“The deceased — Lu Shi, male, aged seventy-three, resident of No. 221, North Eight Alley, North Peak Ward—” A constable in black clothes and boots leaned out from the courtyard, holding a cloth over his nose and mouth. “Does this old man have any other family members?”

Xiao Yan, who was sobbing, raised her hand — but the white-haired old woman beside her quickly grabbed it and pressed it back down, whispering, “The constables are asking about blood relatives. Xiao Yan, you’d better not claim to be one — you’ll only invite trouble.”

Xiao Yan’s expression was somewhat dazed, as if she hadn’t yet taken it in. The old woman gently patted her hand and sighed. “When people get old, this day comes eventually. Child, accept it with peace.”

Lin Sui’an stood a few steps behind Xiao Yan, quietly observing her surroundings. Jin Ruo had gone to report it to the authorities the moment they discovered the body. The county office was in the River-Half City’s First River Ward — the round trip took nearly half an hour. The constables had come and broken down the door, confirmed the body’s identity, and the whole commotion had attracted a sizable crowd of onlookers — all of them elderly people, moving with unsteady steps and looking gaunt and withered. Upon hearing that a neighbor had died, none of them showed any panic or spectator’s excitement. They simply watched calmly, with blank, indifferent expressions.

Jin Ruo lowered his voice. “I had a quick look around. Over eighty percent of the residents in North Peak Ward are elderly people living alone — some who spent their whole lives too poor to afford a wife, with no children or descendants; others whose family members have all died; others who are seriously ill and have been abandoned by their relatives. There are many elderly, and they’re all poor people. Deaths happen almost daily here, and the people have long since grown accustomed to it.”

Lin Sui’an sighed inwardly: life is harsh, human lives are like blades of grass…

“Does anyone know if this old man has any living relatives?” the constable called out once more.

“Old Lu Sanzi has a distant nephew somewhere in South Peak Ward,” someone in the crowd called out.

Constable: “What’s his name? Exact address?”

“Think his name is Lu Jiu, but don’t know the exact address.”

The constable shouted something back, and a young constable took off at a run. Xiao Yan’s complexion was terrifyingly pale. A constable walked past carrying the distinctive smell of putrefaction — nauseating — which meant the condition of the body wasn’t good. The constable pointed at Xiao Yan, Lin Sui’an, and Jin Ruo, his tone rather unfriendly. “You three — you, you, you — you three who reported it, come here. Explain how you found the body.”

Lin Sui’an: “Wandering past.”

Jin Ruo: “Saw someone crying.”

Lin Sui’an: “Just having a look.”

Jin Ruo: “Happened to notice.”

Constable: “……”

The constable’s expression wasn’t great. His gaze swept over Lin Sui’an and Jin Ruo. Though their clothing looked plain, a careful look revealed the fabric was of excellent quality, the cut and workmanship refined. What’s more, these two had sharp, composed eyes and an air of distinction about them — clearly not ordinary commoners. Having worked around officialdom long enough to develop some judgment, the constable thought it over briefly and skipped past the two of them, turning to question Xiao Yan. “And you? What was your relationship with the deceased?”

Xiao Yan wiped her tears, drew a steadying breath. “Grandpa Shi and I were friends.”

“Friends?”

Xiao Yan nodded. “Grandpa Shi was an artisan. I wanted to learn his craft, and then we became friends.”

The constable frowned. “When did you last see him?”

“About seven or eight days ago.” Xiao Yan thought it over. “It was the fifth day of the tenth month. I brought flatbread. Grandpa Shi loved flatbread…” At this, her eyes reddened and tears fell again.

People in the crowd spoke up:

“Yes, Xiao Yan came to visit Old Shi often. She always brought flatbread when she came.”

“I had some of that flatbread that day too. Wonderfully fragrant.”

“I remember Shi sent Xiao Yan out the door himself that day.”

The constable was about to ask something else when a heavyset man in his fifties, carrying a large wooden box, swayed his way in, eyes hazy and reeking of alcohol. “Where’s the body?”

The constable’s face darkened. He hurriedly shoved the man inside, “In there, in there, in there! It’s not even dark yet and you’re already in this state, Old Li?”

“Heh heh, I need a drink before I can work properly.” This “Old Li” was evidently the coroner. He swayed inside, and the courtyard erupted in loud cursing — clearly the alcohol fumes mixed with the stench of decay had made the smell exponentially worse.

Jin Ruo shook his head in disbelief. “Can that coroner actually do his job?”

Lin Sui’an: “……”

Didn’t seem likely.

Sure enough, not even half a cup of tea’s time later, a quarrel broke out inside the courtyard.

“Old Li, are you sure about your examination?”

“Wha — what nonsense, I’ve got two perfectly good eyes! He fell to his death, plain and simple!”

“How can you tell he fell?”

“A man this old — legs can’t be steady. He missed a step on the stairs and fell down. Dead!”

“Where the hell are there any stairs here?!”

“Huh? Aren’t there? I could’ve sworn I tripped over a staircase on my way in.”

“That was because you were too drunk to stand straight!”

“Oh? Let me have another look then.”

Everyone outside: “……”

Jin Ruo: “Should we help?”

Lin Sui’an: “Can you do a post-mortem examination?”

Jin Ruo shook his head so fast it looked like a spinning rattle drum.

Then all at once Xiao Yan sniffled hard, twisted around, plunged through the crowd, and ran. Her movement was so sudden that by the time Lin Sui’an reacted, Jin Ruo had cursed under his breath and chased after her. Inside the courtyard the quarreling resumed — the coroner Old Li had come up with a new cause of death: drowning, so the body had bloated. The constable started cursing again, pointing out there wasn’t so much as a water vat in the place, so drowning was impossible.

But Lin Sui’an had caught something telling. A bloated body with an overpowering stench of decay — it was likely in what was known as “Giant Stage” decomposition. This was not good. Determining the cause of death would be even harder — and if she needed to look into the deceased’s eyes and trigger her golden ability—

At this exact moment, every hair on Lin Sui’an’s back stood on end. A chill shot straight to the back of her skull, like a thousand needle-points driving in simultaneously. She spun around, her gaze sweeping rapidly until it fixed on a crooked-necked steamed-bun willow tree at the corner of the street.

Beneath the tree stood a figure — dressed in black, the front of the tunic tucked into a waistband, exposing trouser legs that stopped half a shin above the ground and stark pale ankles. There was no wind, and the branches and leaves hung still and silent around the person’s head, concealing the face and upper body. By now it was close to dusk, and the refraction of sunlight painted the leaves a horrifying blood-red. At a glance, it seemed as if a fountain of blood was erupting from the person’s head.

Qian Jing gave a low hum, as if resonating with something from afar. Lin Sui’an’s heart pounded wildly. She sensed it — this was the aura of death, identical to the bloodthirsty sensation within her own body.

“What are you looking at?” Jin Ruo’s voice sounded beside her ear. Lin Sui’an jolted, jerking her head around. Jin Ruo was so startled by her expression that he stepped back half a pace, taking up a defensive stance.

Lin Sui’an exhaled. When she looked back, the figure beneath the tree was gone, as if what she had just seen was nothing but a hallucination.

“Wh-what happened?” Jin Ruo asked carefully.

Lin Sui’an shook her head. Only then did she notice Xiao Yan had also come back, dragging a middle-aged man along with her. He was also carrying a wooden box, wearing a square kerchief headdress and a coarse cloth changshan robe, running until he was gasping and sweating. “Xiao Yan, what is this about? I still have a patient to see in North Three Alley—” He noticed the crowd of people outside Lu Shi’s door and froze. “What is going on here?!”

Xiao Yan turned and dropped to her knees before the man, kowtowing repeatedly. “Doctor Ji, please — I can’t let Grandpa Shi die without anyone knowing the true cause!”

Doctor Ji was shocked. “Old Shi has died? Impossible! When I last came for a follow-up consultation, his cough and wheezing had clearly improved!”

Evidently the people around them all knew this Doctor Ji. They bowed to him in greeting, and now for the first time some people’s faces showed grief. A few even began to wipe away tears — as if all this time they had been holding their emotions in check, and now, seeing a familiar face they hadn’t seen in a long while, they finally couldn’t hold on any longer.

Doctor Ji’s eyes reddened. He appeared to be around forty, with a square face and thick brows, with the compassionate expression unique to physicians.

Hearing the voices outside, the constable inside the courtyard came rushing out. Seeing Doctor Ji, his face lit with relief. “Doctor Ji, you’ve come at just the right time! Old Li’s drunk again. Please come help us take a look — if there’s nothing unusual, let’s just get the person buried and put to rest properly.”

Doctor Ji let out a deep sigh and followed the constable inside.

Jin Ruo lowered his voice. “He’s a physician who makes house calls. Xiao Yan dragged him out of a patient’s home.”

Lin Sui’an nodded and continued to observe Xiao Yan without making it obvious.

Xiao Yan stood there, craning her neck to watch the courtyard, continuously wiping tears with the back of her hand — but the more she wiped, the more came. Her small, thin body began to tremble, clearly coming back to herself from the overwhelming shock, gradually beginning to feel the grief that pierced straight through the heart.

Lin Sui’an found it hard to keep watching and turned her gaze away.

Shortly, the previously dispatched constable returned with the distant nephew Lu Jiu. He stood far away, pinching his nose, and even when the constable called for him three times only reluctantly shuffled to the doorway — refusing to take a single step inside.

Constable: “You’re Lu Jiu?”

Lu Jiu: “Yes.”

“Lu Shi is your uncle?”

“A distant relative, three times removed. No real acquaintance.”

“I’ll now inform you of Lu Shi’s cause of death.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Listen properly!”

“……Yes, yes, please go ahead.”

The constable pulled out a sheet of paper. “The deceased, Lu Shi, male, aged seventy-three, cause of death… Doctor Ji, what was the cause of death?”

Doctor Ji came out wiping his hands, his expression extremely grave. “Old Shi had suffered from coughing and wheezing for many years. When the illness flared up, violent coughing triggered convulsions. Gastric reflux caused vomit to block the throat. Unable to breathe and unable to call for help, he died of suffocation.”

A collective murmur of sorrowful sighs passed through the crowd.

Jin Ruo: “What a miserable way to go.”

Lin Sui’an sighed.

Xiao Yan’s legs buckled and she sank to the ground, burying her face in her hands and crying silently and convulsively.

Constable: “The body is inside. Would you like to take a look?”

Lu Jiu, with a face full of disgust: “That won’t be necessary.”

“All right then, press your seal here.” The constable had Lu Jiu press his fingerprint onto that sheet of paper, folded it, and tucked it into his lapel. “You’re burying the body, or do you want us to do it?”

Lu Jiu: “Why would that be my problem?”

“If you don’t do it, it goes to the pauper’s grave.”

“Fine by me.”

The constable held out a palm. “Handling fee: one hundred coins.”

Lu Jiu flew into a rage: “I have no money!”

“I have money.” Xiao Yan struggled to her feet, rummaged inside her lapel, and produced a small cloth pouch. She pulled out a string of coins from it, thought for a moment, and added, “I want to give Grandpa Shi a proper burial—”

Constable: “Little miss, that amount of money is nowhere near enough for a burial plot and a coffin. You’d need at least one guan.”

Xiao Yan clutched her pitiful string of coins, tears cascading down.

“I can—” Jin Ruo had barely said two words before Lin Sui’an shoved him to the side.

Lin Sui’an pulled a gold leaf from her coin pouch. “Good burial plot, good coffin, with a gravestone.”

Lu Jiu came swooping over and snatched the gold leaf, bowing and scraping repeatedly. “Many thanks, great benefactor! Rest assured — as my uncle’s nephew, I will certainly give my uncle a magnificent send-off! If this great benefactor doesn’t mind, may I ask what connection you had with my uncle? If you’re not averse to it, perhaps you’d like to come back to the house for a cup of tea—”

Lin Sui’an: “Get lost.”

Lu Jiu: “Yes, yes, getting lost right away!”

Xiao Yan was deeply grateful, bowing deeply to Lin Sui’an and Jin Ruo.

Four constables carried the body out. Just as Lin Sui’an had expected — the body had already entered the “Giant Stage” of decomposition. Two straw mats couldn’t come close to covering the enormous swollen body. The arms dangling outside were as thick as pillars, nearly splitting the sleeves apart, the backs of the hands covered in spiderweb-like veins. The onlookers all stepped back in unison, covering their mouths and noses, their expressions pained. Xiao Yan wanted to step forward but didn’t dare. In an extreme state of anxiety she only managed to touch the edge of the straw mat — the mat slipped, exposing Lu Shi’s bloated face: skin putrid green, face grotesquely swollen, lips turned outward, a pair of bulging eyes staring fixedly out.

Lin Sui’an’s scalp went numb. A flash of white passed before her eyes, and the golden ability vision appeared once more:

A small wooden box bathed in light, lined with cotton cloth, a pearl hairpin resting at its center.

Jin Ruo gallantly offered to escort Xiao Yan home. Being so excessively obliging was suspicious — most likely his motives had nothing to do with diligence, and he’d been won over by the young girl’s pretty face, rushing over to play the hero.

The Hua Yitang party had not yet returned to the inn. Lin Sui’an, with nothing else to do, sprawled on the steps enjoying the evening breeze. It was dinnertime, and the air was thick with the smell of burning firewood. The air pollution of this era was no less than that of the modern world — when mealtimes rolled around in residential areas, the thick smoke blotted out the sky, extremely irritating to the lungs.

The grey-hazed sky put Lin Sui’an in a somewhat melancholy mood. Her golden ability had shown her a clue, but it wasn’t of much use. First: Lu Shi was dead, and there was no witness to speak for him. Second: she was not an official, had no authority to search Lu Shi’s home, and therefore had no way to find the jewelry from Lu Shi’s memory. Third: if she went to Hua Yitang for help… how would she explain the source of her lead…

As if responding to what lay in her heart, the courtyard gate swung open with a bang. Hua Yitang came striding in, his flower-petal robes rippling with each step, then settling softly beside her. Lin Sui’an blinked — only then did she realize Hua Yitang had, in exactly her own posture, sprawled himself on the steps as well. Half his robe floated onto her legs. He let out a deeply aggrieved sigh. “This is absolutely absurd!”

Lin Sui’an nonchalantly flicked Hua Yitang’s robe aside. “What did you find out?”

Hua Yitang: “The Yuan Family is a prominent household in Heyue City. Fifth Miss Yuan’s jewelry pieces are all genuine, their value no less than that of the pearl set. Fifth Miss Yuan’s manner and speech were forthright, and nothing was amiss — she most likely isn’t the one who swapped the jewelry.”

“What else?” Lin Sui’an had a feeling Hua Yitang hadn’t finished.

“Fifth Miss Yuan said she had absolutely no idea who the older woman accompanying her was. They had merely run into each other by chance at the shop’s entrance, and since the older woman seemed warm and kindly, she had taken a liking to her and they’d chatted for a bit.” Hua Yitang sat upright, eyes wide and staring. “And that is the most bizarre part of all.”

Lin Sui’an raised an eyebrow.

Hua Yitang pulled a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Lin Sui’an. On the paper was a portrait sketch of an older woman — the brushwork was precise and vivid, the face conveying a gentle and benevolent countenance.

“I drew this based on Fifth Miss Yuan’s description.” Hua Yitang said.

Lin Sui’an was somewhat surprised. “Impressive brushwork.”

To think this wastrel had some genuine talent.

Hua Yitang gave his fan a gratified wave, then seemed to remember this was not the moment for gratification, cleared his throat, and continued: “Fifth Miss Yuan’s father recognized the woman in the portrait. She is Fifth Miss Yuan’s great-aunt by marriage, who was married off to Guangdu in her early years. Shortly after Fifth Miss Yuan was born, her mother passed away, and Fifth Miss Yuan’s father remarried. The two families’ ties grew more and more distant, and after many years without contact, Fifth Miss Yuan has never once met this great-aunt.”

Lin Sui’an: “Get to the point.”

“The point is—” Hua Yitang drew a deep breath, his eyes dark and gleaming. “This great-aunt died two years ago!”

A hand-drawn map of Heyue City has been posted on Weibo and Bilibili — from the map’s complexity alone, you’ll be able to guess that this case is actually quite simple.

Let’s crack it together (beckoning handkerchief)

Tomorrow is a rest day~ (lying flat)