The next day when Ma Bing woke up and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, she was quite confused for a moment before recalling: Ah, right, I’m at the Kaifeng Prefecture.
When she pushed open the door and stepped out, breakfast at the dining hall had just started. The air was filled with a faint aroma of food. Ma Bing lifted her head and sniffed for a while before deciding to stroll along the street instead.
The communal meals were mainly about filling one’s stomach; it was better not to expect too much in terms of taste. However, the Great Lu was economically prosperous with abundant resources, and people never hesitated to spend time on food. Indeed, they delighted in preparing dishes with meticulous care.
Outside the gate of Kaifeng Prefecture, various restaurants, teahouses, and wineries lined both sides of the main street, offering rare delicacies from all over the country. There was nothing that couldn’t be found and tasted.
Recently, the weather had been fine, and the citizens’ spring attire had become increasingly vibrant and colorful. Just looking at them brought a sense of visual pleasure.
Both sides of this main road were planted with apricot trees, reportedly because the late emperor had once toured the street, and the name carried a favorable homophonic connotation.
Now it was already the end of March, and the apricot blossoms were gradually falling. Only a few scattered flowers remained on the branches and on the ground, telling of the once-beautiful scenery.
Ma Bing couldn’t help but imagine the scene when the apricot blossoms were in full bloom, covering the city with fragrant clouds and a pink cascade. What a magnificent sight that must have been!
Too bad she had missed it this year.
The apricot blossoms had fallen, leaving small, plump buds among the tender branches. In a few months, these buds would turn into green fruits, which would then become fuzzy, chubby apricots with an orange-pink hue.
When the apricots ripened, Kaifeng Prefecture would organize people to harvest them, selecting the best ones to send to the palace, while the rest were distributed among the citizens to taste, a gesture of sharing joy with the people.
Possibly because of this, the citizens were all willing to take care of the apricot trees voluntarily.
As Ma Bing walked and admired the scenery, she felt very content, though her nose was already overwhelmed by various fragrances.
The Great Lu did not enforce a curfew, and many food shops operated around the clock, with smoke and fire never ceasing.
She strolled for most of the street before finally stopping at a shop selling lotus-leaf-wrapped meat buns.
The shop front facing the street was wide open, and the counter was piled high with reddish-brown, glossy sauce-coated meat. Beside it, a capable assistant was busily slicing meat, each stroke releasing a fresh wave of aroma.
A quick-moving woman wearing a headscarf just happened to come to get her buns. “I have half-fat and half-lean, 60% fat and 40% lean, and 40% fat and 60% lean. Which one would the young lady like?”
If she had asked, “Would you like one?” perhaps Ma Bing would have hesitated a bit, but since she directly asked which type she wanted, Ma Bing instinctively blurted out, “Naturally, the fattier one is more flavorful.”
The woman smiled and replied, “One lotus-leaf bun with 60% fat it is!”
Ma Bing stamped her foot and clasped her wrist in regret. “Alas, I’ve fallen into a trap! I guess I can’t go anywhere else this morning!”
Upon hearing this, the meat-slicing assistant picked out a piece of good meat, indeed with more fat.
With practiced skill, he chopped the sauce-coated meat into slightly larger, fragrant mince. With his left hand, he took a folded lotus-leaf bun, and with his right hand, he used the knife to scoop, spread, and stuff the mince into the bun. He then poured in some glossy sauce and sprinkled a few sesame seeds, making it look absolutely beautiful.
Holding the heavy bun in her hand, Ma Bing couldn’t wait and took a big bite immediately. The meat juice instantly burst forth, soaking the bread and covering her tongue and lips.
The bun was very chewy; even after being soaked in meat juice, it didn’t become soggy but instead released a rich wheat aroma.
The sauce-coated meat had been simmered in a large pot overnight. The fat had melted, making the fatty parts tender and the lean parts soft, fragrant without being greasy.
Such a large bun cost only five copper coins.
As Ma Bing nodded and munched away contentedly, she caught sight of a mother and daughter at the adjacent table noisily enjoying a bowl of fen geng (a type of porridge or soup), and couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy.
As luck would have it, the woman with the headscarf passed by and followed Ma Bing’s gaze, smiling as she said, “Shall I ask for a bowl of rice pudding for the young lady? It’s cold today, and it’s comforting to eat something warm early in the morning.”
Ma Bing nodded eagerly. The woman signaled to the neighboring shop, and soon a young man came running over with a steaming bowl of shrimp rice porridge.
“The young lady can settle the bill for this at the lotus-leaf meat bun shop.”
Adjacent shops rarely offered the same products, and they often helped each other attract customers, which was considered mutual benefit.
Because of this, Ma Bing’s appetite was greatly stimulated, and she ordered another vegetable pancake.
As it was early spring and fresh vegetables were scarce, the price of the vegetable pancake was almost equal to that of the meat pancake, costing four copper coins.
She heard that during summer and autumn when vegetables were abundant, the same vegetable pancake would drop to just two copper coins.
Ma Bing ate with both hands, her mouth full of oil, unable to stop her thoughts from wandering.
Who exactly had killed Lao Liu?
His death location was too special, and it was late at night with few people around. Unless the killer had previously heard of his plan and followed him in advance to lie in wait, it could only have been a chance encounter.
Thinking of this, Ma Bing instinctively held her breath and focused, realizing that the surrounding conversations were very clear:
“This soup is a bit bland.”
“Be content. The place on the east side raised their prices the day before yesterday!”
“…If you can’t finish it, give it to me.”
“Just order one bowl for the child. Let’s go eat elsewhere.”
In other words, if the killer had been sitting nearby at that time, Lao Liu’s arrangement wouldn’t have been hidden from others at all.
Ma Bing picked a shrimp from the rice noodle soup and chewed slowly.
The shrimps were freshly caught from the river that morning, still lively before being cooked, very fresh and sweet.
Or perhaps, the killer was actually one of Lao Liu’s accomplices?
After all, they were all idlers who didn’t engage in proper professions, often quarreling among themselves. Their brotherhood might not have been that deep, so it was possible that the killer seized the opportunity to settle a score.
As for a chance encounter… Ma Bing was a bit curious. What kind of secret business could it be that made the other party decide to kill him to silence him?
She tried hard to recall the footprints at the wild cemetery. It seemed there weren’t many overlapping traces. In other words, the killer probably didn’t linger in the same place for long, and their route was very straightforward.
“Second Liang!”
A familiar voice rang out from behind.
Ma Bing: “…”
She pretended not to hear but instantly quickened her eating pace.
This guy was really like a persistent ghost!
Yuanpei had already run over from behind, cheerfully pulling out the bench opposite Ma Bing and wiping it vigorously.
“Woah, Second Liang, your breakfast is so lavish?”
Ma Bing gritted her teeth, “You’re the second Liang, and your whole family is the second Liang!”
“Please take a seat, sir,” Yuanpei called to someone behind.
A warm breeze blew by, lifting the piles of fallen petals on the ground. Ma Bing raised her hand to tuck her stray bangs back and followed the swirling petals with her eyes, watching them float lightly over the ditch, brushing past people’s heads. Some nestled in the hair of giggling girls, while the rest drifted into the river, joining the boatmen’s songs and the laundresses’ laughter and chatter, shimmering on the water as they headed toward an unknown distance.
And there stood Xie Yu amidst the shimmering light, saying to his subordinates, “Thank you all for your hard work. Dismissed.”
Besides assisting the Kaifeng Prefecture in arrest operations, the imperial guards were also responsible for daily patrols and maintaining public order in the capital. Xie Yu and his men had just finished their shift and returned.
Xie Yu actually sat down opposite Ma Bing, “Second Liang?”
What second Liang?
Ma Bing quickly replied, “You must have heard wrong.”
Yuanpei laughed heartily and explained the whole story. Xie Yu’s eyes sparkled with amusement, as bright as the shimmering river behind him.
Under the table, Ma Bing stomped hard on Yuanpei’s foot, deliberately changing the subject, “Have you caught the murderer who killed Old Liu?”
Xie Yu asked, “Miss Ma, are you very interested in detective work?”
Not only was she interested, but she likely had a talent for it as well.
He had already heard from Yuanpei and Huo Ping about what happened yesterday and was especially impressed by Ma Bing’s sharp thinking.
Ma Bing rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment, “It’s like solving a lantern riddle. It’s actually quite interesting.”
Xie Yu lowered his eyelids, seemingly pondering something. After a moment, he suddenly said, “This morning I led people out of the city to investigate. There was nothing suspicious around the grave site near the corpse.”
Ma Bing looked at him in surprise, “Am I allowed to know this?”
Xie Yu glanced at her, his face clearly saying: You didn’t stop asking even when I hadn’t mentioned it before.
It was rare for him to be so generous, so Ma Bing became interested and shared her earlier thoughts.
Xie Yu shook his head, “We’ve already questioned Lao Liu’s several companions. Three of them were at home sleeping and didn’t go out, while another was at a gambling house until late at night, and there were people who could testify to having seen him.”
“Was he there the whole time?” Ma Bing pressed.
Xie Yu replied, “The unaccounted time in between wasn’t enough to make a round trip between the city and the wild cemetery.”
The city gates were closed at night, and he didn’t think a ruffian like Lao Liu had the power to get the gates opened specially. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have been so destitute.
If the killer acted after the gates opened, it would definitely be too late.
“What about the customers and staff at the restaurant where he was dining that day?” Ma Bing asked again.
Hot tea arrived, and Yuanpei poured a cup for Xie Yu first. Hearing the question, he shook his head vigorously, “Look at the constant flow of people. How easy do you think it is?”
They had already questioned the staff these past two days. Everyone recognized Lao Liu and his group, and some even disliked them a bit, but not enough to kill them.
As for the other customers…
“Your honor, it’s not that I intentionally withheld anything,” the shopkeeper said with a bitter face, “Nor am I boasting, but every day there are at least eighty to a hundred people coming to my shop for tea and meals. How could I possibly remember every single one of them?”
Xie Yu then asked them to try to recall if there had been anyone with mobility issues entering or leaving the shop, and the shopkeeper agreed, promising to report to the Kaifeng Prefecture immediately if any news came up.
Ma Bing sighed, watching the flowing crowd on the street, “That’s true indeed.”
For ordinary business owners, aside from regular customers, who would bother to remember what each guest looked like?
“Your honor!”
Just as they were talking, suddenly a yamen runner from the Kaifeng Prefecture came running through the crowd, his expression a mix of surprise and excitement.
Progress!
The three of them simultaneously thought.
“Did you find a clue?”
Yuanpei quickly stepped forward.
The runner nodded vigorously, speaking in a low voice before even catching his breath, “Just now, a commoner came to report after seeing the wanted poster. He said one of his neighbors has been acting suspiciously these days. More importantly, about half a month ago, that person had just injured his leg!”
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