There were other petals in the river as well. Tao Chuyi wanted to fish them out too, but Xichan held her back. The master and servant pair hurried back to Dali Temple in a whirlwind and reported everything they had seen to the Third Princess.
“There’s someone in the river!”
Tao Chuyi slapped the table as she declared this, puffing out her chest and holding her head high with pride.
“There’s really someone there.”
Nangong Yunshang examined the words on the petals over and over before immediately ordering the guards to search the river.
Someone had scattered these petals inscribed with words downstream along the current, hoping that others would see them. That person had to be trapped somewhere upstream.
“Which households live upstream along the river?”
Tao Siqing pored over the local maps, circling each one in red.
“There are twenty-one households upstream in total, and the Sun Residence is one of them.”
As Nangong Yunshang pondered this, Tao Chuyi bounced over and squatted in front of her, looking up with a beaming smile.
“Wasn’t Chuyi awesome?”
Nangong Yunshang snapped out of her thoughts and let out a sigh. “Yes, very awesome. I’ll record this as a merit for you.”
Having received this praise, Tao Chuyi felt like colorful fireworks were exploding in her heart, filling it with joy and celebration. Satisfied at last, she stopped tugging at Nangong Yunshang for more compliments and went off to play in the courtyard with Xichan.
The backyard of Dali Temple was planted with plenty of flowers and plants. Tao Chuyi wandered back and forth inside, lingering among the flowerbeds, but she still couldn’t find what she was looking for.
Xichan trailed behind her, puzzled. “Young Master, what are you searching for?”
Tao Chuyi circled around several times but found nothing. “The flowers from the river.”
“You’re looking for peony flowers.”
Xichan joined the flower hunt, but they still came up empty.
“Peonies need plenty of sunlight and can’t tolerate too much dampness. The Dali Temple backyard is rather shady, so it probably isn’t suitable for growing peonies.”
Tao Chuyi nodded as if she half-understood, then squatted down amid the flowers. “Where would be suitable for planting them?”
Xichan thought for a moment. “Upstream along the Flower Moon River. The sunlight’s good there, and it’s not damp. It’s just upstream from the stretch of river we were at earlier.”
Now Tao Chuyi understood. If she wanted to find peonies, she’d have to head upstream.
“Hey? Young Master, Young Master, where are you going?”
Xichan hurried after her and blocked the doorway, refusing to let her leave.
“Someone come quick! The Young Master’s trying to go out!”
This shout drew Nangong Yunshang over. Tao Chuyi turned around and immediately straightened up obediently, not knowing where to put her hands. She wiped the dirt from them on her own clothes.
Nangong Yunshang frowned. This little fool had no sense of cleanliness whatsoever.
“Where is the Prince Consort headed?”
“I’m going to find the peony flowers—the ones with words on them.”
Tao Chuyi figured that if she found the flowers with writing, they might all be able to go back and rest.
Nangong Yunshang curved her lips in a gentle smile and beckoned to her as if coaxing a child.
“Prince Consort, come back to the residence and rest with this princess. I’ve already sent people to look for those flowers.”
Whenever Nangong Yunshang gave an order, Tao Chuyi obeyed without question most of the time. Though she still wanted to go look for the flowers herself, Fairy Sister mattered more.
The next day, the river search produced results. The guards dredged up three female corpses from the riverbed. They were unrecognizable, and could only be identified by their clothing. Inquiries revealed that the largest peony flower beds in the entire Capital City were located in Councilor Sun’s residence.
The corpses had bloated beyond human shape in the water. Tao Siqing immediately ordered them carried away for the coroner to examine, lest they frighten Tao Chuyi and the princess.
After the coroner’s examination and identification by the friends and family of the missing persons, these three female corpses turned out to be three young women who had gone missing from the Sun Residence over the past two years.
Xu Lianmeng stepped forward. The others might or might not bother examining the bodies—it didn’t matter. With her there, Tao Siqing felt completely at ease.
“All three corpses showed signs of prolonged abuse: whip marks, injuries from clubs, branding from hot irons, needle punctures, burns from hot wax. There were also traces of sexual violation, along with shackle marks on their wrists and ankles from extended periods of being bound with ropes. The most recent death had occurred half a year prior, and the cause of death for all three was drowning—they had been drowned alive.”
Everyone fell silent upon hearing the coroner’s report. The killer’s methods were utterly barbaric, treating victims as less than human. Yet this monstrous fiend continued to live a peaceful life of luxury and wealth.
Tao Siqing waved the coroner away, his brows knitted tightly in thought.
“We haven’t found Miss An’s body, so those petals with writing may have come from her. In other words, Miss An might still be alive.”
Further searches, however, proved fruitless. There was no trace of Miss An to be found.
“If we could infiltrate the Sun Residence and investigate more thoroughly, we might uncover something.”
Nangong Yunshang mulled it over. “Searching the residence would take at most two days at the longest. That’s too short a time—we probably wouldn’t turn up much.”
With Dali Temple now involved, the Sun family would surely be on high alert. The question was how to enter the Sun Residence legitimately and without suspicion once they had let their guard down—a true conundrum.
The Sun Residence was like an impregnable fortress. No matter what identities the dispatched guards assumed, the Sun family guards refused them entry. To date, no one had managed to slip inside and gather intelligence undetected.
That night, Tao Chuyi sneaked over the wall on all fours like a puppy and trotted down the darkened streets. She had a single thought: find the peonies. If she did, Fairy Sister and Father would be happy.
Tao Chuyi might not have been the cleverest, but once she set her mind on a task or a person, she turned into the most stubborn sort—nothing short of completing it would do.
She slipped out alone and only realized once she reached the streets that she had no idea where to go.
Tao Chuyi scratched her head and looked around, left and right, fore and aft. Everything looked more or less the same. Which road led to the Flower Moon River?
Just then, a girl wrapped in a hooded cloak came running from the western road. Her head was bowed low, her right hand clutching the cloak tightly, her neck hunched in. She ran so frantically that she slammed straight into Tao Chuyi’s shoulder.
“Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t mean to!”
The girl tumbled to the ground and kept apologizing nonstop, repeating the words over and over as though badly frightened.
Tao Chuyi leaned in close and stared at her curiously until the apologies finally stopped—and were replaced by sobs.
“Cloak Sister, don’t cry. I’ll buy you some candy.”
Following the coaxing method Xichan had taught her, Tao Chuyi reached out and patted the girl’s head.
But the girl only grew more terrified. Her eyes filled with horror as she scrambled backward a couple of steps, crying out, “Stay away!”
“I won’t serve any fools! I don’t want to die!”
Tao Chuyi was the one startled this time. In the distance, torchlight drew nearer, accompanied by chaotic footsteps—sounds of a large group approaching.
“After her! Heavy reward for whoever captures her and brings her back!”
“Yes!”
They appeared to be house servants. They split up into three groups, blocking off the east, west, and north.
In a narrow roadside alley, Tao Chuyi clamped a hand over the girl’s mouth. They successfully evaded the pursuers at last.
“Cloak Sister, I want to find the peony flower beds upstream on the Flower Moon River. Which way do I go?”
The girl looked utterly shaken. It took her a good while to recover enough to speak tentatively. “You’re not from the Sun family?”
Tao Chuyi shook her head emphatically. She’d heard nothing but bad things about the Sun family these past few days and had no fondness for them whatsoever.
“The Sun family are big villains. I’m going to save people. There’s an An Sister who got captured.”
Seeing that she wasn’t from the Sun family, the girl’s demeanor gradually softened. “Be careful, Young Master. I just escaped from the Sun Residence.”
