The Double

"How did she die?" Jiang Li’s voice had an unmistakable choke to it.

But because Hai Tang was so heartbroken at that moment, she didn’t notice anything unusual. She simply said, exhausted, as if she had used up all her strength, "Not long after we escaped from Yanjing City, we suddenly discovered that the Official’s Residence was posting notices everywhere, saying we stole the master’s silver and that we were wanted. Du Juan was captured. I wanted to help, to plead with the official, to tell them Du Juan was innocent, but that night... by the time I found Du Juan, she had already been strangled to death and left at the Chaotic Burial Mound."

Jiang Li’s heart ached unbearably.

"I don’t know if it was the Officials who did it. If it was the Official’s Residence that wanted us, why would they execute her without a trial? And even if there was an execution, why not announce it to the world? If it wasn’t the Officials, then why were their wanted posters everywhere? I don’t understand, but I knew that none of this could be avoided. I saw them even lying in ambush near the Chaotic Burial Mound, probably waiting for me to fall into their trap when I came to claim Du Juan’s body, so I didn’t claim her corpse." As Hai Tang said this, her hands trembled, probably because even now, she couldn’t forgive herself for her actions then.

"I disfigured my face to avoid the Official’s pursuit and fled back to my hometown," said Hai Tang.

"Your face..."

Hai Tang asked, "Do you want to see it?"

Jiang Li nodded.