“General Shao may not be aware of this. When Grandfather Li entrusted me with the medical texts containing his lifetime’s knowledge, he once told me that when a physician feels their medical skills can no longer advance, understanding the expertise that coroners possess would open new horizons for that physician.”

After Qiao Zhao finished speaking, she noticed the man looking down at her had deep, contemplative eyes, not knowing what he was thinking, and she felt somewhat helpless.

He wasn’t some fifteen or sixteen-year-old youth—why did he have so much curiosity?

Completely unaware that he had been secretly disdained for his age, the General surveyed their surroundings: “Where does the coroner Miss Li is looking for live?”

Qiao Zhao remembered the route to that coroner’s home, but after what had just happened, she naturally couldn’t reveal any more slip-ups, so she told Shao Mingyuan the address: “Grandfather Li gave me the address. Let’s ask someone for directions.”

“Alright.” Shao Mingyuan looked around and stopped a young man to ask for directions.

The young man pointed in a certain direction and said a few words.

“Thank you.” Shao Mingyuan nodded his thanks and led Qiao Zhao in that direction.

After walking for a while and turning a corner, the street became narrower. Further ahead was an arched bridge, with flocks of white geese swimming through the river below.

After crossing the arched bridge, Shao Mingyuan pointed to an alley beside an oil mill: “That should be it.”

At the mouth of the alley, quite a few elderly people were gathered together, chatting idly. An old yellow dog lay on the ground, and upon noticing strangers approaching, it alertly raised its head for a glance. But being truly too old, it lacked the energy to bother with strangers and lazily lay back down.

Shao Mingyuan politely inquired of an elderly woman: “Auntie, this is Yuqian’er Alley, isn’t it?”

The young man asking was courteous and well-mannered, with an outstanding bearing. The old woman was quite amiable, nodding repeatedly: “Yes, this is it. You’re from out of town, aren’t you? Whose house are you looking for?”

“I’d like to ask Auntie, does Coroner Qian live here?”

As soon as Shao Mingyuan asked this question, the scene fell completely silent. The elderly people stopped even cracking their sunflower seeds, widening their cloudy eyes to stare straight at the two of them. The atmosphere became quite eerie.

Shao Mingyuan’s expression remained unchanged, still wearing his courteous smile: “Auntie?”

The old woman came to her senses and looked Shao Mingyuan up and down, then examined Qiao Zhao several times. Without addressing Shao Mingyuan’s question, she muttered to herself: “Such a beautiful young couple—how could they be dealing with that kind of person?”

Although Qiao Zhao was dressed as an unmarried young lady, in the eyes of the elderly, engaged couples and married couples were the same.

The old woman’s words made Shao Mingyuan’s face flush with heat. He couldn’t help but glance at Qiao Zhao, only to see that her expression remained calm, as if she hadn’t heard anything.

Shao Mingyuan secretly laughed at himself for being less composed than a young girl, bending down to ask again: “Auntie, does Coroner Qian live here?”

“Don’t know, don’t know.” The old woman waved her hands, as if afraid Shao Mingyuan would ask again. She simply extended her trembling hand: “Young man, help me up.”

Shao Mingyuan naturally wouldn’t refuse the old woman’s request and reached out to help her up.

“Thank you.” After standing up, the old woman steadied herself, tucked her folding stool under her arm, and walked away tremblingly.

Shao Mingyuan’s expression became somewhat complex.

Qiao Zhao pressed her lips together, suppressing her laughter.

Shao Mingyuan looked at her helplessly, then turned to approach another old man. But seeing this, all the chatting people stood up, those with stools grabbed their stools, those with tea glasses took their glasses, and in an instant they scattered. The originally lively and bustling alley entrance was left with only an old yellow dog staring at the two of them.

The two looked at each other in bewilderment.

“This must be General Shao’s first time being so thoroughly spurned?” Qiao Zhao laughed.

Shao Mingyuan shook his head helplessly: “Let’s go.”

“Not asking anymore?” Qiao Zhao tilted her head to look at him.

Shao Mingyuan pointed: “Coroner Qian’s house should be that one at the deepest part of the alley, on our left.”

Qiao Zhao became interested: “How does General Shao know this?”

Shao Mingyuan smiled: “Miss Li should have guessed it too, right? Although those people just scattered without saying anything, their gazes unconsciously looked toward the depths of the alley, and several people successively entered houses in the alley. Only the two houses facing each other at the very end showed no movement.”

Qiao Zhao nodded: “Indeed, but I can’t tell whether Coroner Qian’s house is the one on the left at the end of the alley, or the one on the right.”

She could certainly tell—she had been here before—but she was curious how Shao Mingyuan had determined it.

“Let’s talk as we walk.” Shao Mingyuan took long strides into the alley, and in the cramped space, he moved aside, trying to leave as much room as possible for the girl beside him.

“Watch your step.” Shao Mingyuan cautioned.

These ordinary, common people lacked good hygiene awareness. The alley was littered with quite a bit of discarded items, and because for years they had simply thrown dirty water out their doors for convenience, the ground had accumulated multiple puddles, requiring constant attention to one’s footing.

As they walked deeper, a decaying smell hit them head-on, making people inexplicably uncomfortable. When they reached the end of the alley, the light was dim, as if it had become a completely different world from outside the alley.

Shao Mingyuan stopped, explaining with a smile at the corner of his mouth: “The reason I determined it was the house on the left is because I saw the graffiti on this wall.”

On the grayish-yellow earthen wall were smeared all sorts of messy things, obviously the handiwork of mischievous children. Most prominent was a large patch of red, though it was impossible to tell exactly what it was.

“From those people’s reactions just now, Coroner Qian is very unpopular. Miss Li, look—the wall of the house across has much less of this messy stuff. So I deduced that the left side is Coroner Qian’s house.”

Children’s words and actions were deeply influenced by adults. Facing people they disliked, they often displayed a kind of innocent cruelty, bullying others in ways that were direct and crude.

Qiao Zhao thought to herself: What kind of misfortune had Coroner Qian experienced these years? When Grandfather Li brought her here back then, it wasn’t like this. Although ordinary people couldn’t quite accept the coroners, it was more fear than the current disgust and hatred.

“General Shao could see this graffiti from the alley entrance?”

This time, the young general answered matter-of-factly: “Yes, I have good eyesight.”

He was always particularly sensitive to red things, probably from spending too much time on battlefields.

He stepped forward and knocked on the door.

The knocking echoed in the narrow, quiet alley, but the mottled wooden door remained unopened.

“Could there be no one home?” Shao Mingyuan didn’t stop knocking, muttering helplessly.

“They should be home at this time.” A shadow of worry crossed Qiao Zhao’s heart.

They only had half a day. If Coroner Qian wasn’t home, that would be troublesome indeed.

“Perhaps he’s old and can’t hear well.” Saying this, Shao Mingyuan increased the force of his knocking.

After knocking loudly several times, a door suddenly opened—but it was the door across from them.

A middle-aged woman stood in the doorway with arms akimbo, scolding: “What’s all that knocking? Are you going to let people feed their pigs in peace or not?”