Just as Huang Zixia and Li Shubai exchanged glances, Jingxu entered to report: “Your Highness, Lord Cui requests an audience.”

Li Shubai asked, “What business would the Court of Judicial Review have with me?”

“It’s said to be about the case.”

These words made Zhou Ziqin jump up immediately: “No, it can’t be, does he know I’m here…”

“Ziqin.” Li Shubai gave him a look.

Zhou Ziqin finally realized he was being too nervous. Even if Cui Chunzhan knew he was the killer, he wouldn’t come directly to Prince Kui’s mansion to arrest someone.

Li Shubai turned to look at Jingxu and said calmly, “Please invite Lord Cui in.”

Cui Chunzhan strode in quickly, bowed to Li Shubai, and then nodded in acknowledgment to Zhou Ziqin and Huang Zixia. Zhou Ziqin was uneasy, but seeing that Cui didn’t seem to pay him much attention, he relaxed slightly.

Unexpectedly, Cui Chunzhan got straight to the point, saying, “Your Highness must already know why this humble official has come. Ziqin, Eunuch Yang, do you also know about this matter?”

Zhou Ziqin immediately jumped up, stammering, “I, I know about it…”

“Yes, then have you also heard…” he glanced at Li Shubai, hesitated for a moment, then said, “It’s said the corpse is extremely strange, with blackened, rotting skin all over, making the face unrecognizable…”

Zhou Ziqin’s face grew increasingly pale as he said tremblingly, “I saw, saw it…”

“What? So you’ve already seen the corpse?” Cui Chunzhan was a bit surprised, then said meaningfully, “It seems Ziqin’s reputation truly precedes him in the capital, for even such a major case, the palace summoned you first to examine it.”

Huang Zixia and Li Shubai exchanged glances, sensing something wasn’t quite right. However, Zhou Ziqin hadn’t yet come to his senses, still caught up in the shock of being the killer, and could only nod blankly.

“Though you often examine corpses, this must be your first time seeing this, right? The killer’s cruelty and arrogance are unprecedented, unheard of!” Cui Chunzhan shook his head and sighed, “Never mind you, even I was stunned when I first heard the news. This must be the most cruel and horrifying case in the capital in ten years, right? Ziqin, you seem quite knowledgeable about poisons, can you tell what poison it was?”

Zhou Ziqin opened his mouth but couldn’t make a sound for a long while.

Huang Zixia was about to step on his foot when she heard Li Shubai speak unhurriedly beside her: “Ziqin came to me about this matter. He believes the killer must have used poison arrow tree sap.”

Cui Chunzhan nodded: “I knew Ziqin would know.”

Zhou Ziqin’s face again showed that restless expression, wearing the look of “I’m involved in this, I feel guilty.”

Huang Zixia gave him an exasperated eye roll, thinking to herself that they were victims too, so why couldn’t he just act casually now? If they got implicated at this point, how would they investigate the real killer?

Li Shubai turned to Cui Chunzhan and asked, “Where was Lady Wang’s body found?”

Huang Zixia hadn’t expected him to ask so casually and directly. She glanced at him sideways, seeing that although his face wore a grave expression, his eyes were calm and undisturbed, without a ripple of emotion, making her heart feel slightly cold.

As soon as Li Shubai spoke these words, Zhou Ziqin immediately jumped up: “Wh-what? The Wang family lady – the one who mysteriously disappeared from the palace – is dead? And they found her body?”

Cui Chunzhan looked at him in bewilderment: “Didn’t we just spend all this time discussing this matter?”

“I… I was talking about…” Zhou Ziqin had something he couldn’t express, not daring to say it out loud.

Huang Zixia had to help him: “Actually, before Lord Cui arrived, we were discussing the strange deaths of several beggars in the capital.”

Cui Chunzhan waved his hand and said, “Who has time to care about the deaths of a few beggars now? The Empress’s cousin has died tragically after disappearing in the palace. The Court of Judicial Review won’t have any peace now!”

Zhou Ziqin said weakly, “Beggars are people too, and three or four lives… Ouch!”

It was Huang Zixia kicking his foot under the table, signaling him not to bring trouble upon himself right now. He finally closed his mouth.

Cui Chunzhan asked again: “If Your Highness wasn’t discussing this matter earlier, how did you know I was talking about the Wang family lady?”

“Under heaven, what other matter would require the palace to summon someone for examination, and have you come to find me immediately?” Li Shubai said calmly.

Moreover, since you came in, you’ve been putting on an obvious show of sympathy, sorrow, and sighing – who wouldn’t know what you’re trying to express? Huang Zixia thought to herself.

“So… it turns out we weren’t talking about the same thing all along?” Zhou Ziqin finally came to his senses, the deathly pallor finally leaving his face as his eyes began to move again.

Cui Chunzhan nodded: “Yes, seems there was a misunderstanding. I was wondering how you could have examined the Empress’s cousin’s body before me.”

Among the four, only Huang Zixia calmly inquired about the main matter: “May I ask Lord Cui, where was Lady Wang’s body discovered?”

“You won’t believe it when I tell you,” Cui Chunzhan frowned and said, “It suddenly appeared inside the east chamber of Yongchun Hall in Daming Palace last night.”

“What?” Zhou Ziqin jumped up again, “Isn’t that, isn’t that where she disappeared from?”

“Exactly. Because of the incident, everything inside remained unchanged. When the eunuchs opened the door this morning, they found Lady Wang’s corpse lying on the bed, still wearing the clothes and hairpins from when she disappeared, but her entire body had turned black and was rotting – she died from poison!”

Huang Zixia frowned slightly, remaining silent.

Zhou Ziqin said in astonishment, “This is truly an extraordinary case… How could someone who disappeared suddenly appear again, and vanish without a trace and reappear without a trace…”

“Yes, it’s as if she had never disappeared, as if she had been there all along, just becoming invisible to us for two or three days,” Cui Chunzhan said, shaking his head. “This case won’t be easy to handle…”

Li Shubai stood up and went to the door to call Jingyu to help him change clothes, preparing to go to Yongchun Hall in the palace.

Huang Zixia also tidied her clothes and said, “How could anything in the world truly be invisible?”

Cui Chunzhan smiled and said, “There must be such things, otherwise how could something happen that over two hundred people couldn’t prevent?”

Zhou Ziqin quickly said, “I’ll go home to get some things. Please wait for me and take me to the palace too!”

Li Shubai ignored him and walked straight out, saying, “Don’t make trouble. She’s a young lady from the Wang family – how could we let you cut into her body?”

Zhou Ziqin could only say, “Then, can I at least look?”

Li Shubai slightly raised his chin toward Cui Chunzhan: “Doesn’t the Court of Judicial Review often ask you to examine crime scenes? What’s one more time now?”

Cui Chunzhan immediately beckoned to him: “Come, Ziqin, my carriage is at the side gate.”

Two carriages stopped at the east corner gate of Daming Palace. After dismounting and entering, they saw Yongchun Hall located in the corner of the palace city. But Yongchun Hall hadn’t opened its doors on this side, so they had to follow the thick, tall palace walls westward, walking the length of the south wall, then turning the corner to continue north. There was a side door there for people to enter and exit.

Yongchun Hall was originally intended to be a palace storehouse, so it had high, secure walls with only one western side door, and the main entrance was on the north side. However, because it was so secure and dark, the books, paintings, and silks stored inside easily grew moldy, so it had to be abandoned. Two low artificial mountains were placed in the courtyard to soften the warehouse-like atmosphere, preparing it for habitation.

“Who would have thought that even the most secure place in the palace couldn’t prevent that rumor? Ah, fate truly makes fools of us all,” Cui Chunzhan said as he led the three of them inside when they heard a commotion – people were arguing inside.

Entering the outer hall, they stood there and saw that the arguing people were several members of the Wang family from Langya. Huang Zixia immediately spotted Wang Yun, and next to him was his father, Wang Lin, the Minister of Justice.

They heard Wang Yun saying: “Wang Ruo is a daughter of our Wang family, and was originally betrothed to be Prince Kui’s consort. An unmarried young lady, precious and delicate – how can we let a coroner cut open her body for examination? This absolutely cannot happen!”

Minister Wang said distressfully: “You know that I, your father, am the Minister of Justice. By reason and law, all sudden deaths must have their bodies carefully examined. Moreover, this matter has such wide implications and such huge impact – if we don’t examine it properly, forget about answering to the court, how will we explain it to Prince Kui’s mansion?”

“Would it bring honor to Prince Kui to have his intended consort’s body cut open and examined? Even if everyone else agrees, I’m sure the Empress won’t allow it! I’ll go ask the Empress right now if you don’t believe me.”

Wang Yun didn’t give his father any face at all and was about to storm off when he turned and saw Li Shubai, Huang Zixia, and the others standing in the outer hall’s corridor. He was startled.

Li Shubai, however, rarely showed a slight smile as he walked toward them, saying: “Wang Yun truly understands me. Of course, I wouldn’t want coroners touching Wang Ruo’s body, which is why I’ve already brought the best candidate.”

Wang Yun and the others quickly greeted him. He gestured for Zhou Ziqin to examine the body, saying: “Everyone must know him – he’s the son of Vice Minister Zhou Shang of the Zhou family, quite accomplished in examination techniques. That’s why I brought him with me – he won’t need tools, just to look and determine Wang Ruo’s cause of death.”

“The Prince thinks of everything,” Wang Lin immediately said.

Zhou Ziqin apologized to the Wang family members, then led Huang Zixia into the east chamber of Yongchun Hall.