Ming Huazhang hastily looked toward the commotion. Sure enough, in the direction of the rising sun, a white figure came bounding and skipping toward him — autumn sunlight spilling over her, hazy as a crane among the mountain mist: “Second Elder Brother!”

Ming Huashang ran to Ming Huazhang’s side. He reached out and steadied her, but his face held not a trace of warmth. His gaze was cold, with the color of frost and snow, and his whole bearing had the stern chill of shattered ice: “What nonsense is this — why have you come?”

Her boldness was growing greater and greater. The killer had not yet been found, and she had dared to come running straight into the crime area. If the killer truly were lurking nearby, what then?

The constables had not expected the Deputy Prefect to be angry; they all stood there speechless. Yet the Deputy Prefect’s younger sister did not appear at all afraid of him. With bright, sparkling eyes she greeted everyone openly and with ease: “Thank you all for your efforts. I am your Deputy Prefect Ming’s younger sister — you may call me Second Lady. I heard from the townspeople that you have been here since early morning. On such a cold day as today, it must be difficult to conduct investigations in this bitter cold. With all of you here, the people of Chang’an are truly fortunate. I have bought a few warm dishes and some warm congee to bring to everyone — a small token of appreciation, nothing to speak of. My Second Elder Brother has only just arrived and is not fond of talk; I hope everyone will look after him going forward.”

The constables had been standing frozen for the entire morning, and upon suddenly hearing that someone had brought warm food and congee, their eyes lit up. At the carriage over to the side, Zhao Cai was distributing things: there were flatbread, buns, oil pastries, steamed buns — all the common breakfast foods of the streets and lanes. They were not particularly refined, but made up for it in generous quantity, piping hot.

Ming Huashang was sweet-faced and smiled before she spoke. She had also brought warm food for everyone, and all the constables’ expressions eased. Ming Huashang said her pleasantries with a smile, calling the older ones “senior” and the younger ones “brother,” and before long everyone around her was wearing a smile. Ming Huazhang stood behind, watching her handle everything smoothly and with ease, entirely at home — far more at ease in the Capital Prefecture than he was himself.

Once everyone had taken their food and gone to rest to the side, Ming Huashang produced a cup of white grass medicinal drink from behind her back as if performing a conjuring trick, smiling as she held it out to Ming Huazhang: “Second Elder Brother, you have worked hard on the investigation — have a drink of this to warm yourself first.”

Ming Huazhang looked at her and slowly accepted the steaming medicinal drink: “You certainly know how to win people over.”

“This is called people skills!” Ming Huashang said with righteous conviction. “Doing things means dealing with people. If you want to get things done, you must maintain good relations with those around you. You have just taken up the post of Deputy Prefect, and without familiarity with your staff you must tackle such an important case — you cannot do without the help of the veteran members of the prefecture. There is not much else I can do; the least I can do is send some food.”

Sending food was a small favor, but it was truly the fastest way to win people’s hearts — even Ming Huazhang, having taken a sip of the white grass drink, could not stay angry with her.

Taking advantage of the moment when no one was nearby, Ming Huashang asked: “Second Elder Brother, how far has the investigation come?”

Ming Huazhang pointed toward the deep, dark forest behind him and said: “That is where I just had men reconstruct the Huang Caiwei crime scene. Four years ago she was found there, and everything that could be laid out has been — except for the body itself and the season, everything else has been set in place.”

It was a remote, secluded grove. The air was steeped in years of accumulated dampness, and it appeared that few people came here. Ming Huashang followed behind Ming Huazhang and walked into the forest to look at the scene.

The Chancellor of the Imperial Academy had lost his daughter, and the affair had caused a great stir — many people still remembered it. According to the constables’ descriptions, when she was found, Huang Caiwei had been lying against a tree, her eyes wide open, her expression agonized, her clothes disheveled, her right leg below the knee a bloody mess of flesh and tissue, with ground-up bits of flesh all over the ground — but the bones within were nowhere to be found.

Ming Huashang looked at the outline of the body drawn on the ground and could almost picture the scene from that time. She asked: “Second Elder Brother, is a person’s leg bone easy to remove?”

Ming Huazhang said: “It depends on the person doing it. For someone inexperienced, severing a human leg is extremely difficult — even the sharpest blade will get caught on ligaments and cartilage. But for someone experienced, one need only sever the key connective tendons to extract the bone cleanly and intact.”

Ming Huashang drew in a sharp breath; for some reason her own knees ached: “Were there any other injuries besides the tibia? “

“Huang Caiwei was the Chancellor’s daughter — no one dared examine her body, so it is unclear whether there were other injuries. But a constable said he saw purplish-blue marks on Huang Caiwei’s wrists, which would appear to have been made by hemp rope binding.”

Bound with rope — meaning the killer wanted to restrain her rather than killing her immediately… Ming Huashang furrowed her brow and asked: “What about her maid?”

“The maid Yuyan was found here.” Ming Huazhang walked ahead and indicated a section of ground. It was about three paces from where Huang Caiwei had fallen, directly facing the tree trunk behind.

Ming Huashang walked over and looked, and said: “This place is so remote. How did they come to be here?”

“I thought of this as well.” Ming Huazhang said. “Huang Caiwei was the Chancellor’s daughter — when going out, it would have been impossible for her not to have guards with her. This grove is remote and secluded, at some distance from the rear gate of Pude Temple. If she had not been willing, it would have been very difficult to take her here from the Buddhist temple without anyone noticing. I suspect she may have had a prior arrangement with someone, which is why she slipped away from her attendants and came to the grove alone with just her maid.”

Ming Huashang nodded in agreement: “Someone worth going to the trouble of meeting outside the city in a secluded forest is unlikely to have been an ordinary acquaintance. Did she have a betrothed or a person she cared for?”

“The testimony does not mention any.” Ming Huazhang said. “I have had people investigate her personal connections, but with four years having passed, many witnesses can no longer be found.”

Ming Huashang sighed along with him. The most crucial thing in breaking a case was timeliness; after four years, much evidence and many witnesses had been swallowed by time. And yet it was precisely the earliest cases that were the most important.

Ming Huashang said: “Could the beggar woman’s case be reconstructed the way today’s has been?”

“Very difficult.” Ming Huazhang said. “That case attracted no attention whatsoever, and not even the case records have been preserved. The coroner who prepared the female beggar’s body for burial had already retired to his hometown four years ago. To learn the state of the body, one would have to go find him there.”

Even if his hometown were found, whether the old coroner was still alive after five years was one question; whether he could recall a female beggar was another. Ming Huashang sighed, understanding the likelihood was vanishingly small, and said: “Second Elder Brother, I have seen enough here. Let us go look at the most recent crime scene.”

The reconstructed scene could not compare to the actual crime scene, and there was little detail to be gleaned. It would be better to start with the most recent murder. Ming Huazhang nodded and led her out.

The most recent victim, Chujun, had died on the official road — not far from here. On the way, Ming Huazhang briefly outlined the victim’s background for Ming Huashang: “Chujun lived at the Yihong Establishment in the Pingkang Ward, with no family to speak of. She regularly received clients and had no steady friends. According to the people at the Yihong Establishment, she had gone out of the city on the tenth to burn incense and had not returned by nightfall. The establishment’s people assumed she was receiving clients elsewhere and thought nothing of it. The next morning, when word came that a dead body had been found on the road outside the city, the establishment madam heard people describe the clothing and realized it might be Chujun. The constables then brought people from the Yihong Establishment to identify her — and it was indeed her without a doubt.”

As they talked, the two of them arrived at the scene. Ming Huazhang pointed: “Her body was originally lying in this position. The official road sees constant carriage and horse traffic, so leaving a body there would cause a disturbance. Once I had examined the scene, I had Chujun’s body taken to the mortuary.”

Ming Huashang saw the large spreading stain of dark reddish-black blood on the ground and could not keep her brow from creasing involuntarily. Ming Huazhang noticed and shifted to stand before her, saying: “After a civilian reported the case, I arrived with men as quickly as possible — we were among the first on the scene. Whatever you wish to know, ask me directly; you do not need to look yourself.”

Ming Huashang shook her head, indicating she was all right, and asked: “What condition was the body in when it was found?”

Even having trained with the Xuan Xiaowei, when Ming Huazhang recalled the sight that day, the only way he could describe it was: “Extremely bloody. Her legs below the knee had been severed bodily — fragments of flesh and bits of bone were scattered everywhere, and there was blood all around.”

Ming Huashang felt uncomfortable just imagining the scene. She had lived through several cases before, but the perpetrators in those earlier cases had been relatively methodical — their killings swift and decisive, the wounds not large. This was different — it was outright savage cruelty.

Ming Huashang asked: “Were her injuries inflicted before or after death?”

Ming Huazhang said: “The blood is concentrated in this area, with no signs of crawling or movement. The injuries were most likely inflicted after death.”

Ming Huashang nodded by instinct, then froze: “No — wait. You said her legs were severed?”

Ming Huazhang acknowledged this, slightly puzzled: “What of it?”

Ming Huashang furrowed her brow and thought for a moment, then asked: “Were there signs of assault on her person?”

Ming Huazhang had understood what she was driving at, and shook his head: “There were not.”

“Then that is strange.” Ming Huashang murmured: “The methods one employs for killing only advance, never regress. Even with four years having passed, the approach should not have changed this drastically. Second Elder Brother, are we certain there is only one killer?”

Ming Huazhang deliberated and said: “Your point is valid. The Capital Prefecture’s case files assumed it was a single killer, and after reading them I took that for granted — that was indeed too hasty.”

Ming Huashang was afraid of misleading Ming Huazhang and quickly said: “In truth I am not certain either — I only feel that something is a little off. Second Elder Brother, do you know what Chujun and Huang Caiwei looked like?”

This was something Ming Huazhang had not paid attention to: “Why do you ask?”

“Intuition.” Ming Huashang said. “These women were worlds apart in background and identity, and there is no apparent connection between them. Either they had some relationship with the killer that we are not yet aware of, or these women share some common quality that the killer has selected them for.”

Most murders were committed for love, wealth, or revenge. Cases of this kind, however complex they appeared, could always be traced by following the victim’s connections, and a suspect would eventually be found. The truly difficult cases were those of random killing.

If the killer had no emotional connection to the victims and no conflict of interest — merely encountered them and killed them on impulse — then finding the killer would be like searching for a needle in the ocean.

What the Capital Prefecture now faced was a case with no eyewitnesses, no motive, a vast and formless expanse of circumstance. Their only recourse was to identify all related persons and question them one by one, hoping to stumble upon a lead.

But it was obvious that this scattershot, undirected approach had very little chance of netting the right fish. Would the killer come back to the crime scene and stand there waiting to be questioned?

Ming Huazhang said: “I remember what Chujun looked like. When I get back I will draw her likeness. For Huang Caiwei, I will need to ask people from four years ago.”

The constables, seeing Ming Huazhang and Ming Huashang standing in the forest talking, assumed the Deputy Prefect was chatting idly with his sister, and considerately refrained from interrupting. When Ming Huazhang beckoned, a group of constables came running up and asked: “Deputy Prefect, what is your instruction?”

After Ming Huashang had sent food, the constables’ manner toward Ming Huazhang was noticeably more attentive. Ming Huazhang registered the difference without comment, and said: “Who among you remembers what Huang Caiwei looked like?”

The constables scratched their heads and said: “When we arrived, she was already dead — all we remember is that her face was bruised and battered, covered in blood. Who would have had a mind to notice what she looked like?”

Fair enough. Ming Huazhang sighed inwardly: “It seems we will have to go and question the Huang family.”

Ming Huazhang was about to dispatch men to invite Chancellor Huang when there was a commotion ahead. A crimson-robed official dismounted from his horse and, with a stride that radiated pompous authority, came walking toward them. Ming Huashang noticed Ming Huazhang’s expression darken; the small play of emotions on his face was suppressed to nothing. She tentatively asked: “This is…”

Ming Huazhang’s tone was flat: “Capital Prefect, the honorable Lord Ji.”

Ming Huashang understood at once — so this was Ming Huazhang’s superior. She was an outsider after all, and it was not in keeping with the regulations of the court for her to be here disrupting Ming Huazhang’s investigation. She lowered her voice: “Second Elder Brother, then I will go to Pude Temple first and take a look around — I will not disturb you and Lord Ji. Call for me when you are ready to go.”

Ming Huazhang heard this and frowned, but the Capital Prefect was heading straight for him and he could not get away. He could only remind her repeatedly: “Inside Pude Temple, take care of your safety. Keep your maids and guards close — do not act alone.”

Ming Huashang nodded: “I understand.”

With that settled, Ming Huashang took advantage of the Capital Prefect not yet having arrived and quickly slipped away. Zhao Cai stood at the carriage, looking left and right. Finally catching sight of Ming Huashang, she called out: “My Lady, where did you go?”

Ming Huashang climbed up onto the carriage and said casually: “I went to have a word with Second Elder Brother.”

Zhao Cai furrowed her brow, genuinely unable to fathom what there could be to say that would take so long, and muttered in puzzlement: “You only just saw the Second Young Master yesterday, and today you still have this much to say? You and the Second Young Master really are very close.”

Ming Huashang simply let it pass, and called to the driver: “Let us go — to Pude Temple, to burn a stick of incense for the Buddha.”

She was truly curious: what was it about this temple that a killer of such ferocity had chosen it, time and again?