Click!

Snap!

Two crisp cracking sounds of bones echoed in the air.

Cui Tao clapped her hands and stood up, not even having time to ask Li Yuan how he was feeling. Suddenly, something thin, cold, and hard pressed against the back of her neck. It was the same familiar formula, the same familiar feeling—a blade!

“Spare my life!” Cui Tao immediately raised her hands in surrender, slowly turning her head to see who it was.

Surprisingly, Judicial Officer Han, who seemed so refined and scholarly, actually carried a dangerous weapon with him.

“Misunderstanding, misunderstanding!” Li Yuan quickly got up, bowed to Han Qi, and explained, “She was treating this subordinate’s back.”

Li Yuan told Han Qi what happened, saying over and over that he shouldn’t have done it and that he knew he was wrong. As he bowed to apologize, he clearly felt his back pain had finally eased.

Li Yuan looked at Cui Tao in surprise.

“I’m not bragging, but your bone misalignment is quite different from most people’s. Only I could fix this,” Cui Tao said with a hint of pride.

After experiencing Cui Tao’s culinary knowledge earlier, Li Yuan completely trusted her words, because he had indeed consulted several doctors without success, and thus felt deeply grateful to her. Li Yuan was not an ungrateful person; even though Cui Tao was a prisoner, he would definitely remember this kindness.

Han Qi withdrew his sword and questioned Cui Tao, “You know medicine?”

When Cui Tao met Han Qi’s shrewd eyes, her cautious instincts kicked in. She scratched her head, feigning ignorance, “Ah, you see… I don’t know why either, but I just felt like treating his back pain, and I was sure I could cure him.”

Han Qi didn’t say much and sheathed his sword.

Cui Tao touched her neck tenderly while glancing at the sword at Han Qi’s waist, preparing to flatter him and praise him for being both scholarly and martial.

“Is Judicial Officer Han skilled in martial arts?”

“No.”

The other person answered right away and without hesitation.

Cui Tao: “…” You don’t know martial arts, yet you carry a sword with you?

Well, it wasn’t entirely useless, since he just used it, didn’t he?

The scrutiny in Han Qi’s eyes was more intense than ever before. Just when Cui Tao thought Han Qi would question her again, she heard him say, “Let’s go,” and walk ahead.

Originally, the yamen runner Wang Zhao and the jailer Li Cai were also traveling with them. The two had arranged to meet Li Yuan at the back gate of the yamen to chat and laugh. However, when they saw that Judicial Officer Han had arrived, they immediately straightened up and stood at attention, becoming obedient and respectful.

Han Qi, being an official, naturally couldn’t walk on foot like them. He rode in front on horseback, while Cui Tao, Li Yuan, and the others followed behind.

Li Yuan had his brother, Li Cai, carry a lantern for illumination, while he took out the case file and, based on the records inside, gave Cui Tao a simple and objective account of the entire case:

Meng Da and his wife, Lady Yu, had been married for two years and lived in Liutiao Lane. A month ago, Meng Da’s cousin, Cui Tao, from Xuzhou, came to the capital and stayed temporarily at Meng Da’s home.

According to neighbors, the couple had always doted on Cui Tao, indulging her every whim. They not only made clothes and bought her jewelry, but also went to great lengths to find her a good marriage match. However, about two weeks ago, late at night on the third day of the fourth lunar month, a scream suddenly came from Meng Da’s house. Aunt Qiu, who lived next door, peered over the wall and saw blood splattered on the window paper. Terrified, she rushed to call for help. The neighbors, at Aunt Qiu’s urging, quickly surrounded Cui Tao, who was at the crime scene, and took her to the authorities.

Once interrogated, Cui Tao had confessed to the murder without hesitation. She claimed that she had taken a liking to a piece of jewelry belonging to Lady Yu, but Lady Yu refused to give it to her and even mocked her, which angered her so much that she decided to kill her. That night, she took advantage of Lady Yu’s carelessness and killed her. Afterwards, Meng Da returned, and fearing that Meng Da would discover her crime, she simply killed Meng Da to silence him.

“This is the silver hairpin you fought with Lady Yu over. You were wearing it when we arrested you.” Li Yuan then took out the silver hairpin wrapped in a white cloth and showed it to Cui Tao.

There were dried bloodstains on the hairpin, as if she had deliberately taken the silver hairpin with her bloodied hand after killing someone and put it on her head.

Killing two relatives over a hairpin sounds really cruel and twisted. If regular people heard about this, they’d definitely call her a heartless killer who deserves to die.

However, the truth was that she was not the murderer. The amount of blood splattered from a throat-slitting incident is enormous; the murderer would be covered in blood. In her memory, she was wearing a light green dress and had fallen, which caused her to be covered in blood. At that time, Meng Da and Lady Yu were already dead, and the murder weapon had been discarded on the ground.

Despite lacking memories of her previous life and having incomplete memories after her rebirth, Cui Tao’s numerous experiences with transmigration had given her the ability to rationally judge, summarize, and analyze these fragmented pieces of information.

This was confirmed by the on-site investigation record that Li Yuan subsequently produced. Her clothing, the location of Meng Da and Lady Yu’s bodies, and the murder weapon all matched the images she remembered.

Cui Tao kept her head down while thinking.

Li Yuan thought she was in low spirits because she had heard him recount the case, so he comforted her, saying, “Don’t worry, Miss Cui, you will definitely regain your memory and catch the real culprit.”

“You believe I’m not the murderer?” Cui Tao asked Li Yuan in surprise.

Li Yuan chuckled and scratched his head. “I didn’t know whether to believe it or not at first. Since Judicial Officer Han was suspicious, I believed him too. But after you healed my back just now, I truly believe you’re not the murderer. Miss Cui is so kind to a stranger; why would she kill someone over a hairpin?”

“That’s hard to say. Maybe I’ll only help you if I need something from you.”

“If you put it that way, it’s even less likely. Bad people don’t reveal their schemes,” Li Yuan chuckled.

Cui Tao smiled. She hadn’t misjudged him; Li Yuan was a simple and honest man who knew how to repay kindness. That was good. She wouldn’t have to worry about eating those unpalatable official meals anymore.

Cui Tao disgustedly tugged at her dirty clothes and deliberately lamented to Li Yuan, “If only I could take a bath and change into clean clothes!”

Li Yuan glanced at Judicial Officer Han riding ahead and whispered to Cui Tao that when he had the chance, he would ask Midwife Zhang for help so that Cui Tao could take a bath in the morgue.

Taking a bath in a morgue? Imagine sitting naked in a tub surrounded by corpses… that’s a bit too stimulating!

Well, something was better than nothing.

Cui Tao didn’t forget to thank Li Yuan.

For the rest of the journey, Cui Tao chatted with Li Yuan about his family situation. Li Yuan said that his wife made and sold tofu to supplement their income, but they often didn’t sell out, leaving them with leftovers that the family had to eat almost every day.

“If you don’t like it, then why force yourselves like this?”

“You don’t know—the weather is getting warmer, and tofu turns sour if left overnight. How can we sell spoiled food the next day to fool customers?”

“You can dry-fry the tofu or make fried tofu, which gives it a different flavor that you can sell too. If all else fails, you can marinate it with rice wine lees or soy sauce. It won’t spoil for days, and it’ll taste salty and sweet—guaranteed to go well with rice. The more variety you offer, the more customers you’ll attract, and your unique products will make people remember your shop. Otherwise, if everyone sells the exact same thing, why would anyone specifically come to your stall? Business would just be a matter of luck.”

These words instantly enlightened Li Yuan.

Li Yuan bowed to Cui Tao with great admiration, thanking her for her suggestion. “How could we be so foolish? We never thought of that!”

“I have a specific recipe for pickled fermented tofu that I can give you. I guarantee it will be delicious. I just hope you can take pity on me once in a while and bring me a tasty food.” Cui Tao then complained to Li Yuan in a low voice about how terrible the official prison meals were.

“Don’t worry, Miss Cui! If your idea really works out, I’ll take care of all your meals every single day,” Li Yuan chuckled.

“Deal!” Cui Tao was overjoyed that her food problem was solved, her smile stretching from ear to ear. She raised an eyebrow and glanced casually to the side, only to see Han Qi riding right beside them, even though he had just been up front!

Feeling guilty, Cui Tao and Li Yuan quickly greeted Han Qi again.

“You know about business as well?” Han Qi asked suddenly.

“Ah, I don’t know… maybe a little bit? I just heard Constable Li talking about his family, and the ideas naturally came to me. I don’t really know why,” Cui Tao scratched her head, mimicking Li Yuan’s simple-minded manner.

Han Qi remained noncommittal. He dismounted and gestured for Cui Tao to follow him.

Cui Tao obediently followed, and after walking a short distance, Han Qi stopped in front of a house.

Seeing Cui Tao looking around curiously without showing any familiar emotional reaction to her surroundings, Han Qi was once again certain that Cui Tao’s amnesia was genuine. Who exactly is she? How does she possess both medical skills and business acumen?

After Cui Tao was brought into the courtyard, she realized that this house was the crime scene.

The house had three rooms: a main hall and two side rooms. The murder scene was in the bedroom on the west side of the main hall. There were large patches of dried blood on the bedroom floor, still looking quite eerie. Everything at the scene was left untouched, with no signs of a struggle. The victims, Meng Da and Lady Yu, had been found lying in the center of the floor with their throats slit.

Cui Tao saw the bronze mirror from her memory.

There were two corpses at the time, and the ground was covered in blood. Why had she walked towards the bronze mirror?

Han Qi noticed Cui Tao staring at the bronze mirror and asked her if she remembered anything.

“I remember this—they both died here. I was trying to walk toward the mirror when I fell and got covered in blood.”

Han Qi found Cui Tao’s description consistent with the evidence and gestured for her to continue.

Cui Tao took the bronze mirror down to examine it and found that it was thicker than usual. When she tapped it, she discovered that it was hollow inside.

Han Qi immediately ordered Wang Zhao to break the bronze mirror open. Inside, they found a piece of sheepskin parchment inscribed with “Flying Cloud Divine Skill”, complete with diagrams of twenty-four martial arts moves and accompanying text. It looked like a martial arts secret manual.

This development was rather strange. Could she be a martial artist? Or is she not a cousin, but a female knight-errant?

Cui Tao tilted her head, glanced casually at the last move of the manual, and read the text aloud: “To master this divine skill, one must first castrate oneself.”

Huh? That sounds strangely familiar. Could it be that in this world too—

“This is the salt transport route of Liangzhe,” Han Qi’s words interrupted Cui Tao’s thoughts.

He pointed to the figures in the painting. Each figure was connected by its toes and heels with a thick line. Looking at the path of this line, it truly resembled a circuit or transport route diagram.

Cui Tao immediately flattered him, “Judicial Officer Han is truly wise and insightful, able to observe both the broad picture and the finest details. Recognizing this as the salt transport route of Liangzhe at a single glance—you are truly admirable!”

“The wise observe from afar, and the discerning notice the subtle.” This line came from the Records of the Grand Historian: Basic Annals of the Five Emperors.

Han Qi gave Cui Tao a sharp, searching look. “You even know the Records of the Grand Historian?”