Suddenly praised, Zhu Yan’s face reddened shyly. She said, “It’s all thanks to their efforts. How can you make it sound like I single-handedly captured the criminal?”
Lu Chuichui teased intentionally, “That’s because they’re all men. They’re too embarrassed to let a woman do everything. Otherwise, they’d surely have sent you to make the arrest.”
As they spoke, they had already entered the temple.
Unlike the exterior, which was guarded only by sentries, the temple interior was filled with many people wearing official robes embroidered with eagle patterns.
Gold-trimmed edges—Internal Affairs Bureau.
Zhu Yan’s relaxed expression turned serious. Their supervisor, Wu Taiming, came out to meet them. His eyes fell on Zhu Yan, then glanced at Lu Chuichui. Suddenly, with a knowing yet annoyed expression, he moved his slightly purple lips and said, “I told you to find her. You’ve been gone so long—were you off fooling around in the Pear Garden again?”
Lu Chuichui, who loved watching plays and performances, was bewildered. Before she could explain, Wu Taiming let out a cold laugh and fired off words like a string of firecrackers: “You’re certainly comfortable, but you don’t know that your mother just sent someone to berate me, saying you were supposed to go home today to rehearse a school play with your sister. But you were nowhere to be found. She accused me of exploiting you.”
The Criminal Division had many affairs, and cases piled up as high as Zhu Yan herself. In the seven days since taking office, Zhu Yan had been resting at the Criminal Division.
Even so, sometimes Wu Taiming would hint at her laziness and threaten to dock her pay.
Hearing this strict supervisor, who never missed a chance to criticize, begin to imply that he was upset about being scolded by Madam Lu, Lu Chuichui, though completely confused about when she had gone off to play, had to consider her superior’s mood. She swallowed her frustration and placated him, “Oh! My mother doesn’t understand. You needn’t bother with her. How can a little play be as important as official business? One is ‘little,’ the other is ‘official’—you can tell the difference just from the names!”
The entire Lu family loved theater to the point of obsession, with everyone able to sing. Lu Chuichui feigned a look of exasperation, which was so convincing due to her natural talent that Wu Taiming was satisfied. He then turned his gaze to find fault with Zhu Yan.
“Why did you take so long to arrive?”
Zhu Yan replied calmly, “I returned to the Zhu residence. You know my mother—she has the same temperament as your wife. Speaking of which, Supervisor, have you been home to see your wife? The yellow flower on your robe hem—did your wife embroider a new pattern?”
“New pattern?” Lu Chuichui looked at Wu Taiming’s robe hem in surprise. “Has your wife learned embroidery?”
Wu Taiming’s face suddenly clouded over. Without answering Lu Chuichui, he changed the subject: “This is a temple. Kuang Zhanxin’s body has been moved to the small courtyard next door for dissection. Now there’s only one burial site to investigate, and the Criminal Division is no longer in charge of examining and collecting evidence—it’s the Internal Affairs Bureau.”
“Internal Affairs Bureau?” Lu Chuichui paused. “Isn’t Shen Du here then?”
As she spoke, Wu Taiming had already led them to the back courtyard where the incident occurred. At her words, a man standing in the bamboo shadows turned his head. His deep eyes swept over Lu Chuichui without emotion, then settled on Zhu Yan.
His scrutiny was as fierce as the sea eagle embroidered on his robes.
Wu Taiming knew that Lu Chuichui had offended him and bowed, saying, “Grand Commander, these are two newly appointed Scribes from the Criminal Division. They’re women and don’t quite understand the rules. I hope the Grand Commander will be lenient.”
Wu Taiming smiled apologetically. Shen Du glanced at him and walked over.
Dressed in black, with his hand on his sword hilt, he stared unfriendly at Lu Chuichui and Zhu Yan behind Wu Taiming. Wu Taiming immediately imagined Shen Du killing someone, and his neck involuntarily went cold.