Li Garden was situated at the northernmost tip of Li Village. A narrow stream meandered past the estate, said to be a tributary of the Xunfang River. On the opposite bank lay another orchard, Yu Garden. According to the village head, the owner of Yu Garden had moved back to the city after the harvest festival, leaving the estate vacant until the following spring.
Li Garden was not particularly large, spanning roughly forty to fifty mu. It primarily grew purple-heart fruit used for winemaking. The residence was built at the center of the orchard. Within a small courtyard sat a private well, with flower beds lining the walls. The house itself was modest and conventionally laid out: a central hall, with the east wing serving as the bedroom for Li Qiao and his wife, while the west wing housed an elderly nanny and the lady’s personal maid.
As the village head led us into the small courtyard, several stout manservants stood by the entrance, their faces pale with terror. These six servants, who lived on the estate year-round, resided with their families in a row of servant quarters on the outer edge of the orchard, some distance from the main house. They rarely entered the inner courtyard.
The bedroom door was ajar; it opened with a gentle push. I turned to the village head, who quickly explained, "The door was like this when the servants found them. However, the windows were tightly shut."
The moment the door opened, the first thing I saw was the corpse of the young master, Li Qiao. He was slumped on the brick floor beside the bed, his upper body propped against the bedpost. His head was tilted back slightly, and a bright red quilt draped from the bed down to the footstool beside him.
His green cotton robe was splattered with blood. A pair of iron scissors was buried conspicuously in his chest—the fatal wound, undoubtedly. Yet, even for a chest wound, there was an excessive amount of blood on him, staining even his neck and shoulders.
Chen Zhan and I donned our cloth gloves and approached cautiously. Because the deceased’s face was tilted upward, we had to get close to the bed to see his features clearly. He looked to be in his early twenties, with thick brows and large eyes. His expression was surprisingly peaceful, though his eyes remained wide open. His face was smeared with blood, but two distinct tear tracks were visible at the corners of his eyes.
On the bed behind him lay his wife, Lady Li-Wu.
When I reached out to pull back the bed curtains, I realized the bronze hooks had been torn down. It seemed a violent struggle had taken place. I used a remnant of ribbon to tie the curtains back.
The bed was a fashionable blackwood piece, carved and inlaid with silver, draped in exquisite pink "falling cloud" gauze. For a man of Li Qiao’s middle-class standing, such a bed was an extravagance. The only explanation was that he doted on his wife deeply.
Lady Li-Wu’s delicate face was fixed in an expression of indignant struggle rather than terror. She lay flat on the bed, her hair disheveled. She wore a silver-red embroidered jacket over a sky-blue fur vest patterned with colorful clouds and beasts. She was covered in blood, the most prominent wound being at her throat. Judging by the shape, the murder weapon was likely the same pair of scissors found in Li Qiao’s chest. Additionally, there were various stab wounds of varying depths on her shoulders, ribs, and legs.
Her right hand was clenched tightly around a gold hairpin adorned with a phoenix head and hanging pearls. She held it so firmly that I had to pry her fingers open to retrieve it. The tip of the pin was stained with blood, and the silk thread holding the pearls had snapped, scattering them across the bedding.
Chen Zhan and I placed the scissors, the hairpin, and other pieces of evidence into separate cloth bags.
The village head, still trembling at the doorway, peered inside. Chen Zhan asked, "What did the coroner say?"
The village head replied hurriedly, "The coroner’s report has already been submitted to the Prefectural Magistrate."
"And his conclusion?" Chen Zhan pressed.
"He said Li Qiao killed his wife with the scissors and then took his own life. The detailed report should have been forwarded to the Ministry of Justice by the Magistrate."
Chen Zhan and I exchanged a look but said nothing.
Although Li Village was closer to the capital, it fell under the jurisdiction of Mengcheng County. The Li Garden servants had reported the crime to the Mengcheng yamen early that morning, and the local authorities had dispatched runners and a coroner to inspect the scene. Only after learning that the deceased couple were residents of the capital did they have the village head report the case to the Ministry of Justice.
According to the old steward of Li Garden, they hadn't known the couple was coming to stay. Lady Li-Wu had arrived five days ago, on the ninth of October, bringing only two servants: a maid named Xiao Zhu and a Nanny Zhang. The steward had never met either of them before.
The young master, Li Qiao, arrived two days after his wife. The couple rarely left the inner courtyard, so the staff had no idea what had transpired between them.
Nanny Zhang claimed she had gone to bed early. She heard arguing from the east wing but didn't think much of it, as they had been quarreling for days. Xiao Zhu’s account matched the nanny’s.
One crucial detail emerged: Lady Li-Wu had purchased both Xiao Zhu and Nanny Zhang at the Chenjia Bridge labor market. At the time, she had been accompanied only by an old woman, who vanished after the purchase. These two had only been with Lady Li-Wu for about ten days and knew nothing of her past. They had never even seen Li Qiao before arriving at Li Garden.
By the time we returned to the capital, it was already afternoon. Chen Zhan and I split up. He accompanied the old master of the Li Family Cloth Shop to the Ministry to identify the bodies. Unable to bear the sight of the grey-haired old man in tears, I volunteered to go to the Li residence to interview the servants.
The Li estate was located on a quiet street in the west of the city. The house steward informed me that aside from the old master and the young couple, there were only about a dozen servants. The old master and the steward’s family lived in the front courtyard, while the young couple and five servants occupied the rear. The gardener and other laborers lived in a side wing behind the kitchens.
The rear courtyard featured a large garden, with the couple’s bedroom situated at its far end.
The snow on the garden paths and under the eaves had already been cleared. A string of bronze bells hung from the eaves, tinkling melodiously in the breeze.
When I pushed open the bedroom door, I was immediately greeted by a blackwood bed identical to the one at Li Garden. The curtains were pink "falling cloud" gauze, and bronze phoenix-head rings held red silk ribbons that hung quietly by the bedposts. Inside the gauze canopy, two bright red silk quilts embroidered with intricate butterfly-and-flower patterns were neatly arranged. In the fading light, the high-quality silk gave off a soft, delicate luster.
The hazy twilight bathed the room in a gentle glow. The air itself seemed to float with an indescribable tenderness. The first words that came to mind were: *love nest*.
I paced slowly around the room. On the dressing table, several exquisite bottles and jars caught my eye. I picked up a slender blue-and-white porcelain bottle; the mark on the bottom read "Baozhuang Pavilion of the Capital." Uncorking it, a rich fragrance wafted out—it was indeed the Rose Dew from Baozhuang Pavilion.
These were almost identical to the cosmetics on the dressing table at Li Garden. Before Wuxiu got married, she often dragged me to Baozhuang Pavilion, so I knew exactly how outrageously expensive these little trinkets were.
My fingertips brushed over a porcelain jar of fine rose rouge. The cool, smooth sensation suddenly filled me with a strange feeling. I thought of the tear tracks on Li Qiao’s face. His expression was hard to describe—seemingly peaceful, yet his eyes held a chaotic mix of emotions...
From the corner of my eye, I saw a maid in a green jacket standing quietly by the door. I turned around. She was a girl of sixteen or seventeen, eyeing my Ministry uniform with uncertainty.
"Are you a maid of this house?" I asked.
She gave a cautious curtsy. "This servant is Ye'er. I serve the Young Mistress."
I perked up. "What kind of person was your mistress?"
Ye'er thought for a moment. "She didn't speak much, but she had a very good temper. She never hit or scolded us."
I smiled and asked, "How long has she been married into the Li family? Where is her maiden home?"
"She entered the household two years ago," Ye'er said. "But as for where her family is from, we servants wouldn't know."
I paused. "You didn't accompany her when she visited her family?"
Ye'er shook her head. "Including this time, the Young Mistress only went back twice. The Young Master escorted her personally both times and never took us along."
"Including this time?" I repeated. "Was she supposed to be visiting her family?"
Ye'er nodded, her eyes reddening as she lowered her head. "The gentlemen from the yamen told us... but our Young Master and Mistress were so in love. He would never have killed her."
"They were... 'so in love'?" I asked. "In what way?"
Ye'er wiped a tear and looked up. "My Mistress had no children, so the Old Master wanted the Young Master to take a concubine. The Young Master refused. The Old Master has lost his temper several times over this."
Her certainty resonated with my own intuition. Furthermore, the two silver-inlaid blackwood beds, Lady Li-Wu’s attire, and the expensive cosmetics from Baozhuang Pavilion all pointed toward Li Qiao’s deep affection for his wife.
Yet, there were truly no signs of outsiders entering or leaving the bedroom at the orchard. It had snowed the night before; even a master of martial arts could not have moved without leaving a single trace...
***
"Li Qiao had several wounds on his chest and arms from a gold hairpin, but they were superficial—not fatal. The coroner’s report confirms the fatal wound was to the heart," Chen Zhan said solemnly, sitting across the table from me. "Lady Li-Wu had six stab wounds in total, with the fatal one at her throat. There was blood under her fingernails, indicating a violent struggle with Li Qiao before she died. This was their third day there. According to Xiao Zhu and Nanny Zhang, they had been fighting every day."
Luo Jin frowned, looking up from a pile of documents. "Didn't Xi Xia just say they were a harmonious couple? That Li Qiao even defied his father to avoid taking a concubine?"
Chen Zhan looked at me and shook his head. "Xiao Zhu said that when they first saw the Mistress, Li Qiao was very happy. But soon after, they started arguing, and it only got worse."
"Did they overhear anything specific?" I asked. "They weren't that far from the east wing."
"Xiao Zhu said it seemed the Young Master was pressing her for something, but the Mistress refused to speak," Chen Zhan replied. "She heard the Mistress say things like, 'You should just give up,' and 'It will never come back.'"
I looked at Luo Jin in confusion; he was looking back at me. I turned back to Chen Zhan. "Where exactly is Lady Li-Wu’s maiden home?"
"Old Master Li says it's in Chenjia Bridge," Chen Zhan said. "He had many grievances against this daughter-in-law. First, she bore no children in two years. Second, her origins are murky."
"What do you mean by 'murky'?" Luo Jin asked before I could. Old Mo, the clerk sitting beside him, and our colleagues Luo Guang and Zeng Ping all frowned, fixing their gaze on Chen Zhan.
"Two years ago, Li Qiao was transporting a shipment of goods. While passing through the desolate mountains near Chenjia Bridge, he was set upon by bandits. It was this Young Mistress who saved him. The Old Master said that when Li Qiao returned, he begged him to send a proposal. The Old Master didn't agree immediately; he sent someone to investigate her background first. The scout reported that the Wu family consisted only of a widowed mother and an elder sister. They used to run a security bureau, but had fallen on hard times. Looking further back, no one in Mengcheng could confirm if such a bureau ever existed. Finding nothing concrete, the Old Master felt her background was too suspicious and refused."
Chen Zhan took a few sips of hot water before continuing. "As a result of the refusal, Li Qiao fell ill and became profoundly depressed. Since he was the Old Master's only son, the old man eventually relented and married her into the family with all the proper rites."
Luo Guang knit his thick brows. "We need to go to Chenjia Bridge to dig deeper. I’ll take Zeng Ping and make the trip."
Luo Guang had joined the Ministry two years before me; he was bold yet meticulous—a natural for this work. Zeng Ping, still possessing a youthful air despite his tall and sturdy build, had joined at the same time as me and was currently apprenticing under Luo Guang.
"I’ll go too," I said.
Luo Guang looked at me without a word, but a flash of reluctance crossed his eyes.
Luo Jin stood up and paced the room. "We don't need that many people. Xi Xia, stay with Chen Zhan and keep combing through the leads here."
Zeng Ping looked from Luo Guang to me but said nothing.
In truth, my desire to go to Chenjia Bridge wasn't just to investigate Lady Li-Wu’s past; it was because of Luo Guang himself.
Luo Guang had excelled in the martial trials two years ago. Not only was he skilled with the meteor hammer, but he was also incredibly observant. However, despite his excellence, he was deeply traditional and harbored a prejudice against women. He found me disagreeable in every way.
When I first joined the Ministry, Luo Jin had wanted Luo Guang to mentor me, but he had refused point-blank. I had heard two different versions of his reasoning, and while I didn't know which was true, his attitude toward my presence in the Ministry was crystal clear.
Being looked down upon was, of course, unpleasant.
I didn't want to go with them for revenge, but rather because I felt that working together might provide an opportunity for communication—perhaps even a chance to change his opinion of me.
It seemed I would have to wait for another opportunity.
By the time I reached home, the sky was pitch black. As soon as I stepped through the door, Xiao Hei rushed over, grinning. "Why so late? A letter has been waiting for you for ages!"
My breath hitched. By my calculations, General Chu’s army should have just passed Bingzhou...
The letter was held out to me, but the handwriting wasn't Ming韶’s. My heart sank, only to realize a moment later that it was Master Rong Qin’s script.
A pang of guilt struck me. If Master Rong Qin knew that her letter wasn't the one I had been most desperate for, would she be disappointed?
I quickly tore open the envelope under the porch lantern. The letter was a single, thin sheet of paper. On it, a few characters were written in a neat hand: *Returning to the capital for the New Year.*
My heavy mood from the day instantly vanished. Would she be coming with Uncle Qiu? I had so many questions for her—about the Ming Sect, about the martial world she knew... I could hardly wait.
I looked up at Xiao Hei. "How many days until the New Year?"
***
