This was the second time Ni Su was interrogated in the Guangning Prefecture Bureau of Records.

But Tian Qizhong didn’t question her. He only had someone bring the medicine dregs before her. Ni Su identified the medicinal herbs one by one and indeed discovered Sichuan aconite among them.

“In the medicine I used, there was absolutely no Sichuan aconite.”

Ni Su threw down the medicine dregs and met Tian Qizhong’s gaze.

“Whether there was or wasn’t, how can we rely on your one-sided story?” Tian Qizhong hadn’t forgotten how this woman had easily exposed the fact that he wore a yellow talisman on his body when she was previously punished here. To this day, he still found it extremely strange.

“A’Zhou, I gave you a prescription.”

Ni Su looked toward the young man kneeling to one side, head hanging down.

A’Zhou raised his head. His pair of eyes were swollen like walnuts. Seeing the judge seated above glaring at him, he pulled his hoarse voice to say vaguely, “I lost it when I was decocting medicine for my mother…”

Having just finished speaking, he met Ni Su’s eyes and added, “Even if the prescription were still here, you—couldn’t you have failed to write down several ingredients!”

“I wouldn’t.”

Ni Su said calmly, “Physicians must be extremely careful when using medicine. What medicine I used for your mother and how much—I remember it all clearly in my mind.”

“What kind of physician are you?”

A’Zhou bowed forward and kowtowed to Judge Tian Qizhong. “Sir! She’s just an herb woman. How can she be the same as a proper physician? If she failed to write something down, who would know!”

But Tian Qizhong didn’t respond. He only asked the white-haired and white-bearded old physician, “Have you identified all the medicinal herbs in the medicine dregs clearly?”

The old physician hastily nodded and sent the prescription he had written according to the medicine dregs to Tian Qizhong’s desk, saying, “Sir, please look. In these medicine dregs there are angelica root, white peony root, fresh rehmannia root, white atractylodes, honey-fried licorice, ginseng. I also see crushed sappanwood and myrrh. If not for the addition of Sichuan aconite, this prescription would be an excellent one—most suitable for treating injury and stabilizing pregnancy.”

Tian Qizhong didn’t understand these pharmacological principles. Hearing the old physician say it should have been a good prescription, he felt puzzled. Just then the coroner entered. He immediately beckoned, “Tell us, what did your examination reveal?”

As soon as A’Zhou saw the coroner approach, his shoulders tensed up. He pressed his lips tightly together, desperately concealing some kind of unease.

“Reporting to sir, it was indeed caused by poisoning.”

The coroner answered respectfully.

This should have been the most advantageous testimony for A’Zhou, yet both Ni Su and Tian Qizhong saw that upon hearing the coroner’s words, the young man’s eyes widened somewhat.

“As for whether it’s Sichuan aconite poison, that cannot be determined.” The coroner could only verify whether there was poisoning, but couldn’t distinguish what kind of poison it was.

The reason Tian Qizhong hadn’t yet tortured Ni Su for confession was because he was waiting—waiting for the bailiffs he’d sent to search South Huai Street to return. He drank a bowl of tea and finally saw people return. The record book in which Ni Su documented examinations and prescriptions was also placed before Tian Qizhong.

“There really is no Sichuan aconite?”

Tian Qizhong compared the book with the prescription the old physician had just written and asked that bailiff.

“Yes, sir. This subordinate and others have searched this woman’s home thoroughly and found no Sichuan aconite.” That bailiff answered honestly.

This was strange.

Tian Qizhong glanced at Ni Su, then looked at the book and prescription before him. Her home didn’t even have a trace of Sichuan aconite—how was it that this particular dose of medicine contained it?

The old physician received the book Tian Qizhong passed him and examined it. “This white peony root and fresh rehmannia root were both stir-fried in wine. The white atractylodes was also stir-fried with hearth earth. The frankincense had the oil removed, the myrrh had the oil removed…”

“Is something wrong?”

Tian Qizhong couldn’t understand.

“Right, all right.” The old physician raised his head and looked toward Ni Su kneeling there. His expression showed some complexity. Obviously, he also didn’t trust this young woman who appeared so young, but as a physician, he couldn’t say anything was “wrong.”

He pointed at the book and said to Tian Qizhong, “This woman’s records are more detailed. Sir, look—below she also wrote a dietary therapy prescription for supplementing qi and blood. Papaya and carp are both correct. This carp is yin among yang, sweet in taste, neutral in nature. It enters the spleen, stomach, and kidney meridians, having the effects of promoting urination and reducing swelling, nourishing blood and promoting lactation. Using it to stabilize pregnancy is excellent. As for papaya, its nature is slightly cold…”

Seeing the old physician was about to ramble on endlessly, Tian Qizhong raised his hand to interrupt him. He stared at the young man called A’Zhou, about to question him, when he saw a group of people walk in.

The leading elder wore scarlet official robes and a winged cap, surrounded by several officials in green.

“Vice Magistrate Tao.”

Tian Qizhong immediately rose from behind his desk and bowed to the newcomer.

“Judge Tian, why haven’t you yet escorted this woman to the main hall of Guangning Prefecture’s office for trial?” Vice Magistrate Tao’s rheumatic leg was troubling him. This rainy day happened to be his duty day, so his expression was rather poor.

“Reporting to Vice Magistrate Tao, this subordinate was just waiting for those below to search this woman’s home for Sichuan aconite.”

“Was it found?”

“It was not.”

Vice Magistrate Tao hadn’t expected such an answer, but then he glanced at that dazed young man. “Look at this—I heard his father is now bedridden with illness, and now his mother is gone too. What misfortune! A perfectly good family, scattered just like that…”

Vice Magistrate Tao always loved to lament the spring and grieve over autumn.

Over the years, he’d been handling the petty cases in Guangning Prefecture’s office, because besides him, no one in the office had such patience. Today was rare—actually handling a murder case.

But these words caused the young A’Zhou’s tears and snot to flow together.

“If this woman’s home has no Sichuan aconite, where did the Sichuan aconite in the medicine dregs come from?” Vice Magistrate Tao said without thinking. “It must be that she happened to have only that much Sichuan aconite and used it.”

“That doesn’t make sense, sir.”

Tian Qizhong said, “No one who buys Sichuan aconite buys just that little. Even if she wanted to, absolutely no one sells it that way.”

“Then she hid the rest of the Sichuan aconite?”

“That doesn’t make sense either, sir. You’ve forgotten—our people already searched, the kind that turns everything upside down.”

“Then what does make sense according to you?”

Vice Magistrate Tao was getting annoyed with him. “What did the coroner say?”

“Vice Magistrate sir, that woman indeed died from poisoning.”

The coroner immediately bowed and responded.

Vice Magistrate Tao nodded. “If it wasn’t this woman using the wrong medicine, who else could have poisoned that woman? What good would harming her do?”

“It still doesn’t make sense…”

Seeing Vice Magistrate Tao’s sharp glance sweep over, Tian Qizhong immediately stopped talking and instead presented Ni Su’s record book and the prescription the old physician had written. “Vice Magistrate Tao, please look. Apart from the Sichuan aconite, the several herbs recorded in this book match the medicine dregs. This subordinate also requested a physician to be present. He has already determined that without the Sichuan aconite, this prescription is clearly effective and is a good prescription.”

“If this woman’s medical skills truly came from improper sources, then how could all the other herbs be used so precisely, with error only in this one herb, Sichuan aconite?”

“Judge Tian,”

Vice Magistrate Tao frowned. “Isn’t there also no evidence now proving this woman is innocent? Why don’t you ask her—how does a perfectly good woman come to engage in this herb woman’s conduct? Judge Tian, haven’t you tried cases where herb women caused deaths? Which proper medical family would allow women to learn ancestral professional methods? Whether her path is proper or not, how would you know?”

“Moreover,” Vice Magistrate Tao’s gaze moved to that straight-backed woman, “last time she spoke nonsense in Guangning Prefecture. Even after being punished she didn’t know to retract her words. Perhaps there’s something wrong here.”

Tian Qizhong watched as Vice Magistrate Tao spoke while tapping his cap brim with his knuckles. He sighed helplessly, “Vice Magistrate sir, this subordinate still cannot determine this woman is innocent, but if we say she’s guilty, how can it be proven?”

“You go find the proof.”

Vice Magistrate Tao was not pleased.

“Vice Magistrate sir, last time I didn’t speak nonsense, and this time I haven’t harmed anyone’s life,” Ni Su had been silent for a long time. Hearing only the sound of Vice Magistrate Tao tapping his cap brim, she turned around and said, “My shop on South Huai Street isn’t a medicine shop. I only prepared some fresh medicinal herbs to dry in the courtyard. Beyond that, I only had some stored in my one medicine chest—not a complete collection. I also never bought Sichuan aconite.”

“Your meaning is, he’s falsely accusing you?”

Vice Magistrate Tao raised his chin slightly.

Following his gaze, Ni Su looked toward A’Zhou. Meeting A’Zhou’s eyes again, she said, “Yes.”

“I didn’t!”

A’Zhou instinctively shouted.

“First take these two up to the main hall.”

Vice Magistrate Tao had had enough of this damp prison, but he straightened his robes, clearly preparing to conduct a thorough interrogation in the hall.

Having served in Guangning Prefecture’s office for several years, how could Tian Qizhong not know that although this Vice Magistrate Tao was an excellent official who wasn’t afraid of trouble, his case judgments were often suspected of following his heart, easily favoring those he initially reacted to favor.

This was why Magistrate Yin had Vice Magistrate Tao handle cases of disputes among commoners. It was precisely because of this that Vice Magistrate Tao had much understanding of the six types of go-between women.

In Yun Jing, regardless of large or small households, such people often caused incidents in their residences.

This was truly disadvantageous for Ni Su.

But unfortunately, Vice Magistrate Yang, who usually handled murder cases, was currently claiming illness at home.

Seeing the bailiffs had already escorted the young A’Zhou and Ni Su outside, Tian Qizhong was just contemplating whether to report this matter to Magistrate Yin.

“Vice Magistrate Tao, what are you Night Watch Bureau people doing here?”

Vice Magistrate Tao’s less-than-pleased voice came from outside.

Tian Qizhong looked up at once and immediately walked out. He indeed saw that Night Watch Bureau Deputy Commander Zhou Ting.

“Under the orders of Commissioner Han, I’ve come specially to take these two back to the Night Watch Bureau.”

Zhou Ting bowed to Vice Magistrate Tao, then displayed the Night Watch Bureau commissioner’s token.

The Night Watch Bureau had always had people following Ni Su. When the incident occurred in the old western district alley, a subordinate officer hidden in the shadows rushed back to the Night Watch Bureau to report.

After Zhou Ting resolved the matter at hand, he immediately reported to Commissioner Han Qing and rushed to Guangning Prefecture to claim the people.

“A murder case under my Guangning Prefecture office’s jurisdiction—why does the Night Watch Bureau want to interfere?” Vice Magistrate Tao felt uncomfortable, but suddenly recalled that the woman named Ni Su was the younger sister of the murdered examination candidate Ni Qinglan in the winter examination case.

No wonder the Night Watch Bureau wanted to interfere. But Vice Magistrate Tao pointed at the young A’Zhou being escorted by bailiffs not far behind. “Him? You’re taking him too?”

“Yes.”

Zhou Ting offered no additional explanation. “Our Commissioner Han will personally send documents to Magistrate Yin.”

How could Vice Magistrate Tao not know that Guangning Prefecture magistrate? The Night Watch Bureau taking over Guangning Prefecture cases—that Magistrate Yin would wish for nothing more, happy to be free of trouble.

“Then I’ll hand them over to you.”

If the Night Watch Bureau wanted to take the case, let them take it. His rheumatic leg was hurting anyway. Vice Magistrate Tao waved his hand.

It was this situation again.

From Guangning Prefecture to the Night Watch Bureau—only this time Ni Su hadn’t been tortured. She walked into the Night Watch Bureau following Zhou Ting. She didn’t enter the torture chamber inside, just an interrogation room outside.

“Previously the court gentleman sat here all night—in exactly the same seat you’re in.” Han Qing leaned against his chair back, having someone beside him deliver a bowl of hot tea to the woman whose dress was soaked through and whose hair dripped water.

It was Wushan red tea.

Earlier at the teahouse, Cai Chunxu had also told Ni Su some jokes about her husband Miao Yiyang, among which was how Miao Yiyang had mistaken Wushan red tea for blood at the Night Watch Bureau and been terribly frightened.

Holding this bowl of red tea now, Ni Su felt it indeed resembled blood.

Seeing her take a sip of hot tea, Han Qing asked, “You truly didn’t misuse Sichuan aconite?”

Ni Su raised her head and looked at that commissioner. He was not only the Night Watch Bureau commissioner but also the Palace Attendant Bureau chief eunuch. She still remembered that day in the punishment pool when he held an iron-barbed whip, displaying cruel and sinister viciousness.

“I didn’t.”

She answered.

Han Qing gazed at her.

In the interrogation room, silence suddenly fell.

After quite a long while, Han Qing finally raised an eyebrow: “Good. This servant believes you.”

Unexpectedly, Ni Su only drank a bowl of red tea at the Night Watch Bureau before being released.

“Miss Ni, watch your step.”

Zhou Ting saw her footsteps were heavy, like a wandering ghost, so he spoke to remind her to watch for puddles in the cracks between broken brick corners.

“Young Master Zhou.”

Ni Su looked up to see the paper umbrella above her head. Her ears were filled with the crisp sound of rain droplets striking the umbrella edge. “Did Commissioner Han truly release me because he believed in my innocence?”

Hearing this, Zhou Ting looked at her but couldn’t speak the word “yes.”

Commissioner Han naturally couldn’t possibly believe her based solely on her single “I didn’t.” She was just an orphaned woman—how could she compare with Court Gentleman Miao Yiyang? Miao Yiyang had Du Cong of the Three Judicial Offices vouching for him. What did she have?

Only the two words “exploitation.”

Her value for exploitation lay in the fact that her elder brother was a candidate who died miserably in the now tumultuous winter examination case, and in her identity as an orphaned woman seeking justice for her brother.

Ni Su didn’t know what kind of scheme Night Watch Bureau Commissioner Han Qing and that Young Master Meng intended to make using this matter. Perhaps it was precisely because they wanted to exploit her brother’s death for their schemes that they handled her gently.

Moreover, while she was at the Night Watch Bureau, the real culprit couldn’t attempt to kill her.

This was their exploitation.

It wasn’t believing in her innocence but rather not caring about her innocence at all.

“Miss Ni, Chao Yisong’s leg no longer hurts.”

Chao Yisong was the subordinate officer Zhou Ting had brought to Ni Su’s clinic for treatment of external injuries a few days ago.

The urgent rain fell. Under the paper umbrella, Ni Su looked at him without speaking.

His avoidance of answering could be considered a kind of tacit acknowledgment.

The sky grew dark due to wind and rain, about to become completely black. Ni Su thought of Xu Ziling, who had risked leaving her side today in the old western district alley. She immediately lifted her skirt and ran toward South Huai Street.

What happened today was definitely not groundless.

The Guangning Prefecture office bailiffs should have searched out Sichuan aconite from her home to establish her guilt.

Xu Ziling must have immediately thought of this when he heard A’Zhou’s words, which was why those bailiffs returned empty-handed.

Zhou Ting watched as she suddenly ran out from under the umbrella. Between the rain curtains, her retreating figure seemed to melt into freehand flowing ink.

“Young Master Zhou, I told you you wouldn’t know how to coax young ladies, didn’t I?”

Behind him, the limping subordinate officer Chao Yisong gave his umbrella to the person beside him, then quickly ducked under Zhou Ting’s umbrella edge. “When that young lady asked you about innocence, you should have said you believed her!”

Chao Yisong had been several steps away earlier, and with the rain sounds obscuring things, he hadn’t heard very clearly, but listening vaguely, he guessed what that Miss Ni was asking.

Zhou Ting gripped the umbrella handle. While striding forward quickly, he watched that woman’s hazy figure in the misty rain. He suddenly stopped.

Chao Yisong had just stepped out when unexpectedly rain droplets pelted his entire head and face. Depressed, he turned back.

Zhou Ting’s back was straight, the hem of his dark robe stained with wet rain: “I don’t believe her.”

“Ah?”

Chao Yisong was stunned.

“Her case hasn’t been tried yet. There’s no evidence proving she’s guilty, but also no evidence proving she’s innocent. If I rashly say I believe her, I’d be deceiving her.”

Zhou Ting watched as that woman was about to fade into the distance, then resumed his steps, walking past Chao Yisong: “First escort her back. Tonight you’ll stay on duty late. Consider it repaying her kindness in treating your leg injury. Come with me to interrogate that A’Zhou.”

“…”

Chao Yisong was speechless.

The shop front that Ni Su had spent several days tidying up, after being searched by Guangning Prefecture office bailiffs, was once again a mess. Even the floor she’d scrubbed was covered with chaotic muddy footprints.

Outside, thunder rumbled. The main hall’s light was dim. Ni Su was drenched all over with rain.

“Chao Yisong, have them come clean up.”

Zhou Ting entered and saw her standing there all alone. Sweeping a glance at the mess inside the hall, he turned back and spoke.

Chao Yisong and others came in and began setting upright bookshelves and collecting scattered objects.

“There’s no need, Young Master Zhou. I can clean up myself.”

Ni Su’s mind was on Xu Ziling. She raised her head to refuse.

“Just a small effort. Don’t worry about it.”

Zhou Ting saw her unconscious trembling. He turned back to receive hot ginger tea that Chao Yisong had bought from a tea stall outside and handed it to her.

They quickly finished cleaning up and left, leaving only a few people outside to find a sheltered spot from the rain to stand guard. Zhou Ting also left with an umbrella.

Chao Yisong hobbled unevenly under Zhou Ting’s umbrella. After pondering rather mysteriously for a moment, he elbowed Zhou Ting and said, “Young Master Zhou, guess what I just saw?”

“What?”

Zhou Ting’s expression became serious, thinking he’d discovered some clue related to the case.

“A garment that hasn’t been finished yet!”

Chao Yisong had a face full of smiles. Meeting Zhou Ting’s calm, stern face, he fell silent again for a moment, helplessly saying, “Sir, I saw it was a style for men to wear.”

A style for men?

Zhou Ting was startled.

“You say, could that Miss Ni be making it for you!” Chao Yisong finally said the words he most wanted to say.

“Those grandsons from Guangning Prefecture—searching isn’t the same as raiding a home. How could they be like a plague of locusts passing through?”

He sighed. “That garment wasn’t even finished yet. I saw it had fallen on the ground with a pile of embroidery threads. Who knows how many dirty footprints were stepped on it? I’m afraid even washing won’t help. What a pity.”

Zhou Ting said nothing, only lowered his eyes.

The sky became completely dark. After Zhou Ting and the others left, Ni Su immediately ran to the back corridor. She lit a lantern and called out for Xu Ziling repeatedly, but heard no response.

Ni Su pushed open a door.

In the pitch-black room, the light from the lantern in her hand suddenly spread. She walked around the screen. The dim yellow light and shadow illuminated the young man lying on the bed.

He was very quiet—so quiet that Ni Su thought perhaps a living soul could die a second time after all.

“Xu Ziling!”

Ni Su set down the lantern. Dust motes floated. Once again she clearly saw beneath his rolled-up sleeves the blood-red wounds where flesh had been flayed away, crisscrossed and horrifying.

It seemed lighting this lantern gave him a thread of life. After a long time, Xu Hexue finally opened his eyes. His bloodless lips moved: “Ni Su, can you light a few more lamps?”

Ni Su immediately found incense candles and, borrowing the lantern’s candle flame, had just lit ten when she heard him say, “That’s enough. I can see clearly now.”

Ni Su turned around.

“It seems that Master Zhou went in time. You weren’t injured at Guangning Prefecture.”

Having gained some strength, he drew his sleeves tighter, concealing his wretchedness.

Ni Su had thought he asked if she could light more lamps because of the pain he endured, but it turned out it was to wait for this moment when his eyes regained clarity so he could see whether she had been tortured.

Even when many pairs of eyes looked at her in A’Zhou’s courtyard today with undisguised contempt and disdain, even when she was insulted by A’Zhou as “lowly,” when they refused to call her a “physician” and always wanted to condemn her as an “herb woman”—Ni Su hadn’t shed a single tear.

Yet she only heard this person before her say one sentence.

And her eyes immediately reddened.

“Xu Ziling,”

Tears blurred her eyes, making her briefly experience the feeling of him curled up alone in this pitch-black room, his eyes unable to see: “I’ll never ask people to deliver meals again. I’ll learn to cook myself.”