A large wooden board had been erected in the main hall of the Judicial Office — four feet wide, six feet tall, its surface pasted with fine Sichuan paper, smooth and white. Below it stood a red-wood frame, and on the frame rested three wolf-hair brushes of varying thickness, ground ink, and vermilion.

Lin Sui’an, Ling Zhiyan, Fangke, and Jin Ruo sat in grand armchairs, each with a tall side table beside them. Mu Xia had brewed a fine pot of hundred-flower tea, and prepared white sugar cakes for Jin Ruo, seven-return cream for Lin Sui’an, golden millet cakes for Ling Zhiyan — and of course, Fangke’s most favored hell-flavor smoked tea.

Hua Yitang chewed on a brush handle, pacing back and forth before the board while writing down names in his wild, unruly hand — truly a case of the person matching the script.

“Lian Xiaoshuang” sat at the center; “Wu Zhengli” to the right; to the left, an empty circle had been drawn. “Qu Hui” was positioned above center between Lian Xiaoshuang and Wu Zhengli; “Qingzhou Embroidery” was positioned below center. When finished, Hua Yitang swapped to a smaller-tipped wolf-hair brush and drew connecting lines between the names and items.

“Lian Xiaoshuang and Qu Hui both suffered abuse at Wu Zhengli’s hands. Among Lian Xiaoshuang’s belongings she left behind the Qingzhou embroidery as a clue. The man who sold Lian Xiaoshuang to Wu Zhengli —” Hua Yitang filled in the empty circle with the words “the lover,” “— his identity is currently unknown. What we know is that he was also a gambler, had borrowed money from Wu Zhengli, and sold Lian Xiaoshuang to him.”

Jin Ruo: “Lian Xiaoshuang was a musician-courtesan before — she was at the music hall in Hongxiang Fang.”

Lin Sui’an: “Later she became an embroiderer. She had three embroidery workshops she regularly contacted.”

Hua Yitang drew two circles above Lian Xiaoshuang’s name — writing “Hongxiang Fang” and “embroidery workshop” in them respectively — then connected the “music hall” circle and the “the lover” circle with a line.

Ling Zhiyan: “If we can find the music hall where Lian Xiaoshuang worked before, we might find clues to the lover’s identity. Unfortunately, I searched through the musician registry of Yidu city and never found Lian Xiaoshuang’s name — not once, from beginning to end. It is as though the person Lian Xiaoshuang never existed at all.”

Hua Yitang gave a snort, tapping his brush handle against the circles for Hongxiang Fang and the music hall. “Written records can be destroyed, but records in the human mind cannot be erased. I have already sent the constable chief with a likeness sketch of Lian Xiaoshuang to conduct door-to-door inquiries at Hongxiang Fang. If Lian Xiaoshuang truly worked there, there will certainly be people who recognize her.”

Jin Ruo: “Hua — I’m not questioning you, but I always feel the constables and officers of the Yidu government offices don’t particularly welcome us. Can we really rely on them to investigate this case? Why not just ask our Pure Gate to help?”

“Pure Gate will certainly investigate as well, but do it in a way that keeps it hidden from these constables and officers,” said Hua Yitang.

Jin Ruo: “Isn’t that taking your trousers off just to fart — doing things the complicated way for no reason?”

Hua Yitang gave a sly smile. “I want to see whether they can actually find anything. If Pure Gate can’t find it and they manage to find it” (Jin Ruo: “Hmph! How could that be?!”), “then credit to them. If Pure Gate finds it and they can’t, then I’ll charge them with dereliction of duty — and at the same time, it will naturally bring out another suspect.”

Jin Ruo was greatly puzzled. “Another suspect — who?”

“I may be Judicial Adjutant, but the constables and officers all depend on my goodwill to make a living. If they truly dare to cross me, it must be because someone has instigated them — working in apparent compliance but in secret resistance, dragging their feet.” Hua Yitang raised an eyebrow, and wrote “Wu Zhengqing” in three characters above Wu Zhengli on the board.

“You suspect Military Adjutant Wu?” Ling Zhiyan frowned. “But I have confirmed this repeatedly — on the night Lian Xiaoshuang was murdered, Wu Zhengqing was indeed in the government offices’ records archive going over case files. The clerks who vouched for him I also investigated — they are subordinates of Adjutant Xia, with no direct vested interest in Wu Zhengqing.”

“What I suspect is something else.” Hua Yitang tapped the brush handle against Wu Zhengqing’s name. “Born of a great family, a Military Adjutant by rank, and even the hero who captured the Peach Blossom Demon. Young and accomplished, in appearance — well… passably presentable. If a man like this were to appear before a musician-courtesan and tell her he was deeply devoted to her and could help free her from the register — would that courtesan not be utterly devoted to him in return?”

At that, everyone was startled.

Lin Sui’an: “You suspect Wu Zhengqing is Lian Xiaoshuang’s lover?!”

Hua Yitang connected Wu Zhengqing’s name to the “the lover” circle. “Can you all recall the expression on Wu Zhengqing’s face when he saw Lian Xiaoshuang’s body? It was quite unusual.”

Lin Sui’an thought back — it was indeed quite odd.

It seemed like profound shock, with a degree of grief, a measure of relief, and even something verging on fierce satisfaction.

Ling Zhiyan: “Based on that alone, the case seems somewhat tenuous.”

“There are four more suspicious points beyond that. First, Wu Zhengqing happened to be the primary officer responsible for investigating the Peach Blossom Demon serial killing case five years ago. Remarkably, the body of Lian Xiaoshuang bore a peach blossom brand.”

“Second, of all men with a connection to both Wu Zhengli and Lian Xiaoshuang, he is the only one. Yet all current evidence shows Wu Zhengqing to be clean. There are two possible explanations: either Wu Zhengqing is truly unconnected to Lian Xiaoshuang, or he used his position and connections to erase every piece of evidence unfavorable to him.”

“Third, Wu Zhengqing has served as Military Adjutant and previously also as constable chief and Judicial Adjutant — the things he could accomplish by exploiting his authority and connections are numerous, for instance —” Hua Yitang tilted the brush handle back and forth. “— entering the prison to poison Wu Zhengli.”

Fangke nodded. “If it were Wu Zhengqing, it is certainly possible. Wu Zhengli is his cousin — Wu Zhengli would naturally trust him deeply and could be deceived into drinking the death-feigning drug.”

Ling Zhiyan: “He served as constable chief in Yidu government offices for many years and must be extremely familiar with the prison guards — slipping into the cells without the warden’s knowledge would be effortless for him.”

Jin Ruo: “Instead of wasting time talking, why not just interrogate all the guards on duty today?”

“Judicial Investigator Ling already asked. The warden and the guards swore on oath that no one came to visit Wu Zhengli today.” Lin Sui’an shook her head. “And even if Wu Zhengqing truly did go to see Wu Zhengli, it would be perfectly natural given their relationship. We have no way to prove the death-feigning drug was brought in by Wu Zhengqing.”

Jin Ruo: “Other than him, who else could it be?”

Ling Zhiyan: “Wu Zhengqing could claim that Wu Zhengli ingested the drug himself, or simply deny everything and feign ignorance. With Wu Zhengli currently unconscious and unable to give testimony, we have no other evidence. Summoning a Military Adjutant for questioning without cause would be highly improper.”

Jin Ruo rolled his eyes. “Being an official really is a headache. In the jianghu way of things, you just throw a sack over someone and beat them until they talk.”

Lin Sui’an was torn between laughing and exasperation. “Even if a confession was beaten out of someone, if they retract it in court and turn it against you, it only creates more trouble.”

Jin Ruo clicked his tongue dismissively.

“And there is one final, most critical suspicious point,” said Hua Yitang. He flicked the brush handle toward the top of “Wu Zhengqing’s” name. “My very first impression of this man was that I found him thoroughly disagreeable!”

Everyone: “…”

Fangke: “That’s quite a stretch for a suspicious point, isn’t it?”

Hua Yitang planted his hands on his hips. “I am Hua Family’s Fourth Young Master. The three things I am most proud of in my life: first, spending money; second, reading people; third, extraordinary luck — all innate talents, brought with me from the womb.”

Jin Ruo was fully contemptuous. “That killing-machine luck of yours? Please spare us.”

Lin Sui’an let out a sigh, and tried to guide the conversation back on track. “Since this lover is a gambler, we can also investigate his identity through the gambling dens.”

Jin Ruo’s expression darkened. “Gambling dens are not easy to look into. Every gambling den in Yidu is the territory of the Five Mounds Alliance, backed by the Su Family of Suizhou.”

Oh no. Lin Sui’an thought — those troublesome characters from the Su Family of Suizhou. Never mind helping with an investigation; she’d be grateful if they didn’t actively obstruct it.

“The Su Family of Suizhou —” Hua Yitang suddenly laughed softly. “What a coincidence.”

He pulled out the ledger seized from the Wu Family fabric shop that day, flipped it open with a snap. “This Manager Yu recorded every single buyer of Qingzhou embroidery over nearly eight months. Xu Family of the south city, Zhou Family, Wang Family and Sun Family of the north city, disciples of the Ma Family of the east city — all appear on this list. And the largest single buyer — is none other than the Su Family of Suizhou.”

Lin Sui’an let out an internal “oh ho ho,” took the ledger, scanned two lines, couldn’t make head or tail of it, and passed it to Ling Zhiyan.

Ling Zhiyan frowned, scanning through it carefully. “Most of the noble family members were individual buyers, but the Su Family of Suizhou made family-level bulk purchases — averaging one batch every three months. However, in the most recent months their purchase volume has dropped sharply —”

“That is because the supply of Qingzhou embroidery suddenly ran dry. Wu Zhengli thought he had a rare and precious commodity and deliberately had the managers hold stock, waiting for the right moment to raise the price.” Hua Yitang said with a cold laugh.

Lin Sui’an made a quick calculation — the time of the supply cut-off coincided exactly with the conclusion of the Longshen case. Her spirits lifted somewhat.

Jin Ruo: “Every last bit of the Longshen fruit burned to ashes — see if they manage to sell any more of it!”

Hua Yitang paced several circles in front of the board, tapping in turn through the network of connections around “Lian Xiaoshuang.” “Both Wu Zhengli and Wu Zhengqing have alibis. What about Qu Hui?”

Ling Zhiyan: “The constables investigating the scene have just reported back — on the night of the incident, Wu Zhengli was not at the side estate. Qu Hui went out once after nightfall. She told us before that she had never gone out, so she was clearly lying.”

Lin Sui’an’s heart gave a start. “When did she return?”

“Before the second watch. After that she sat in the garden through to daybreak — many of the servants saw her.”

“For the killer to complete the disposal of the body, they would need to stay at Lian Xiaoshuang’s home until well past the second watch.” Ling Zhiyan shook his head. “Qu Hui’s timeline doesn’t line up either.”

Hua Yitang: “Where did Qu Hui go?”

Ling Zhiyan: “There was no time to ask.”

Hua Yitang drew a cross over “Wu Zhengli” and “Wu Zhengqing,” his brush tip hovering uncertainly over “Qu Hui” for a moment before marking a cross over that too. “In other words, all three have alibis. Could it be —” Hua Yitang wrote “Peach Blossom Demon” in three characters in a blank space. “— that the true Peach Blossom Demon has resurfaced?”

Everyone fell silent.

If so, the case would become considerably harder to solve.

Lin Sui’an’s gaze swept rapidly across the white board, quietly sorting through all the evidence in her mind.

Every thread of Lian Xiaoshuang’s personal connections had run cold. The Peach Blossom Demon was completely without clue. Now the only remaining lead was the death message Lian Xiaoshuang had left behind — the Qingzhou embroidery.

Hua Yitang wrote “Su Family of Suizhou” beside “Qingzhou Embroidery,” connected them with a line, and gave the brush handle three deliberate taps. He let out a short, cold laugh. “It seems we are going to pay a visit to the Su Family patriarch of Suizhou.”

At that, Ling Zhiyan suddenly let out a soft “ah!” He drew a red-wood gilded invitation card from his sleeve. “This is something Adjutant Xia absolutely insisted on pressing into my hands — I truly could not refuse… He said it was — an invitation for Hua Fourth Young Master from the Su Family.”

Lin Sui’an: Oh ho ho!

Hua Yitang flipped open the invitation card, and his eyes immediately lit up. “See? What did I tell you — I, Hua Four, truly was born with the most magnificent fortune!”

Side story:

Adjutant Xia: Heh heh. Ling Family’s Sixth Young Master really is easier to deal with. Glad I finally got that burning hot potato of a blasted invitation off my hands.

Come, come — place your bets, round two!

Who is the killer?