After a while, Yan Tongshu came out after changing clothes and asked, “Did you find anything?”
Pearl shook her head. “I’m sorry, Young Master. I was too careless.”
The servant on duty that night also apologized. “I’m sorry, Young Master. We failed in our duty.”
Yan Tongshu shook her head.
Whoever it was had fled incredibly quickly. They were probably trained in martial arts.
Yan Tongshu went over to the window and found signs of trampling among the flowers. She searched the area but found no footprints.
She raised her brows slightly.
Even in such a hurried escape, the intruder had known to step on the flower branches to avoid leaving footprints.
Not only were they trained—they were professionals.
Yan Tongshu asked Pearl, “Have any new people entered the residence recently?”
Pearl shook her head, then suddenly seemed to remember something and nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes! That’s right, Young Master—the new cook in the kitchen. Zhang Xin, Uncle Zhang’s distant relative.”
Yan Tongshu asked, “Where is her room?”
Pearl immediately turned around to ask someone. After confirming that Zhang Xin was staying in the servants’ quarters near the main kitchen, she led Yan Tongshu there.
Zhang Xin was nowhere to be found.
Yan Tongshu reached a hand between the bedding and the mattress. The space between them was cold. The person had been gone for quite some time.
Yan Tongshu understood at once. “She isn’t coming back.”
Pearl stared at her. “Huh?”
Yan Tongshu explained, “So much time has passed since she was discovered. If she intended to return, she would have done so already. The bed is cold, which means she left a long time ago and hasn’t come back.”
Pearl suddenly understood. “So it really was her! But why, Young Master? Why was she spying on you? Isn’t she Uncle Zhang’s distant relative?”
Yan Tongshu asked, “Has Uncle Zhang ever met this distant relative of his?”
Pearl didn’t know, so she had someone summon Uncle Zhang.
Uncle Zhang smacked his forehead. “Oh dear, I met her ten years ago. Ten years is a long time—she’s changed quite a bit. She had a handwritten letter from my cousin, so I didn’t think much of it. Could she have been a fraud?”
Yan Tongshu pressed her lips together and said nothing.
When she returned to her room, Yan Tongshu’s expression was grave.
If she thought optimistically, the intruder might have been nothing more than a common crook who had tricked her way into the Yan residence to steal something and make a little extra money.
But if she thought pessimistically…
Ever since taking office as the Acting Magistrate of Kaifeng, she had made quite a few enemies. Perhaps someone had grown suspicious of her and planted an agent in the Yan residence.
And that person had just been spying on her while she bathed…
Yan Tongshu screamed inwardly.
Could the intruder have discovered that she was a woman disguised as a man?
The crime of deceiving the emperor could result in dismissal from office and exile at the least, or being sliced in two. At worst, it could mean the extermination of three generations of her family.
Waaah…
Yan Tongshu let out a sorrowful whimper.
What had she done to deserve this?
Murder only warranted the death penalty.
All she had done was tell one tiny lie, yet it could get three generations of her family killed.
What kind of ridiculous law was this? It was completely inhumane!
“Pearl!”
Yan Tongshu shouted in panic.
Pearl pushed open the door, even more frantic than she was. “What happened? What happened? Young Master, are there thieves again? Where? Where? This servant will beat him to death!”
“Forget the thief for now.”
The person was already gone and definitely wouldn’t be coming back.
Yan Tongshu’s face went pale as she asked, “How much fruit do we still have in the residence?”
“Huh?” Pearl stood there in a daze. “F-fruit?”
“Yes.” Yan Tongshu nodded. “Go quickly. Bring me all the best and most expensive fruit you can find. Then bring a pretty bamboo basket. Oh, and find some beautiful silk cloth too. You and Jinbao know how to make silk flowers, don’t you? We’re going to make a one-of-a-kind fruit basket tonight.”
Pearl was still bewildered. “Huh?”
“Hurry! Once it’s finished, we’ll go visit the emperor tomorrow morning!”
Yan Tongshu nodded firmly.
She hoped that the dog emperor would take their deep friendship into consideration and punish her as lightly as possible—then even more lightly than that.
…
Prince Ming’s residence.
Zhang Xin returned to report and knelt on the ground. “I’m sorry, Chief. I’ve been exposed.”
Wu Jue sighed. “Did you find out anything?”
Zhang Xin replied, “I spied on Yan Tongshu while she was bathing today, but I was discovered shortly after opening the window.”
Disappointment appeared on Wu Jue’s face.
“However, I wasn’t completely unsuccessful.” Zhang Xin raised her head and looked at Wu Jue.
Wu Jue hurriedly asked, “What did you discover?”
“Yesterday, the emperor stayed overnight at the Yan residence and shared a bed with Yan Tongshu. His Majesty has always been a man of fastidious cleanliness. Back when the Empress Dowager sent maids to the Crown Prince’s residence, not one of them was allowed near him. How could he suddenly become so close to a high-ranking official? I found it suspicious, but the emperor was protected by hidden guards, so I could never get close to him. Therefore, I continued to lie in wait outside Yan Tongshu’s courtyard and observe. In the early hours of the morning, people were coming and going inside…”
Zhang Xin smiled confidently. “As Chief knows, my eyes are different from those of ordinary people. Most people can see clearly up close but have blurry vision at a distance. I’m the opposite—I can’t see clearly up close, but I can see far away. Through the window, I saw the emperor and Yan Tongshu embracing. From behind, it looked as though they were kissing. Later, however, the emperor’s personal eunuch closed the window, and I couldn’t see anything more.”
Wu Jue was utterly shocked. “You saw clearly? The emperor and Official Yan were kissing?”
“From my angle, I could only see Yan Tongshu’s back, so I couldn’t be certain. But judging from their posture, they appeared to be kissing.”
Upon hearing this, Wu Jue smiled.
A ruler and his subject? How interesting.
The iron-blooded emperor and the upright official.
No matter which one was on top, it would be a scandal if word got out.
“You’ve done very well. You’ll be rewarded later.”
With that, Wu Jue immediately went to Prince Ming’s study to report the news.
…
Early the next morning, after hastily wolfing down breakfast, Yan Tongshu carried the fruit basket into the palace in a carriage, arriving in a great hurry.
After Lu Xi announced her arrival, Yan Tongshu carried the fruit basket into Qin Yi’s bedchamber, Funing Hall.
She set the basket aside and knelt in greeting. “Your subject pays respects to His Majesty. May Your Majesty live for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand ten thousand years.”
Qin Yi was leaning against the bed in a bright-yellow sleeping robe. He raised a hand. “Rise.”
As he spoke, his gaze moved from Yan Tongshu to the fruit basket he was seeing for the first time—a uniquely designed basket made with an almost excessive amount of materials.
Yan Tongshu rose, picked up the basket, and walked over to Qin Yi. “Your Majesty, has your fever gone down?”
Qin Yi raised a brow slightly.
Yan Tongshu held out the fruit basket with both hands. “This is a gift for you.”
Qin Yi’s brow rose another two degrees.
When she saw that he wasn’t accepting it, Yan Tongshu blinked. “Your Majesty?”
Qin Yi’s brow continued climbing. “Do you need something from Me?”
“No, of course not.” Yan Tongshu shook her head so vigorously that the basket in her hand swayed. “I’m here as a friend, worried about you. I spent all night tossing and turning, so I came to visit you first thing this morning.”
Suspicion filled Qin Yi’s eyes.
Yan Tongshu asked with concern, “Your Majesty, would you like a pear? Autumn pears nourish the body and moisten the lungs. They’re especially good for you after a high fever, since your body needs to replenish its fluids. Shall I peel one for you?”
Qin Yi scrutinized Yan Tongshu.
Offering favors without reason always meant there was an ulterior motive.
He gave a slight nod. Yan Tongshu called for Lu Xi, who brought over a fruit knife.
Sitting beside Qin Yi’s bed, Yan Tongshu took out a pear from the basket and carefully, patiently peeled away the skin bit by bit. Then she handed him the pear, white and glistening like snow.
“Your Majesty.”
Qin Yi stared at the pear.
Most of the pears he ate had already been peeled, cored, and cut into pieces.
Being handed an entire pear directly, as Yan Tongshu had done, was indeed something new.
Qin Yi reached out to take it and bit into it. It was crisp and sweet.
Yan Tongshu’s large eyes shone as she stared at him. “Is it good?”
“Mm.” Qin Yi replied blandly, still on high alert.
“Qin Yi.” Yan Tongshu changed the way she addressed him. Qin Yi raised his eyelids slightly. “Mm?”
Yan Tongshu put on a bright smile. “We’re friends, right?”
Qin Yi narrowed his eyes. With the pear still in his mouth, he did not swallow it, using it to guard against Yan Tongshu. He gave a soft hum to affirm her words.
Yan Tongshu cautiously asked, “Then… will we be good friends for life?”
Qin Yi did not answer. He lifted his head and stared at her.
Yan Tongshu said softly, “If something minor happens between friends, or if one of them occasionally does something a little unconventional, that should be forgivable, right?”
Qin Yi smiled and extended a hand toward Yan Tongshu, signaling with his eyes for her to place her hand on top of it.
Yan Tongshu did not understand, but she did as he asked.
Qin Yi spat the pear in his mouth into her hand, then placed the piece in his own hand on top of it.
Yan Tongshu: “…”
Only then did Qin Yi say leisurely, “Go on. What mischief did you get up to?”
Yan Tongshu was speechless. “I didn’t do anything bad. How could I possibly do anything bad?”
Qin Yi scoffed. “If you didn’t do anything bad, why did you come over first thing in the morning? If you didn’t do anything bad, why did you peel fruit and try so hard to curry favor with me? If you didn’t do anything bad, would you be treating me this well?”
“I really didn’t do anything bad.” Yan Tongshu sounded perfectly justified, even though she had no real grounds for it.
Deceiving the emperor… at most, that counted as a tiny little mistake.
How could that be considered doing something bad?
She had not killed anyone or set anything on fire.
“Besides…” Yan Tongshu muttered, “can’t I have come because I was worried about you?”
“Really?” Qin Yi asked.
Yan Tongshu’s gaze drifted away. “My concern is definitely genuine.”
The corners of Qin Yi’s lips curved up slightly.
After saying that, Yan Tongshu quickly added, “We’re friends, after all. It’s perfectly normal for friends to care about each other.”
The corners of Qin Yi’s lips immediately fell.
Yan Tongshu set the pear in her hand aside. “You don’t like pears, do you? Then eat something else.”
She took out a handkerchief and wiped the pear juice from her hand. Then she retrieved a white porcelain bowl from the fruit basket and opened it. Inside was still-warm red date and tremella soup.
Yan Tongshu set the bowl down and took out a bamboo tray from the fruit basket.
The tray had a lid. When she opened it, a delicate little cake was revealed.
A piece was missing from the cake. The eunuch who had tested it for poison before it was brought into the palace had taken that bite.
Yan Tongshu scooped up a small spoonful and held it to Qin Yi’s lips. “Try it. It’s a honey sponge cake made without water. It’s delicious.”
As she spoke, Yan Tongshu pursed her lips slightly.
Images from the dream he had during his high fever flashed before Qin Yi’s eyes. His lips seemed to retain the real, soft sensation from it.
It had felt so real—so real that he had nearly believed it was not a dream.
But how could it possibly have been real?
If it had not been a dream, Yan Tongshu would have avoided him like the plague long ago.
He turned his gaze away, opened his mouth, and accepted the cake. It was soft and sweet, melting as soon as it entered his mouth.
Yan Tongshu looked at him expectantly. “Is it good?”
“Mm.” Qin Yi lowered his eyes.
Yan Tongshu handed him the spoon. Qin Yi’s eyes flickered. “My hands feel weak.”
“Then I’ll feed you.” Yan Tongshu set the cake down and picked up the bowl of tremella soup. “Drink some soup first. After a high fever, you shouldn’t eat too much cake, so I only brought a small one. If you want more in the future, just tell me and I’ll bring you some.”
“Mm.” The corners of Qin Yi’s lips lifted slightly without him realizing it.
One spoonful at a time, he quickly finished the tremella soup, and half the little cake was gone as well.
Yan Tongshu smiled. “Then rest well and recover. I’m going to Kaifeng Prefecture to report for duty.”
Qin Yi said, “How is the dismemberment case coming along?”
“I already have some leads. I think we’ll have an answer soon.” Yan Tongshu told him in detail about the clues she had uncovered the day before.
Qin Yi listened attentively, his gaze fixed on her face the entire time.
In truth, he was not particularly interested in the case. He knew how capable Yan Tongshu was.
He simply wanted her to stay with him a little longer.
At last, Yan Tongshu rose to leave. Qin Yi suddenly called out, “Yan Tongshu.”
Yan Tongshu turned back. “Mm?”
Qin Yi pressed his lips together. “I’m afraid this illness of mine won’t be better for another couple of days.”
“Mm?” Yan Tongshu looked at him in confusion.
His lashes fluttered. “I want cake and tremella soup again tomorrow.”
Yan Tongshu froze for a moment before smiling. “Mm. I’ll bring them tomorrow.”
When she returned to Kaifeng Prefecture, Yan Tongshu immediately summoned Xu Qiu to ask about the investigation.
Xu Qiu said, “Aside from Jiang Han and Yu Weizhu, we still haven’t confirmed whether the other five victims had a preference for men. However, the owners of the inns where two of them stayed in Bianjing said that the two men often went out during their stay. They frequently carried the scent of cosmetics on them, and flamboyantly dressed men would occasionally come looking for them. No one knows exactly what they were doing.”
The victims had sought pleasure in Bianjing and kept male lovers there. Those men might have had identities of their own—or they might simply have been ordinary male entertainers.
Some of the victims’ lovers might even have had wives and children.
That was why, even after learning about the murders, none of them had been willing to come forward and expose themselves.
Furthermore, too much time had passed since the deaths, and the victims had all been from out of town. Even those who had seen them back then were probably unable to remember them now.
Yan Tongshu shook her head with a sigh.
Xu Qiu continued, “Based on the victims’ backgrounds, we investigated the merchants they dealt with in Bianjing. Liu Ling said that Feng Feng was especially fond of beef, mutton, milk, and flatbread. Of the other five victims, two had asked people to purchase beef for them, but neither of them bought it from the same cattle office…”
Yan Tongshu immediately picked up on that. “Not the same one?”
Xu Qiu nodded and went on. “The remaining three did not like beef and had never bought any.”
Never?
Had they been investigating in the wrong direction?
Yan Tongshu asked, “What about their residences in Bianjing?”
Xu Qiu took out a map and spread it across the desk, marking the temporary residences of all eight victims.
Feng Feng and Yu Weizhu had rented houses.
The others had stayed temporarily at inns.
The inns were all in different locations.
Yan Tongshu connected the eight locations. The residences were neither particularly close nor especially far apart. All of them lay in the southeastern part of the city, in an area that was prosperous, though not the most bustling.
The most prosperous districts were noisy, and rents there were expensive.
These men were merchants. They had money, but they were not among the very wealthiest. Given that they also had certain preferences they did not wish outsiders to know about, finding a comfortable and quiet inn in a moderately prosperous area made perfect sense.
There were three cattle offices in this area.
Three?
Working at a cattle office was comparable to holding a permanent position in a modern tobacco bureau. Such jobs required money and connections to obtain and were highly coveted.
If the killer really was one of the people responsible for sending cattle out through the city gates, then he ought to have been a long-term, permanent worker within one of the cattle offices.
No one like that could possibly work for all three cattle offices at once.
What sort of person could move freely throughout such a large area, select victims, and ultimately leave the city without difficulty to dump their bodies in the wilderness?
Had they truly been wrong, and had the murders had nothing to do with beef at all?
Yan Tongshu stood up. “Come on. Let’s go take a look at these three cattle offices.”
Xu Qiu answered, “Yes.”
Jinbao drove the carriage, while Yan Tongshu and Pearl rode inside. Xu Qiu led the way ahead. Based on Xu Qiu’s investigation, they first went to the cattle office where Xia He had bought beef for Yu Weizhu.
It was the same place where Yan Tongshu had bought beef.
The plaque on the cattle office read: Southeast Joy Ward, Number Twenty-Three.
Yan Tongshu did not bother with pleasantries. She got straight to the point and asked to see the duty rosters. Before long, a clerk brought them over. Using the remains of the four victims whose approximate dates of death could temporarily be determined, Yan Tongshu estimated when their bodies had been discarded and checked who had been responsible for sending cattle out of the city around those times.
The estimated times when the bodies had been discarded were uncertain. At most, they could only search within a few days after each victim’s death.
There were five people at this cattle office who transported beef out of the city, and they all worked rotating, overlapping shifts.
Within the estimated periods when the four bodies had been discarded, three people could be identified as possible suspects.
But there was no single person on duty during all four periods. The times overlapped only partially.
Moreover, even when the times matched, the locations did not. This cattle office supplied both Yunzhou and Yangzhou.
The person who had delivered beef to Xia He was not even responsible for transporting beef out of the city.
How strange.
It was all too strange.
For the first time, Yan Tongshu seriously began to wonder whether she had been investigating in the wrong direction.
She recorded the information she had found in the duty rosters and handed it to Pearl. Then she left the records room and had Peng Zhou, the man who had delivered the beef to Xia He, brought out for questioning.
Peng Zhou looked utterly bewildered. Clearly, he knew nothing.
Yan Tongshu asked, “Have you talked to anyone else about Xia He?”
Peng Zhou gave an awkward smile. “When there’s nothing else to do, I do enjoy chatting about gossip. That… that’s normal, isn’t it? Oh, right. Later, when I went nearby to deliver beef, I saw that pretty young gentleman crying outside. He looked heartbroken, as if someone had betrayed him.”
Yan Tongshu asked, “Did you tell other people about that too?”
Peng Zhou scratched his head. “I was bored. I talk about everything.”
“Who knows about it?” Yan Tongshu asked.
“Quite a lot of people,” Peng Zhou replied. “The people in our office gossip all day long. Anyone who needed to know already knows. Who knows how many people they’ve told outside as well?”
Yan Tongshu tracked down everyone who had heard the gossip from Peng Zhou. Naturally, one person told ten, and ten told a hundred.
The gossip had spread everywhere.
Helpless, Yan Tongshu could only go take another look at the place where the cattle were slaughtered.
Although the slaughterhouse was frequently washed and cleaned, the stench of blood remained heavy because cattle were slaughtered there every day.
At that moment, Luo Bi was slaughtering a cow.
When he saw Yan Tongshu approaching in her official robes, he hurriedly bowed. Yan Tongshu told him to rise and asked with a smile, “Slaughtering cattle so early today?”
“Ah.” Luo Bi scratched his head and sighed. “The holidays are coming soon, aren’t they? The wealthy people in Yangzhou are especially fond of beef, so demand is high. Besides, the price is better at this hour. If we start early, we can deliver everything out before the city gates close in the evening.”
Yan Tongshu asked, “I wanted to ask you this the last time I came to buy beef. Brother Luo, your slaughtering technique is remarkably skilled. You must have practiced for a long time, right?”
“Of course.” Anyone would be proud when discussing what they were good at, and Luo Bi was no exception. He lifted his chin. “I’m not bragging, but my father was a butcher. I started slaughtering pigs with him when I was seven. I joined the cattle office at sixteen, and even when I was just starting out, I was faster than the others.”
“Your technique is so impressive. Do people usually come to watch you?” Yan Tongshu continued.
“Watch? Not really.” Luo Bi said proudly, “But plenty of people want to sneak a look and learn the trade. They should know that slaughtering cattle takes practice. Just watching isn’t enough to learn. At most, they stand to the side and observe.”
“Are there many people like that?”
“Many? Of course there are.” Luo Bi chuckled. “My lady, let me tell you—forget slaughtering cattle. Even when an ordinary village slaughters a pig, plenty of people gather around to watch. Here at the cattle office, whenever the people delivering meals, collecting swill, or emptying the night-soil buckets happen to see us slaughtering a cow, they all like to squat nearby and watch. Sometimes they get so absorbed that they forget what they came here to do. But honestly, I know they don’t truly enjoy watching. They’re craving meat, so they use their eyes to satisfy the craving.”
Yan Tongshu considered this for a moment before asking, “Have the people who slaughter cattle here all been doing this for many years?”
“Naturally.” Although he did not understand why Yan Tongshu was asking, Luo Bi answered honestly. “The cattle office is a coveted position. Every now and then, we can even get some offal or scraps of meat. Anyone who can stay here absolutely won’t leave. All of us butchers were carefully selected, and our techniques are highly refined. As long as our bodies can still handle the work, we’ll never go. Wang Zhi and I are the most recent additions, and even we’ve been here for at least four years.”
Four years.
The murderer’s technique for dismembering the bodies had been crude the first time, somewhat rough the second time, and only showed obvious improvement on the third. By the fifth or sixth attempt, the murderer could finally be considered proficient—the cuts were smooth and practiced. Clearly, the timeline did not match.
Besides, the victims had lived in places so far apart. What kind of person could wander through so many different locations and happen to encounter and kill all of them?
Yan Tongshu felt as if her head were about to explode.
She had originally thought she had finally found a lead and would soon be able to pull the whole thread free. But now, everything was still a tangled mess, and she could not find even the beginning of a thread.
After questioning Luo Bi, Yan Tongshu left the cattle office and went to the next one.
After checking the records there, Yan Tongshu left.
It did not match.
The beef from this office was delivered to another prefecture—not Yunzhou.
The third cattle office.
Yan Tongshu checked the records. The results were almost identical to those from the first office.
Could anyone be identified within the estimated periods when the bodies had been discarded?
Yes.
Three people could be identified.
But was there anyone who fit every time period?
No. The names only overlapped partially.
Even where there was an overlap, the locations did not match.
This cattle office supplied at least two prefectures as well. Besides Yunzhou, it also supplied Bingzhou.
Yan Tongshu had a splitting headache.
The trail had gone cold again.
Back at Kaifeng Prefecture, Yan Tongshu organized the case data while her thoughts churned furiously.
Start from the beginning.
There were eight victims. Of the three whose identities could be confirmed, all shared certain traits: they were merchants, they preferred men, and they had wives and children or were engaged to be married. Every one of them had treated his lover coldly and heartlessly.
The murderer had better methods of killing at their disposal, yet had chosen a more intimate method—grabbing each victim by the throat from the front and strangling him to death.
Four of the bodies showed bruising and decomposition on the inner thighs, suggesting that the victims might have been violated either before or after death.
The murderer was very likely a lover who had once been abandoned and hurt by a man. Because of that psychological trauma, the sight of men who were fickle and faithless had triggered them, driving them to kill.
The gold, silver, and banknotes taken from the victims had never appeared on the market. The murderer had not exchanged them, which meant they were probably still living in poverty. Therefore, the true purpose of the killings was not robbery, but venting the resentment in their heart. The theft of the victims’ money had merely been an opportunistic act.
When the people from the cattle office transported beef out of the city, the strong smell of blood meant that the guards did not inspect the carts carefully. It was extremely easy to pass through the gates.
Thus, the current theory was that the murderer dismembered the bodies, hid them inside cattle carcasses, transported them out through the city gates, and then discarded them under cover of night.
The logic was sound in every respect, but they could not find a suspect who met all the conditions necessary to commit the crimes.
Yan Tongshu grabbed at her hair.
Every crime had a motive.
The murderer had killed to vent their resentment.
Who was the person who had traumatized him? What had driven him to choose murder as an outlet for his emotions?
Yan Tongshu pondered.
Of the eight victims, the most unusual was the first, Jiang Han. Since he had been the first to die, he had left behind the most traces and clues.
Jiang Han also had the most bruises and pinch marks on his body.
There were bruises from pinching on his arms, waist, buttocks, inner thighs, and calves.
“Arms, waist, buttocks, inner thighs, calves...” Yan Tongshu repeated the words several times. Then his eyes lit up. “Pearl!”
“Huh?” Pearl, who had been dozing off with her eyes closed, startled awake. “What is it? What happened?”
Yan Tongshu beckoned to her. “Come over here.”
Pearl walked to Yan Tongshu’s side and looked at him in confusion.
Yan Tongshu gestured in the air, indicating her arms, waist, buttocks...
Then he had Pearl turn around.
“Inner thighs...”
“Calves.”
“Buttocks?”
None of the other victims had marks in these places.
But they did bear signs of sexual assault.
If the killer really had been driven to psychological extremes by being abandoned and had then started killing, why had he assaulted the victims?
Why?
A flash of insight crossed Yan Tongshu’s mind.
