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Chapter 644 I don’t know

For Lu Qing and Zhu Yu, Mu Hong's words were somewhat expected, and they weren't surprised at all. Zhu Yu's words were simply an attempt to steer Mu Hong's conversation further.

It's likely that the painful events from back then have been bottled up in my heart for over twenty years. The feeling of having no one to confide in is not pleasant, and those pains can only be hidden in my heart, tormenting me again and again.

Now that someone was willing to listen, Mu Hong couldn't hold back any longer: "Back then, in order to protect his own family and the people on the estate, my father had no choice but to obey that man's orders and prepare some frighteningly potent spices according to his wishes. That man was also present every day, watching my father do whatever he was doing."

At first, we all thought that the person was just supervising our work and afraid that we would disobey. We never expected that the person's intentions were more malicious than we thought, and that he was much smarter than we thought.

He followed us around every day not simply to supervise us, but to secretly learn our family's method of blending spices, and he mastered it very quickly.

Once he felt he had fully mastered the art of perfumery, he began to target the people on our estate one by one.

Initially, it was those apprentices who worked with my father who suddenly fell ill and died not long after. Soon after, my father also fell ill.

I was taking care of him at his bedside when he secretly took out two pills and gave them to me when no one else was around. He told me that his grandfather had secretly given them to him. They were fake death medicine that his family had secretly prepared to avoid disaster when the world was in chaos. They hadn't used it back then, but this time they were hoping that my son and I could use it to save our lives in a critical moment.

My father said he knew that his illness was unusual and that he was probably going to die soon. He told me to take advantage of the fact that he was still alive and make some preparations to find a way to escape.

Later... I kept looking for an opportunity, and during this time I secretly hid some useful things little by little, but because I never found a suitable opportunity, I was unable to make the trip.

It wasn't until later, when that person personally transported a batch of prepared spices to the capital and presented them to Prince Lan, temporarily leaving Mu Family Village, that I, with the help of a kind soldier, managed to wrap the things I wanted to take with me layer by layer and hide myself among the pile of corpses.

It was only then that I learned that, unknowingly, many people in the village had been poisoned to death while helping them grind and refine some strange herbs.

I hid in the pile of corpses for a day. The next day, when those people came to take away the corpses of these farmers, I took a fake death drug beforehand and they didn't notice anything amiss. They threw me, along with the other people's corpses, into a ravine.

When I woke up, I was surrounded by wild dogs that came to eat me, and I almost got eaten too.

After that, I ran all the way here, and when I got here, I found a tomb that looked like it had been there some time ago. It must have been robbed before. I guess the people who robbed it before built a small wooden building outside to avoid being seen. So I stopped here and used it as a hiding place.

"So you didn't build this little building, and you didn't block those things on the windows either?" Zhu Yu asked.

"I did set those up," Mu Hong said frankly. "I was afraid that if I found out about this place and came here, someone else might come too, so I sealed off all the windows."

Unexpectedly, someone still managed to sneak over. Luckily, to save my life, I carried with me a lot of the sleeping incense that my family made ourselves.

Later, people from other places said that this place was haunted by evil spirits, and some brought people to exorcise the evil spirits, but I scared them away. So I pasted all the talismans, cinnabar and other things they brought on them on the outside of the wooden building, making it look as if there really were evil spirits haunting the place.

After that, no one else came. It was quiet for a long time until you guys came running over, which really gave me a big fright.

Upon hearing what he said, Lu Qing and Zhu Yu realized it matched what they had heard in that small town, indicating that Mu Hong wasn't hiding anything from them. Seemingly sensing something from their brief silence, Mu Hong sighed, "I know I've cheated you twice before, so you might not entirely trust me."

But I assure you that I'm telling the truth and I'm not trying to evade the issue.

For the past twenty years, I've been practically dead, even if I say I'm alive. The fact that you didn't kill me the moment you caught me proves I'm not part of Lan Wang's group. Therefore, I hope outsiders can know about what's happening in Mu Family Village, and I'll definitely tell you the truth.

Lu Qing nodded to Fu Wen, who quickly went upstairs and returned shortly afterward, holding a piece of cloth that he had carefully taken down from the window.

The cloth should have been very thick, but after so many years of wind, sun and rain, the color has faded and the cloth itself has become very fragile.

If the qilin pattern on it hadn't been embroidered, it would probably have been worn away long ago and no trace of it would have been visible, and they wouldn't have discovered it.

Fu Wen carefully took the piece of cloth and placed it in front of Lu Qing and Mu Hong.

Zhu Yu's gaze fell on Mu Hong's face, observing his expression at this moment.

Mu Hong's expression was very calm, without any tension, and even a little doubtful.

"You don't recognize this?" Zhu Yu asked.

Mu Hong shook his head and looked at them in confusion: "What is this thing?"

"You don't know what this is? Didn't you seal this up the second-floor window?" Fu Wen thought Mu Hong was pretending to be stupid and questioned him in an unfriendly tone.

Zhu Yu didn't quite agree with Fu Wen's suspicions on this matter; she felt that Mu Hong's reaction was perhaps his truest thought.

If he had known what that Qilin pattern represented, he probably wouldn't have dared to hang it so blatantly on the window.

Previously, they were all focused on the issue of the Qilin pattern appearing in such a desolate wooden building in the middle of nowhere. In addition, they were somewhat emotionally charged after being drugged and thrown outside twice by Mu Hong, and they temporarily overlooked this issue.

Judging from Lu Qing's calm reaction, he had realized this detail after he had completely calmed down.

After hearing Fu Wen's words, Mu Hong realized where the piece of cloth in front of him came from, and suddenly understood: "So it's the cloth I used to seal the window before... I haven't dared to go up to the second floor for so many years, for fear that I might be seen by people outside. If you don't take this down, I would have forgotten about it."

It's a piece of cloth I stole when I was wrapping myself in things!

(End of this chapter)