When Tie Ci returned from shopping around the streets, the dormitory had been completely transformed.

The floor had been leveled and paved with decorative bricks, then covered with a layer of wooden boards. The bed was piled high with thick bedding. A newly bought set of cabinets, tables and chairs in the newest style available in the city. The walls had been repainted and hung with several paintings – all famous artists’ works, the kind where there were more forgeries than originals. The desk was already filled with local county records, geographical chronicles, various miscellaneous notes, popular story books… A pristine white jade vase with raised twin fish carvings held freshly picked pink apricot blossoms.

Tie Ci recognized the items and asked, only to learn that her luggage left behind at Xingfeng Wharf in the capital had already been sent over by her master’s people.

Tie Ci laughed and said good, seeing that Chi Xue hadn’t brought out any overly precious items, so she nodded. But when she sat down, she thought that her decision to come to Ziyang was made on the spur of the moment – she hadn’t told anyone beforehand, yet her master’s people had delivered her luggage so quickly. Her master’s influence…

Thinking this, her heart tightened slightly, then she pushed the thought away.

In any case, her master wouldn’t harm her. He had rescued and helped her more than once – without her master, there would be no her today.

Dan Shuang brought over several small dishes. She had always possessed Yi Ya’s wonderful culinary skills, and Tie Ci was accustomed to eating her cooking. At this time Shen Mi also returned. Tie Ci invited him to eat together, but this smooth and clever person didn’t immediately come over. He just smiled and stood to one side, saying: “Thank you for the young master’s grace. I have already eaten. If the young master doesn’t mind, could you bestow this plate of candied hawthorn on this humble person? My mother has been suffering from stomach discomfort recently and wants some sweet and sour appetizing food. The old woman who cooks at home lacks skill and cannot make such refined dishes.”

Tie Ci’s chopsticks paused.

Shen Mi was so poor his clothes couldn’t even cover his feet, yet his family had hired servants?

She felt disgusted in her heart but showed nothing on her face, indicating for Dan Shuang to pack the dish in a box for Shen Mi. Shen Mi’s face always wore a smile, though that smile was always like carved on his face with little change in curvature. But now this smile carried some brilliance. He thanked her and hurried away.

Dan Shuang looked questioningly at Tie Ci, asking whether to follow him. Tie Ci shook her head.

She wouldn’t easily give anyone her trust, so naturally she didn’t need to worry about being betrayed for now.

After eating and resting for a while, it grew dark. Tie Ci practiced martial arts, meditated, washed up, and went to bed punctually at hai hour. The two maids shared the small adjacent room. Tie Ci never required anyone to keep night watch.

Sleeping until midnight, she suddenly heard knocking at the door. Outside the door, firelight flickered, and someone said roughly: “Get up! Get up!”

Tie Ci got up and opened the door. Standing outside was Old Liu, holding a torch, properly dressed, carrying a bundle that vaguely revealed the pointed end of a saw.

“Time to get to work!”

Tie Ci looked at the sky – the moon was bright and stars sparse, definitely not past chou hour.

Did Ziyang County work so diligently, clocking in for work in the middle of the night?

“Didn’t you say you wanted to follow me to learn skills?” Old Liu frowned. “Learning a craft naturally requires working day and night. Never mind anything else, this old man is eager to return home!”

“Then, master please wait a moment.”

Old Liu sat on the stone outside the door with a frown, lit a pipe, thinking that pampered young masters from the capital needed to wash, dress, comb their hair, and powder their little white faces – it would probably take half an hour. Maybe he’d get lazy and just go back to bed. If he couldn’t wait, he’d go report to the county magistrate that the boy was unteachable, give him a scolding, and then the county magistrate wouldn’t have the nerve to force him to stay. Then he could blame that little white face – what did it have to do with him?

He calculated while contentedly taking a puff, thinking waiting was useless and he might as well go back to sleep. Just as he was about to get up, the door opened and Tie Ci walked out looking refreshed.

Old Liu froze in place.

Seeing this pampered person not only neatly dressed and bundled up, but even carrying a bundle on his back that actually contained a saw too.

Seeing him not moving, Tie Ci even walked ahead, urging him: “Master, hurry up.”

Old Liu stood motionless, saying after a long while: “Do you know where we’re going?”

“Where?”

“The mass grave outside the city.” The old man smiled with ill intent. “To look for those ownerless corpses and learn how to dissect bodies. There’s a wild forest there, rarely visited by people, bones everywhere – convenient for dissection.”

After speaking, he watched her expression.

Cry, cry, there’s no sin in crying. Hurry up and scream and go home to sleep.

Tie Ci indeed turned and went back into the room.

The old man finally smiled with satisfaction, knocked the ash from his pipe, and turned to see Tie Ci coming out again, this time carrying a greasy paper package. She stuffed it into her bundle and said: “Master, let’s go! If we dawdle any longer, it’ll be dawn!”

Old Liu: “…”

The old man, holding in a belly full of anger, was dragged onto a horse by Tie Ci. They rode fast to the desolate Fengbo Mountain west of the city. Below Fengbo Mountain was Fengbo Forest, located in a remote area rarely visited by people.

In the deep night, that patch of forest was pitch black. Looking out from the forest edge, the rooftops of Ziyang County stretched in overlapping layers, all shrouded under boundless darkness. The moonlight hidden behind clouds gilded the black sky with a greasy brightness, looking like reflected light from lamp fires on tall buildings on the earth.

Tie Ci’s gaze moved downward and saw a tall tower with faint lights, like a star floating in the air.

That must be the Cangsheng Tower in Yuantan Temple.

She casually remarked: “Is someone living in Cangsheng Tower?”

Old Liu was dragging bones and digging graves, not looking back as he said: “What are you talking about? Cangsheng Tower has been closed for years. Even when it opens during festivals, people aren’t allowed to go up.”

“But isn’t that…” Tie Ci pointed at the lights to show him, but when she turned back, she found that faint glow was gone.

Old Liu raised his head and naturally saw nothing. He rolled his eyes irritably and muttered: “You’re seeing ghosts!”

This remark didn’t scare Tie Ci, but it startled him instead. He shivered and dragged something to Tie Ci’s feet, saying: “Finally found a fresh one! Come, look, what did this one die from?”

Night birds hooted low in the mountain forest, the air filled with the smell of rotting leaves and unknown decaying matter. Wind through the leaves rustled like ghostly applause, and a thread of moonlight cut through broken graves like a curved blade.

Tie Ci turned her head, and the corpse’s hideous face suddenly crashed into her view. Old Liu waited to hear a scream, but instead Tie Ci waved at the corpse and said: “Hey there, old fellow, sorry to disturb you in the middle of the night. I’ll get you a nice coffin later.”

Old Liu sighed in disappointment, though his expression became much more peaceful.

No matter what, meeting someone who respected his profession and skills, and also respected the deceased, was always a good thing.

Before the grave, two people put their heads together, their murmured voices floating like sleep talk.

“…This person already has corpse spots, blackish-blue all over, can’t see the wounds clearly, right… bring some water. Come, drop a little… what doesn’t flow is a wound, intact skin is softer and will flow away…”

“What if this is a not-fresh corpse, how to examine it?”

“Prepare some vinegar, scallions, pepper, salt. Moisten the skin with water, pound scallion whites and apply, then cover with vinegar-soaked paper for an hour. Wash clean with water, and the wounds can be seen…”

“What about bone injuries?”

“Wash the whole body with vinegar, lift to a bright place, use a newly oiled umbrella or silk to examine against the light, then bone injuries can be detected. Without sunlight, charcoal fire light can also work.”

“What if none of the above methods work?”

“You child are too troublesome! There’s one last method – pound white plums with scallions, pepper and salt into cakes and roast them over fire. Put paper on the area to be examined, and iron back and forth with the white plum cake through the paper… This one died from a broken leg bone with improper care… Look at this one, death by hanging, tongue protruding, feces released, blood marks on legs, slightly charred black, looks like fire burns, lower abdomen blackish-blue… tsk tsk, if we were any later we couldn’t tell, the intestines are rotted through…”

Tie Ci suddenly touched her stomach and reached into her bundle for something.

Old Liu: “Scared? Disgusted? I told you, you pampered young master…”

His complaints about pampered young masters weren’t finished when he saw Tie Ci pull out that greasy paper package, unfold it to reveal a big pile of meat and flatbread.

Old Liu stopped short.

His gaze slowly moved from the corpse on the ground with rotted-out intestines to that pile of meat with pork belly and organs, several times back and forth.

So when she heard about going to the mass grave to dissect corpses and went back, she was actually preparing a midnight snack?

The braised meat was well-made, still fragrant even when cold. But Old Liu hazily remembered that when he first learned to be a coroner, he vomited on the spot and couldn’t look at meat for half a month afterward.

His slow gaze moved to Tie Ci’s face.

The young man, clear as moonlight and fresh breeze, took a piece of flatbread, enthusiastically rolled up a section of fragrant braised large intestine, squatted beside the corpse, bit into it, his mouth full of flowing oil.

He didn’t forget to thoughtfully wrap a piece for him too.

“Would you like a piece too?”

Old Liu: “…”

I’m convinced. Farewell.

…

Tie Ci munched on braised meat flatbread while she and Old Liu turned over corpses for most of the night, even using saws to cut through scattered skull bones, until the night crows suddenly began calling violently. The two looked up to see the moon hanging slanted at the treetops, while the horizon already showed a faint line of white.

Only then did Old Liu get up, pounding his waist and legs, saying: “Let’s go.”

Misty fog rose in the morning forest. Old Liu walked with unsteady steps. Just as they were about to reach the forest edge, Old Liu suddenly stumbled. Tie Ci stepped forward to grab his arm, but Old Liu let out a heart-rending scream that startled Tie Ci so much her foot slipped and she nearly fell.

Then she lowered her head and saw a face with bulging eyes and a terrified expression.

Author’s Note: The ancient corpse examination methods mostly come from “The Washing Away of Wrongs” (Xi Yuan Lu).