Bringing Warmth

"Huh??? Execute three generations of my family?!" Du Yu froze. "Did I... say too much?"

Xiao Qi sounded troubled too. "Du Yu, I'm sorry... I-I was just so nervous... Please don't be angry..."

"I'm not angry, but you're about as useful as a decorative ornament as a Voice Transmitter. Is this really going to work?"

"B-but Voice Transmitters are rare to begin with, and aside from Sister Qianqiu, I've been here the longest... P-please don't be angry..."

"I... Oh, forget it." Du Yu shook his head. "I'm not angry. Just take your time getting used to it."

Cui Jue asked again, "What is your name?"

"My name is..." Du Yu froze and hurriedly called Xiao Qi in his mind. "Right, Xiao Qi, nobody told me during the meeting. What's my name?"

Xiao Qi checked the information and said in a very quiet voice, "Misfit Jiang Qin."

"What Qin??" Du Yu was about to lose his mind. If I've done something wrong, let the Grand Judge judge me instead of assigning me a Voice Transmitter who speaks this quietly! "I really can't hear you!"

"Misfit, His Honor asked you a question."

"I..." Du Yu had only caught the rough outline, so he could only brace himself and guess-

"My name is Misfit Yuan Xiangqin..."

"Misfit Yuan Xiangqin?" Cui Jue scratched his head. "An odd name. Sounds like a girl's..."

"Haha, and a stupid girl at that." Du Yu laughed dryly, embarrassment written all over his face.

"Never mind. I will deal with you later... What about the other two? What offenses did you commit?"

"I knocked someone's teeth out in the street," one Misfit said.

"I was so hungry that I stole a chicken," the other Misfit said.

Once they had finished, everyone turned to look at Du Yu.

"Huh?" Du Yu froze. "That's all it takes? Stealing chickens, pilfering dogs, and fighting in the street qualify you to become a Misfit?"

"Yes, Du Yu..." Xiao Qi said. "You joined the Misfits, not some evil cult..."

Du Yu thought that he had really backed himself into a corner now. If he had known that one day this Voice Transmitter would turn out to be Xiao Qi, he would have brushed up on history no matter what.

"Xiangqin," Cui Jue called, looking at Du Yu.

"What is it, Zhishu?" Du Yu replied.

"Zhishu?"

"Nothing, nothing. Go ahead, boss."

Cui Jue sighed and said:

"I know that as Misfits, you must all have secrets of your own. It is all right if you do not wish to speak of them. Qi County is short-handed, so I specifically petitioned the court to send you here to help. Now that you have come to Qi County, we will be one family from this day onward. I hope you will slowly learn to trust us. Whenever you wish to tell me about your past, I will wash my ears and listen attentively. Just stop trying to fool me with those tales the traveling storytellers tell." Cui Jue's voice was not loud, but it was warm. "If any of you three have any problems from now on, you may come to me or Constable Li at any time. It is getting late today. Go and rest first. Starting tomorrow, Constable Li will lead you on duty."

Du Yu nodded after hearing this. Luckily, Cui Jue had not believed his spiel, or he would have met his end on his very first day here.

Du Yu thanked Cui Jue and left the court hall. His most pressing task now was to find the old woman whose son had been eaten...

No, that wasn't right. The old woman wasn't his most pressing task.

He needed to deal with someone else first.

"Xiao Qi, let's talk," Du Yu said after stepping outside.

"Huh? About what?"

"Why does your voice get so quiet whenever we reach a crucial moment?"

"I... I told you..." Xiao Qi said shakily. "I'm a little nervous, and a little scared."

"So it's not your voice that's small, but your courage? How strange. I just remembered how you used to jump every time I called you from behind, like a cat... What is there to be afraid of? I'm the one entering the legend, not you. If anything goes wrong, I'm the one standing in front."

"But... I've only been working here for a hundred years. I've never worked with an Operator before. I'm afraid I'll make a mistake..."

Du Yu sighed, shook his head, and said, "Xiao Qi, don't worry. I even completed Yi Shoots Down Nine Suns. A Class C Mission like this won't be difficult. Besides, you want Sister Qianqiu to come back soon too, right?"

Du Yu knew that although Xiao Qi seemed very unreliable, she meant no harm. All he could do was encourage her.

Xiao Qi patted her own cheeks and told Du Yu, "That was my fault earlier. I won't make that mistake again."

Du Yu smiled. "That's more like it! All right, I'm going to the old woman's home now. Give me directions."

Xiao Qi nodded. "Okay. The old woman's home is..."

Although her voice was still quiet, Du Yu could at least hear her clearly now.

After a great deal of effort, Du Yu finally reached the old woman's home under Xiao Qi's guidance. As it turned out, the old woman did not live in Qi County at all, but at the foot of a mountain outside it. It was another half-day's journey to Qi County from here. One reason she had not reported the matter to the authorities was probably that the journey was too long for her elderly body to manage.

"Why does this mountain look a little familiar?" Du Yu looked up at it, feeling as though he had been here not long ago. Was it because all mountains looked more or less alike?

"Du Yu..." Xiao Qi said. "This is Cloud Dream Mountain. You can still see it near Qi County in Hebi, Henan Province, today. During the Warring States Period, this mountain was called Ghost Valley Mountain."

"Huh? The Master of Ghost Valley...?" Du Yu truly had not expected two legends to take place near the same mountain. He did not know whether it was a coincidence or heaven's unseen design. Still, this was the Tang dynasty, roughly a thousand years after the Warring States Period. There probably weren't any reclusive masters left on this mountain.

Knock, knock, knock-

Du Yu came back to his senses and knocked on the door of the shabby dwelling at the foot of the mountain. "Is anyone home?"

After a while, an old woman's voice came from inside. "Who is at the door?"

"Someone bringing warmth to elderly people living alone."

"Bringing warmth?" The old woman was puzzled, but visitors were rare here. After thinking for a long while, she opened the door.

Du Yu took a closer look. The old woman had a head of silver hair and a keen gleam in her eyes. Her frame was thin and dry, but she neither stooped nor shuffled. She seemed reasonably sturdy.

"An officer?" The old woman examined Du Yu's clothing. A trace of disgust clearly appeared in her eyes, but quickly vanished. Then she asked, "What business do you have with this old woman, officer?"

"Oh." Du Yu smiled slightly. "Lord Cui Jue, the magistrate of Qi County, has asked us to count the elderly people living alone in the county. Some benefits will be distributed at the end of the year. May I ask if you live here by yourself?"

"No, this old woman has a son." With that, she started to close the door.

Du Yu reacted quickly and hurriedly slipped a foot inside.

"Wait, wait." Puzzled, Du Yu quietly asked Xiao Qi, "Did I arrive at the wrong time? Is her son still alive?"

"There's nothing wrong with the timing. This old woman's son has already been eaten by a tiger," Xiao Qi said, quietly but very clearly.

"In that case... why is she lying? Has she really gone senile?"

Without another word, Du Yu pushed the door open and entered the house.

"Officer, what are you doing?" The old woman was both confused and angry. Who barged into someone else's home without so much as an explanation?

"Ma'am, I mean no harm. I just want to ask where your son is now and when he'll return." Du Yu sat straight down in a chair after entering, making himself completely at home.

The old woman gave Du Yu a meaningful look, then said, "My son went up the mountain. As for when he will return, this old woman does not know."

After speaking, the old woman went about clearing away a set of bowls and chopsticks scattered on the table, along with the chicken bones left over from her meal.

Du Yu continued observing the woman before him. Her thinking was clearly lucid and coherent, nothing like someone suffering from dementia. But then he thought of He Suoyi, who was equally lucid and coherent... The director was seriously ill!

"Ma'am, listen to me. I suspect your son is already dead," Du Yu said, getting straight to the point.

"Is that so?" The old woman did not even turn her head, merely answering with an indifferent question.

Interesting. Du Yu thought her reaction was definitely abnormal. Any normal person hearing those words would be angry, deny it, or simply show him the door. Yet this old woman acted as though it had nothing to do with her.

Seeing that the old woman was deliberately hiding something, Du Yu did not keep pressing her. He stood up and looked around the room.

"Ma'am, did you just finish eating?" Du Yu asked.

"Yes. I did not know you were coming, officer, or I would have laid out another set of bowls and chopsticks," the old woman said flatly.

"So you live with your son, but you only laid out your own bowls and chopsticks?"

The old woman's hands stopped moving. She turned to look at Du Yu and said, "Officer, I already told you. I do not know when my son will return, so I did not set out his bowls and chopsticks."

"Oh, really?" Du Yu raised his eyebrows. "How many days has your son been gone?"

"Three or four days." The old woman thought for a moment, then added, "No, more than three or four days. He heard that an Immortal once appeared on the mountain nearby, so he went up to seek immortals."

"I see." Du Yu looked at the chicken bones the old woman had gathered up. "Your son has been up the mountain for three or four days, yet you can still go hunting yourself and catch a pheasant. That really can't be easy."

The old woman gritted her teeth at his words. "Officer, what exactly are you getting at?"

The more Du Yu looked, the more he felt there was much more to this old woman than met the eye. She was hiding more secrets than he had imagined. He said, "Ma'am, if your son is dead, we officials must deal with it. Concealing it and failing to report it is also against the law."

"Against the law?" The old woman frowned. "This old woman does not understand the law. All I know is that I have not reported anything to the authorities, so stop wasting your efforts, officer. It is getting dark. Go back before it gets late."

How strange...

Du Yu's thoughts raced. There was clearly something very wrong with this old woman, and her son really had been eaten by a tiger. So why hadn't she reported it?

The thousand-plus episodes of detective anime Du Yu had watched slowly surfaced in his mind. Could she have borrowed a blade to kill someone?

But that doesn't make sense. Why would this old woman use a tiger's paw to kill her own son?

Du Yu thought for a moment, then stood up and said to the old woman, "It is indeed getting late. I'll take my leave, then."