"Beneath a clear blue sky, a steadfast faith in our hearts. It's not that we're young and naive—we simply aren't afraid of challenges..."
The theme song played. Gong Cheng leaned back in his seat and settled into a relatively comfortable position.
"The theme song's great!"
"And paired with the opening montage, it really sets the mood!"
"Huang Zhou's look is pretty good. His eyes are sharp, and he gives off an air of righteousness. Jin Jiawei looks beautiful; whether the show is good or bad, she should still get a little boost in popularity. And Chen Minghao's scene is incredible. No wonder he's a veteran actor—his whole presence, even his eyes, are full of character!"
"My first impression of this show is pretty good. But in the end, the plot is what determines whether it succeeds. Even those shows that lose a fortune usually do a decent job with appearances."
The theme song ended.
The screen brightened from black, revealing a bustling ancient street.
Candied hawthorn skewers, street performers, children, and vendors.
"The opening's pretty standard. It is a Kong Teng production, after all. Even at its worst, it has a baseline."
Gong Cheng kept watching.
First line: "The sound of wind, the sound of rain, the sound of reading—all sounds reach the ear."
Second line: "Family affairs, national affairs, all the affairs of the world—every one deserves our concern."
Riddle poem: "The Six Classics have long been stored in my breast; a sword, honed for ten years, rests in my hand. Above the apricot blossom, a horizontal stroke; lest Heaven's secrets be revealed, keep your mouth shut. One dot, repeated, as large as a bean; cover half the bed, and nothing remains. Wait until I hang up my official robes to claim a perfect name. Do you know what I looked like back then?"
Answer: "The top scholar of the Xinwei year."
"The couplet and riddle are well chosen. They show real cultural depth. I read quite a few ancient books and miscellanies by the ancients myself, but I've never come across these couplets or that riddle poem. The screenwriter clearly put in the effort. It's learned without being cliché. I'll have to look up their origins after the episode."
Next, Huang Zhou appeared. An old man selling fried dough sticks had lost a coin and got into an argument with an old man herding pigs. Huang Zhou played a dark-faced scholar who came out with a shocking claim: the big fat pig was the suspect, and he was going to interrogate it!
"Wasn't this supposed to be a mystery drama? Interrogating a pig? Screenwriter, are you trying to make us laugh?"
The story continued.
The dark-faced scholar put his ear to the big pig's mouth and listened as if he could understand it. After the pig grunted a few times, the scholar looked enlightened.
"The suspect, this breeding boar, says it has elderly parents to support and children to raise. So, driven to desperation by poverty, it had no choice but to steal someone's money. If you want to know where the old man's money is, everyone just needs to be kind enough to donate one coin. That way, its family will be provided for while it's in prison, and then it'll confess. So, if you want to know where the old man's lost money is, donate one coin."
At this, Gong Cheng couldn't help shaking his head. The fat pig had elderly parents and children to support? And it was going to prison? All right, maybe this show was even worse than he'd expected.
The dark-faced scholar asked the tofu seller's assistant for a bowl of clear water. Gongsun Ce was the first to toss a coin into it, and the onlookers followed suit, tossing in their own coins.
The bowl was passed to the old man herding pigs. He did nothing.
The dark-faced scholar said, "My good sir, don't you want to clear your name?"
The pig herder reluctantly took a coin from his pocket and dropped it into the bowl.
A layer of oil appeared on the water.
The dark-faced scholar's expression changed, his playful demeanor giving way to solemnity.
"The suspect, this breeding boar, says the stolen money is—"
The dark-faced scholar grabbed the pig herder's wrist and continued, "Right here!"
As he spoke, he raised the old man's hand.
The pig herder exclaimed, "What kind of nonsense is that? Pigs can talk now? Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"Pigs can't talk, of course. But the money can. This old man who sells fried dough sticks handles his money with oil-covered hands every day, so his coins get greasy. But just now, of all the coins everyone put in the bowl, only yours had oil floating up around it. Are you still going to deny it?"
The pig herder was speechless, which amounted to an admission. The dark-faced scholar returned the money to the old man who sold fried dough sticks.
The old man said, "Thank you, thank you! You're even cleverer than our county magistrate. You'll surely make a good official one day. Young man, what's your name?"
The dark-faced scholar cupped his hands. "I am Bao Zheng!"
"This screenwriter's got a bit of cleverness."
Without realizing it, Gong Cheng sat up straight and kept watching.
The basket Bao Zheng carried held a meal for his mother. Madam Bao was examining the body of a woman who had been hanged.
Madam Bao found traces of medicine in the dead woman's mouth: Gastrodia and Calculus bovis, which could relieve poisoning and lower the qi.
Madam Bao analyzed, "The deceased suffered from palpitations while alive. Her heart often ached."
A servant confirmed, "Doctor, you're right. Our madam did suffer from palpitations when she was alive!"
Just then, Bao Zheng arrived.
"Mother, sorry I'm late. I brought your meal!"
"Don't get in my way!"
"Of course, of course."
Madam Bao said, "I've reached a conclusion!"
Captain Lu asked, "What conclusion?"
Madam Bao replied, "The cause of death was suffocation."
"Suffocation? She was sick of living and took her own life. How pitiful!"
"It was murder!"
Captain Lu looked utterly disbelieving, while Bao Zheng beside him nodded repeatedly.
"How could it have been murder?"
"There are two suspicious points. First, this medicine—"
"Exactly. If she meant to take her own life, why take medicine? And she took medicine like Gastrodia and Calculus bovis, which treats palpitations. This medicine would also give her stomach pains. If she was going to die anyway, why put herself through that?"
"Second, there's something on her neck—"
"That's right! Look, beneath the ligature marks on her neck, there are two faint, round marks. She was clearly strangled before she was hanged, wasn't she, Mother?"
"Are you conducting the examination, or am I?"
"Heh, heh, we're all working for the government."
Captain Lu looked at the deceased's family. "What happened?"
The dead woman's husband, the master of the house, sobbed, "I don't know. I went to the countryside yesterday to collect rent from the tenants, and when I came back, I saw..."
He broke into tears.
After Captain Lu questioned everyone, each person had an alibi.
Bao Zheng chuckled and walked over to the two maids.
"May I ask how long you two have been working here?"
One maid said ten years, and the other said seven.
Bao Zheng turned to the maid beside them and asked, "And you?"
The maid answered, "Six months."
Bao Zheng said, "I know who the murderer is!"
"Who?"
Bao Zheng suddenly pointed at the master of the house. "Him!"
The dead woman's husband panicked and demanded, "How... how could it be me?"
"You said you'd just hurried back from the fields. But your shoes and socks are spotless. That doesn't make sense. Could it be that you secretly came back last night and killed your wife while everyone else was away?"
"I didn't! I didn't! This... this is just your speculation!"
"I knew you wouldn't admit it. But I have a second piece of evidence."
"What evidence?"
"I saw a thumbprint on the marks on your wife's neck. And, would you look at that? There's a corner in the print. How could a person's thumb have a corner?"
Bao Zheng grabbed the master's hand and said, "Unless he was wearing a jade thumb ring!"
Sure enough, the master had a jade thumb ring on his thumb!
Captain Lu pointed at the dead woman's husband. "So you're the murderer! Guards, seize him!"
Madam Bao asked, "You're so clever. Can you figure out why he killed his wife?"
Bao Zheng pointed at the maid beside them. "Then we'll have to ask her!"
The maid in red stammered, "I... I... What does this have to do with me?"
"I don't know. But what I really can't figure out is why those two, who've been here so long, still use cloth handkerchiefs, while you've only been here six months and use a silk scarf. Could it have been a gift from a certain master? Isn't that right, Mother?"
"I don't do deductions. I'm a doctor."
Madam Bao walked over to the maid in red. The maid had a packet of medicine hidden in her arms. Madam Bao sniffed it.
"This isn't Gastrodia and Calculus bovis. It's Thirteen Protectors, a medicine that protects the mother and prevents miscarriage. The madam was far too old to need it."
Madam Bao suddenly took the maid's wrist to feel her pulse, then smiled. "Oh, congratulations, young lady. You're pregnant!"
The maid dropped to the floor, her psychological defenses crumbling. She confessed everything in a rush.
Gong Cheng glanced at the progress bar. Only twelve minutes had played, yet vivid images of Bao Zheng, Gongsun Ce, Madam Bao, and Captain Lu had already taken root in his mind.
Gongsun Ce's quick wit, Bao Zheng's sharp eyes, Madam Bao's personality and abilities, Gongsun Ce's rivalry with Bao Zheng—and the two little cases at the beginning.
"Interesting, fresh, and skillfully done! Maybe... this show isn't far behind the Phenomenon Level hit The Coroner!"
"There's no way the whole show can keep up this quality, right? After all, most dramas start strong and end weak!"
Gong Cheng put those thoughts aside and kept watching.