Wu Wei fell silent. Beneath this apparent show of submission, however, her mind was racing at full speed.
The county magistrate had extended the invitation, yet it was the master clerk holding this private discussion with her. They called it private, but two yamen runners stood guard at the door. It was a clever maneuver—equally suited for an arrest or a silencing.
She knew little of the laws in this era and had no idea what consequences might arise if this scheme were exposed. But one thing was clear to Wu Wei: she had no path of retreat left.
The Bright Mirror Division was an agency from the capital. As the saying went, even a mighty dragon could not suppress the local snakes. Without anyone to protect her on hand, her safety rested solely in her own hands. Dongfang Rui was absent, rendering the Bright Mirror Division token no better than a piece of wood. It might intimidate in minor matters, but in a true crisis, it could even invite mortal danger.
At this thought, a warmth bloomed in Wu Wei’s heart. Dongfang Rui had specifically warned her back then: the token was only for verifying her identity, never to be used for bluffing. She must have foreseen a situation like this.
Thank goodness she had kept hold of the token. Otherwise…
Wu Wei reflected inwardly that she had no choice but to agree to falsifying testimony. But this meant she would possess leverage over the county’s highest authority. Once the storm passed, she herself would become the greatest “threat,” and silencing her would only be a matter of time.
To ensure her complete safety, she saw only two viable paths. Either she fled to the capital alongside the Embroider Maiden and Dongfang Rui.
Or she leveraged this incident to topple the county magistrate and master clerk’s influence through Dongfang Rui’s hand.
The first path was simple enough to embark upon, but returning would prove far more difficult. The Transmigration Gate might well be hidden in that lake…
That left only the second path.
At this moment, the Pingjia County Princess was her guest at home, which gave Wu Wei some measure of reliance. She could only hope Dongfang Rui would arrive in Qinglu County before anyone moved to silence her.
Having sorted through her thoughts, Wu Wei let out a shallow breath. She fastened the wooden box and drew it into her embrace, smiling as she said, “It’s an honor for this humble one to serve the esteemed sir. These twenty taels of silver are like coals in a snowstorm—I’ll boldly accept them.”
The master clerk smiled and replied, “Then we shall trouble Miss Wu.”
“Might I ask where the victim’s remains are now? Incorporating the details Your Excellency requires into a truthful testimony would be the safest approach.”
“Very good. Men!”
The master clerk gave Wu Wei an approving glance. Two yamen runners pushed open the door and entered.
“Master Clerk.”
“Escort Miss Wu there. Also fetch Clerk Hu to record for her.”
“Yes. Miss Wu, this way, please.”
Wu Wei clutched the wooden box tightly. Inside lay silver ingots of fine quality, yet her mood now was utterly different from when she had received silver from Gao Ningxue’s hands.
She accepted it partly to lower the master clerk’s guard, but also to gather evidence of the county magistrate and master clerk’s illegal acts. This was bribe money!
When Dongfang Rui arrived, these twenty taels would serve as powerful physical proof!
After the runner led Wu Wei out the back door, they reached a small sedan waiting there. Wu Wei noted that its windows were not the usual cloth panels but wooden shutters fitted later, with thick window paper.
“Please, Miss Wu, board the sedan.”
Wu Wei smiled her thanks and climbed inside. Only then did she discover that these so-called windows were mere decorations—they could not open at all.
For a county yamen to have such a sedan… it could not possibly have been made to her measure.
Wu Wei touched the fixed windows and murmured, “It seems I’m not the first to ride in this sedan. I hope I’m the last…”
The sedan was lifted.
After an unknown stretch of rhythmic swaying, it finally came to a stop.
“Miss Wu, we’re here. You can get down.”
Wu Wei alighted from the sedan, sensing something amiss. Clutching the wooden box, she followed the runner in silence. The surrounding scenery soon confirmed her suspicions.
The path underfoot grew narrower, flanked by haphazard earthen mounds of all sizes, scattered without order.
Some mounds were capped with a layer of withered yellow grass sprouting anew; others had eroded to knee height or less; still others bore scraps of yellow paper, faded from long exposure. A few mounds stood out in color from the rest—clearly freshly packed earth.
Yet hardly any had tombstones. Here and there, a wooden stake served as a marker, either blank or marred by an indecipherable smear of ink.
A raucous caw drew Wu Wei’s attention. Amid several mounds grew a tree, its branches still stark and bare. A flock of crows perched upon it.
In the country of her original world on Blue Star, people generally associated crows with ill omens. Wu Wei recalled seeing them occasionally as a child, but as she grew older, sightings of the clever birds became rare.
A murder of crows gathered here now seemed fitting for the place—the Desolate Burial Mound.
Wu Wei hadn’t realized Qinglu County harbored such a spot. Then again, as a border between imperial territory and a feudal king’s domain, it had never been a bastion of unbroken peace through Liang Dynasty’s many upheavals.
The runner Zhang Xing kept glancing back at the silent Wu Wei. Were it not for the sound of her footsteps, he might have thought she had fled.
Deep down, Zhang Xing admired Wu Wei. He had served at the yamen for over a decade and seen his share of the world, but never a woman as bold as her. This place… every step risked treading on “something.” Even they felt chills down their spines and their hearts pounding—they could never match her composure.
After seven twists and eight turns, nearly a quarter-hour later, the runner halted. “Miss Wu, we’ve arrived.”
Amid the graves lay a small clearing. The victim rested on a door panel, draped in white cloth. Beside it stood a small table where Clerk Hu, his face masked with a vinegar cloth, was grinding ink with his sleeve hitched up—plainly prepared to begin.
Wu Wei’s nostrils flared, her fine brows furrowing slightly. An ill premonition stirred within her.
She took the vinegar cloth from the runner. With only one hand free, it proved awkward, so the runner offered, “Miss Wu, shall I hold it for you?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Wu Wei handed him the wooden box and tied on the cloth.
Washing her hands first amid these surroundings was out of the question. She stepped forward, bowed deeply to the remains, then crouched and lifted the white cloth.
“Urk!” Clerk Hu gripped the table’s edge, his body bending sideways as he retched.
The vomit, caught by his face mask, smeared across his own features. He dropped the brush, tore off the cloth while running, and doubled over to heave until he had emptied his midday meal entirely.
The two runners looked equally queasy. They followed to pat his back, seizing the chance to put some distance between themselves and the site.
The corpse was utterly naked—its clothes evidently cut away. Wu Wei steadied her breathing and began her solitary examination.
The deceased was male, his face bloated and cyanotic, lips parted slightly with the tongue protruding a fraction. Livor mortis mottled his body in patches, while corpse lividity had spread across the entire abdomen and begun creeping outward…
No external injuries were visible to the naked eye. Wu Wei knelt, meticulously checking the head and major joints across the body. She strained to lift the back and confirmed no wounds.
Lifting the eyelids for inspection, she then pressed her hands to the back of the head, inching downward with care. The neck showed no anomalies—no ligature marks, fractures, or dislocations.
Wu Wei frowned. “Might I ask where the body was found?”
“By the roadside!” one runner blurted. Zhang Xing quickly added, “Just up ahead, by the road.”
Hearing this, the quick-mouthed runner nodded vigorously. “Right, right. Found nearby—why else leave it here? We’d have carted it straight to the Charity Mortuary otherwise.”
“Was the body discovered prone, supine, or in some other position?”
“Prone!” Zhang Xing answered.
Wu Wei sneered inwardly. Wrapping her finger in the shroud cloth, she probed the nostril, twisting it full circle—and drew out a tiny crusted fleck!
Her heart sank. Seizing the moment, she scanned the surroundings and spotted two mounds nearby, utterly unlike the others: the soil looser, the tops still mounded upward!
Wu Wei committed their positions to memory. While the runners were distracted, she twisted a strip of the white cloth and probed the ear canal several times.
Her pulse quickened. Parting the lips for a look, she then gripped the hands and felt them over. By now, Clerk Hu had nothing left to retch. Propped up by a runner, his face a mess of filth, he staggered away. Wu Wei rose swiftly, putting distance between them. She gave the corpse a lingering, piercing look, etching the scene in her mind, then drew the white cloth back over it.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
Seeing her cover the remains, Clerk Hu flashed a grateful look and cupped his hands to her. The runners said nothing of it, only inquiring, “Miss Wu, are you finished examining?”
“I’ve seen all I need to. Is the clerk feeling better? Shall we begin recording?”
Clerk Hu coughed a few times before sitting down on the stool. He picked up his brush again, dipped it in the inkstone, and said, “Go ahead, Miss.”
Wu Wei weighed every word carefully as she spoke slowly. “The deceased was between eighteen and twenty-four years old and had been dead for at least five days. The cause of death is quite unusual—no external wounds, no signs of poisoning. There are indications of asphyxiation, but no ligature marks. No evidence of drowning either. It could have been a sudden onset of some rare disease.” She fell silent for a moment before adding, “This doesn’t appear to be the primary crime scene. It looks more like a body dump site.”
The clerk’s brush paused mid-stroke. He looked up and asked, “What makes you say that?”
Wu Wei raised her hand and pointed toward the crows gathered in the tree. “There’s a sizable flock of crows up there in that tree. They feed on rotting flesh, so if this were the primary scene, the body wouldn’t be nearly this intact.” There was one crucial detail Wu Wei chose not to mention: the distribution and shape of the postmortem lividity didn’t match the posture Zhang Xing had described. She had no intention of pointing it out, lest she draw attention to another vital clue—one that might get her silenced on the spot.
The two yamen runners exchanged a glance. Zhang Xing spoke up. “Is that all, Miss Wu? I’d read your coroner’s notes from the previous case, and they were far more detailed than this.”
Wu Wei tamped down her inner tension and replied in as steady a tone as she could manage. “Some cases come with dossiers that could fill an entire bookshelf. Others can be summed up in a few sentences. These are two different cases with different circumstances, so the conclusions naturally differ as well. That’s all I can see.”
Clerk Hu set down the final character with a flourish. “Miss Wu, come over here and press your handprint.”
