Chapter 4

At this moment, Cui Sheng,

Upon seeing Xu Minghao lying on the bed, his legs went weak and he nearly knelt down:

“Just last night I treated my nephew to dinner. He was perfectly fine then-how could this happen…”

I steadied him, my gaze sweeping across the room-

On the Eight Immortals Table sat half a cup of cold tea;

Xu Minghao’s travel bag was placed in the corner,

with silver ingots peeking out from the seams…

This was not a robbery.

I touched the bedding again; it was still warm, so he couldn’t have been dead for long.

“President Cui, when was the last time you saw Messenger Xu?”

As I asked, I dipped a silver needle into the tea. The tip did not change color.

In other words, there might not be poison, or at least not any common kind.

“It was last night, during the hour of the dog!” Cui Sheng clutched his chest, his voice choked with emotion.

“I invited my nephew and his colleague, Captain Yin, to dine at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion. Later, Captain Yin was called away, so I had my coachman take him back to this courtyard. Before leaving, he reminded me not to forget to arrange the boatman for him, but… but it’s only been one night, how could this…”

My ears listened to President Cui’s answers,

but my eyes fell on the coachman:

The man was in his thirties, tall and thin, with a dark face. His hands were placed in front of him, the knuckles covered in calluses.

These were the marks of years spent gripping reins.

“You’re the coachman? What’s your name?”

“Yes, sir. My name is Xu Kai.”

“When you brought Messenger Xu back last night, was there anything unusual?”

Xu Kai’s tone was steady: “No. I brought Messenger Xu to the gate, he opened the door himself, and I returned to the Cui Mansion.”

“Did he eat or drink anything on the way? Or stop anywhere?”

“He drank two cups of rice wine and ate a piece of fish cake with my master at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion. We didn’t stop anywhere on the way back.”

I was about to ask more when Xiao Zhang suddenly called out behind me:

“Master! The Coroner is here!”

It was Coroner Li. He circled the body for a long while.

He examined the neck and body, then lifted Xu Minghao’s eyelids,

checked the philtrum, pinched the fingers, and finally shook his head:

“No external injuries, no signs of poisoning. It seems… he just stopped breathing in his sleep.”

“How could someone just die in their sleep for no reason?” Xiao Zhang was anxious. “Messenger Xu looks to be only in his twenties!”

Coroner Li sighed and took a small porcelain bottle from his medicine chest,

poured out some powder and sprinkled it near Xu Minghao’s nose and on his fingers:

“This is Soul-Detecting Powder. If someone is poisoned, the philtrum and fingertips-these critical areas-will turn blue. Look…”

…There was no change in color at all.

I stood up and walked to the window, looking at the Old Osmanthus Tree in the courtyard.

The fog had yet to lift, and the thick branches swayed in the wind.

Dawn had not yet broken, but the wind was already picking up.

Even with the window closed, the whole room was filled with the scent of osmanthus blossoms.

Suddenly, I recalled a saying about this courtyard:

“A Woman in Red combs her hair by the window…”

I never believed in ghosts,

but could there really be something wrong with this courtyard?

I went over Xu Kai’s reactions and statements in my mind,

and couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.