Wrapped in the darkness of night, Zou Chengyi stood on Yongtang Lane, Linyang Street.
He gazed at the dilapidated brick house before him.
The cold wind of the deep night was sharp as a knife, piercing through his fur and seeping into his body. Zou Chengyi tightened his outer garment. It had been more than a decade since he personally handled a case. The moon overhead was the same as it was back then, seemingly unchanged, yet the first snow of winter had already colored his temples.
His body, however, was no longer what it used to be. From his spine to his skull, a blockage caused a throbbing pain.
He rubbed his temples. In his peripheral vision, he saw Nan Shiying extend her hand. The next moment, he felt as if a needle had pricked the back of his neck, followed by a wave of heat surging from his heart, circulating through his blood vessels, and finally rushing into his brain.
His weary body instantly felt refreshed.
Nan Shiying withdrew the silver needle and offered Zou Chengyi a smile that conveyed "you're welcome."
Zou Chengyi wanted to express his gratitude, but upon seeing her current state, he swallowed the words.
Yuan Yi had never married and had no parents, brothers, or sisters; he was a loner. After his death, the Ministry of Punishment sealed his residence.
Nan Shiying tore off the seal on the door and pushed it open. The "刑" (Xing) from the Ministry of Punishment on the yellow seal ripped in half, fluttering in the wind. Zou Chengyi, his face dark, followed Nan Shiying inside.
The house was small, with only three rooms.
Facing the main door was the reception hall. To the left was Yuan Yi's bedroom, and to the right were the side room, kitchen, and woodshed.
Feng Quan had searched Yuan Yi's room with his men, but they had found nothing. Zou Chengyi didn't believe Feng Luan would discover anything.
Pushing open the door, Nan Shiying entered the room.
At a glance, it was all in view.
The room contained only a bed, a table, a few stools, and a bookshelf filled with books, some new and recently released, others very old.
There were no hidden compartments in the bed, no mechanisms on the walls. After searching the entire room, Nan Shiying found no issues. However, as she approached the bookshelf, she detected a faint, almost imperceptible scent of the Muyuan flower.
Identifying the direction from which the scent emanated, Nan Shiying picked up a book from the shelf.
She opened the pages, finally unfolding it to the page where the scent was most prominent.
That letter, once, had been tucked between the pages of this book.
It was an old book!
"Feng Ce Lun" (On Policy and Strategy).
She vaguely recalled seeing this book somewhere before.
"Anything found?" Zou Chengyi asked.
Nan Shiying handed him the book: "The letter Yuan Yi had on him was likely once kept in this book."
Zou Chengyi had merely asked casually, not expecting her to actually find a clue. The weariness in his eyes suddenly lit up as he looked down at the book in his hands.
"Feng Ce Lun?"
"Isn't this a book by the renowned scholar Mo Wen?"
"Mo Wen?"
"Mo Wen was the most famous literary master in Xiliang back then. This 'Feng Ce Lun' was regarded as a national treasure by Xiliang. However, after Xiliang was destroyed, this book became a mere commodity!"
"He's dead?"
"Long dead!"
"Dead for decades!"
Nan Shiying uttered an "oh" and flipped through the "Feng Ce Lun" in Zou Chengyi's hands again.
"Lord Zou, look!"
Nan Shiying noticed that certain places in this "Feng Ce Lun" had faint markings, as if circled by a pen. The marks were shallow, seeming to pass through several layers of paper. They weren't ink stains, but more like scratch marks.
Zou Chengyi leaned closer to examine them, his expression slightly grave.
"What is this?"
"Some kind of encrypted communication method?" Nan Shiying mused, tapping her chin.
Regardless of what it was, this book undoubtedly held a secret. Nan Shiying tucked the book into her bosom, turned, and left the room, then proceeded to the reception hall, kitchen, and woodshed.
She suddenly remembered something and turned to ask Zou Chengyi, "Lord Zou, do you remember what the paper of the fragmented letter Yuan Yi had on him looked like?"
Zou Chengyi frowned in recollection and shook his head, "It was all so fragmented, I couldn't make out anything."
Nan Shiying said "oh" again, planning to examine the letter more closely after returning to the Ministry of Punishment.
After leaving Yuan Yi's residence, Nan Shiying and Zou Chengyi went to the place where Yuan Yi had died. It was in the wilderness, and under the moonlight, they found nothing.
Nan Shiying returned to the prison with "Feng Ce Lun" and the letter.
Qin Xiaorong in the adjacent cell had been dispirited for several days, often talking to herself. Her voice, through the round hole in the wall, was filled with incomprehensible ravings.
Nan Shiying glanced at Lu Wan. Lu Wan returned a certain look.
Nan Shiying: "..."
A moment of silence!
She wondered if she had misunderstood.
However, Nan Shiying didn't have time to dwell on it. She took out "Feng Ce Lun" and the letter, which had been reduced to shreds of paper. The letter paper, having been soaked in river water, had changed its appearance; neither its texture nor its color revealed its original form. Lu Wan served tea, occasionally glancing over.
"Mistress, is the paper of this letter the same as the paper of this book?"
Nan Shiying looked at the book's pages and then at the letter. The letter paper was unrecognizable. How could she tell they were the same?
"The texture, Mistress!"
"And..."
Lu Wan pondered for a moment before continuing, "I actually have a special ability since childhood, similar to Snake Shadow's. Well... it's more like, no matter how an object changes its appearance, I can discern its original form."
Nan Shiying: "How is that similar to Snake Shadow's ability?"
Lu Wan looked at Nan Shiying, feeling that her mistress's focus was a little off. Wasn't her own ability the key point? Why was the emphasis elsewhere?
Despite her thoughts, Lu Wan still explained, "Snake Shadow can project a portion of its consciousness onto snakes. As for me, I can project a portion of my consciousness onto inanimate objects."
"To say it's consciousness isn't entirely accurate. It's more precisely spiritual power... similar to inner strength, but not the same. In short, it's not an ability formed through post-natal training, but an innate one."
Nan Shiying licked her lips, her mind flashing to her own eyes.
Mutated eyes!
The anomaly she discovered after her rebirth. However, at present, all she found was clear vision and the ability to focus and see any rapid movement; nothing else had been discovered.
She didn't know if it was a manifestation from her rebirth or an ability she possessed all along.
But the focus now wasn't on that, it was on the letter!
This meant that the paper of that letter was the same type of paper as the pages of this book.
Seeing Nan Shiying remain silent for a long time, Lu Wan added, "Mistress, this 'Feng Ce Lun' should be an old edition. That is to say, this book was printed by Xiliang Kingdom. The 'Feng Ce Lun' printed by Xiliang Kingdom back then all used paper specially reserved for the Xiliang royal family."
This implied that the letter was not a newly written one, but possibly a letter left by someone from Xiliang Kingdom in the past?
This was interesting!
Nan Shiying's smile lasted less than half a second before her lips turned down.
This was going to be trouble!!