Xin Jiuwei knelt on the prayer mat, hands clasped together in a devout prayer, her mind highly focused, her ears attentive to everything around her. Outside the hall, a cold wind howled; inside, all was deathly silent. Only the slow footsteps of the old monk retrieving the merit book, and… a faint, extremely faint sound, like the dragging of a heavy object, drifting from the backyard?

Xin Jiuwei's heart stirred. She patiently waited for the old monk to bring the donation book, wrote down her name and prayer, and added some money for incense. After doing all this, she asked casually, "Master, the temple seems quite quiet? There aren't many worshippers, are there?"

The old monk sighed: "Alas, the mountain temple is far away and not a famous temple. Apart from a few unfortunate people who have no other choice but to come and draw lots, it's just a few old bones like us guarding this empty temple on weekdays."

"Oh? It seems a manager surnamed Qian also came here a few days ago?" Xin Jiuwei asked tentatively.

A hint of confusion flashed in the old monk's cloudy eyes: "Surname Qian? This old monk...can't remember. The people coming and going are all pretty much the same."

Xin Jiuwei didn't ask any further questions. After bidding farewell to the old monk, she slowly walked out of the main hall and headed towards the back courtyard. Xin Kui's figure flashed past the moon gate of a side courtyard not far away, giving her a gesture to conceal herself.

The side courtyard was even more desolate and dilapidated, with the doors and windows of several rooms askew, clearly uninhabited for a long time. In the courtyard stood a dry well, its rim covered in moss. Xin Kui was squatting beside the well, near a pile of rubble and weeds, carefully examining something.

"Miss, I've found something!" Xin Kui whispered, pointing to a crevice in the rocks. "Look at this!"

Xin Jiuwei quickly stepped forward, following Xin Kui's pointing finger. Beneath a few pebbles and withered grass lay half a jade pendant! The pendant was a warm, lustrous white, finely carved, its broken edges jagged, clearly indicating it had been smashed. The remaining patterns on the pendant were an extremely rare, swirling vine design, with what appeared to be the eyes of some kind of beast hidden within the vines, exuding an eerie and sinister aura!

These patterns… Xin Jiuwei’s pupils constricted! She had seen an extremely similar pattern on an ancient jade pendant that Qi Huaiyu wore close to his body! Although the details were slightly different, the unique, eerie charm was almost identical! Could it be that Qi Huaiyu had really been here? Did he lose this jade pendant, or… did it shatter during a fight?

“And,” Xin Kui used a twig to push aside a wet, withered leaf next to her, revealing a small patch of dark brown, dried, and congealed stain, “that looks like blood.”

Xin Jiuwei's heart sank! Was Qi Huaiyu injured? Or...did someone else meet with misfortune here?

"Search! Search this side courtyard thoroughly!" Xin Jiuwei decided immediately.

The two immediately began a thorough search of the dilapidated side rooms and courtyard corners. Cobwebs were everywhere, and the dust was choking. Aside from the half-jade pendant and the suspicious bloodstains, there seemed to be no other clues. Just when Xin Jiuwei thought they were going to return empty-handed, Xin Kui made another discovery near a dog hole close to the backyard wall.

“Miss, look!” Xin Kui picked up a small piece of dark blue, rough-textured cloth from a pile of trampled withered grass. It seemed to have some dark red dirt on it. “The color and texture of this cloth… it looks like what the lowest-ranking servants wear.”

A menial servant? Xin Jiuwei took the piece of cloth, rubbing it between her fingers. The fabric was rough, the edges frayed. A menial servant at Hantan Temple? Or… the missing attendant from when she was tracking down Manager Qian?

Just then, a commotion and terrified screams suddenly erupted from the front yard!

"Someone's dead! Someone's dead!!"

"Help! Huiming has fallen into the well and drowned!"

Xin Jiuwei and Xin Kui's expressions changed simultaneously! The two quickly exchanged a glance, carefully put away the jade pendant and the piece of cloth, and hurried towards the front yard.

A group of shaken monks had gathered around the abandoned well in front of the main hall. The old monk who had been collecting donations earlier was slumped on the ground, pointing at the well, trembling and incoherent: "Huiming... Huiming... he was fine this morning... just now... just now I called him to fetch water... no one answered... then I saw... I saw his shoes by the well... sob..."

The guards from the Prince's mansion had arrived and were peering into the bottomless well, their faces grave. A moment later, two daring monks lowered a lantern down with a rope. In the dim light, a corpse dressed in dark blue coarse cloth could be vaguely seen floating on the surface of the well.

"It's Huiming! It's Huiming!" A monk recognized him and burst into tears.

Accidentally falling into a well? Xin Jiuwei's heart sank to the bottom. This was too much of a coincidence! They had just discovered a jade pendant and bloodstains that might be related to Qi Huaiyu in the side courtyard, and also found a piece of cloth belonging to a servant. And now, a servant had "accidentally" fallen to his death in the front courtyard? Huiming… that name seemed to be the meek little monk who had greeted Steward Qian when he came!

Officials arrived quickly, dispersed the crowd, and cordoned off the area. A middle-aged man who appeared to be a constable swept his sharp gaze over Xin Jiuwei and the others, lingering particularly on Xin Jiuwei's face for a moment with scrutiny and suspicion. After all, they were the only "outsiders" in the temple that day.

"And who are you?" the head constable asked in a deep voice.

“We are worshippers who have come to offer incense and pray for blessings,” Xin Jiuwei replied calmly. The guards from the Prince’s Mansion stepped forward and showed their waist tokens.

Upon seeing the sign for the Prince's residence, the head constable's expression changed slightly, and his attitude became more restrained, but he still maintained a professional demeanor: "Please come with me back to the yamen to give a statement explaining when you came to the temple and your whereabouts, and cooperate with the investigation."

Xin Jiuwei knew she couldn't afford to resist now. She glanced at the deep well opening and the tattered straw sandals belonging to Huiming scattered around it, then recalled the half-finished jade pendant and scraps of cloth in the side courtyard. A chill ran down her spine. This Cold Pool Temple was indeed a place fraught with danger! Huiming's death was no accident! Their whereabouts had likely already been exposed! Staying any longer would only invite greater trouble.

“Okay, we’ll cooperate.” Xin Jiuwei nodded calmly, secretly giving Xin Kui a wink. Xin Kui understood and quietly hid the jade pendant and cloth piece even deeper.

As they left Hantan Temple, the sky grew increasingly gloomy, with leaden clouds hanging low, as if cold rain or snow might fall at any moment. Xin Jiuwei sat in the carriage on the return journey, her eyes closed, her mind replaying the strange patterns on the half-jade pendant, the tattered straw sandals scattered by the well, and the scrutinizing gaze of the constable.

The clues seemed to have gone cold, yet they also seemed to point to a deeper fog. Qi Huaiyu's shadow, like the winter gloom of the capital, was omnipresent, yet elusive. And the guards of the Prince's mansion now felt like an invisible shackle. She had to be more cautious, and she had to… be faster!

The gloom surrounding Hantan Temple had not yet dissipated, and the shadow of Huiming's "accidental fall to his death" lingered in Xin Jiuwei's mind like a leech. Although the routine questioning by the authorities was thwarted by the name of the Prince's Mansion, Xin Jiuwei knew that her group's presence at the crime scene would inevitably attract the attention of those with ulterior motives.