Oh ho ho?!

Lin Sui’an’s eyebrows nearly flew off her face: Now this was interesting.

After delivering the news, Hua Yitang shuddered, rolled up his sleeve to show Lin Sui’an his arm. “Look — even my arm hair is standing on end! Can you believe it — do you think we’ve actually seen a ghost?!”

Hua Yitang’s arm was pale and delicate, and frankly speaking, there was no visible arm hair to speak of, let alone individual pores. Whatever beauty regimen had cleared away the red marks left by a ruler had also left the skin positively luminous. Lin Sui’an’s gaze lingered on that white, soft arm, watching as a layer of goosebumps rose across it — and then she snapped her eyes away.

“Perhaps it was merely someone with a similar face.” Lin Sui’an said, pulling her gaze back.

Hua Yitang hurriedly pulled his sleeve back down, the tips of his ears flushing pink.

Lin Sui’an’s expression didn’t move a muscle. “Where are Mu Xia and Yita?”

Hua Yitang’s fan-waving posture was slightly stiff. “Mu Xia has gone to look into the news about Fifth Miss Yuan’s great-aunt. The Hua Family has a few shops in Guangdu, so making contact shouldn’t be difficult. Yita has gone to check the other gem and treasure shops—”

“You suspect the other shops have fakes too?” Lin Sui’an asked.

“Better to check and be sure.” Hua Yitang’s expression and movements returned to normal. “What about your end?”

“After Xiao Yan finished work, she went to see an old artisan named Lu Shi — but—” Lin Sui’an furrowed her brow. “Lu Shi is dead.”

Hua Yitang’s fan went still.

Lin Sui’an lowered her eyes and scratched her forehead. She was in something of a dilemma right now. Her golden ability was showing that Lu Shi’s death was probably connected to the counterfeit case — a highly valuable clue — but to investigate this lead, she would have to explain to Hua Yitang her reason for continuing the inquiry, which meant she had two choices: one was the same as before, making up some excuse to mislead him; the other was to tell the truth, to tell Hua Yitang she had a golden ability.

If it had been before, she would have chosen to conceal it without hesitation. But now, she found herself hesitating.

[“Never trust anyone — the only person you can trust is yourself!”]

Her rational voice rang out sharp and insistent, but from the depths of her heart another voice arose:

[“No reason needed — I just believe you.”]

These were the words Hua Yitang had spoken in the prison cell before. Even now Lin Sui’an could clearly remember his expression in that moment — clear, resolute, sincere. Especially paired with that beautiful face, it was devastatingly persuasive.

But dare she trust him?

A bizarre ability like this — if she really said it aloud, how would Hua Yitang look at her?

Think she was crazy? Stupid? Mentally ill? Would he regard her as some kind of supernatural freak and keep his distance? Report her to the authorities and have her arrested? Hire someone to cut her down?

Or — would he truly believe her, help her, stand shoulder to shoulder with her?

Did she dare take that gamble?

The rational voice and the voice in her heart rose and fell in alternating turns, intertwining without resolution, impossible to distinguish which was louder. In the end they blurred into a single piercing noise. Lin Sui’an’s heartbeat fell out of rhythm — in the end, it seemed, she still didn’t dare take that gamble.

“Hua Yitang, I—” Lin Sui’an raised her eyes, and then was startled by what she saw. “What are you doing?!”

Hua Yitang had hunched his shoulders, bowed his neck, and was tapping his fingernails against the fan handle with no particular rhythm. He looked like a small creature weighed down by ten thousand jin of pent-up grievance.

“I’m sorry… actually… there’s something I’ve been keeping from you.”

Lin Sui’an: “……”

Lin Sui’an: “Huh?!”

“This is an absolute secret of the Hua Family and must not be shared with outsiders — but—” Hua Yitang suddenly straightened up, his expression solemn. “Since I’ve already decided to be your partner, I should be fully honest with you!”

Hua Yitang spoke so earnestly and solemnly that Lin Sui’an couldn’t help feeling a swell of tension. A flood of wild imaginings burst through her mind like mushrooms after rain:

Could it be this person was also a transmigrant? Reborn? Had past-life memories? Also possessed some hidden golden ability?

But Hua Yitang’s next words immediately demolished all of Lin Sui’an’s imaginings.

“When I was born, a venerable monk gave my fortune a reading. He said I was destined to bring calamity to those around me, and that my life would be filled with a hundred thousand disasters. My father and mother were terrified, and spent a fortune trying to alter my fate. But the monk said that even if he devoted the entirety of his remaining years to it, he could only guarantee me five years of safety. After that, what fate held in store, he too could not foresee — one could only do one’s best and leave the rest to heaven.”

Lin Sui’an: “Uh… you don’t think you might have met a con artist, do you?”

Hua Yitang shook his head. “After my fifth year, I began constantly running into bizarre deaths. To put it bluntly…” At this point, as if harboring some deep personal vendetta against that venerable monk, he ground his teeth as he said: “Wherever I go, people die!”

Lin Sui’an: “……”

“Before, I didn’t volunteer to help Mu Zhong solve cases — those cases always inexplicably found their way to me, and I had no choice. I was forced.” Hua Yitang drew a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It was hard to bring this up. The truth is, the deaths you’ve been encountering are probably all because of me.”

The conversation had taken a somewhat gloomy turn. Lin Sui’an hesitated, extended a hand, and patted Hua Yitang’s shoulder to offer some comfort. “…You can’t necessarily put it that way…”

But the next instant, Hua Yitang suddenly shot upright, his eyes blazing bright. “But I refuse to believe in this fate! They say I was born to bring calamity to those around me — then I’ll be a wastrel with friends all over the world. They say my life is filled with a hundred thousand disasters — then I’ll kick every last one of those rotten disasters over. If I’m destined to be surrounded by bizarre deaths all my life, then I’ll uncover every single truth!”

The words rang out powerfully, delivered with passionate conviction.

Lin Sui’an was completely dumbfounded. She sat there stunned for quite a while, then burst out laughing — laughing louder and louder, laughing until she was doubled over with tears streaming down her face, slapping her leg.

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha—”

Hua Yitang looked even more dumbfounded than she did.

Lin Sui’an laughed for a full cup of tea’s time before she finally caught her breath, wiped her face, and said, “Hua Yitang, thank you.”

“Hm?” Hua Yitang’s look of genuine puzzlement was utterly convincing, yet Lin Sui’an could still detect from this perfectly composed expression the tiniest trace of fluster and shyness.

This man truly was a genuine, double-buffed protagonist — with both “protagonist’s destined aura” and “detective’s constitution.” He was, without question, brilliantly perceptive and possessed of a finely attuned sensitivity. He must have already noticed her abnormalities back during the White Beast case, but he had never pressed her about it. Today, seeing her hesitate again and again, still he didn’t expose her — instead he went and threw caution to the wind, laying out his own fate of being born under an ill star.

Lin Sui’an understood what he was trying to tell her.

No matter what you tell me, no matter how inconceivable it may be, I will believe you.

Because — I am the same.

In this entire world, only I will truly believe you.

So what if her golden ability was inauspicious?

Wasn’t his own habit of attracting deaths wherever he went even more absurd?

And so what?

Through a thousand tribulations, what was there to fear?

Born under an ill star — to hell with it.

Who in this world wasn’t fighting to survive through disaster and difficulty? Even if ten thousand calamities rained down, it came down to eight words: if soldiers come, resist with soldiers; if floods come, hold them back with earth.

Lin Sui’an felt it was as if a dense, heavy fog had cleared from her chest, her entire heart brightened. She curved the corner of her mouth. “Actually, there’s also something I haven’t told you.”

Hua Yitang leaned forward, lips pressed tight, face full of anticipation.

“I can see a brief fragment of the memories of the deceased through their eyes.”

Hua Yitang’s eyes went perfectly round, his jaw dropped, the fan in his hand dropped, even the hem of his robe went limp and motionless.

Lin Sui’an watched him with a smile, in absolutely no hurry, giving him time to slowly process and absorb this.

After quite a while, Hua Yitang closed his jaw back up, picked up his fan, and broke into a bright, radiant smile. “Do tell.”

“The ancient sages did not deceive us — the vast breadth of this world, the wondrous mysteries of this universe — it would truly be difficult for beings such as ourselves to glimpse even a fraction of them. How truly remarkable and extraordinary this is.” After hearing Lin Sui’an’s description of her golden ability, Hua Yitang looked as if he had just achieved a spiritual breakthrough — even the drawn-out lilt at the end of his words was filled with contentment. “That you and I could encounter such a turn of fate — it is truly something rare and fortunate.”

Lin Sui’an gave a snort. “Indeed. Two wretches together — neither of us has any room to look down on the other.”

Hua Yitang fanned himself and grinned foolishly for a while before turning his expression serious. “Describe to me in detail what you saw about the jewelry.”

This was a tremendous challenge for Lin Sui’an. The visions shown by the golden ability lasted at most a few seconds, and with the deceased person’s memory filter added in, there was always some distortion. More critically, Lin Sui’an knew nothing about the jewelry of this era, so no matter how she gestured and described, by the time she was done, not only Hua Yitang but even she herself had gotten confused.

Hua Yitang thought for a moment, retrieved brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and swiftly sketched a hairpin. “This is the counterfeit from the gem and treasure shop. Look carefully — is it the same as what you saw?”

Lin Sui’an stared at it for a long time and frowned. “There are some similarities, but… it doesn’t quite seem the same. It would be best to see the actual piece again.”

There was still some time before curfew. The two of them hurried off to the gem and treasure shop. The shop was already closed. Hua Yitang casually removed a hairpin and fiddled with the lock for a moment, opening it easily, then inserted the hairpin back, and walked in as if he owned the place.

Lin Sui’an: “……”

She was now seriously suspicious that the inside thief was this very person.

Noticing Lin Sui’an’s look of “I’ve got my eye on you,” Hua Yitang hurriedly explained: “All the locks in the Hua Family’s shops are specially custom-made. I’ve been playing with them since I was little, so I can open them easily. As for locks made by other workshops — I genuinely can’t pick those…” He paused and lowered his voice: “This matter — other than Mu Xia, only you know. Don’t ever tell my elder brother. He’d have every lock in every Hua Family shop replaced, and that’s far too much money to waste.”

Lin Sui’an: Ha. Truly, one can guard against external thieves but not against the thief within one’s own family.

Hua Yitang retrieved the counterfeit and handed it to Lin Sui’an. Lin Sui’an turned it over several times and said from memory: “The pearls should be a bit smaller, the placement slightly off-center, the engraving not quite as elaborate, and the pin itself seems a bit finer…”

As Lin Sui’an described, Hua Yitang sketched, revising and adjusting. It took a full incense stick’s time before they produced a rough draft.

Lin Sui’an studied it carefully. “More or less like this.”

Hua Yitang’s expression was a little dark. “These two hairpins are completely different in style. Where exactly did you see the resemblance?”

Lin Sui’an: “Both are hairpins. Both have pearls.”

Lin Sui’an felt a little awkward. “I’ve never worn jewelry before — I can’t tell the finer differences.”

What Lin Sui’an meant was that she’d never worn the jewelry of this era and naturally hadn’t researched it. But she didn’t know what Hua Yitang misunderstood this time. He furrowed his brow and stared at Lin Sui’an for quite a long time, a faint flush surfacing deep in his eyes — then he quickly averted his gaze, hem-hawing awkwardly for a long moment before finally producing one sentence:

“Where is Lu Shi’s body now?”

“He was probably taken away by Lu Jiu.” Lin Sui’an said. “You suspect the cause of Lu Shi’s death?”

“If he had any connection to the counterfeit case, then the timing of his death is far too suspicious. I need to examine his body again.”

This time Lin Sui’an was truly shocked. “You also know how to perform post-mortem examinations?!”

She had grossly underestimated this wastrel — he apparently had knowledge of even such obscure areas?

“I don’t know how. But I just need to slip the county coroner a little payment, and he’ll be happy to help.” Hua Yitang said with full confidence.

“Uh…” Lin Sui’an scratched her forehead. “I forgot to mention — the county coroner is a drunkard, and apparently can’t perform post-mortem examinations at all.”

The two wretches stared at each other at length. For the first time, both of them fully appreciated just how pressing this urgent practical problem really was — neither of them knew how to perform a post-mortem examination.

Hua Yitang: “Who determined the cause of Lu Shi’s death earlier?”

Lin Sui’an: “A physician by the surname Ji.”

“Let’s go find him for help then.”

Lin Sui’an felt this was unlikely to work. Heyue City, neither large nor small, had thirteen wards and a population of one hundred thousand. There were probably several hundred physicians at minimum, and she didn’t even know this Doctor Ji’s full name — where on earth were they supposed to find him?

Every moment like this made her desperately miss the modern communication tools — if she could just call Jin Ruo and have him ask Xiao Yan for Doctor Ji’s address…

“Found him. Doctor Ji lives in Seven River Ward, Five Stone Street, the Ji Family Medical Hall.” Hua Yitang turned around and waved Lin Sui’an over, a beaming passer-by standing right beside him.

Lin Sui’an: “……”

How had this happened? They had barely come out of the gem and treasure shop and turned a corner, and Hua Yitang had already gotten the address. Could the Hua Family have an intelligence network to rival the Pure Gate’s?… No, it couldn’t.

Lin Sui’an saw the gold leaf in the passer-by’s hand. Of course — the Hua Family’s hereditary “power of cash.” The passer-by was grinning so broadly the wrinkles on his face could have pinched flies flat. “Young gentleman, it’s on my way — I can take you there myself.”

What a spendthrift wastrel!

Lin Sui’an suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and listened as Hua Yitang and the passer-by chatted the whole way there. One had to admit — Hua Yitang’s conversation skills were truly remarkable. He always found just the right moment to say “There was something like that?” or “Oh?” or “I’ve never heard of that in all my years!” or “Ah, so that’s how it is!” — perfectly playing the supporting role, keeping this passer-by talking in an endless, free-flowing stream.

“Young gentleman, being from out of town, you may not know — that North Peak Ward is a terrible place. Bad fengshui, heavy sickness in the air. The old people living there are all just taking it day by day, with nothing to look forward to and no means to do anything about it. If they fall ill, they can only grit their teeth and bear it — to be blunt, they’re just waiting to die. The city’s physicians are all drawn to the wealthy and reluctant to go there. Only Doctor Ji is willing. Not only does he offer free consultations to the ward’s old people, he even covers the cost of their medicine out of his own pocket. His medical skill is also excellent — he’s cured many people. If you ask me, that kind of good deed deserves a memorial tablet at the very least.”

“Those quacks all say Doctor Ji is just seeking fame. Utter rubbish — if they care so much, let them go offer free consultations too. Hmph — they won’t spare a single copper to help anyone, and they have the nerve to criticize Doctor Ji. Hey, this Heyue City may be small, but as the saying goes: shallow water has many snapping turtles, and small temples have fierce demon winds. There are plenty of mediocre, unscrupulous physicians around. Especially that one surnamed Fang in Central Peak Ward — I’ve heard he’s killed several patients already and had to pay out so much in compensation he practically pawned his trousers—Bah, forget it, talking about him brings bad luck.”

“Doctor Ji doesn’t care about money, doesn’t care about fame. To pay the medicine costs for those old people, I’ve heard he secretly sold off his wife’s dowry. His wife is a truly virtuous woman — if it were my nagging wife, she’d have lifted the roof off the house by now!”

When the passer-by began complaining about how badly his wife cooked, the Ji Family Medical Hall finally came into view. True to what had been said — the frontage was modest, the signboard free of any fancy decoration, the pennant banner so long unwashed it had gone grey in the evening light. But the interior was quite tidy: to the left, a full wall of medicine cabinets, labeled in red ink with the names of various medicinal herbs; to the right, rush cushions — likely the waiting area for patients. Directly ahead was a physician’s desk bearing an armrest pillow, stationery, and the four scholarly tools. Behind the desk leaned a plain screen divider, its back faintly glowing with light — likely a direct passage to the inner residential quarters.

Lin Sui’an was just wondering why Doctor Ji wasn’t at his consulting desk when suddenly, from behind the screen, came a woman’s alluring voice.

“Doctor Ji, you’ve kept this lowly one waiting so long — I’m quite anxious~”

Behind the screen, light and shadow flickered, projecting the silhouette of a slender figure — a narrow waist, long legs, swaying gracefully.

Then Lin Sui’an heard Doctor Ji’s voice, his breathing rather rapid, as if suppressing something: “You Jiuniang, this truly cannot be rushed.”

“How much longer? This lowly one can’t wait~”

“Almost done, almost done—”

A loud crash, as if something had been knocked over. You Jiuniang let out a cry and fell to the ground, following it with a string of screams, her robes and sleeves fluttering wildly.

Hua Yitang’s fan hit the floor with a resounding crack. The whole man looked like he’d been set off by a firecracker, turning red from head to foot. He hastily grabbed at Lin Sui’an’s arm. “Why don’t we come back another—”

He hadn’t even grazed the hem of Lin Sui’an’s sleeve. She shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.

Short Skit:

Lin Sui’an: Well, well — is this a free show I’m getting without paying admission?