A while later, Song Jie said, "Tang-ge[1], there’s a beautiful flower over there. Pick it for me, will you?"

Song Xingchen smiled, "Are you a child?"

"Yes, I am. Is there anything wrong with that?” she retorted, arms akimbo. “Pick it for me!"

Song Xingchen picked a bright-colored flower and tucked it behind Song Jie’s ear. However, I soon noticed something odd about the flower and immediately shouted, "Wait! Let me have a look."

After observing the flower, I explained, "This is opium poppy! Why is there opium poppy here?"

"How do you know?!" Song Jie blurted, then covered her mouth to hide her gaffe.

"It's late summer and it should be the time of the year when the villagers are busy farming, but I noticed a few people ploughing in the fields. Is there a secret in the village?"

Song Jie spat her tongue, "I can’t believe you noticed..."

"Is someone in the village planting something illegal?"

Song Jie tucked the flower behind her ear, "Alright, I'll show you but don't tell my mother!"

As Song Jie led us over a hill, I scanned the area. A sea of deep red, pale pink and white, with opium poppies on the left, jimsonweed on the right and belladonna in the distance. I frowned, "Don’t you know that these plants are illegal?"

"So what? We’ve been planting these flowers for many years. How do you think the concoctions that you usually use like Dream Entry, Heart Poison and Bone Erosion Drug are made?"

Some of the components of these drugs were handed down by my grandfather while the others were obtained via Xiaotao because quite a few of these raw materials were considered contraband.

"You mean this is the Song family’s plantation?" I exclaimed.

"Yes,” answered Song Jie. “The Song family has a great demand for these drugs. The water and soil here are perfect for planting so we do it ourselves!"

"Who else uses these drugs besides me?" I asked.

"Aren’t you arrogant!” she laughed. “You’re not the only descendent of the Song family to work with the law. The civil Songs are now in decline, but a large part of the martial Songs are just like you. They cooperate with the state on difficult missions. My mother used to be a bodyguard in Zhongnanhai[2]. In 1997, she rescued a foreign president from terrorists. My father was my mother's colleague."

I never imagined Song Heting had such an identity! It turned out that the martial Songs were actively involved in secular affairs. Of course, they cooperated with the state as consultants like me.

Opium poppies were a rare variety. Drugs of extremely high purity could be extracted from processed poppies. "Are you sure these plants are really just used for us and not for profit?"

Song Jie chuckled, "Geez, you’re so suspicious of everything! How can the Song family do such a thing? Our ancestors are buried in these mountains!"

"Song Yang, don’t worry! The Song family would never do such a thing,” assured Song Xingchen. “Aside from the laws of our ancestors, the martial Songs have another rule we abide by... "

“Asura methods but the heart of a Bodhi!" recited Song Jie.

Since it was past noon, Song Jie urged us home for lunch. Song Heting cooked me another bowl of snake soup. After drinking it once, I couldn't resist this delicious soup which made me wonder if something extra had been added.

"How’s your investigation?" Song Heting queried.

"Aunt Song, how did you know about the corpse hidden in the old tree? Who is it?"

"We do know a little about the corpse, but I’m not allowed to tell you anything."

"Why?" I was rather puzzled.

"Because this is a test and you have to prove your ability to solve the case on your own!" explained Song Heting.

I was perfectly confident of my ability to solve the case, but I kept quiet about it for fear of sounding boastful.

With little to do after dinner, I followed Song Jie to the martial arts hall. This old manor had the exact same layout as my grandfather’s home. We put the patio here while the Songs had a martial arts hall with eighteen weapons on display on both sides.

Song Jie changed into her training outfit and practiced boxing on the wooden dummy.

"This is where I grew up,” said Song Xingchen.

"You seem rather close to Song Jie!" I commented.

"Unfortunately, she’s my cousin!" lamented Song Xingchen.

Upon hearing this, I couldn’t help but wonder if he meant something else.

Grandfather once recounted the birth of the martial Songs. Our ancestors realized that members of the Song family who could only solve crimes were too easily harmed in the line of duty, so they split the Song family in two–the martial branch and the civil branch. The two families complemented each other like two sides of a coin.

There have been well-known martial Songs, such as Song Buping, the number one constable of ancient Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as Song Shirong and Song Shide, founders of the Song family’s internal martial arts technique.

After practicing a set of the Xingyiquan[3], Song Jie proceeded to practice Wing Chun, her entire body covered in sweat. During this time, Song Xingchen suddenly disappeared while I wasn’t paying attention and came back with a towel. As Song Xingchen patiently wiped away the sweat on Song Jie’s face, she smiled and said, "Thanks!"

For the rest of the afternoon, Song Jie suggested we play Honor of Kings since she usually had no one else to join her. Although Song Xingchen wasn’t interested in the game, he went along with her proposal. In fact, Song Xingchen was like a different man before Song Jie.

The day passed uneventfully. The next morning, we headed to the banyan tree. Song Xingchen pulled out his Tang sword and sliced into the tree trunk while I placed my ears against the bark to listen. "Watch out for your ears. You might be injured by my sword," reminded Song Xingchen.

"Don’t worry!" I replied.

The sword seemed to have been embedded into the skeleton. I grabbed an alcohol burner and began heating the blade. A few minutes later, I told Song Xingchen to remove the sword.

There was banyan sap of different shades on the blade. After glancing at it, I surmised, "This corpse has been trapped inside for five years!"

"How can you tell?" Sing Jie asked in surprise.

"I heated the blade so the sap would stick to it,” I explained. “As you can see, there’s the outline of the annual rings–five of them means it’s been enclosed in there for five years!"

Song Jie arched an eyebrow, "How did you come up with this? Did you learn this technique from a book?"

"This is expected of the best Traditional Coroners. We can determine the best autopsy methods in different environments," I smiled.

We met up with the village chief who greeted us enthusiastically and pulled out the household registration files of the entire village. Unfortunately, no one disappeared five years ago. Even when I expanded the scope to seven years, I was surprised to find zero disappearances.

The corpse inside the banyan tree was obviously an adult, and a grown person had to have a file. So I turned to the village head, "Has anyone from the village disappeared over the past few years?"

The village looked at me strangely, "No, we often see each other so I would definitely be aware if someone’s missing. There are several young ones who leave the village for work but they come back to visit every year."

"Are there any outsiders or visitors missing?" I added.

“There are very few outsiders in this village. The few outsiders we have here are like you, relatives of the villagers," answered the village chief.

This whole thing was bizarre. Did the bones just appear out of thin air?

[1] Older male patrilineal cousin

[2] Zhongnanhai is a former imperial garden in the Imperial City, Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City.

[3] Internal martial arts technique that roughly translates to Form-Intention Fist", or "Shape-Will Fist".