Resumo do episódio 12 de Unveil: Jadewind
> Resumos de Unveil: Jadewind
Li Peiyi and Xiao Huaijin examined Lady Wang’s remains in the morgue, discovering that the fetus was at least four months old, a detail missing from her medical records. Their investigation was interrupted when a swarm of butterflies, attracted by decay, entered through a vent and converged on the coffin. The butterflies' wings had been coated in flint powder, which ignited in the heat, causing the body to rot and burn.
Xiao Huaijin noted that these butterflies typically inhabit damp marshes, yet the Mortuary Hall was dry, proving they were intentionally released. Furthermore, the official catalpa coffin had been replaced with flammable river willow and packed with pine shavings to accelerate the fire. Li Peiyi discouraged the guard from reporting the incident to avoid execution for negligence and instead enlisted him to help find the culprit.
During an inspection of the servants, she identified Wang Dejun as a suspect after he gave an oddly specific arrival time while claiming to cover a shift for his colleague, Liang Weishan. At the Palace Investigation Bureau, Xiao Huaijin used stinging insects to psychologically pressure Wang Dejun. Although the suspect initially claimed he had simply washed his hands with bath beans, Li Peiyi’s quick reflexes saved him from an assassin’s arrow fired from the shadows.
Terrified, Wang Dejun confessed that a hooded woman in black had paid him a string of coins to release the butterflies. He revealed he had hidden the woman's expensive butterfly box under a corridor near the Mortuary Hall. While Li Peiyi sent men to retrieve the evidence, she released Wang Dejun despite his pleas to remain in custody for protection.
The investigation moved to Hanliang Hall, where the maids Ruisheng and Fangsheng described Lady Wang as a solitary woman whose only notable visitor was Consort Wei. While the maids handled her food, her "pregnancy tonic" was delivered separately by a physician who had recently vanished in a shipwreck.
Xiao Huaijin noticed that the begonias in the room were wilting unnaturally and discovered that the pots contained remnants of the tonic—a mixture of white peony root, mulberry mistletoe, and honey-fried licorice—laced with poison. To identify the toxin, Li Peiyi tested it on her retired master, Du Zhixing, by sneaking it into his soup.
Although the poison caused him temporary distress, he identified it as "Yunxiang Powder" from Annan, a slow-acting substance that leaves red, flower-shaped marks on the skin seven days after death. Du Zhixing directed them to Heiya, a dealer in the Ghost Market. Despite his warning, Li Peiyi used Du’s name to gain entry. Heiya led them into a secret chamber, praising the "elegance" of Yunxiang Powder before trapping them inside with a ferocious alligator (Tuolong).
Heiya had surreptitiously left a bloody handprint on Li’s clothes to lure the beast toward her, but she managed to incapacitate the creature using a Softening Powder. Realizing his employers would kill him for his failure, Heiya committed suicide by throwing himself onto Li’s blade. Li recovered a partially burnt ledger from the shop and later used it to trick Du Zhixing into trading a secret bureau key he had kept since his retirement.
As they searched for Lady Wang’s secret lover, the investigators realized that the "nightly chanting" sessions Lady Wang’s maids observed actually lasted over two hours because she used long-burning ghee lamps. This window allowed her to slip away unnoticed. Based on her walking speed, they located a renovated room in the abandoned Cheng’en Palace. However, while investigating the room, they were locked inside as candles laced with Mi Hun Xiang—a lust-inducing incense—began to burn.
Xiao Huaijin, fighting the fumes, insisted Li Peiyi tie him up to prevent him from dishonoring her. As the incense took hold, Li Peiyi nearly succumbed but regained enough clarity to knock Xiao unconscious and use silver needles to stabilize herself before collapsing. The following morning, rumors of a tryst between the two spread throughout the palace, fueled by a maid named Youlan.
Wu Ren confronted the gossiping maids, fabricating a scandalous story about Youlan and a guard to silence her. When Li Peiyi finally regained consciousness, she revealed to Wu Ren that the public scandal was an intentional part of her plan; she wanted the noise to be loud enough to force the true perpetrator to reveal themselves while investigating the fallout of the trap.
