The Constable Booked the Assassin Every Night novel · Chapter 12 of 24
Chapter 12: A Penny a Day
"No," Shouzhi said.
"Shouzhi."
"No. She's a seamstress. She's fifty-seven years old. She sews buttons on strangers' cuffs."
"I know," said Qinghe.
His voice was shaking.
He stood under the lantern with the pipa pressed against his chest.
"The first night I took the job," he said, "Madam Hui showed me the widow's book."
"Not the copies."
"The book itself, for one hour, so that I'd believe her."
"It was wrapped in red cloth, with a mark stitched in the corner."
"A tiny persimmon leaf, in gold thread."
Shouzhi thought of the red-wrapped book on the kitchen shelf.
He thought of its corner, which he had seen ten thousand times and never once looked at.
"There are a hundred persimmon trees in Shuangjiang," he said.
"The handwriting was small and square and very neat. Every stroke the same weight. Like a seamstress who has kept her accounts for forty years."
"My mother's note," Shouzhi said, and his mouth was dry.
"I saw it on your desk this morning."
"I thought, that's a coincidence."
"Then I thought, nothing about this has been a coincidence for a month."
Shouzhi put his hand against the wall of the nearest house.
The plaster was cold.
He had heard Qinghe say it in the lodging, with the nine slips of paper under the lamp.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Constable Booked the Assassin Every Night are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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