Wang Daxia’s first reaction was that the Imperial Guards wanted to arrest him again. They’re looking for me again? Didn’t they already prove I was innocent?

Wait, how do the Imperial Guards know I’m hiding at the young widow’s house?

Wei Caiwei’s first reaction was also that the Imperial Guards were looking for her, but she had made arrangements long ago and was confident her plan was airtight…

Wei Caiwei pointed to the back door of the courtyard and whispered: “Leave quickly, don’t worry about me. It wouldn’t be good if the Imperial Guards discovered you stayed overnight at my house.”

That’s right—if the Imperial Guards came in and searched the house, a big living person like me definitely couldn’t hide.

Wang Daxia shouldered his bundle and ran off.

Wei Caiwei thought: He really is… useless at everything except running away fast.

After Wang Daxia left through the back door, Wei Caiwei opened the front door.

Just as she opened it, an Imperial Guard kicked the door from outside. If Wei Caiwei hadn’t reacted quickly, she would have been kicked right in the chest!

Wei Caiwei retreated too quickly and her back hit the shrine, causing the memorial tablet to fall down again.

Dozens of Imperial Guards swarmed in like a flood. Their leader was actually a rather handsome young man who raised his hand: “Search!”

The Imperial Guards ran like locusts to search upstairs and downstairs, the small courtyard, even the kitchen that hadn’t been used for cooking—everything was turned upside down.

The young man asked Wei Caiwei: “Why did you only open the door now?”

Wei Caiwei said: “A widow living alone should be cautious. People outside claimed to be Imperial Guards banging on the door—this common woman didn’t dare rashly open it. I just looked through the window crack and saw they were indeed wearing Imperial Guard uniforms, so I opened the door.”

The young man lifted his robe hem and sat steadily on the arhat couch with his legs spread like a horse stance, hands on his knees, looking Wei Caiwei up and down: “So many people burst in, yet you don’t seem afraid at all.”

Wei Caiwei straightened her dead ghost husband’s memorial tablet, gently brushed off the dust, and repositioned it properly: “The Imperial Guards investigate cases to eliminate violence and bring peace—this common woman should naturally cooperate.”

The young man looked at her with interest: “You don’t even ask why the Imperial Guards are looking for you?”

Wei Caiwei lowered her eyes and clasped her hands: “This common woman had the fortune to witness the Imperial Guards apprehending suspect Young Master Wang the night before last. Young Master Wang was a tyrant of the Northern District, yet he was chased by the Imperial Guards like a homeless dog, his life hanging by a thread. Even the beloved son of the Northern District Military Commissioner was reduced to such a state before the Imperial Guards—this common woman is even weaker than an ant. Whatever the Imperial Guards do, this common woman should naturally comply. Whatever the military officers ask, this common woman will answer. This common woman dares not question the military officers.”

The young man took out a handwritten ledger: “Wei Caiwei, seventeen years old, from Tieling in Liaodong, medical registry.”

The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, had divided household registrations by occupation into military households, horse households, salt households, merchant households, artisan households, medical households, and so on.

Wei Caiwei showed surprise: “How does the military officer know this common woman’s background?”

The young man said: “You stayed at the Sijia Inn across from the Shuntian Prefecture office the night before last. According to regulations, before checking into an inn, one must register household registration, name, and address. Thousand-Household Commander Chen was poisoned to death that night, so the Imperial Guards must investigate all guests who stayed at the inn that night.”

Wei Caiwei said: “I see.”

The current address she had filled in that night was Tianshui Alley.

The young man extended his hand: “Bring out your household certificate—I need to verify its authenticity.”

Wei Caiwei used an ear pick hairpin from her hair bun to pry open the base of her deceased husband’s memorial tablet. It was actually hollow inside, containing several banknotes and a pale yellow household certificate.

The young man raised an eyebrow: “Oh, you’re quite good at hiding things. But since I’ve seen it, you’ll have to find a new hiding place from today on.”

Wei Caiwei didn’t respond and handed the household certificate to the young man with both hands: “Please inspect it, military officer.”

The young Imperial Guard unfolded the certificate, which had a border of plum blossoms around the edges and read from top to bottom:

“Female household, one household Wei Caiwei, medical registry of Tieling Guard, registered in the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing.

One female, herself, fifteen years old.

Property: seven tiled rooms, four qing of north-south mountain land, twenty mu of civilian fields, one boat.

This household certificate is given to Wei Caiwei for safekeeping. Verified.

Seventh day of the fifth month, thirty-seventh year of Jiajing, Tie character number 700″

Looking at the back of the certificate, there were three lines of text stamped on it:

“Tieling Guard Administrative Officer,” “County Magistrate Qian Wende, County Vice-Magistrate Fu Xue,” “Clerk Ding Wu”—all three had large red seals.

This household certificate couldn’t be more authentic.

The young Imperial Guard examined the certificate repeatedly twice and pointed to the memorial tablet on the shrine: “You’re a widow and the head of a female household—why isn’t your son-in-law Wang Erlang written on the certificate?”

Wei Caiwei said: “Household registrations are renewed every ten years with new records. After my parents died, I established a female household to inherit the medical registry and serve the Ming Tieling Guard. This registration was made in the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing. My deceased husband and I were married for less than a year before he passed away, so he wasn’t included in the registration.”

Simply put, household certificates were valid for ten years. After ten years, one needed to report population and property changes during that period to create new records and receive a new certificate. The court used the population and property listed on certificates for taxation.

It was now the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing—still eight years until the next registration.

Her deceased husband died before he could be added to the household registry.

The young Imperial Guard returned the certificate to Wei Caiwei and asked: “You’re a widow with a home, so why did you stay overnight at an inn?”

“This is a long story.” Wei Caiwei explained the entanglement between landlord Young Master Wang, her stepmother, and Chen Jingji: “…The key to the second lock is with Young Master Wang. I couldn’t return home, so I stayed nearby at Sijia Inn.”

The young Imperial Guard asked: “Do you remember which room number?”

“I don’t remember.” Wei Caiwei shook her head blankly. “I only remember it was the second door around the corner on the left side of the second floor.”

The young Imperial Guard said: “That was Room Seven of the Di character series, with a window directly facing the Shuntian Prefecture office—you could see the row of hitching posts at the office entrance. What did you see that night?”

Wei Caiwei paused: “Dinner was wontons, but halfway through eating, the Imperial Guards came to arrest Young Master Wang. I followed Chen Jingji to watch the excitement. Later when I checked into the inn I was hungry, so I went out to the adjacent pastry shop and bought a box of buttered snails as a late-night snack. The buttered snails were somewhat sweet and greasy, so I had the shop assistant brew a pot of green tea to go with them.”

Wei Caiwei picked up a tiger support and spun it, making tinkling sounds: “I’m a traveling doctor who moves through the markets—I was quite tired after a day’s work. I lay down after eating, but because I drank green tea before bed, I tossed and turned until nearly dawn before falling asleep, and woke up at noon.”

“I went downstairs to eat lunch and settle the bill together. I had only stayed one night, but the innkeeper said that settling after noon meant paying for two nights. I argued with the innkeeper about this—I said I came downstairs before noon, and only delayed because I ate a meal at your establishment. The innkeeper scolded me for being a country bumpkin from out of town who didn’t know the rules of capital inns. As a widow, I couldn’t argue publicly, so I paid for two nights and left. But I’ll never stay at that crooked inn again.”

Wei Caiwei guessed that when the Imperial Guards examined Thousand-Household Commander Chen’s body, they would certainly discover that the three needle marks at the base of his thigh were where the poison spread, thereby discovering the poisoned needles embedded in the leather saddle and deducing that Chen wasn’t actually poisoned by drinking tea in the Shuntian Prefecture courtroom, but that someone had tampered with his saddle.

This could be seen from the fact that Young Master Wang and his father weren’t under Imperial Guard surveillance or summoned last night—both father and son were in the courtroom at the time and couldn’t have tampered with the saddle.

The Imperial Guards were still quite capable—they immediately eliminated everyone in the courtroom and focused suspicion on people who might have had access to Thousand-Household Commander Chen’s horse.

Sijia Inn across from the Shuntian Prefecture office was a key focus of the Imperial Guards’ investigation.

When Wei Caiwei planted the poisoned needles, she anticipated this would be discovered. Knowing the inn’s rule of charging for two nights if you checked out after noon, she still pretended to be a newcomer, dawdling to eat lunch at the inn before settling the bill, and arguing with the innkeeper.

She deliberately wanted the innkeeper to remember her—because a real assassin would want to remain silent and unnoticed, and would never argue with an innkeeper over one night’s lodging fee!

Moreover, an assassin wouldn’t leave their real name and address and would run away after killing—how could they obediently wait in Tianshui Alley for the Imperial Guards to find them like she did?

Wei Caiwei had long anticipated the Imperial Guards would come—she just hadn’t expected them to come so quickly, almost catching Young Master Wang staying overnight at her house.

At this time, the Imperial Guards who had searched the house came to report one by one: “Lord Lu, we found nothing suspicious.”

So this young Imperial Guard was surnamed Lu.

After seeing the household certificate and questioning Wei Caiwei, Lord Lu also felt that Wei Caiwei was unlikely to be the murderer of Thousand-Household Commander Chen.

Someone capable of using such a meticulous killing method as hiding poisoned needles in a saddle to poison Thousand-Household Commander Chen couldn’t possibly dare to argue with an innkeeper the next day and leave a correct address waiting for the Imperial Guards to find them.

Moreover, before killing Thousand-Household Commander Chen, the murderer had also slit the throat of Chen’s eldest son!

Killing two people in one day—a young widow couldn’t possibly do that.

Lord Lu stood up from the arhat couch and waved his hand again: “We’ve disturbed Dr. Wei today. Let’s withdraw.”

Just as he finished speaking, an Imperial Guard excitedly held up a dead mouse: “Lord Lu, we have a discovery! This household indeed harbors poison! Look, they’ve even poisoned a mouse to death!”

At this moment, Wei Caiwei wanted nothing more than to castrate her dead ghost husband with a knife: Young Master Wang! I told you to dispose of the dead mouse—you should have thrown it in the courtyard! How lazy can you be!

Just as Wei Caiwei was thinking of how to make excuses, Wang Daxia’s voice came from outside the door: “Everyone come look! Imperial Guards are kicking down a widow’s door in broad daylight! A bunch of grown men bullying a young widow! Is there any justice? Is there any law? Do you know whose house this is? You broke my door—you have to pay for it! Even if this lawsuit goes before the emperor, I’m in the right!”

Wang Daxia had actually returned, risking being caught and confined at home to stand up for me?

Wei Caiwei changed her mind yet again: Perhaps he really could still be saved?

Author’s Note: Wei Caiwei: Every day bouncing back and forth between “castrate him” and “keep the family line going”!

Wang Daxia: Every day bouncing back and forth between life and death without knowing it.