Turns Out I'm the Real Monster?!

"It’s a way to accumulate good karma, and it will also build up a good reputation for our pharmacy and for you, Boss. My father said it’s a fine idea. What do you think?"

"Do as you wish. I’ve already put the pharmacy in your hands, so you can make your own decisions on matters like this."

Jiang Mu waved his hand, his gaze falling on the wooden basin at her feet.

The basin contained a mix of pale pink flower petals and dough, which the girl had stomped into a sticky paste that exuded a medicinal fragrance.

"What are you doing?" Jiang Mu asked curiously.

"These are Jade Spirit Flowers."

Chu Lingzhu explained as she continued to stomp, panting slightly.

"They’re for making Jade Spirit Fragrance Cakes. They taste wonderful, and they’re also good for your complexion and digestion."

As she moved, her small, fair feet rose and fell in the pale pink paste.

Each time she pressed down, the paste would squish out between her toes.

The corner of Jiang Mu’s mouth twitched. "...Doesn’t that disgust you? Who’s going to eat cakes that have been stomped on by feet?"

’Even though he’d heard of foot-stomped wine and udon noodles in his past life, he still had a mental block when it came to actually eating something like this.’

Chu Lingzhu shot him a look and retorted playfully,

"I washed them very thoroughly, you know. Besides, I soaked my feet in a special medicinal bath right before this."

"Jade Spirit Flowers are different from other herbs. Stomping them like this is the only way to properly release their medicinal properties. Besides, I’m keeping these all for myself. It’s not like I’d deign to give them to anyone else!"

Jiang Mu snorted.

"Right. If anyone else knew these cakes were made with your feet, they’d probably be too disgusted to eat them even if they wanted to."

Chu Lingzhu pursed her lips, not bothering to argue with him, and continued stomping.

Jiang Mu pulled over a small stool and sat beside her, getting to the point.

"So, your friend, Lan Rou’Er—the one who’s not the sharpest tool in the shed—wants me to help her slay a demon and get revenge. What’s the whole story?"

Chu Lingzhu’s movements slowed, and she sighed.

"Rou’Er has had a hard life. Her family used to be in the silk business and was quite well-off. Then, somehow, they ran into trouble with a demon. Her parents were killed by the creature, and their shop was burned down."

"She was just a little girl back then and barely escaped with her life by hiding in a water vat. Afterward, she was adopted by her aunt—the current Madam Han."

"She’s never given up searching for the killer all these years, and she actually managed to find the demon that killed her family. But she’s just a defenseless young woman, not a Practitioner. She can’t get revenge on her own, so she can only turn to others for help."

"So you told her that my fee—for a proper Hall Master of the Demon-slaying Bureau, no less—is a mere eight taels of silver?"

Jiang Mu stared at the girl’s feet.

He found himself subconsciously comparing them to Qiu Yuexin’s feet.

The two were of similar age, but had vastly different styles.

Chu Lingzhu was more slender and graceful, like a budding spring willow, tall and poised. Qiu Yuexin, however, was petite and delicate, possessing a kind of bewitching exquisiteness.

This difference extended to their feet:

One pair was long and elegant, perfectly proportioned. The other was small and delicate, with a graceful arch.

Both were very beautiful.

’As for which pair would taste better, well, Jiang Mu had no way of knowing.’

’Perhaps Chu Lingzhu’s had the edge?’

’After all, the girl soaked her feet in medicinal baths year-round.’

Chu Lingzhu’s face flushed, and she looked a little guilty. "I just said it offhandedly... Besides, Rou’Er doesn’t have much money."

"Whatever assets her family had left were taken by her aunt as compensation for raising her. All she does these days is a bit of embroidery and needlework to support herself. Where would she get that kind of money?"

"Having no money is no excuse to lowball us. This is life-or-death work."

Jiang Mu didn’t press the issue. He changed the subject.

"Her aunt—what do you know about her? What’s she like day-to-day? Have you noticed anything... off about her?"

In the past, Chu Lingzhu would have certainly assumed this playboy now had his eyes on the woman’s aunt.

She would have scoffed and cursed him for being hopelessly lecherous.

But now, she knew that if Jiang Mu was asking, it must be for a serious reason.

The girl stopped her stomping, tilting her head to think carefully.

"Madam Han seems perfectly normal in her daily dealings. She’s always polite and courteous, and she seems to take good care of Rou’Er."

"It’s Master Han who’s a bit strange, actually."

"I remember Master Han used to have a very dominant personality. Madam Han was always a little afraid of him at home."

"But ever since that huge fight they had, after Master Han ran away from home and then came back, his personality did a complete one-eighty. He became meek and timid... He even seems a little afraid of Madam Han now."

A glint flickered in Jiang Mu’s eyes.

The image of Han Chenghu’s hesitant expression in the alley outside the Han Mansion resurfaced in his mind.

’A complete change in personality often means—’

’—this person might not be the same person anymore.’

"Oh right, there’s more!"

Chu Lingzhu’s eyes lit up as she suddenly remembered something.

"One time, Rou’Er said Madam Han had a headache and asked me to come over and perform acupuncture. When I went into Madam Han’s room, I smelled something strange."

"A strange smell?"

"Yes, a faint, foul smell."

Chu Lingzhu wrinkled her nose.

"I asked Rou’Er about it after I came out, and she said she didn’t smell anything. But I’ve been around herbs my whole life, so my sense of smell is very sharp."

Jiang Mu nodded. "Yeah, you’ve definitely got the nose of a dog."

Chu Lingzhu: "..."

"Ahem," Jiang Mu coughed. "Go on. What kind of foul smell was it?"

Chu Lingzhu puffed out her cheeks and continued,

"The smell... it was a bit like a dead, rotting rat. But I didn’t see anything dirty in the room. Maybe Madam Han is keeping some kind of plant."

’The stench of a corpse?’

Jiang Mu crossed his arms over his chest and fell into deep thought.

’The suspicious details were piling up.’

’A couple argues, the husband leaves home, the niece sees her aunt bricking up a wall in the middle of the night, the husband returns a completely different person, and there’s the stench of a corpse in the room...’

HSSS—

Jiang Mu sucked in a sharp breath.

’What a vicious woman!’

’Isn’t it obvious? She must have bricked her own husband into the wall!’

Thinking back on how the woman had tried every trick in the book to seduce him, Jiang Mu felt a chill run down his spine.