Corvus squawks and broken twigs swirled wildly in the air.
Atop the heads of stoned lions that hadn't been polished for years, two lanterns swayed, hitting the pillars, and the copper ring on the gates complied with a loud ring amid the wind.
Ghosts came knocking on the doors.
It was unknown when these three words appeared in Pei Jingzhe's mind. A cold breeze whipped past and the lantern in his hand flickered dangerously.
Then it went out.
Pei Jingzhe: "…"
The night was abandoned and cold with the looming of ghost shadows. It was enough to form a sensational story for the ordinary folks.
Moreover, he was part of it.
Everyone in the Yandang Estate died all of a sudden, and even the funeral house could not contain them all. They could only arrange the corpses in the courtyard temporarily. More than fifty in total are arranged systematically into a few horizontal rows with pale faces and dried blood stains that have hardened into patches of brown-ish red on their bodies. Some of them even had their eyes opened in undeserving.
Pei Jingzhe proclaimed to have seen many corpses and some lives were also lost at his hands. He had quite seen it all. Yet upon seeing such a scenery, nothing stopped a cold, icy feeling from surging up inside of him.
He unwillingly took a few steps forward, following closely behind Feng Xiao as he gave Cui Buqu a glance at the same time.
The latter had knelt, reaching out with a hand to touch a corpse with the most severe damage—half its neck was gone, its flesh pouring out from both wounds and one eyeball had fallen out. However, the eyeball hasn't wholly snapped, so it was dangling out of its socket.
But Cui Buqu's face didn't change. He even took the eyeball and pressed it back into its socket.
Pei Jingzhe: "…"
He really should kneel in exasperation in front of Cui Buqu!
Then looking at Feng Xiao—
Second Commander Feng naturally wouldn't do that by himself. He was covering his face with a sleeve, his foot even avoiding places where there were traces of blood. He was even pointing at a specific corpse and giving Qin Miaoyu orders.
"Pry open that person's collar. I want to see whether there are wounds on his body. Right, take them all off. Even the pants. Look at whether the dantian is as well as his crotch!"
Qin Miaoyu who was like a flower and jade had to move the corpse of a big man. It made Pei Jingzhe feel some sympathy for her.
Feng Xiao suddenly turned around to look at him.
Pei Jingzhe blinked, acknowledging it quickly and ran over to help her out.
After entering Luoyang City, they went straight to the Luoyang bureau and proclaimed their identities. They rejected the County Magistrate's warming welcome and in the end left with the constable and coroner who had previously worked on the case and brought them to the crime scene.
Cold wind seeped through the window sills and howled in loud wailing. Even the clothes on those corpses were swayed by it. Because of the blissfully cold weather, the corpses' decay process was prolonged. They were only frozen hard. Frost gathered at the corners of their eyes and faces as if they would turn into viscous moving corpses in the next second.
Cui Buqu's hand swept over an older man who was denied a peaceful death and shut his eyes.
But, after some seconds were gone, they flickered open again. Cui Buqu once again shut them up before the corpse's eyelids fluttered back open, again, and again, and again.
Everyone: "…"
Feng Xiao twitched his lips and couldn't help saying: "Alright, take a rest and stop working."
"This is an indication of injustice!" The old coroner sighed, "What a sin; although this humble one has examined corpses all his life, I have never seen such a terrible sight. Everyone in this residence died, even servants, women and children. How frightful to the ears!"
The Yandang Estate was a distinguished family in Luoyang. Lin Wei was the only son of the patriarch, Lin Leng. Both of them old folks only had one son, yet Lin Wei had neither gotten married nor delivered children. After the Zuoyue Bureau seized him, Lin Leng and his wife ran around begging for mercy on their son's behalf, yet it was to no avail. The Lin family of Luoyang's martial arts were mediocre. Yet, due to his knack in businesses, Lin Leng had many friends in Jianghu. A person like this would not have enemies who could not cease until they have hunted them down. Even if there is, it would just be strife formed in terms of business and not something that would put a price on their heads, let alone killing their entire family.
The only manipulative variable was on Lin Wei.
Of course, it was possible that Lin Wei's father had something shady going on or that he held something important in his possession and thus led to his death.
But Patriarch Lin was now dead, and Lin Wei was in the Zuoyue Bureau. They could not summon him at the moment for inquiry, so they could only find out the cause of death of these people and the murderer that took their lives.
Pei Jingzhe asked: "The people of the Yandang Estate are all there? None of them were left out?"
There were a total of fifty-four bodies, including Lin Leng, his wife, and all their servants. One of them was the scout in the disguise of a white-collared worker sent by the Jiejian Bureau, and the other one was someone from the Zuoyue Bureau.
There wasn't a single exception. Everyone was dead.
Pei Jingzhe walked towards the corpse of the scout from the Jiejian Bureau and realised that, other than the wound that claimed their lives, there were still claw marks on their bodies.
These claw marks were very deep; one could tell that they've gone full out forcibly ripping a layer of skin off. It was clear that they were merciless when they did it, insatiable if they only killed their subject and had to torture them like a bloody sea of vengeance was between them.
Pei Jingzhe took one of the scout's hands and examined the black and sticky stuff inside his fingernails. The flesh he'd ripped one off his enemy even clung onto one of his fingers. The horrific scene of these two colleagues fighting and biting each other before their deaths seemed to play before his eyes.
"They're all here!" The young constable said, "Yesterday, this humble one was on duty at the bureau when someone came to report a case, saying that a murder occurred in the Yandang Estate, and so this humble one immediately clarified it to His Excellency before bringing someone over…"
Pei Jingzhe interrupted him: "This is to say that you were the first to encounter this case? Who was the person who reported the case? Was he withheld?"
Constable Song immediately said: "Yes, the one who reported the case is surnamed Zheng. He had been delivering vegetables to the Yandang Estate for more than twenty years. Everyone nearby knows of him! According to the rules, Old Zheng would go to the rear gate of the estate between 5 am to 7 am every day to deliver newly harvested vegetables to the kitchen. In the end, when he arrived yesterday and had been knocking on the door for half a day with no response, he pushed the door and entered."
According to what Old Zheng said, the weather was cold on that day, and the wind was strong. He couldn't smell the dense scent of blood. After pushing the doors open and entering, he didn't see anyone until he continued to walk forward and discovered three corpses. His knees began to clatter and he dared not call for help, afraid that the murderer was still inside. So he immediately scampered his way out and fled to the bureau without hesitance.
Although the Yandang Estate was remote, it was still situated within the city and within its gates. Once the Count Magistrate realised how severe the situation was, he immediately allowed Constable Song to bring all the available people within the bureau over. In the end, they found corpses laying everywhere. Aside those three corpses, everyone in the estate had died. Even the master and mistress of the estate had been killed in their own sleeping chambers.
As the constable finished talking, the elderly coroner added to his words. He was in the second batch of people to go over, the batch that after the constables discovered everyone had died, called for them.
After examining, the coroner discovered that those people had been dead for roughly four hours. The Estate's patriarch knew martial arts. Although the Yandang's "Thirteen Styles" weren't popular in the Jianghu, they were more than enough to suppress little thieves. Additionally, they were at least a dozen guards within the Estate.
"This is the patriarch of the Lin Estate." Constable Song pointed to a middle-aged man and said, "When we discovered him, Madam Lin's two maidservants were dead by a sword to each of their chests. These were all done by Master Lin. Master Lin had also stabbed himself, yet he was still breathing."
During that time, Constable Song hurried over to ask for the murderer. Master Lin looked like he had never seen him before in his life. Both his eyes were opened wide, his face in agony as he stared in front of him. He was even still smiling.
"Smiling?" Pei Jingzhe asked curiously.
Constable Song nodded his head with a lingering fear: "Smiling eerily. He said nothing when he was asked about the murderer, turning his head around and around while saying "So beautiful". After he repeated it a few times, he died."
"Would it happen to be someone's name, Hao Mei1?" Pei Jingzhe turned around to look at Bing Xuan, "Maiden Bing Xuan, is there such a person in the Sword-Sparring Competition?"
Bing Xuan thought and thought: "I've never heard of it."
Cui Buqu said: "If it were someone's name, Lin Leng would not be smiling. His mental consciousness was in disarray during that time. It seemed like he was watching a delusion and said it was beautiful."
Feng Xiao suddenly said: "I have a question. Even if it had been the Demonic Sect's "Heart-Enchanting Melody", not just anyone without a strong foundation of martial arts could manipulate so many people at once. Even if such a strong person exists, he couldn't warrant that everyone would fall for the enchantment. Not everyone would be similarly affected, and people who knew martial arts could even escape easily. If one were to guarantee that everyone would fall under the enchantment, other than using one's inner strength to control the melody, they would also need the help of other external factors."
Pei Jingzhe didn't understand, giving a confused look.
Cui Buqu exclaimed: "Food!"
All the people in the entire estate, including the scouts they'd sent into the estate to serve as spies, ate three meals a day that came from the kitchen. That also meant that from the master to the servants, the only thing that linked them were food.
Qin Miaoyu also understood. She immediately hurried to the rear kitchen.
Feng Xiao walked to Cui Buqu's side and elbowed him: "How many people in the Zuoyue Bureau have you placed here?"
Cui Buqu gave him a look: "Two."
Feng Xiao: "The Jiejian Bureau has also placed two."
There was only one corpse each of the Jiejian and Zuoyue Bureaus' scouts present. This also meant that they were still short of two people.
These two people could have possibly escaped when they realised something went wrong. They could have been after the murderer. Regardless, since they haven't shown themselves now, their fates were possibly more ominous than propitious.
Feng Xiao told Constable Song: "Go ask around, during the happening of the crime scene yesterday, did anyone near to the Yandang Estate heard any sort of commotion? Ask the night patrol as well."
Then he ordered Pei Jingzhe: "Go fetch a bucket of water here."
Pei Jingzhe went with a head full of confusion just as Qin Miaoyu returned, her expression strange.
"Commander, Master Cui, there was nothing in the kitchen."
What she meant by 'nothing' was that not only were all the vegetables and extra ingredients gone. Even the lumbers were gone.
For a wealthy family, this was very unusual.
As the case progressed until this point, it has reached a foggy dead end. The murderer's goals were not clear, and their methods were cruel. They left no trace behind.
Speaking of Heart-Enchanting Melody, it belonged to the Fajing Sect of the Demonic Sects no less. As the Sect Leader, Feng Xiao should have been able to deal with it with high efficiency, but even he had no clue.
Pei Jingzhe brought the bucket of water.
Feng Xiao gestured to Cui Buqu to wash his hands. He still remembered the scene of Cui Buqu pressing back someone's eyeball just now.
Cui Buqu knew that Feng Xiao recalled how last time, in order to disgust him, Cui Buqu had reached out to touch Feng Xiao's face after touching a corpse. Now, he's afraid that Cui Buqu would repeat it, and so he smiled vaguely before reaching his hand into the water to wash his hands clean.
When Pei Jingzhe saw both of them flinging looks at each other, he didn't understand, and so he looked at Qin Miaoyu, hoping that she would give him some tips.
Qin Miaoyu was looking left and right, everywhere but him.
The elderly coroner had already said everything that needed to be said about the corpse, no longer able to deduct anything more from it. Bing Xuan was walking around the estate, and Feng Xiao didn't stop her.
Although the Yandang Estate called themselves an 'Estate', in reality, they were just a grand manor location near a mountain inside of Luoyang. With Bing Xuan's speed, she could quickly finish walking around the front and rear courtyards and into the slumber chambers of the Lin couple.
The door was ajar and everywhere there were patches of blood stains. She didn't take them seriously, passing through the disorderly mess and took a saunter inside the room to discover a bowl.
Or, specifically speaking, this is a half-eaten bowl of Lotus Seed and Lily Bulbs soup in the crime scene.
Qin Miaoyu could not find anything in the rear kitchen and yet, there is a bowl of soup here. It meant that Madam Lin was possibly drinking a bowl of soup when it happened and she never had the chance to finish it.
Bing Xuan took that bowl of soup and smelt it, yet discovered that nothing was suspicious about it.
There was a fragrant scent inside the house, but it didn't smell like incense.
"It's machilus." Cui Buqu was walking over here just as she was sniffing up the pillars. "All the wood used here was machilus wood, so the scent would have been thick."
Bing Xuan curiously said: "According to what I know, Luoyang does not produce machilus wood."
Cui Buqu: "That is right. So these lumbers are most certainly imported from Xinan."
Bing Xuan sighed: "The Lin family truly is wealthy."
Otherwise, they wouldn't have become the treasury of the Thirteen Pavilions of Yunhai in the Northern Region.
What followed afterwards was Qin Miaoyu walking in to see two of them conversing happily before seeing Pei Jingzhe, who was walking around the courtyard, seeming to have not noticed them at all.
She was in a dilemma about whether she should break up these "lovebirds" or not.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Feng Xiao's approaching figure. Without hesitating any longer, Qin Miaoyu walked forwards abruptly and inserted herself cleanly between the two of them: "Master Cui, I'm afraid there's something I've left out in the rear kitchen. Why don't you take a look there? If you see it yourself, I would be at peace."
Cui Buqu nodded without suspicion: "Take this bowl of Lotus Seed and Lily Bulb away. We will be examining it after our return."
Qin Miaoyu withdrew her smile and nodded, then took the bowl of soup from Bing Xuan and left.
The few of them took a few more turns within the estate and found nothing else.
Constable Song also pleaded: "Both my Lords, how would these corpses be taken care of? After a few days, I fear they will begin to rot."
Cui Buqu said: "In this weather, they could still be left here for a few days. After two days pass and we've found nothing, you people could give them a proper burial."
Constable Song immediately agreed.
Since running into Bing Xuan, their group hadn't stopped for a moment since hurrying to Luoyang City. Now, it's long past 11 pm, the wind and chill has thickened. Cui Buqu's robes couldn't block out the cold and so he coughed once after the last repeatedly.
Feng Xiao yawned: "It's too late. I should go back to take a rest, otherwise, my skin will become duller tomorrow morning."
Cui Buqu twitched his lips, holding in the jeer that almost escaped his lips out of instinct because he knew that Feng Xiao said that on purpose.
Since remaining here wouldn't help much, Cui Buqu got up the carriage and parted the curtains: "Maiden Bing Xuan, may I invite you on this carriage?"
Pei Jingzhe had been listening to the howling of the wind for a very long time and felt his heart getting anxious. He couldn't help letting out a breath of relief once he fantasized about the feeling of warm soup soothing his belly in the posthouse and soaking his feet in warm water, indulging in the steamy, comfortable sensation of it.
Yet, he couldn't think about that at that moment, because a sentence reached him suddenly, "Qin Miaoyu's salary is doubled this month, and Pei Jingzhe's is deducted by 10 per cent."
Pei Jingzhe: "???"
====
[1]: 好美 and 郝美: Pei Jingzhe was suggesting that "So beautiful" (hao mei) might have meant Hao Mei (a name of different characters).