The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty Episode 3 Recap
> The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty Recap
Tang Fan, having been slapped by a drunk woman who then fainted, had no choice but to carry her. On the way, he encountered an Oirat man who spoke Han Chinese. The man led Tang Fan to the woman's room before leaving. Seeing the woman still clutching his clothes, Tang Fan removed his outer garment, quickly put on a jacket from the room, and slipped out. Sui Zhou captured the Oirat who had ambushed Tang Fan.
Under interrogation, the Oirat confessed that Lin Chaodong had paid him for the attack. Six months prior, Lin Chaodong had come to the Iron Market and purchased all of the Western Xia grass aconitum available in the store. Later, he returned and offered ten taels of silver for the Oirats to snatch a medicine bottle from Tang Fan. After they succeeded, Lin Chaodong disguised himself as an Oirat and acquired two Oirat customs clearance papers.
Regarding the Han family carriage, the Oirats explained that they had gone to the destitute's cemetery outside the city at night to dig up ownerless bodies for money. There, they encountered a coachman with a carriage. They killed the coachman and discovered a child's body in the carriage, subsequently selling both corpses to someone claiming to be Lin Chaodong's friend.
The Oirat revealed they initially sold the child's body disguised as a female corpse, and later sold an adult male corpse for double the price. Tang Fan recalled showing the Fuyangchun medicine bottle to Feng Qingzi, the courtesan from Huanyi Brothel, on the day he was ambushed by Lin Chaodong's hired men. He deduced that Feng Qingzi was Lin Chaodong's childhood sweetheart.
Given that Zheng Cheng's Fuyangchun prescription was provided by Feng Qingzi and prepared by Lin Chaodong by adding conflicting ingredients, they suspected Feng Qingzi and Lin Chaodong were the true murderers of Zheng Cheng, considering it a crime of passion. Tang Fan and Sui Zhou went to Huanyi Brothel, only to find that Feng Qingzi had redeemed her freedom and disappeared, leading them to a dead end on that lead. They decided to reinvestigate the Han family carriage instead.
They knew Han Zao died from acute poison and wondered if the coachman was the culprit. Their investigation revealed the coachman had no family, only a distant relative in the capital whose identity was unknown to Han Mansion staff. Meanwhile, Wang Zhi discovered that Han Zao, the Crown Prince's studying companion, had died from Tancha Powder, a secret poison manufactured by the Eastern Depot.
It was rumored that masters of this poison could precisely control the victim's time of death down to the "弹指 (tánzhǐ, an instant)" and "刹那 (chànà, a moment)". Wang Zhi used this information to summon the Eastern Depot officers responsible for Tancha Powder to the Western Depot for questioning. He eventually traced the poison to a eunuch named Fulin. Fulin, attempting to evade capture, jumped into a well to commit suicide.
This incident alarmed the Emperor, who summoned Wang Zhi and warned him not to cause further trouble, especially concerning the inner palace. Tang Fan and Sui Zhou continued their search for witnesses, driving a carriage around. They learned from a roadside shop owner that the coachman's distant relative was his uncle, Hou the Senior. As they were calculating the time of the incident based on Hou the Senior's testimony, Wang Zhi arrived.
The three men went to Dong's Restaurant to eat and discuss the cases. Tang Fan presented three conjectures. First, Han Zao had only interacted with his coachman from leaving the palace until his death, yet the coachman was innocent, indicating Han Zao must have been poisoned within the palace.
Second, Wang Zhi's discovery that Han Zao died from Tancha Powder, combined with the fact that the Crown Prince daily read historical texts detailing treacherous eunuchs, confirmed Tang Fan's second conjecture: the two cases were initially unrelated and their intersection was a mere coincidence. Tang Fan withheld his third conjecture, hinting that Wang Zhi's assistance would be necessary to confirm it.
Sui Zhou led his men to ambush Lin Chaodong at the Iron Market, though he was annoyed to find Tang Fan had insisted on accompanying them. Sui Zhou, recognizing the extreme danger of the Iron Market, tried to dissuade Tang Fan, but Tang Fan slipped away. Feng Qingzi and Lin Chaodong appeared at the Iron Market. After a frantic chase, Tang Fan and Sui Zhou finally apprehended them.
As Sui Zhou prepared to capture Lin Chaodong alive, a masked man shot Lin Chaodong and then escaped. Despite Tang Fan and Sui Zhou's best efforts, Lin Chaodong died from his wound. A heartbroken Feng Qingzi, seeing Lin Chaodong pass away, prepared to reveal the full story.
