Introduction
I’m glad that the biggest stumbling block of the investigation, Beiming and Xueman’s complicated relationship, was cleared up, as shown by the end of the first part, The Wanted Detective: Drama Info and Recap Cases 1 and 2.
In this part, we finally met the last member of the squad, Huo Dai Rong. From now on, I will put group photos as the featured images, because I like the squad with their camaraderie. Everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses, and contributed to the teamwork harmoniously.
This second part of the article series only contains Case 3, because the investigation is very long and complicated. This case also introduces the squad to Haiya and the Canfeng Army, as we enter the main investigation from now on.
The Cursed Army
Case Introduction
Their investigation dated back to the 36th year of Ningtai, when the incident in Haiya occurred. To access old documents in the Imperial Secretariat, Xueman had to collaborate with Zhuge Kongyun, who had access to the Imperial Secretariat. When they searched for her father’s file, they discovered that some pages were missing. They went to look for the files of Zhong Yunchi’s comrades from that year. There were two, belated Imperial Secretariat Miao Jie (who died on the boat) and Minister of War Huo Zhong Yao. General Huo had retired. Kongyun and Xueman rushed to his home, only to find that he had passed away. What looked like a natural death from a long-time illness turned out to be suspicious!
Episode 8
Beiming, Xueman, Qingzhuo, and Tong Shuang sneaked into Huo Mansion as night watchmen to find clues. Xueman was caught by General Huo’s daughter, Dairong. Yay… our last squad member finally arrived! This girl seemed to have good profiling skills, since she guessed that the girl in front of her was the famous Zhong Xueman. Dairong was also suspicious of her father’s death, so she wanted to collaborate with Xueman.
Xueman was in trouble, tho, because her friends decided to steal General Huo’s body and took it to the morgue for forensic examination. She was caught by the Huo family. Although Dairong vouched for her, they were suspicious of her. Luckily, the Elite Constabulary Unit and the Special Investigation Unit came and declared that General Huo’s death was suspicious, and she was investigating Yesha’s case that was related to General Huo. Everyone went to the morgue.
Episode 9
Beiming went into hiding, and Qingzhuo, as a coroner, took the stage and declared that General Huo died from strangulation. The Huo family was still suspicious of Xueman, but Kongyun said that they worked together, and he sent Xueman secretly to the Huo Mansion because the family was still mourning.
Xueman discussed her findings while sneaking into the mansion with the others. Everyone thought that the Huo household was indeed suspicious, like they were covering for something. Upon further investigation, they found out that the General went berserk because of his (mental) disease and wanted to slash everyone. He ended up strangling himself, with many witnesses. Beiming and Qingzhuo were suspicious that the General had taken hallucinogenic drugs along the years.
Beiming and Xueman returned to Huo Mansion to investigate further. Beiming disguised as Tong Shuang, but Dairong told them that he reminded her of an old dear friend. Lol, the look on Xueman’s face when she glared at her husband!
Episode 10
Dairong’s mother woke up and wanted to talk to Beiming and Xueman, so they didn’t pursue the ‘old friend’ matter any longer. However, Kongyun went to the Huo Mansion, too, so Beiming left quickly. Dairong stopped him, and she identified him right away as Beiming. Dairong had been his fangirl for a long time. She provided him with some clues about her father’s death, but mostly helped him escape from Kongyun. Xueman was clearly jealous; she told her husband not to come to Huo Mansion anymore, haha!
Every investigator was suspicious of one of General Huo’s disciples named Xue Qian Shan. But there was a turn of the event! Xue Qian Shan was found dead, and Qingzhuo was found dumbfounded, standing next to him with a knife. Naturally, Qingzhuo became a suspect now, although Xueman and Kongyun didn’t believe a weak man like him who didn’t know martial arts could kill Xue Qian Shan who was a martial artists.
Xueman and Kongyun: frenemies in investigation
Episode 11
It’s quite easy to narrow down the killer of Xue Qian Shan, there are not many characters in the Huo’s household. The reason is quite heartbreaking, too. Luckily, Kongyun showed his compassion during interrogation.
The death of General Huo didn’t seem to have a connection to Yesha. Or did it?
It did. While investigating General Huo’s study, Beiming found a burnt piece of paper written: “It’s too late to regret to chaos at Haiya”. General Huo was stationed in Haiya and returned to the capital 23 years ago, in the 36th year of Ningtai. They also found that General Huo was infertile, so Dairong might not be his biological child. That meant Dairong was an orphan from Haiya?
On the lighter side, Beiming and Xueman had some personal time. Just when Beiming wanted to kiss his wife, Tong Shuang showed up, haha!
Episode 12
In this episode, Beiming, Xueman, and Qingzhuo went to confront General Guo’s killer. Yes, he was killed… slowly with hallucinogenic tea that in the end caused him to strangle himself. After a heartfelt confession, the killer committed suicide, which had been planned for a while.
Beiming suffered from a bout of his poison again. Qingzhuo tried any concoction but failed, and wanted to cure poison with poison, and the rare ingredient of Fire Cicada that could only be found in the Ghost Market.
Episode 13
When in the Ghost Market, Xueman and Qingzhuo were attacked by an old man, who was sent by Yesha. Xueman suspected that the old man knew them and asked Qingzhuo. The latter lied through his teeth, but Beiming could see through his lies. When asked, Qingzhuo acknowledged that the old guy, called Old Bug, was his fellow disciple who killed their master. He was connected to Yesha and sold the hallucinogenic pill that killed General Huo.
Dairong called Xueman and showed a suspicious account in Huo household’s ledger, the Guangsha Villa. The transaction started 23 years ago, and the place regularly transferred money to the Huo household. Dairong wanted to know more about her origin and asked Xueman for help. Beiming was still wary of Dairong’s original intention, since that girl was very cunning. However, Guangsha Villa was owned by Chu Guangsha, General Huo’s former personal bodyguard, who was with him in Haiya. Mr. Chu might be able to provide some clues. So off they went.
They came at the right time for a free meal, or so it seemed. Today was Mr. Chu’s birthday, and he celebrated with a free banquet for everyone, no matter who they were. Mr. Chu also received a rejuvenation pill that made him immortal. Ironically, during the banquet, Mr. Chu walked up to the podium with the so-called immortality pill. Somehow, he had a hallucination, fell off the podium, and died. Xueman, as an Elite Constabulary Unit constable, secured the area right away, and they started working on the case. Dairong commented that Mr. Chu’s death seemed similar to her father’s. Qingzhuo did the autopsy and confirmed the same red crystal substance that caused both General Huo’s and Mr. Chu’s deaths. The difference was, a large batch of red crystal was ingested by Mr. Chu on the day of his death, unlike General Huo’s slow poisoning. Beiming and Xueman suspected Dairong killed Mr. Chu. Xueman informed Dairong right away of their suspicion, and asked her to tag along with them.
They went to the temple where the immortal master, who gave the rejuvenation pill, resided. He insisted nothing was wrong with the pill, since he made it himself and it was sealed in a box. They interrogated the master’s disciple, who was indeed suspicious. He claimed he walked to deliver the pill to Guangsha Villa, but he seemed to be riding a horse.
Episode 14
After interrogation, the master’s disciple confessed that he stopped at a restaurant to eat meat on the way to Guangshan Villa. Someone must’ve tampered with the pill at the restaurant. Tong Shuang went to the Ghost Market looking for the Old Bug (who was the other person knowing about the pill), but Old Bug disappeared and left only his seals. Dairong recognized the seal on her father’s medicine bag.
Dairong, although suspected as the killer, was tasked to check Mr. Chu’s ledger and found a mysterious account in Weizhou, to which Guangshan Villa sent money. Meanwhile, Xueman went to the restaurant and found that nothing could tamper with the pill delivery when they retraced it. Finally, they found out that the pill switch didn’t come from the delivery, but from the box with a hidden mechanism!
The killer of Mr. Chu (and also the indirect killer of General Huo and his concubine) was finally found and arrested. The killer confessed and informed them that the Canfeng Army, which was led by General Huo, was responsible for the massacre in Haiya. Now, with the leadership of Yesha, the survivors of Haiya executed their revenge plans. Yesha didn’t die a long time ago on the boat. He was still alive. The killer then committed suicide by drawing Tong Shuang’s sword.
They hardly had a chance for sweet time
Episode 15
In a private time with her husband, Xueman expressed disbelief that her father was involved in the massacre of Haiya. There was a big conspiracy as to why the records on Haiya and Canfeng Army were erased from the Imperial Secretariat. The one who could do such a thing must be very powerful. Both Xueman and Beiming had an unspoken agreement about who the person was. Beiming told Xueman not to tell everything during the Special Investigation Unit’s questioning, or Zhuge Tong and his son’s lives would be in danger.
Let me guess, the Emperor was the one who ordered the deletion of the records!
Beiming collapsed again, and at this time, Qingzhuo’s acupuncture treatment didn’t work. They had to find Old Bug asap. Not sure if this was Yesha’s order or not, Old Bug lured Xueman to find him. He wanted to make a deal with her to get him the Book of Yin and Yang, which was given by his master to Qingzhuo. Later, Xueman, Qingzhuo, and Dairong caught Old Bug.
It was also a sweet sismance time. With the last case closed, Xueman and Beiming no longer suspected Dairong. Now Dairong was completely alone. Her father and mother died, she dismissed her servants, and her father’s apprentices joined the army. Xueman apologized to Dairong and took her to live in their secret place.
Qingzhuo agreed with Old Bug’s offer to make Fire Cicada in exchange for his Book of Yin and Yang. Beiming was temporarily cured. At the end, Old Bug told Qingzhuo that he didn’t kill their master.
Episode 16
After waking Beiming up and providing some info on Yesha, Qingzhuo released Old Bug. Old Bug told him that Fire Cicada didn’t cure Beiming completely, he only had a month to live. Old Bug promised he would study the Book of Yin and Yang to find a cure for Beiming. He wouldn’t reveal Beiming’s whereabouts to people.
From Old Bug, the squad got information that the red pills that made everyone hallucinate were made by rare red obsidian stones and refined with corpse oil and human blood. Xueman found out that red obsidian stones were from Weizhou, which was a place mentioned on Mr. Chu’s ledgers.
Upon the mentioning of Weizhou, Tong Shuang became uneasy. It turned out that he was the third master of Pingyuan Escort Agency, which was wiped out by their enemies in fire a while ago. Beiming rescued him while he was trying to survive. Xueman tricked her boss, so he sent her, Tong Shuang, and Qingzhuo to Weizhou to cure sick horses and bring them back home.
The trip to Weizhou, although arduous and potentially dangerous, strengthen their friendship and unity.
Conclusion
What will they find in Weizhou? Will they meet Yesha, or is it too early? Let’s continue The Wanted Detective ( 定风波 ) mysterious journey in the third part: The Wanted Detective: Recap Cases 4 and 5!
