Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 29 Destiny Tianying City

Zhou Zhao's eyelashes trembled slightly, and with a flick of her wrist, the black coffin nail silently slipped into her hand.

She flashed forward and leaped up, stabbing the coffin nail straight at Zhu Li's neck.

Zhu Li's eyes narrowed, and she took a big step back, distancing herself from Zhou Zhao.

However, he still didn't have time to completely avoid the sudden attack. The sharp point of the coffin nail grazed his neck, revealing a thin line of red blood.

Zhu Li covered her wound, her gaze towards Zhou Zhao filled with anger. "Is Miss Zhou always this capricious?"

With a flick of her sleeve, Zhou Zhao put the coffin nail back in. She then took out a bottle of wound medicine from her sleeve pocket and tossed it to Zhu Li.

"I apologize. Lord Zhu's martial arts are superb, even among the elite of the Northern Army. I was itching to show off my skills... I'm truly sorry. This is top-quality wound medicine; consider it my apology to Lord Zhu."

Zhu Li reached out and grabbed the wound medicine. Although her anger had subsided somewhat, she still looked displeased.

Looking at him, Zhou Zhao felt that he seemed more like a living person than when he was investigating the "Ghost-Eating Song Case" during the day.

Her eyes flickered, and she cupped her hands in thanks to Zhu Li. "Thank you, Lord Zhu, for informing my mother. However, I have a question. As you said, we have never met before. Why did you do this?"

It wasn't that she said it, but Zhou wasn't afraid of offending all the leeches in the lotus pond of Tingwei Temple.

Otherwise, when she was imprisoned, why didn't any of the old subordinates of the Zhou family come to inform her? Everyone who saw her would shed a tear of bitterness and sigh that people are forgotten when they leave, and that a new emperor brings a new court.

“My mother went to the Court of Justice to pick me up, but Lord Zhu did not go back to that official’s side with me. Was something holding you back? I wonder if you know about the robbery at the Court of Justice? It’s a pity I left too early and didn’t run into the robbers.”

Zhu Li's gaze returned to its calm state, completely unwavering.

He seemed to have a faint sense of death about him again.

"I went there on the orders of my lord. General Lu was in charge of the Court of Justice, and I, a nobody, was also tasked with patrolling at night. Unfortunately, when we were ordered to go and help with the search, the prisoners in the jail had already been rescued. We didn't find any clues during our patrol."

As Zhou Zhao listened, her mind raced. After a moment's thought, she asked again, "Lord Zhu, you haven't answered my question from earlier."

"The Northern Army patrols in squads. Why are you, sir, dressed in night patrol armor, alone here?"

Zhu Li looked at Zhou Zhao quietly. "Miss Zhou, are you interrogating me? I am not a criminal, and I have no obligation to answer your questions. Farewell!"

As Zhu Li spoke, she clasped her hands in a fist salute to Zhou Zhao, then lightly touched the ground and floated far away. Zhou Zhao wanted to chase after her, but due to her drunkenness, she saw a double image of the person in front of her. She rubbed her eyes, and when she looked again, Zhu Li was nowhere to be seen.

She looked toward the end of the alley, where it was pitch black, like an endless deep sea that could swallow a person whole.

Zhou Zhao withdrew his gaze and returned to his residence.

The room remained chaotic yet orderly. Zhou Zhao had walked through it countless times and had mastered the art of navigating the twists and turns without ever encountering a "corpse," stepping on a "drop of blood at a crime scene," or accidentally triggering a mechanism that would cause the sledgehammer hanging from the roof beam to suddenly fall and crush him into mincemeat.

She took out the blank bamboo scroll. The scroll was icy cold, and there wasn't a single word on it. It was as if the letter to her deceased wife that she had seen in prison that day was just her imagination.

Is it only in prison that one can see this?

For a moment, Zhou Zhao had the absurd thought of being arrested again.

She shook her head, spread the bamboo slips out on the table, and then lightly leaped onto a hemp rope hanging above the table, her whole body hanging loosely like dried clothes.

This is her special way of relaxing her mind.

When Zhou Wan first saw her, she thought she had hanged herself and was so frightened that she pulled her down and beat her severely! At that time, she was completely disoriented and made a mess of the house, which made Zhou Zhao so angry that he held a grudge against her.

Zhou Zhao kept her eyes fixed on the bamboo slip, her thoughts drifting away. Seeing the "Letter to His Deceased Wife" confirmed to her that Su Changying was not dead at all; he was alive and well and would definitely go to Tianying City on the fifteenth of next month. Zhu Li seemed familiar to her, which was why she had probed earlier—could Zhu Li be Su Changying?

After all, he was highly skilled in martial arts and had shown her great kindness, and now he had secretly come to her doorstep alone.

But her initial probing had left her somewhat disappointed. She had often ambushed Su Changying in the past, and his evasiveness was ingrained in his very being.

Zhu Li did not dodge.

If Zhu Li is not Su Changying, then who is he?

As Zhou Zhao thought about it, his eyelids gradually grew heavy. When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next morning.

Sunlight streamed in, making the "murder weapons" scattered throughout the room reflect light.

“Miss, Lord Zhang just sent someone to invite you to his residence for a chat, saying he wants to discuss our agreement.”

Zhou Zhao perked up and jumped down from the long rope. She rubbed her stomach, which was feeling a little uncomfortable from the tight rope, and quickly replied, "Okay. Tell Fifteen to hitch up the cart, I'll be right there."

As she had predicted, after one night, the entire city of Chang'an knew that she had won first place in the imperial examination.

Even if others didn't say anything, the names of Min Zangzhi, the "celebrity of Chang'an," and Han Ze, the "unparalleled playboy," swept through the entire capital like a storm, reaching everyone's ears. With countless eyes watching, Zhang Ran and the Minister of Justice, Li Huaishan, would surely petition immediately, and a decision would be made today.

As Zhou Zhao changed his clothes and washed up, he pondered what unexpected events might occur on this trip.

The city of Chang'an was exceptionally lively in the early morning, with farmers carrying loads of vegetables into the city as soon as the market opened.

Zhou Zhao did not linger and entered the Zhang residence with practiced ease.

Unlike when I came yesterday, the atmosphere in this mansion was somewhat eerie. However, the mourning hall that had been set up earlier had been taken down, and there were no more people crying and sobbing.

“Zhou Shimei, Father is waiting for you in the study. I apologize for my impetuousness and rudeness yesterday; I didn’t expect this…”

Zhang Xun, who was leading the way, was a little embarrassed. He had changed into a light blue robe today, which made him look much more refined. However, his eyes were so red and swollen that they looked like slits, indicating that he had been crying all night.

Zhou Zhao shook him gently, without saying anything more.

Yesterday she was Zhou Zhao, today she is Zhou Shimei.

Zhang Ran's study was just as it had been yesterday. As soon as Zhou Zhao entered, he sighed three times in a row, his eyes filled with resentment as he looked at Zhou Zhao.

"Nephew, Lord Zhou, you've really tricked me! You have no idea how badly His Majesty looked at me yesterday before the Emperor, as if I were a fool. I treated you with such sincerity and trusted you so much, and yet you still managed to set me up..."

Zhou Zhao raised an eyebrow. "Uncle, what are you saying? Every word I said was true. I simply did as you asked. How could you say I set a trap?"

"Moreover, in the future, people will only praise you for your discerning eye and for being a rare talent scout in the world."

Zhang Ran looked at Zhou Zhao with a deep, unwavering gaze. "You, a thoroughbred horse, owe a discerning eye."

He rubbed his temples, walked around the desk, and strode to the door. Seeing that no one was outside the study, and that Zhang Xun was standing at a distance guarding the area, Zhang Ran closed the door again and looked at Zhou Zhao with a serious expression.

"Although you won the competition, many people are not convinced because you are a woman. Last night, the Weiyang Palace was more noisy than a marketplace. They said you had the upper hand, and the competition ended just as they arrived, which made your victory somewhat unfair."

"His Majesty and the Prime Minister have discussed this and will give you two choices."

"First, you can't enter the Court of Justice, but you can be rewarded and granted a title; second, according to the Grand Examination, you can enter the Court of Justice, but you need to have a merit that can silence public opinion and convince the people."

As Zhang Ran spoke, his voice turned serious, "Zhou Zhao, have you ever heard of Tianying City?"