Early on the third day of the twelfth lunar month, Qin Wan was planning to enter the palace, but before she could leave Pine Breeze Court, Fujing came in saying, “Miss, Jinxiu Workshop has sent another set of headdresses. The people are with Madam, asking you to try on the wedding clothes and jewelry. This time they’ve brought all the wedding attire, both inner and outer…”

Hearing this, Qin Wan had no choice but to go to the front courtyard first. There, she saw several unfamiliar middle-aged women standing in the main courtyard. Though these women were older, their clothing was quite luxurious. When they saw Qin Wan, they hurriedly bowed, but their bearing was unlike ordinary household women. Qin Wan knew these were the master embroiderers from Jinxiu Workshop.

Entering the main room, she saw Madam Hu lying ill on a long couch by the window, pointing to two boxes on the floor, “One side has a set of wedding clothes, the other has the headdresses and ornaments for the wedding day. These two embroiderers are not only skilled at embroidering wedding clothes but are also excellent at dressing. Let them help you try them on?”

Qin Wan disliked complexity and said, “No need for the jewelry, just let me try if the wedding clothes fit.”

Madam Hu was ill and didn’t insist. She nodded, “Alright, let Fujing and Baiying help you try them on.”

Fujing opened the boxes and led Qin Wan to Madam Hu’s inner chamber. After changing into the wedding clothes, both Fujing and Baiying’s eyes lit up.

Qin Wan usually didn’t like wearing bright colors, but now suddenly wearing the bright red wedding clothes, her entire person appeared even more radiant and striking, like ice and jade. Fujing couldn’t help saying, “Miss should wear bright colors more often. Miss looks so beautiful in this. Miss, shall we go show Madam?”

Looking at herself in the mirror, Qin Wan was also somewhat stunned. If for no other reason, she had never worn bright red clothes in all these years. Now wearing these clothes, even her bearing seemed to have changed. She was surprised for a moment. After looking for a while, Qin Wan turned to show Madam Hu. Before the troubles began, Madam Hu had been very attentive to her wedding matters. These wedding clothes used Jinxiu Workshop’s best embroiderers and finest materials, otherwise, they wouldn’t have achieved such an effect.

As soon as Qin Wan came out, Madam Hu looked over. Despite being ill, seeing Qin Wan in the wedding clothes made her eyes brighten, “Beautiful… truly beautiful…” Madam Hu sat up straight and carefully examined Qin Wan for a moment. Though she didn’t want to admit it in her heart, she felt that in the same wedding clothes, Qin Wan indeed looked more stunning than Qin Chaoyun. Madam Hu nodded with satisfaction, “Very good, no need for alterations. Just like this when you marry into Prince Rui’s mansion. Prince Rui’s eyes might pop out when he sees you, cough cough…”

As Madam Hu spoke, she began coughing. Qin Wan’s face reddened slightly, “As long as it fits well, I’ll go change out of it.”

After changing out of the wedding clothes, Qin Wan checked Madam Hu’s pulse. Due to deep worry, Madam Hu had also caught a cold, which caused her to cough. Qin Wan wrote a prescription and chatted with Madam Hu for a while before leaving the mansion. The snow from the past few days had stopped, but today was overcast. Just as Qin Wan walked out of the main courtyard gate, snowflakes began falling again. Seeing this, Baiying hurriedly went back to get an umbrella. Qin Wan waited in the corridor for a while until Baiying returned before leaving the mansion gate.

Before Qin Wan could reach the carriage, suddenly a man on horseback galloped up. Qin Wan looked carefully – it was Zhan Yang!

“Why has Captain Zhan come?”

Zhan Yang had ridden here, snow on his shoulders. After many days without seeing him, he appeared somewhat haggard.

Zhan Yang didn’t dismount but said, “Could the County Princess spare a moment to talk?”

Hearing this, Qin Wan knew Zhan Yang had news for her. Without hesitation, she nodded, “Let’s find a teahouse near the street.”

Qin Wan didn’t let Zhan Yang enter the mansion. The mansion was currently closed to visitors, and it would be disadvantageous to him if he entered.

Qin Wan got into her carriage and traveled south for the time it took to burn an incense stick, arriving outside a teahouse. Few people drank tea in winter, and it wasn’t yet noon, so the teahouse was very quiet. Seeing noble guests arrive, the waiter hurriedly came to attend them. Qin Wan and Zhan Yang requested a quiet private room and sat down.

“Captain Zhan suddenly came today, do you have some news?”

The last time Zhan Yang came to find Qin Wan, he told her Li Muyun had looked at Ning Buyi’s case files. She wondered what he had come for this time.

Zhan Yang nodded, “It’s still about the previous matter. Since County Princess mentioned that there might be hidden details in Ning Buyi’s case, I’ve been secretly investigating it. When we caught Ning Buyi, he confessed everything, so we didn’t re-examine the previous cases. But this was Ning Buyi’s second crime. County Princess said his purpose might not be simple, so I went to Guanyin Town.”

“Six years ago, when Ning Buyi committed his crime in Guanyin Town, it should have been his first attempt. In the end, he framed Daoist Zhang. Guanyin Town isn’t large, and because there were no leads at the time, Daoist Zhang, who had been preaching the Moon Worship Sect’s teachings, became the only suspect. But now that Ning Buyi has confessed, I took his portrait and visited Guanyin Town, and indeed found some irregularities…”

At this point, Qin Wan’s eyes lit up!

Yes, after Ning Buyi’s case was settled, Daoist Zhang was indeed cleared of suspicion, but no one had re-examined the case from six years ago. Guanyin Town was between Luozhou and the capital, not close by. After the capital’s yamen closed the case, they only needed to combine the six-year-old case with this one. As for many details, Ning Buyi was already dead, and going to Guanyin Town couldn’t restore the crime process from back then, so the capital’s yamen didn’t have this procedure. Qin Wan hadn’t expected Zhan Yang to make the trip to Guanyin Town himself.

“You went yourself? What did you discover?”

Zhan Yang said, “The yamen had no cases these past few days, and I couldn’t let it go, so I made the trip. I just returned from Guanyin Town yesterday.”

After a pause, Zhan Yang continued, “I went to Guanyin Town, and because six years had passed, many people couldn’t clearly remember someone like Ning Buyi. But I spent three days visiting the entire town and surrounding villages, and finally found where Ning Buyi had stayed in Guanyin Town.”

If Ning Buyi was going to commit murder, he certainly wouldn’t be conspicuous, but he needed to spend so much time in Guanyin Town observing people and planning murders, so he must have had a place to stay. Unless he lived deep in the mountains, his residence would have generated some connections with others.

Qin Wan looked at Zhan Yang with burning eyes. Zhan Yang said, “With the portrait, I found an old grandmother. Her son and daughter-in-law had died from the plague, leaving only a young granddaughter. The grandmother and granddaughter had two village houses, living in one while the other was vacant. The granddaughter is about sixteen or seventeen now, and she recognized Ning Buyi because he had given her a set of scholar’s four treasures and taught her writing and drawing when she was young, so her impression was very deep. Both houses were not far from the market town but somewhat secluded. Ning Buyi rented there for three months, starting two months before the incident six years ago. After the incident, Ning Buyi silently disappeared. Back then, Ning Buyi was young and appeared to be a frail scholarly type, so the grandmother and granddaughter probably never imagined he had killed someone…”

“So in Guanyin Town then, only these grandmother and granddaughter knew of Ning Buyi’s existence?”

At Qin Wan’s question, Zhan Yang nodded, “Yes, only these two people. They prepared his daily meals and necessities. At the time, he said he went to Guanyin Town to focus on painting. The grandmother and granddaughter didn’t understand much, only felt he was very learned and thought he might be some reclusive scholar, so they didn’t dare ask much. Ning Buyi paid well, so they naturally didn’t dare disturb him randomly. However, the granddaughter said she remembered someone had come to find Ning Buyi during that time.”

Qin Wan frowned, “Someone came to find Ning Buyi?”

Zhan Yang nodded, “When we caught Ning Buyi, his friendships and servant relationships were all very simple. No one knew his true nature. When he went to Guanyin Town, he went alone, but someone came to find him in between. I suspect this person was someone who knew about his murders – possibly the person behind him, either his master or his accomplice.”

Qin Wan was greatly shocked. Zhan Yang’s analysis on this point was very accurate. At that time, Ning Buyi would not have met with any unrelated persons.

“Do they remember what that person looked like?”

Qin Wan felt somewhat urgent, but Zhan Yang smiled bitterly, “Too much time has passed. The granddaughter was only ten then. She only said she saw that person once when she went to borrow painting paper from Ning Buyi. She can’t remember clearly what the person looked like, only that he was also quite young. The only strange thing was that despite his young age, he used a walking stick, and although he heard her voice, he didn’t look at her at all, but he wasn’t lame…”

Qin Wan listened very attentively. When Zhan Yang finished, a cold light suddenly flashed through her mind.

The person this granddaughter described clearly had…

Qin Wan felt a chill down her spine, disbelief flickering in her eyes.