The small town’s deep night was so quiet that only the low murmur of flowing water before the doors could be heard. When someone in the Qi household shouted “Murder!”, the first to be alarmed were naturally the neighbors on both sides.

Yao Huang had read countless story books, but tonight was the first time a murder case had occurred near her—and the deceased was that kind-faced old master.

Zhao Sui had already sat up.

With his legs crippled, even putting on and taking off trousers appeared awkward for Zhao Sui. Therefore, after their marriage, every time he came to the princess’s quarters, he would first bathe in the front courtyard and come over wearing only his inner garments, eliminating the step of removing outer clothes to change into inner garments.

If marital relations weren’t required, Zhao Sui could lie down wearing his inner garments and leave directly in his wheelchair the next morning. If they were intimate, initially Zhao Sui would even remove his inner trousers with his back to the princess. Only after becoming more familiar did he change to removing them with one hand while the princess was distracted and confused, then quickly putting them back on afterward while the princess was too exhausted to pay attention.

This meant Zhao Sui still had to go to the front courtyard first to change into outer clothes before he could rush to the Qi household.

Zhao Sui looked toward the window. Qing Ai and Fei Quan should arrive soon.

Yao Huang also recovered from her shock and sat up as well.

Thinking that the princess was only seventeen and might be frightened by this matter, Zhao Sui grasped her hand. “I’ll go take a look. I’ll have A’Ji come keep you company shortly.”

Yao Huang instinctively said, “I’m going too!”

It wasn’t the kind of eagerness to watch excitement—she didn’t understand how Master Qi had just died. This old master with whom they’d had dealings, even though Yao Huang felt his household management was lacking, leading to chaos at home, those were the Qi family’s own affairs. Toward them, Master Qi had truly appreciated Prince Hui’s paintings and treated her kindly and amicably. In Yao Huang’s heart, Master Qi and the couple shared a bond of goodwill.

Yao Huang wanted to know what exactly Master Qi had encountered. They were so close, and Prince Hui was going too—why should she wait at home doing nothing?

Yao Huang quickly got down from the bed and lit a lamp. As she grabbed her outer garments to put them on, her gaze swept over Prince Hui’s figure sitting quietly on the bed. Yao Huang realized what she should do—first going to the wardrobe to retrieve a set of outer shirt and long trousers she always kept ready for him. She hurriedly draped them over the wheelchair before stepping out of the bed curtains to continue dressing herself.

Before putting them on, she had to remove her inner garments. When the princess exposed her shoulders and back, Zhao Sui lowered his eyes and silently changed his own trousers. In his peripheral vision, the princess kept her back to him the entire time, changing her clothes and skirt openly and naturally, certain he wouldn’t peek.

By the time Yao Huang finished tying her skirt sash and turned around, Prince Hui had also finished changing into his long robe.

Qing Ai and Fei Quan finally arrived.

Yao Huang quickly helped Prince Hui bind up his long hair, ensuring Prince Hui was properly dressed. She casually grabbed a hairpin from the dressing table and pushed the wheelchair outside.

Having Qing Ai take over the wheelchair, Yao Huang followed along while running her fingers through her hair and securing it with the hairpin.

Arriving at the western courtyard, Wang Dong, who had been deliberately waiting there, explained in a low voice, “Uncle Liao took Zhang Yue and went over first.”

Zhao Sui: “Before that, were there any unusual movements from the Qi household?”

Others were all sleeping, but ever since they took up residence in the small town, Zhang Yue and Wang Dong had always taken turns keeping watch during the first and second halves of the night.

Wang Dong said, “No one moved about on the street. The murderer either came from within the Qi household or from the Deng family west of the Qi household.”

If someone had climbed over the wall from the Deng household into the Qi family’s courtyard, as long as their movements weren’t particularly clumsy, at this distance Wang Dong would have difficulty hearing it.

Zhao Sui understood. Sitting in the wheelchair with Qing Ai pushing, he brought the princess, Fei Quan, and Wang Dong to the Qi household.

The main gate of the Qi household stood wide open. The Qi family members, along with some male neighbors who had rushed over wearing only inner garments or even bare-chested, surrounded the entrance to the main room of the eastern side building. Lu Shi, the three Qi brothers, three daughters-in-law, and several grandchildren who hadn’t gone to the academy to study were all wailing and crying. Zhang Yue blocked the neighbors trying to push inside, calling out explanations that they must wait for the authorities to come examine the crime scene—they couldn’t damage the evidence inside.

There were too many neighbors for Prince Hui to get through. Fei Quan used his eyes to ask the prince whether to reveal his identity.

Zhao Sui shook his head.

Seeing this, Wang Dong cleared a path ahead, calling out loudly, “Our Second Master is learned and extensively knowledgeable. Everyone, please make way. After Second Master examines the situation inside, he may discover some clues.”

The neighbors knew that the Liao family’s Second Master was a scholar whose painting skills were so excellent—he should have real ability in other areas as well. They cooperatively made way.

Scholar He, who arrived a step behind, heard these words and looked at his举人 son beside him.

He Wenbin studied to pass the imperial examinations and become an official. Being an official meant dealing with governance and case investigation, so he also wanted to step forward and try.

Zhu Shi grabbed her son with one hand, looking with lingering fear toward Zhang Yue and Wang Dong. These two door gods were eager to show off the Liao family scholar’s abilities. If her son tried to steal the limelight and they retaliated, what would they do?

With Zhu Shi’s reminder, the family of three followed the other neighbors in standing in the outer circle.

Qing Ai pushed Prince Hui forward. Zhao Sui turned his head and discovered the princess was still following behind, her eyes brightened by lamplight—unknowing yet fearless.

Zhao Sui looked toward Physician Liao, who was also guarding the entrance, and asked, “What is the state of death? Is it necessary to disperse the children?”

Physician Liao sighed and nodded.

Hearing this, the nearby neighbors rushed to drive away the children who had run over.

Zhao Sui looked again at his princess.

Yao Huang understood his meaning, but she wasn’t a child, was she?

Simply pushing Qing Ai aside, Yao Huang wheeled the wheelchair to the entrance of the main room in a few quick steps and raised her head to look inside.

The Qi family’s eastern side building was divided into three rooms. The south room was the children’s study where they could read and do homework when home. The main room had tables and chairs arranged as a small reception hall. The north room’s door had a lock—it was Master Qi’s study.

At this moment, the main room was fairly orderly, with only one chair that had been knocked over. The north room’s door was open. From Yao Huang’s angle, she could see a pair of slightly worn cloth shoes and a section of trouser leg—that was Master Qi’s corpse.

A chill ran through Yao Huang’s body, but looking at the top of Prince Hui’s head, thinking that everyone was the same kind of person, if the prince dared to look, what did she have to fear?

With the assistance of Zhang Yue, Qing Ai, and Physician Liao, the four of them lifted the wheelchair into the main room together.

After walking a few more steps, they reached the entrance of the north room.

Yao Huang finally saw Master Qi’s complete corpse. The old master lay face-down on the ground, his back of his head smashed by a heavy object, blood pooled across the floor.

Yao Huang’s complexion changed slightly. However, she had seen how butchers slaughtered pigs at her maternal grandfather’s town—she had seen basins of steaming pig blood. The state of Master Qi’s death before her eyes wasn’t as terrifying and unbearable as she had anticipated.

To verify whether Master Qi could still be saved, Physician Liao was the only outsider who had gone inside. He pointed to a blood-stained inkstone not far from Master Qi’s body. “The inkstone should be the murder weapon. Judging by the degree of blood coagulation, Old Master Qi has been dead for half a shichen.”

Zhao Sui looked at Master Qi’s right hand extended forward and asked, “Are there characters there?”

Physician Liao had noticed this when checking Master Qi’s pulse and said in a low voice, “Yes, it appears Old Master Qi left it before death. Only half a character was written.”

As he spoke, Physician Liao wrote out that half character in the air with his finger.

Yao Huang recognized it—it was the upper portion of the character “Fen.”

This month, Lu Shi and the eldest Qi daughter-in-law had frequently cursed each other. The neighbors all knew the eldest Qi daughter-in-law’s surname was Tian and given name Fen. Lu Shi had even given the eldest Qi daughter-in-law the insulting nickname “Tian Manure Ball.”

Yao Huang looked toward the people kneeling and crying outside the door. The eldest Qi daughter-in-law was wailing at the top of her lungs just like Lu Shi, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law both equally weeping copiously with genuine emotion.

But the blood character Master Qi left behind—no matter how you looked at it, it seemed to tell everyone the murderer was his eldest daughter-in-law.

Because Master Qi didn’t want to divide the household, the eldest Qi daughter-in-law harbored resentment?

Yao Huang had just thought of this when she suddenly heard Prince Hui say, “Let’s go. You and Zhang Yue continue guarding here until the authorities arrive. Don’t reveal anything else to the neighbors.”

After leaving the main room, Prince Hui didn’t answer the questions the Qi family members or neighbors asked in a jumble of voices, returning directly to the eastern courtyard.

Prince Hui gave orders for everyone to disperse and rest.

Yao Huang pushed him back to the eastern room. Even though Prince Hui hadn’t touched anything, she still habitually dampened a cloth and handed it to him to wipe his hands.

Zhao Sui looked at the princess before him and asked, “Were you frightened just now?”

Yao Huang shook her head and asked expectantly, “Did Your Highness figure it out?” Even if he wouldn’t tell the neighbors, surely he could tell her?

Zhao Sui first wiped his hands, then lay back down on the bed. Only after embracing the princess who leaned over did he say, “Master Qi’s right palm heel and the side of his little finger had no blood on them. You can think about it—if you were in your final moments wanting to dip into your own blood to leave a clue, would you lift your hand to dip only your fingertips in the blood, or would you move your entire hand over horizontally to get blood on it?”

Yao Huang imagined that scene and frowned. “With so much blood flowing and the character only half-written, it shows I was already dying. When dipping in the blood, I definitely couldn’t lift my arm. Of course I’d move my entire hand over… Ah, I understand! That character wasn’t written by Master Qi. Someone lifted his hand to dip in the blood after his death, deliberately framing Dalang’s mother!”

Zhao Sui: “…You don’t need to be so loud.”

Yao Huang couldn’t suppress her excitement. She sat up and grasped his hand, asking, “How is Your Highness so capable? I really did suspect Dalang’s mother at the time, yet you saw what was wrong at a glance!”

Perhaps given enough time, she could have spotted this clue too. But Prince Hui had only swept his gaze over from the doorway a few times and immediately grasped the key point.

Zhao Sui: “…It’s from experience. If you read more case-solving story books, you could also see through this murderer’s crude scheme.”

With just this one point earning such excessive praise from the princess, Zhao Sui didn’t supplement with other clues. For instance, the blood flowing down from Master Qi’s head was completely consistent with his current prone position. But if Master Qi had truly regained consciousness after losing so much blood to dip in blood and leave characters, his body—at least his head—should have moved somewhat, deviating from the blood traces on the ground.

From this, one could see that Master Qi should have been killed with one strike. After the blood flowed to the ground, he never struggled again.

The murderer had some cleverness but wasn’t rational or calm enough, which was why so many flaws were left behind.

So Zhao Sui wasn’t being modest—the princess had truly over-praised him.

Having read through so many Ministry of Justice case files, considering only the murderer’s methods, Master Qi’s case placed among them was hardly worth mentioning.

Yao Huang: “I don’t care—the prince is still amazing!”

Zhao Sui caught the princess who threw herself at him and smiled helplessly.

At dawn, Magistrate Xu of Lingshan County arrived with constables. According to Great Qi law, for any murder case, the magistrate must personally go to the scene.

Prince Hui didn’t want to go out again. Yao Huang brought A’Ji and squeezed into the Qi household, standing on tiptoe to peer inside. She discovered this Magistrate Xu was only about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with slightly dark skin and an upright countenance.

Magistrate Xu stayed in the north room for about two ke before coming out. He looked at the Qi family members with hawk-like eyes, his gaze making several members of the Qi household panic before he said, “I discovered half a blood character beneath Old Master Qi’s hand. Among you, does anyone have a name with the grass radical?”

As soon as these words were spoken, Lu Shi was the first to pounce toward the eldest Qi daughter-in-law. The eldest Qi daughter-in-law was stunned for a moment before she shook off Lu Shi and loudly protested her innocence.

The neighbors’ suspicions and accusations also reached their peak at this moment, the noise buzzing in Yao Huang’s ears. Just as she was secretly worrying about Magistrate Xu’s case-solving ability, Magistrate Xu shouted for everyone to be quiet and stared at the eldest Qi daughter-in-law, extending his left hand: “Besides the blood character, I also discovered an earring in Old Master Qi’s left hand. Is it yours?”

Everyone looked at the eldest Qi daughter-in-law together, but all noticed Lu Shi, who had been thrown to the ground, anxiously touching her earlobe.

Looking again at the palm Magistrate Xu had spread open—it was clearly empty.

Magistrate Xu’s gaze had already fallen on Lu Shi’s face as he said sternly, “Bold and wicked woman! If you weren’t guilty, why would you check your own earring? Old Master Qi was clearly made to write the blood character with someone lifting his hand, which caused only his fingertips to be stained with blood while his palm remained clean. Such crude tactics—did you think this official truly couldn’t see through them!”

Blood? The palm had no blood?

Lu Shi felt as if thunder had struck in her mind. Looking again at the magistrate who seemed like the Thunder God incarnate, seeing the neighbors around her who had already determined she was the murderer, Lu Shi panicked and became frightened. She knelt on the ground weeping bitterly: “I’ve been wronged! I didn’t kill my husband. He wasn’t sleeping in the middle of the night and ran to his study to prepare a list for dividing the household. I wanted more silver. He didn’t agree. We were struggling over it when he fell to the ground himself…”

She truly hadn’t killed her husband. It was just that after he died, she feared the blame would fall on her, so she wanted to frame the eldest Qi daughter-in-law…