Mother Tuo did indeed seem to be well cared for, but her spirits were terrible. There was grease at the corners of her mouth, grease stains on her quilt, and grease stains on her clothes. There was also a smell unlike the stench of a pigpen.
It was the smell of cooked meat.
The old woman ate meat regularly.
Tu Zhengde’s family raised pigs. No matter how poor they were, they certainly would not lack meat or oil. But at an old woman’s age, any physician would surely advise her to eat a lighter diet. Even wealthy households that could afford it would receive the same admonition. There was no reason for her to be eating meat at every meal.
A frightening thought suddenly surfaced in Jiang Yunxin’s mind.
She abruptly turned to look at Tu Zhengde.
Tu Zhengde was busily apologizing to Fang Mingyan.
But Fang Mingyan’s expression was not especially amiable either. Could he have noticed something as well?
Suddenly, Jiang Yunxin said, “My lord, I want to eat meat.”
In an instant, everyone’s eyes lit up.
Fang Mingyan looked at her, and for a moment, his expression seemed to ask: Who am I? Where am I? What did I just hear?
Jiang Yunxin ignored him and continued, “Let’s buy a pig.”
“…”
Fang Mingyan considered himself a man who had weathered all kinds of storms, but at that moment, even his mind was not working very quickly. He opened and closed his mouth before finally asking, “Which pig do you want?”
Long Qiao covered his eyes in utter despair. My lord, Xiao Jiang, what in the world are you two talking about?
But Jiang Yunxin strode to the edge of the pigpen and pointed at the pig from before. “That one. It looks delicious.”
The pig Jiang Yunxin had pointed to was the spotted pig that had just swallowed one of Tu Zhengde’s fingers.
Fang Mingyan looked at the pig, then at Jiang Yunxin, and immediately understood what she meant.
Tu Zhengde’s neighbors had said that this pig had swallowed one of Tu Zhengde’s fingers.
It had not been long since it swallowed it, so it could not have digested it yet. Whether it had swallowed the finger whole or chewed it a little, it had to still be in the pig’s stomach.
All they had to do was cut open the pig and find the finger. Then they would know whether it was true.
If they could not find it, Tu Zhengde’s neighbor had been lying. If they found it, but the finger did not match, then Tu Zhengde had most likely used a sleight of hand to switch the fingers. Knowing that they would soon come looking, he had deliberately staged this little self-mutilation act in front of several neighbors so that they could serve as witnesses for him.
When all was said and done, they were looking for a corpse thief who had lost a finger. Tu Zhengde had lost a finger too—and of all ten fingers, it just happened to be the same one. That was far too much of a coincidence.
The more Jiang Yunxin thought about it, the more she felt that Mother Tuo’s hateful gaze might not have been directed at her face at all. Her eyes had been vicious yet unfocused. She might have been looking at the person behind Jiang Yunxin—and behind her stood Tu Zhengde and Fang Mingyan.
So the person she hated might actually have been Tu Zhengde, her own son.
Guesswork was useless. Everything needed to be supported by evidence.
When Tu Zhengde heard Jiang Yunxin’s request, he was stunned. “You want to buy this pig?”
“Yes.” Fang Mingyan answered decisively. “Long Qiao, pay him.”
As Long Qiao wondered inwardly whether his master had gone mad, he did not dare object and pulled out a silver ingot.
In truth, he had no idea how much a pig cost. He was not part of the kitchen staff. He had accompanied Fang Mingyan to buy many things before, but he had genuinely never bought a live pig.
Even if one was craving meat, there was no need to buy it like this.
What would they do with it after buying it? Ride it all the way back alive? Or kill it here and hire several people to carry it back?
Long Qiao’s expression changed. Surely they would not make him and Xue Dongyang carry it?
He glanced at Xue Dongyang, whose expression changed as well.
I—I think I just twisted my ankle. This pig weighs only as much as two people; you can carry it by yourself just fine. Besides, I can stand to the side and cheer you on.
Yunxin nearly leaped up and punched Xue Dongyang.
While the two were exchanging meaningful glances, still unable to decide which of them would be the truly unfortunate porter, Jiang Yunxin spoke again.
“I know how to slaughter pigs,” Jiang Yunxin said. “Shall I demonstrate for you?”
Long Qiao and Xue Dongyang were both stunned.
It was true that coroner’s work involved using knives, but this knife was not that knife. Could the two really be considered the same thing? In any case, neither of them had ever seen a coroner slaughter a pig in his entire life. Tu Zhengde, you have a stove, pots, and firewood here, don’t you?
Fang Mingyan, however, said, “We’ve been walking all this way, and it’s noon already. I happen to be a little hungry. Meat and vegetables taste best when they’re fresh. Tu Zhengde, you have a stove, pots, and firewood here, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes.” Though Tu Zhengde answered, he had no idea what Fang Mingyan intended to do.
Fang Mingyan smiled. “Lend me your pots, bowls, and utensils. I’ll buy a pig and roast a few of the tenderest cuts for lunch. As for the rest…”
Fang Mingyan waved his hand with exceptional generosity. “Distribute it among everyone.”
A single pig was worth a considerable amount of money, and everyone was stunned.
But Xue Dongyang, who had already decided that his master had gone mad, took out a silver ingot and said woodenly, “Here. Is this enough?”
“Enough, enough, enough.” Tu Zhengde nodded repeatedly. “There’s even some left over.”
“Don’t bother giving me change,” Fang Mingyan said. “Put in some effort and get this pig out for me.”
Although either Xue Dongyang or Long Qiao could have dragged the pig out, the pigpen truly smelled awful.
He could not count on the two of them, and he certainly could not count on Jiang Yunxin.
She might indeed be able to wield a knife with precision, stability, and ruthlessness, but she was a young lady who had been raised in a wealthy household. How could she possibly drag a pig out of a pigpen? And it truly was not something she could drag. Once a pig was tied to a slaughtering board, it would take several sturdy young men to move it.
Fortunately, after hearing Fang Mingyan say that he wanted only a little meat and would distribute the rest, everyone was delighted.
With only a few people present and such a large pig, each person could take home quite a lot—enough for everyone in the family, young and old, to enjoy a full meal, with some left over to sell.
Wasn’t that silver falling from the sky? Of course they were grateful enough to set up an altar for this God of Wealth.
Thus, with several people working together, they very efficiently dragged out the pig that had just swallowed one of Tu Zhengde’s fingers.
Good heavens, the meat on its body was substantial. It squealed and squealed, its cries at once pitiful and oddly sweet.
Then something even more tragic happened.
Jiang Yunxin’s own dagger was not long enough. She rolled up her sleeves, took Tu Zhengde’s pig-slaughtering knife, and brought it down.
The blade entered at the throat and slanted toward the chest, reaching the heart. She twisted the handle twice to ensure that it had pierced the heart, then pulled out the knife.
The blade went in white and came out red, and the pig was stabbed to death.
It died very cleanly. Though the scene was tragic, it probably had not suffered much pain.
Everyone stared in shock.
Zhou Changchun muttered, “The Pig-Slaughtering Xishi?”
What kind of nonsense was that? Had he come up with it by analogy to the Tofu Xishi? Jiang Yunxin could not help giving Zhou Changchun a withering look.
Tu Zhengde also said, “Miss, you… could it be that your family slaughters pigs too?”
Jiang Yunxin smiled but said nothing.
When it came to the phrase “slaughtering pigs,” his specialty was the pigs, while hers was the slaughtering. They could be considered half in the same trade.
Next came the immediate search for the half of the finger the pig had just swallowed.
By now, that half of the finger should have reached the stomach. That was why they were so frantic and could not afford to wait. Even though the finger had been bitten off, there was no need to worry yet. A pig chewed its food somewhat; it did not grind it into powder. There was still hope.