At dawn, the sound of carriages and horses echoed outside the Qi Mansion.
Those who arrived were also Xuanqing Guards, coming from Li City, to collect the silver.
Shen Hao did not show himself; Wang Jian would naturally take care of everything.
A chair was brought over, and Shen Hao sat in the midcourt just inside the Qi Mansion's main gate. Beside him was a small table, on which sat a teapot and a lone teacup. In front of him lay the disassembled Jingguan, sixty-one severed heads neatly arranged on the ground.
"Hiss…" Sipping his tea, Shen Hao sat there in utter silence, his demeanor seemingly calm.
As noon approached, Wang Jian came to report.
"Xiaoqi, the seven hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver coins have been packed up and taken away, without error. As for the remaining two hundred and fifty thousand taels, they've been entered into our own private ledger; once this matter is settled, we can divide it among the brothers as per custom when we return."
"Hmm. Has any word come from the Government Office?"
"News has come; I was just about to report."
"Go on."
Wang Jian paused to choose his words, then spoke: "According to the records from the Government Office, only two missing persons cases have been reported in Five Rams City over the past two months; one has already been found, the other remains unaccounted for."
"Only two cases?"
"Yes. Every case reported to the Government Office is meticulously logged. In the past two months, there have indeed only been two cases."
Shen Hao set down his cup, his expression tinged with doubt—the situation was not as he'd anticipated. After a moment, he continued, "What about those portraits of the Qi Family?"
"We've obtained them all. Three acquaintances of the Qi Family described them and the likenesses were drawn based on their accounts."
Wang Jian beckoned, took a thick stack of portraits from the hands of a Warrior at his side, and ceremoniously presented them to Shen Hao with both hands.
Shen Hao took the portraits, leafing through them one by one, examining each with care. Every portrait was carefully compared against the severed heads placed not far before him.
"Qi Wen… hmm, matches… Qi Hengwen, Qi Hengzhi, these match…"
"Qi Hengbing… none."
"Qi Wen Yuan… none."
"Xiao Zhongliu… none."
Out of sixty-one portraits, there were three for whom matching severed heads could not be found.
In truth, it was not that clues were entirely lacking; Qi Wen Yuan, Qi Hengbing, and Xiao Zhongliu—these three had no matching heads, but interestingly, among the sixty-one heads on the ground, there were also three so disfigured as to be unrecognizable.
"Xiaoqi, these three heads should be the ones that do not match those three individuals," Wang Jian suggested from the side.
But Shen Hao gave no reply. He silently set down the portraits and picked up another dossier on the Qi Family for a careful read.
Qi Wen Yuan, sixty-seven years old, head of the principal household of the Qi Family.
Qi Hengbing, forty-one, only son of Qi Wen Yuan, handled all of the principal household's business. He had a son and daughter, both of whom died young.
Xiao Zhongliu, the Qi Family's steward, fifty years old, managed the family accounts and storerooms, unmarried.
The forensic doctor had summoned assistants to clean up the Qi Mansion's remains today and kept detailed records of every severed head, especially those three unidentifiable ones—Shen Hao had already read through those reports. The ages of Qi Wen Yuan and the others roughly matched those of the three unrecognizable heads.
However, Shen Hao had his own thoughts.
Unconcerned about filth, he directly picked up those three ruined heads, cradling them before his eyes for scrutiny, even prying open their mouths to inspect the teeth within.
Wang Jian was taken aback; it had been a long time since he'd seen his Xiaoqi examine a case with such seriousness.
After a great while, Shen Hao placed the heads on the side table, took up his cup and sipped. "These are not Qi Wen Yuan and the others' heads."
"Ah? Impossible!" Wang Jian leapt up in shock, wholly unable to fathom how these three heads could not belong to Qi Wen Yuan and his companions.
"Look at their teeth," Shen Hao pointed to the three heads on the table, indicating for Wang Jian to pry their mouths open and observe, guiding him.
Wang Jian hurried over, snatched up a head as instructed, pried open its mouth for a look inside.
Shen Hao spoke from the side: "Notice their teeth—especially the molars. Aren't they severely worn?"
"Hmm? They are, very badly so."
"The Qi Family is a great house, to call them fabulously wealthy would not be an exaggeration. Their prosperity dates back over a century. For generations they have known nothing but luxury and fine food. Even the elderly should not show such extreme dental wear. Have you ever seen rural elders? Their teeth look like this—from years spent chewing coarse grains and brown rice."
Wang Jian silently corroborated the points in his mind and found Shen Hao's words to be true. Such detail, however, was easy to overlook.
"Xiaoqi, your skill is truly impressive—to notice such minutiae! Your subordinate is in awe! But… if these three heads are not Qi Wen Yuan and his men, then whose are they? And where are the real Qi Wen Yuan, Qi Hengbing, and Xiao Zhongliu? Did they not die?"
A barrage of questions surged in Wang Jian's mind, leaving him with a headache—he'd never been good at handling such bizarre and uncanny cases.
Shen Hao waved his hand, pushing the three heads from the table to the floor. Watching the heads roll like melons, he chuckled. "That's not all. Last night, you heard the forensic doctor say—among all the dismembered remains, there were three whose time of death predated the others, and these three heads belonged to those very corpses."
"That's why I ordered you to investigate recent missing persons cases in Five Rams City."
"You mean… the three who died first were not members of the Qi Family at all, but were intentionally killed and placed with the others?"
"Precisely."
"But… but why do this? Who would commit such an act?"
"Unclear. But it must be connected to the three whose remains are absent, neither found living nor dead. Hence, you must continue to dig into the Qi Family's background—especially all matters concerning Qi Wen Yuan and his cohort. It's a troublesome affair, and we have no other leads for now, so tell everyone to redouble their efforts and not let down their guard."
"Understood, Xiaoqi. I'll see to it at once. Even if I must dig three feet into the earth, I'll expose every secret of the Qi Family!" Wang Jian beat his chest in promise.
With that, Shen Hao rose from his chair and made for the door.
"Xiaoqi, where are you going?"
"I don't know. Just strolling, sorting out my thoughts."
"Shall I accompany you?"
"No need—get to work."
...
Shen Hao departed from the Qi Mansion and aimlessly picked a direction, ambling along the main thoroughfare. Whenever an investigation reached an impasse, he would wander and clear his mind—a new lead might emerge at any moment.
Now the trail was blocked at the severed heads.
The three mutilated heads—if not of the Qi Family, then of whom?
Why would someone murder three unrelated people simply to make up the numbers?
Are Qi Wen Yuan, Qi Hengbing, and Xiao Zhongliu dead or alive?
And why is there so much less blood than should have been spilled? Where did it go?
Finally, and most crucially: what were those lurking in the shadows—using the Evil Sect Yin Talisman to plot against the Qi Family—truly after?