The Patrol Office was a special institution established beside the river. The area was prosperous and its geography strategically important, so the office was even somewhat larger than Baisha County's main yamen.
The Linhe yamen likewise had Three Squads and Six Offices, with no shortage of runners and clerks to keep things running. All it lacked was an Imperial Decree; once one arrived, it would be promoted by special dispensation to the seat of a county government.
As for forensic specialists, they belonged to the Criminal Records Office, one of the Six Offices.
In the morgue, Wang Lingyuan returned after fastening his belt. Seeing Xu Qing deep in thought, he felt the urge to test him.
"Junior Brother, what do you make of this corpse?"
In a forensic specialist's eyes, beauty and ugliness did not exist. Every corpse under heaven looked the same.
Wang Lingyuan could not possibly have been referring to Sai Yuxian's outstretched body. Aside from his professional work preparing corpses, Xu Qing did not care about their beauty or ugliness either.
The two were discussing nothing other than Sai Yuxian's true cause of death.
"The fatal injury on this corpse is the ligature mark around her neck. The only thing we need to distinguish is whether she hanged herself or was strangled."
In his previous life, Xu Qing had been neither a scholar nor a warrior, but that did not stop him from being a jack of all trades and master of none.
As he spoke, Xu Qing had already put on fish-skin gloves and transformed into the Great Yong Judicial Department. Then, with the foresight granted by the revolving lantern, he rattled off one argument after another without hesitation.
"Ligature marks on someone who hanged herself usually show the phenomenon of a suspended gap: the ligature groove is deeper at the point bearing the force and shallower on the opposite side. There will also be pinpoint hemorrhages on the cheeks, while the lips and nails will turn cyanotic."
"But the dead woman's pupils are dilated, and the ligature groove around her neck is extremely even, with basically the same depth throughout. There is no suspended gap, so suicide by hanging can essentially be ruled out." As he spoke, Xu Qing pried open Sai Yuxian's eyelids with his fingers and met her dead gaze.
Wang Lingyuan stroked his beard and nodded. His Junior Brother's explanation was not comprehensive enough, but for someone who had never worked as a forensic specialist, being able to offer these observations was already remarkable.
Next, Wang Lingyuan supplemented the points Xu Qing had missed, such as the differences between a cord used to strangle someone and a noose used for hanging, the state of the victim's hands after being strangled, and the differences in facial appearance. Most importantly—
"Someone who hangs herself normally cannot place both hands around her neck to claw herself free, so there will be no flesh left beneath her nails. Someone who is strangled, unless she was knocked unconscious by poison, will usually have scratches on her neck from the killer or from herself, and flesh will also remain beneath her nails."
With Wang Lingyuan's guidance, Xu Qing combined it with what he had seen in the revolving lantern while sending off the dead and gave his final conclusion: "There is flesh beneath this woman's nails. Going by Senior Brother's explanation, it should have come from struggling, but there are no scratches anywhere on her body. In other words, the material beneath her nails most likely came from the killer."
"If that's truly the case, we can follow the clues and investigate the people the victim had been in contact with shortly before her death. Then, based on their relationships, we can identify suspects with a motive and examine their bodies for scratches."
As for more complicated matters—such as a killer deliberately erasing scratches with tattoos, burns, or other means, or there being a case within the case and someone being framed—those were matters for later. They would not abandon the investigation simply because such possibilities existed.
Hearing this, Wang Lingyuan turned and took a copy of the case file from the shelf, handing it to Xu Qing to read.
After a while, Wang Lingyuan asked with a smile, "Well? Have you found any leads?"
"Nothing definite yet. But murders have been born from love since ancient times. According to the case file, Sai Yuxian's husband said his wife killed herself out of shame after her affair was exposed. But he and Sai Yuxian met in a pleasure house to begin with, and they knew each other inside and out. Just how ashamed could Sai Yuxian have been to hang herself?"
Wang Lingyuan laughed loudly and said mysteriously, "Sai Yuxian's husband came to the yamen yesterday to reclaim the body. Guess what I discovered?"
What am I, a child? Am I supposed to guess?
Xu Qing played dumb. "How could I possibly guess that? It couldn't be that Senior Brother happened to see scratches on his body, could it?"
"..."
Wang Lingyuan's smile stiffened, then he suddenly clapped his hands. "You really guessed it, Junior Brother!"
While the two senior and junior brothers were busy tinkering with the corpse and their investigation was in full swing, a shout suddenly came from outside the door.
Wang Lingyuan frowned when he heard it. "Steward Tang? It's pitch-black out. What could he want with me?"
The two walked out of the morgue and saw an unusually striking middle-aged scholar standing at the entrance.
He had lychee-shaped eyes, a raised chin, and two drooping moustaches. He practically had the words "shrewd and clever" written across his forehead.
His clothes were equally distinctive. His blue long robe was neat as new, and over it he wore a dark-blue mandarin jacket. He looked exactly like a fortune-teller!
"Brother Lingyuan truly sets an example for us all. Even after the yamen has closed, you're still here handling official business."
Steward Tang lightly pinched one side of his moustache between his forefinger and thumb. After greeting them with a beaming smile, he turned his gaze to Xu Qing.
"And this gentleman is?"
"My Junior Brother. We studied under the same master. He came here especially today to learn the forensic trade."
"A good thing, a good thing! Your Junior Brother has an excellent appearance. He will surely become a capable man in the future as well." Steward Tang was polished in every situation, speaking differently to every person he met.
Even upon seeing a zombie, his words remained as smooth as ever.
After exchanging a round of pleasantries, Steward Tang took Wang Lingyuan by the arm and pulled him to his side. Turning his back to Xu Qing, he began whispering.
Xu Qing had just transformed into an Ironclad Wandering Corpse. How could his ears not be sharp? Though the other man deliberately tried to conceal his words, Xu Qing heard every one clearly.
"Old brother, in my opinion, there is nothing suspicious about the Liu Sheng case. Sai Yuxian was a singer by birth, and you must have heard about it too. Those opera performers all have unpredictable temperaments. Perhaps one day she became too absorbed in a role, felt life was meaningless, and decided to imitate that story about the devoted woman who slits her own throat. So she hanged herself."
As he spoke, Steward Tang glanced at the pale-faced young man nearby, who was picking his nose and flicking away the result. Then he secretly took a ten-tael silver ingot from his sleeve and slipped it into Wang Lingyuan's cuff.
"Liu Sheng came to see me today. He looked genuinely heartbroken. Whenever he mentioned his first wife, tears streamed down his face. At a glance, he is a good husband and a fine man!
"How could a man like that possibly kill his wife? What do you think, Brother Lingyuan?"
Wang Lingyuan was silent for a moment before shaking his head and sighing. "He certainly is a good husband!"
Watching the two of them discuss strange tales and spout ghost stories, Xu Qing thought to himself that there were still more good people than bad in this world!
Steward Tang laughed loudly, grabbed Wang Lingyuan by the arm, and started leading him outside.
"There is a small gathering at the opera house tonight. Liu Sheng misses his first wife, so he specifically reserved a pavilion and invited guests to pay their respects. It's spring now, and the opera house's spring brew is a true delicacy. Brother Lingyuan, you must come taste it with me."
Wang Lingyuan could not refuse. He planned to see Xu Qing out of the yamen first, then attend the banquet.
Steward Tang smiled. "Since he's your Junior Brother, he's one of our own. He can come along too."
At the opera theater, inside the Spring Returns Pavilion.
Steward Tang shook his head and swayed as he listened to the opera he had specially ordered, humming along with convincing skill.
"For him I showed my face and walked the winding sheep's intestines; for him I suffered wind and rain along the road."
"I too was born a daughter of an official house, and read a few books in my youth. Alas, though I had eyes, I lacked wisdom, mistaking that faithless man for a lover true."
"I sought out every bitter pain myself, and so I have ended up this way. One stumble brings a thousand years of regret; once I turn back, a hundred years will have passed."
The stage sang lyrics about a faithless man. Beneath it, Liu Sheng wore a face piled high with smiles as he toasted Steward Tang and refilled his tea.
"Please, Steward Tang! Mr. Wang, you too—and this young brother as well."
It was rare for Xu Qing to eat a free meal, but halfway through, he suddenly remembered something.
Liu Sheng's means could not possibly cover the cost of this banquet. If Xu Qing's guess was right, the silver used to bribe Steward Tang and the money spent on the feast had all been earned by Sai Yuxian entertaining clients.
He had thought the Free Rider he had sent off before was already the lowest of the low. He had not expected there to be someone beyond him, a sky beyond the heavens—to find an even stinkier lump of dog droppings beneath the manure bucket!
Steward Tang listened to the opera for a long while and drank quite a lot. He was already slightly tipsy.
The lead performer came down from the stage and drank several cups with them. Steward Tang could hold out no longer and staggered off to relieve himself.
Of everyone present, only Xu Qing had used a minor technique to avoid drinking a drop.
Seeing that Steward Tang was drunk, he reached out to stop Wang Lingyuan. "Senior Brother, take your time. Let me accompany Steward Tang to drain the water."
With that, he supported Steward Tang and walked outside.
On the way, Steward Tang's face glowing red, he patted the arm supporting him and said, "You're a clever child. Learn the trade well from your Senior Brother. When he grows old, I'll save this iron rice bowl of forensic work for you."
Hearing that familiar taste of empty promises, Xu Qing chuckled.
He had never used the Dream Weaving Technique on anyone before. This Steward Tang, who had delivered himself to his door, seemed like a fine candidate.
After accompanying the steward to finish his business, Xu Qing walked out of the latrine and pressed a hand covered in Yin Fire to the man's forehead.
Steward Tang hummed the faithless-man tune about killing the heart as he walked back in comfort. Then the back of his head suddenly went cold, and he toppled to the ground.
Xu Qing withdrew his hand, took a stick of Soul-Confusing Incense from his satchel, pressed his palms together, and lightly pinched it. Yin Fire immediately ignited the incense tip.
He planted the incense in the empty ground beside Steward Tang's head, recited a spell to guide its smoke, and continued murmuring, chanting a demon's whisper.
"It was because you twisted the law for private gain and coveted petty profit that you released Liu Sheng, the wife-killer. Years later, Liu Sheng pretended to rely on old feelings and deceived your innocent daughter..."
"But despite being such a sensible and well-behaved girl, because of the wrong choice you made back then, she suffered endless torment and was strangled to death by Liu Sheng in some barren wilderness. Even her bones were devoured by jackals and wild beasts..."
A dream weaver had to guide the dreamer's thoughts before the other could fall into a Nanke dream.
By the time Xu Qing reached this point, Steward Tang should have fallen into a great dream woven from regret and hatred.
Unexpectedly, the steward's eyes began rolling rapidly. He looked ready to wake up!
Xu Qing furrowed his brow.
This isn't right. Could this steward's corrupt heart truly be so unshakable that he doesn't care about even his own family and children?
As Xu Qing wondered, he heard Steward Tang mumble in his sleep.
"I never had a daughter. This is wrong. Wrong."
"..."
Xu Qing was speechless. So his guidance had gone in the wrong direction!
The reason the Dream Weaving Technique felt real was that the people, events, and scenery in the dream all had counterparts in reality, which was why they left such a profound impression.
Xu Qing had no choice but overturn the original dream setting and compose a new little story to satisfy this clear-minded old man.
"You have lived most of your life without a daughter. Seeing that the daughters of your colleagues and friends were all clever, obedient, considerate, and filial, you were deeply envious. One day, while you were handling official business at the yamen, good news suddenly arrived from home: your wife was pregnant."
"An old clam producing a pearl—truly a gift from Heaven. After ten months of pregnancy, your wife gave birth to an incredibly beautiful girl. Neighbors, colleagues, and friends all praised her without reservation. You sought a divination from a fortune-telling immortal at Shuimen Bridge. He said your daughter was the reincarnation of a lucky star, but that her fate held a calamity, one that would ease your own disasters and offset the karmic debts you had incurred in the past."
"Fifteen years later, your daughter grew ever more lovely and charming, while your career advanced step by step because a lucky star had entered your home."
"But alas, Heaven is unpredictable, and fortunes can change overnight. Just as your beloved daughter was about to set a wedding date with the new Palace Graduate, she was abducted by Liu Sheng, the wife-killer you had once released after twisting the law for private gain. Though your beloved was a delicate young woman, her temperament was exceptionally fierce. She absolutely refused to do anything that would disgrace the family or bring shame upon her father."
"After Liu Sheng was arrested and imprisoned, he revealed everything you had done. You, once held in high regard, instantly became a laughingstock. Your wife came to resent you because of it and died of depression. Your son also severed his father-son relationship with you. The colleagues and friends who had once surrounded you despised your character, and your relationships gradually grew cold."
"Fearing that the matter would damage the dignity of the imperial court, His Majesty dismissed you from office and ordered an investigation."
"Alas, what a pity! Steward Tang had been brilliant beyond compare, with a future that should have been bright and clear. Yet because of one moment of greed, he ended up abandoned by all his kin, bereaved of wife and daughter, and disgraced in his old age!"
Xu Qing was deeply invested in his narration. If he had known how to sing opera, he would have added another verse to seal the coffin on Steward Tang's miserable life.
After experiencing a great dream, Steward Tang still lay on the ground. He had not yet awakened, but two streams of heart-rending tears had already burst their banks.
Spring Returns Pavilion.
The opera was still playing onstage, but it was no longer one cursing faithless men. It was a new piece instead.
Liu Sheng had probably taken advantage of Steward Tang's absence to secretly change the performance.
Xu Qing supported the unconscious steward back to the tea table.
Liu Sheng treated him as though he were his father-in-law, showing great concern.
"What happened to the steward? Should we call a physician?"
"It's nothing. He must have drunk too much and passed out. He'll be fine after resting."
Hearing this, Liu Sheng looked terribly distressed. He hurriedly had a servant bring hangover soup and personally fed Steward Tang spoonful by spoonful.
"Mm." Before long, the steward slowly awoke. He blinked open those shrewd eyes, dazed and confused, only to see Liu Sheng's large head thrust right before him, his face full of concern.
"Steward, you're awake?"
"Ha—get away!"
With a loud shout, Steward Tang shot upright from his drunken dream.
He put all his strength into both hands and shoved Liu Sheng to the ground.
"What are you doing, Steward? It's me, Liu Sheng! You only got drunk—how could you forget me?"
"Forget? I would remember you even if you were reduced to ashes!"
Steward Tang glared furiously. He had always treated people gently and never lost his temper, yet now a trace of Killing Intent appeared on his face!
"My Yinyin died because of a beast like you!"
"Who is Yinyin?" Liu Sheng was confused, and even Wang Lingyuan could not make head or tail of it.
"That was my beloved daughter's childhood name. When she grew up, I named her Yuqin."
"Yuqin? Daughter?" This time, not only were the two men, Wang Lingyuan and Steward Tang, confused; Xu Qing and Tang himself were also stunned.
Xu Qing was stunned because he had not named any of the people in the dream. In other words, Yinyin and Yuqin's childhood names had been chosen by Steward Tang within the dream.
At the thought of this, Xu Qing genuinely wanted to know what Steward Tang had experienced in that dream.
After shouting his daughter's childhood name, Steward Tang suddenly froze. Then, as though his soul had left his body, he slumped back down.
After a long while, he finally murmured with belated realization:
"So it was only a dream..."
A two-in-one chapter.
Before you continue