Talking about past events, Mu Hong felt overwhelmed by sadness, which he couldn’t hide on his face. He wanted to wipe his tears with his sleeve but was stopped by Zhu Yu, which reminded him that his previous attempt to trick the people in front of him had failed, and his clothes had been stained with a lot of irritating powder.

"You don’t need to worry too much," he said somewhat sheepishly, glancing at Zhu Yu and then at the red-eyed rune behind him, "It’s not something toxic, just a fine powder made from grinding dried chilies.

Apart from being eye-irritating, it won’t harm the body...I really had nothing else to defend myself with, so I resorted to such a poor strategy..."

Zhu Yu nodded at him, indicating he understood the intention behind his previous actions: "So, did you escape from Mu Family Manor? What made you run away and hide here?"

"If I hadn’t escaped by luck, all the people at Mu Family Manor would have died without knowing the cause..." Mu Hong sighed heavily. "Initially, they just circled us in the manor, forbidding us from leaving, and made us prepare spices for them, which we tolerated.

Later, Prince Lan sent someone to the manor to make us follow his instructions to blend scents.

At first, my father did whatever that person asked to ensure the safety of everyone in the manor, but gradually he suspected something was wrong. The substances that person instructed us to add to the scents were spices we’d never seen before.

My father was wary, outwardly agreeing, but privately trying to figure out what those strange spices were. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Eventually, my father actually found them in some old books in our home; they were toxic substances from other places.

My father felt that blending those things together might be dangerous and refused to continue helping them.

That person first tried to bribe him, but seeing my father wouldn’t compromise, he broke into my house with others and captured my elderly grandparents.

Not only that but every skilled spice maker in the manor’s family had their close relatives taken as hostages. If we didn’t comply, he threatened to torture or even kill our family.

At that time, the people in the manor could only comply, succumbing to their tyranny.

Some tried to secretly find opportunities to escape and report to Jin Country.

We all felt Prince Lan was incompetent, not knowing whom he listened to, letting those under him have their way, and was beyond cure.

However, the spices from Lan Country, especially from our Mu Family Manor, were always used by Prince Lan as tribute sent to the Imperial Palace in Jin Country. If anything went wrong and the Emperor blamed us, wouldn’t we all lose our heads?

Unfortunately, we finally found an opportunity during several days of continuous heavy rain. The rain was so heavy that the soldiers guarding the manor stayed inside and wouldn’t come out.

A strong man from the manor tried to escape with a letter during this time, but there was a traitor within the manor who secretly informed the others, and the strong man was captured before he could get away.

If he hadn’t torn the letter and thrown it into the water during the chaos in the rain, making the writing soak and blur, the contents would have been seen.

They took the strong man away, not knowing where to, and we never saw him again—he just disappeared completely."

Zhu Yu and the others showed no surprise at this, as they had speculated from what that person said earlier, though the timeline was much earlier. Targeting Mu Family Manor’s tribute spices and the mysterious, toxic ingredients matched their previous speculations.

Lu Qing asked, "What does the person Prince Lan sent to force you to do these things look like? Is he small and different from the locals of Lan Country?"

Mu Hong’s expression slightly changed upon hearing this, and his gaze towards them became a bit more cautious.

Zhu Yu glanced at Lu Qing and said to Mu Hong, "You don’t need to panic. To be honest, you didn’t trust us, and we didn’t trust you either.

We came to Lan Country for a long-standing case, wanting to find the enemy who harmed our family and escaped justice.

If it weren’t for wanting to ask you for clarity, why else would we let you drug us twice and still risk coming back?"

Mu Hong hesitated, unable to understand how these people thought they could get information from him, but their mention of their harmed family reminded him of his relatives, which diluted his hesitation.

After all, he had been hiding here for over twenty years, living a life worse than death.

If not for a shred of unwillingness in his heart, hoping someone would know about the Mu Family Manor’s past, he couldn’t have persisted.

Now, a chance encounter allowed him to engage with these people; there was no need to be so cautious anymore, so he decided to let it all out.

"Indeed," Mu Hong dropped his brief guard and nodded repeatedly, "That person is small, with sallow skin, and doesn’t look like someone from Lan Country, nor as impressive as those from Jin Country...At first glance, he seems like a starving peasant, but after a while, you’ll find that’s just how he looks."

"Similar to how people from Bhutan look?" Zhu Yu asked.

Mu Hong shook his head in puzzlement: "I don’t know what Bhutan’s people look like, I’ve never seen them."

Zhu Yu nodded and sighed.

This doesn’t seem like a lie, as, originally a young man learning the craft with his father at the manor, he was harmed and forced to hide in this small wooden building, sleeping in a burial pit for over twenty years. Even if he looks around fifty, it’s normal for him not to have seen many people or things.

"I have a question," Zhu Yu thought for a moment, asking Mu Hong, "You said your grandparents and others were held captive by that person and his soldiers, using them to compel you to create poisonous spices.

After you escaped, weren’t you worried they would do something harmful to your family?"

Mu Hong revealed a hint of bitterness upon hearing this: "If my family wasn’t gone, would I have dared to risk everything to escape?

Before I managed to escape, the Mu family members were already killed by that person; I’m the last surviving member of my family."