Qin Liuxi glanced at the constables standing by Xie Qikang's carriage, then turned her gaze away and slightly tilted her head. "I have a question. You and your father disappeared for ten years. Did no one search for you? Did no one suspect something happened to you, not even your neighbors?"
Ling Rong replied, "We were merely refugees displaced by famine, having settled in Huixian for just two years, living in the outskirts. There were few families around, and my father's temper made it difficult to get along with the neighbors. We set up a tea stall in front of our house, selling tea and snacks."
As outsiders, difficult to interact with, they were naturally marginalized and ignored.
"Didn't you say Xie Qikang came to seek refuge with you? Didn't he live with you?"
Ling Rong said, "He stayed at the academy to focus on his studies and to engage with his peers. He rarely came to our home."
"Then did you not have a wedding feast when you got married?"
Ling Rong blushed and said, "We didn't have a formal wedding, just a private ceremony where we bowed to the heavens. My father knew and witnessed it."
Seeing Qin Liuxi's look of disdain, Ling Rong lowered her head, embarrassed. "I know I was foolish."
Qin Liuxi said, "Now that Xie Qikang is dead, even if your bodies are finally found, the case will likely be closed hastily. It's been ten years, and there's no direct evidence. The most crucial point is, you don't have anyone to advocate for your justice."
Her words were cold and unfeeling, but Ling Rong understood. For people as isolated as they were, the best outcome was to have their remains found. Many others died unnoticed, their fates unknown.
Is it heartless? Is it tragic? This is the reality of social hierarchy. They were at the very bottom.
The constables' inquiry was only because Qi Xian intervened. The case might reach Huixian, and the county magistrate might take it seriously due to Qi Xian's influence, but that's the extent of it. The suspect was dead, after all.
Ling Rong was silent for a moment, then said, "I understand. This is the best we could hope for. We encountered kind people."
She bowed deeply to Qin Liuxi.
Seeing Qi Xian approaching, Qin Liuxi picked up the jade gourd hanging from her waist, uncorked it, and said, "Enter. Tonight at midnight, I will open the path to the underworld and send you off."
"Thank you, Master." Ling Rong and her son swiftly entered the jade gourd.
Qi Xian walked up and asked, "Who were you speaking to, Doctor Qin?"
"You must be mistaken, Qi Gongzi. There's no one here."
Qi Xian thought, there may not be people, but surely there are other beings. In broad daylight, even ghosts can appear?
Though curious, Qi Xian saw Qin Liuxi was unwilling to elaborate, so he said, "Xie Qikang is dead, as you predicted. If he truly committed murder, his victims' remains would be hard to find. Doctor Qin, perhaps you could provide some guidance? It would bring justice to the victims."
Qin Liuxi looked at him deeply, her gaze testing, and said, "Good and evil will always be repaid. Perhaps the victims will reveal themselves?"
In the outskirts of Huixian, by Teng Lake, a villager washing his muddy feet saw a chest floating up. Curious, he hooked it with a stick and broke it open, only to scream and scramble away as he discovered a corpse inside.
Simultaneously, at the foot of the mountain, in a dilapidated house occupied by beggars, two of them fought. One fell near a clump of banana trees and touched something. Instinctively, he picked it up to throw it, but upon seeing what it was, he dropped it in horror.
A skeletal skull rolled to their feet, its hollow eye sockets staring up at the sky.
Finally, they saw the light of day.