It turned out that Leng Yu was a war orphan. During the second warlord conflict, she had been separated from her home and ended up in Shun Cheng, where she was taken in by a local orphanage and had lived there for five years.

“Leng Yu had a younger brother — ten years old this year. He fled to Shun Cheng with her when they escaped.” Zheng Yun’s eyes shone with barely contained excitement. “Her brother’s name is Leng Hu. He has a stomach condition requiring long-term medication. One year ago, the orphanage changed directors and stopped providing the medicine for Leng Hu. Left with no choice, Leng Yu had to earn the money herself to buy it. By coincidence, Fan Dongping also had a younger brother, who suffered from the same stomach condition. According to Zhang Hua, Fan Dongping regularly brought medicine home at intervals, and when Zhang Hua asked where it came from, Fan Dongping would say nothing.”

It was as if a corner of a heavy curtain had been lifted, and a shaft of light came streaming through.

A keen glint entered Shi Ting’s long, narrow eyes. “Both Leng Yu and Fan Dongping had younger brothers with chronic stomach conditions requiring ongoing medication. Equally, neither family had the means to cover both children’s treatment costs. Leng Yu and Fan Dongping were therefore forced to sell themselves in exchange for medicine.”

His long finger tapped lightly on the desk. “Let’s go to the examination room.”

In the examination room, Yan Qing was examining a tissue slide. Without advanced equipment, many of the analytical processes had to be done by eye and inference.

Leng Yu and Fan Dongping had died under suspicious circumstances. She had to determine the cause of death as soon as possible to give the investigation a shorter path to the truth.

There was a light double knock at the door. Shi Ting’s lean figure strode in quickly.

“A new lead?” E’Yuan lifted his head from the body, several red lines crossing his eyes from sustained concentration.

“Both Leng Yu’s and Fan Dongping’s brothers have stomach conditions requiring ongoing medication,” Shi Ting said.

E’Yuan pushed his glasses up his nose. “Stomach conditions in children in Shun Cheng are almost always a chronic illness caused by prolonged malnutrition — we call it ‘war stomach.’ The number of cases in the city is not small.”

“What medication is generally prescribed for that condition?”

“Wakamoto stomach powder — a foreign import. Not expensive, but unavailable in pharmacies. You have to register and queue at a hospital, and supply is extremely limited. You could say it’s next to impossible to obtain.”

“Are there any other ways, aside from going through a hospital?”

E’Yuan thought for a moment, then looked over at Yan Qing. “Through a comprador — a medicine trader. The hospitals themselves source drugs through them, who then mark up the price before supplying the hospitals.”

In this era, many medicines were simply beyond the reach of ordinary citizens. Many pharmaceutical goods required merchants who could operate through special channels — the medicine that Shi Ting’s mother took, for instance, was procured by Master Yan through his own private connections at considerable effort and expense.

The comprador was an occupation unique to this period — a middleman and manager who served foreign capitalists within the local market.

“You suspect Leng Yu and Fan Dongping both came into contact with the same medicine dealer?” Yan Qing set down the slide in her hand and rolled her wheelchair over.

Shi Ting said, “Leng Yu and Fan Dongping were ordinary students — they had no means of directly accessing a medicine comprador. Therefore, there was an intermediary who connected them — someone who introduced them to the comprador and arranged for them to sell their bodies in exchange for medicine. And in a school environment, who would have connections to a comprador? Ruling out students whose social circles are limited, you’re left only with the teaching staff and school employees — who also happen to be the people with the most direct contact with both Leng Yu and Fan Dongping, and therefore the most likely to know their situations and circumstances.”

With each step of Shi Ting’s analysis, the case seemed to grow a little clearer. Yet one thing still nagged at Yan Qing.

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