"This is the place!"
Ruan Rong pointed at a general store not far ahead. "They're the only ones who sell Bai Mei!"
At the mention of "Bai Mei," her shoulders slumped and her delicate brows knitted together, as though her whole body felt unwell.
But Feng Xin, beside her, reacted even more strongly. Sitting atop his horse, his old face turned black with a greenish tinge. He swallowed hard several times, yet still could not suppress the sourness rising in his stomach, and finally gagged loudly.
It could not be helped. After observing for a long while, Sun Shaozong could only determine that Ruan Rong's vomit was seventy or eighty percent similar to the fruit scraps. To be safe, he had no choice but to use the most primitive method of analysis—tricking Feng Xin into eating it and identifying it by taste!
Thus, after an indescribable round of testing, Sun Shaozong finally confirmed that the assassins had eaten a fruit called Bai Mei. It was a specialty of neighboring Zhen Country, and because it was difficult to transport, only two merchants in the city sold it.
One of them was a restaurant. Its Bai Mei was always reserved for entertaining distinguished guests and was never sold separately. Since the assassins were unlikely to visit a restaurant in a large group before carrying out their operation, this general store in the northern part of the city was most likely the source of the "Bai Mei scraps"!
Ruan Rong also provided another piece of information: as the two dominant powers among the Six Southern Border Countries, Zhen Country and Qian Xiang Country had been mortal enemies for centuries. In recent years, however, Qian Xiang Country had relied on Great Zhou's backing and showed faint signs of wanting to annex Zhen Country and rule the southern border alone, leaving Zhen Country's court and people deeply alarmed.
Therefore, it was a perfectly reasonable deduction that Zhen Country's wandering swordsmen had come to assassinate the Da Zhou Special Envoy in order to drive a wedge between the two nations, and had eaten food and fruit unique to their homeland to bolster themselves before the attack!
Enough idle talk.
The group galloped all the way to the general store in the north of the city. Sun Shaozong instructed Feng Xin and the others to wait by the street, then dismounted and entered the shop shoulder to shoulder with Ruan Rong.
Though it was called a general store, it was actually a three-story pavilion with a fairly expansive floor space. After entering, they found its shelves packed with a dazzling array of goods. It carried not only specialties from the Six Southern Border Countries, but also designated sections for Great Zhou and the Western Regions. It was practically an ancient international supermarket.
Before Sun Shaozong could inspect the place more closely, a shop assistant approached with a broad smile. "Welcome, honored guests! Are you simply looking around to see what our humble shop has to offer, or do you already have something in mind? We carry quite a wide variety of goods. If there's anything you want, just tell me, and I'll gladly show you the way."
This shop assistant certainly had a sweet tongue.
Sun Shaozong asked casually, "I heard you sell Bai Mei here? The fruit that comes from Zhen Country."
"Yes, yes, we do! Please come with me!"
The assistant led the way, with the two following behind. Before long, they arrived before a cellar. Bending down, he grasped a red rope and pulled a wicker basket up from inside, then held it out before them. "Take a look, honored guests. We restocked this morning, and this is all that's left now."
Sun Shaozong lowered his head and saw that only a little over twenty fruits, each about the size of a ping-pong ball, lay scattered across the bottom of the basket. They were bright red and still gave off a faint chill, making them look especially appealing.
Although the thing had the word "berry" in its name, it actually resembled a lychee. It was wrapped in a hard shell and contained a moderately sized pit.
"That's it!"
Ruan Rong cried out happily, then immediately pressed, "Shopkeeper, from yesterday until today, did anyone buy a large quantity of Bai Mei at once? At least enough for more than ten people to eat!"
"Th-that..."
Her question was too eager, arousing the assistant's suspicion. He gave the two of them a doubtful look and answered vaguely, "Honored guests, we sell who knows how many things every day. I really can't remember..."
Halfway through his sentence, the assistant's eyes suddenly widened as he stared fixedly at Sun Shaozong's palm—or, more precisely, at the broken silver in it!
Sun Shaozong casually tossed the silver forward. The assistant hurriedly caught it with both hands and lightly weighed it. Discovering that it was at least four taels, his face immediately blossomed into a grin.
Sun Shaozong asked with a smile, "You remember now, don't you?"
"I remember, I remember!"
The assistant nodded like a pecking chicken and said cheerfully, "A wealthy customer really did come this morning. Without a word, he bought an entire basket of Bai Mei. It cost him a full sixteen taels and three qian of silver!"
An entire basket?
Then there was an eighty percent chance they had the right lead!
Unable to conceal his excitement, Sun Shaozong pressed on, "Do you remember what he looked like? How was he dressed? Was he a servant or the master of the household? Which direction did he go when he left? Did he ride in a carriage or travel on foot?!"
The barrage of questions left the assistant utterly dizzy, but for the sake of the silver, he tried his best to recall. "There was nothing distinctive about his appearance. Judging by his clothes, he should have been a servant from a wealthy household. When he left, he was driving a horse carriage, and I think he headed north."
"He went north?!"
Sun Shaozong was truly overjoyed now. The general store was already in the northern part of the city. If they searched farther north, the area to cover would be much smaller!
After receiving the assistant's confirmation, he reached into the wicker basket, grabbed two Bai Mei, and pulled Ruan Rong out the front door without looking back.
Once they reached the street,
Sun Shaozong said nothing. He first peeled one open and put it in his mouth, chewed the flesh, then spat the pit into his palm.
The guards were all watching in confusion when they saw him raise the peel and pit before him and shout, "Brothers, look carefully! In a moment, split up and search every dumping ground north of this general store. Turn every one of them inside out! The instant you find any similar peels or pits, report to me at once!"
A "dumping ground" was simply an ancient garbage heap.
At least seven or eight hours had passed since morning. A normal person would not leave such rubbish in their home, so as long as they could find these peels and pits at a dumping ground, they could follow the trail to the assassins' hiding place!
Of course, if the assassins had been cautious enough not to dispose of even their garbage, then Sun Shaozong could only report the information to the Qian Xiang Dynasty and have them conduct a sweeping search.
But if it came to that, whether the group's achievement would be enough to make up for their past failure was another matter entirely.
Before you continue