Leng Yue felt her scalp tingle with unease, yet she couldn't resist wanting to see what this "standard handsome corpse" actually looked like. Kneeling on one knee, she lifted the white cloth. The moment she saw the corpse, her entire body froze in place.
Turning her head and seeing Leng Yue staring blankly at the corpse, Chu Chu said proudly, "See? I told you he's quite handsome!"
"This..."
Leng Yue stammered "this" for a long time without managing to say anything coherent. Instead, her peach-blossom complexion turned deathly pale.
Chu Chu set down her tools and turned to look at Leng Yue, who appeared as if the sky had fallen right on her head. "Master, do you know him?"
Leng Yue nodded stiffly.
"Who is he?"
"Xue Qin... the third son of Grand Tutor Xue."
Earlier, Leng Yue had been wondering how her father, despite his love for soldiers, could faint from crying publicly over the death of a mere soldier. Now she understood.
While Leng Yue understood, Chu Chu remained bewildered as she looked at the handsome corpse. "Who is Grand Tutor Xue?"
Leng Yue was taken aback. "You don't know Grand Tutor Xue?"
Chu Chu shook her head blankly.
"Wang Ye never mentioned him to you?"
Chu Chu continued shaking her head.
Leng Yue smiled bitterly silently and covered the corpse with the white cloth again. "Grand Tutor Xue is Wang Ye's teacher. Wang Ye learned everything from him—music, chess, calligraphy, painting, corpse examination, and solving cases. They're closer than biological father and son... You performed an autopsy on his fourth son, Xue Yue."
Only then did Chu Chu's face light up with realization. "Right! I did perform the autopsy. The first corpse I helped Wang Ye examine was named Xue Yue. He was killed by Manager Xu of As Returning Pavilion!"
"This is Xue Yue's third brother... General Pingbei, Xue Qin."
Chu Chu pursed her lips and frowned. "But... Wang Ye doesn't seem to know him at all."
"Xue Qin went off to war right after turning thirteen. He's been stationed on several battlefields and spent recent years almost exclusively at the Liangzhou military camp, rarely returning to the capital. Wang Ye probably never met him..." Leng Yue also furrowed her brows. "Once my father sees him, Wang Ye will definitely find out. I'm afraid..."
Leng Yue didn't finish, but Chu Chu understood. She still remembered how Wang Ye had spilled a bowl of scalging ginger soup all over himself upon hearing of Xue Yue's death. Thinking back now, he must have been utterly heartbroken...
Now another of Grand Tutor Xue's sons was dead, and in such a tragic way...
"Master..."
Leng Yue tightened her grip on her sword. "Don't worry. Wang Ye will be fine."
"Really?"
"Mmm... Let's begin the corpse examination. But I've never performed an autopsy before, so you'll have to teach me."
"No problem!"
When Chu Chu returned to the sleeping tent, Xiao Jin Yu still hadn't come back. After Chu Chu finished washing up and lunchtime passed, Xiao Jin Yu remained absent. At some point, large snowflakes began falling outside. The heavy snow, whipped by fierce winds, grew increasingly dense—transforming from dots to lines, then from lines to sheets. Soon, everything was blanketed in white, and from the tent entrance, even the opposite tents became indistinguishable.
Chu Chu usually liked snow, but she had never seen such a violent snowstorm before. It was so intense it seemed intent on freezing everything between heaven and earth. It wasn't beautiful at all—instead, it was terrifying.
When she heard from the guards that the Liangzhou Prefect had arrived—Xue Ming, the second son of Grand Tutor Xue—and that Xiao Jin Yu wouldn't be back for quite some time, Chu Chu found the snow even more frightening.Remembering that Xiao Jin Yu had only worn that thin official robe when he went out, Chu Chu was about to go greet him with a blanket when he was brought back by the guards. From head to toe, he was covered in snow, his face pale—seemingly even paler than the snow.
"Wang Ye!"
As Chu Chu rushed over, she noticed he was already wrapped in a thick woolen blanket, pulled up to his chest with his arms tucked inside. She brushed off the snow-covered blanket and saw he was still clutching a hand warmer tightly.
Xiao Jin Yu looked at her with a dazed expression, melted snowdrops clinging to his fine eyelashes. Through the haze, he recognized Chu Chu and reached out to grasp her hand. "Are you cold..."
"Not cold... Wang Ye, have you been drinking?"
"Just three cups... small ones..."
Chu Chu brushed the snow from his hair, helped him to the bed, moved the charcoal brazier closer, removed his snow-soaked outer robe, tucked him under the covers, and fed him two sobering pills.
"You just had a stomach flare-up last night, how could you drink..."
"Had to apologize..." Xiao Jin Yu held Chu Chu's hand tightly, a smile on his lips but bitterness in his eyes. "Xue Qin died last night, right under my nose... I didn't even know he was dead... Xue Ming was right, I'm not just crippled—I'm blind, deaf, and stupid..."
"That's not true! That's not true at all! He's talking nonsense!" Chu Chu tenderly touched Xiao Jin Yu's eyes. "Shifu already told me, you didn't even know that person! It's not your fault!"
Xiao Jin Yu still smiled bitterly. "It can only be my fault..."
"Wang Ye," Chu Chu pursed her lips, "I already figured out why they committed suicide. I explained it to Shifu, and he agrees with me." She added firmly, "It's absolutely not your fault."
Xiao Jin Yu struggled to sit up straighter. "Tell me."
"When I examined the drowned one and the burned one, I wanted to see how much water the drowned one inhaled and how much ash the burned one inhaled."
"Mhm..."
"I found that the drowned one inhaled more water than a dead person would, but less than a living person. The burned one inhaled more ash than a dead person would, but less than a living person."
Xiao Jin Yu frowned. The three consecutive drinks had already made his head dizzy. He turned Chu Chu's words over in his mind several times before reaching a conclusion.
"You mean... before they died, they were neither dead nor alive?"
"Exactly!"
What's exact about that...
Leaning against the headboard, Xiao Jin Yu rubbed his throbbing temples between laughter and tears. "Neither dead nor alive... then what were they?"
"Living Dead," Chu Chu said seriously. "I originally called them living corpses, but Shifu said 'Living Dead' is more appropriate. I think Shifu's term is better too."
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