Suzhen had brought him up partly as a prank, thinking he would be annoyed, but he showed no reaction, no anger in his eyes, just still slightly frowning.

She gently released him and moved aside. Whether her movement had a quality of avoiding him like the plague, Li Zhaoting’s frown finally reached a certain height.

Suzhen found it amusing, but now, no matter how funny things were, they felt like passing clouds and could no longer remain in her heart as they once did.

“Young Master Li is indeed fearless in the face of danger. Not afraid even at this height – ordinary people would be shaking terribly.” She praised him. Though she no longer tried to either annoy him or make him happy as in the past, since they were talking, there was no need for hostility. She still tossed him a compliment to ease the atmosphere.

Li Zhaoting curved his lips. “If I shook a few more times and fell down, wouldn’t that be even more counterproductive?”

Suzhen laughed heartily, then changed the subject: “In your heart, is the Empress Dowager the killer?”

Asked directly and bluntly.

“Feng Shaoqing is your father, yet you don’t even believe your own father? This past year or so, you’ve truly been thoroughly brainwashed by Lian Yu.” He didn’t answer directly, just asked calmly in return.

“Then haven’t you been quite assimilated by the treacherous minister too?” Suzhen’s tone was calm, without any sense of confrontation, but her words were completely unambiguous.

Li Zhaoting’s eyes narrowed slightly. Suzhen tensed inwardly, preparing for battle, but he showed no intention of exploding. Instead, he smiled.

Today’s almanac must show a good day, Suzhen thought. She asked: “What are you smiling about?”

“Just consider me part of Dowager Consort Ai’s faction. I don’t avoid it,” he said.

“You are whether you avoid it or not,” she said bluntly.

Li Zhaoting shook his head. “In this case, everyone is untrustworthy, everyone has interests involved, but the biggest beneficiary is the Empress Dowager.”

Suzhen: “Lian Jie and the others had no need to lie to me. They don’t seem like they were lying. Since my father was part of Prince Jin’s faction, and his medical divination and astronomical skills were accurate, would the possibility be small that he would make this move? The benefits are comparable to the Empress Dowager’s.”

“But have you considered that one thing is very strange? Everyone has been too focused on murder motives and silencing people, but we’ve overlooked one point. This is also what I’ve been thinking about these past few days, feeling more and more wrong about, and why I lean more toward suspecting the Empress Dowager.”

“For me, I am indeed helping Dowager Consort Ai, but as I said, everything needs evidence. If it’s truly not the Empress Dowager’s doing, or even if it was Dowager Consort Ai, no matter how much I try, I can’t change the truth. But what if it really was the Empress Dowager? For you, wouldn’t that clear your father of the injustice he died unable to defend?”

He wasn’t eager to persuade her, but his eyes seemed to harbor lakes and seas – quiet and deep, able to sweep up all of the other person’s thoughts.

Winter had set in for some time, with heavy frost and dew. For a moment, she felt the cold pressing in.

Suzhen frowned tightly. She almost blurted out a question, but the cases she’d handled this past year had matured her. She didn’t immediately ask.

Li Zhaoting was very clever. How could she not want her father to be innocent? This was her inner demon. If she wasn’t careful, if the other party had ill intentions, being led astray would be very troublesome since she was the chief investigator.

If she determined the killer was the Empress Dowager, even if she couldn’t convict such an exalted person, it would certainly cause court turmoil and public unrest!

But finally, she still asked: “What exactly are you trying to say—”

“Palace maids…” Li Zhaoting slowly spoke these two words.

“Palace maids?” Suzhen repeated, and suddenly something flashed through her mind. That thing that had been lingering in her thoughts since meeting with Ming Yanchu but she could never grasp suddenly became clear.

She moved, the branch swayed, and before she realized it, Li Zhaoting’s expression changed. She had been sitting on the outer end, but when she came to her senses, she was in his arms.

Her back was held in his embrace, and she could feel the slight tension in his arm muscles.

Though he didn’t know martial arts, he was quick-eyed and strong.

“Be careful, there are ambushes in the tree! Protect His Majesty and Her Majesty!”

Though falling from this height wouldn’t be pleasant, it didn’t particularly frighten Suzhen. After all, the previous moment her thoughts had been highly concentrated on the case. But the sudden shouts that followed did startle her.

Looking down, she saw a group of imperial guards tightly surrounding two people.

The man in the center stepped slightly forward, protecting the woman beside him.

Enemies always meet on narrow roads! How did Lian Yu and Gu Xiluo end up strolling here?

Suzhen frowned slightly. Seeing Lian Yu in casual clothes, she suddenly realized that in her journey here, absorbed in thinking about the case, she had unconsciously walked near the morgue. And Lian Yu’s sleeping quarters weren’t far from here. So Lian Yu didn’t mind the stench and actually enjoyed keeping company with corpses.

“It’s nothing. Withdraw.” Below the tree, Lian Yu waved his hand, his gaze carrying a slight chill.

Looking at him, Suzhen unkindly wondered if he had quarreled with Gu Xiluo.

At this time, Xuanwu and the others first smoothly sheathed their swords, and the imperial guards subsequently retreated behind Lian Yu. Ming Yanchu cried out: “My ancestor, Magistrate Li, won’t you quickly come down to see His Majesty?”

Qinglong and Bai Hu looked somewhat startled, but Xuanwu was different as always, turning slightly to the side. Suzhen suspected this fellow was probably smiling.

She shrugged and jumped down. Remembering something, she borrowed force from the tree trunk with a touch, leaped back up, reached out to embrace Li Zhaoting, and brought him down.

Though these actions were quite beautiful and smooth, the scene was somewhat peculiar – a woman holding a tall man…

Li Zhaoting remained characteristically composed and graceful, showing no embarrassment as he knelt in greeting: “Your subject Li Zhaoting pays respects to His Majesty… Consort Gu.”

Lian Yu didn’t tell him to rise, his gaze passing over him to fall calmly on Suzhen.

Suzhen pretended not to see and properly knelt with lifted robes: “Your subject Li Huaisu pays respects to His Majesty and Consort Gu.”

“Rise.” Lian Yu paused before finally speaking.

Gu Xiluo smiled: “Magistrate Li is quite elegant, enjoying the moon with Magistrate Li like this – truly interesting.”

“Your Majesty jest,” Suzhen rose with a slight smile. “Huaisu was merely pretending to be cultured. Your Majesty, His Majesty, and Magistrate Li are the truly elegant ones. Not to disturb Your Majesty and His Majesty’s beautiful evening, your subject takes leave first.”

She bowed to all three of them and, quite unscrupulously abandoning Li Zhaoting, walked toward a side path.

Everyone could only hear an unknown tune being hummed from her increasingly distant direction.

Quite tone-deaf, not very pleasant to hear.

A’luo couldn’t help but laugh: “What is she singing?”

Lian Yu was quiet for a while. A’luo felt displeased and asked: “In A’luo’s humble opinion, does His Majesty find it good?”

“No, it’s truly not very listenable. Let’s go.”

“Alright.” A’luo glanced at Li Zhaoting again. Li Zhaoting still stood respectfully to the side, seeing the two off with neither servility nor arrogance.

She thought that if not for Lian Yu, she might have been moved by him.

Seeing everyone walk away, Li Zhaoting finally moved. But his gaze remained on those two figures heavily guarded ahead, dark as the night.

On the return journey, the little tune that had been hummed slowly echoed in his mind.

“In the seventh month, fire flows west; in the eighth month, not yet ended; in the ninth month, clothes are given.”

These seasons had passed – he didn’t know what she was humming about. She had always been tone-deaf since childhood, but as soon as he mentioned palace maids, she almost immediately caught onto something. She was increasingly unlike her former self.

Several days later, all the corpses arrived.

Everyone gathered in the morgue, where the strange smell of corpses mixed with ginger fragrance filled everyone’s nostrils.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau members discussed while the five coroners Ming Yanchu had assigned examined the bodies. Li Zhaoting watched from the side. Suzhen didn’t immediately begin work but held the roster, comparing it with the bodies one by one.

“Greetings, Magistrate Li.”

At that moment, Suzhen was standing closest to the door, holding the roster and frowning in thought, when she heard a quiet voice. She looked up sharply and was shocked: “You…”

Everyone was startled by her reaction and looked over to see a middle-aged woman of about forty, pale-faced with wronged eyes, but rather delicate features.

Though there were more corpses than people here, it was still broad daylight – ghosts and vengeful spirits couldn’t be that fierce, surely?

Xiao Zhou was about to mock her when two of the coroners looked up and also cried out in surprise.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau members were puzzled. Zhui Ming pointed to a body on one of the beds, then to the woman, exclaiming: “Two of her!”

It turned out this woman at the door bore seven or eight parts resemblance to one of the corpses. That corpse had died horribly – half its skull had been cut away, brains spilling, face bloody, a pair of eyes staring green and ghoulishly.

At this time, Suzhen slowly said: “Are you Miss Song?”

The woman nodded and walked a few steps to Suzhen, kneeling before her. Her eyes were red with grief: “Yes, I am Song Jingxue, paying respects to Magistrate Li. Please, Magistrate Li must seek justice for my elder sister and family.”

But Suzhen stared at her for a long time without speaking. Though the other was a victim’s family member, her eyes examined the woman like knives, very intimidating. The Criminal Investigation Bureau members, Li Zhaoting, and even the coroners stopped their work, looking at Suzhen with even greater surprise.

Song Jingxue was puzzled and obviously somewhat frightened: “Magistrate…”

“Gu Shuangcheng, Gu Xiluo, Song Tingyun, Song Jingxue. No, you’re not Song Jingxue – you’re Song Tingyun!”

Suzhen’s voice echoed coldly throughout the morgue.

Xiao Zhou immediately shouted: “Huaisu, I know you want to solve the case and get information from Song Tingyun, but what connection do the Gu sisters’ matter have with the Song sisters? You can’t substitute like this! You’ll lead the case into a dead end!”