Bone Painting Coroner

Marquis Kang kept his treasures in a dedicated, well-guarded courtyard. The door to the courtyard was locked with several padlocks.

His treasures were perfectly secured.

Once Marquis Kang and Jing Rong stepped into the courtyard, they entered a room Marquis Kang randomly picked. They opened the door to the room, and were immediately blinded by the glare of the treasures.

The room was filled with a plethora of precious items and jewelries.

Jing Rong had always known that Marquis Kang had a sizable collection of treasure, even before arrived. However, Jing Rong didn’t expect that Marquis Kang’s collection was not just sizable but practically ridiculous in scale. Marquis Kang had a myriad of treasure filling up every corner of this big room, which was actually the smallest room in the entire courtyard.

Jing Rong briefly studied every item in the room. He knew the names of some, but not others. All in all, there were all kinds of odd and fantastic treasures here.

Marquis Kang removed a big magenta goat horn from the rack.

“This was the only magenta goat horn among all the tributes the Western Regions offered that year. It was taken directly from the goat and is completely intact. Have a touch, its ridges are very distinct, but feel very comfortable to the touch. ” As he spoke, he offered the goat horn to Jing Rong, urging Jing Rong to touch it.

Not knowing how to decline Marquis Kang’s offer, Jing Rong brushed a finger lightly against the goat horn.

“How is it?”

“It's very nice,” Jing Rong lied.

Marquis Kang was very pleased with Jing Rong's reaction. He carefully put the goat horn back to where it was, and proceeded to remove a cubic rock from the rack.

He held it in his hands and asked, “Guess what's this.”

“This prince doesn't know what it is.”

“This is a rock.”

Pah! So, it's really just a rock! Jing Rong tried to hold back his laughter as he waited patiently for Marquis Kang's elaboration.

Marquis Kang explained, “I bought this from a businessman who was passing through by Jingzhou. This is a naturally formed and shaped rock. You must feel that it’s very strange, but it's true. Look at the texture of the rock. It took thousands of years of weathering before the surface of the rock can be this smooth. This is a very precious collectible.”

“Yes, it's really not bad.”

“Of course.” Marquis Kang smiled and asked, “Do you want to hold it?”

“Umm…” Marquis Kang did not give Jing Rong any chance to turn him down and forced the rock into Jing Rong’s hands.

Jing Rong, who initially seemed reluctant, was astounded when the rock was placed in his hands. This rock… is very light. It was as if he was carrying no weight at all.

Jing Rong's eyes widened in shock. Marquis Kang's treasures are not bad after all!

“Why is it so light?” Jing Rong asked.

Marquis Kang told him smugly, “This is why I spent such a high price to purchase this rock. Isn't it amazing?”

Jing Rong nodded, this time in all sincerity.

Marquis Kang brought him on a tour of the room and introduced Jing Rong to his many other treasures.

These were all things that Jing Rong had never seen before. He felt as if he had attended a lesson and he had learned plenty from it.

Eventually, Marquis Kang asked, “Do you want to see the Golden Woven Armour?”

Ah! There were only a handful of people who had the honour to see the Golden Woven Armor. One of the two sets of armor was buried with the late Emperor’s body in the imperial tomb, while the other one that belonged to Marquis Kang was kept inside a chest at the imperial ancestral hall. There were only so many people who had ever seen the Golden Woven Armour, and even the Qizhen Emperor only ever seen it once. It would be a great honour for Jing Rong if he could take a glimpse of the armour.

Jing Rong had no idea what made Marquis Kang so generous today. Not only did he show Jing Rong many of his treasures, allow Jing Rong to touch them, and even offered to show Jing Rong the Golden Woven Armour.

His actions only made Jing Rong wonder, what's with Marquis Kang?

Nevertheless, he nodded, and replied frankly, “Seeing the Golden Woven Armour even just once in my life is worth it.”

Subsequently, Marquis Kang led him to a secret room. There was completely no light in the room and they had to bring a lantern along.

Marquis Kang pressed a hidden button somewhere and opened a door to the secret room. Then, a chest secured with many locks appeared.

He opened the locks, one after another. When he unlocked the last one, he said, “Put out the candle.”

Jing Rong extinguished the candle and their surroundings turned pitch black.

When he opened the chest, the item inside the chest shone through the whole room, instantly lighting up the dark room. The glow was so bright that their eyes hurt from the glare.

The Golden Woven Armour was said to be the hardest armour in the world, and its brilliance could light up the night sky for a thousand miles. Indeed, its fame was not unfounded

The light was so strong that Jing Rong could barely open his eyes. After a long while, when his eyes finally adapted to the light, his gaze followed Marquis Kang’s into the chest.

Lying inside the chest was the neatly folded Golden Woven Armour. The golden plates were nearly put together, woven together by the softest, strongest ice silk.

Both the craftsmanship and the appearance of the armour were exquisite, as if it were crafted by the heavens.

However, no one knew the origin of the Golden Woven Armour, not even Marquis Kang.

After Jing Rong finally witnessed the splendor of the Golden Woven Armour, he reluctantly left the secret room and Marquis Kang dragged Jing Rong into drinking tea with him.

In the meantime, Ji Yunshu had arrived at her room. The servants of the estate had arranged everything very nicely for her, and had even prepared clean clothes and toiletries for her.

She soaked in the warm tub and gradually fell asleep in the middle of her bath.

All of a sudden, the window creaked open.

Upon hearing the noise, Ji Yunshu opened her eyes, and quickly turned to the window. The previously closed window was now open.

She came out of the bath and got dressed before she walked to the window. She peeked out of the window, but saw nothing amiss. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid. She reached out to close the window.

However, all the candles in the room suddenly extinguished and she was immediately plunged into darkness. With the help of the moonlight that shone through the window, she managed to locate the candle stand. Usually, wealthy families would place a fire starter beside every candle stand, but there wasn’t one here. She had no choice but to step out of her room to ask for help, but no one answered her even after she called out several times.

It’s late at night. Maybe everyone’s already asleep?. But that did not make any sense either! After all, this was the Marquis’s Estate. There must be at least one or two maids who were on night shift.

She carried the candle stand with her and headed out to get help. However, the estate was too big, and the darkness of the night certainly was not helping. She kept walking in circles and eventually lost her way.

When she arrived at the backyard, she found a rock garden. The large boulders that should be upright were now tipped over. Some of them lay on the ground, others had fallen into the pond, and the rest had been smashed into smithereens.

She was puzzled. Why did no one clean up the fallen and damaged rocks? She went forward to examine the broken pieces on the floor. They were certainly smashed upon hitting the ground.

Then, she studied her surroundings. The boulders of the rock garden had all been firmly entrenched into the ground. With so many boulders that weighed several tons, it would require either specialized equipment or the concerted effort of many people to topple them.

But why did they not clean up after themselves after toppling the boulders? She was still baffled.

Ji Yunshu continued walking around.

After some time, she arrived at the ancestral hall of the estate, as if her route was predestined.

There were only two lit lanterns in the hall but many joss sticks were burning. White curls of incense smoke filled the hall, accompanied by the thick smell of incense wafting through the air