Zhu Yan took a sharp breath, only then finding her wits again from the pain.
Gasping for air, anger rose from the pit of her stomach. Shen Du, without looking back, ordered, “One team escort the wedding sedan into the residence, another team, follow me.”
As he finished speaking, dust flew everywhere. Zhu Yan coughed for a while, unable to help cursing:
“How did this person become so arrogant!”
“How could this person humiliate you like this!”
Different voices condemned in unison. Zhu Yan was startled and turned towards the source of the voices. She saw her good friend Lu Chuichui, dressed in official robes, standing indignantly beside the wedding sedan. She didn’t know when he had arrived.
“Se-Second Miss, why are you here?”
After calling Lu Chuichui, who was second in the Lu family, Lu Chuichui seemed to wake from a dream and said, “Me? I remember now! The Chang’an Magistrate’s office sent over a case. The person in charge said the deceased involved an official’s son, and the state of the corpse was extremely suspicious. He couldn’t make a decision and wanted me to bring you there immediately. We should hurry, if we’re late, we won’t even be able to afford tea next month. Let’s go, let’s go.”
Lu Chuichui had come on horseback. Zhu Yan had no other transportation, so she had to sit behind her, removing the hairpins from her head while listening to the case details.
The crime scene was at Ximingsi Temple in Yankang Ward. According to Lu Chuichui, the body was discovered when a young novice monk was digging for bamboo shoots in the morning, wanting to make porridge. He found a severed arm in the bamboo grove behind the temple.
As Ximingsi was an imperial temple, enjoying the emperor’s favor, the young novice reported it to the abbot after discovering it. The abbot immediately sent someone to report to the Chang’an Magistrate’s office, which then had people dig up the body.
The deceased was a man and a woman. The man was Liang Chenzhong, the legitimate son of a seventh-rank official. The woman was Kuang Zhanxin, a famous courtesan from Pingkang Ward. They died embracing each other, their postures peaceful and natural. If not for their hearts being dug out and the woman’s face being destroyed, this case might have been closed as the ending to some tragic story for storytellers.
“Has the body been examined? Any signs of poisoning or enemies?” Zhu Yan asked.
“The Chang’an Magistrate’s office had the coroner examine the body at the Liang family’s request,” Lu Chuichui said, helping Zhu Yan dismount. “When they heard their legitimate son had died, they cried bitterly and were furious. They almost immediately asked the Chang’an Magistrate to examine the body.”
“They started immediately?” Seeing Lu Chuichui nod, Zhu Yan lowered her eyes thoughtfully. “What were the results of the examination?”
“Liang Chenzhong’s throat was slightly black. The Liang family left as soon as they saw this,” Lu Chuichui said. “The coroner told me the poison was diluted water hemlock, but the amount wasn’t enough to be fatal. The cause of death was still blood loss.”
Lu Chuichui pointed to his chest: “This was the only external injury.”
Zhu Yan pondered: “In your opinion, what kind of person do you think the murderer is?”
Lu Chuichui’s lively eyes suddenly stopped blinking, looking at Zhu Yan with a dejected face: “How would I know? If I knew, I wouldn’t be here as a clerk, I’d be seeking an official position at the Court of Judicial Review. But you know, even the Court of Judicial Review wouldn’t accept you, the rumored Sixth Miss, let alone someone like me who can’t think clearly.”
Zhu Yan’s reputation in Chang’an wasn’t great, but it wasn’t small either. At least the Local Constable, the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the prison’s criminal investigation and arrest departments all knew her.
Firstly, because of her retired master, Chen Wen, the Prison Supervisor who was skilled in interrogation and arrest techniques. Secondly, because Zhu Yan had been strange since childhood.
The Zhu family’s Third Miss, Zhu Yuan, was known for her straightforwardness and freedom, famous for playing ball and horse racing. But the Sixth Miss wasn’t famous for these things. Instead, she was truly unlearned, spending her days chasing after criminals.
And it wasn’t just for show. By the time she was sixteen, she had already assisted in solving many cases, big and small.
Such a small girl, a daughter of an official family – how could people not find her extraordinary?