Chapter 22.2

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

A fleeting thought crossed her mind, recalling Xie Zheng’s suggestion a few days ago to “settle” Fan Da once and for all. But she quickly dismissed the idea.

For one, Xie Zheng’s injuries had worsened, leaving him rarely able to leave the house in recent days. Furthermore, he had spent the past several nights ensuring she memorized every legal statute she might need in court, leaving no time or motive for such an act.

More importantly, Xie Zheng’s connection to her was a mere pretense of marriage. He had no personal grudge against Fan Da, nor any reason to go to such lengths.

When the magistrate heard of Fan Da’s death, he stumbled out from the side chamber, his official hat askew. His small, squinted eyes, buried in his corpulent face, were wide with shock. Clearly, he had never anticipated that what seemed to be a straightforward inheritance dispute could escalate into a murder case.

“This… What is going on? Is there no law left in this world?”

One of the constables who had been sent to find Fan Da stepped forward and reported respectfully, “Your Honor, when we found Fan Daniu, he had already been dead for some time. His body bore multiple knife and sword wounds.”

The magistrate immediately ordered the white cloth covering Fan Da’s body to be lifted. With just one glance, his face paled, and the fat on his cheeks visibly trembled. He quickly shouted, “Call the coroner!”

Fan Da’s wife, Liu Shi, collapsed onto his corpse, wailing so hard she nearly fainted. Spotting Fan Changyu, she suddenly lunged at her with a ferocity that seemed intent on taking her life. “Was it you? Did you kill him? Was it you?”

Fan Changyu stepped back, avoiding her attack, and replied coldly, “Aunt, don’t hurl baseless accusations. My uncle owed gambling debts all over town. Who knows which creditor he crossed paths with? What does his death have to do with me?”

Liu Shi and the elder Mrs. Fan continued their tearful wailing. The noise gave the magistrate a headache, and he quickly ordered the officers to escort them out of the courtroom.

Before leaving, the elder Mr. Fan hesitated, looking at Fan Changyu with lips trembling and face pale. It seemed as if he was recalling something dreadful but couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Since Fan Changyu was directly tied to the legal case involving Fan Da, she had no choice but to remain in court for further questioning.

After the coroner conducted the autopsy, he delivered his findings. “Fan Da likely died earlier this morning on his way to the county yamen. He sustained a total of eleven wounds. However, only one—the sword thrust through his heart—was fatal.”

The coroner continued, “The first ten cuts were deep and ruthless, but they were deliberately aimed to avoid vital areas. The killer must be someone skilled in the use of blades or swords. If these wounds weren’t inflicted for revenge, they seem more like methods of interrogation.”

The coroner’s findings made Fan Changyu furrow her brows.

Interrogation?

What could anyone possibly want to interrogate Fan Da about? Force him to repay debts? But if the goal was to recover money, killing him would defeat the purpose.

For a moment, Fan Changyu felt as if she were surrounded by an impenetrable fog. Nothing made sense.

Still, since Fan Da had been killed on his way to the county, this provided her with an alibi. At that time, she had also been on the road, and both the Zhao couple and the ox cart driver could testify to her whereabouts.

The magistrate’s clerk, however, wasn’t ready to let Fan Changyu off the hook so easily. He turned to the magistrate and suggested, “Your Honor, although Miss Fan has an alibi, what if… she hired someone to commit the murder? I’ve heard rumors that she’s been associating with the likes of Jin Laosan and his gang of street thugs from Lin’an Town. Just to be thorough, why don’t we send people to search her home?”

This unexpected murder during the New Year made the magistrate feel deeply unlucky. The case involved a death, and he couldn’t afford to let personal concerns cloud his judgment. He begrudgingly nodded and pointed at Captain Wang. “You’ve handled many cases over the years. Take a team and conduct the search!”

Fan Changyu stood firm. With a clear conscience, she had no reason to fear. Besides, it was Captain Wang leading the search, not the shady clerk. Meeting the clerk’s scheming gaze, she held her ground, unfazed.

The group of yamen officers made their way to the residential alleys in the western part of town. The bitter north wind howled through the streets, chilling everyone to the bone.

Suddenly, one of the officers sniffed the air sharply. “Does someone nearby slaughter pigs? The smell of blood is overpowering.”

Captain Wang also caught the scent of blood but dismissed it as coming from Fan Changyu’s home. After all, her livelihood involved butchering pigs, and her house was nearby. It wasn’t something that immediately raised alarm.

However, when the gates to the Fan family courtyard were opened, the scene within stunned even the most seasoned constables, men accustomed to handling gruesome crimes in the capital.

The yard was littered with corpses. Blood soaked the snow, painting the untouched drifts a macabre red.

Captain Wang, knowing Fan Changyu’s father from years past, also knew she had a younger sister living in the house. Seeing no child’s body among the dead in the courtyard, he rushed inside to check the house.

At the foot of the steps leading to the main hall, a man lay on his back, his neck torn apart as if by sharp claws. Near his body were several large feathers, as long as a goose’s quill, scattered on the ground. The door bore the marks of sword slashes, deep enough to splinter the wood.

A sinking feeling grew in Captain Wang’s chest as he proceeded further into the house. In the northern room, another lifeless body was sprawled on the floor. A cleaver had been embedded into the corpse’s back, the blade driven so deeply into the spine that two-thirds of its length had disappeared. The sheer force required to wield the knife with such precision and power was almost unimaginable.

With a growing sense of dread, Captain Wang searched every room in the house. Neither Fan Changyu’s younger sister nor the man pretending to be her husband was anywhere to be found. He couldn’t tell whether to feel relief or alarm at their absence.

Finally, he spoke in a grave tone, “It seems someone came to settle a vendetta with the Fan family. Quickly, return to the yamen and report this!”

The sky was overcast, a curtain of heavy snowflakes drifting down, clinging to the pine needles before occasionally dropping in soft, powdery clumps.

Xie Zheng’s chest was soaked with blood, the crimson spreading across the front of his robe. In the dense forest behind him, crows scattered in alarm as the sound of chaotic footsteps in the snow closed in from all directions like a tightening net. He seemed unfazed, leaning against a tall conifer, his bloodstained longsword embedded three inches deep into the snow beside him. Using a torn strip of fabric, he methodically bandaged the wound on his hand.

Blood splattered across his pale jawline, his tightly pressed lips pulling downward, revealing a stormy, foul mood.

Not far from him, Changning crouched alongside the slightly ash-colored gyrfalcon, the bird clutching a piece of pale pink flesh in one talon. Changning’s little face was ashen, tears streaking down her cheeks as she sobbed intermittently, her body trembling in fear.

“Stop crying,” Xie Zheng commanded coldly, his voice sharp enough to cut through the tension.

Changning immediately stifled her sobs, daring not to make another sound, though her tears continued to fall in heavy droplets.

“What kind of enemies has your Fan family provoked?” Xie Zheng muttered, more to himself than to the terrified child who clearly had no answer.

As the cacophony of footsteps grew closer, he finished tying off the bandage with a sharp tug, biting down on the fabric strip to secure it. A faint taste of iron seeped across his tongue as his blood soaked the edge of the cloth.

His phoenix-like eyes, fierce and decisive, reflected the silhouettes of a group of masked figures advancing through the pine forest, their blades and swords glinting coldly against the muted gray of the snow-covered landscape.