As night fell.
The black clouds covered the sky, blocking out the starlight. The towering Yun'an City was ablaze with lights like a sea of fire on the dark land, spreading along the river to the end of the sky.
With the reconstruction of Ranfang Street, almost all the nearby residents had moved away. At night, it became a black hole in the sea of lights, with only a little glimmer in the middle.
In the small courtyard of Shuanggui Alley, Ye Jingtang changed into his night attire, held the Chi Long Huan Shou Saber in his arms, and leaned against the door. He looked at the afterglow of the lights in the direction of the Imperial City and thought of the ginkgo tree he had been longing for.
The bird, which became energetic at night, squatted on his shoulder and cooed and chirped... Presumably, it was complaining about not being bought dried meat when they went to buy rice in the afternoon and only getting a poached egg.
The doors and windows of the main house were closed, and there was a light inside. The conversation between two women could be heard:
"Master's wife~ Let me go too. I'm so bored in the capital..."
"You just stay at home and copy books properly. The last time your master tested your studies, you couldn't recite a single sentence. Have you forgotten how he scolded me?"
"I'm from the martial arts world. What's the use of studying..."
"Yunli!"
"Sigh~ Master's wife, your chest is so big. If it's damaged like this, how will you breastfeed your children in the future..."
"Shh!"
The room fell silent.
Ye Jingtang could tell that Lady Luo was scolding Little Watermelon. He raised his eyebrows but didn't make a sound to scare them.
Creak—
After a while, the door opened, and the light from the room fell on the courtyard, casting the reflections of a tall and a short woman.
Luo Ning was wearing a black night attire. As soon as she opened the door, she saw Ye Jingtang leaning against the door. Her beautiful eyes showed a hint of surprise, and then annoyance appeared. She obviously suspected that Ye Jingtang had secretly sneaked to the door and had been peeking at her changing clothes just now.
But with Yunli behind her, she couldn't say it openly, and she had no evidence. After thinking about it, she decided to let it go.
For the convenience of movement and to avoid making the sound of the wind, the night attire was all form-fitting clothes without the hem of a robe, and the trousers could be seen. Her legs were wrapped with bandages.
Luo Ning was already tall. Wearing such clothes, her long legs were clearly visible. Her waist was slender, and her chest was tightly wrapped, looking much smaller. She had a face towel covering her face, and her hair was also wrapped up, revealing only a pair of captivating eyes.
Ye Jingtang looked her up and down and thought this outfit could be considered... Hmm... a uniform temptation?
Noticing Lady Luo glaring at him, Ye Jingtang smiled, raised his hand to pull up the face towel to cover his face:
"Let's go."
Zhe Yunli was still dressed like a little girl next door. She was holding a saber in her hand, leaning listlessly against the door frame, and twirling a small tortoise ornament she bought for the bird with her fingers:
"Brother Jingtang, let me go with you to keep watch. It's so boring for me to be at home alone~"
Luo Ning turned around, pointed at the ink brush, inkstone, paper, and ink on the table, and said in a cold voice:
"If you haven't finished copying today's studies before I come back, you'll be punished and not allowed to go out for three days!"
"Sigh~"
Zhe Yunli had no choice but to reluctantly go back into the room and lie sprawled on the bed:
"Got it! Master's wife, be careful."
Luo Ning wasn't usually the image of a strict mother. She was also a bit helpless about this. After closing the door properly, she silently leaped onto the courtyard wall:
"Let's go."
The bird raised its wings: "Jiji!"
Ye Jingtang leaped into the air and followed beside Luo Ning, like male and female thieves going out at night. They quietly left Ranfang Street and sneaked towards the city center.
After learning at noon that the deceased had been struck by the palm technique of the Pingtian Sect, Ye Jingtang had the intention of conducting another autopsy and had inquired about the location of the mortuary.
After running in the night for a while, the two of them came to the outside of a yamen in the north of the city.
The yamen belonged to the Theft Suppression Department of the Ministry of Punishments, which controlled the bandits in the northern city. The mortuary was located at the corner of the yamen. At night, the lights inside were sparse, and there were constables with official swords hanging on their waists patrolling around, but the number of them was not large.
Whoosh~~
Ye Jingtang and Luo Ning simultaneously landed on the houses near the yamen. First, they sent the bird to scout the situation near the mortuary. Soon, the bird flew back:
"Jiji."
It indicated that there were only two guards.
Luo Ning was extremely gentle and beautiful when cooking, but she was full of the air of a female hero when handling affairs. Her eyes were extremely focused. After carefully checking the surroundings and making sure there was nothing unusual, she slightly raised her hand, and she and Ye Jingtang crossed the courtyard wall of the yamen one after another and landed among the buildings.
It was already the time when the yamen closed for the night, and there were few people in the yamen. Only the chirping of birds and insects could be heard.
Ye Jingtang silently sneaked on the roof and soon came to the northwest corner of the yamen.
The mortuary was not a pleasant place. The official officers on duty here definitely wouldn't live in the same room as the corpses. They were all in the duty room outside.
Ye Jingtang silently landed on the roof where the lights were on and listened carefully. He could hear soft voices coming from below:
"...The people from the Black Yamen are really interesting. Today, Lord Yuwen met those two idiots on Zhujie Street..."
...
Luo Ning landed in front of Ye Jingtang. Hearing this conversation, she blinked her eyes and felt that it was a bit familiar. When she first met Ye Jingtang, she was pressed on the bed, and Ye Jingtang had flirted with her with a lot of vulgar words, and there was such a sentence in it...
So that's what it meant!
This lecherous little rascal...
Ye Jingtang was carefully listening to the movement in the room when he suddenly felt a murderous intent!
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Lady Luo beside him was looking at him with a pair of cold eyes, as if looking at a villain who committed all kinds of evils. If it weren't for the inappropriate occasion, she might have already drawn her sword to castrate him!
Ye Jingtang blinked his eyes:
"? "
"..."
Luo Ning didn't say anything. After all, so much time had passed. She withdrew her gaze. After confirming that there was nothing unusual around, she first landed outside the mortuary and gently beckoned.
Ye Jingtang asked the bird to be a sentry in the tree and silently landed by the wall, observing the environment of the mortuary.
The mortuary had a special nature. In order to preserve the corpses for a long time, it was mostly built in a shady place. This mortuary seemed to be frequently used. It was made of stone as a whole, without windows, and there was only a small door.
Luo Ning sneaked to the door and skillfully picked the lock with an iron needle. Ye Jingtang stood behind to protect her and paid attention to the surrounding movements.
After the lock was opened, Luo Ning held it in her hand, supported the wooden door with her palm, and slowly opened it. A gust of coolness immediately came from the pitch-black room where one couldn't see one's own hand.
The permanent population of the capital exceeded one million, and there were all kinds of people. Whether they were humans or ghosts, they all knew some martial arts. Even with strict laws, it was impossible to avoid the occurrence of homicides.
For this reason, the mortuary of the Theft Suppression Department was quite large. There were thirty beds inside, and there were more than a dozen corpses covered with white cloth.
Luo Ning entered the mortuary first, and Ye Jingtang followed closely behind. He silently closed the door, then raised his hand to let Luo Ning stand at the door, and he himself went to lift the white cloth.
Luo Ning knew what a corpse that had been stored for a few days in summer would look like, so she didn't refuse Ye Jingtang's kindness.
"Huff..."
Ye Jingtang took out a fire starter and blew it to life. A little light appeared in the dark room. He shielded the faint light with his hand and came to the wooden bed where the corpse was placed, carefully searching for the corpse under the white cloth.
In the Great Wei Dynasty, weapons were not prohibited. The corpses that could enter the yamen mortuary must have died a violent death. With missing limbs and the scorching summer, one could imagine the scene under the white cloth.
It could be said that under each piece of white cloth, there was a different big "surprise". As soon as Ye Jingtang opened the first corpse, he frowned in disgust.
Fortunately, this "unboxing" didn't last long. When he found the third corpse, he discovered Zhao De, the minor official of the Ministry of Works.
Ye Jingtang secretly let out a sigh of relief and slightly tilted his head. Luo Ning silently walked up to him. By the light of the fire, she examined the black palm print on the corpse's chest.
Seeing that Luo Ning stared at it intently for a long time, Ye Jingtang couldn't help but lean close to her ear:
"How is it?"
"This..."
Luo Ning took the fire starter from Ye Jingtang's hand and leaned close to the corpse to carefully examine the texture of the skin. A deep look of confusion appeared in her eyes:
"It is indeed the 'Eight Trigrams Roaming Palm'. The strength is not heavy, but the skill is extremely sophisticated. I would believe that Protector Zhang himself did it. But judging from the size of the palm, it is definitely not someone from our sect."
Ye Jingtang thought for a moment: "Could it be a disciple taught by Zhang Henggu before?"
"Impossible. Several disciples of Protector Zhang are all hall masters and incense masters of the Pingtian Sect. I know all of them, and I haven't heard of any other disciples."
"Could it be that someone happened to use the same move by chance?"
Luo Ning thought for a while and shook her head:
"The flow of qi and blood is like the layout of a chessboard. There is an old saying that 'there are no identical games in history'. It is impossible for there to be two completely identical chess games in the world. Even if they are similar, there are subtle differences. This palm print is exactly the same as Protector Zhang's 'Roaming Palm'. It must have the same origin."
Ye Jingtang slowly nodded and thought for a moment:
"Can you write a letter to the Pingtian Sect and ask? Since it was created by Zhang Henggu and has the same origin, Zhang Henggu can't not know the background."
Luo Ning was about to nod, but then she thought about it and turned her head:
"I'm the leader of the rebels of the Pingtian Sect. Helping the court solve the case and find the real culprit, isn't it..."
Ye Jingtang really didn't expect Lady Luo to think of this. He slightly spread his hands:
"If you don't help me solve the case, how can I establish my prestige in front of Jingwang? Without prestige, how can I save Qiu Tianhe?"
Establish prestige?
I feel like I'm actually helping you pursue the Princess...
Luo Ning felt a bit strange in her heart, but she couldn't say this openly. She didn't say anything more and silently studied the details of the palm print.
Before they had studied for long, suddenly outside there came:
"Goo~~ Goo~~"
The cry of an owl.
The fire starter in Luo Ning's hand was immediately covered, and there was no light in the mortuary anymore.
She was listening intently when she found that the man hugged her and slowly pressed her down.
Luo Ning knew there was movement outside and didn't resist. She silently leaned against the little rascal's arms and was rolled by him under the wooden bed by the wall, focusing all her attention on listening to the movement outside the mortuary...