Chapter 59, the Fifty-Ninth Face: Annihilation of the Clan

No matter how capable the people of the Wanxianglou Restaurant were, even if they managed to balance the Sui Kingdom, they couldn't stop the people of the Wu Kingdom from using snuff bottles.

Force can intimidate and kill, but it can never kill desire.

In order to pass the imperial examination at the county level, more and more people are taking this drug. Everyone is taking it, and everyone does score much higher than usual. But since everyone is excellent, the selection criteria naturally rise as well, and most people still end up with nothing.

Or, just like when snuff bottles first entered the Wu Kingdom, anyone who could run on two legs was likely a scholar. Scholars were so common that they were not as common as free-range chickens.

This time, the incident occurred in an ordinary household in Yingdu. Upon opening the door, which reeked of a foul stench, Qin Sihai couldn't bear to look at it. The two guards who had come with him only glanced at the situation in the alley before running out to vomit.

The summer temperature was high, and flies were already swarming inside. Qin Sihai frowned as he watched the coroner examine the body, and after a long while, he asked, "Gone mad?"

The coroner nodded. Several such cases occur in the capital every month, but it is rare for someone to hallucinate and kill their entire family.

The middle-aged man, whose appearance was completely unremarkable, was now standing beside Qin Sihai, saying without changing his expression, "It's been investigated. The house has been mortgaged, and he's used three bottles of drugs."

Regarding the case of a common snuff bottle addiction, Qin Sihai said, "Add this to the massacre in the capital, and have a storyteller tell it for a few days to serve as a warning."

If this worked, it wouldn't have been impossible to ban it for decades. The middle-aged man hesitated, but ultimately said nothing.

Suddenly, the coroner exclaimed, "It's cracked! It's cracked!"

The two men turned around and saw that the corpse's face had split open from the chin along the hairline, forming a small half-circle. At first, they didn't look closely and assumed it was cut open with a knife, but the jagged crack, revealing rotting flesh and white bones, really didn't look like it had been cleaved by a knife.

This matter was not so simple; it wasn't like the things he usually had his guests at Wanxianglou handle privately. Qin Sihai immediately ordered, "Report to the Dali Temple, immediately!"

When Duan Duwen, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, arrived, the middle-aged man had already left. He only saw Qin Sihai in casual clothes, chatting and eating melon seeds with a group of women. Duan Duwen's lips twitched involuntarily. He bowed to him from afar and then walked towards the residence where the case had occurred.

A moment later, Qin Sihai caught up, stuffed the melon seeds into his sleeve, and said, "We meet again, Lord Duan."

Duan Duwen was an upright man, and before Qin Sihai disappeared, the two were considered like-minded friends. Qin Sihai had been back for five years, his relationship with the princess was tumultuous, he frequently acted erratically, challenged the three major families, and clearly sided with the emperor… Duan Duwen couldn't see through Qin Sihai at all; this was no longer the shrewd and composed Qin Sihai he once knew. He said, "Has Lord Qin overstepped his bounds again?"

Qin Sihai stretched out his sleeve in front of him and said with a smile, "Want a round?"

Duan Duwen turned his face away and said seriously, "If I really impeach you, you'll be in deep trouble."

Qin Sihai rolled up his sleeves, pulled him to stand under a tree outside the courtyard, and said, "This is not an ordinary matter. This family has lived here for three generations, for decades. They know all the neighbors very well. The victim who committed the crime a few months ago fell ill, and we couldn't get any more information from him."

"It's all just idle chatter," Duan Duwen said impatiently. "Lord Qin should leave now."

Qin Sihai raised his sleeve again and asked, "Really don't want it?"

Duan Duwen reached out to knock the melon seeds out of his sleeve, but Qin Sihai seemed to see through his thoughts, dodged, and walked out of the alley as he said, "If you want to know anything else, come find me and have some melon seeds, Lord Duan."

The case was much more difficult than Duan Duwen had imagined. All the family members close to the family had been killed, and the only distant relatives that could be found in the household registration were far away on the border of Sichuan and had not visited each other for many years. It was as if there were no clues at all.

After racking his brains for several days, Duan Duwen couldn't figure out what was strange about the half-skin cracked on his face. He wanted to close the case directly, since there would be cases of suicide or murder by snuff bottle in a few days, and there was really nothing to investigate in this case.

But just as Duan Duwen was about to put down his pen, he remembered Qin Sihai's meaningful words from that day. If he closed the case hastily, he didn't know how that person would laugh at him, or even directly impeach him for dereliction of duty in front of the emperor.

As he thought about it, his head started to ache even more. Duan Duwen sent a letter to the Qin residence, inviting Qin Sihai to discuss the matter in detail.

Qin Sihai looked into this family's history. Their ancestors were all from Sichuan. This branch of the family went to the capital to take the imperial examinations but failed. They started a small business and settled down. However, they were persistent in taking the imperial examinations and studying for generations, which was very expensive. So the family cut off contact with them.

So, being obsessed with scientific research and becoming addicted to snuff bottles makes perfect sense.

Judging from their clothing, apart from the one who committed the murder by snuffing, the others were dressed in fine clothes and did not look like they were in dire straits at all.

Three snuff bottles are worth as much as a three-courtyard house in the capital. How could their small business of selling pickled vegetables and repairing farm tools afford it?

The guests at Wanxianglou couldn't find anything more. Qin Sihai shook the invitation in his hand, and for some reason, he remembered the person Zuo Qinghou had helped him evade his pursuers that day.

Qin Sihai was unaware of the extreme caution of the three great families. Even after Qin Sihai was poisoned and fell into the water, he refused to believe that Qin Sihai was dead and searched along the river, almost finding him.

Zuo Qinghou asked him for his belongings, and he gave him a palace-made knife. Zuo Qinghou still felt it wasn't enough and asked, "Is that all?"

Aside from the jade pendant given to him by his parents, the only personal possessions he owned were the jade ring given to him as a birthday gift by Zhu Qingyan. Zuo Qinghou noticed his reluctance and said, "If it were me, I would throw away that one that's not as important as my life."

Qin Sihai hung the jade ring on a rotting corpse and threw it onto the shore. Sure enough, the men who had been chasing him returned with the body to report back.

Qin Sihai said, "I've been poisoned with a fatal poison, why aren't they worried?"

"When you do something wrong, you have to make sure there are no mistakes. Let alone the big deal of being sought for revenge later, I'll have to come back to check if I locked the door before I leave." Zuo Qinghou chewed on a sweet reed root, grinding medicine, and looked at Qin Sihai as if he were an idiot.

A sudden inspiration struck Qin Sihai, and he immediately picked up his pen and wrote a reply to Duan Duwen.

The moon rises above the willow branches, and the lovers meet at the scene of the crime.

The buzzing of mosquitoes filled Duan Duwen's ears. He dared not swat them with his hands for fear of making a sound, so he used his clothes to swat them, cursing the annoying mosquitoes and the troublesome Qin Sihai in his heart.

Having squatted for three days in a row, the bumps all over his neck were already annoying enough, but every time his subordinates looked at him with a lewd and ambiguous gaze, Duan Duwen really couldn't stand it anymore.

He wouldn't wait another night, whether there was a result or not. He wasn't a constable; why should he suffer this ordeal with him?

Looking at Qin Sihai's calm expression, Duan Duwen lowered his voice and asked, "Why didn't you bite?"

Qin Sihai said in a low voice, "I've never attracted mosquitoes since I was a child."

Duan Duwen was even angrier. Just as he was about to storm off, he saw a furtive figure circling the courtyard. The figure was about to leave when Duan Duwen immediately tried to rush up and grab the murderer.

But Qin Sihai grabbed him, covered his mouth, and dragged him back. Before he could even get angry, the dark figure disappeared into the alley.

Duan Duwen said in a low voice, "What are you doing! Wouldn't it be enough to close the case if we just went and arrested them now?"

Qin Sihai gripped his wrist, making it impossible for him to break free. Duan Duwen was dragged away through another exit of the alley. As soon as he entered the carriage, Duan Duwen cursed, "Qin Sihai, are you crazy? You told me to catch the murderer, and now that the murderer has come out, you don't even bother to check who it is before leaving. What? Did you run into someone you know again and are too scared to catch him?"

"Qi Fang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works." Qin Sihai's cold words silenced Duan Duwen's curses.

"It's so dark, how can you see?"

Qin Sihai nodded and had to explain, "My master is Fan Qi. He has been rigorously trained since childhood, so it's normal for him to be able to see in the dark."

Duan Duwen's anger subsided slightly, but he still glared and said, "He's on the emperor's side, so you're not arresting him? Are all the cases related to snuff bottles on their side? Is that why you'd only take action? You really won't do anything without a profit."

Qin Sihai quickly reviewed Qi Fang's information in his mind. The poor scholar had become an official through the imperial examinations and possessed exceptional skills in crafting tools. He had participated in numerous projects related to agricultural implements and water conservancy. The three great families didn't value such a person, so the emperor took him in. It seemed... there were no problems.

Duan Duwen was still cursing him when someone outside the carriage brought out something: a talisman and a little black dog blood. The talisman was a soul-suppressing talisman used to ward off evil spirits; he had seen it in Zuo Qinghou's strange books. Qin Sihai suddenly said, "So what if you caught him? He says he came to perform a ritual out of kindness. How can you convict him?"

One moment smooth and the next aggressive, Duan Duwen was furious at Qin Sihai's change of attitude, but faced with the evidence, he couldn't say a word. He could only say, "If you haven't done anything wrong, why go to the ancestral temple?"

Human sentiment and conjecture can never be used as evidence in court. Duan Duwen was speechless for a long time before finally saying, "Find out his mistakes and throw him into the Dali Temple. I don't believe there are any silent stones."

The carriage stopped, and Qin Sihai got out. He suddenly changed out of his serious mask and put on a new one that was polite and courteous. He said, "Lord Duan, would you like to come in for a drink?"

Duan Duwen truly admired the ministers in the cabinet who worked with Qin Sihai every day. Duan Duwen let out a deep breath, stepped off the small stool, and exclaimed, "Drink! Drink thirty-year-old Moutai!"

The cups were brought out, and two cups of rich, orange-red black tea were poured. Before Duan Duwen could utter his sarcastic remark, Qin Sihai said, "I haven't had a good night's sleep for several days. Drink this black tea and get a good night's rest. Tomorrow, I'll organize my thoughts and continue my investigation."

Why would an official from the Ministry of Works kill a small business owner? What conflict existed between them?

Duan Duwen grew increasingly agitated with each sip of tea, feeling he wouldn't be able to sleep until he got a result. As the pot of tea emptied, Qin Sihai suddenly asked, "What would you do if someone talented had killed someone?"

Without a doubt, this was referring to Qi Fang as well. But Duan Duwen couldn't understand why a court official would kill a family of commoners; they must have missed something in their investigation.

So it's not time to draw conclusions yet. Duan Duwen said, "I will act according to the laws of Wu. Whoever breaks the law will be punished."