The Little Thief clasped his hands in prayer to collect the dead bodies, while skillfully removing the heart and liver of the deceased.
It was incomprehensible, but with a knife to his throat, the Little Thief ended up saving his life.
The Little Thief was a young girl with but poor medical skills; her sutures on the wound were a mess. In the bitter cold, she wore a mask, a body full of secrets.
He smiled outwardly, but inside felt utterly indifferent.
There were countless pitiable people in the world, he had no interest in the suffering of others, nor did he wish to pry.
But perhaps it was the biting cold snow of Su Nan, or maybe the warmth of the flickering oil lamp under the broken statues was too comforting; in the calm shadow of the light, he felt a moment of emotion, allowing her to force him to carve a debt note onto the wall and give her the Silver Ring.
A lifesaver, he thought, this repayment was light. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
He survived, returned to Shengjing, experienced assassination attempts, and met Yan Xu.
Latter on, the experience became the second "wood" for the Wooden Pagoda.
His third piece of wood came from after he joined Yan Xu. This Commander of the Privy Council, who had once asked for his mother’s hand and been refused, seemed to despise him. Every day, he was trained relentlessly, fighting different opponents, never getting a respite, beaten black and blue wasn’t enough; he began to be assigned missions that inevitably involved killing.
The first time he killed someone, he washed his hands over and over again until his fingers turned red, later staring blankly at his mother’s spirit tablet in the ancestral hall.
It was just the beginning; he might kill many more in the future. Some things, once started, could not be finished. Indeed, this path was not easy; halfway through, neither advancing nor retreating was possible, and yet there was no turning back.
Silently, he carved his third piece of wood, placed it on his desk.
The fourth piece of wood came from a torture session. Yan Xu had him sit and watch. The one being interrogated had been involved in the incident with the former Crown Prince Qiu Hong. Yan Xu wanted to interrogate him personally— the man was obstinate. In the gloomy dungeon of the Privy Council, they cut open his chest, placed a black rat on it, then scorched it with fire. Pained by the fire, the rat scrabbled at the flesh, creating holes and a bloody mess.
The man screamed miserably, and after coming out, he leaned against the wutong tree at the door and vomited for a long time.
Yan Xu passed by with a cold laugh, "Get used to it early, or you will be the one being interrogated next."
When he returned home, he closed his eyes for a long while and placed the fourth piece of wood on the tip of the Wooden Pagoda.
Gradually, his Wooden Pagoda piled up into a mountain, with each wooden block smooth yet sharp. He took on many tasks, killed many people, and when he entered the Interrogation Room again, he was able to torture and interrogate the criminals with ease.
As he rose higher, he became accustomed to a life behind a mask, smiling, killing, traveling, all without a ripple in his heart.
His pagoda was taking shape, and it had been a long time since he had placed another piece of wood on it.
Until he met Lu Tong.
...
Lu Tong was a person with secrets.
From the first time he saw her, starting with that sharp silver needle hidden in a plush flower—even though she appeared feeble and pitiable—he saw hatred and loathing in her eyes.
Hatred.
That was what he was most familiar with.
So at the Wan’en Temple during the Qinglian Festival, the moment he glimpsed her wrist, he began to suspect.
A Doctor with healing hands, a "Benevolent Heart," was at night a Female Yanluo who killed with her own hands—an extraordinary contradiction. She remained calm and detached, leaving behind bloodshed wherever she went, whether by chance or by design.
The imperial examination fraud case blew open, and Lu Tong was involved. Though untainted by the scandal, her traces were everywhere. So when the accusation came, he personally led men to her door, thinking he was going to catch the Female Yanluo in the act.
But what was buried under the tree turned out to be pork.
The woman looked at him with mocking eyes, turned, and unhesitatingly framed him for murder.
She was brazen and fearless; in her eyes, all he could see was madness.
He admired her cunning and composure yet doubted whether she belonged to the Crown Prince, the Third Prince, or perhaps Emperor Liang Ming; without powerful backing, she wouldn’t be so bold. Yet, she was a mere commoner without a trace to her name. He tested her many times, but she showed no leaks.
And just at that time, she saved his sister, owing him a debt of gratitude.
In this world, debts of gratitude are the hardest to repay. And the life she saved was the most important person to him. He exposed his vulnerability in front of Lu Tong, yet he knew nothing about her.
Afterward, he harbored some competitive thoughts, a mix of sincerity and probing, unwilling to be outdone. He, the interrogator, met his match in the hardest criminal to crack, who sometimes even turned the tables.
Chance encounters in Yuxian Tower, hiding on a snowy night; fate seemed to always pull them together by some design or another.
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