Xiang Feng ate his food with calm and ease. However, his entire body was tense. He noticed the glances the other diners were giving Song Jia.
She was too pretty. He hated that he could not directly pluck out all of these people's eyes. Especially those men, who kept staring at her. He wanted to shout at them, "Don't look at her!"
However, he could only smile and ask Song Jia, "Can I sit next to you?"
Song Jia didn't think anything was wrong. Xiang Feng's body language told her that he was feeling restless. She thought he was nervous about committing mistakes in eating etiquette and moved her chair sideways to let him sit next to her.
Song Jia chose a shoulder length black wig with bangs. She lowered her gaze, her long eyelashes hiding the blueness of her eyes. When Xiang Feng sat next to her, they truly looked like a mother and son with their delicate features and frail appearance.
Xiang Feng still looked androgynous at the tender age of ten. If his hair hadn't been cut short like a boy's, he could be mistaken for a girl.
After he moved his chair, Xiang Feng paused.
'Ah.'
He realized that he made a mistake.
Because he sat next to her, his left side faced Song Jia. Even though he knew he was wearing a mask that covered his scar, he could not help but tug his hair down to hide it. He wished it was his right side profile that faced her instead. Xiang Feng ducked his head and concentrated on eating. Occasionally, his hand would rub his left ear, discreetly making sure that the mask was still there.
Even though she told him that she would always love him, he was still afraid. Afraid that some day, the disgusted expression that people wore when they first saw his scar would appear on Song Jia's face. Xiang Feng clenched his hand around his fork, his knuckles turning white.
He would probably not be able to bear it if that happened.
That was why...it was better not to show her these repulsive parts of himself.
Others could be disgusted at him, be horrified by him, and run away from him.
Except her.
Only her should stay by his side, forever loving him like this. Even if it was not his real self, as long as she loved him, then he would take it.
Xiang Feng tilted his chair to cover Song Jia from the stares of other people. He cut his meat into neat and tiny pieces before shyly offering his plate to her.
"Jia, here."
Song Jia glanced down at her own plate. The meat was still whole and seemed difficult to cut. She peeked at Xiang Feng's small hand, which was pale and white. There were shallow calluses from his life as a former slave, but no one could deny that it was a feeble-looking hand.
He would carve out a thousand hearts with this?
Song Jia couldn't seem to imagine Xiang Feng as a ruthless killer anymore. After spending three years together, she was half-convinced that she raised the wrong person needed for her mission. How could this shy and timid child ever become a cold-blooded murderer?
But rare moments like this, where Xiang Feng's strength and physical abilities seemed almost inhuman, served as little reminders to Song Jia.
She looked at his expectant face and didn't refuse.
"Thank you."
The two of them quickly ate their breakfast. In the afternoon, Song Jia gathered all information about the cases that the Magistrate was going to handle for the next few days. She took advantage of the fact that she was in the capital, where no lips were sealed as long as you had money to give. She didn't even have to look for informants as they came to her in droves.
In no time at all, she already knew the date and time of Nian Shou's trial, including the bribe the merchant family gave to the Magistrate to make sure that Nian Shou would be judged as guilty. After all, they only had circumstantial evidence against him.
According to the report that was given to her, it was true that it was Nian Shou who delivered the bad meat to the merchant family's young master. In fact, not only did the merchant family's young master get sick, his other friends who were eating with him got sick too. The physician had diagnosed their sickness as incurable, and predicted that they might only have days to live. The butcher also gave his testimony that it was Nian Shou who prepared the meat beforehand, and that he had nothing to do with it. This statement was backed up by Nian Shou's co-apprentices who were also working under the butcher's tutelage.
Song Jia frowned when she read the severe symptoms of the boys. The physician was wrong, she did not think that these boys would be able to live for days. At most, they would be dead by tomorrow.
However, she did not think it was Nian Shou's 'bad' meat that caused it. Although these boys were suffering from vomiting and diarrhea, which were typical clinical signs of dysentery, their symptoms were too severe. Even cholera would not be able to kill a person in just a day and a half.
A/N:
Sorry for not updating for so long. I've been so busy (╥﹏╥)