Le monde des arts martiaux est un véritable cloaque

Chapitre 6

After everything was loaded onto the boat and the boatman was ready to set sail, Grand Commandant Yang solemnly addressed Yang Huan, who was bowing to him in farewell: "Huan'er, I originally intended for you to find a sinecure in the capital, which would be better than your previous lazy days. I never imagined you would become the head of a county. Although this position may not be of high rank, it concerns the lives of the people of this area. From now on, you must be careful in your conduct. I don't expect you to achieve any great deeds in office, but I have only one condition: if any impeachment is ever brought against you for oppressing the people and committing evil deeds, I will be the first to punish you!"

Yang Huan glanced at his father's stern expression, was startled, and hurriedly kowtowed in response. He then bid farewell to his second uncle. Yang Hao, naturally, played the good cop, offering a few words of encouragement before watching the fleet gradually head east.

Although Jiang had already entrusted some household items to them before, there were still five boats on this trip. One was for Xu Shirong and Yang Huan, another for Xiao Que, Xiao Die and Qing Yu, one for the escorting servants, and the other two were still loaded with various household items. From a distance, it looked like a long line.

Yang Huan swayed to the bow of the boat and suddenly saw a green jade on the boat behind. He then remembered what had happened and went into the cabin, shouting at Xu Shirong, who was holding a book by the window, "Didn't I tell you to sell it? Why is the person still swaying on the boat?"

Xu Shirong glanced at him and said indifferently, "Her indenture is in your mother's hands, how could I sell her? A girl like her won't have a good life if she goes out. She begged to stay and be a maid, what's it to you?"

Yang Huan stamped his foot and said, "You foolish woman! Before, you happily took all those things that weren't for sale and sold them off! Now that they're for sale, you're acting like a saint! Let me tell you, if Qingyu can be ruthless to herself, she can be ruthless to others too! Don't blame me if you suffer a loss later!"

Xu Shirong's heart stirred. She could tell that Qingyu was a spirited girl, but she couldn't bring herself to abandon her when Qingyu knelt on the ground, begging to go with her and become a maid, just to find a place to stay. Looking out through the cabin curtain lifted by the wind, she saw Qingyu and Xiao Que leaning against the bow of the boat, looking at the scenery on both sides with smiles on their faces. She looked like just a little girl. Xu Shirong shook her head.

The days on the boat were incredibly dull and tedious. Although Yang Huan shared a room with Xu Shirong, his wife was always cold and distant, never giving him a pleasant look, and he couldn't even get close to her at night. Bored out of his mind, he suddenly recalled a few years ago when he was also on this Bian River, returning to the capital with his second uncle. The scene on the grand painted boat, surrounded by maids and concubines, was filled with sweet chatter and laughter. It was a world of difference from now. A wave of sorrow washed over him. He wanted to compose a poem to express his feelings, but after struggling for a long time, he couldn't come up with a single line. He could only sigh deeply and go to sleep.

After more than a month, they had reached Tongzhou territory. They disembarked and traveled for several more days before finally entering Qingmen County. Yang Huan then began to regain some vitality. However, along the way, the crops in the fields on both sides of the road were yellowish-green and weak, likely due to the previous flooding by seawater and the resulting salinity that made cultivation difficult. He also noticed that most of the people on the road were dressed in tattered clothes, and their vitality, like the crops in the fields, was slowly fading.

Around noon, the sun was blazing. Yang Huan gulped down some water and then complained of being hungry. Xiao Que took some dry rations from the cart and gave them to him, but he immediately slapped them to the ground, angrily saying, "Eating this every day, my mouth is getting bland! Are you trying to choke me to death?"

Xiao Que glanced at Xu Shirong with some difficulty. Xu Shirong said coldly, "Young Master, there are only farmlands around here, and the houses on both sides are dilapidated. If you find the dry rations hard to swallow, you can just go hungry for a while. No one will starve to death. I just inquired, and the county town is not far from here. We can get there tonight. When we get there, you can find a good place to eat and drink to your heart's content." After saying that, he ignored Yang Huan and told the people accompanying him to take their own dry rations and water to eat.

Yang Huan was in a huff and refused to eat. By the afternoon, he was feeling very hungry, his stomach rumbling. Helpless, he had to ask Xiao Que for a piece of cake and slowly chew and swallow it with a bitter face.

They were nearing the county town, and the area was gradually becoming more populated. Yang Huan was struggling to swallow when he suddenly noticed a large crowd gathered at the foot of a low slope ahead, seemingly discussing something. Being a busybody, he immediately stopped the carriage, jumped out, and ran over to see what was going on. He returned shortly after, his face pale, spitting out, "Bad luck! Bad luck! I've barely taken office and I've already stumbled upon a rotten corpse! Get out of here!"

Chapter Eleven

After Yang Huan finished speaking, he jumped onto the carriage and urged the driver to hurry on his way.

Xu Shirong glanced at the low slope surrounded by people, thought for a moment, and called to the driver. Seeing her get out of the carriage and head towards the crowd, Yang Huan hurriedly chased after her and grabbed her, saying, "It's just a farmer trying to cultivate a vegetable patch on the edge of his field, but he dug up a skeleton. What's there to see? You'll probably never sleep at night if you do. We'd better hurry and get to the city!"

Xu Shirong glanced back at him and said indifferently, "Magistrate Yang, have you forgotten that this is your territory? A corpse buried in the wild was unearthed in your territory. Since you, as the magistrate, are passing by, shouldn't you at least go and see what's going on?"

Yang Huan blushed and was about to say something more, but Xu Shirong had already shaken off his hand and headed towards the earthen slope. He paused for a moment, then had no choice but to follow her.

When Xu Shirong arrived at the earthen slope, he squeezed through the crowd of onlookers and saw a large pit dug into the muddy ground at the foot of the slope. Inside lay a skeletal human skeleton, almost entirely devoid of flesh, with only some grayish flakes of material clinging to the surface of the bones—presumably clothing that hadn't completely decomposed. Two constables dressed as yamen runners stood by the pit, both frowning deeply. Beside the skeleton squatted a young man in blue robes, carefully examining the remains; he appeared to be the county coroner.

The man in blue carefully examined the skeleton at the bottom of the pit before looking up at the two constables and saying, "Judging from the bones, it should be a male corpse. There are no signs of blows on the bones. Given how decomposed it is, it has been buried here for at least two to three years. It must have been flooded last year, which thinned the soil layer, and that's when the farmer accidentally dug it up. For now, we'll treat it as an unidentified corpse, and the new magistrate will decide on the details after he takes office."

The onlookers whispered amongst themselves upon hearing the coroner's words. The coroner, seemingly sensing their discontent, stood up and explained, "Fellow villagers, the body has been buried for too long, and the deceased had no identifying items on him. I am powerless to do anything more than this."

The villagers nearby shook their heads and sighed upon hearing his explanation, lamenting that yet another nameless, wronged soul had perished. They then watched as the two somewhat reluctant constables held what looked like fire tongs, their faces filled with disgust as they reached down to pick up pieces of the corpse.

Xu Shirong shook her head and couldn't help but speak up to stop her, saying, "Wait a minute."

Seeing that there was no more excitement to watch, the villagers were about to disperse when suddenly a young and beautiful woman appeared from behind. Her clothes were very gorgeous, and she suddenly spoke up to stop the yamen runners from picking bones. Everyone became interested, and the crowd that had already dispersed gathered again, pushing Yang Huan to the back.

The bailiffs and coroners were surprised when the strange woman spoke up to stop them, and they stopped in their tracks.

When Xu Shirong reached the edge of the pit, he squatted down and carefully examined the remains from head to toe before looking up and asking the coroner in blue, "How did you determine the time of death and gender of these remains?"

The young man hesitated for a moment and did not answer, but a yamen runner in his thirties shouted, "You woman, we are conducting official business. If you disturb us again, you'll be punished!"

Yang Huan finally managed to squeeze in, and seeing the yamen runner being rude to the young lady, he angrily said, "I am Yang Huan, the newly appointed magistrate of this county. She is my wife. How dare you be so rude?"

The two constables had heard from the county magistrate a while ago that a new magistrate from the capital would soon be taking office. Although young, he was no ordinary man. Judging by the timeline, he should be arriving soon. Seeing Yang Huan's elegant attire and aggressive demeanor, they immediately felt inferior, fearing they had indeed encountered their superior. They hurriedly bowed and apologized repeatedly.

Upon hearing that it was the county magistrate who had arrived, the people nearby hurriedly knelt down, not daring to say a word.

Yang Huan displayed his official authority, coughed a few times, and then tried to pull Xu Shirong away again, but she dodged him. He first told everyone to stand up, and then turned back to continue looking at the coroner.

The young man blushed slightly and said in a low voice, "My name is Shi An. My father was buried many years ago, and I have been exposed to this since childhood. I am not as afraid of corpses as most people are. Last year, when no one in the county was willing to take on this job, I volunteered to be the coroner. Just now, seeing that the skeleton was robust, I deduced that it was a man."

Xu Shirong nodded, then squatted down by the pit again before pointing to the skeleton and saying, "This is indeed a male, around forty years old. He walked with a limp in his right leg, and his throat was severely compressed before he died. He must have been strangled to death before being buried here."

Xu Shirong's voice wasn't loud, but as soon as she finished speaking, a buzzing sound erupted around her, and everyone in the crowd wore expressions of disbelief. Yang Huan, too, forgot to show off his power and stood there motionless.

Shi An also showed a look of surprise and asked, "How did you deduce these things, Madam?"

Xu Shirong smiled slightly and pointed to the skeleton, saying, "Your judgment of whether it was a man or a woman based on the thickness of the bones has some merit, but it's not entirely accurate. Sometimes, if the woman is robust or the man is thin, it can easily lead to a misjudgment. You should look at several other areas as well. One is the brow bone." As she spoke, she pointed to the brow ridge of the skull and continued, "The middle part of the brow bone is usually not as thick as that of a man in a woman's case," and then gently lifted the skullcap with her hand, saying, "The back of this area is usually prominent in men, while it is much smoother in women."

Yang Huan was stunned to see Jiao Niang squatting beside the skeleton, showing no fear whatsoever, and now even using her hands to turn over the skull as naturally as flipping over a bowl. He was speechless with astonishment.

Shi An showed a hint of admiration on his face, but after thinking for a moment, he asked doubtfully, "Madam just said that judging the gender solely by the thickness of the bones is not meticulous enough. Is it really possible to be absolutely certain just by judging based on the brow bone and the back of the skull?"

Seeing his meticulousness and willingness to ask questions, Xu Shirong took a liking to the young man and nodded approvingly, saying, "You're right. So the most appropriate way is to look at the pelvis." She pointed to the pelvic bone in the middle of the skeleton and said, "The adult pelvic structure is very complex, basically composed of three bones, each with its own concave and convex shape. Before adulthood, there is not much difference between the pelvic structure of men and women. Only after adulthood, in order to facilitate childbirth, the pelvis of women gradually widens. This bone, called the pubis, also becomes longer and tilts forward, forming an arch for future childbirth. The femur also tilts slightly inward. Men do not have this structure; their pelvis is narrower, and the femur grows straight, just like what you see now. Therefore, I have determined that this is a male skeleton."

As Xu Shirong spoke, the surroundings fell silent, everyone's eyes following the movement of her finger. Although Shi An was a coroner, this was the first time he had ever heard such a principle, and his eyes lit up with excitement. He hurriedly asked, "Then what about the age? How did you determine that the remains are around forty years old?"

Xu Shirong smiled slightly and said, "The point where the left and right pubic bones connect on the midline of the body, also known as the pubic suture, is here." She pointed to the spot and continued, "Age can be inferred from the surface morphology of the bone at this location. From adolescence to around fifty, the pubic suture undergoes a gradual change. Around twenty years old, it is usually uneven; around thirty, it is relatively smooth; around forty, tiny pores appear on the bone surface; after fifty, these pores become more sparse and larger. You see here, these tiny pores have appeared. Based on the healing condition of the suture behind the skull, we can determine the approximate age. Generally speaking, the difference between this and the deceased's actual age at the time of death will not exceed two to three years."

"Then why is your right leg lame? How do you know that? I just checked, and the lengths of both leg bones are the same, with no difference in length." Shi An immediately pressed for an answer.

Xu Shirong gently removed the two femurs from the left and right sides, pointing to the ball-shaped ends embedded in the hip joints, and said, "This skeleton must have suffered an external injury here before death, which healed poorly, causing bone deformation. You see, the ball-shaped bone on the left is very smooth, but the one on the right is twisted and deformed. Judging from the gaps in its healing, it should be an old injury from many years ago. If a person's femur joint is twisted and deformed, do you think he can walk normally?"

Shi An was stunned. Before he could ask any more questions, Xu Shirong bent down and carefully picked up a thin piece of something from the mud under the jaw of the skeleton. She spread it in her hand and said, "This piece of something is the hyoid bone. It is located under the mandible and hangs above the throat. If a person tilts their head back slightly and presses their fingers against their throat, they can feel the hyoid bone moving. The hyoid bone is very thin and should normally be horseshoe-shaped, but as you can see, the hyoid bone of this skeleton is broken. From this, we can preliminarily conclude that the deceased died from asphyxiation caused by heavy pressure on the throat, and the murderer is very likely a man, as women generally do not have the strength to break the hyoid bone."

After Xu Shirong finished speaking, Shi An listened with rapt attention, admiring her wholeheartedly. The people around him were also exclaiming in amazement. Suddenly, someone shouted, "A man in his forties, with a limp in his right leg, who disappeared two or three years ago—isn't that the limp man from the back street of my house? His ex-wife said that after arguing with him, he left in a huff and never came back. His family suspected he had been murdered and went to the county government to file a complaint, but he was never found alive or dead, and that was the end of the story. Now that ex-wife has remarried, could these remains actually belong to the limp man who ran away from home?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd became even more excited and gathered around to take a closer look.

Yang Huan then realized what was happening, staring at Xu Shirong with a look of astonishment on his face. He pointed at her and stammered, "Jiaoniang... how... how do you know all this..."

Xu Shirong ignored him and instead frowned, asking the two constables, "Has the county magistrate arrived?"

The two constables were already terrified. When they heard the magistrate's wife ask the question, they hurriedly replied, "The county constable... the county constable... is still in the yamen and hasn't come over yet..."

Xu Shirong snorted and said, "The county magistrate is responsible for maintaining order and catching thieves. How could he not come when suspicious remains were unearthed?"

The bailiff lowered his head and remained silent. Xu Shirong examined the remains again before saying, "Carefully pick up the remains, wrap them up, and take them back to the county office."

The two constables hurriedly agreed, this time without any reluctance, and carefully picked up the bones one by one, placing them into their bags. Just as they were about to pick up the right hand bone, Xu Shirong suddenly said, "Wait!"

The constables hurriedly stopped, wondering what the magistrate's wife was up to now. They saw her bend down to the hand bone, examine it carefully, pick up a small shovel, and start digging at the soil beneath it.

Everyone was puzzled and stared at her movements. In just a few moments, she dug out a round, ring-shaped object from the mud. It looked pitch black and no one knew what it was.

Xu Shirong wrapped the ring-shaped object and put it into the sachet before getting up and walking out.

Seeing Xu Shirong turn to leave, Shi An wanted to ask her how she knew there was something down there, but he glanced at the county magistrate standing to the side, whose face was already pale, and then held back.

Chapter Twelve

Xu Shirong turned and walked away. The crowd that had been watching immediately parted to make way for her, their eyes all fixed on her, their faces showing both respect and fear.

Xu Shirong smiled slightly, walked across the passage, and squatted down to wash her hands by a ditch on the side.

Forensic pathologists deal with the dead. Not to mention now, even in her time in China, aside from a few insightful individuals, most doctors avoided this profession like the plague, let alone ordinary people. She hadn't come here intentionally to frighten anyone. But seeing Shi An's conclusion and the two constables about to collect the remains, she realized that once a crime scene is disturbed, it's difficult to reconstruct without photographic equipment, and many useful clues will be lost along with the destruction of the scene.

The skeletons were once tools for her research, but that didn't mean she disrespected life. It was precisely out of respect that she wanted to study them in various ways, to make the skeletons speak, to tell the living what happened in the moments before their death. That's why she had almost instinctively spoken up to stop them.

After washing her hands, Xu Shirong returned to the carriage. She noticed that the embroidered shoes on her feet were covered in mud. She hesitated whether to change her shoes before getting into the carriage. When she looked up, she saw that Xiao Que and the other girls were also looking at her with frightened eyes. Knowing that she had indeed frightened the girls, she smiled at them and got into the carriage.

Yang Huan soon came up, but sat far away from her. Xu Shirong ignored him, only closing her eyes and thinking about the scene of the corpses she had just seen.

"Once we arrive at the county government office, I will immediately order someone to bring that cripple's former wife to the county government office and put her in jail."

Yang Huan was secretly watching Xu Shirong when he suddenly saw her open her eyes and say something. He was so startled that he almost jumped up. He hurriedly nodded and replied, "Yes." After realizing what was happening, he coughed and said seriously, "I already know about this without you having to tell me. If the remains really belong to the cripple, then his wife is naturally a suspect."

Xu Shirong ignored him, only looking at the fields on both sides of the carriage window, thinking about the thing she had just dug out of the mud.

The group entered the city and soon arrived at the county government office. Qingmen County was poor, and the county government office was inevitably somewhat dilapidated. Many parts of the porch and eaves were in disrepair. The front was the courtroom where cases were handled, separated from the main hall by a wall, and the back was the residence. Yang Huan was greatly disappointed upon seeing this; his initial enthusiasm as a new official had already vanished by half. Seeing that Xu Shirong was directing a group of people to put away the items they had brought, completely ignoring him, he muttered a few words under his breath and gave up.

The county magistrate had received an official document from the prefecture some time ago, informing him that a new magistrate would be taking office soon. Therefore, the cooks and servants in the county office had prepared everything in advance. Since some furniture and utensils had already been delivered, arranging them didn't require much effort. Xu Shirong, however, had Xiao Que move Yang Huan's belongings to a separate room, placing them apart from his own.

By the time everything was tidied up, it was already dusk. The cook came over and invited Xu Shirong to have dinner. She then realized she was a little hungry, so she went to the dining room and went inside. There she saw Yang Huan sitting there eating in the small dining room.

Xu Shirong saw a stir-fried mushroom, braised cabbage, stir-fried chicken slices, braised lamb breast, a soup, and a bowl of rice already served on the table. Thinking it was for her, she sat down and took a bite. Then she felt a little thirsty, so she reached out and took an empty small bowl from the table to scoop some soup over.

Yang Huan had only eaten a few bites of dry rations all afternoon and was starving. He was wolfing down his food when his eyes swept across the table and he saw the beautiful woman opposite him reaching out her slender hand to take a bowl. He paused for a moment, and a flashback appeared before his eyes: during the day, she had also used this hand to repeatedly examine the bones. Suddenly, he felt a tightness in his chest, and the mouthful of food in his mouth became stuck in his throat.

When Xu Shirong saw that he suddenly stopped eating and was staring at her hands, she understood what was going on. She didn't say anything, but took a bowl, scooped some soup, and drank it.

Yang Huan's reaction was perfectly normal, and she didn't want to mock him. In fact, the first time she met the professor of anthropology and forensic medicine at university, that usually smiling, gray-haired old man, one day while showing slides of a corpse crawling with maggots and reduced to a lump of rotting flesh, instructing students to determine the time of death based on the growth stages of the maggots, he was also eating his ham sandwich without batting an eye, explaining that he had rushed to class that morning without having time for breakfast. The churning in her stomach at that time was definitely no less than that of the person sitting across from her now.

Not wanting to spoil Yang Huan's appetite, Xu Shirong quickly finished her meal, then stood up and went out to the morgue located in a corner of the outer office. She wanted to retrieve the round object she had brought back, which was in the body bag.

As Xu Shirong approached, she saw what appeared to be lights inside. Upon closer inspection, she saw Shi An squatting on the ground, head down, seemingly trying to piece together the skeleton he had brought back that day into a human form. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw Xu Shirong. He hurriedly stood up, called out "Madam," and then said awkwardly, "I had the honor of hearing Madam's profound discourse today, and my heart is truly unsettled. I couldn't help but come here to carefully examine this skeleton and understand it further."

Xu Shirong nodded and smiled slightly, saying, "You are not ashamed of your job as a coroner, but instead you are devoted to learning. This shows that you have a higher level of knowledge than ordinary people."

Shi An was pleased to be praised, but when he looked at the still somewhat messy skeleton on the ground, he said with difficulty, "The skeleton is all separated. I just tried to put it back together as it was today, but I only managed to get the general shape right. I don't know where to put some of the joints..."

Xu Shirong glanced at the skeleton on the ground, squatted down, and laid the bones out on the oiled paper, explaining, "An adult typically has 206 bones in their body. These bones connect to each other to form the body's framework, called the skeleton. Based on the direction of the ball joints, this is the left femur. Below it should be the tibia, also known as the lower leg bone, the spine above the pelvis, the sternum, the jawbone, the skull, and the limbs and extremities. This skeleton was buried underground and has not been disturbed by external forces, so it is relatively well preserved..."

As she spoke, her hands moved with remarkable agility, and she quickly reassembled a complete human skeleton.

Shi An's eyes gleamed as he looked at Xu Shirong and said, "When you were determining the age of these remains today, Madam mentioned the skull. I've been looking at it for half a day, but I can't figure out the key to it. I wonder if you could give me some pointers?"

Xu Shirong smiled, picked up the skull from the ground, and turned it over, saying, "At first glance, this skull looks like a round bone, and when you touch your head, it feels smooth and complete. But that's not the case. The skull is a large round bone made up of seven bones: the jawbone, the pair of parietal bones in front, behind, left, and right, the temporal bones on the lower sides, the sphenoid bones at the bottom and sides, and the occipital bone at the bottom that connects to the cervical vertebrae. The joints of these seven bones are called sutures, which are shaped like serrations. In infants, the sutures are made of cartilage. As they grow older, the cartilage gradually hardens and heals, and the sutures become finer and smoother. In old age, the sutures almost completely disappear and become a single piece. This may sound a bit mysterious, but if you see it more often, you will naturally become familiar with it in the future."

Shi An shook his head and sighed, "Madam's skills are truly extraordinary, rarely seen in the world. I admire her greatly. However, there is one more thing that I still cannot understand. I wonder if Madam could answer my question?"

Xu Shirong smiled and said, "If you have any doubts, just tell me."

Shi An bent down and carefully took out the ring-shaped object that Xu Shirong had wrapped up from the sack, and asked, "How did you know that this object was buried in that mass grave today, Madam?"

Xu Shirong took it, glanced at it by the candlelight, and then asked, "If someone were choking you, how would you react?"

Shi An paused for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "It should be to forcefully resist and push the other party away."

Xu Shirong nodded and said, "That's right. This is a normal human reaction. When pushing away forcefully, the five fingers of the hand should be spread out, at least not clenched into a fist. When a person dies, the body's first reaction is that all the muscles relax, the eyes are slightly open, the mouth is slightly open, the joints are easy to bend and stretch, and feces may spill out, etc. This situation can last for about an hour, followed by rigor mortis. For any corpse that has gone through the muscle relaxation stage, after rigor mortis, the thumb bends towards the palm and is covered by the other four fingers, and the hand is slightly bent. Once rigor mortis forms, the posture generally cannot be changed much. In this skeleton, I observed that the left metacarpal bone is normally slightly bent, but the right metacarpal bone is tightly clenched, as if it is gripping something. So I tried digging under his hand bones and sure enough, I found this thing. It should be caused by the flesh of the palm decomposing and slipping out from the bone seam."

Shi An's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "Could it be that before the deceased suffocated to death, he unintentionally grabbed something from the murderer's body, so even in death, his right hand was still tightly clenched?"

Xu Shirong smiled and said, "I think so too. Just now I said that after a person dies, the body will relax and then rigor mortis, which is the general rule, but there are exceptions. That is, at the moment of death, the deceased's body muscles spasm due to extreme anger or resentment. In this case, the muscles in the part of the deceased's strongest will undergo strong contraction, so it skips the relaxation stage directly. The so-called 'dying with eyes wide open' is this kind of situation."

Shi An sighed, "Let's assume the deceased was Ma the Cripple. Before he died, he unintentionally grabbed something from the murderer's body, knowing it would be evidence to help him seek justice someday. Filled with resentment, he held on tightly even in death, refusing to let go..."

Xu Shirong nodded and said, "That's why I came here to take a look at this. It's been buried in the ground for too long, and it's already rusted and corroded. Judging from its appearance, it looks like a jade pendant..."

Just as Shi An was about to speak again, he suddenly heard a click at the door. Looking outside, he saw the county magistrate and hurriedly went over to pay his respects.

Xu Shirong turned around and saw Yang Huan standing there. She wrapped the jade pendant in her hand again with a handkerchief and then went out to brush past him.

Yang Huan had just been eating with Xu Shirong, his mind wandering, when he saw her get up and leave. Intrigued, he secretly followed her, peeking through the door. At first, seeing her skillfully arranging the remains, though he had witnessed it once during the day, he still felt a chill. But as he listened to her increasingly congenial conversation with Shi An, he felt uneasy. He accidentally stepped on a few bamboo poles piled by the door, revealing himself. Embarrassed, he tried to explain, but before he could speak, Xu Shirong had already brushed past him. Stunned, he quickly followed.

Xu Shirong returned to her room. Xiao Que came up to her and said that the bathwater was ready. Xu Shirong hummed in agreement and went to put away the towel, thinking that she would wash it clean tomorrow and examine it carefully. Just as she was about to take a bath, she saw Yang Huan stride in with a grin.

Ever since Yang Huan saw her handling the bones in the mass grave that day, his face had been alternating between green and blue, and his gaze towards her had also carried a strange quality. However, that was a normal reaction. Xu Shirong was somewhat puzzled by the expression he was giving her.