Ever since Yan Qing had asked Murong to purchase a collection of unusual medicines and supplies from the hospital and pharmacy, she had persisted every single day with self-administered acupuncture, supplemented by medicinal compresses prepared from those supplies to soak her legs. Day after day without interruption, she kept at it.

Murong and Jing Zhi had been helping her prepare the herbal decoctions each day and giving her massages along the acupoint charts, though neither of them had held out much hope. After all, this was a condition that even foreign doctors had been unable to treat — how could a complete layperson like their young mistress possibly cure it?

Yan Qing couldn’t resist sprinkling a little more hot water onto her leg, but this time she felt nothing at all.

She knitted her brows, a brief flash of disappointment crossing her face. It passed quickly, replaced by a soft smile. Things were done step by step; ailments were healed little by little. She wasn’t a miracle healer — to be exact, she was using herself as a test subject. Whether a full recovery was ever possible was something she would have to leave to fate.

Murong had already brought a burn ointment and was carefully applying it to the area that had been scalded.

~

The next morning, Yan Qing found herself unable to sit still at home. She asked Murong to call the family driver, and had herself taken to the Military Police Bureau by car.

As she entered through the Bureau’s front gate, she happened to see Shi Ting walking down from the second floor.

He was still wearing yesterday’s uniform. His hair was slightly disheveled, and there were visible dark circles under his eyes. No need to guess — he clearly hadn’t slept a wink all night.

Seeing her, he paused noticeably. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have classes today?”

“The school has a holiday today.”

Murong pushed Yan Qing up to Shi Ting and held out a paper bag. “Director Shi, this is something our young mistress made herself — a little something for breakfast.”

Shi Ting seemed mildly surprised. “You made this?”

“Yes. I was afraid you all might not like sweet things, so I made coconut milk sago cake — not sweet, but it will fill you up.”

“You all?”

“I brought some for Captain Bai and the others as well.”

For a reason he couldn’t quite put his finger on, hearing that she had brought portions for Bai Jin and the rest of them left Shi Ting feeling rather displeased.

“They’re not back yet.” He reached out and accepted the paper bag. “Thank you.”

“Is there any progress on the case?”

“Should be soon.”

Shi Ting was indeed a little hungry. After washing his hands, he wasted no time opening the paper bag. The moment the seal was broken, a wave of clean coconut fragrance swept over his senses. In this season, only the wealthy households of Shun Cheng could still get their hands on coconuts.

“Seventh Brother.” Before he could take a bite, Bai Jin and Zheng Yun came in one after the other, and he had to set the bag down for the time being.

E’Yuan arrived just then as well, and everyone gathered for a quick briefing.

The news Bai Jin brought was not encouraging. With the political situation in such turmoil, the movement of people had become so erratic that disappearances and lost contact had grown commonplace, and relatively few families were actually coming forward to file reports. After systematically cross-referencing all missing persons reports from the past two months, they had narrowed the list down to thirty-five individuals. Each of those thirty-five families had been visited in person — and not one of them had a family member who had undergone an appendectomy.

Zheng Yun’s side had also obtained appendectomy records from several major hospitals. The total number of female patients between the ages of nineteen and twenty who had undergone an appendectomy in February of that year was fourteen — and every single one of those fourteen women was alive and well.

In other words, despite all their efforts, the investigation had produced absolutely nothing. The case had lurched from what had seemed like a moment of clarity to an impasse more complete than any they had faced before, as though every last lead had snapped off clean at the root.

E’Yuan could no longer hold back. “If we took a wrong turn at the very beginning and set off in the wrong direction, it’s hardly surprising that everyone has been spinning their wheels for nothing.”

As he said it, he glanced briefly at Yan Qing — the implication being that it was her faulty conclusions that had sent everyone on a pointless chase.