CH 5

“Men come hither—”

An iron arm was looped around her waist, it was a posturing that should never be maintained, and yet Huò Wēi Lóu immediately called for his men in a deep voice!

The few embroidered emissaries in front of the Moon-viewing Pavilion were shocked by the deafening noise. They immediately moved upon hearing the order, but after they turned around the corner, all of them became trapped in a daze.

Their Marquis, and the lady coroner, why were they… hugging?

Huò Wēi Lóu pointed at the third floor, “The beam fell down without cause or reason, and it nearly harmed someone, go upstairs and take a look.”

That would explain the sound of something heavy smashing into the ground just now. It was actually the beam that dropped down from the third floor, and it had the circumference of a person’s hug. If it were to smash onto someone, blood was bound to splatter, no matter how steel-muscled or iron-boned a person was. Although they could guess that Huò Wēi Lóu was only in that position because he had saved her, the embroidered emissaries present could not resist doing a double-take before they turned around and left.

Honestly, it was too strange!

Their Marquis did not even have a female servant, and now a beautiful woman was in his arms. Truly, it was an unprecedented sight. 

It was only after the sound of their footsteps turned the corner and entered the building, that Huò Wēi Lóu lowered his eyes again to peer into his arms.

Bó Ruò Yōu was stiff against his chest, her fears still lingering on her small face which had been drained of blood. Her eyes – so clear and light the depths could be perceived – was presently displaying the shakiness of her mind and soul, as if she was a startled fawn. It was a nurtured and refined pretty-looking countenance to begin with, and with her current expression, a lovely and pitiable disposition that could shake a person’s core seeped out. Huò Wēi Lóu’s phoenix eyes sank, “Received a scare?”

Huò Wēi Lóu’s tone of voice could not be more normal, but now that the callousness and deterrence, which weighed down like Mount Tai, was missing, it sounded like a breeze carrying fine rain. Subconsciously, she replayed the moment in her mind, unable to stop herself from dropping her eyes and looking at that cinnabar-lacquered beam. With just one look, cold sweat poured down her back.

If it were not for Huò Wēi Lóu’s timely rescue, it was more than likely that her skull and spinal column would have been smashed into pieces, thus resulting in her death. Not just that, her sternum and ribs would all break, and the broken bones might pierce into her heart directly, and even a divine being would be hard-pressed to save her then. 

Bó Ruò Yōu swallowed her saliva with fear lingering in her heart.

Huò Wēi Lóu was still holding her in his arms, and once his grip loosened, Bó Ruò Yōu’s body proceeded to stagger, and she nearly lost her balance.

Hence, Huò Wēi Lóu could only support her again. Upon hearing the footsteps in the building go higher and higher, he pulled her back by a few steps. It was an unexpected accident just now. If there was someone upstairs, it would be attempted murder; if there was no one, Huò Wēi Lóu was merely wary that another heavy object might smash down.

When Huò Wēi Lóu was backing away, he slanted Bó Ruò Yōu towards the side. This was a protective posture; if another object fell down, and with his tall stature and broad shoulders and body, he could shield her completely.

The cold wind suddenly disappeared as Bó Ruò Yōu was shrouded in his shadow. When she lifted her eyes again to look over, she only saw Huò Wēi Lóu’s silhouette that was akin to a paring knife or cutting hatchet, steeped with a compelling valour that was harsh and cold. Usually, it would cause people to cower, but at this moment, it harboured an unfathomable ability to calm her heart.

The rigidity of her lungs loosened, as though her frozen blood was finally flowing through her four limbs and hundred bones again. Upon realising that she was still leaning on Huò Wēi Lóu, she hastily took a step back and forced herself to stand stably, and then she huffed out and said: “Many thanks for Hou’ye’s saving grace.”

Huò Wēi Lóu’s gaze was mostly fixed on the top of the tall building, and he did not reply immediately. Very quickly, a few human figures poked out from the railing and yelled towards the ground: “Reporting to Hou’ye, there is no one upstairs, the beam fell because the mortise and tenon (the joints connecting two pieces of wood) has been rotting for years.”

After retracting his gaze, Huò Wēi Lóu glanced at Bó Ruò Yōu.

Bó Ruò Yōu’s hands were overlapped in front of her body and wrung exceedingly tight. Her head was slightly lowered, revealing a portion of her graceful neck outside her lapels, and Huò Wēi Lóu could discern that her lingering fears had yet to recede. He only asked: “It’s still early, what were [you] doing here?”

Bó Ruò Yōu sucked in a breath before she raised her head, pointing towards the edge of the curved eaves. Huò Wēi Lóu followed her gaze, and just as he looked over, his irises darkened. Even though it was being covered by a layer of snow, he could still determine that the outer periphery was missing two ash tiles.

The Moon-viewing Pavilion was in the northeast direction of the Marquis Residence: it was surrounded by flowers and trees, had white jade for stairs, its carvings were exquisite, and its height allowed for a long and broad view from spring to autumn, but it was currently midwinter in the first month of the lunar new year, so this place was practically devoid of visitors.

All of the curved eaves on the second floor were undamaged, except for the two ash tiles that had fallen. Huò Wēi Lóu narrowed his eyes, then looked at where Bó Ruò Yōu was previously standing. “You were looking for the two ash tiles?”

With the passing of time, Bó Ruò Yōu had already forced herself to calm down. “Yes, for the past month, the Qingzhou Prefecture experienced snowfall three to four times, with each instance being a few days apart from one another. The current, accumulated seasonal snow has yet to melt, and if the tiles can be found in the layered snow, perhaps a rough approximation of when it dropped can be calculated.”

After saying that, Bó Ruò Yōu sighed audibly as she looked at the fallen beam. Trying to gauge the snow layers was not an easy endeavour to begin with, and now that it had been smashed, she reckoned it would be very difficult to estimate it. A miserable expression flitted across her face as the gaze that Huò Wēi Lóu regarded her with gradually deepened.

Soon after, the embroidered emissaries upstairs came down, and Huò Wēi Lóu gestured at the fallen beam on the ground. “Move it away, and search if there are any tiles underneath.”

A few embroidered emissaries came forward and immediately moved away the fallen beam before they searched the snow pit for a period of time. Sure enough, they found a few pieces of broken tiles. Bó Ruò Yōu examined the disorderly snow pile, brooding that the timed method could no longer be used, and some helplessness seeped into her visage. At the side, Huò Wēi Lóu took a few pieces and examined them, “It has fallen for five to six days.”

Bó Ruò Yōu promptly searched for the voice once she heard that and looked over. Noticing the curiosity in her eyes, Huò Wēi Lóu said with great charity: “There was moss growing on the tiles, and this type of moss can survive for eight to nine days at most after leaving its soil.”

The curved eaves had been there for a long time. With the accumulated dust between the tiles becoming mud, it would grow a kind of moss that was reliant on clay, and presently, the moss on the tile had withered by half, which was enough to prove that it had fallen off six to seven days prior. That timing happened to coincide with the day that Zhèng Wén Chén was pushed off the building.

Bó Ruò Yōu’s eyes brightened slightly, but when her gaze swept past that cinnabar-lacquered beam, her eyebrows furrowed. She walked up to it, carefully scrutinising the cinnabar on the beam. Relatively speaking, the cinnabar paint was re-applied a year ago, and while the colour was slightly damaged, it has yet to reach the point where it was dropping off. However, in the dead centre of the beam, there was a strip where the paint had peeled off. Bó Ruò Yōu extended her hand to touch it, “This beam, perhaps it isn’t as simple as the mortise rotting after a long time…”

It could not be denied that the mortise on one side of the beam was rotting slightly, but the other side was whole. Now that she saw the area of peeled paint, Bó Ruò Yōu started: “It seems like this area was abraded by something, this shape looks like…”

“A rope.” Huò Wēi Lóu gave a verdict confidently. He raised his eyes and looked towards the third-floor railing. “If the rope was wrapped around the beam, anyone with a bit of skill is capable of jumping down without anyone knowing about it. For the same reason, the fallen tiles have their explanation as well.”

Bó Ruò Yōu nodded in agreement. The surrounding flowers and trees were densely packed, if someone took advantage of the chaos and ran away, no one would notice it at all.

And by doing so, the illusion that a ghost had killed a human was created.

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After inspecting the beam, Huò Wēi Lóu turned and headed towards the front door. Bó Ruò Yōu knew that he was going upstairs, so she caught up with him quickly. When he saw her following, Huò Wēi Lóu had no choice but to admit that not only was Bó Ruò Yōu skilled at post-mortem autopsies, but her observation skills were extremely keen as well. He did not mind making full use of it.

The first floor was a hall with a few famous paintings of mountains and rivers. Owing to the fact that no one had been here for a long time, dust had fallen on the table and stools. The stairs were on the right side of the hall. Huò Wēi Lóu was the first to climb up the stairs, with Bó Ruò Yōu one step behind him. Once she raised her eyes, she could see Huò Wēi Lóu’s back figure, and inexplicably, she actually felt that Huò Wēi Lóu’s frame had become more imposing, and that it inspired a sense of trust and relief in people just by looking at it.

Bó Ruò Yōu pursed her lips. Prior to this morning, she had asked for nothing – not even credit – besides the resolution of the case. Regardless of how overpowering this Marquis Wuzhao was, or cold-blooded and alienating, it was none of her concern, because it was more than likely that they would never meet again in the future. That timely rescue, however, genuinely filled her heart with gratitude.

Just as she reached the second floor, Bó Ruò Yōu halted in her footsteps as her nostrils twitched slightly. Instead of continuing forward, she moved towards the warm room which was lined with numerous layered and asymmetric shelves.

The first floor was an expansive hall, the second floor was a library room, and any vision of the stairs was cut off by the layered shelves. Upon going inside, you could see bookshelves propped up against the two walls, and the bookshelves were packed to the brim with ancient texts. A writing desk and zither platform were available as well. Under the west window, there was a long couch and short table, and at the corner of said window was an unremarkable censer that had been placed on the ground.

Bó Ruò Yōu strode towards that censer.

The censer was made out bronze, all compact and exquisite. Bó Ruò Yōu picked it up, studied it, and took a light sniff, before she revealed an expression that conveyed that she had expected this answer. She surveyed her surroundings, and very quickly, she walked up to the south side of the layered shelf and placed the censer in one of the empty compartments.

Dust had settled on the compartment as well, and yet there were three spots where the accumulated dust was lighter. Once the censer was placed on top, it happened to match the censer’s legs.

Huò Wēi Lóu walked over in slow steps, to which Bó Ruò Yōu offered the censer and said: “Hou’ye, the tranquillising incense was inside this censer. The murderer used the censer to light the incense and placed in the corner, so when Zheng er’ye (2nd) arrived later, it’s highly likely that he was knocked out while he was completely oblivious.”

Bó Ruò Yōu put down the censer, and then went to look at the stairs between the second and third floor. “There were lines of bruises and abrasions on the corpse, and it can be assumed that it was left behind when he was being dragged up to the third floor. While Zheng er’ye is a male adult, his stature is neither tall nor large; an ordinary person is capable of moving him without much trouble.”

Zhèng Wén Chén’s height was below 6 feet, and his body figure was slender and thin. He would be around 55 kilograms at most.

Moreover, there were furniture and decorations of many different kinds in this place, and yet all of them were in proper order, not a single one knocked to the ground, which made it apparent that no physical conflict had occurred. But why did Zhèng Wén Chén come to this place? And did he see the murderer before he was knocked out? Or did he already meet the murderer face-to-face before that?

There were so many questions at the bottom of Bó Ruò Yōu’s heart. However, Zhèng Wén Chén had already died seven days ago, and since they couldn’t investigate the area at the very first moment, a lot of evidence might have disappeared. As she was contemplating this, Huò Wēi Lóu had already gone up to the third floor, so she quickly went up.

Upon reaching the landing, it could be seen the third-floor hall was quite small. There were hexagonal windows on four sides, except the north face had a portrait of the late Marquis Anqing hung up. Moreover, the dust on the floor supported what Bó Ruò Yōu previously deduced: there were traces of someone being dragged and moved along the floor. Bó Ruò Yōu came out from the open small door, thus reaching the deckthat Zhèng Wén Chén fell from.

The view from her position was wide; whether it was the place where Lao Furen was temporarily laid to rest, or the courtyard she stayed in last night, she could observe it all with one sweeping glance. The only downside was that the roof eaves were slightly low. Though there was moonlight that night, it was not hard to imagine the murderer hiding behind Zhèng Wén Chén, which would make it very difficult for the people below to recognise their head and face clearly.

Pulling their victim upstairs, and then pushing him up and bracing him against the railings. Wait for the people to arrive downstairs, then push down Zhèng Wén Chén, before winding around to the back…

Bó Ruò Yōu tracked the pathing as she was sorting through her thoughts, and then she saw Huò Wēi Lóu standing under that fallen roof beam at first glance.

The beam was heavy, but it was jointed on both sides to complement and support each other. Even if one of the mortises broke off due to rotting, there was still another side that could support the weight. However, someone had wrapped a rope around the beam and scaled up and down. The human’s weight became the other reason why the beam completely broke and splintered, and out of sheer dumb luck, the beam happened to fall at this very instance. Although more than a cup of tea’s worth of time (10 minutes) had passed, Bó Ruò Yōu still felt a chill running down her back whenever she thought about the scenario just now.

Bó Ruò Yōu was about to step forward when Huò Wēi Lóu turned his head back and said: “Stand there.”

Bó Ruò Yōu stopped instantaneously and watched as Huò Wēi Lóu instructed the embroidered emissary beside him. “Go and inform Zhèng Wén Yàn that it’s best if he repairs and inspects the entire third floor. All of the mortises and tenons here have become slightly slack, and if more people come upstairs, it’s highly probable that an accident will occur.”

The embroidered emissary complied. Then, Huò Wēi Lóu pivoted his body, talking as he walked: “Let’s go down.”

Bó Ruò Yōu followed him downstairs. Since she was behind Huò Wēi Lóu, she started to scrutinise him again, albeit unconsciously. She did not know how old Huò Wēi Lóu was, but everyone knew that he was titled Marquis at eighteen and his famous reputation started to proliferate soon after. The rumours had been circulating around Great Zhou for four to five years, and based on those calculations, he would just be twenty and three right now. However, the impression that Huò Wēi Lóu gave was that he possessed a shrewdness that weighed ten thousand jun, had wisdom and experience that made him seem much older, and during their first encounter, he even called her a “young girl”.

Moreover, he was accustomed to pulling a long face, as if he was always repressing something heavy and upsetting in his heart.

Bó Ruò Yōu heaved a sigh. As a person who served beneath one and was above the common masses, he was responsible for and burdened with a thousand jin too; he was like a dangerous building scaling up to a hundred feet, endlessly solitary.

Just as they came out of the building doors, they saw Fu gonggong and Hè Chéng waiting outside.

When Hè Chéng realised that Marquis Wuzhao was already attending to official business so early in the morning, he felt very guilty in his heart, “Hou’ye reconnoitring the crime scene so early in the morning truly makes xiaguan blush with shame, with Hou’ye overseeing…”

“Benhou was not the earliest.” Huò Wēi Lóu interrupted Hè Chéng’s praise, directly looking to his right.

At this moment, Hè Chéng saw Bó Ruò Yōu who was behind him. “Xiao Bó, you…”

Bó Ruò Yōu blinked her eyes, the corners of her lips raising slightly. “Daren, morning.” As she said that, she saw Huò Wēi Lóu taking off again, so she could not resist asking: “Hou’ye, where to?”

How would Hè Chéng know? Fu gonggong smiled with crinkled eyes and stated: “He’s going to the Buddha-worshipping Hall, Bó guniang, not catching up with Hè daren yet?”

Upon hearing that, Hè Chéng hastily followed in their footsteps. Bó Ruò Yōu bowed towards Fu gonggong and tagged along as well. Fu gonggong was about to leave when an embroidered emissary abruptly came forward to whisper into Fu gonggong’s ear.

Once Fu gonggong heard it, his eyes widened, issuing a delighted noise, “My goodness, our iron tree of a Marquis has flowered?!”

That embroidered emissary added another line, which made Fu gonggong’s brows twist bitterly, “Like I was saying… how could it be possible… he’s an old iron tree, who knows when he will flower!”

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The Buddha-worshipping Hall was in the west of the Marquis Residence, and by virtue of its remoteness, it was extremely quiet. The old iron tree Huò Wēi Lóu stepped into the Buddha-worshipping Hall, and before he even felt the slightest need to meditate, he sensed the self-afflictions from the Buddha-worshipping Hall instead.

The Buddha-worshipping Hall was large enough to form a courtyard on its own, but the central hall of the Buddha-worshipping Hall was extremely empty: a writing desk for copying scriptures was on the left-hand side with a complementing short cushion on its right, and the space was bereft of anything else; it was an arrangement that was practically unheard of unless they were monks and nuns cultivating in Buddhism. In the entire room, only the centremost area had simple and unadorned statues that was exquisitely made, offering to the Three Saints of the West, – Bodhisattva Da Shi Zi, Buddha Amitabha, Bodhisattva Guan Yin – and their bejewelled appearances were dignified.

Bó Ruò Yōu and Hè Chéng felt strange once they stepped in. Most aristocratic and influential families had Buddhist Halls that worshipped the Buddha which were decorated in a classically tasteful, peaceful, and beautiful manner. They would either hang a treasured senior monk’s calligraphy or suspend scripture draperies, and prepare a space where classics lectures and tea tasting could be conducted. Since it was meant to cultivate one’s moral character and spirit, it was turned into something joyous and interesting as well. However, this Buddha-worshipping Hall was genuinely austere and stringent, which made it hard for Hè Chéng to imagine the Lao Furen frequently praying to the Buddha through the night here. 

The Buddha-worshipping Hall was vacant to the point where it could be surveyed in one glance, and no anomalies could be found. Alas, Bó Ruò Yōu walked towards statues, and stared at the incense burner in front. She raised her hands to nip the ashes of the burnt incense, and it was at this moment when an angry shout suddenly rang out.

“Stop, stop right now, that’s an object to make offerings, how could it be casually touched?!” Having rushed to the Buddha-worshipping Hall in a hurry, the first thing that Zhèng Wén Yàn saw was Bó Ruò Yōu touching the incense burner, and he started yelling loudly.

With how agitated his emotions were, even Huò Wēi Lóu and Hè Chéng looked over. Zhèng Wén Yàn compressed his expression slightly, cupping his hands as he said: “Reporting to Hou’ye, the Three Saints from the West that Mother worshipped were brought over from the Capital’s Xiangguo Temple, and a senior monk had added his mark to it. Underneath the seat for the Buddha of boundless life is a Buddhist relic that a senior monk left behind after his death, it is genuinely and incomparably valuable!”

As he finished his speech anxiously, shock spread across Bó Ruò Yōu’s visage as if she had discovered something. After she confirmed it numerous times, she finally turned around and said: “Hou’ye, there is Datura stramonium present in the incense ashes.”

Huò Wēi Lóu’s brows scrunched, it was Datura stramonium again?