Two horses – one to ride, one to lead – passed through Anxing Ward and Shengye Ward, where the streets were already deserted.

She galloped to Dong Zhongshu’s tomb in Chongren Ward, dismounted hastily, and knocked on the door. The doorkeeper opened the side entrance, looked her over in her eunuch’s attire, and asked with a fawning smile, “Which official are you looking for, young sir?”

“Your young master, Zhou Ziqin,” she said, showing him the small golden fish in her hand. Upon seeing it, he immediately responded, “Oh my, please wait a moment.”

Standing before the Zhou residence, she watched the moon rise as Chang’an’s curfew drums began to sound in the distance. She couldn’t help feeling anxious.

Fortunately, there was movement inside shortly after. A young man hurried out, appearing to be not yet twenty, with clear, handsome features and a refined bearing. He wore an intricately embroidered brocade robe in luxurious cyan with smoke-purple embroidery, a white jade belt carved with chi dragon patterns at his waist, adorned with tinkling pouches, incense pendants, and green jade ornaments. At first glance, he looked exactly like the privileged young nobles commonly seen on the streets, only more handsome than most.

The young man asked as soon as he saw her, “Young sir, did Prince Kui send for me?”

“Zhou Ziqin?” she asked in return.

“Yes, that’s me,” he said, glancing around before eagerly asking, “Has His Highness found use for me? I heard he spoke to the Emperor on my behalf about letting me go to Shu with my father. I’ll finally become a constable! Haha, a new Spring Lanterns – Chapter of my life is about to begin…”

“Lower your voice,” she said urgently, somewhat irritated by his excitement, and whispered, “His Highness has an assignment perfectly suited for you.”

“Really? Even better than being a constable?”

“Yes, digging up corpses.”

“As expected, Prince Kui truly knows me well.” He didn’t even ask for details, just snapped his fingers and said, “Wait! Let me get my tools!”

By Chang’an custom, at dusk, six hundred strikes of the “closing drums” would sound. After the final drumbeat, the city gates would close until the next day at the third point of the fifth watch, when they would reopen after four hundred strikes of the “opening drums.”

The sky grew darker as the six hundred closing drums beat one after another. Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin galloped through the streets, racing toward the Jinguang Gate.

Just as the final drum fell and the gate officer shouted “Close the gates!”, their horses burst through, following the canal towards the western outskirts.

The western outskirts were thick with forests. Zhou Ziqin expertly led her to a mortuary, where only a single lonely lamp burned – the old keeper had already gone to bed.

Zhou Ziqin had already shed his flashy brocade robes, now wearing only a short brown cotton shirt. He pulled an iron wire from his sleeve, deftly picked the door bolt, then quickly pushed the door open while catching the falling bolt in one smooth motion, silently placing it on the nearby windowsill.

Huang Zixia couldn’t help but admire him – these skills were nothing like those of a silk-clad noble; he was a well-practiced fox.

He beckoned to her, then tiptoed inside, opened a wooden cabinet, took out a register, and turned to the most recent entry-

“Fourteen refugees from Youzhou, twelve men and two women, all buried on the shady side of Qi Mountain by the pine forest.”

He ran his finger along that line, then silently pointed to a small hill outside, his lips forming the word “go.”

They crept out, and he painstakingly used a hairpin to inch the door bolt back into place, locking it before gesturing for her to leave.

Huang Zixia finally understood why Li Shubai had told her to find Zhou Ziqin – this fellow was clearly an experienced hand, incredibly nimble.

When they were far enough away, Huang Zixia finally asked, “You… have you done this sort of thing often? You seem quite experienced.”

He replied proudly, “Yes, it’s my only hobby. Let me tell you, I secretly practiced all my coroner skills on unclaimed corpses like these.”

“Your lock-picking skills must be unmatched in Chang’an, right?”

“Oh, just average, took lots of practice though.”

“I wanted to ask – the latch on that window seems like it would open with one push, so why did you insist on going through the main door?”

“The… window?” Zhou Ziqin fell silent. After Huang Zixia had walked quite far ahead, she finally heard a wail from behind, “My skills that took half a year to perfect! Who will repay me for all those sleepless nights of practice!”

At the foot of the small hill, their horses were pacing where they had left them.

Zhou Ziqin led the horses to the pine forest on the north side of the hill. Seeing a patch of freshly turned earth, he knew they had found the spot. He took down the box that had been hanging from his saddle, opened it, and took out folding hoes and shovels, tossing one to her.

She held the shovel in disbelief and asked, “You even have these?” This seemed far too professional.

“Shh, don’t mention it. Prince Kui got these for me from the Weapons Bureau. When my father found out, I nearly got beaten to death!” He said tearfully, then took out a head of garlic, a piece of ginger, and a bottle of vinegar from the box.

Just as Huang Zixia thought he might pull out a steamed bun next, he took out two pieces of cloth, crushed the ginger and garlic, mixed them with vinegar, and rubbed the mixture into the cloth before handing her one: “Cover your face, the corpse stench is terrible.”

Huang Zixia remembered something and quickly said, “They say these people died from the plague.”

“Then we definitely need to cover up, make sure it’s tight,” he said proudly. “It might not smell nice, but this is a family secret recipe.”

Huang Zixia was nearly overwhelmed by the smell: “Isn’t your father an official? Why would your family have such recipes?”

“Of course, it’s not my family’s recipe. I spent months begging and buttering up Chang’an’s most famous coroner, Old Master Zhu before he passed down the Zhu family secret to me.”

She fell silent and picked up her shovel to dig alongside him. The bodies had only been buried that day, so digging wasn’t too difficult, and Zhou Ziqin wielded his hoe skillfully, making quick progress.

Under the moonlight, Zhou Ziqin seemed to grow bored as he dug, and casually asked her, “Are you Prince Kui’s new… new favorite?”

“…” Huang Zixia felt that if her face weren’t covered by the cloth, her twitching expression would have made her thoughts clear. Unfortunately, Zhou Ziqin couldn’t see it and continued, “What was the name… Yang Chonggu, right?”

She gave a dejected “mm” in response, then after some thought, finally asked, “What do you mean by ‘new favorite’?”

“Huh? I don’t know either, just heard rumors in the capital that Prince Kui has a pretty young eunuch. They say even Prince Zhao couldn’t get Prince Kui to give you up. Looking at you, I guess you must be the one.”

Hearing his carefree and scattered words, Huang Zixia didn’t want to engage with him anymore and just angrily focused on digging.

He persisted in asking, “I heard you can solve cases. You even solved the Four Directions case?”

“Just got lucky.”

“But if you could solve something like the Four Directions case, I think you’re already on par with the person I admire most!”

“It’s nothing special.”

In the hazy moonlight, with pine winds howling through the empty wilderness, the two chatted intermittently as they dug. When something different from the soil appeared in the moonlight, Zhou Ziqin quickly said, “Wait, wait, let me see.”

He jumped into the shallow pit, put on a pair of thin gloves, then picked up a bone and examined it, saying, “Not bad, these are indeed burned remains. But these are clearly male bones, look how thick the hand bones are. If we’re looking for a woman, we’ll need to keep searching.”

Huang Zixia crouched by the pit and said, “Yes, we’re looking for a woman, around forty years old, five chi three cun tall, medium build, skilled at playing the zither.”

“Good.” He used a small shovel to search through the soil. Finding bones among fourteen corpses was quite labor-intensive, but the women’s remains were naturally separated. He dug around the area, carefully examining it until he finally gathered a pile of charred remains.

Looking at the half-burned bones and muscle, she knew Li Shubai was right – the constables had hastily burned and buried the bodies, completely ignoring the requirement for thorough burning and deep burial.

She put on gloves and began examining the woman’s hands. The darkness of night made everything look blurry, which made it less shocking. But the smell was unbearable; even through the vinegar, ginger, and garlic, the stench still forced its way into her nostrils.

She held her breath, telling herself: Huang Zixia, you’ve seen the corpses of your family members – what’s this in comparison?

As the nauseous feeling gradually subsided, she forced herself to focus and reached out to examine the body before her. Zhou Ziqin spoke: “Judging from the bones, both female corpses are about five chi tall, but the other woman’s bones are brittle and her frame slightly hunched, suggesting she was around fifty. So this should be the one you’re looking for.”

She carefully examined the woman’s charred skull and asked, “Is there any way to check if there was a black mole above the left eyebrow?”

“No, moles and scars are on the skin, which has been completely burned away. How could those remain?”

“Then with a body like this, are there any identifying marks left?”

“Wait, let me check.” He took out a leather pouch from his box. When he opened it, moonlight glinted off the contents – various small knives, hammers, and awls made of fine iron.

“To do good work, one must first sharpen their tools. My equipment’s not bad, right?” he boasted, skillfully turning the bones over and examining them thoroughly before quickly cutting through what little tissue remained on the corpse. “Can’t touch the throat yet… fingers completely charred, unidentifiable; eyes dried up, unidentifiable; ears gone, unidentifiable…”

Huang Zixia crouched by the pit, looking up at the moon. After Zhou Ziqin’s examination, his conclusion was: “External injuries are completely unidentifiable now.”

She rested her chin on her knees and asked, “Didn’t the Ministry of Revenue examine the bodies before burning? Is there any record in the mortuary register?”

“These were plague victims, so naturally no one examined them – they just wanted to dispose of them quickly,” Zhou Ziqin said, pointing to the box beside them. “Fourth row, second compartment, hand me that small bag.”

Huang Zixia tossed him the cloth bag. He took out a thin silver plate about the size of a small finger and a small bottle. He dampened the cloth with liquid from the bottle and vigorously rubbed the silver plate until it shone. Then he gripped the corpse’s jaw, opened the mouth, inserted the silver plate, closed the mouth again, and sealed it with paper, saying, “Now we wait.”

Having spent time with Shu Prefecture’s constables, Huang Zixia knew this was a poison test. The liquid was soapberry water – after half a watch, if the silver plate turned black when removed, it would indicate death by poisoning.

“Can you test the other woman’s corpse and one of the male refugees the same way?” Huang Zixia asked.

“Sure.” He prepared the tests for them as well.

She couldn’t help but remind him, “Remember to check the digestive tract later. Last time in Shu Prefecture, there was a woman who was force-fed poison after death. The coroner only tested her mouth and almost made the wrong conclusion.”

“Oh? There was such a case?” Zhou Ziqin’s eyes lit up immediately. He climbed up and walked with her to a pine tree some distance away, removed his mask, and asked, “Why don’t you tell me more about that case?”

“It wasn’t much, quite simple really.” Huang Zixia thought back briefly and said, “A young woman in Longzhou, Shu Prefecture, suddenly died at home. The coroner used this method and concluded it was suicide by poison. But I… but because the constable noticed the bruises on her wrists didn’t match her bracelet’s grape pattern but rather a pomegranate pattern, they determined another woman must have held her down before death. They searched her nose and mouth carefully and found dried blood. After questioning her family, they discovered her sister had been having an affair with a neighbor, and the girl had caught them. The sister held her hands while the neighbor tried to force her to keep the secret, but he pressed too hard over her mouth and nose, killing her. In their panic, they forced poison down her throat to make it look like suicide. That’s why poison could be detected in her throat but not her stomach, which solved the case.”

Zhou Ziqin asked excitedly, “Really? Who was this incredibly observant person who solved the case from a bracelet pattern?”

“…It was Constable Guo Ming from Shu Prefecture.”

“That’s impossible! I’ve met Guo Ming – he has a big beard and is quite careless. How could he notice the pattern of bruises on a woman’s wrist!”

Huang Zixia sighed helplessly, rolling her eyes at the moon now overhead, and said, “I wouldn’t know about that.”

“I have a guess – could it have been Governor Huang’s daughter, Huang Zixia?” Zhou Ziqin suddenly said. “I heard she’s very good at solving cases from small clues.”

“Don’t know.” Huang Zixia buried her head in her knees, staring at the moon for a long while before saying, “I might have heard of her.”

Zhou Ziqin seemed completely oblivious to her coldness and continued animatedly, “I can tell you haven’t lived in Chang’an before! Or Shu Prefecture either? She’s famous in both places! And you know why I’m determined to become a coroner and constable? It’s because of Huang Zixia!”

“Oh.” She remained unmoved.

“Wait a moment.” He turned back to his box and took out a package, offering it to her. “Here, have half!”

She smelled a fragrant aroma and looked down, feeling nauseated: “We’re here to dig up corpses, and you brought roast chicken?” And we’re digging up burned corpses at that!

“Well, I haven’t had dinner yet! When I went to get the vinegar, ginger, and garlic, this was the only portable thing I saw in the kitchen, so I wrapped it in a lotus leaf and brought it along. Our cook’s skills are excellent!”

Huang Zixia’s mouth twitched slightly; she didn’t want to talk to this person anymore.

“Where was I? Oh yes… Governor Huang’s daughter Huang Zixia, she’s the lady of my heart! My beloved! The woman of my dreams!”

She said coldly, “You wouldn’t recognize her if she was standing right in front of you.”

“How could that be? Every time I pass her wanted poster at the city gate, I stop to look at her again. She’s so beautiful! Even on a wanted poster, she’s gorgeous – now that’s a true beauty, right?”