Death

Early the next morning.

Magistrate Liu, who was fast asleep, was shaken awake.

"Father, Father, bad news! Something terrible has happened within the yamen!" The voice belonged to Magistrate Liu's son, Liu Juncai.

Liu Juncai wore a look of great urgency, urging Magistrate Liu to get up quickly.

"What is the matter? To prompt you to wake your father so hurriedly."

Magistrate Liu shook his head, feeling somewhat dizzy and muddled, but still slowly sat up.

Liu Juncai said, "A servant just reported to me that all the furniture in the yamen has vanished overnight. When I came in to check, it was indeed as he said; every single piece of furniture and decoration in the inner hall of the yamen has completely disappeared. Father, has the yamen been burglarized?"

"Hmm? Such a thing has happened?"

Magistrate Liu was startled, his eyes snapping open as he immediately stood up.

Yet when he swept his gaze across the room, he found that it was indeed true. The vases, decorative items, chairs, and screens in the room had all vanished. The entire bedchamber was completely bare, save for the couch he had been sitting on.

"What on earth has happened? How could it end up like this overnight, and so inexplicably? This is the yamen! Which thief has the audacity to come into the yamen to steal things?" Magistrate Liu instantly flew into a rage. "Go, quickly summon Head Constable Xu. I wish to question him in person."

"Wait a moment, Father, I shall go fetch Head Constable Xu right away." Liu Juncai cupped his hands and left.

Upon seeing the empty, spacious room, Magistrate Liu felt his anger flare up instantly.

What hateful petty thieves, to move out even the furniture so cleanly.

"Wait, my wealth couldn't have been touched, could it?" At once, Magistrate Liu was struck with alarm, rushing over to peer into the adjacent side room.

Seeing that the door remained tightly shut and the bronze lock was still in place, he let out a slight sigh of relief.

Yet still uneasy, he retrieved the key and unlocked the door, immediately catching sight of the rows of massive chests inside. Each chest bore a seal, safe and sound.

"Good, good, my wealth has not been stolen. This is truly the greatest misfortune among a fortunate few." Magistrate Liu finally felt a heavy stone lift from his heart.

However, the fury in his breast remained difficult to quell. "Damnable wretches, I pray I never catch those thieves, or I shall flay them alive! To dare steal right inside the yamen—their audacity reaches the heavens..."

He opened his mouth to hurl curses, but halfway through, his voice abruptly cut off.

A certain matter suddenly flashed into his mind.

Last night, after having a quiet drink in the courtyard, on his way back he seemed to recall seeing a group of people moving house. Those people appeared to be hauling away the very belongings from his yamen.

Struck by a sudden panic, Magistrate Liu hastily donned his official robes and rushed out the door.

As soon as he stepped outside, he happened to see the yamen secretary gathering all the servants in the courtyard, seemingly lecturing them and inquiring about the items lost from the yamen.

"Secretary, you have come just in time. I was precisely about to look for you. Do you know about all the furniture missing from the yamen?" Magistrate Liu strode over angrily and demanded.

"Reporting to Your Honor, this subordinate was already aware, which is why I was questioning these servants on Your Honor's behalf. These servants were in the inner hall of the yamen all day yesterday, so they should know something of the situation. But Your Honor, the strange thing is that not a single one of these servants saw any thieves enter the manor last night, nor did they hear any sounds of moving things," the secretary said with a helpless expression.

Magistrate Liu rebuked, "How could no one have seen anything? Yesterday, right here, along this very path, I clearly saw a group of servants moving things!"

With that, he pointed toward a small pathway.

"Go and look. See if there are any footprints left behind by the thieves, and have Head Constable Xu send men to track them down."

The secretary acknowledged the order and went to investigate, but upon walking over and looking down, he found that there were no footprints whatsoever on the ground—not a single footprint to be found.

"M-My Lord, there are no footprints here at all. There are only a few tracks left by earthworms crawling past."

"How is that possible?" Magistrate Liu hurried over to look, and sure enough, he saw only trails left by earthworms burrowing through the soil, with not a single footprint in sight.

If someone had truly been moving furniture, it would have been impossible to leave behind zero traces.

"Did Your Honor perhaps mistake what you saw yesterday? Or perhaps, being intoxicated last night, Your Honor mistook earthworms moving house for servants moving house?" the secretary ventured cautiously.

"No, it cannot be. I am certain I did not see wrongly. Although I was drunk yesterday, the intoxication was not severe. I still remember that those servants moving house had a master. Their master was even an old classmate and acquaintance of mine from days gone by. His name seemed to be... Let me recall. Ah, yes, I remember now, it was Zhao Jing. Yes, yes, yes, it was Zhao Jing."

Magistrate Liu slapped his forehead, finally recalling the name. "It was that Zhao Jing. When we took the imperial examinations for the xiucai degree together, his ranking was above mine."

The secretary felt like crying without tears. "M-My Lord, please do not frighten this subordinate. Did you not say previously that Zhao Jing died of a sudden illness on his way to assume office? You even wrote a memorial essay for him on that account, Your Honor. Have you forgotten?"

"Died?" Jogged by this reminder, Magistrate Liu suddenly remembered that Zhao Jing had indeed died.

Yet if he was dead, who was the person he had seen yesterday?

The secretary suddenly lowered his voice and said, "I heard that back then, when Zhao Jing was on his way to assume his post in Shuiwen County, he passed by a large river, slipped, and fell into the water. Although he was rescued, he fell chronically ill and died of a sudden illness just a few days later. Surely Your Honor didn't run into Zhao Jing's ghost, did you?"

Magistrate Liu's face instantly turned pale as he felt a chill creep over his entire body.

He had been living under the same roof as a ghost for over a month?!

No wonder he had always felt the room to be somewhat cold and lacking the warmth of other places—he had likely been sharing a bedchamber with a ghost every night.

"Your Honor, are you alright?" Seeing him lost in thought, the secretary gently shook him.

"N-No harm, this official is quite well."

It took a long time for Magistrate Liu to recover from his lingering fear. He took several deep breaths before regaining a measure of composure.

"Your Honor, shall we still investigate the missing furniture? If it was indeed taken by spirits, we must go ask Madame Wang the spirit-medium for help. She is still locked up in the yamen prison, after all," the secretary said.

Magistrate Liu replied, "No, do not look into it. If it was truly my old classmate Zhao Jing who took these furnishings, then let him have them. Zhao Jing lived in poverty throughout his life, and only after much hardship did he finally become an official, only to die of illness midway. I am a sentimental man; let him have these mere ordinary pieces of furniture."

"If it was indeed the work of spirits, then Your Honor's former classmate is a ghost of noble character. Although the yamen has lost quite a few things, the items we added later and the money in the treasury remain entirely untouched. The only things missing are those left behind from the old yamen," the secretary remarked.

Hearing this and reflecting upon it, Magistrate Liu realized it was indeed the case.

Had not the wealth he had extorted over the past month also been left completely unmolested?

Zhao Jing was truly righteous, knowing to leave some things behind for him.

"Your Honor, bad news! Terrible news!" At that moment, a yamen runner hurried over, shouting frantically.

"I am perfectly fine. What kind of propriety is this, shouting and brawling?" Magistrate Liu snapped impatiently, his nerves frayed.

The runner, a mixture of terrified and alarmed, stammered, "Y-Yes, yes, yes. This subordinate misspoke, I beg Your Honor's forgiveness. My Lord, a crisis has occurred in the yamen."

"What crisis?" Magistrate Liu demanded.

"W-Wang the spirit-medium died a sudden death last night," the runner reported, cupping his hands and stealing a glance at Magistrate Liu's expression.

Magistrate Liu's face immediately darkened. "Dead? How could Madame Wang have died a sudden death for no reason?"

"T-This subordinate is not certain. The coroner is currently examining the body; perhaps he knows," the runner said.

"With Madame Wang dead, Li Qizong's case becomes precarious. We are scheduled for a public trial of Li Qizong today," the secretary said in a low voice.

Magistrate Liu understood this implication all too well and immediately commanded, "Accompany me to the main hall. I shall personally question the coroner to see if the Li family sent someone to assassinate Madame Wang and silence her."

However, when Magistrate Liu arrived at the main hall, he found that Madame Wang's corpse had already been brought up to the hall, her face covered with a white cloth, while a coroner waited beside her.

"Coroner, tell me, how did this Madame Wang die? Was she assassinated?" Magistrate Liu demanded, taking his seat of honor.

The elderly coroner immediately dropped to his knees. "Reporting to Your Honor, Madame Wang's death is bizarre. Based on my years of experience as a coroner, Madame Wang died as many as three days ago. Her body already showed lividity last night; had she died last night, the post-mortem lividity could never have formed so quickly. Furthermore, the duty guards reported last night that Madame Wang was shouting and screaming in her room, as if she were fighting with someone."

"Was it someone sent by the Li family?" Magistrate Liu asked hastily.

"No, it was not. That night, Madame Wang was alone in her room, with no outsiders. The guards on duty heard the commotion and went in to check," the coroner replied.

"Who was on duty last night? Bring him in." Magistrate Liu ordered.

A moment later, a yamen runner was summoned before him.

"This subordinate Wang Chuan pays respects to Your Honor," the runner named Wang Chuan said respectfully, dropping to his knees to kowtow.

"Speak, how did Madame Wang die last night?" Magistrate Liu demanded.

Wang Chuan replied, "Reporting to Your Honor, at the hour of the midnight rat last night, loud shouting and screaming suddenly came from Madame Wang's room, accompanied by the sounds of a struggle. This subordinate was uneasy and went to check, but I only saw Madame Wang alone in the room, wildly dancing about and striking at the empty air. There was no one else there."

"This subordinate assumed Madame Wang was practicing some sort of sorcery again, so I did not interfere further. Who would have thought that before the first crow of the rooster, all sound had ceased from Madame Wang's room. When I went to investigate again, Madame Wang had already lost her breath and lay dead upon the floor."

"Put simply, this is a headless case."

Magistrate Liu slammed his gavel down fiercely. "You bunch of good-for-nothings, what do you eat to grow up? You couldn't even keep watch over a mere Madame Wang! She was a crucial witness pointing to the Li family and Li Qizong. Now that something has gone wrong, how do you expect to bear the responsibility?"

"I beg Your Honor's forgiveness!" Wang Chuan kowtowed to plead for mercy.

"Your Honor, the public notices were already posted yesterday. Shall this trial proceed or not?" the secretary asked from the side.

Magistrate Liu gritted his teeth and said, "Proceed—why wouldn't it? Wang Chuan, I will give you a chance to redeem yourself through meritorious service. Later in the courtroom, you must insist that Madame Wang was assassinated by someone yesterday. You must never mention that she died a sudden, unexplained death. If your tongue slips by even a fraction, I will have your head."

"Y-Yes, yes, yes. This subordinate understands," Wang Chuan nodded repeatedly, though his heart was filled with bitter anguish.

Was this not a blatant framing of the eldest young master of the Li family? If the Li family found out about this, how could he possibly survive in Shuiwen County?

Before long, word reached the Li residence that Magistrate Liu was opening court to publicly try Li Qizong.

A so-called public trial required the gentry of the county, nearby village heads, and venerable elders to participate in the adjudication of the case, ensuring fairness and justice.

Most importantly, it was meant to compel public submission.

"The yamen is holding a public trial?" Li Xintian frowned. He had sat in the main hall the entire night without sleeping, only occasionally dozing off for a moment.

With Li Qizong's safety hanging in the balance, how could he possibly sleep peacefully?

"Yes, Eldest Young Master, what shall we do now?" Tiejun asked.

Li Xintian calmly replied, "What else is there to do? Everything that needed to be arranged, I have already arranged. Since he wants a public trial, I will go take a look. I want to see how this Magistrate Liu intends to judge my father, and whether he lives or dies today."

"Come, accompany me to the yamen."

With an order, taking only Tiejun and a few guards, he immediately stepped out the door.

Yet just as they crossed the threshold, Tiejun let out a light sound of surprise. "Eldest Young Master, look closely—there are characters on the ground."

Li Xintian lowered his gaze to see a pile of paper ash scattered upon the stone bricks before their gate. The ash had fallen to form two distorted characters: *Done.*