By the hour of Chen, the sun had already risen.
Miao Hui seemed very anxious, her steps quickening.
Fortunately, Zhong Li's pace was also not slow. As she made marks, she followed Miao Hui, winding through the vegetarian refectory, the Buddhist chanting hall, and into a small Buddhist shrine.
"Master Miao Hui," Zhong Li called out when Miao Hui suddenly stopped.
Miao Hui turned around and handed the child in her arms to Zhong Li.
The moment Zhong Li took it, a dagger was placed across her neck.
"Master Miao Hui," Zhong Li feigned nervousness and fear, murmuring with a trembling voice.
Miao Hui sneered and asked, "You don't want to die?"
Zhong Li nodded.
Miao Hui said, "Originally, you were hired temporarily by the nunnery to help. This kind of matter would never have fallen to you. Things happened so suddenly, and you've been involved to some extent, so I'm letting you assist.
I'm warning you now, once you go inside, you are part of the Bei Tian Nunnery. As they say, fortune favors the bold. You won't lack money in the future, but..."
She paused, her eyes flashing with a ferocity and cunning unbecoming of a nun. "If you reveal the secrets here, I guarantee that I will drag you down with me before I die, understand?"
Zhong Li nodded her head like a garlic thrasher, looking so frightened that she was about to cry, like an innocent young girl suddenly sold into a wolf's den.
Miao Hui snorted, retrieved the dagger to her waist, and pushed open the door of the Buddhist shrine.
Zhong Li followed Miao Hui inside. Through the gaps in Miao Hui's shoulders, she looked at everything in the shrine. It seemed to have all the usual furnishings of a normal Buddhist shrine. Even the statue of Guanyin had three incense sticks burning before it, indicating someone had just paid their respects.
However, Zhong Li could still smell traces of blood mixed with the incense, a faint sweet scent, not the fetid odor she expected.
"What are you thinking about? Keep up!" Miao Hui glanced at Zhong Li with some impatience and urged her on.
Zhong Li snapped back to attention and quickened her pace to catch up with Miao Hui.
Miao Hui walked up to the Buddha statue and rotated a plate of fruits and nuts placed on the offering table.
With the sound of a mechanism, a commotion arose in the shrine.
Zhong Li felt the entire building shake. When she came to her senses, the Buddha statue in front of her had moved aside, revealing a doorway.
"Go!" Miao Hui uttered a single word, picked up the candlestick from the offering table, and walked into the doorway.
Zhong Li, clutching the child tightly, hesitated.
The doorway was too dark. She had just left the Ministry of Justice, and while her body had recovered, her psychological ailments resurfaced. She felt as if it were a pitch-black coffin, and if she entered, she would never get out.
"Wow!" a clear cry startled her thoughts.
Zhong Li reacted, quickly lowering her gaze. She saw that the child in her arms had woken up again, gazing at her with bright, shining eyes. Although she knew that babies at this age couldn't really see people.
A warmth inexplicably spread through her heart. Recalling Zhong Wuyou, whose remains had yet to be found, her fear was instantly dispelled. She dropped a small bead from her waist and stepped quickly into the darkness.
The scene behind the door was much as she had imagined. A long, deep corridor led downwards, opening to two dark rooms opposite each other.
One dark room had its wooden door tightly locked, while the other was wide open.
Zhong Li glanced at the floor by the dim candlelight. Fortunately, it wasn't as dirty and messy as she had feared. She soothed the child in her arms, who was still moving, and quickly entered the room with the open door.
"Why are you so slow?" Miao Hui, who had been waiting inside, asked impatiently.
Zhong Li smiled apologetically and explained, "I have a vision impairment, so I walk a bit slower."
Miao Hui stopped complaining, beckoned to her, and walked around a screen inside the room.
Zhong Li watched the light filtering through the screen, her heart pounding in her chest. She could vaguely smell a stronger scent of blood in this dark room.
"Be good, once I find the evidence, I will safely take you out," she whispered to the infant in her arms, then followed Miao Hui behind the screen.
Zhong Li had imagined what she might see, but she had never anticipated facing such a scene.
The room behind the screen was large, with small beds neatly arranged along the walls. Through the railings, she could vaguely see children lying on some of the beds. However, the children were motionless, and from such a distance, Zhong Li couldn't discern their chest movements, nor could she tell if they were alive or dead.
"Master, this child belongs to Wang Mei. Those upstairs said he needs to be dealt with quickly," Miao Hui said in a low voice to a woman, emphasizing the last sentence.
The woman stopped cleaning her tools, turned to look at Zhong Li behind her, and then at the child in her arms, scoffing, "Alright, I understand. Go prepare."
Miao Hui nodded, took a bag about the size of a fist from the woman, and walked out of the room.
Although Zhong Li didn't know what Miao Hui was going to do, she recognized the small bag. It was something that had once been found inside Zhong Wuyou.
As she thought about it, her gaze unconsciously followed where Miao Hui had disappeared.
"Chang Qing?" a voice sounded in Zhong Li's ear.
Zhong Li quickly turned around, nearly startled by a woman's head leaning too close.
"Scared?" the woman asked with a smile.
Zhong Li remained silent, her gaze sweeping over the woman in front of her. The woman wore a sea-blue robe but was heavily made up, her lips painted a fiery red, and her eyes on Zhong Li held mockery and disdain.
This was no nun, but a demon.
"I'm asking you a question, Chang Qing." the woman asked again.
Zhong Li quickly replied, "Reporting to Master Miao Yun, no."
Miao Yun smiled and said, "If you don't call me by my Dharma name, I would think you don't recognize me."
Zhong Li shook her head. "Master Miao Yun is the supervisor of the compound. How could Chang Qing not know? Chang Qing is currently working under Master Miao Hui, so I must have this sense."
Miao Yun seemed quite pleased with her answer, nodding with a smile. Her gaze fell upon the male infant in Zhong Li's arms.
"Tsk, he looks good. Too bad no one wants you," she said, even reaching out to poke the infant's cheek.
At this touch, the child instinctively flinched and cried out loudly.
Miao Yun frowned, her rare good mood ruined. She turned and walked toward another room.
Zhong Li soothed the child and followed.
The moment she stepped into the room and saw the scene inside, her deep pupils contracted sharply.
The room was not large. In the center stood a table, which seemed not to have been cleaned for a long time, with faint bloodstains on it. Beside the table was a wooden rack, displaying several simple instruments.
As a coroner, Zhong Li was most familiar with these instruments. She recognized them as tools used in traditional Chinese surgery at a glance.
She already knew what Miao Yun was about to do.
"Bring him over," Miao Yun said, her back to Zhong Li, as she mixed something in her hand.
To find more evidence, Zhong Li suppressed the urge to apprehend Miao Yun on the spot, held the child tighter, and walked over.
Miao Yun held a small bowl in one hand and a small spoon in the other. "Place him on that wooden board, then feed him this."
Zhong Li looked at the bowl Miao Yun handed her and asked, "What is this?"
Miao Yun smiled and said, "A sleeping potion, with some Aconitum carmichaeli added."