“Good evening Your Highnesses. And welcome home my prince, I hope your travels have been uneventful and well?” General Fan Long Wei greeted them with a deep bow before straightening up and turning towards his childhood friend and classmate, the Second Prince, Jin Jian whom he had not seen for a few months now. Jin Jian, upon seeing his old friend’s formal posture let out a loud and unrestrained guffaw before moving forward slinging his arm around Fan Long Wei’s shoulders, chuckling the whole time. He said, “Geez, what’s with the formalities, its not like you don’t know my siblings. Haha. from what i've heard from the other guards earlier you have been working on quite a few projects together with these two rascals eh?” Jin Jian exclaimed fondly while gesturing at Jin Ling and Jin Xiu Ying. It was apparent that he was referring to the multiple arrests made by the court led by both his sibling’s respective inve

The sound of hoofs clopping through the window of the carriage have started to fade, signaling that they have arrived at their destination. Jin Ling straightened up from his slouching position from his cushioned seat and stretched his legs as he peeked through the curtains of the small window of the carriage to assess the situation of the Qin Residence. As expected, news had already spread out, by his guess, by nightfall the entire capital city would know about the news of the magistrate’s death.    The situation at the huge lavish manor was a bustle of activity, the residence’s guards rushed around in a panicked and disorderly gait as they tried to settle family members of the recently departed, a man in a stewards uniform, most likely the head steward of the Qin Family stood at the top of the steps is giving out instructions to the servants gathered at the steps of the manor. Just outs

***THE NEXT DAY***   It was finally the last day of his 7 week confinement, tomorrow he would finally be free to do as he pleases again. Though on second thought he might just stay in his residence for the next few days or just simply go out with a guard as was protocol, his father certainly would not be pleased if he were to leave the palace unattended again. It was not like he wanted to cause unnecessary troubles, he just thought that he would be able to leave and return home in time before anyone even notices, after all he does not have the responsibilities that his elder siblings have to shoulder. There was nothing that needed his attention or presence at all. His miscalculation last time was that he had forgotten there was an extra lesson session for his upcoming examination in preparation for his ‘late enrollment’ into the Imperial Academy.   

After about 2 hours spent in the autopsy room, examining the body and listening to all of the doctor’s explanations and findings, Jin Ling finally leaves the building with a pounding headache and a head full of questions instead of clarification or a clearer pathway in the investigation. He contemplated on his bad luck as he stepped into his carriage, trying to think of the best way to proceed. Doctor Liu Ron Yue had promised to write to his contacts in order to reach out to doctors or coroners who have encountered the strange circumstances in any patients or deceased.    Jin Ling heaved a long sigh as the carriage took off heading back towards the palace. He then thought to himself;   “There is nothing much that can be done about the condition of the body, we will just have to wait, though there is also the matter of releasing

***Frost Palace*** This was the day! Finally the period set by his father for his confinement has finally ended! It felt like forever! Jin Huan sighed to himself as he flopped down onto his bed lazily. As he lay there idly, he fiddled with the package from his Second Brother, by the feel of it Jin Huan knew it was a book! His second brother knew his tastes very well. Frequently when any of his elder siblings traveled they would always be able to bring back presents for them all, and for him it was always romance novels!    Whenever they travel all around they almost always travel to the city of the region or district they were in, unless it was for military business, they would always stop by the largest bookstore to purchase the latest and popular novels at the time. Actually practically 2 of the 4 large bookshelves that were filled in his