The child wordlessly handed the Luban lock to Du Lai. “Father can’t keep me company. He said that whenever I manage to take it apart, that’s when he’ll come home and play with me.”

Du Lai smiled and gently took the Luban lock from the child’s hands.

For a street magician, Luban locks and nine-ring puzzles were the most basic of basics — mandatory practice items.

Du Lai dismantled the Luban lock into its component pieces in two or three moves, then placed them back in the child’s hands and “warmly” asked again:

“Child, do you know — what happened in that household? Who was it that died?”

This time the child answered quickly: “Everyone knows. The village head got his head chopped off last night. Ma-shi slept through the whole night next to the headless man, and when she woke up this morning she wet her pants in fright — embarrassing or what? Embarrassing or what? A grown adult wetting her pants!”

Having said all that, the child pulled a face, turned, and ran off.

Du Lai watched the child disappear into the distance, stood up deep in thought, and said to his companions: “That little speech mentioned two people. One is the village head — last night someone cut off his head. The other is Ma-shi, who must be the village head’s wife.”

“What’s a village head? Is that a name?” Fu Miaoxue asked.

“It means the head of the village,” Du Lai explained. “Last night the village head of this village was beheaded.”

Fu Miaoxue wrinkled her nose in disgust. “How gruesome. I have no desire to look at a headless male corpse.”

“Now this is interesting,” Bai Youwei murmured slowly, turning it over in her mind. “The husband was lying right beside her, his head severed, yet his wife had absolutely no idea — she slept until morning before she found out… Strange. Beheading isn’t a quiet affair. It would make a great deal of noise, and blood would spray everywhere. How could someone sleeping in the same bed be completely oblivious?”

Shen Mo said: “The killer is either a local villager or the bone-carrying woman from last night. There’s no third possibility. Let’s go in and take a look first.”

They attempted again to enter the house.

At the doorway, the host asked them: “For whom have you come to pay your respects?”

Shen Mo said: “To pay our respects to the village head.”

The man respectfully stepped aside. “Honored guests, please come in.”

Having been permitted entry, they felt a measure of relief.

Since this approach worked, finding other clues would presumably follow the same pattern.

Shen Mo, pushing the wheelchair, came to a stop, brow furrowing slightly.

Du Lai also halted in front of the threshold, his expression grave.

The barrier before the courtyard gate… it was still there.

They could not enter.

Why? They had already answered the host’s question — so why were they still unable to get through?

Just as they were puzzling over it, they saw Fu Miaoxue step lightly across the threshold, habitually reaching to hook Du Lai’s arm — and finding nothing. She turned back involuntarily —

She found all her other companions were still outside!

“Why aren’t you coming in?” Fu Miaoxue asked, bewildered.

Shen Mo, Bai Youwei, and Du Lai all looked at her with complicated expressions, as they simultaneously realized a very, very simple piece of common sense.

When paying a condolence visit to someone else’s home, attire carries certain expectations.

Dark tones are the standard — ideally black or gray.

Of their group, Fu Miaoxue was the only one dressed entirely in black.

Naturally, Shen Mo’s top was also black — but the issue with Shen Mo was that the top was a short-sleeved T-shirt, and in ancient times, exposing one’s arms while calling on someone’s home in condolence was also considered discourteous.

As for Du Lai, he wore a gray hoodie, but his lower half was a pair of patterned hip-hop shorts.

Bai Youwei wore a white sundress with a camel-colored wool shawl draped over her shoulders.

So in the end, Fu Miaoxue was the only one who “passed.”

“I am not going in alone!” Fu Miaoxue found this completely unacceptable. She had just declared moments ago that she had no desire to look at a headless male corpse! So why was she not only going to look at one now, but going alone to do it?!

Absolutely not!

Utterly out of the question!

—