Upon hearing what the man said, a picture immediately formed in everyone's mind, and a sudden chill ran through them.

Before everyone could calm down, the man whispered, "The scariest thing isn't the appearance of the corpse, but the smell of cooked meat and bones."

"hiss!"

Everyone gasped. What did he mean? The aroma of meat and bones?

Is it possible...

Everyone thought of one possibility: intuition is terrifying!

A man not far from them, despite being far away, heard their conversation clearly because of his internal energy.

After waiting a while longer, seeing that the group of dockworkers had stopped discussing the issue, they turned and left.

The man was none other than Wang Xiangyang, the head constable of the Jingzhao Prefecture. He quickly returned to the yamen and reported what he had heard to Zhao Rongyuan.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Rongyuan put down the official document he was reading. He already knew about Chen Shifeng's body being hung at the city gate, but he didn't know the specifics.

Hearing about the horrific state of his body now fills me with doubt.

If that person only wanted to avenge Huo Yunxia, ​​there was no need to resort to such cruel methods.

Could it be that the person was cruel?

That person could very well be 'Li San Niang'.

Based on my observations that day, 'Li San Niang' did not seem to be that kind of cruel person.

What the hell is that?

After walking around a few times with his hands behind his back, he couldn't figure out why 'Li San Niang' would do such a thing, but he did have a guess about why the corpse had left its head.

Leaving the head intact was probably to make it easier for people to identify the deceased; it was a provocation!

As for who provoked it...

It's highly likely to be Zheng Jiaojiao.

He glanced at Wang Xiangyang out of the corner of his eye and asked, "Why do you think the murderer cooked the person?"

"Eat!" Wang Xiangyang blurted out. "As for who will eat it, I don't know."

When Zhao Rongyuan heard the first word, his face turned deathly pale.

eat?

If I remember correctly, Li San Niang ran a steamed bun shop!

"Xiang, Xiangyang, go to the alley in West Street and buy a few steamed buns."

"Yes!" Wang Xiangyang clasped his hands in a fist salute and was about to leave when he heard his adults' urgent voices behind him, "Remember not to eat it."

Wang Xiangyang understood the adult's meaning in an instant, and his expression became serious.

At the Buhaochi Baozi shop, Friday was all smiles as he took money, handed out baozi, and chatted and laughed with customers from time to time.

Ever since he learned that Ah Niu wasn't there to replace him, he worked even harder.

The only thing that worried him was that he hadn't seen Aunt Li for two days.

Every morning when I came over, Aunt Li had prepared the steamed buns to sell, but she was never there.

If Ah Niu hadn't been there, he would have thought this was a haunted shop.

With only one basket of steamed buns left, the people at the back of the line got anxious and shouted, "Buy less! We're in a hurry to get to work!"

Most of the customers at the steamed bun shop are dockworkers from the canal. The shop's popularity is a result of their patronage.

Knowing how hard it is to make a living, Friday's bun shop opens relatively late every day, and most of these people come to buy buns when there are no goods to load or unload.

If we get back too late, we might miss the next boat's work.

After hesitating for a moment, he approached the nearby residents in front of him in a pleading tone, "Auntie, uncle, could you please give this basket of buns to the gentlemen behind you?"

The aunt was about to scold Zhou Wu when she heard him say in a hurry, "After this batch is sold out, I still need to steam ten more batches."

Upon hearing this, the little boy next to the aunt tugged at her sleeve, "Grandma, I want to eat freshly steamed buns."

The woman rolled her eyes at Friday, then pulled the little boy aside.

Seeing that even the most difficult person had given way, the others who weren't in a hurry to get to work also quietly moved aside.

The stevedores behind them were moved to tears and bowed to thank them.

People who were already unhappy felt embarrassed to wave their hands after seeing them like this.

"It's nothing serious, we're not in a hurry, you can buy first."

When Wang Xiangyang arrived, he saw this scene. Instead of queuing, he stood not far from the steamed bun shop.

After the stevedores finished making their purchases, he followed them and stopped a few of them outside the city.

“I will give each of you one tael of silver to sell your steamed buns to me.”

Upon hearing this, how could the group not agree? One tael of silver could buy many steamed buns.

Two of them looked at a half-eaten bun in their hands and asked sheepishly, "We've already eaten this."

"It's okay, I don't mind!"

In the end, Wang Xiangyang got a few oil paper packages and two half-eaten buns.

He brought the half-eaten bun closer and smelled it, a relieved expression appearing on his face. Thank goodness it wasn't meat.

He immediately took a bite of the half-eaten bun. He really didn't mind, because he had once fled famine. He could eat anything that others had eaten, even things that had fallen into excrement, after washing them.

When Zhao Rongyuan saw Wang Xiangyang walking into the study while eating a steamed bun, he was completely taken aback.

Didn't I tell you not to eat yet?

Wang Xiangyang handed him the last remaining steamed bun, saying, "Don't worry, sir. I can still tell the difference between human flesh and pork with my nose."

When he was fleeing famine, he was forced to eat a piece of meat from his own mother's thigh.

He remembered the taste of that meat.

It didn't taste good, but they had to swallow it anyway, because it represented their mother's love for the two brothers.

Zhao Rongyuan noticed the change in his expression and knew that he was thinking about the past.

He took the bun and started eating. After taking a bite, he couldn't help but praise, "Not bad, this tastes really good."

Wang Xiangyang nodded in agreement, "Not only does it taste good, but it's also very affordable."

If only there had been a steamed bun shop like this back then...

He thought about it and then shook his head. How could there possibly be? If there were, they would all be snatched up in no time.