Chapter Ninety-Five: The Wretched Man

Chapter Ninety-Five: The Filthy Man

Waterdrop possessed a talent that Tie Xinyuan had long envied.

This small, chubby child could discern the nature of a person merely by the scent they emitted.

At first, to verify the truth of this ability, Tie Xinyuan and Xiao Qiao conducted numerous experiments, only stopping when Waterdrop, blindfolded, detected the odor of a corpse inside a coffin.

Of course, Waterdrop shivered for two days straight and wet his pants for five consecutive days before fully recovering. Since then, both Tie Xinyuan and Xiao Qiao strictly forbade him from consuming pungent foods like mustard and cornelian cherry.

From that time on, Waterdrop was entrusted with opening the door at home on Bolo Alley.

Even now, Tie Xinyuan could not understand how Waterdrop detected the foul aura from the gentle-faced Flower Granny, who often came to teach embroidery to the younger sisters. Only after a thorough investigation did they confirm Waterdrop was right.

Flower Granny was a trafficker of girls, skilled enough to inspire unwarranted trust in everyone. Had Yang Huaiyu not discovered through official purchase contracts that she had sold no fewer than forty-three girls, Xiao Rou and the others might have continued confiding in her, only to be sold off while naively counting her money.

Since Flower Granny broke her leg in Bolo Alley, she had not been seen for a long time, leaving Xiao Qiao simmering with anger.

Tie Xinyuan, feeling young and inexperienced, tried to imitate Waterdrop by sniffing countless things but only ended up dirtying himself without any success.

However, today, he distinctly smelled a strong stench of pig on the large man in blue who had just passed by.

If Tie Xinyuan lacked experience with other scents, the smell of pig was all too familiar.

Having spent half a year in the pigsty as a child, he was intimately acquainted with that odor.

If Yang Huaiyu needed Su Mei's accompaniment to enter the tavern, why could a man reeking of pig stink swagger in and out freely?

Su Mei, displeased at Tie Xinyuan's eye-rolling and gaze fixed on the ceiling, tapped the table lightly with her knuckles and said, "Weren't you wanting to drink? Hurry up then, it's all fine pear blossom white liquor. Chances to drink this kind of wine won't come often."

Tie Xinyuan glanced at Su Mei and said, "How about I dedicate that poem to you? Only a refined and intelligent lady like you deserves such verses."

It was clear that this remark greatly tempted Su Mei. She clenched her handkerchief tightly and occasionally cast desperate glances at Yang Huaiyu for help.

Ignoring Su Mei’s inner struggle, Tie Xinyuan grabbed his chopsticks and eagerly devoured the greens on his plate. The large bowl of mutton soup he had eaten in the morning was long gone by afternoon.

Eating greens in winter was like eating silver, especially watery purslane. It needed no cooking; dipped in soybean paste, it tasted inexplicably sweet and fragrant.

Before long, the entire plate of purslane vanished into Tie Xinyuan’s stomach. He was very satisfied with his appetite. Despite gorging on rich meats daily, he showed no signs of gaining weight, unlike Waterdrop, who had never eaten enough before, growing up skinny as a bean sprout. In just one year, the frail child transformed into a little chubby boy.

What could a man so steeped in pig stench be doing here? Clearly, he was someone who dealt regularly with fat pigs, so why was he dressed in bright blue silk?

What was his true intention?

Those who came upstairs were always wealthy or noble. Their walk was deliberate; the elderly were assisted by servants, and younger men of that age walked steadily to display their status.

Only high-ranking military commanders could afford to swagger like a tortoise upstairs, but the pig stink utterly betrayed this man.

Judging by this, he must be a butcher.

Tie Xinyuan leaned out the window and saw the vegetable and poultry delivery carts tied to the post on the side of the tall building. The workers were bustling below, bringing in various ingredients. Even if the butcher had come to deliver meat, there was no reason to climb up to the grand hall, especially since the formidable Elder Deng wouldn’t allow it.

There had to be a simple explanation. Overthinking would only lead to error.

While Tie Xinyuan was lost in thought, Su Mei faced the most severe moral challenge of her life.

She was certain she had never heard the poem Tie Xinyuan recited. As a famous poetry enthusiast in Dongjing, there were hardly exquisite poems she hadn’t encountered, especially one like "Sound of Slow," which employed repetition to the extreme.

Particularly the line, "Guarding the window, how alone the darkness grows," so perfectly expressed the depths of a maiden’s sorrow. Such delicate, elegant verses could never come from the ignorant mouth of a toad-like boy.

"To be honest, where did you hear this 'Sound of Slow'? Don’t try to fool me!"

Tie Xinyuan popped the last piece of cabbage into his mouth, smacking his lips with distaste. "Yesterday evening, I was bored, leaning against the window watching the last leaves fall from our pear tree, feeling gloomy, so I just recited it offhand. What, don’t like it?"

Su Mei heard the creak of her teeth grinding and shot a glare at Yang Huaiyu, who was busy drinking. "Have you heard this poem?"

Yang Huaiyu shook his head with a smile. "You’re a learned lady; if you haven’t heard it, how could a rough fellow like me? But, Brother Yuan would never harm a friend. If he says he’s dedicating this poem to you, it must be his own work. Otherwise, if you recited it, you’d be laughed at. Brother Yuan wouldn’t overlook such serious consequences."

Su Mei rolled her eyes. "He probably wouldn’t dare, but if he dared write you a love poem, maybe he could pull off something like that."

Tie Xinyuan looked at Su Mei helplessly. "If you don’t like this one, I’ll find time to write a few more. I promise they won’t be much worse."

Su Mei sighed deeply and shook her head. "No need. I can’t write such fine verses. Even if I showed them to others and gained fleeting glory, I’d have to repay it with a lifetime of guilt. If that’s the case, I’d rather not have them."

Hearing this, Tie Xinyuan was stunned but gave a thumbs-up. "Now that’s the iron-willed Lady Su I admire—strong and unyielding. Well done."

Su Mei turned her head with a scowl, sulking alone.

Suddenly, Tie Xinyuan recalled Yang Huaiyu’s earlier gesture of grabbing the man’s chest, seeming unconcerned about whether the man was some untouchable noble. He asked, "Big Brother, do you know who that man who bumped into me just now really is?"

After gulping down a full cup of wine, Yang Huaiyu scoffed, "Just a somewhat notorious butcher. Even the filthiest stray dogs in Dongjing are nobler than him. If you hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve really beaten him up."

Tie Xinyuan glanced around to make sure no one was nearby and asked, "If this man is a scoundrel, why does he appear so openly here?"

Yang Huaiyu nodded toward the distant Elder Deng, chatting and laughing with others, and whispered, "Dongjing City isn’t just these alleys and streets you see. Beneath the surface is a filthy place—sewers and tunnels. The people living there call themselves ‘Fushou Cave’ dwellers, but the city folk call them 'Tunnel People.'

They started out as beggars with nowhere to hide, so they took refuge in the tunnels and sewers to survive winter. Eventually, they claimed those tunnels as their territory, committing all sorts of crimes—rape, abduction, and worse.

A couple of years ago, Prefect Lu Ping of Kaifeng ordered a tunnel excavation. They found over three hundred corpses and rescued sixteen women—missing from Dongjing. The oldest had been trapped underground for eleven years without seeing daylight."

Tie Xinyuan frowned. "What does this have to do with the butcher?"

Yang Huaiyu sighed. "The tunnels beneath Dongjing are labyrinthine and sprawling. The government has tried countless times to clear them, but this cancer persists.

Kidnappings still happen regularly, including daughters of noble families and wealthy households.

This gave rise to a new profession: intermediaries dealing with the Tunnel People. The most famous is Butcher Cui, nicknamed ‘The Human Butcher.’ Only he can connect with those underground scum.

Through money ransoms or food trade, he helps families recover their lost members.

Although the government knows Butcher Cui’s work is a capital offense, they tacitly allow him for the convenience of wealthy families retrieving their people.

This has created a strange paradox: everyone hates Butcher Cui, yet no one dares touch him. By the way, how did you know something was off about him?"

"I smelled the pig stench on him."

Yang Huaiyu chuckled, "So you’ve got Waterdrop’s talent for judging people by scent now?"

Without entertaining Yang Huaiyu’s teasing, Tie Xinyuan’s mind was in turmoil. The Sun Yangzheng shop had begun contacting the Tunnel People through Butcher Cui.

Soon, the forgotten tunnels he had painstakingly unearthed in the "Dongjing Construction Records" would be discovered by those filth-ridden people.

When that day comes, Bolo Alley near the tunnel exits will become a key patrol area for Elder Deng of Sun Yangzheng.

And the Tunnel People, who consider the tunnels their domain, will never allow a rival force to invade their territory.

(To be continued.)

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