Qin Jiuye’s questioning echoed through the dungeon, but Su Lin slumped back onto the ground, refusing to speak another word.
Observing the anxious look on the woman’s face, Qiu Ling signaled for her to remain calm. He rose slowly, stepped forward, and addressed Su Lin.
"The ships carrying your Pila incense have all been seized. Pila is a prohibited substance. Once discovered, the penalty ranges from the confiscation of all property to the execution of the entire family or forced labor. Your patron in the capital will soon learn of this and suspect you have been exposed. If he hears you have been held in the prefectural dungeon for days, will he not wonder if you have already betrayed him? Even if you manage to walk out of here, you would likely meet a violent end in the streets within half a day. Your kin would not escape either; their best hope would be exile to the frigid north for hard labor, and who knows how many years they would survive there."
Pila was a type of incense produced in the Southern Realms. It was yin and cold in nature; if burned for long periods, it would seep into the bones, causing a feverish addiction. It had once been an essential luxury for nobles enjoying the winter snow, with a single ounce worth ten thousand pieces of gold. However, after it caused several deaths, it was gradually banned. In recent years, aside from occasional circulation on the black market, no medicinal merchant dared to trade it.
Qin Jiuye sighed inwardly. Su Lin was truly audacious. She suspected that half the mountain of gold the Su family sat upon came from this very trade.
Having his secrets exposed and his retreat cut off, Su Lin’s curled form on the floor trembled. He let out a suppressed roar of fury, then twisted his lips into a mirthless, mocking smile.
"What does confiscating property matter? What does execution or labor matter? To the victor go the spoils, and the loser is but a rebel. A swift death or enduring hard labor is still better than being hacked into pieces and thrown into the river to feed the fish."
These words seemed to follow Qiu Ling’s mention of the Prince Xiaoning’s manor, yet they contained specific details—like the phrase "feed the fish"—that inexplicably reminded Qin Jiuye of Kang Renshou’s corpse found by the Ershui riverbank. Su Lin spoke as if he had witnessed such methods with his own eyes. Prince Xiaoning’s manor should have had no reason to intimidate a mere errand runner like Su Lin previously, and even if they did resort to threats, they would likely not use such savage, primitive means.
Qin Jiuye keenly sensed the hidden meaning in his words. With seven parts certainty and three parts provocation, she said, "The incense on your ships was indeed intended for Prince Xiaoning, but he was not the one who gave you that secret formula. The person you truly fear is someone else."
At her words, Su Lin’s face twitched again. After a long silence, he looked up, his gaze dark and somber.
"If I tell you everything truthfully, what benefit do I gain?"
Qiu Ling had clearly come prepared. He spoke in a deep voice. "I can protect your life from Prince Xiaoning’s reach, and I will do my best to ensure your family is not implicated. As for the others... that depends on what you have to say."
However, Su Lin did not appreciate the gesture, letting out a soft sneer.
"The Duhu has investigated for so long; you should understand that the transport of incense has always been a clandestine affair. From start to finish, only the Su family handled it. The Prince’s manor has kept its hands perfectly clean. Even if you ground my bones to powder and scattered the ashes, it wouldn't touch him in the slightest. My family knows nothing of this, so why would he go out of his way to hunt them down? You need only enforce the law and imprison me to do him a convenient favor."
The despicable, shameless side of a merchant was fully revealed in Su Lin. Even at this stage, he was still thinking of how to bargain.
Qiu Ling fell silent for a moment, but Qin Jiuye suddenly spoke.
"Do you not want to cure your mother?"
Su Lin froze, then let out a series of harsh, cackling laughs, his voice dripping with disdain and mockery.
"You? You dare to say such a thing? Why should I believe you?! Why!"
Qin Jiuye remained calm, her words piercing through to the truth. "You were willing to trust a stranger you had never met. Why can you not trust me?"
Su Lin’s eyes bulged, the whites bloodshot and terrifying within his usually refined and rational face. He stared at Qin Jiuye without blinking, as if trying to bore holes through her.
Finally, he lowered his head, his voice becoming hollow and numb.
"What do you want to know?"
Qiu Ling and Qin Jiuye exchanged a look. Qiu Ling asked sternly, "Where exactly did the secret formula you gave He Yuanzhou come from?"
Su Lin licked his cracked lips, his voice dropping instinctively.
"That is not something that can be obtained with mere silver. It is a truly secret, uncirculated recipe. When he first approached me, he seemed to already know about my smuggling of incense for Prince Xiaoning’s manor. He said he understood my predicament and was willing to gift me a medicinal formula to save my mother. In exchange, I was to do him a small favor in the future."
Qiu Ling frowned slightly upon hearing this. "Do not paint yourself as so innocent. You are a shrewd man; how could you easily accept a price offered by an outsider of unknown background?"
Su Lin arched an eyebrow emotionlessly. Despite being imprisoned, he seemed to take some satisfaction in the word "shrewd."
"I pressed him for details. He only said that when the time came, he would need to borrow my ships to transport some cinnabar and medicinal ingredients—there was no rush. Cinnabar is a restricted item, but it is not something that takes lives. Having worked for Prince Xiaoning for years, I know how to protect myself. My mother was truly gravely ill at the time, and I felt the deal was worth the risk, so I agreed. At first, I didn't hold much hope for the formula, but to my surprise, my mother actually began to recover. Only then did I realize how powerful that thing was. But who could have guessed things would turn out like this!"
At this point, Su Lin’s pupils trembled as if he were remembering something, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Seeing his state, Qin Jiuye understood a few things. She spoke coldly, "It seems you have seen the way your mother looks when her illness flares up. Since the formula has already gone wrong, why do you still cling to it so blindly?"
"Because my mother *was* better for a time. And after that man gave me the formula, he told me that if any strange symptoms appeared, he would send someone to help with the treatment. Naturally, I felt things were still under control. Before that day of the consultation, although I had dealings with Huichun Hall, I was not well-acquainted with Kang Renshou. Even if someone investigated later, the distance between us was just enough to avoid suspicion. I thought everything could be resolved smoothly. I never imagined..."
"You used Su Muhe as a cover, but in reality, you summoned people to the manor to treat He Yuanzhou. Who else in the manor knew of this?"
"This matter was always handled by Xinyu, the head maid of the inner courtyard. She has always been efficient and never asks unnecessary questions. I even had her quietly investigate Kang Renshou’s background, and she said she found nothing unusual..." Su Lin stopped mid-sentence, a sudden realization dawning on him. His voice turned shrill. "It was her! That wench was in league with him! They... they conspired to deceive me!"
The Great Master of the Su family, who prided himself on being shrewd and never making a losing trade, finally understood one thing today: he had been played. And the one who played him was a "wench" by his own definition. How could that not be ironic?
He thought he stood on high, looking down on everything, yet the small advantages he gained through all his schemes were merely bait placed at his lips by others long ago. Now that he was of no more use, no matter how he struggled in this sunless cage, no one would spare him a second glance. And he had once just as coldly trampled upon those he called ants.
Qiu Ling seemed entirely oblivious to the expression on the man’s face as he continued his cold interrogation.
"When did all of this happen? What did the man who gave you the formula look like? Where did the exchange take place?"
Torn apart from the inside out, Su Lin was exhausted. He didn't even have the strength to maintain his anger or resentment. When he spoke again, his voice seemed to emerge purely by instinct.
"The first time he sought me out was around the time of the Awakening of Insects. He officially gave me the medicine about a month ago. I only know the person was a man; I know nothing else."
The Awakening of Insects... roughly three months ago. Was that not around the time of the Qingping Path massacre? Could this all be a coincidence?
Qin Jiuye’s heart beat a little faster. Qiu Ling’s voice grew stern. "Since he handed you something, how could you only know one part and not the other?"
"He only ever contacted me through letters. He was allowed to find me, but I was not allowed to find him. The messengers were all beggars from the city, slippery as loaches; nothing could be traced. On the night I collected the formula, he told me to wait alone at the entrance of the back alley. Someone blindfolded me before letting me into a carriage. The carriage drove through the city for a long time—I don't know if it went in circles. Finally, it seemed we were in a courtyard where the item was given to me, and then I was returned to my manor in the same manner. I wasn't entirely without defenses; I had sent men to follow. But... but when I returned home, I found that those guards had their throats slit before they even left the alley. Their heads were thrown directly in front of my door. The blood soaked into the steps, and it couldn't be washed clean for half a month..."
As Su Lin reached this point, the flesh on his face shook uncontrollably.
He dealt in medicinal ingredients and had seen his share of dirty, despicable tactics in the business world over the years. But in the end, he was just a merchant who wanted to make money. He came from a different world than those savages who dealt in slaughter and blood day and night.
Qin Jiuye looked at the withered, utterly defeated middle-aged man before her. Thinking back to how this man was the master of the house who had made her leave in disgrace just a few days ago, she couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy.
Su Lin believed in supreme power and attributed all order to the status of one's birth. Yet the fortress he had built with gold was so fragile before his opponent. It was a near-barbaric threat and crushing force; his opponent followed a set of rules he was unfamiliar with.
On the other side, the young Duhu fell into a brief contemplation, seemingly speculating whether this mastermind came from the imperial court or the underworld. Seeing this, Qin Jiuye took over the questioning.
"Regarding that courtyard, do you have any memories of it?"
Su Lin was silent for a moment, but he couldn't seem to recall much more. His eyes remained vacant.
"I don't have much of an impression. I only remember the threshold of the courtyard seemed very high; I tripped and nearly fell when I walked in. It seemed to have just rained that day, and there was something on the ground that felt hard underfoot and sticky. The surroundings were very damp, and there was a strange smell in the dampness..."
A high threshold, a sticky floor, and a strange smell. If one wanted to find that courtyard among the tens of thousands of houses in Jiugao City based on only these three points, it would take considerable effort. Moreover, so much time had passed; the person surely wouldn't have stayed and would have already cleared away any possible traces.
But why go to the trouble of picking someone up and arranging the exchange outside? Since they had sent letters before, wouldn't it have been simpler to just have someone deliver the item to the manor? Or had they sensed something and didn't want to draw attention?
The doubts in Qin Jiuye’s heart only increased. She felt Su Lin was not lying, but this was likely all the information he could provide for now.
Previously, she had spent an entire night without sleep, reading through the medicinal formulas and consultation records collected from the Su Manor from beginning to end. There were many strange and unusual folk remedies, but none were unheard of; clearly, none were the secret formula Su Lin mentioned.
Something with such a mysterious origin likely wouldn't have appeared in the sight of anyone else in the Su Manor. Aside from the escaped "Xinyu," the only person in the Su Manor who truly knew the truth was probably Su Lin himself.
"And the formula? Did you hide it separately? Where is it now?"
Su Lin’s face showed a fractured set of emotions: on one hand, despair over his current situation; on the other, an obsession with a secret he refused to reveal even in death.
Qin Jiuye saw it all and felt the expression on his face was inexplicably strange.
For someone like Su Lin, who was accustomed to being in a superior position, he was willing to talk about how he was deceived and threatened. Why did he want to hide the very thing that had harmed his mother?
But soon, she understood what lay behind that strange expression.
Since ancient times, countless emperors had sought the elixir of immortality, and countless cultivators had yearned to ascend to godhood. Humans always harbor fear and longing for the unknown, sacrificing everything yet still feeling it is not enough. They never believe the thing they trust in is flawed; they only blame themselves for not yet finding the ultimate solution.
Qin Jiuye took a deep breath and spoke slowly.
"As long as one lives in this world, one can escape debts of sin and grievances of love and hate, but the cycle of birth, aging, illness, and death is a rule that cannot be fled. Humans are not plants; we do not have a cycle of flourishing and withering. Once aged, it is hard to return to youth; once dead, the soul dissipates. There is no secret formula that can bring the dead back to life or permanently banish illness and old age. Otherwise, those thousand shrines would have long fallen into ruin, and why would the ten thousand lanterns of Buddha still burn bright to this day?"
Her words were sharp, but Su Lin’s agitation vanished. He only gave her a deep look before averting his gaze, muttering to himself, clearly still trapped in a reality he firmly believed in.
"I am also someone who deals with medicinal ingredients. What good things have I not seen? But that formula is absolutely different from anything before. If you saw it with your own eyes, you would be just as shocked and awed as I was. It turns out there truly are miracles in this world. There is a reason the sages of old were captivated by it..."
She had certainly never seen a miracle, but she had seen He Yuanzhou in that cage.
Qin Jiuye couldn't help but sneer. "Since it is such a wonderful thing, why did you only use it on your mother? Why did you not try it yourself?"
"Because there was only one portion of the formula. Once used, it was gone." Su Lin gave a strange smile as he spoke, then continued, "At this point, you won't fully believe anything I say. There is a hidden compartment in the wall in the northwest corner of my room. You can go and see for yourselves."
What did he mean by there being only one portion? Was it that some medicinal primer or ingredient was hard to find and impossible to gather again?
A flash of doubt crossed Qin Jiuye’s mind. Beside her, Qiu Ling signaled Lu Zican to quickly go to Su Lin’s room to confirm. She followed as they turned to leave.
Just before she left, Su Lin spoke suddenly, a trace of lingering hope in his hollow voice.
"My mother... is there still a chance she will get better?"
Qin Jiuye paused, then turned to look at the middle-aged man kneeling in the cell.
He had once looked upon her as an ant, a lamb he could use to cover his crimes. Now, in his desperation, he placed his hopes on her, wishing her medical skills could turn back the heavens and save his mother.
All of this felt absurd, and perhaps absurdity was the very essence of human nature.
In the end, Qin Jiuye did not answer Su Lin’s question, because she knew there was no answer at the moment.
In her years of practicing medicine, she had learned one truth: sometimes, saving a patient’s life and restoring a patient to their former self were two entirely different things.
She could help a swordsman with severed tendons mend his bones, but he might still be left with an inflexible pinky finger. She could prescribe medicine for Dou Wuniang to stop her coughing and ease her breathing, but she could not entirely eradicate the deep-seated illness. She could try various ways to prolong He Yuanzhou’s life, but what then? He Yuanzhou’s body was still in the grip of that unknown, malignant disease. It had turned a dying elder into a soulless monster, no longer able to bid farewell to this world as a normal person.
Living was indeed the most important thing in this human world. But survival without soul or self was no different from being the walking dead. Was such an existence still worth the sacrifice of everything, even flesh and blood, to sustain?
Qin Jiuye’s thoughts churned, and her steps became sluggish. She took half a quarter of an hour to walk a distance of only a few dozen paces.
Lu Zican was waiting for her at the stone steps. Seeing her pale face, he asked in a low voice, "Is Miss Qin alright? Your face looks a bit..."
"I'm fine, just a hangover." She shook her head and immediately brought the topic back to the case. "I overlooked the matter of the formula before. Now it seems the so-called secret formula might not truly be just a medicinal recipe, but something else. Once I go with you to Su Lin’s room to see it, I should have some clues. He Yuanzhou must be watched closely; she is the key to uncovering all of this. Later, I will try a set of formulas first, though I will need to observe and record her condition frequently..."
She was halfway through her sentence when she felt something was off. Looking up, she saw Lu Zican watching her with a strange expression.
Qin Jiuye touched her face. "Is my complexion really that bad?"
Lu Zican scratched his head and whispered, "No. It's just that the way you were just now... you looked exactly like our Duhu. Not only that, when you stand with the Duhu to interrogate suspects, there's an indescribable rapport between you."
Was that so? Were they very alike? Perhaps people who were obsessed with their work all looked more or less the same.
Qin Jiuye didn't want him to misunderstand anything, so she cleared her throat and said seriously, "The matter of the interrogation must be decided by your Duhu. How could I overstep my bounds? Speaking of which, aren't these tasks supposed to be yours? Why have I ended up doing them for you? How should the salary be calculated when the time comes..."
Seeing the woman suddenly start haggling over money, Lu Zican’s head began to throb. He was just worrying about how to change the subject when he heard hurried footsteps outside the dungeon.
Soon, a tall, thin figure rushed down the stone steps. It was Zheng Peiyu, who had eaten with them the other day.
He had clearly run all the way in, but before speaking, he glanced at the cell at the end of the dungeon. Seeing his expression, Qin Jiuye felt a sudden sense of foreboding.
Lu Zican understood immediately and quickly went to the stone room to bring out Qiu Ling, who was still conducting the interrogation. Zheng Peiyu immediately reported in a low voice.
"Reporting to the Duhu, the Old Madam Su suddenly had difficulty breathing and collapsed. After struggling and convulsing for a moment, she... she breathed her last!"
Qin Jiuye’s heart jolted. Beside her, Qiu Ling had already rushed up the steps and disappeared through the dungeon exit. Lu Zican and Zheng Peiyu hurriedly followed.
Qin Jiuye’s steps were smaller, and she fell half a pace behind. At the last moment before leaving the dim corridor, she couldn't help but look back toward Su Lin.
She knew that at such a distance, it was nearly impossible for an ordinary person to have heard their conversation.
Yet, sometimes humans have strange intuitions. Su Lin, behind that cell door, clearly hadn't heard a single word, yet he seemed to have sensed something. In an instant, the color drained from him, and he turned grey and defeated.
"What... what happened?"
Su Lin’s questions and shouts continued to echo from the depths of the darkness, but this time, he would never receive another answer.
***
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