Gaps and Nightly Routine

The moon was dark, and the wind howled.

A dim, murky light drifted slowly along the corridor. Under its faint glow, the crimson beams and pillars on either side seemed to shed their festive air, taking on a thin veil of desolation.

At the same time, murmurs like sleep-talk drifted intermittently through the swaying wind—

"Death... grievance... corpse... death... before death... That's it!"

The light suddenly stopped and lifted slightly, revealing a burly, imposing man. Who else could it have been but Second Master Sun, newly returned from the crime scene?

He turned out of the corridor and hurried toward a nearby side courtyard. Upon reaching it, he could not be bothered to knock, merely raising his voice and calling inside, "Zhao Nan! Zhao Nan!"

As it turned out, while walking and piecing together the case, he had suddenly remembered the matter he had promised Liu Xianglian. Thus, he had come here first to give instructions, lest it be delayed again.

After he called two or three times, Zhao Nan answered frantically from within. The soles of his feet slapped sharply against the flagstones as he rushed out without even taking the time to put on his shoes.

Seeing Zhao Nan charge out in disheveled clothes, Sun Shaozong's face darkened instead. He rebuked him, "Why are you being so flustered? What if there were ladies present?"

"This lowly one deserves death!"

Zhao Nan dropped to his knees before the door with a thud, shuffled forward on them, and knocked his forehead against the ground. "Please punish me, Master."

"Quit playing pitiful with me."

Sun Shaozong hooked a foot beneath his shoulder and helped him straighten up. Getting straight to the point, he said, "Tomorrow, go directly to Dali Temple and find Young Master Liu. He'll have an assignment for you."