chapter 3
chapter 3
“He consented.”
My voice sounded unnaturally calm. “The second postmortem was performed before officials from all three judicial offices. The coroner cut open my sister’s abdomen in public.
“He removed a fully formed dead fetus.”
Xiao Yan’s hand tightened around his tea. “Then your mother…”
“The moment that fetus was brought out, her fate was sealed. She had risked her life to prove her daughter’s innocence, only to confirm my sister’s disgrace and the Pei family’s crime.
“She ran headfirst into a pillar and died on the Court’s stone steps.”
Shock crossed his face. “How could that be?”
“Those were Father’s words as he looked up at heaven.” I watched my fingers tremble. “Then he vomited blood and lost his mind. In a single night, a house at the summit of glory was shattered.”
Silence filled the archives. Only the water clock sounded in the vast hall.
“You came to ask me to overturn the judgment?” Xiao Yan finally said.
“Not to overturn it. To investigate it.
“Neither indulgence nor wrongful punishment. Only the facts.”
I rose and bowed deeply. “Lord Xiao, I want the truth. If the Pei family was guilty, then kill me if you must. But if my sister was wronged, restore our name.”
His gaze passed over the thick calluses left by years of holding a coroner’s knife.
“You are the last of the Pei family. Would you truly follow your mother and wager your life on this case?”
“Even if I die nine times, I will not regret it. I believe my sister, and I believe no mystery beneath heaven is beyond solving.”
The candle flame quivered.
“Why do you think I will help you?” he asked.
I smiled bitterly. “I have served the Court for five years. I have examined nameless bodies, investigated disappearances, and worked more scenes than I can count. Do you know how many cases were stamped ‘doubtful,’ buried, and forgotten?
“Thirty-one. Every one involved nobles, ministers, or bargains that could not bear daylight. You know who suppressed them, and who possesses enough power to suppress the Court itself.
“So I waited—for a chief minister who recognized evidence rather than rank and pursued crimes to obsession. I waited for your transfer order, for you to enter these archives, and for you to open the Nine Great Unsolved Cases.”
I removed the worn bronze badge from my belt and placed it on the desk.
“I waited ten years, not to beg for pity, but to stand here as a coroner of this Court and formally request a new investigation into the Pei case.”
The air seemed to freeze among the walls of yellowing files.
After a long silence, Xiao Yan said, “This case touches imperial secrets. His Majesty reduced the Peis to commoners and left a vermilion judgment: ‘A corrupt household, never again to serve.’
“If the case is reopened and produces nothing, you will lose your office and be charged with deceiving your superior and resisting an imperial decree. I, too, will be accused of questioning the throne and sheltering a condemned minister.
“Why should I wager everything I have built?”
“May I ask whether, during your three months as chief minister, you have opened the files of the Nine Great Unsolved Cases?”
His eyes shifted, but he did not answer.
“You have. You even took the Pei file out and left it on your desk. If you wanted no part of it, you could have locked it away. You did not.
“My lord, you are the third chief minister appointed in three years. One predecessor died suddenly; the other was imprisoned. Your recall to the capital appears a promotion, but in truth you have been set over a fire.
“Those nine cases contain not only grievances, but the names of those who concealed them. Some still stand in the imperial court. Some have become the very sky above your head.
“If you do not investigate them today, they will investigate you tomorrow.
“I came because you, too, have been waiting for an opening—a chance to establish yourself in the capital. The Pei case is that opening. If you fail to solve it, those people will devour you anyway. Better to bite first.”
Night wind passed through the carved lattice and made the candle gutter.
At last Xiao Yan laughed softly. “Pei Yin, ten years have taught you a great deal about human nature.”
He walked to the window. “From the charity mortuary to this Court, never marrying, never turning aside—was it worth it?”
I straightened my official cap. “If the truth clears my sister’s name and lets my mother rest, then yes.”
After another long silence, he said, “I accept the case.
“But Pei Yin—Coroner Pei—be prepared to offer your head.”