He’s retracing the route he took for his first murder!
He’s constantly recalling it, trying to recapture how he felt back then!
That’s right. Most murderers will repeatedly recreate the pattern of a successful crime, especially when the killer in this case has serious psychological problems.
The others were all dealt with hastily. Only Jiang Han was someone the killer had truly taken his time with—which was why Jiang Han’s body bore so many marks.
He had taken his time because he had feelings for Jiang Han.
He had been genuinely betrayed, and in his grief and fury, he had committed murder.
Yan Tongshu hurriedly searched through the records on Jiang Han.
She found something.
Before his death, Jiang Han had just become engaged to his fiancée.
Jiang Han had refused to make his lover public because he wanted to find a wife from a family of equal social standing. Now that his marriage had been settled, he had intended to break things off with his lover. The lover, driven to the brink, had killed him in a fit of rage.
Yan Tongshu rose to her feet. “Come on, Pearl. We’re going to the official residence.”
Yan Tongshu took a carriage to the official residence. After announcing herself, she entered Feng Jien’s room and got straight to the point.
“Lord Feng, what else do you know about Jiang Han? What was his temperament like? What colors, flowers, and so on did he like? Did he have any particular preferences regarding men?”
The killer had violated the men’s anuses. In the sexual relationship between the two, the killer had been the dominant, penetrating partner.
The first time he dismembered a body, the work had been crude, and he had chosen parts that were difficult to sever. Judging from the fractures, he had hacked straight through them. The killer was also extremely strong.
Feng Jien was dumbfounded by the questions.
He had never considered any of these things and had paid little attention to them.
Feng Jien racked his memory, but it was too hazy.
“What about Jiang Han’s lover? Are you really certain there aren’t any clues at all? When he teased his friends, did he let anything else slip? For instance, did he ever give him any gifts?” Yan Tongshu pressed urgently.
“Oh—” Feng Jien’s eyes widened. “There is one thing. Jiang Han’s family runs a restaurant. Whenever he went to Bianjing, he would pack some of the restaurant’s specialties—jujube cakes and roast duck—and take them along. His friends all guessed that his little lover liked to eat them.”
Yan Tongshu covered her face with both hands.
That clue wasn’t enough.
She lowered her hands and drew a deep breath.
She would go to Yunzhou.
She would search Jiang Han’s home thoroughly.
She refused to believe that lovers who had been so deeply entangled would leave no memories or mementos behind in the house.
Pearl and Jinbao couldn’t ride horses, so she couldn’t take them along.
Yan Tongshu returned to the prefectural office and instructed the constables to continue investigating the victims’ movements. She also told Pearl to deliver the tremella soup and cake to Lu Xi the following day. Then she selected two constables, mounted fast horses, and left the city for Yunzhou.
By the city gates, Feng Jien was already waiting.
Feng Jien insisted on accompanying Yan Tongshu, so she had no choice but to agree.
But in truth, by the time they had covered a third of the journey, Yan Tongshu already regretted it.
There really hadn’t been any need to hurry so much.
Her butt hurt so badly.
During a break, Yan Tongshu glanced at Feng Jien. Before she could suggest taking a little more time to rest, Feng Jien looked at her with admiration.
“As expected of the legendary Lord Yan. Your dedication is truly admirable. This subordinate is filled with respect.”
The Kaifeng Prefecture constable immediately chimed in, “That’s right, that’s right! Our Lord Yan is not only incorruptible, upright, and noble, but also loves the people as if they were her own children. She pleads for justice on their behalf, never fears the powerful, and never shirks from hardship. She is truly a model for all officials and a pillar of the imperial court.”
Yan Tongshu: “…”
Yan Tongshu rubbed her forehead. Fine. She supposed she could endure a little longer.
They had ridden at full speed from morning onward, stopping only briefly to rest and eat some dry rations. Even so, Yan Tongshu and Feng Jien still failed to enter the city before the gates closed.
Fortunately, Feng Jien was the governor of Yunzhou, and the guards opened a back entrance for them. The party was finally able to enter the city and rest.
Yan Tongshu lay on the unyielding bed in the guest room of the Feng residence, tears streaming in her heart.
Earlier, she had asked Feng Jien why the beds in his esteemed residence were so hard.
Feng Jien had replied that it was to temper his will, so that he would never forget the hardships of the common people, serve as a proper father and mother to them, devote himself to the imperial court, and remain loyal to the emperor.
Yan Tongshu buried her face in the pillow and clenched her fists.
She hated it.
She hated her own excessive concern for her public image. She hated Feng Jien’s rigid old-fashioned ways. She hated the rock-hard bed…
Most of all, she hated that even the pillow was so hard.
She missed the soft, fragrant bed at home.
She missed Pearl.
Waaah…
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Yan Tongshu was still sleeping soundly when someone knocked on the guest-room door.
Feng Jien called out energetically, “Lord Yan, it’s daylight! We should set out for the Jiang residence and investigate the case.”
“I’m not going!”
Yan Tongshu shouted groggily, still half-asleep.
Feng Jien didn’t hear her and continued, “Lord Yan? Lord Yan, it’s time to get up! Lord Yan, Lord Yan…”
He was practically calling her soul back from the underworld.
Yan Tongshu sat up. Her lower back ached, her legs cramped, and her butt hurt.
She swore that on the way back, she would ride at a leisurely pace. Slowly. Very slowly.
With a long sigh, Yan Tongshu got out of bed, dressed, and opened the door.
Feng Jien stood outside, full of energy. “Lord Yan, this subordinate is ready to depart.”
Yan Tongshu: “…”
After a moment of silence, Yan Tongshu said, “I need to wash up first.”
Feng Jien remained full of fighting spirit. “Then wash up first, Lord Yan. I’ll prepare some breakfast for the road.”
Yan Tongshu’s eyes widened.
She hated people with too much energy.
In less than half an incense stick’s time, Feng Jien had prepared breakfast for the journey and came to respectfully invite Yan Tongshu to continue the investigation.
Sitting in the carriage, Yan Tongshu ate a steamed bun while sizing up Feng Jien.
She suspected that Feng Jien was one of Prince Ming’s people, deliberately trying to exhaust her to death and eliminate this great threat.
At last, they arrived at the Jiang residence.
Jiang Han had been dead for five years, and his parents had long since recovered from their grief.
His younger brother was steadily taking over the Jiang family’s restaurant business.
Jiang Han’s room had been cleared out and renovated into his younger brother’s study. All of Jiang Han’s belongings had been moved into the storeroom.
Yan Tongshu and Feng Jien arrived at the storeroom. When the servant pulled away the hemp cloth covering it, a great cloud of dust rose into the air.
Yan Tongshu and Feng Jien instinctively covered their noses.
The servant also coughed twice. Then he untied the keys from his belt and opened three large chests one after another.
Yan Tongshu and Feng Jien stepped forward to inspect them.
Yan Tongshu searched through the first chest. Most of it contained clothing and similar items.
Unlike Yu Weizhu, Jiang Han had no habit of embroidering his lover’s name into his collars.
The clothes were all appropriate for Jiang Han’s status.
Belts…
Yan Tongshu picked up a belt embroidered with a white tiger.
Ordinary merchants with more refined tastes would embroider plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, chrysanthemums, cranes, or deer on their belts.
Those with more vulgar tastes favored toads and pixiu.
Very few people embroidered white tigers.
The white tiger motif symbolized an admiration for courage and strength.
Did Jiang Han worship strength?
Yan Tongshu continued searching. At the bottom of the chest lay various ornaments: jade pendants, belt buckles, fan ornaments, prayer beads…
“This bracelet is rather unusual.” Yan Tongshu picked it up.
It consisted of sixteen beads in total. Fifteen were round beads made of sandalwood, while the single bead in the center was a white die.
Yan Tongshu stroked the bead. It was smooth and polished, and seemed to be made of something extraordinary.
She asked the servant, “Did your young master buy this bead?”
The servant racked his brains. “I don’t remember, sir. Perhaps you could ask Young Master Zhuo? He’s our young master’s close friend. He should know.”
As soon as Feng Jien heard this, he ordered someone to summon Zhuo Ji.
Yan Tongshu first set the prayer beads aside and examined the second chest.
The second chest contained books, calligraphy, and paintings—some purchased, others painted by Jiang Han himself.
After checking the purchased works, Yan Tongshu began opening Jiang Han’s paintings one by one.
High mountains and flowing waters.
The migration of beasts.
Pine trees and cranes symbolizing longevity.
And then… Wu Song fighting the tiger?
On the painting, a tiger lay on the ground, howling in agony.
Beside it stood a man dressed in a short tunic, holding a longbow. Only his profile was visible, but the muscles in his arm bulged powerfully, while his thick, sturdy thighs and lean waist radiated virile strength.
Above all, the lines of his muscles were perfect—an ideal study in human anatomy.
It was as though the artist had seen him with his own eyes.
There was even an inscription:
“How striking and splendid he is,
So tall and handsome.”
Wait.
Yan Tongshu stared closely at the painting. “Lord Feng.”
Feng Jien set down the scroll he had been examining and walked over. “Have you found something, Lord Yan?”
“Take a look.” Yan Tongshu pointed to the hand drawing the bow. “Here. At the thumb. Doesn’t it look incomplete?”
The painting was not large, and the man’s hand was partly obscured by the bow and arrow. It was difficult to make out clearly.
Yan Tongshu needed confirmation.
Feng Jien narrowed his eyes and examined it carefully. “It does seem to be missing part of the tip. About a third of the first joint.”
Yan Tongshu understood.
For such a tiny detail to have been captured so precisely, the artist must truly have seen it.
What was more, Jiang Han had painstakingly rendered the man’s muscles at the moment his strength exploded into action. His brushwork was filled with emotion, while the poem was steeped in admiration.
He had truly loved the heroic figure in the painting.
Yan Tongshu put the painting away and examined the remaining works.
There was no need to speculate anymore.
She could confirm with absolute certainty that Jiang Han had been fascinated by this man’s muscles, his strength, and his powerful physique.
The next five paintings all depicted the same person.
Though he was shown only in profile or from behind—and even his face was blurred—the muscles of his body were rendered with meticulous precision whether he was running, leaping, or crouching in the grass.
Even the sweat clinging to his muscles and the beads of water rolling down his body had been painted in vivid detail.
This man was probably a hunter.
He was either hunting or practicing archery.
One painting showed him dancing with a sword, his upper body bare. The movements were clearly inaccurate, but within those inaccuracies, the most accurate and beautiful thing was still the musculature.
Across his bare back ran a hideous scar, slanting from his left shoulder down to his waist.
Even that scar had been depicted in excruciating detail. Every branch and split in it was perfectly clear.
Yan Tongshu pressed a hand to her forehead. She now completely understood Jiang Han’s particular tastes.
After finishing with the paintings, Yan Tongshu opened the third chest.
This one contained the ornaments and curios from Jiang Han’s bedroom.
A headless clay figurine.
The exact same muscles as those in the paintings.
Dried white cogongrass.
A fan made from wild goose feathers.
A deer-antler pen rack.
“Lord Yan.” Feng Jien had seen it as well. “Could it be…?”
Yan Tongshu nodded. It was a hunter.
A hunter in Bianjing with a long scar across his shoulder and back, a missing part of the first joint of his thumb, an excellent physique, and powerful muscles.
He had also hunted deer and wild geese.
Just as Yan Tongshu and Feng Jien exchanged glances, the constable brought Zhuo Ji in.
Feng Jien held up the string of prayer beads and asked, “Zhuo Ji, have you seen this before?”
Zhuo Ji nodded. “This thing is quite rare. When Brother Jiang returned from Bianjing, he showed it off for quite some time.”
Yan Tongshu pressed him further. “What is the white die on it made of?”
“Tiger bone.” Zhuo Ji smiled. “Brother Zhuo even made a point of saying it came from a white tiger. It was a gift from his lover in Bianjing. We were all rather puzzled at the time. Girls usually give embroidered handkerchiefs or sachets. Yet Brother Zhuo’s girl was fond of things like tiger bones. Sigh…”
Remembering the drinking and laughter of years past, Zhuo Ji’s smile faded. His expression turned mournful.
“Who would have thought that the world would change so much? Brother Jiang has been dead for five years already.”
After hearing this, Yan Tongshu had a fairly clear idea of what had happened.
The scar, the missing section of the thumb, and the fact that he was a hunter—those three clues already pointed very clearly in one direction.
But there were many hunters in Bianjing. Investigating them one by one would take far too much time.
Now that tiger bone had entered the picture, the search area instantly narrowed.
Ordinary hunters usually only hunted pheasants, rabbits, wild geese, or white cranes. Anyone who had slain a tiger—or whose ancestors had done so and left behind tiger bone as a keepsake—would certainly be famous for miles around. It would be easy to find out who they were.
However, reality proved that Yan Tongshu had been overthinking it.
After returning to Bianjing, she had the Kaifeng Office investigate for two days, but they found no hunter who fit the description.
Yan Tongshu lay sprawled across her desk, sighing repeatedly.
This case was utterly exhausting.
She had been rushing back and forth, and her lower back and buttocks still hurt.
Yet the Niu Office had found no suitable suspects, and neither had the search among the hunters.
Was the killer really choosing victims at random? Randomly and thoroughly enough that even the clues led nowhere?
A pile of memorials sat to one side. Qin Yi was eating a cake at an unhurried pace.
Yan Tongshu turned her head toward him and stared.
When Qin Yi finished the cake, he set it down and picked up his vermilion brush. “Ask whatever you want.”
“Oh.” Yan Tongshu blinked. “Are you recovered?”
“Yes.” Qin Yi pulled out a memorial.
Yan Tongshu asked, “Why are you working at the Kaifeng Office?”
The vermilion brush in Qin Yi’s hand left a bright red mark on the memorial. “I tried it last time and found it quite agreeable. Kaifeng is blessed with exceptional people and auspicious surroundings. When I work here, my mind feels especially clear.”
Yan Tongshu pressed her lips together and asked guiltily, “I didn’t come back the next day. You weren’t angry?”
“Why would I be angry?” Qin Yi replied indifferently.
Yan Tongshu fell silent.
The corners of Qin Yi’s lips lifted ever so slightly. “Yan Tongshu does what Yan Tongshu wants to do. Why should I be angry?”
“Oh.” Yan Tongshu stopped speaking.
The vermilion brush paused in Qin Yi’s hand. He glanced at Yan Tongshu from the corner of his eye. “Or does Lord Yan think I ought to be angry?”
Yan Tongshu’s slender lashes fluttered as she explained, “Actually, before I left the city, I thought I could return by the following evening. I didn’t think that would count as breaking my word between friends.”
“Mm,” Qin Yi answered coolly.
Yan Tongshu continued, “But after traveling a third of the way, I realized I had overestimated myself.”
She sighed again.
She really had overestimated herself. Her back and buttocks still hurt terribly.
After Yan Tongshu finished speaking, Qin Yi stared at her without moving.
She blinked in confusion. “What?”
“You…” Qin Yi frowned slightly, as though struggling to think.
Yan Tongshu became even more bewildered. What was wrong with her?
Qin Yi said, “Yan Tongshu, you don’t actually like Xianlin Hall.”
Yan Tongshu suddenly sat upright, outraged. “Nonsense!”
Qin Yi raised his brows slightly. “You don’t like things that offer no sense of accomplishment, yield no results, and leave you exhausted. In truth, you like investigating cases very much. Every time you investigate one, you throw yourself into it with fierce determination and tireless enthusiasm.”
“You’re talking nonsense.” Yan Tongshu flared her nostrils. “I think you simply want to keep using me—to make me work in this position as Acting Prefect of the Kaifeng Office for the rest of my life!”
Qin Yi thought for a moment, set down his vermilion brush, then turned around to face Yan Tongshu. He lowered his head and stared unblinkingly into her eyes, as if he wanted to see straight into her heart.
After a moment, he smiled. “You’re lying.”
Yan Tongshu clenched her fists, so angry that her chest heaved violently.
But there was nothing she could do about the dog emperor.
He was the emperor, after all.
Yan Tongshu turned her head sharply and spotted the little cakes on the table.
They were tiny sponge cakes, each about the size of a thumb.
The dog emperor had taken over her Kaifeng Prefecture office, seized half her desk, eaten her little cakes, and was now accusing her unjustly.
Yan Tongshu reached out and carried the plate of little cakes over.
If he wanted to charge her with deceiving the emperor later, then so be it.
For now, she simply wasn’t going to let him eat any more.
Qin Yi fell silent, then said angrily, “Yan Tongshu! Stop bristling every time you feel guilty.”
Yan Tongshu ignored him and ate the little cakes one by one with a fork.
So what if she was bristling?
It was all because he had said she was—
Lying?
Yan Tongshu suddenly looked at Qin Yi. “You said… lying?”
Qin Yi narrowed his eyes and silently moved his chair a little farther away from her. “No kicking.”
“You’re right.” Carrying the little cakes, Yan Tongshu stood up. “How could none of them match? It’s impossible for all of them to be wrong unless… someone was lying.”
That was the blind spot in their reasoning.
“Pearl, Xu Qiu.”
Yan Tongshu ran outside with the little cakes in her arms, calling as she went, “Come on, let’s go to the Cattle Office.”
Qin Yi laughed in exasperation.
So that was her scheme?
Using an investigation as an excuse to get revenge on him, taking all the little cakes so he couldn’t eat them!
Yan Tongshu, just you wait!
As usual, Jinbao drove the carriage while Yan Tongshu brought Pearl and the yamen runners to the Cattle Office at No. 23 Southeast Joy Lane.
Yan Tongshu found the Cattle Office’s supervisor and ordered him to summon the three men she had selected last time: Zhang Lei, Liu Yang, and Chen Yong.
The three men knelt on the ground, trembling with fear.
Yan Tongshu stared at them, her brows stern and her expression cold.
Pearl opened the duty roster they had compiled last time and displayed it before the three men.
Yan Tongshu asked in a deep voice, “According to this roster, were the three of you on duty during these time periods?”
The three men exchanged bewildered glances. They had no idea what this was about, but Yan Tongshu was dressed in official robes embroidered with a python. She was clearly a high-ranking official—an exceedingly high-ranking official at that. Their hearts quaking, they nodded repeatedly.
“Are you certain—” Yan Tongshu’s voice suddenly rose as she emphasized each word. “That during every time period marked here, you personally transported the beef out of the city?”
Zhang Lei and Liu Yang nodded furiously.
Chen Yong, however, shifted his eyes uneasily and did not answer at once.
Yan Tongshu walked up to him and looked down at him sternly. “You. Did you personally transport the beef to Yunzhou?”
“I…” Chen Yong swallowed, his voice trembling. He instinctively glanced toward Zhang Lei and Liu Yang.
Yan Tongshu took a step to the left, blocking his line of sight. Her voice grew even sharper. “You’re trying to signal the others right in front of me? Do you take me for a fool?!”
Yan Tongshu shouted, “Speak! Who transported the beef in your place?”
Chen Yong shuddered from head to toe. “Mu Yi.”
The supervisor’s expression changed drastically upon hearing this.
The Cattle Office had assigned them their duties, yet these men had actually dared to pass them off to someone else!
“Who permitted you to abandon your posts?” the supervisor roared, his eyes wide with fury.
Chen Yong’s face turned ashen, and his lips trembled violently. “No one…”
Zhang Lei lowered his head in remorse when he realized the matter had been exposed.
Liu Yang, meanwhile, looked completely bewildered.
What was going on?
So there really had been someone else?
Yan Tongshu’s gaze sharpened as she pressed him. “Speak! Why did you have someone else do the work?”
Chen Yong lowered his head, too frightened to meet her official authority. Trembling, he said, “Actually, a lot of people do this.”
The supervisor lifted his leg and kicked Chen Yong to the ground. “Lord Yan asked you why! Answer properly instead of dodging the question!”
The kick was so hard that Chen Yong cried out repeatedly.
The supervisor, consumed by anger, barked, “Speak!”
“I’ll talk, I’ll talk!” Chen Yong sobbed. “I was possessed by greed for a moment. The Cattle Office pays well. One trip transporting beef earns more than twice what people make elsewhere. At first, I didn’t intend to slack off. I transported the beef properly. But the requirements were too demanding. The beef had to be delivered immediately after the cattle were slaughtered. You had to keep moving the entire way and make a round trip between the two cities in a single day. After Zhang Lei and I pushed ourselves through it several times, we couldn’t keep going. We often complained about it together.
“Once, while Zhang Lei and I were transporting a load, we ran into some people from another Cattle Office. We chatted for a while, and I casually complained about the work. One of those men told me I was an idiot—that there were plenty of easier ways to make money, yet I insisted on exhausting myself. I was curious, so I gave him some pastries and called him Big Brother, asking what easier method he had in mind. He pointed me toward a solution and said we could subcontract the work.
“So whenever Zhang Lei and I were feeling lazy and didn’t want to make a delivery, we outsourced it to the hunter Mu Yi. Hunters depend on the season and luck to make a living, so their income is unstable. They also get injured easily in the deep mountains and forests, and sometimes what they earn isn’t even enough to pay their medical expenses. So Mu Yi was happy to do it. But to save money, the two of us would pool the payment for one person and have him make the delivery alone. The road to Yunzhou was the roughest and farthest, and he happened to be honest and unafraid of hard work.”
“You worthless scoundrel!” The supervisor kicked him again. “The court pays you your wages so that you can squander them like this? This is outrageous!”
After cursing him out, the supervisor turned angrily toward Zhang Lei. “And you!”
“Please spare me, my lord! Please spare me!” Zhang Lei repeatedly knocked his head against the floor. “My lord, it wasn’t because Chen Yong and I were greedy or lazy. Every Cattle Office has people making extra money this way. And Mu Yi isn’t the only one taking these jobs. There are many others… many…”
Mentioning the other offices only made the supervisor’s expression darker.
How dare he drag other people into this?
If the matter were thoroughly investigated, not a single Cattle Office would escape responsibility.
By then, the supervisor would not only lose face and be punished—he would offend people as well.
Yan Tongshu had no idea how many thoughts were racing through the supervisor’s mind. She was focused solely on the case and continued questioning them. “That Mu Yi is a hunter?”
Chen Yong and Zhang Lei nodded together.
Yan Tongshu asked, “How did you meet him?”
Chen Yong knelt properly again and said, “Wang Qin, the senior man from the Cattle Office on Zhang Lane, introduced us. He said their supervisor was fond of wild game, and Mu Yi often went to their Cattle Office to deliver game. They became familiar with each other over time. They had long felt that transporting beef was too exhausting and had been looking for someone to take over the work. Then they happened to see Mu Yi coming to deliver game. He was strong, fit, and poor, so they tentatively asked whether he was willing to do it.
“To their surprise, Mu Yi agreed immediately. After that, whenever someone was on duty but had something to attend to—or simply felt too lazy to make the delivery—they would arrange a time with him in advance. Once we transported the beef out of the Cattle Office, we would hand the donkey cart over to him in the sparsely populated alley in front of the office.”
Zhang Lei added, “At first, Brother Wang and the others didn’t trust him completely, so they didn’t give Mu Yi many jobs. As time passed, however, he accepted more and more deliveries. But, my lord, we absolutely didn’t have Mu Yi make every delivery. We only called him in when we truly had something unavoidable at home or weren’t feeling well.”
As he said this, Zhang Lei glared viciously at Chen Yong.
Idiot.
You have absolutely no self-control—one question from someone else and you’re already feeling guilty.
If you want to talk about something else, then talk about something else. Why bring up being lazy? You can’t even come up with a decent excuse for yourself. What an idiot.
