Tang Zhuniang had lost her husband early in life. Now, only one nephew and two or three neighbors had come to identify her.

One neighbor was a thin, neatly dressed man wearing a gold ring, with an awkward smile on his face. “I am the village head of Songhua. Tang Zhuniang was originally from Chengdu Prefecture and married into Hanzhou at seventeen. My wife grew up with her. She said Tang’s husband died early, making life difficult for her, so she would occasionally do odd jobs for others to earn money. Later, when Lady Fu announced she was looking for someone to serve her, I told my wife that the lady seemed nice and would probably be easy to serve, with good monthly wages and few tasks. I suggested asking Tang Zhuniang if she was interested, and I could make the introduction.”

“So you introduced Tang Zhuniang to Fu Xinruan?”

“Yes, indeed. But who could have known that just after the New Year, something like this would happen… Ah, my wife and I deeply regret it. Everyone says there’s something wrong with that residence. Two deaths already, and now Tang Zhuniang has died outside too. Isn’t that strange?”

Huang Zixi looked at the woman behind him, who was short, plump, and prosperous-looking, hanging her head and fidgeting with a handkerchief. “Is this your family member?”

The thin man quickly nodded: “My wife. Tang Zhuniang was her former neighbor.”

Huang Zixi then asked her: “Did Tang Zhuniang ever mention anything to you about her work as a servant there?”

The woman had been frightened by Tang Zhuniang’s corpse. Wiping her eyes with her handkerchief, her voice was unsteady: “No. She would come to visit us during festivals with gifts, saying she was grateful we introduced her to such a good position. They say… they say Lady Fu was very gentle in temperament, provided Tang Zhuniang with food and clothing, never withheld wages, and there wasn’t much work – just daily cleaning and three meals.”

“Did she ever mention visitors to Lady Fu’s home?”

“No… When Lady Fu asked us to find someone, she specifically requested someone discreet. Tang Zhuniang must have been instructed about this, so she never discussed such things. Besides… besides, she was from the entertainment district – how could we ask about who visited her household?”

After dismissing the couple, Huang Zixi questioned the next person.

This was a middle-aged woman with a sallow complexion, wearing a blue cloth apron, her hair in a bun secured with a dusty silver hairpin. She was unaccustomed to such situations, so nervous she didn’t know what to do with her hands: “I… I’m from Tianjia Lane in Hanzhou, living diagonally across from Zhuniang. She married into our area at seventeen, we’re about the same age, and living so close, I should call her Sister Zhuniang.”

“Has Zhuniang returned to Tianjia Lane recently? Did she say anything to you?”

“She came back last month, very happy, saying the lady she served was getting married. I casually remarked that what decent person would marry someone like that, but she insisted it was an excellent match. Though the man had been married once before, he had no children, was still young, came from a good family, and it was the lady’s great fortune from a previous life to marry him.”

“Did she mention anything specific about him?”

“No… who am I to ask about who Zhuniang served? Besides, we didn’t talk long. Zhuniang’s nephew from her maternal family came by, and I had to hurry home to cook. Who knew… that would be my last time seeing Zhuniang…”

Seeing her so flustered she could barely speak clearly, Zhou Ziqin gestured for her to step down and called Tang Zhuniang’s nephew forward.

Tang Zhuniang’s nephew was named Tang Sheng, around twenty-something years old, with a slovenly appearance and a smile that looked like facial paralysis – unpleasant no matter how you looked at it.

“My aunt? Yes, I saw her last month. I told her I was getting married and asked for more money. But she only gave me two thousand copper coins, tch…” Tang Sheng swung the purse in his hand with disdain. “Working as a servant in a proper household is embarrassing enough to mention, but now she’s serving a prostitute from Yangzhou – such a disgrace! If she hadn’t said she’d make a pair of silver hairpins for my future wife, I wouldn’t even want to see her.”

Huang Zixi asked: “What’s this about silver hairpins?”

“Just yesterday. That prostitute she served had died, right? When she was leaving with her things packed, I was heading home and met her at the entrance of the alley – my home is right there in Shuangxi Lane.”

Huang Zixi nodded, knowing this was Tang Zhuniang’s maiden home.

“She saw me and called me over, reaching into her bundle saying she had something for me. I thought it must be something good, so I stopped to wait. But after digging around forever, I saw her take out half a purse and then stuff it back in, saying she’d better take it to Hanzhou first to make a pair of silver hairpins for my future wife. I believed it at first, but thinking back – isn’t this just deceiving me? There are hundreds of silversmiths in Chengdu Prefecture, why go all the way to Hanzhou if she had the money? She was just being stingy and fooling me.”

Huang Zixi stopped writing and reviewed what she’d noted, then asked: “Your aunt Tang Zhuniang specifically said, ‘I’d better take it to Hanzhou to make a pair of silver hairpins for your future wife’?”

“Yes, exactly.” Tang Sheng nodded, “I’ve gone over it hundreds of times since coming back, not a word wrong! The more I think about it, the more fake it seems.”

Huang Zixi nodded and asked: “Did your aunt usually tell you anything? Like who Lady Fu associated with, her daily life, things like that?”

“No, she’d been married off for decades, only coming back to see my grandmother. Now my grandmother’s old, like a clay statue – can’t hear anything said to her. She just gives her grandmother some money monthly. Besides that, why come home?”

Tang Zhuniang didn’t seem to have lived well. No other relatives came to identify the body, and her nephew just gave it a cursory look before saying: “Probably her. Hey, doesn’t she have any in-laws left? Why does her maiden family have to claim the body?”

“If her husband’s family had anyone left, forget everything else – the house would’ve been taken long ago. Would it still be there now?” said Zhou Ziqin.

Tang Sheng’s eyes lit up: “No one’s claimed the property?”

Huang Zixi said expressionlessly: “For those without children, nephews who properly handle the funeral can inherit the property.”

Tang Sheng immediately declared: “As her nephew, I must arrange a proper funeral for my aunt!”

“Very well. Prepare the coffin and choose a burial site. After the funeral and burial, come to the yamen for the property and land deeds.”

After sending Tang Sheng out, Zhou Ziqin asked Huang Zixi: “Does our dynasty have such laws?”

“No,” Huang Zixi shook her head, “But did you notice? As soon as he heard about the property, ‘my aunt’ became ‘respected aunt.'”

Zhou Ziqin grumbled: “Best to find a way to leave him with nothing.”

“Never mind, a broken-down house in a Hanzhou alley – after funeral expenses, it’s probably worth about as much as a pair of silver hairpins.” Huang Zixi said, reviewing everyone’s statements one more time.

Zhou Ziqin could hardly wait anymore and asked: “Are you free now? Quick, tell me how Brother Zhang Er is doing?”

“Don’t rush, I’ll take you to see him and you’ll know,” Huang Zixi said, gathering up and closing the case files she’d written.

But Li Shubai reached over and took them, carefully examining her handwriting.

It was the writing he knew well – elegant small script like scattered flowers, graceful and refined, yet showing signs of haste in both the initial and final strokes due to her constant rush for speed.

Li Shubai frowned slightly, his gaze turning cold as it swept over the writing.

Huang Zixi asked softly: “What is it?”

He handed the files back to her and said quietly: “When one cares too much, they lose clarity. Sure enough, when it involves your family, you cannot maintain composure.”

Huang Zixi frowned, opening her notebook to look again.

Meanwhile, Zhou Ziqin was asking: “What? This case involves whose family? Isn’t it Tang Sheng’s?”

Li Shubai nodded slightly, casually saying: “Indeed.”

Huang Zixi was still flipping through what she’d written, trying hard to suppress her shock, but the disbelief in her eyes inevitably showed through.

Her steps slowed.

Li Shubai looked back at her, paused, and finally walked to her side, gently patting her shoulder and saying softly: “We’ll compare notes again at the Prefecture Lord’s mansion.”

She managed a nod, seemingly trying to escape as she closed the notebook.

As they walked out of the morgue, a dirty, thin, ugly dog at the entrance perked up and jumped up barking furiously at them.

Huang Zixi looked at the sky, then at the dog, somewhat surprised.

Li Shubai whispered in her ear: “I never thought you’d have a time when your predictions were wrong.”

Huang Zixi gave him a look, saying: “I told you, I’m just keeping a dog to help me investigate cases, nothing more!”

Several constables riding horses, leading an ugly dog through the streets, drew stares. Some people looked at the dog and snickered secretly, while others laughed openly at Zhou Ziqin: “Young Constable Zhou, what crime did this dog commit to be paraded through the streets by a group of constables?”

“Hmph, I’m keeping a fine hound to help solve cases – what do you know?”

“Oh, so the constable’s fine hound looks exactly like a mongrel?”

“Haha… looking at it covered in mud from head to toe, can you even tell what it looks like? Maybe once it’s cleaned up it is a fine hound?”

“If that’s a fine hound, I’ll eat the whole dog alive!”

When they reached the street corner, the Second Miss was selling mutton. Seeing the dog, she threw it a small rib bone. The ugly dog was overjoyed, charging forward so fast that Zhou Ziqin, who was holding its leash, nearly got knocked over. After several stumbles, he was dragged to the meat counter, couldn’t stop in time, and crashed into it with a loud thud, falling to his knees.

Second Miss, holding a large cleaver, looked at him with amusement: “Young Constable Zhou, why such a grand gesture of respect?”

Zhou Ziqin covered his aching nose, nearly in tears: “Second Miss, didn’t I tell you before not to sell mutton on the street? At least… at least don’t set up so close to the middle of the road!”

Second Miss’s expression unchanged, pulled her cart two or three feet toward the roadside, then asked mockingly: “Even if I move to the side, would you not still fall at my feet?”

Zhou Ziqin made a bitter face, saying: “At least… I wouldn’t be kneeling so sincerely under your pomegranate skirt.”

Second Miss tugged at her worn skirt, gave him a roll of her eyes, and threw an even bigger bone forward: “Go!”

The ugly dog was beside itself with joy, charging forward frantically. Zhou Ziqin, already on the ground, was dragged face-down across the street for a full twenty feet before finally managing to grab a tree and stop its mad dash.

Amidst the laughter of everyone on the street, Zhou Ziqin angrily untied the dog leash, rubbing his scraped elbows and knees as he rushed to Second Miss’s counter and slammed it hard: “You!”

Second Miss held her cleaver casually, looking at him impassively: “Me?”

Zhou Ziqin looked at the knife, then at Second Miss’s fair skin and pretty face, opened and closed his mouth, then stammered as he raised his hand and stepped back: “I… I just wanted to say, from now on when you sell mutton, this spot is fine – it won’t block people and carriages.”