Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 99 Fishing for a Corpse
The man in armor glanced out of the corner of his eye and noticed the shadow by the window. He took out an oil paper package from his sleeve pocket, stuffed it into the blind boy's hand, and reached out to rub the top of his head.

"Eat a piece of candy when you take medicine, and it won't taste bitter."

After he finished speaking, he stood up and walked towards the door, then through a long corridor and into a room.

The room was on the shady side, and there was a faint musty smell when you came in. The light shone through the dense lattice windows, casting dappled light on people's faces.

The heavy, fully embroidered screen divided the entire room in two, and only a blurry figure could be vaguely seen behind it.

“Zhou Zhao is bold yet meticulous, and quite shrewd. Don’t be fooled by her apparent confidence; she won’t trust you easily. Now that you’ve joined the Northern Army as Su Changying and risen to a position of power, don’t forget where you came from and what you’re here to do.”

"Sugar is sweet at first taste, but after that, everything else tastes bitter."

"Don't forget, I've been watching you."

Behind the screen, a plume of smoke suddenly rose, instantly dispelling the musty smell and leaving only a pungent, smoky odor.

Once the thick smoke in the room dissipated, the person standing behind the screen also disappeared.

Su Changying stood quietly in place, staring blankly ahead. The embroidered screen depicted the magnificent landscape of the Great Qi Dynasty, with the rising sun in the east seemingly gilding the entire embroidery with golden light.

After a long while, he finally looked away and gently pressed his finger on the red dot on his arm.

He lowered his eyes to hide his gaze, but the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

Su Changying walked out the door and saw a woman leaning against a wooden pillar with her arms crossed, looking exceptionally graceful. If Zhou Zhao were here, she would definitely recognize that the woman was the mistress of the landlord she had met in Tianying City.

When Su Changying came out, the landlady shook her head at him.

As Su Changying brushed past her, she spoke again, "The roasted mutton shop has already opened."

Su Changying did not respond, but left the house directly and disappeared into the crowd.

……

The small canteen at Tingwei Temple was known for making meat pies at night, with pork mixed with scallions, so fragrant that it practically dripped with oil.

Zhou Zhao took a bite of the meat pie, and the long-lost taste was something he missed terribly. He could eat even a whole basketful.

Inside the gatehouse, Min Cangzhi waved her feather fan so fast it left afterimages. "I'm not saying this to be mean, but you two, one of you is a lady from a respectable family, and the other is the emperor's own son, the dignified Prince Chu. Can you stop acting like you haven't eaten meat in three hundred years?"

"Thanks to your great fortune, my colleagues at the Court of Justice are all working tirelessly, as if they could see. A constant stream of servants are bringing in food boxes..."

"Who still eats the meat pies from the canteen? Before you came, Chef Cao would take them back to feed her pet Laifu."

Min Zangzhi spoke for a long time without receiving a response. He pursed his lips, stood up somewhat awkwardly, and used two fingers to pick up a meat pie from the small bamboo basket in front of Zhou Zhao, stuffing it into his mouth...

It wasn't that he was greedy; it was just that those two guys across from him were eating so deliciously!

The aroma made even the thin, cicada-wing-like fish slices rolled into flower shapes in front of him lose their flavor.

It smells amazing! How come he didn't know that Chef Cao's cooking was so good!
Min Cangzhi ate, but her mouth couldn't stop talking. "I knew it. That drunkard Li Youdao would definitely make you work yourself to death. You have to grade his files during the day and take turns working night shifts for him. Tell me, how did you make things difficult for that good-for-nothing Xu Jin?"

"Of course, a case-solving madman like you would love to work day and night! You're just like any other wine pot with the right lid!"

"Chang Zuoping, that boring person, has finally become interesting for once."

The Court of Justice has staff on duty day and night to prevent the Northern Army from coming after any case that may arise.

Zhou Zhao finished the last bite of the meat pie, wiped his mouth, and asked, "Are you sure you didn't get a few bones broken?"

Min Zangzhi was a weak scholar with no strength to even kill a chicken, and a low-ranking clerk. Even if he was highly talented and a charming and elegant man sought after by courtesans, his sharp tongue should have been smashed long ago.

Min Zangzhi clicked his tongue twice, then gave Zhou Zhao a meaningful look. "You don't know?"

"what do you know?"

Min Cangzhi carefully wiped her hands, then warmed her fingers, which were still covered in meat patties, over the incense burner beside her before speaking, "I..."

He had just uttered the word "I" when Zhou Zhao and Liu Huang immediately stood up and walked towards the door.

Min Cangzhi was taken aback, threw down the handkerchief, and jogged out to follow. Sure enough, she saw Su Changying riding a tall horse, and a small squad of Northern Army soldiers in armor.

"Downstream of the Dongshui River, a floating corpse was found in Guandufang. The corpse looked unusual."

Zhou Zhao and Liu Huang exchanged a glance, then with a swift movement, Zhou Zhao mounted his horse, leaving Min Cangzhi speechless. "You've even prepared the horses? Are you in such a hurry?"

As he spoke, he called out to the side, and in a short while, his headman casually led over a white steed. The horse was pure white without a single stray hair, and it even carried the scent of incense. He looked ahead and saw that Zhou Zhao had already ruthlessly ridden away. He quickly mounted his horse and chased after him.

It wasn't curfew yet, and there were still quite a few pedestrians in Guandufang. When they saw the Northern Army rushing by, they all stood on tiptoe and peered curiously.

"General!"

Zhou Zhao dismounted and, upon seeing Zhen Zhuli, glanced at Su Changying's face with a rather subtle look.

She cleared her throat and walked towards the river with Liu Huang. There, on the grass by the river, lay the body of a man. He was wearing a brown cloth shirt and short jacket, his body was bound with hemp rope, and a fishhook was hanging from his waist.

Not far from the corpse, a man in his early thirties, wearing a long robe, was crouching, holding his head and moving to the side.

Seeing Zhou Zhao looking at him, the man glanced at the token hanging from Zhou Zhao's waist, then at Min Zangzhi riding a white horse behind her, and hurriedly jumped up and cupped his hands in greeting, "Esteemed officials of the Court of Justice, my name is Tang Mu. I was teaching my eldest son at home earlier."

"Unexpectedly, that child was as dull as a pig, and no matter how I taught him, he couldn't learn! And with the little one crying incessantly, the house was in complete chaos. I couldn't stand it any longer, so I went out to fish by the East River. I've been there for almost half an hour, and I haven't caught a single fish!"

"Just when I thought I was going to go home empty-handed again, I suddenly hooked a heavy object, and I pulled hard..."

At this point, Tang Mu's voice trembled with tears, "I pulled up a corpse! I don't know this person at all, and we have absolutely no connection! I'm just a fisherman! At first, I thought it was a big fish, and I even shone a torch on it!"

"This photo almost scared me to death! It's not that I'm afraid of dead people, it's just that the deceased was just too terrifying!"

"Look, his face and body are covered in red bumps! Could it be that he has some kind of disease? Although my eldest son is stupid and my second son is simple-minded, I can't let him die so unjustly! I haven't even caught a fish yet! What a waste of my jar of good wine lees!"