"General He works diligently. Most of the time he's either in the palace or at the military camp, even taking his meals there," Qiu Hu said. "It took some doing for me to slip into the barracks."
He Lingchuan gave him a thumbs-up.
A military camp was unlike anywhere else; the odds of being exposed were exceptionally high.
"And what about that small part of the time?"
"The entire day before yesterday, he was inspecting supplies. Come evening, he suddenly left the camp without any guards, taking Housekeeper Wu's carriage to Sitong Town instead," Qiu Hu added. "The carriage was plain, dusty grey, no different from one hired at an ordinary livery stable, and bore no family crest of yours. The only ones inside were Housekeeper Wu and the driver."
"Sitong Town?" The name struck no chord in He Lingchuan's memory.
As they spoke, the food arrived.
He had ordered dishes that could be prepared quickly or had already been pre-made, so the kitchen turned them out in no time.
"Fifteen li west of the capital, a town of under two thousand souls, rich in produce." The duck baked with old ginger and sesame oil smelled intoxicating, making Qiu Hu instinctively swallow his saliva. "Your family owns a large agricultural estate in Sitong Town. By evening, there were only a dozen or so people around."
Most of the long-term and short-term laborers hired by the estate were locals from town who went home for dinner after work, leaving only a few watchmen and groundskeepers on site.
"My father squeezed time out of his packed schedule to visit a country estate?" He Lingchuan scratched his head and sucked a stir-fried river snail out of its shell.
When He Chunhua had returned home last night, he had told Madam Ying that he had been stuck in the barracks these past few days without a single moment to spare.
Lying even to his own wife.
As the head of the household and commander-in-chief of the three armies, it made complete sense for He Chunhua to be busy. But why go out of his way to make a trip to a rural manor at a time like this?
"I sneaked inside to watch. General He sat in the estate's main hall while Housekeeper Wu headed straight for the rear and entered the kitchen. It was quite a massive kitchen, meant to cook large batches of meals for over a hundred people." Qiu Hu paused. "Housekeeper Wu stepped out, gave a few instructions, and someone led an ox, a sheep, and a pig into the kitchen."
He Lingchuan could not help but interrupt, "Alive?"
"All alive, walking on their own," Qiu Hu recalled. "Housekeeper Wu then dismissed the laborers for the night. Only after everyone else had cleared out did Housekeeper Wu invite General He into the back kitchen, shutting the doors and windows tightly and even stuffing paper into the cracks, while he stood guard outside."
"There may have been a barrier cast inside the room as well, because the pig's grunting cut off abruptly," he continued. "I didn't draw closer. A sudden premonition warned me that there was something dangerous in that kitchen and it was best to stay clear, so I held my breath and reined in my senses instead."
He Lingchuan nodded. "Good work."
Qiu Hu possessed a demon spirit companion and had a beast-like spiritual intuition of his own. If he sensed danger inside the building, there was an eighty-percent chance something formidable was present.
"About two quarters of an hour later, the kitchen door opened again. A billow of grey smoke poured out, thick with a pungent, scorched stench as if a fire had broken out. Had anyone been nearby, farmhands probably would have come running with buckets of water to put it out."
"General He coughed a few times as he stepped outside, telling Housekeeper Wu to open the windows as well. I seized the chance to steal a glance inside; the kitchen was entirely bare. There was nothing at all."
"And the pig, ox, and sheep?" Vanished into thin air?
"Gone," Qiu Hu continued. "Before General He crossed the grounds to board the carriage, he exchanged a few words with Housekeeper Wu. The first thing he said was, 'I leave the household to you while I'm away.' Housekeeper Wu assented, then mentioned that Shan Youjun also wanted to join the southern campaign."
"General He replied at once, 'Let him stay and keep Chuan'er company. He was Chuan'er's man to begin with.' Then he chuckled coldly, remarking that military merits were hard won, and everyone wanted a piece of them."
He Lingchuan fell silent.
In the Yuan Kingdom today, the finest and fastest path to making a name for oneself was earning military exploits on the battlefield.
As long as one could win, climbing the ranks was like riding a rocket.
Yet to succeed, one had to follow the right person. Marching south with General Changning to quell the rebellion offered great odds of victory. It was no surprise Shan Youjun felt tempted; having married and settled down, he naturally longed to carve out a bright future.
"After that, General He boarded his carriage and returned to the military camp. I didn't follow him in; instead, I turned around to shadow Housekeeper Wu. But Housekeeper Wu merely climbed onto another carriage and quickly returned to the He Manor."
He Lingchuan nodded, thoroughly satisfied.
His orders had been to keep a close watch on He Chunhua, but Qiu Hu had not carried them out rigidly.
The fellow had a quick, flexible mind.
After a moment's thought, he asked Qiu Hu, "In your opinion, what was my father doing in that house?"
Asking for his perspective? Qiu Hu hesitated briefly before answering, "Without tangible proof, I dare not say."
Both were sharp-minded men; one sentence was enough to convey the meaning.
He Lingchuan gave a low murmur of assent.
Given how close the He family had come to total ruin all those years ago, coupled with He Chunhua's own cautious nature, he naturally would leave no flaws for others to seize upon.
Even if Qiu Hu suspected he had performed a deity blood sacrifice, there was no concrete proof, so it could not be spoken aloud.
Did leading a few live beasts into a kitchen and shutting the door count as evidence?
A kitchen was a place where both live and butchered meat came and went all the time.
Did closing the doors to burn incense count as evidence? Don't be ridiculous—plenty of elderly women in the capital did the exact same thing.
Why did the livestock vanish? What business was that of anyone else's? For all anyone knew, they might have been stowed into He Chunhua's storage ring.
Of course, for He Lingchuan, ever since he learned of the mark of Nailuotian planted in his mind, he had suspected that He Chunhua had performed a deity blood sacrifice.
He was not trying a court case; whether the evidence was airtight did not matter much to him.
What Qiu Hu had witnessed two nights ago was sufficient to confirm his deduction.
The real question was: when had He Chunhua begun paying tribute to Nailuotian?
Did the He family's near-extermination have anything to do with this?
"All right, I understand. Go ahead and eat."
With business concluded and the young master having given the word, Qiu Hu finally went to work, grabbing the roast duck baked with old ginger and sesame oil he had been eyeing for so long and tearing it apart with his bare hands.
"Young Master, do you have any more assignments?"
"That will be all for now." He Lingchuan took a sip of wine. "What comes next is my own affair."
***
Late into the night, Housekeeper Wu finally dragged his exhausted body back to his quarters.
He also resided within the He Manor, in an independent, freestanding courtyard situated less than a hundred feet west of the master couple's residence—closer to the parents than the He brothers themselves were.
More than a decade ago, He Chunhua had cleared Housekeeper Wu's name of a wrongful charge, and ever since, the latter had served him with unwavering devotion. Everyone in the household knew that Housekeeper Wu was Master He's most trusted subordinate; even petty officials seeking an audience with Master He had to beg Housekeeper Wu to arrange it.
This also meant Housekeeper Wu was the busiest man in the estate.
Though there were only four masters, the household had an endless stream of matters to manage. Before returning to his courtyard tonight, he had even resolved a dispute between two servants who had gotten into a fight.
By the time he returned, an elderly maidservant had already warmed the wine and set out the food.
Housekeeper Wu liked nothing better than dipping white radishes into chili paste from Dunyu, washing them down with a couple cups of aged wine, and nibbling on a few peanuts. Half the day's weariness would melt away.
The old woman asked, "Now that we have money, why do you still eat these things?"
From Xiazhou to the Yuan capital, He Chunhua had raised Housekeeper Wu's wages—a reward for his steadfast loyalty and hard work.
Chapter 794