“Yan’er, Yan’er…”
Shen Du’s face darkened as he approached. Zhu Yan quickly called him in, fearing he might lose his temper.
As Pan Chi entered the room, he felt uncomfortable, sensing he was unwelcome. Still, he brazenly sat between the two.
“Why do you still look so sickly?” Pan Chi asked.
Remembering how Shen Du had saved his life, Pan Chi refrained from changing his expression immediately.
Shen Du looked at Pan Chi calmly and said, “The plan.”
Pan Chi peeled a tangerine and tried to hand it to Zhu Yan, but Shen Du intercepted it. Annoyed, Pan Chi asked, “What plan?”
Shen Du popped the entire tangerine into his mouth.
Zhu Yan chuckled, “Is your plan to claim you’re still poisoned and dump everything on these two?”
Pan Chi nodded vigorously in agreement. “Look at Yingzhou now. Jingling and I are handling everything. You need to understand, you’re the Grand Prefect, while I’m just a detective at best. Have you ever seen a detective govern an entire prefecture?”
Faced with Pan Chi’s barrage of questions, Shen Du was speechless.
Out of curiosity, Zhu Yan couldn’t help but ask, “Did you visit Su Guang on your way here?”
“I did. She was performing another ritual for that cult of hers,” Pan Chi said, clearly irritated. “Every time I pass by and try to explain things, she just curses at me. I’ve decided to take a different route from now on.”
The Holy Maiden’s room was centrally located for easy monitoring, which meant Pan Chi had to pass it every time he visited Shen Du.
Zhu Yan was intrigued. “What kind of cult is it?”
Pan Chi readily shared what he knew. “It’s the Fire Worship cult. They worship fire, but I don’t know the details. I can ask her about it for you sometime.”
Worship fire? For some reason, Zhu Yan thought of the Fire Moths but quickly dismissed the idea. The Lai Party had no connection to the Western Regions, so it was unlikely they were related. She couldn’t link the two just because of the word “fire.”
Seeing Pan Chi reminded Shen Du of the thousand-year-old amber stone. He felt annoyed that the two were chatting away, ignoring him, and always avoiding the topic of the amber. He was frustrated but didn’t want to bring it up first, nor did he want Pan Chi to stay.
Fortunately, Jingling’s arrival solved his dilemma.
Jingling was curious about the gleam in Shen Du’s eyes upon seeing him. Noticing Pan Chi, he immediately understood and gave Shen Du a reassuring look. He strode over to Pan Chi.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding to slack off,” Jingling said disapprovingly.
Pan Chi slumped upon seeing Jingling, who didn’t care, and started dragging him away.
Feeling dejected, Pan Chi turned his captivating, pleading eyes towards Zhu Yan. “Yan’er…”
Jingling pulled harder. “Let’s go. There’s a lot of work to do.”
In the end, Pan Chi couldn’t escape his duties.
Now only the two of them remained in the room.
When their eyes met, Shen Du didn’t know what to say. The thousand-year-old amber stone weighed on his heart like a tumor, making him feel oppressed and uncomfortable, his expression particularly gloomy.
Zhu Yan hesitated, then leaned forward and poked his face.
“Looks like I need to brew some tonic for you,” she said.
Although Shen Du’s face was full of resistance, he couldn’t dissuade Zhu Yan.
Over the next few days, Zhu Yan was often seen carrying a bowl of thick medicinal soup from the eastern kitchen. During this time, Jingling instructed the guards to avoid Shen Du’s room to prevent any accidents.
Each time, Zhu Yan would coax him gently, “If we’re going to pretend, we might as well go all the way. If people find out you’re not drinking the medicine, won’t all our efforts be in vain?”
Shen Du didn’t want to drink it. His whole body screamed resistance, but he always succumbed to Zhu Yan’s attentiveness and drank at least some. Not only did it taste strange and unpleasant, but after drinking it, his body would feel uncomfortably hot. He couldn’t do anything to Zhu Yan to relieve this heat, which made it even more difficult to endure.
Zhu Yan was unaware of this. She genuinely believed that Shen Du’s body was weak after being poisoned and needed nourishment. She had even consulted the military physician, who assured her that the tonic would replenish qi and strengthen the body—beneficial for both the sick and the healthy.
Seeing Shen Du obediently finish the medicine, Zhu Yan picked up her cloth bag and headed to the mortuary to examine the corpses.
As for Lai Luofu, they would just have to wait for her to walk into their trap.
—
Pan Chi wasn’t as frivolous as he appeared. When faced with real work, he set aside his usual playful demeanor. The first thing he investigated was the tax issue.
Although the crisis in Yingzhou City had been resolved, news traveled slowly. With the city leaderless, Shen Du gravely ill, and reinforcements stationed outside to combat the Fire Moth Party remnants, Shen Du had issued an order for Pan Chi to temporarily manage Yingzhou.
Initially, the officials weren’t very cooperative with Pan Chi, but after a few days of interaction, they became more compliant.
Jingling’s opinion of Pan Chi completely changed, and he admired his commanding presence that demanded obedience.
Just as Zhu Yan left for the mortuary, Pan Chi departed from the government office to patrol the streets.
As soon as they entered an apothecary, an apprentice who had been busy organizing herbs called for the physician in the back room.
“Which of you needs a consultation?” the physician asked.
“We’re not here for treatment,” Pan Chi replied before Jingling could speak. “We’re currently in charge of Yingzhou City. We ask for your understanding.”
Upon hearing this explanation, the physician’s tense expression relaxed. He called over the apprentice who had been organizing herbs to attend to them while he returned to his patients.
Pan Chi inquired about procurement, taxes, profits, and other matters in detail. He also examined the account books. Feeling satisfied, he offered some words of reassurance before leaving with Jingling.
Once outside, Jingling asked Pan Chi why he hadn’t let him handle the situation.
Pan Chi gave him a haughty look. “I thought you’d mess it up.”
Although Jingling was annoyed by this statement, he knew it was true. He had been selected by Shen Du for the Imperial Guard and had always been responsible for investigating cases and managing officials. He had never dealt with governing a prefecture.
“Are you that skilled at it?” Jingling asked.
Pan Chi snorted, “I may be unworthy, but my father is a general. I’ve learned a thing or two through osmosis.”
This was far from modest, but Jingling felt looked down upon and wanted to salvage some face. “I’m good at managing military camps,” he said.
But his words were ignored as Pan Chi had already walked away.
Jingling scratched his head and hurried to catch up.
As Zhu Yan made her way, she noticed people staring at her. Curious, she stopped to listen to what they were saying.
Two people, either accidentally or intentionally, let her overhear: “Her husband is on his deathbed, and she still has the heart to deal with dead bodies?”
“Maybe she’s preparing to examine her husband’s corpse?”
“I heard she’s been involved with that young Master Pan. The sting of a wasp is in its tail—a woman’s heart is the most poisonous of all.”
Zhu Yan pretended not to hear and walked straight to the mortuary.
When she entered, Yingzhou’s original coroner greeted her politely.
Zhu Yan nodded in acknowledgment and quickly found her target.
As per her instructions, the bodies of Wang Buzui and Xiu Xiu were laid out on waist-high stone tables.
She pushed all the gossip to the back of her mind. Right now, the most important thing was the two corpses before her.
And these corpses were far more interesting than those living people.