The soft sound, the flowing breath – she suddenly became extremely nervous. That feeling that made her nervous and blush appeared again in her heart.

When the two walked out of that shop, the night was deep. As they walked on the streets that had become desolate after the crowds dispersed, Huang Zixia finally couldn’t hold back and said: “Your Highness… must have thought of this matter long ago, right?”

He gave a low “mm” sound of agreement, those clear and deep dark eyes beneath his eyelashes turned slightly to look at her.

She hesitated, but finally still asked: “Why… tell me now though?”

“Because now we are already different,” he said.

She felt slightly confused and raised her head to look at him.

The bright moon rose in the east, the sky was ink-blue. Before the moonlight, beneath the night sky, he gazed deeply at her. Without saying a word, he had already made her understand what he wanted to say.

Yes, different now.

She remembered tightly embracing his burning hot body, pressing her face against his neck in the darkness; remembered cutting open his clothes, pressing against his bare skin to help bandage him; remembered keeping vigil by his side all night, then opening confused eyes to see his pair of incredibly clear eyes quietly gazing at her in the dawn light—

Just as he was gazing at her now.

And now he had let her know this secret, drawing her again into another conspiracy around him. From now on, even if her family’s wrongful case was cleared and she regained her innocence, she probably could only continue walking alongside him, never able to leave him again.

Because everything was already different.

She and he were different now.

“Prince Kui! Brother Yang!”

Just as they reached the inn’s entrance, an urgent voice suddenly rang out, breaking the silence between the two of them at this moment.

Huang Zixia turned her head to look. Zhou Ziqin was holding a small bottle in his hand, hurrying toward them with quick steps. The expression on his face was an extremely strange mixture of exceptional pride, wild excitement, and panic.

She couldn’t help but ask: “You got results so quickly?”

“Yes, because I never expected…” he paused here, his eyes darting around to look at the surroundings, then mysteriously pulled them inside to walk, “Something’s not right about this matter, quick, let me show you!”

Zhou Ziqin was an expert at building suspense. After tightly closing the doors and windows, he still had to carefully examine the gaps nearby. Only after ensuring there were absolutely no problems did he place that bottle on the table and ask in a lowered voice: “Do you know what this is?”

Huang Zixia took it and looked – inside was an utterly ordinary bottle of liquid, colorless and odorless, looking just like water.

“Careful, careful! This is extremely poisonous!” Zhou Ziqin quickly said.

Huang Zixia asked again: “What is it? Where did it come from?”

“Naturally from that lock of hair. Although she died immediately after drinking the poison, the poison had still reached the hair tips. I burned that bit of hair dissolved in water, then after filtering, got this bottle of deadly poison,” Zhou Ziqin proudly displayed it for them to see, “Must be careful! I put just a chopstick tip’s worth in water and it killed a whole tank of fish.”

Huang Zixia couldn’t help but silently mourn for his fish for a moment.

Li Shubai frowned slightly, took that small bottle, looked at it for a long while, then asked thoughtfully: “Zhen poison?”

“Yes! It’s Zhen poison!” Zhou Ziqin had a surge of joy he couldn’t suppress, yet couldn’t speak loudly, which was practically suffocating him, “The Zhen poison where just one scratch from a Zhen bird’s feather in wine can make poisoned wine – that Zhen poison!”

“That’s just hearsay,” Li Shubai said calmly. “There is no such thing as a Zhen bird in this world. It’s just that after someone is killed by this poison, their entire body including hair will contain deadly poison. When a bird is poisoned to death, its feathers will also contain poison. Using the dead person’s hair or feathers, one can again make deadly poison – that’s why such stories exist.”

Zhou Ziqin stuck out his tongue, then said: “Such a deadly poison – fortunately, people don’t know the formula, otherwise wouldn’t the world fall into chaos?”

Li Shubai nodded and said: “This poison does exist in the palace, originally made in the previous dynasty. It’s said to be made primarily from arsenic, with wolfsbane, rosary pea, heartbreak grass, gelsemium, and guangfangji as supplementary ingredients in the refinement process. After Emperor Yang of Sui died, Yuwen Huaji obtained it from his temporary palace in Yangzhou, later it circuitously reached Emperor Taizong’s hands. Taizong felt this poison was too cruel and merciless, so he burned the formula, and only kept one small bottle of the medicine. By now it’s almost completely gone.”

“That can’t be right – if after it kills one person, that person’s body and hair all become poison, then using that person’s hair to make medicine wouldn’t you get another bottle?”

Li Shubai shook his head and said: “Although Zhen poison is formidable, it will gradually diminish in potency through use. When Zhen poison is newly made and used the first time, just touching the lips takes effect, with absolutely no chance of survival. The second-generation Zhen poison, extracted from the blood or hair of someone killed by Zhen poison, acts more slowly – after consuming it may take one or two hours before taking effect, but once it does take effect, death comes in an instant, perhaps without even a chance to cry for help or react. And poison obtained from such a victim’s body, though still extremely toxic, acts slowly, with the victim painfully struggling possibly for several hours, and can no longer extract poison from the corpse – no different from ordinary poisons.”

Zhou Ziqin asked again: “Then is the way Zhen poison kills similar to arsenic?”

“Naturally it is, after all, arsenic is the main ingredient, and the others are supplementary. However, the toxicity levels cannot be mentioned in the same breath. Accidentally ingesting a tiny amount of arsenic often has no effect, but one drop of Zhen poison is enough to kill a hundred people.” As Li Shubai spoke, he looked again at that bottle of poison Zhou Ziqin had extracted and said, “It seems Fu Xinruan and Wen Yang died from second-generation Zhen poison.”

Huang Zixia then asked: “Now our question is, why would an entertainment district woman far away in Sichuan, dying in a suicide pact with her unemployed lover, use Zhen poison that belongs only in the imperial palace?”

“Moreover, according to Prince Kui, Zhen poison is now a rare treasure even within the palace – where did they get it from?” Zhou Ziqin’s eyes were bright, shining brilliantly as he looked at Huang Zixia, “Chonggu! We might have stumbled upon another earth-shattering mystery case!”

Huang Zixia nodded silently and said: “Yes, it seems… there must certainly be other truths behind this that we haven’t yet detected.”

After seeing off Zhou Ziqin, who was extremely excited about the major case, Huang Zixia also rose to bid farewell to Li Shubai.

Just as she reached the doorway, she looked at the swaying hollyhocks before her eyes, their brilliant colors in the moonlight suddenly dazzling her eyes. She stood dazed before the flowers for a long while, then suddenly thought of something that made her heart turn ice cold, her face abruptly turning pale.

Late summer, the night wind gradually carried hints of coolness. Li Shubai stood behind her, seeing her body suddenly begin to tremble slightly. He asked in a low voice: “What’s wrong?”

She slowly turned her head to look at him, her mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.

Seeing people occasionally coming and going in the inn’s courtyard, Li Shubai gripped her hand and pulled her inside the room, closed the door, and asked: “What did you think of?”

“My parents, and my brother… grandmother…” her lips trembled, her voice barely forming words.

Li Shubai naturally understood, asking softly by her ear: “You suspect your parents also died from Zhen poison?”

She bit her lower lip hard, forcing herself to stay a bit clearer-headed. Her hand gripped the corner of the table, using too much force until even her joints turned white and purple: “Yes… I want to… confirm…”

“Drink some water first.” Li Shubai poured her a cup of tea, stood before her, and asked while staring at her without blinking: “You really want to confirm this?”

She raised her head to look at him, those eyes beneath the lamplight gradually covered with a layer of tears, illuminated by the lamplight, her eyes confused and dazed, truly like crystal.

She bit her lower lip tightly, nodded slightly, and said: “Yes.”

He said nothing more, raised his hand to lightly press on her shoulder, and then quickly walked out of the inn, hurrying to the alley entrance.

In the distant moonlight, Zhou Ziqin hadn’t mounted his horse but was leading it, bouncing and skipping toward the Prefecture Lord’s mansion direction. That manner of hopping every three steps and jumping every five steps – clearly afraid others wouldn’t know the joy in his heart.

He called from behind: “Zhou Ziqin!”

In the deep night’s silence, on the empty street without a single person, Zhou Ziqin heard the voice and quickly ran back pulling Little Xia: “Brother Prince! Is there something else?”

Li Shubai said in a low voice: “Let’s go out for a while.”

Zhou Ziqin immediately became excited: “Excellent! Let’s call Chonggu too, I’ll take you to eat Shu Prefecture’s most delicious fish! With Sichuan pepper sprinkled on top, the fragrance is indescribable…”

“She’s not going,” Li Shubai said.

Zhou Ziqin made a surprised sound and asked: “Then where are we going?”

“To dig up a grave.”

Zhou Ziqin was suddenly both shocked and delighted: “I love this! Chonggu and I work extremely well together! We’re experts at grave digging and corpse examination, working together flawlessly…”

“Lower your voice,” Li Shubai reminded him.

Zhou Ziqin quickly covered his mouth.

Li Shubai said again: “She’s been tired these past few days, tonight she needs to rest.”

“Missing such an exciting moment, actually choosing to rest… lacks the professional dedication of being a detective.” Zhou Ziqin pouted, then suddenly remembered something and quickly asked, “Your Highness has just recovered from serious injury, for this kind of matter… perhaps just let me go alone, I guarantee to do it meticulously, absolutely perfectly!”

Li Shubai gazed into the deep deep night. All of Chengdu’s roads were paved with bluestone, worn smooth over the years, the moonlight enveloping them, reflecting a layer of slightly cold radiance.

He said slowly: “This might be the first piece of evidence in this case that could benefit her, I cannot not go.”

Zhou Ziqin was somewhat surprised and asked: “Her? Which her?”

Li Shubai didn’t speak, only asked: “Can you get out of the city?”

“This is no problem. Although I haven’t been here long, everyone at the city gates is already my brother. I’ll just say we’re going out to investigate a case at night, they’ll open the gates for us.” As he spoke, he secretly moved closer to Li Shubai’s ear and asked softly, “Where are we digging?”

Li Shubai turned his head toward the mountains outside the city, his gaze reflecting the moonlight, both cold and serene.

He said: “At Minister Huang’s family graves.”