Before the moment had passed, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai had taken advantage of the moonlight to quietly scale the wall and slip out of Zeng Mansion.
In those days, the streets were basically empty once night fell, and there was no such thing as streetlights, so they weren't worried about being discovered by anyone.
Mingjiao Temple was very close to Zeng Mansion, just two streets away—almost within arm's reach—so it took Sun and Huang less than five minutes to meet up with Zhou Wu behind the temple wall, as planned.
Since they had already devised a plan in advance, there was no need for much discussion when the three met. After a brief, low-voiced exchange, they scaled the wall and entered the temple.
The second lady of the Zeng family's body had already been embalmed the day before, and her funeral garments and coffin had been prepared. Right now, the coffin was resting in an idle room within the temple.
A Buddha hall is no place for corpses. The Yin energy of death mustn't pollute the main hall without the soul having been liberated through cremation. This was the rule, such that not even Mr. Zeng or the Emperor himself could dare to be reckless.
Therefore, ever since the body of the second lady of the Zeng family had been brought over, it had been placed in a room devoid of Buddha statues, where monks could chant scriptures around it to aid the soul's passage.
Monks, being human, needed rest too. At night, they went off to sleep, leaving only a novice monk, around fifteen or sixteen years old, to watch over the coffin and symbolically keep the vigil.
When the trio of Sun, Huang, and Zhou arrived at the door of the room housing the body (the room with the body could not have its doors shut), they glanced inside and noticed the young monk seated with legs crossed, head lowered, already nodding off.
Seeing this, the trio exchanged a look without a word. Huang Donglai took the lead and entered; he approached the monk noiselessly using his Qinggong, pulling out a cloth drenched in a medicated solution from his embrace and covering the monk's mouth and nose. The young monk collapsed on the spot, unconscious.
Sun Yixie and Zhou Wu followed closely behind and stepped through the doorway.
"Brother Huang, that's some effective medicine you have there," whispered Sun Yixie as he entered, teasing, "used for picking flowers, right?"
"I'll pick your sister!" snapped Huang Donglai in response, "This is a legitimate inhalant fast-acting sleeping potion, courtesy of Huang Sect. A secret recipe! Understand? Secret!"
"Alright, you should give me ten or eight packets sometime; I have trouble sleeping too," said Sun Yixie.
"Scram," Huang Donglai retorted, "the day you can't sleep, call me. I'll knock you out with a club."
Huang Donglai understood Brother Sun all too well and, to prevent a brother from straying down the wrong path, he firmly refused Sun Yixie's request.
As the two bantered, Zhou Wu had already swiftly opened the coffin lid (before burial, the coffin lid wouldn't be nailed shut).
Zhou Wu was, after all, the arrest officer of Lu Zhou City. Even if he wasn't a top expert, his strength was beyond that of an ordinary person; if even Sun Yixie could move the stone lid of a sarcophagus at home with brute force, opening a common wooden coffin was nothing for Zhou Wu.
"It's still there," announced Zhou Wu after peering inside the coffin.
Upon hearing this, Sun and Huang stopped joking around and both approached the coffin to look inside.
Indeed, "it was still there"—the Liuli fish was firmly clutched in the hands of the second lady of the Zeng family, held to her chest.
"Hmph... as expected," Huang Donglai chuckled after a brief observation, "This second lady, too, died from poisoning." He paused, and then explained with ease, "The poison she succumbed to is called 'Binding Immortal Rope'; it makes the victim's heart and lungs feel strangled by a rope, unable to beat or breathe, leading to asphyxiation and sudden death. Another characteristic of this poison is the exceptionally rapid and severe onset of rigor mortis, as if the whole body has been 'tied up'... Thus, just by placing the Liuli fish in her hands shortly after her death, one can create the illusion that the corpse is holding onto something firmly."
"Brother Huang," Zhou Wu interjected, "in that case, can we still..."
"Of course we can," answered Huang Donglai, aware of what he was about to ask and replied directly, "Just pry it open."
"Ah?" Zhou Wu couldn't help but pause, "Is it that simple?"
"Nonsense, it may be stiff, but it's just flesh and bones, not made of iron," Huang Donglai said. "Why couldn't we pry it open?"
As he spoke, he reached into the coffin and, with a slight effort, pried the second lady's hands open.
Watching Huang Donglai so easily extract the Liuli fish, Zhou Wu gave a wry smile. It was at this point that he realized: over the past three days, if there had been anyone bold enough, irreverent of desecrating the deceased, daring to pry as directly as Huang Donglai had, they could have retrieved the fish. It was precisely because everyone feared and believed in ghosts and deities that they assumed the deceased's resentful spirit needed pacifying through the monks' chanting before her grip would loosen.
Of course... had they the patience to wait it out, once the rigor mortis period had passed, the hands would indeed have loosened.
"Done, let's move," declared Huang Donglai, stowing the Liuli fish in his garment and heading out.
Zhou Wu and Sun Yixie didn't delay either. The two quickly moved to either end of the coffin, lifted the second lady's body at the head and the tail, and followed out...
...
At 1 a.m., the butler Zeng Su lay in bed tossing and turning, plagued by nightmares.
As the saying goes, a guilty conscience needs no accuser.
Even though Zeng Su had multiple lives on his hands and was considered a habitual criminal, and although his psychological fortitude was not lacking, he was not after all a professional killer, nor was he a person of the jianghu; he was simply a steward of a wealthy household. Within a short half month, one could not change so completely.