Listening to Tang Wei’s confession, Wuning Marquis’s eyes turned bloodshot. If he had a blade in hand, he would have loved nothing more than to hack down this rebellious daughter who had brought utter disgrace upon the marquis manor.

But with bailiffs blocking him, aside from being so angry his chest felt stifled with rage, he had no recourse.

“What was the identity of the first victim?”

Tang Wei answered matter-of-factly, “How would I know?”

Judicial Review Officer Liu’s face twitched. Thinking to himself that madwomen were truly beyond reason, he endured and asked, “Then what about their heads? Where did you hide them?”

“Hide?” Tang Wei raised her eyebrows, seeming to find the question quite ridiculous. “Why would I hide such mutilated things? I had my maid throw them in the lake.”

“The lake?”

Tang Wei tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Oh, that mercy release pond.”

When officials dispatched people to dredge Tianyuan Temple’s mercy release pond, the area outside the temple could be described as a sea of humanity.

Lin Shi pulled Lin Hao to stand in the shade of trees by the lakeside, watching many bailiffs endure the scorching sun as they went into the water to dredge.

“Mother, you’ve always been sensitive to heat. Why don’t we go rest in the guest quarters first? This mercy release pond isn’t small—who knows when they’ll be able to dredge anything up? If you suffer heatstroke, that would be troublesome.” Lin Hao urged.

Lin Shi shook her fan and refused. “Let’s watch a bit longer. What if they dredge it up right after we leave?”

The corner of Lin Hao’s mouth twitched slightly. “Then we can just come back out.”

Not only did Lin Shi not listen, she even stepped forward. “I want to see it with my own eyes.”

Lin Hao fell silent.

Her mother’s curiosity was unmatched by anyone.

Lin Shi let out a soft sigh. “These two unfortunate young women were both discovered by me. I want to watch them return to daylight.”

Lin Hao reached out to support Lin Shi, feeling somewhat ashamed.

It turned out she had misunderstood.

“Of course, I’m also a bit curious.”

Lin Hao: “…”

The mother and daughter didn’t know how long they had been standing under the tree when they heard a commotion by the lakeside.

“Found it, found it!”

Lin Shi rushed over like an arrow.

Someone who had gone into the water held an object in both hands as he came to shore. Under the intense sunlight, the stark white mass was somewhat glaring.

After he placed the object on oilcloth that had been spread out earlier, the coroner waiting nearby immediately approached.

Faster than the coroner was Yan’er’s mother.

“Yan’er, Yan’er!”

Relatives and neighbors who had accompanied her held her back. Around the mercy release pond echoed the heart-wrenching, lung-tearing cries of a mother who had lost her daughter.

Lin Shi’s heart ached. She couldn’t help but grip Lin Hao’s hand tightly and ask in a low voice, “Why don’t we see that child’s father?”

Lin Hao gazed at the skull that had been dredged up and said quietly, “Her family runs a goods shop. Yan’er’s father left the capital to purchase stock and hasn’t returned yet.”

Lin Shi let out a sympathetic sigh.

The coroner quickly reached a conclusion. “Based on the condition of the bones, death occurred at least half a year ago.”

In other words, the skull that had been dredged up was not Yan’er.

Upon hearing these words, Yan’er’s mother seemed to have her throat suddenly gripped. Her wailing stopped, immediately followed by even more mournful crying.

It wasn’t until afternoon that the second skull was finally dredged up.

Yan’er’s mother rushed over and after just one glance went limp and collapsed. Bailiffs formed a human wall, and onlookers including Lin Hao didn’t see what the skull looked like.

Qi Shuo walked over through the human wall. “A’Hao, you should accompany Mother-in-law back first.”

Lin Hao pressed her lips together and asked, “Is it Yan’er?”

“It should be.” Qi Shuo thought of what that skull looked like. Even though he had witnessed mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield, he still showed a complex, indescribable expression, and felt grateful that Lin Hao and the others hadn’t seen it with their own eyes.

Lin Hao wasn’t hard-pressed to imagine what a head thrown into the lake for several days would become. She nodded. “Then we’ll head back first. Don’t come home too late either.”

Now that the truth of the case had come to light, Qi Shuo didn’t need to involve himself in the wrap-up details.

As the mother and daughter walked out through Tianyuan Temple’s main gate, Lin Shi let out a long breath of stale air. “A’Hao, you know Yan’er’s family. Later have someone send some silver to Yan’er’s mother.”

Silver couldn’t buy back a daughter, but it was all others could use to express their sympathy.

“That girl from last year—can her identity still be determined?”

After watching corpse-dredging for most of the day, Lin Hao’s mood couldn’t lighten. “It will be very difficult. There were no missing person reports last year that fit the conditions, and the victim is left with only a skeleton.”

“Then let’s donate some money so she has a place to rest in peace.”

“Mm.”

Seeing Lin Hao’s gloomy expression, Lin Shi raised her hand and pinched her daughter’s cheek. “So young—don’t keep frowning, or you’ll get wrinkles early. Come, I’ll take you to eat roast duck. A new tavern just opened on the front street, and their roast duck is exceptional.”

Lin Hao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Just moments ago her mother had been even more worried than her, yet now she already had the appetite for roast duck.

As if guessing what Lin Hao was thinking, Lin Shi said, “We’ve already done what we could with good intentions—that’s enough. We still have to live our own lives well. After we finish the roast duck and it’s not so hot, we can go browse the silver shop.”

“All right.” Lin Hao revealed a smile.

The newly opened eatery’s roast duck truly was exceptional. The duck skin was fragrant and crispy, the duck meat tender and delicate. Wrapped together with cucumber strips and scallion strips in pancakes thin as cicada wings, it was savory without being greasy.

After eating their fill, on the way to the silver shop the mother and daughter’s attention was drawn to a procession entering the city.

“A’Hao, look quickly—people with yellow hair!” Lin Shi tugged at Lin Hao’s sleeve.

“Oh my, that one even has blue eyes!” There were quite a few people staring intently like Lin Shi, their excited and astonished chatter buzzing like countless swarming bees.

Those people wore peculiar clothing. Their hair color and eyes were completely different from the black-haired, black-eyed people of Great Zhou. Walking through the capital’s main streets, they could be said to have caused quite a sensation.

Lin Hao had actually heard some rumors. Pulling back Lin Shi, who wanted to press forward, she said, “I heard A’Shuo say the court plans to open up maritime trade. These foreign people may have heard the news and come to explore the situation.”

“So foreign people from overseas really do look like yellow-haired demons…” Lin Shi murmured. Not knowing what she was thinking, her expression changed somewhat.

Lin Hao chuckled and pointed at someone in the procession. “That’s not entirely true either. Mother, look at that person—he seems about the same as us.”

Lin Shi looked in the direction Lin Hao was pointing. Her mouth opened slightly, and she forgot to blink.

Seeing her mother staring straight at the black-haired, black-eyed man among the foreigners, Lin Hao tugged at her. “Mother?”

“A’Hao, pinch me.”

“Mother, what’s wrong with you?”

Lin Hao looked at that middle-aged handsome gentleman walking in the procession. Listening to Lin Shi’s nonsensical words, an astonishing conjecture arose: Could Mother have fallen in love at first sight with this foreigner?

This conjecture had barely formed when she saw Lin Shi raise her hand and throw an object toward that man.

Lin Hao saw clearly the oilpaper package her mother had thrown out. Her vision went dark.

She didn’t oppose her mother finding another good match, but dear mother—if you wanted to attract his attention, couldn’t you have thrown a sachet? How could you throw roast duck!

As the oilpaper package flew toward the man, there was a momentary disturbance among both the procession and the crowd watching the excitement. Then that oilpaper package was easily caught in the man’s hand.

Those black eyes, identical to Great Zhou people’s yet standing out incongruously in the procession, looked in the direction from which the “hidden weapon” had flown and saw Lin Shi standing there like a wooden chicken.

Lin Hao felt the impulse to pull her “troublemaking” mother and flee. But then she saw the man’s face reveal pleasant surprise as he strode over with large steps.