It was not until Fan Changyu had left the room that the man seated at the writing desk, brush in hand, finally lifted his head. All this while, he had not looked up even once, though the corners of his lips had drawn a little tighter.

Listening to her footsteps fade into the distance, he set down his brush and leaned back against the chair, his dark eyes shrouded in gloom.

Come whenever is called, leave whenever is dismissed?

呼之即来，挥之即去？ — This is an idiomatic expression meaning someone comes when summoned and leaves when dismissed. Xie Zheng is essentially thinking: “You think you can summon me whenever you want and dismiss me whenever you please?”

She certainly has the nerve.

After giving her younger sister strict instructions not to go wandering off while she was gone, Fan Changyu stopped by to inform Auntie Zhao next door, then prepared to head for the county yamen.

But Auntie Zhao said, “Your Zhao Shu and I will go with you. That place is frightening. I heard that if you’re unlucky, you can even get beaten with the warning cudgel. After a few dozen strokes, wouldn’t your skin be split to ribbons? Your Shu and I will be there. If anything goes wrong, at least we can help you think of a way out.”

杀威棒 (shāwēi bàng) — Literally, the “authority-displaying cudgel.” In historical courtroom conventions, it refers to the staff or beating administered by yamen personnel as a display of the magistrate's authority.

They said common folk ought not to fight with the authorities. Fan Da had managed to get the yamen advisor who already bore a grudge against Fan Changyu’s family on his side, and for the past few days, the Zhao elderly couple had been so worried about Fan Changyu that they could hardly sleep.

民不与官斗 — A proverbial expression meaning that ordinary people should not challenge or contend with government officials. The idea is that however justified a commoner may be, fighting the authorities puts them at an enormous disadvantage.

Fan Changyu might possess a formidable set of martial skills, but appearing before a court was a first for her in all her years. After giving it some thought, she agreed.

The three of them took an ox cart to the county yamen. It was still early when they arrived, but quite a crowd of common folk had already gathered outside to watch the spectacle.

Fan Changyu knew the procedure for the hearing. Once the county magistrate took the bench, he would first summon her and Fan Da inside and have Fan Da repeat his allegations before the court. The clerk seated to one side would record the testimony and proceedings. If Fan Changyu disputed the accusations, witnesses could also be summoned when necessary.

The witnesses Fan Changyu had found were neighbors from around the Fan family’s old house. Most ordinary people would be unwilling to wade into such murky waters, but Fan Da and his family had truly made enemies wherever they went. There were no shortage of neighbors who had fallen out with them. After Fan Changyu paid several households a visit, quite a few of them said they despised Fan Da’s conduct and were willing to come testify that he was a gambling addict.

As time slowly passed, the crowd gathered outside the county yamen grew larger and larger. By now, runners had already gone inside to set the bamboo slip container and jingtángmù on the magistrate’s desk above the courtroom, yet Fan Da, the plaintiff, was still nowhere to be seen.

惊堂木 (jīngtángmù) — The magistrate’s famous wooden clapper/block, struck on the desk to command silence or emphasize an order. Similar to ‘gavel’.

Fan Changyu couldn’t help growing puzzled.

Being late to court was enough to earn a beating with the board. Could Fan Da really have forgotten that he was due in court today?

Had he simply overslept?

Auntie Zhao looked around as well and muttered under her breath, “How come Fan Da isn’t here?”

At such an inappropriate moment, Fan Changyu found herself wondering whether she had spent too much effort these past two days memorizing the statutes. Had her resentment grown so strong that she had sleepwalked over to Fan Da’s house last night and tied him up?

Three beats of the courtroom drum rang out, and her wandering thoughts instantly snapped back into place.

The three ranks of yamen runners entered the courtroom first, arranging themselves in two lines like the wings of a wild goose. Each man carried a heavy staff nearly as tall as a person, and every one of them wore a fearsome expression.

三班衙役 (*sān bān yáyì*) — Lit. Three Rank Yayi. The yáyì were the non-official personnel who served in a local yamen, carrying out practical duties such as maintaining order, making arrests, escorting prisoners, and executing punishments. 三班 (“three classes”) refers to the traditional division of these yamen runners into three principal groups: the 皂班 (zàobān), who served mainly in the courtroom and maintained order; the 快班 (kuàibān), who handled arrests and policing; and the 壮班 (zhuàngbān), who performed physical and enforcement duties.

The common folk gathered around the courtroom let out a murmur of unease at the sight of the runners. Clearly, these men inspired considerable fear.

Fan Changyu also noticed that all of these runners were unfamiliar faces. Not a single one of Head Constable Wang’s men was among them. She wondered whether the yamen advisor had done something behind the scenes, and her heart tightened with unease.

The county magistrate, dressed in his official robes, entered the high bench through a side door and took his seat behind the magistrate’s desk. His eyes, narrowed by the folds of his plump face, swept over the courtroom below. He seized the jingtángmù and slammed it heavily against the desk. “Court is in session!”

The phrase he used was 升堂 (shēngtáng). Literally “ascend the hall,” it refers to the magistrate formally taking his place to conduct court.

The yamen runners all planted their staffs against the floor in unison and barked, “Order—!”

威武 (wēiwǔ) — This is the traditional cry of the yamen runners when the magistrate opens court. It literally evokes authority, might, and fearsome majesty—essentially a declaration of the magistrate's wēiwǔ (authority or power).

The thunderous thud of the staffs striking the ground nearly blended with the pounding of the hearts of the onlookers outside.

The yamen advisor, sporting a pair of neat moustaches, called out at the top of his voice, “Bring the plaintiff and defendant before the court!”

Though Fan Changyu was frightened too, when the runners escorted her into the courtroom, she still gave Auntie Zhao and her husband a reassuring look.

Yet even at this moment, Fan Da was still nowhere to be seen. Only the defendant, Fan Changyu, knelt alone beneath the bench.

The portly county magistrate was clearly encountering such a situation for the first time as well. He turned his head and exchanged a glance with the yamen advisor, neither of them quite understanding what was going on.

The people gathered outside began murmuring among themselves.

Keeping things at a standstill was no solution. In the end, the magistrate spoke to Fan Changyu first. “Who kneels before the court?”

Fan Changyu replied: “Mín nǚ is Fan Changyu.”

The magistrate peered down at the complaint with those eyes narrowed into slits and barked, “Where is the plaintiff, Fan Daniu?”

No one inside or outside the courtroom answered.

Amid the dead silence, even the deliberately hushed murmurs of the crowd outside sounded conspicuously loud.

The portly magistrate brought the jingtángmù down with a heavy crack.

“Outrageous! In all Ben Guan’s years presiding over cases, this is the first time I’ve ever encountered a plaintiff who simply fails to appear in court! This is nothing short of treating the law with contempt!”

本官 (Běn Guān): Běn Guān is an official’s formal self-reference, literally meaning “this official.” It is used when a magistrate or other government official speaks in their official capacity, reinforcing the hierarchical and authoritative tone of the exchange.

Beside him, the yamen advisor, who was thin as a bamboo pole, cast several glances at Fan Changyu before advising, “Daren, please calm yourself. Fan Daniu is but a commoner; surely he would not dare be late for court. There must be some circumstances behind this. Why not dispatch some yamen runners to his home to inquire after him? That would demonstrate Daren’s ability to see even the subtlest details.”

The portly magistrate pondered briefly: “Granted!”

Soon, several yamen runners were sent to Fan Da’s home to look for him. The magistrate ordered the proceedings suspended in the meantime, so Fan Changyu no longer had to remain kneeling before the court.

With such an unexpected turn of events, the onlookers outside did not disperse. If anything, they grew even more curious about why Fan Da had failed to appear in court that day, crowding around the entrance and refusing to leave.

Fan Changyu was sitting on a small low stool, rubbing her knees, when a minor yamen official suddenly came over and called to her.

“Head Constable Wang would like to see Guniang.”

Fan Changyu assumed Head Constable Wang had something to tell her. She followed the minor official through a side entrance and to the duty room at the rear of the county yamen.

The minor official was apparently one of Head Constable Wang’s trusted men. Once Fan Changyu entered, he remained outside the door, keeping watch.

Head Constable Wang wasted no time with Fan Changyu either. He got straight to the point. “Your elder uncle… Did you abduct him?”

Fan Changyu thought to herself that, yes, she had considered doing exactly that at first. But later, once she had come up with another way, she had completely abandoned the idea. She shook her head at once. “Why would I do something so foolish?”

Head Constable Wang breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”

He had only thought to ask her privately because he remembered that Fan Changyu had once asked him what would happen if Fan Da failed to appear when the two parties faced each other in court.

Lowering his voice, he said, “Fan Da has gone through Advisor He’s connections. Even if he used such a method, he could still turn around and bite you back afterward. They could slap you with a charge of having no regard for the law, and you could even end up in prison.”

Fan Changyu said, “I know.”

The fact that the yamen had sent people to look for Fan Da without using any of Head Constable Wang’s men made the implication quite clear: there was nothing Head Constable Wang could do to help her in this matter.

After leaving the duty room, Fan Changyu returned to the courtroom to wait. But a full half hour passed, and the yamen runners sent to find Fan Da still had not returned.

The magistrate grew impatient and ordered someone to hurry them along. Another half hour passed before the yamen runners finally returned, carrying a person covered with a white cloth on a stretcher.

Fan Da’s wife, Liu Shi, and the two elders of the Fan family followed behind them, their wailing loud enough to shake the heavens.

Clearly, the person beneath the white cloth was Fan Da.

Shock flashed across Fan Changyu’s face.

Fan Da was dead?

The people gathered outside the county yamen began murmuring among themselves as well, their eyes repeatedly darting toward Fan Changyu.

Fan Da had been plotting to seize her family’s property, and yet he had died at precisely this juncture. Anyone would find it hard not to suspect something.

“How did he happen to die on the very day they were due to face each other in court?”

“Fan Da is built like an ox. It wouldn’t be so easy for an ordinary person to take his life…”

Fan Changyu could feel all sorts of gazes falling upon her. She pressed her lips together slightly, her own heart filled with shock and suspicion.

Who had killed Fan Da?

Her mind instinctively flashed back to what Yan Zheng had said several days ago about settling things with Fan Da. But she quickly dismissed the thought.

For one thing, Yan Zheng’s injuries had worsened, and he had barely even left the house these past few days. More importantly, he had taught her all the statutes she might need to know in court until she could recite them by heart. There was no way he would have gone after Fan Da.

Besides, he was only pretending to be her live-in husband. He had no grudge against Fan Da whatsoever, and there was simply no reason for him to kill him.

When the magistrate heard that the plaintiff, Fan Da, was dead, he hurried out of the side room, barely managing to keep his official hat in place. His eyes, narrowed to mere slits by the flesh of his face, were filled with horror. He clearly had never expected a simple dispute over the division of family property to turn into a murder case. “This… What is the meaning of this? Has no one any regard for the law anymore?”

One of the constables who had gone to look for Fan Da respectfully answered, “Replying to Daren, when we found Fan Danniu, he had already been dead for some time. There were multiple sword and knife wounds on his body.”

The magistrate ordered someone to lift the white cloth covering Fan Da’s body. The moment he caught sight of the corpse, the fat on his face began trembling in fright. “Fetch the coroner!”

Fan Da’s wife, Liu Shi, was sprawled beside his corpse, crying so hard she nearly fainted on the spot. The moment she saw Fan Changyu, she lunged at her as though she meant to demand her life in payment. “Was it you who killed him?! Was it you?!”

Fan Changyu stepped back to avoid her and said coldly, “Da Bomu, you’d better not make baseless accusations. My Da Bo had a mountain of gambling debts hanging over his head. Who knows if he crossed the wrong debt collector and met with foul play? What does any of that have to do with me?”

Liu Shi and Old Madam Fan continued wailing and sobbing. The magistrate was getting a headache from all the noise, so he ordered the yamen runners to take them away for the time being.

Before being led away, Old Master Fan looked at Fan Changyu, seeming as though he wanted to say something but could not. His entire lips had gone pale, as though he had suddenly remembered something terrifying.

Because Fan Changyu was entangled with Fan Da in an ongoing lawsuit, she had no choice but to remain behind.

After examining the corpse, the coroner gave his findings. Fan Da had most likely died this morning, on the road to the county yamen. There were a total of eleven wounds on his body, but only one had actually been fatal—a sword thrust straight through the heart.

The coroner said, “The first ten wounds were inflicted with great force, yet every single one deliberately avoided the vital points. The killer must be someone who has wielded a blade for many years. These wounds… if they weren’t inflicted out of revenge, then looking at them, I’d say they resemble injuries inflicted during an interrogation.”

That answer made Fan Changyu’s brows draw together.

Interrogation?

What could they possibly have been interrogating Fan Da about?

Forcing him to repay his debts?

But if the purpose had been to make him pay up, then there would have been no reason to kill him.

For a moment, Fan Changyu felt as though she were surrounded by layers of fog, unable to make sense of anything.

Still, since Fan Da had been attacked and killed on the road to the county seat, Fan Changyu could at least clear herself of suspicion. She had been on the road herself at the time, and the Zhao couple and the owner of the ox cart could all testify to that.

The yamen advisor, however, had no intention of letting Fan Changyu off the hook. He said, “Daren, although Fan Guniang has evidence proving she was elsewhere, what if… she hired someone to kill him? I hear she’s quite close with that lot led by Jin Laosan, one of the street thugs in Lin’an Town. To be safe, why don’t we send someone to search her home?”

A murder case had suddenly cropped up right in the middle of the New Year festivities, and the magistrate already found the whole affair exceedingly ill-omened. Since this now involved a murder, he no longer had the leisure to indulge his own little schemes. He nodded toward Head Constable Wang, who had years of experience handling cases. “You take some men and search the place!”

Fan Changyu had nothing to hide and nothing to fear. And with Head Constable Wang conducting the search, she met the advisor’s weasel-like gaze without the slightest hint of unease.

The group of yamen runners arrived at the residential lane on the western side of town. The north wind was howling fiercely by now. One of the runners sniffed hard and asked, “Did someone slaughter a pig? That’s a strong smell of blood.”

Head Constable Wang smelled it too. But Fan Changyu’s family lived around here, and she made her living slaughtering pigs, so it did not occur to him to think much of it.

But when they opened the gate to the Fan family courtyard and saw the corpses strewn across the ground, even the constables from the capital, who had encountered all manner of murder cases, turned pale.

Corpses lay scattered throughout the courtyard, the blood having stained the snow that had yet to be cleared a deep red.

Head Constable Wang had been an old friend of Fan Changyu’s father and knew there was a younger daughter in the family. Seeing no child’s corpse in the courtyard, he hurried inside to look.

As soon as he stepped onto the stairs, he saw a person lying on his back at the entrance to the main room, his neck torn open by what appeared to be some kind of hooked claw. Several feathers, each about the size of a goose feather, lay scattered on the floor, while the door bore marks where blades had hacked into it.

Head Constable Wang’s heart lurched.

He hurried farther inside. Another corpse lay sprawled on the floor of the north room, utterly lifeless, with a kitchen cleaver still embedded in its back.

Judging by where it had struck, the cleaver seemed to have landed squarely on the spine. Yet nearly two-thirds of the blade had been driven straight into the bone. It was difficult to imagine just how much strength the person who threw that cleaver must have possessed.

With his heart in his throat, Head Constable Wang searched every room in the house. Neither the Fan family’s younger daughter nor that live-in husband could be found.

For a moment, he did not know whether to feel relieved or worried.

His expression darkening, he said, “It looks like someone has come to the Fan family seeking revenge. Hurry back to the county yamen and report this!”

The sky was a hazy gray, while great flakes of snow drifted down like goose feathers. Every now and then, some of the snow piled upon the pine needles would tremble loose, sending a scattering of powdery flakes tumbling to the ground.

The front of Xie Zheng’s robe was thoroughly soaked through with blood. Behind him, crows startled from the dense woods, while the disorderly crunch of footsteps through the snow was steadily closing in from all sides like a tightening net.

Yet he seemed not to hear them.

His back rested against a coniferous pine, his bloodstained longsword thrust three inches into the snow at an angle. With a strip of cloth torn from his clothes, he was bandaging the wound on his hand.

A few flecks of blood spattered his pale jaw. The corners of his lips were pressed downward, making it quite clear that his mood was foul.

Changning and the gyrfalcon, both looking two shades grayer than usual, were huddled a short distance away. A piece of pale pink flesh still dangled from one of the gyrfalcon’s talons. Changning whimpered intermittently, her little face deathly pale with fright.

He lifted his eyes coldly. “Stop crying.”

Changning did not even dare to sob anymore. Only the tears continued to fall in great fat drops.

“What exactly did your Fan family do to provoke these people?”

The child before him was far too terrified to answer. The question sounded more like Xie Zheng muttering to himself.

When those chaotic footsteps finally drew near, he tilted his head and bit down on one end of the cloth, tying off the bandage. A faint metallic taste of blood spread across his tongue.

Reflected in his fierce, coldly ruthless phoenix eyes was the sight of a group of masked men coming toward him from the pine forest, swords and sabers in hand.

⟡ Aewoo’s Ramble ⟡

And with that, we’ve reached the last chapter with a title! From the next chapter onward, there won’t be any chapter titles anymore. Honestly, I have absolutely no idea why the author decided to do this, but I guess we’re just rolling with it.

So from Chapter 23 onward, it’s just straight-up Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25… and so on. No more cryptic little titles for me to agonize over translating.😁