Since the weather was a bit colder than the past few days, Duan Mingyi, unlike last time when she’d only worn a short-sleeved qipao, wore underneath a honey-colored georgette Western-style blouse, with a beige Western-style trench coat over it.

The blouse’s collar was fastened with a large bow of matching color, in a strikingly unusual style. The narrow skirt underneath was of an even more unprecedented design, the fabric a thin wool, the color a rich, deep wine-red. With the skirt hem made narrow, her gait appeared extremely graceful, and as she walked slowly forward, she seemed to bring beauty with every step.

Hongdou’s gaze swept over Duan Mingyi’s figure, finally settling briefly on her full bust, and unconsciously sat up straighter herself, thrusting her own chest out a little.

At the same time, she couldn’t help but mentally measure the coat’s size once again, still maintaining her original judgment: this coat wasn’t Duan Mingyi’s either.

At this point, someone took the lead in welcoming her: “Good morning, Miss Duan.”

Duan Mingyi’s fine eyes swept slowly across every corner of the classroom, and she smiled: “Over the summer I had the good fortune to receive an appointment from St. John’s, and this term I’m teaching music theory. Since today is our first class, before formally beginning the lecture, let me introduce myself. My maiden name is Duan, my married name is He. When I was in university, I didn’t study music, but English literature…”

She seemed to have some prior teaching experience — after a brief opening, she moved directly into the lecture topic, her pace neither too fast nor too slow throughout the class, clearly understanding the art of being concise.

The moment class ended, He Zhuyun went up to the podium to chat with her sister-in-law.

Everyone knew they were sisters-in-law, so seeing the two so close together, no one found it strange.

Gu Yun, rushing to her next class, stood up and gathered her books, and seeing Hongdou still sitting motionless, asked in surprise: “Class is over — what are you still sitting here for?”

Hongdou tapped her fingers impatiently on the desk, propping up her forehead as she glanced covertly at the two women on the podium.

She waited and waited, but the two of them simply wouldn’t leave. The coat had been given to her by He Yunqin — who knew whose hands it had come from within the He family? If Duan Mingyi were to recognize it and give rise to some misunderstanding, that wouldn’t be good at all. So she remained seated, saying to Gu Yun: “My stomach’s a bit upset.”

“Your stomach’s upset?”

“I ate too much greasy food this morning. I’ll sit for a bit and feel better. You go on ahead — I’ll come along shortly. Oh, and remember to pick a seat toward the back.”

Fortunately, not long after Gu Yun left, Duan Mingyi and He Zhuyun also left together, and only then did Hongdou clutch the coat tightly and head to another classroom for class.

After her last class, Hongdou, remembering her mother’s instructions that morning, pushed her bicycle out and waited under the shade of a tree at the school gate for her brother.

Many classmates passed by, and seeing the coat draped over Hongdou’s back seat, inevitably asked about it. Growing tired of being asked, Hongdou was just considering whether to move somewhere quieter to wait for her brother, when she heard someone call out not far away: “Hongdou.”

She walked toward the voice. “Brother.”

Her brother’s shirt sleeves were rolled up high, with fine beads of sweat on his forehead, suggesting he’d run around to quite a few places that morning.

Seeing the coat on her back seat, he asked as usual: “Why do you have a coat with you again? Hey, isn’t this your friend Gu Yun’s coat?”

Hongdou stammered: “Um, I need to return it to someone shortly.”

Yu Chongyi, being both thick-headed and with his mind entirely occupied by the case, didn’t press further, and simply said: “Brother will take you to eat. Do you have class this afternoon?”

“No class. Does Cousin have any leads?”

“I’ll tell you the details later. Oh, and Mr. He will be joining us for lunch.”

Hongdou was startled — so this man really had taken this case to heart.

The two siblings stepped out of the school gate and saw a rickshaw parked there, with He Zhuyun and Duan Mingyi, the sisters-in-law, talking in front of the car, while He Yunqin stood behind the car, as if to avoid suspicion, a cigarette in his mouth, his eyes looking elsewhere.

He Zhuyun spotted Hongdou and immediately broke into a sweet, gentle smile: “Senior Sister Yu.”

Hongdou slowed her steps — hadn’t the two sisters-in-law only had that one class this morning? Why were they delaying until now to leave?

She laughed. “Miss Duan, Junior Sister He, are you two heading home?” Using her figure to block the view, she handed the bicycle to her brother, and with her free arm, took the coat out from the back seat, tucking it under her other arm to keep it from being noticed.

“We were about to head home, but ran into Second Brother at the school gate, so we chatted a bit longer,” He Zhuyun said, walking closer.

Duan Mingyi, meanwhile, was studying Hongdou where she stood, and quickly recognized her: “Isn’t this the Miss Yu who gave the osmanthus candy to Fourth Sister that time?”

Hongdou secretly grumbled to herself — this woman had quite a good memory.

Hearing this voice, He Yunqin turned his face to look over, and saw Hongdou walking side by side with Yu Chongyi, something tucked under her arm. He looked closely but couldn’t make out what it was. Lowering his head, he snuffed out his cigarette, and said to He Zhuyun: “You go home with Eldest Sister-in-law. I still have matters to attend to.”

He Zhuyun asked, puzzled: “Didn’t you just say you were waiting for someone? Has that person arrived?”

Hearing this, Duan Mingyi looked at Hongdou with slight surprise, her gaze flitting between the two siblings, and after a moment’s thought, took He Zhuyun’s arm and said with a smile: “It seems that person has arrived. Your stomach can’t handle being hungry — go home and eat first. Your second brother’s a grown man, he won’t get lost.”

He Zhuyun never would have guessed that the person her second brother was waiting for was the Yu siblings. Puzzled, she searched the crowd at the gate a while longer before finally withdrawing her gaze and getting into the car with Duan Mingyi.

The driver started the car, and He Zhuyun called out through the window: “Second Brother, don’t forget what we agreed on earlier — you must come home this afternoon. We still need to discuss Mother’s birthday.”

He Yunqin smiled. “I won’t forget.”

He Zhuyun then waved at Hongdou: “Senior Sister Yu, see you tomorrow.”

Once the car had driven off, He Yunqin looked at Yu Chongyi and Hongdou: “Mr. Yu, Tongfu Lane isn’t far from here — since you’ve picked up your sister, why not take her home along the way?”

Hongdou noticed his attitude was subtly different again from last night, and privately guessed he was seizing the chance, seeing that her brother was more easily managed than she was, to sideline her at every opportunity. She glared at him secretly, and said to her brother: “Brother, didn’t you say this morning you’d take me to eat? There’s a Ningbo restaurant nearby that makes good food — let’s go there.”

Yu Chongyi caught her meaning at once and hurriedly said to He Yunqin: “My sister’s heart is set on Yuqi’s matter — if she doesn’t know how the case is progressing, she probably won’t even enjoy her meal. Why don’t we just go with my sister’s suggestion, and make do at that restaurant she mentioned?”

He Yunqin, pretending not to notice the exchanged glances between the siblings, said indifferently: “Let’s go, then.”

The three of them went to the restaurant and casually ordered a few dishes. Yu Chongyi said to He Yunqin: “This morning I confirmed that, besides the clothing shop at the train station, the jewelry shop Yuqi went to after leaving the tea gathering that day was also originally a Yuan family property — only, when Yuan Ruoli divorced last year, he signed that jewelry shop over to his former wife. According to the clerk, Yuqi had ordered a necklace there for Aunt, and that day she’d gone specifically to pick it up. Yuqi apparently exchanged a few words with the clerk while there, and disappeared right after coming out.”

He Yunqin gave an acknowledging hum: “So the jewelry shop entrance is the exact location where Pan Yuqi went missing. This morning I went around that area — it’s quite bustling, with over a dozen shops besides a department store. I asked the clerks at several nearby shops, and they all said they didn’t notice anything unusual last Saturday.”

Yu Chongyi said, astonished: “Mr. He, you investigated the jewelry shop?”

He Yunqin picked up the teapot and poured himself tea: “Time is short and the leads we have are too few. To find Pan Yuqi as quickly as possible, the only way is to trace through her route from Saturday step by step and eliminate possibilities.”

Hongdou naturally picked up the thread: “So Mr. He must have made other discoveries after investigating all morning?”

He Yunqin replied offhandedly: “Naturally. I also learned that Wang Meiping wasn’t simply killed — the manner of her death was strange indeed, as if it involved some ancient ritual. Something had been done to the body.”

Hongdou, whom he’d expected would be frightened into backing down, instead only had her expression shift slightly before she pressed on with a frown: “What’s the reason for that? Why would her captors kill her in such a manner? Did she die three months ago, or only recently?”

Seeing that she wasn’t the least bit afraid, and had gone straight to the crux of the matter, He Yunqin gazed at her quietly for a moment, then leaned back: “Miss Yu, if I knew the answer to that, wouldn’t the case already be solved?”

Seeing he was clearly being evasive on purpose, Hongdou said with a hint of sarcasm: “And here I thought that with Mr. He’s abilities, once you took action, success would be guaranteed — so it seems there are things even you can’t manage.”

Seeing the two of them start bickering the moment they’d sat down, barely a few minutes in, and things already turning tense, Yu Chongyi, worried it would look bad, hurriedly tugged at his sister’s clothes under the table.

Hongdou pretended not to notice, privately thinking He Yunqin was thoroughly detestable — she hadn’t even managed to kick him out yet, and here he was already thinking of shutting her out.

Across the table, He Yunqin gazed at Hongdou, and Hongdou gazed back at him. After a moment, He Yunqin set down his teacup and took the initiative to break the deadlock: “Miss Yu, I offended you many times back at Wang Bide’s place — I still haven’t properly apologized. Let me treat you to this meal today, as a form of amends.”

Hongdou tilted her face up and smiled: “How rare for Mr. He to be so generous — how could I possibly refuse such kindness?” She hurriedly called the waiter over to order.

As she ordered, she thought to herself — had she known He Yunqin would be treating today, she should have suggested “Xiaoyoutian” earlier, a place so extravagantly expensive that one meal there could feed an ordinary family for a month. This man was so wicked, she ought to really fleece him properly.

Yu Chongyi, still puzzled inside, said politely: “Mr. He, my sister’s a bit spoiled in temperament, but she’s always known what matters and what doesn’t — she was just worried about her cousin Yuqi just now, which is why she spoke out of turn. Please don’t take offense, Mr. He.”

He Yunqin only smiled without speaking, the very picture of magnanimity, letting Hongdou order to her heart’s content. After a while, he dipped a chopstick in water and drew something on the tabletop: “Mr. Yu, in your three years as a policeman, have you ever come across such a strange murder weapon before?”

Hongdou’s hand paused on the menu, glancing covertly at the shape He Yunqin was drawing.

Yu Chongyi shook his head: “Never. The murderer doesn’t seem to care whether we study these wooden pegs either — otherwise, by rights, the murderer would normally pull out the weapon beforehand. Why would he brazenly leave clues behind like this?”

“So there must be some reason it absolutely has to be left behind,” He Yunqin said. “This afternoon I’ll go to Wang Bide’s place — his archives are extensive. I’ll look through them there; perhaps I’ll find something.”

Hongdou thought it over, then turned to her brother: “There’s a fellowship at our school that researches folk mysteries and strange occurrences — it’s been established for years. The president is Qin Xuekai from the political science department. He should have plenty of materials on hand too. I’ll go back to school in a bit to find him. If I find anything, Brother, where should I find you?”

The three of them worked out the afternoon’s plans over the meal.

After eating, Yu Chongyi, with the police station on his mind, gave instructions to Hongdou as soon as they stepped out: “Brother has to go now. You head back to St. John’s on your own — Brother will come pick you up from school later.”

Hongdou, hugging the coat, replied: “Got it.”

Once her brother had boarded the tram, she turned and saw He Yunqin still standing there, apparently waiting for a car. She walked over and shoved the coat into his arms: “Here, this is for Mr. He, returned.”

With that, she didn’t even bother to look at He Yunqin’s expression, and walked proudly to her bicycle, riding off.

The moment He Yunqin arrived back at the mansion, a servant came out to greet him: “Second Young Master’s back. Madam was just talking about you — she’s already retired to rest now. Young Madam and Fourth Miss are chatting in the parlor.”

He Yunqin casually handed the coat in his hands to the servant. He’d originally meant to have it sent to his eldest sister’s room, but on second thought, since Hongdou had already worn it, his eldest sister might not want to wear it again, so he changed his mind: “Send it to my room instead.”

The servant complied.

He Yunqin checked his wristwatch — his mother had just retired, so it would be at least another half hour before she rose again. With his eldest sister-in-law and fourth sister in the parlor, it wasn’t convenient to go in just yet. He simply lit a cigarette and stood on the steps, tilting his head up to look at the sky, when, lowering his gaze, he suddenly caught sight of the somewhat worn bicycle parked under the tree.

He stared at the bicycle for a while, then went down the steps, crouched down, and examined the wire on the back seat. The more he looked at it, the more the wire bothered him. Looking around, he saw the steward trimming the hedges by the gate, and called out: “Uncle Li, do you have a wrench?”

Uncle Li hurriedly rummaged through the toolbox and brought over a wrench.

He Yunqin took the wrench and twisted the wire on the back seat straight, then carefully checked to make sure there was no other wire, before finally preparing to stand up.

At this moment, He Zhuyun, having heard from the servants, came out looking for him: “Second Brother, you’re back, and you didn’t even come in — I’m still waiting for you to help me pick out a gift.”

Looking around, she spotted He Yunqin crouched in front of the bicycle, and asked with a surprised laugh: “Second Brother, are you fixing the bike?”

He Yunqin stood up, rubbing his chin, feeling somewhat puzzled himself. Without dwelling on it further, he handed the wrench back to Uncle Li and said to He Zhuyun: “Let’s go — let’s see what gifts you’ve picked out.”

Author’s note: Thanks to everyone for the thunderclaps: much gratitude, bowing, love you all.