Chapter 39: The Demon Pill
He glanced at the seat of honor in the Daxiong Bao Hall and said in a low voice, "In the thirteenth year of Emperor Jiajing’s reign, the Criminal Department Shilang Wang Kuang, having mourned the death of his mother, resumed his duties after three years and returned to Nanjing, only to hear that within Nanjing City, there was a rich merchant named Wang Guan."
Wang Guan was immensely wealthy. His mansion, marked by a crimson gate and embroidered doorways, shone with gold and jade. He had numerous wives and concubines, over a thousand child servants, and maintained close relations with powerful officials and nobility.
It was rumored among the people that Wang Guan kept dozens of young girls as concubines under the guise of taking them as wives, and he held a banquet in his mansion every night, allowing these concubines to spend the night with guests.
Once a concubine became pregnant, Wang Guan would force her to take an abortion drug and take the stillborn fetus to a hidden room within his mansion."
Li Ang, pushing his glasses up, said somberly, "That room was an alchemy chamber."
"Alchemy?" Xing Hechou felt goosebumps all over his skin and growled softly, "You mean..."
"That’s right. According to the ’Records of National Tribute,’ under the guidance of a magician known as ’Chi Duzi,’ Wang Guan turned dead babies into pills that could extend one’s lifespan and sold them," he said.
Li Ang continued, "It wasn’t just the fetuses aborted by the concubines in the mansion; Wang Guan also ordered people to buy deceased infants from the streets and even bribed midwives who helped with deliveries and abortions to acquire dead babies."
"Having collected sufficient evidence, the outraged Criminal Department Shilang Wang Kuang bypassed the Shuntian Prefecture, apprehended Wang Guan, and intended to have him beheaded."
"Who would have thought, just when Wang Guan’s crimes were confirmed, and the people were rejoicing, the influential figures within Nanjing City went one by one to the residence of the Criminal Department Shilang Wang Kuang, pleading for Wang Guan."