False evidence

Chapter 341 Pairing
I asked Liu Hong, "Is the Tomb of Forty-Two Wives really a tomb where forty-two emperors' concubines are buried together? I've never heard of any large-scale ancient imperial tombs in Guangxi."

Yan Fengwei said, "You've got it wrong, there aren't forty-two, there should only be one."

He lit a cigarette, squinted, and said, "It is said that after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom established its capital in Nanjing, the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan selected a large number of beautiful women to be his harem. Later, there were so many that he simply numbered his wives. The 'Forty-Two Wives' should be his forty-second wife."

He scratched his brow and asked Liu Hong:

"The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom only lasted for about ten years. Can Hong Xiuquan be considered a legitimate emperor?"

Liu Hong said, "So far, the only one I've found out besides Consort Li's tomb is this one."

At this moment, the waiter came in to serve the dishes.

As soon as a pot of braised pork was served, I couldn't help but gag and almost threw up on the spot.

An Xin asked, "You haven't caught a cold, have you?"

I shook my head with a wry smile.

The braised pork in the south is quite different from that in the north; it is usually served with quail eggs.

I had this reaction when I saw that the casserole contained not only quail eggs, but also whole chicken eggs.

Liu Hong asked me what was going on.
I told him not to ask any questions yet, to divide the eggs first, and deal with the problem first.

I won't eat any, and I'm sure I'll never eat a whole egg again in my life unless I'm starving.

Yan Fengwei smacked his lips and said, "Hmm, this tastes really good. By the way, Sanqi, I remember you especially love this sweet braised pork, didn't you? What's wrong with you today?"

I said, "I still prefer meat to eggs."

"No, you used to really like eating that, didn't you?"

Seeing that all the eggs in the pot had been picked out, I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do you know how eunuchs in ancient times were castrated? Let me tell you, a few days before the castration, they only ate boiled eggs, nothing else, and they weren't allowed to drink water. Once the water content in their bodies was reduced to a minimum, then..."

I made a gesture of cutting with one stroke.

"Reducing body water content as much as possible is to increase the success rate of castration."

The way Liu the Blind and Liu Hong looked at me was quite strange.

That's because they both guessed why I don't eat eggs.

While I was possessed by Eunuch Sun, I also received his memories.

For me, the most terrifying 'experience' was being castrated.

Sun Li was young when he was castrated, so when he thinks back on it, he may only remember the physical pain he endured.

I have a deeper understanding of the uses of my reproductive organs than he does, so I have a greater psychological trauma.

Blind Liu took out a small wooden box, about two fingers wide, from his bag, opened it, and said to me:
"Eunuch Sun, although we didn't get what we wanted, I will definitely keep my promise to you. Please come in!"

My body stiffened slightly. I could sense that Eunuch Sun was hesitant, so I quickly said:

"You know hundreds of years have passed, she's not the same person anymore. Even if you really like her... only a real man has the right to like a woman!"

Perhaps it was the last sentence that moved Eunuch Sun, because after hesitating for a moment, he finally left my body and went into the wooden box.

"What are you saying? I don't understand."

An Xin looked at me with a puzzled expression.

Blind Liu put away the wooden box and said:

"Not only you, I'm confused too."

At this moment, Liu Hong had already whispered to Yan Fengwei and Lu Zelin about our experience in the ship tomb. Yan Fengwei scratched his head and said, "The palace eunuchs... they must be very familiar with things from the Ming Dynasty court. If they were to appraise antiques, they would definitely be more knowledgeable about Ming Dynasty artifacts than the experts themselves!"

Blind Liu adjusted his sunglasses, looked at me, and said:

"Have some of these questions been answered?"

I nodded. "You smelled the odor emanating from the medicine figurine earlier, so you should know how he was scared to death."

Liu the Blind Man seemed to be stunned for a moment, then actually put two fingers behind his glasses, wiped his eyes, and whispered:
"The medicine figurines are indeed terrifying."

Then, as if to cover up his mistake, he raised his voice and asked, "How did he get infected?"

I said, "You should know what 'pairing up' means."

Yan Fengwei said, "I know that. Although eunuchs cannot have sex, they may 'marry' palace maids because of their spiritual needs. In modern terms, this is called living together, but in ancient times it was called 'duishi' (pairing up for meals)."

“The palace maid who was paired with Eunuch Sun, who was also his wife, also served Consort Li.” I glanced at An Xin.

Liu the Blind was incredibly clever. He adjusted his sunglasses and leaned forward, saying, "Could it be such a coincidence?"

"When you found me, didn't you see the face of that medicine figurine?"

"No."

Liu Hong looked at the blind man and said, "We had just pulled that medicine figurine out when you were sucked into the boat, so we quickly followed you down. By then, the water flow had changed, and the medicine figurine... must have been swept away by the undercurrent, right?"

I said, "Eunuch Sun was buried alive with the concubines, and the palace maids he had a relationship with were made into medicine figurines. Eunuch Sun did not take the poison and originally had a chance to escape from the ship tomb, but the problem was that he was very sentimental."

The terracotta figurines were encased in a wax shell, but each one was different. The wax shell was likely sculpted according to the original appearance of the figurines. Eunuch Sun found the palace maid he had been intimate with and wanted to bring out her body.

However, he only knew that the wax shell contained his woman's remains, but he was unaware of the potion's power. When we opened the door we used to enter, the wax shell melted, and the potion began to sprout and emit a smell.

The eunuch Sun hallucinated and was eventually scared to death. The medicine figurine made by the palace maid became stuck in the doorway, serving as a 'gatekeeper' for hundreds of years, filled with silt from the riverbed.

Liu Hong said, "It hasn't rotted even after hundreds of years..."

Blind Liu interjected, "The effect of the drug."

Liu Hong had just realized a crucial point and quickly glanced at An Xin. "That's not right. The person has been dead for so long, how can the medicine puppet still move?"

"It's not necessary for a soul to dominate for a corpse to move. Metaphysics lies beyond science... The medicinal terracotta figure will take root and sprout. Do you think what grows is ginseng and he shou wu, or fungi that can make the corpse move?"

Seeing that we were all looking at him, Blind Liu shrugged: "My brother Xu Lao Er is a forensic doctor, this is his theory."

An Xin clearly wanted to speak, but Blind Liu beat her to it, pointing at me and saying:
"The medicine figurine blocking the entrance is a palace maid who was having an affair with Eunuch Sun. What about the one you carried out of the water before? She should have come out earlier than 'Madam Sun,' otherwise she wouldn't have turned out like that."

I shook my head: "Although Eunuch Sun ate fake poison, he experienced a period of apparent death after taking it. So he didn't know what happened during that time."

Liu the Blind Man referred to the palace maid who was having an affair with Eunuch Sun as "Madam Sun," not out of disrespect, but simply to make it easier to explain her identity.

However, upon hearing those three words, I couldn't help but look at An Xin again.

I didn't receive all of Eunuch Sun's memories in one concentrated period of time; if I had, I would have gone absolutely insane.

After leaving the ship graveyard and seeing An Xin again, I suddenly felt a sense of familiarity and closeness towards her.

It's like—I've known her for a long time, and we're close.

After getting on the carriage, I had a conscious exchange with Eunuch Sun and regained some of his memories.

That's when I realized that I hadn't met An Xin a long time ago, but that An Xin's appearance was seven parts similar to the face of the medicine figurine I had faced before entering the ship tomb!

(End of this chapter)