The first was Eldest Master Zheng’s courtyard—

Eldest Master Zheng, whether from alertness or some other reason, suddenly woke from his sleep, and bare-footed and bare-handed, he rushed to meet them.

In the end, he took six knife wounds and fell dead.

The second was Fourth Master Zheng’s courtyard—

Fourth Master Zheng returned from drinking with some colleagues. Because of the hot weather, he had servants set up a cool bed in the courtyard.

Sleeping hazily that night, hearing sounds outside, he grabbed his sword and rushed out. But because he’d drunk too much and lacked stamina, he was finally killed with one slash to the throat.

The last exception was Haitang Courtyard in the northeast corner—

Haitang Courtyard housed Old General Zheng’s fifth son, known as Seventh Master, Zheng Huantang.

For unknown reasons, Zheng Huantang and his son hadn’t been drugged and fought desperately with the black-clad men, both ultimately dying under their blades.

Zheng Huantang’s legal wife and daughter perished in the great fire.

The towering flames lit up half the night sky, attracting the attention of night watchmen and patrol guards. By the time they arrived, the Zheng residence was awash in blood, the black-clad men were nowhere to be found, and the fire was burning fiercer.

Before the fire was even extinguished, the news had already been rushed to the palace.

The Emperor woke from sleep, and after his shock immediately deployed one thousand imperial guards to help fight the fire, ordering the entire city on alert.

The nine great city gates of the capital were all controlled—all citizens, including imperial relatives and nobility, were allowed in but not out.

Immediately, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, the Censorate… all rushed to the scene to conduct an inch-by-inch carpet search.

At the same time.

The Five Cities Military Commissioner assisted the Embroidered Uniform Guard in conducting household searches throughout the capital, including every open and hidden drain.

On the fifth day after the incident, the Embroidered Uniform Guard finally found two key pieces of evidence.

The first piece of evidence—half an ivory waist token.

The case file not only contained detailed descriptions of this half token, but even sketched the pattern.

It had originally been whole, split in two by a blade. This half had fallen to the ground and been scorched by fire until its original appearance was unrecognizable.

But fortunately, characters had been carved into the token with a blade. After restoration by skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, that character was: Wu!

This piece of evidence was found in the ashes beside Fourth Master Zheng’s body.

An assassin’s waist token wouldn’t be displayed openly—it would be hidden either at the waist or in the bosom.

Clearly, when Fourth Master Zheng fought with someone, his broad sword struck the waist token. The token silently split, and half fell down.

And ivory—only Great Qi’s imperial family was allowed to possess it.

The second piece of evidence—a palm-sized piece of thin cowhide.

This evidence was found by the coroner in the belly of the Zheng family’s fifth son, Zheng Huantang.

Zheng Huantang’s fatal wound was directly to his lower abdomen—his intestines had spilled out.

When the coroner was preparing his body and tried to put the intestines back, he found this palm-sized, blood-soaked piece of cowhide in his abdominal cavity.

The case file also detailed how the Ministry of Justice and Court of Judicial Review reconstructed the scene.

The Zheng father and son fought the black-clad men with swords. The eight-year-old child was stabbed and fell dead.

Zheng Huantang charged over frantically but was surrounded by several black-clad men and finally fell beside his son.

The killers thought he was dead and went into the house to find the remaining mother and daughter.

Who knew Zheng Huantang wasn’t quite dead yet. He crawled forward inch by inch with difficulty, leaving a long trail behind him.

He wanted to crawl to his son’s side, to hold his little hand one last time. But beside his son, he discovered this piece of cowhide torn from who knows where.

At that moment, flames rose high.

Zheng Huantang used his last bit of strength to pull out his own intestines and place the cowhide inside.

He knew that after his death, the coroner would prepare his body.

As long as they prepared the body, they’d discover this thin piece of cowhide and find the real killer for him.

The overall person in charge of the Zheng residence case was none other than the current Crown Prince, Zhao Yanluo.

The Crown Prince and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, along with the Three Judicial Offices, studied this cowhide carefully.

After two full days of study, they discovered that this cowhide was actually a simplified map marking the locations of all hidden drains in the southeast of the capital.

And the characters used for marking weren’t Chinese characters, but the written language of the Qi Kingdom.

Based on these two pieces of evidence, the Three Judicial Offices deduced that the killers were Wu Guanyue and his son.

Immediately, the Embroidered Uniform Guard followed the hidden drains marked on this map, finally finding twelve black garments buried in mud in one drain.

From this they further deduced that there were twelve killers total.

“Xie Zhifei.”

Yan Sanhe took a deep breath.

“Let’s temporarily set aside the notion that Wu Guanyue and his son weren’t the killers, and deduce based on the current case file, the information and evidence in these files.”

Xie Zhifei curled his fingers. “I know what you want to say. Any deduction points to Wu Guanyue and his son.”

Yan Sanhe: “Exactly. Let’s go inside and talk.”

Xie Zhifei shot a glance at Huang Qi and Ding Yi, signaling them to quickly follow.

…

In the study, Young Master Pei and Li Buyan had just finished reading the last volume.

Both were rubbing—one his neck, one her eyes—both wearing idiotic expressions.

Their brains felt insufficient!

Yan Sanhe walked to the desk and spread out the tea cups she’d used, first picking up the saucer and placing it on the table.

Everyone quickly gathered around.

“The Zheng family had a military background. Eldest Master Zheng and Fourth Master Zheng—one was a martial academy instructor, one in the imperial guard. Both were killed, which shows the opponents’ kung fu was excellent and their movements swift, correct?”

Xie Zhifei reacted extremely quickly. “Correct!”

Yan Sanhe: “Wu Guanyue and his son escaped by relying on those shadow guards. We’ve all witnessed Zhou Ye’s skills—comparable to Zhu Qing’s, correct?”

Xie Zhifei: “Correct!”

Yan Sanhe picked up the tea bowl and placed it on the saucer.

“This is the entire process of committing the crime. Scouting beforehand, unified action, swift killing, planned escape routes—every step calculated methodically. Premeditated, organized, capable—correct?”

“Correct!”

Xie Zhifei continued, “And this couldn’t be done in one or two days, one or two months. Just mapping out those drains would take one or two years.”

Yan Sanhe looked at him. “So Third Master, who would invest such manpower and resources to target the Zheng family?”

Young Master Pei refused to let Xie Fifty monopolize the back-and-forth with Yan Sanhe, making himself look dim-witted. He quickly interjected:

“There must be deep hatred involved.”

Yan Sanhe placed down the final tea lid with a crisp “ding.”

“The Wu clan was slaughtered by Old General Zheng. Wu Guanyue and his son lost their throne and were forced into exile. Doesn’t that count as deep hatred?”

Young Master Pei: “Absolutely counts.”

Yan Sanhe: “Most importantly, when Wu Guanyue and his son escaped, they also relied on a great fire.”

Xie Zhifei’s pupils suddenly contracted.

“The motive is very clear—tooth for tooth, eye for eye. The methods are similar—slaughter, great fire—using their own methods against them.”

“Therefore.”

Yan Sanhe’s eyes flashed with cold light as she pointed at the complete tea cup on the table.

“There’s no problem with the case file, no problem with the case, and no problem with the investigators either.”