TWWDS - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Once the killer's identity had been established, the rest could be left to Han Sihe and the Xu family. Chao Qingxiu found time to ask, "Has anything gone missing from the house?"

Xu Zhongzhi had already checked everything once. At her question, he shook his head. "All the money and valuables are still here. We found nothing missing."

Chao Qingxiu raised an eyebrow slightly.

The Untitled Scroll might indeed have belonged to the false A-Su. What she did not know was whether the book had anything to do with the false A-Su's infiltration of the Xu household.

The case had been solved, and the patient's condition was gradually improving. Chao Qingxiu did not remain any longer. She took her leave and returned home.

She had been away for only three days and had brought no luggage with her. On her return, however, she hired an extra mule cart to carry a reward of thirty strings from the authorities, thirty strings in medical fees from the Xu family, and several gifts.

Ten strings were in copper cash, while the rest had been exchanged for gold and silver, which were easier to store.

The road was so bumpy that Chao Qingxiu simply sat outside the cart so the gift boxes swaying around would not strike her in the face.

After several days away, the house... the house did look a little tidier and cozier than it had when Chao Qingxiu left.

Li Yao had largely recovered and was now fully capable of taking on physical work that was not too strenuous. Perhaps out of a sense of responsibility to the household that had taken them in, the two sisters spent most of their time doing household chores around Chao Qingxiu's residence. They also picked wild fruit from the rear garden to prepare fruit preserves. Seeing this, Chao Qingxiu simply revised the employment contract, changing casual work into full-time employment. Each person would earn fifty copper coins a day, plus another hundred copper coins a day for household expenses. All told, her monthly outlay would be no more than six strings.

Chao Qingxiu thought that although her current income was not yet stable, she could still afford it.

After finalizing the employment contract, Chao Qingxiu felt that she had saved enough to cover her living expenses for some time. She therefore continued to stay indoors as before. During this period, she merely sent Li Yi to buy a box of iron needles and some fine thread.

The Li sisters had originally assumed that Chao Qingxiu meant to mend clothes. Although they thought her talent was rather limited, they did not want to discourage her enthusiasm. But when they heard that their mistress was buying an entire box of iron needles, all of different shapes and sizes, they thought it did not look like sewing.

As the elder sister, Li Yao considered Chao Qingxiu's somewhat eccentric way of life and began to form vague suspicions much like Han Sihe's.

Chao Qingxiu had indeed not bought the needles for their ordinary purpose. She intended to practice with hidden weapons. The flying needles used by martial world practitioners were made differently from ordinary embroidery needles and had to be made specially. As Chao Qingxiu had no source from which to buy them, she simply had someone purchase an entire box so that she could select the most suitable ones. She would also tie a length of silk thread to the tail of each needle to make it easier to retrieve. That way, even if someone noticed the needles while she was out, they would be more likely to think, "Her clothes are poorly made and need constant reinforcement," rather than, "She is carrying a dangerous offensive weapon."

The Feizhen Art was not the first manual on hidden weapons that Chao Qingxiu had obtained. The earlier Qinglian Seed also recorded techniques of this kind, though the two differed in their ranges of use and had markedly different methods of applying force.

When fighting the false A-Su, Chao Qingxiu had only just begun training, but hidden weapons such as Iron Bodhi seeds were not difficult to aim accurately. More important was attaching her internal power to them before using them against the enemy. Flying needles were much smaller, quicker and silent in use, harder to guard against, and more fully in keeping with what ordinary people imagined when they heard the words "hidden weapons."

Ever since she had successfully condensed vital energy in her lower abdomen, Chao Qingxiu had no longer needed to keep the Qingxin Formula equipped at all times. Instead, she relied on seated meditation and regulated breathing to build up her internal power. She practiced diligently every day, gradually refining her inner breath and improving her control over her limbs.

Now that she had developed her inner strength, training in external techniques came much easier. Chao Qingxiu now more or less understood the method of launching hidden weapons recorded in the Qinglian Seed, but she still had not grasped the essentials of the Feizhen Art.

Chao Qingxiu thought, This proved that the system's judgment was quite accurate. My talent for martial arts truly is not outstanding, so I can only take my time and study it slowly.

Luckily, she was patient by nature. Each day, apart from meditating and reading, she thought through the techniques in the manuals. She was determined that unless she mastered the Feizhen Art, she would not go out looking for trouble.

During her retreat at home, Chao Qingxiu went out only three times, twice to examine Xu Feiqu and once to visit a bookshop.

She had long since confirmed that, apart from items connected to solving cases, no other books could be placed in Skill Slots and used. Even so, she bought two chess manuals, a Go set, and a copy of the Essentials of the Great Xia Medical Canon to compare with the Medical Arts. She also bought several miscellaneous books and anthologies to leaf through in her spare time, partly to deepen her understanding of local culture.

But Chao Qingxiu had scarcely enjoyed a few quiet days when another visitor called at the house.

Li Yao said, "It is Miss Xu of the Xu family. She has come to call on you."

Chao Qingxiu raised an eyebrow. "Miss Xu is here already? Last time I saw her, she had not fully recovered. Why has she come out so soon?" She set down the scroll in her hand and added, "Have someone show her into the hall to wait. I will change my clothes and be there shortly."

The weather was no longer particularly cold, yet Xu Feiqu still wore a rabbit fur hat and a lined robe, with a plain silk cloak over it. She sat in a hall that could only be described as austere and cavernous. When Chao Qingxiu entered, she rose and saluted with clasped hands.

Chao Qingxiu glanced at her complexion. "Miss Xu, your body is still weak. Why insist on making the trip in person?"

Xu Feiqu looked at her and said to the maid who had accompanied her, "I brought some cured meat. Go and put it away." She then turned to Li Yao. "The doctor's advice was right. My body has not fully recovered, and I should not drink tea. Please bring me a cup of water instead."

They withdrew at once, leaving only Xu Feiqu and Chao Qingxiu in the hall.

Seeing this, Chao Qingxiu knew that Xu Feiqu had something to say. She did not rush to speak, but simply sat in her chair and waited quietly.

Xu Feiqu rubbed her temple. "My second brother has already told me the entire sequence of events." She added, "Doctor Chao is intelligent and perceptive, a rarity in this world. I admire you deeply."

Chao Qingxiu smiled. "Miss Xu, that is too much praise. I was merely lucky."

Xu Feiqu shook her head. "It is not praise. A doctor as intelligent as you must have considered why that person wanted to attack me, and why they chose poisoning as the method at the time."

Chao Qingxiu's voice was gentle. "I did think about it."

"Those who choose to kill usually do so for revenge or profit. Those who choose to poison someone day after day usually mean to make the death look natural..." At this, she paused again before continuing, "Even so, that person delayed far too long. Could it be that her purpose was not to take your life, but to keep you bedridden?"

Xu Feiqu said coolly, "You are right, Doctor Chao. I did not understand why at first either. Now that my headache has eased, I have thought it over carefully and may have guessed part of the reason."

She took a jade bottle about three inches long from her bosom and placed it on the table, a look of recollection crossing her face. "This was something my father's older brother obtained on a trip many years ago. He met a wandering old woman, treated her to a hot meal, and gave her a set of clean clothes. In return, she gave him this bottle and said that it held pills capable of curing every ailment, though they were too potent for anyone in good health to take. When my uncle died, he left me all his valuables, including this bottle."

When Xu Feiqu had fallen gravely ill, she had not actually thought of the bottle at all.

To her, the bottle had made about as much impression as the sight of "I, Qin Shi Huang, pay up!" had made on Chao Qingxiu before she crossed over. She had not taken it seriously in the slightest. Moreover, the bottle was already an old object. Even if the pills inside had truly been effective once, their potency had almost certainly faded by now, leaving them unusable.

Only when Xu Feiqu fell gravely ill in bed this time and her brother told her the full story of how she had been poisoned did she finally remember the past.

Xu Feiqu said calmly, "I would not venture to say that I had never given anyone offense, but I had not reached the point where someone would insist on poisoning me to death. Thinking it over now, that person most likely wanted me to find the pills in this bottle and take them for my headache, so that she could take the opportunity to get hold of it."

After speaking, Xu Feiqu pushed the jade bottle toward Chao Qingxiu.

Chao Qingxiu raised her eyes and focused her gaze on Xu Feiqu. "Miss Xu, what do you mean?"

Xu Feiqu's tone never wavered. "If you had not intervened, I would either have lost my life or had the pills stolen. In either case, I would never have been able to use what was inside this bottle. Therefore, I am giving you the medicine bottle. I hope you will not decline."

She had indeed considered whether Chao Qingxiu had designs on the bottle as well. But Chao Qingxiu had not mentioned anything remotely connected with it from beginning to end. Only then did Xu Feiqu make up her mind.

Having finished, Xu Feiqu rose, smoothed her sleeve, and saluted Chao Qingxiu. "There are still some household matters at home that need attending to. I will not trouble you any further. I take my leave."

She had come without warning and left just as abruptly, leaving Chao Qingxiu and the white jade medicine bottle together in the hall.

Chao Qingxiu sat quietly for a while before reaching out and lifting the bottle.

The bottle was white all over, with black landscape motifs engraved across its surface. Chao Qingxiu peeled away the medicinal clay sealing its mouth and tipped three vermilion pills out of it.

Though no one knew how many years had passed, the pills remained intact in appearance. They still gave off a fragrance, and merely breathing it in seemed to clear Chao Qingxiu's chest and leave her feeling open and unobstructed inside. She had no idea what refining method had been used to make them.

Chao Qingxiu looked at the pills for a moment. With her present medical knowledge, she was unable to identify their type or effects. She therefore put them back exactly as they were and tossed the bottle into the Detective System's wooden box, there to keep the emergency funds she had stored there earlier company.

When Li Yao brought in the tea, she found Chao Qingxiu sitting alone on the principal seat, lost in thought.

It was not that she was slow. She had noticed that Xu Feiqu wanted to speak with Chao Qingxiu in private, so she had deliberately waited a while before coming in.

Li Yao did not ask where Xu Feiqu had gone. She only asked, "Will you read in the courtyard today, Miss, or under the veranda?"

"Under the veranda," Chao Qingxiu said.

The courtyard was thick with vegetation, and the number of insects was directly proportionate to it. Chao Qingxiu had gone there to read the day before yesterday, but her real purpose was to test the results of her Feizhen Art training. She very quickly realized that while using flying needles against a person was still passable, using them against insects amounted to aiming east and making the needles strike west, leaving the insects she had not chosen as targets unable to defend against them at all.

With a sufficiently clear understanding of her own abilities, Chao Qingxiu calmly sat back down under the veranda before her bedroom.

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