Wang Qingyao woke up the next morning.
Xiao Yun had been watching over her. Seeing her awake, he immediately instructed Yin Zhu and the others to fetch some easily digestible food.
Wang Qingyao hadn't eaten much at the state banquet and was now ravenous, her stomach rumbling.
Xiao Yun helped her sit up, propped a large bolster behind her, and asked with concern, "Feeling better? Still dizzy?"
Wang Qingyao felt much better after sleeping, only hungry.
"I think I'm a little better," she said.
She spoke slowly, pondering how to reasonably explain the matter of Shunfeng to Xiao Yun.
She absolutely could not mention her clairvoyant eyes, not even under duress.
Before she could even formulate an excuse, Xiao Yun asked, "Did you sense something distant at the banquet? I remember when it happened with County Princess Mu Jin, you were like this too."
Wang Qingyao was touched; Xiao Yun always remembered these small details.
She had also sorted things out in her mind and nodded, signaling the servants in the room to leave.
Once they were alone, she lowered her voice and said softly, "Did you notice Shunfeng when he left?"
Xiao Yun nodded.
"I sensed that he transformed into someone else."
Xiao Yun frowned slightly, not quite understanding her meaning.
"What do you mean, transformed into someone else? Disguise?"
Wang Qingyao shook her head. "He turned into an old man. He was still himself, but aged instantly. He left in such a hurry because he was afraid people would notice his abnormality."
"Aged instantly?"
It was almost unbelievable; even storybooks wouldn't dare write something like this.
Xiao Yun tried to imagine it but still couldn't comprehend such a scene. It was too bizarre.
Wang Qingyao nodded. "It might be hard for you to understand, so I'll explain in detail. I sensed him hiding in a cave. The skin on his face and hands suddenly became the dry, withered, sallow skin of an old person, and his hair turned snow-white."
With the image in his mind, Xiao Yun's mouth gaped in astonishment. It was like a magic trick.
"Back in my hometown, I once read a... well, a storybook, that recorded a similar tale. There was a martial arts master who, because of a certain technique she practiced, maintained her appearance at sixteen or seventeen, looking like a young girl. In reality, she was over ninety. This technique allowed her to regain youth every thirty years, and afterward, she would regain a year's worth of cultivation and appearance each day."
That was about right, wasn't it? Wang Qingyao couldn't recall perfectly, but it was close enough.
Xiao Yun frowned. "It sounds similar to Shunfeng's situation, but a martial arts master... Shunfeng seems to be just a eunuch with no strength to even tie a chicken..."
Xiao Yun pondered.
Wang Qingyao continued, "Oh, right. When he regained his youth, I inadvertently sensed many scars on his chest and back. I didn't pay much attention then, but now that you mention it..." Her eyes lit up. "Could those be scars Shunfeng got from sparring or from fighting and killing people?"
She spoke vaguely, and Xiao Yun's attention was focused on Shunfeng, so he didn't probe too deeply into how she sensed Shunfeng's scars.
"Shunfeng... could he not be a eunuch?" she asked Xiao Yun, feigning confusion and hesitation.
Xiao Yun's brows furrowed tightly. A fake eunuch? This was a serious matter.
"Don't you say you can tell from their gait?" he asked.
Wang Qingyao coughed a few times. "Heh, although I can, I didn't pay close attention. If you let me observe him again, I guarantee I can tell if he's a real eunuch or a fake one."
Wang Qingyao was severely weakened and would need ten to half a month to recover. Clearly, she wouldn't be able to see Shunfeng again anytime soon.
Xiao Yun coaxed, "Try to recall."
Wang Qingyao then frowned and pretended to think for a moment. "It seemed like he was a eunuch, at least eighty percent sure."
Xiao Yun didn't know what "eighty percent" specifically meant, but he guessed it indicated a high probability.
He murmured to himself, "An old man, a martial arts master, a fake eunuch..."
Wang Qingyao met his gaze, and their eyes lit up simultaneously.
"Shunfeng is the murderer who poisoned them," Xiao Yun concluded forcefully.
"He killed grandfather and father. Without Shunfeng's grandfather, Shunfeng's father, it was all him from beginning to end!" Wang Qingyao was so excited she almost slapped her thigh.
Xiao Yun nodded repeatedly. "Yes! Yes!"
That was it.
The killer who spanned three generations of the Xiao family, from beginning to end, was Shunfeng.
Xiao Yun's grandfather died by drowning in a lotus pond during a palace banquet.
Xiao Yun's father died of a cold after receiving visits from palace officials.
Shunfeng's shadow was present in all these incidents.
Wang Qingyao's eyes gleamed with ferocity. She raised her hand and made a slicing motion across her neck. "We can't do things by halves. We strike first."
"Have you forgotten that Shunfeng is a martial arts master? And he's inside the palace. We are outside and cannot enter freely. Even if we could, we might not be his match."
Xiao Yun said slowly, "Let me think carefully. Let me think carefully."
No matter how skilled Shunfeng was, he was merely a murder weapon. Who was holding this weapon?