The wooden clappers in the back hall of the Xuan'an Bureau had just struck the third watch when Gu Qinghuan slammed her sabre onto the official desk with a sharp "clatter."
"Three more dead." She pulled off her bamboo hat, which was still damp with dew, her hair tips dripping with the night mist. "The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, the Junior Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and a middle-ranking general of the Left Guard—all dressed in red robes, all with half-inch poisoned silver needles plunged into their hearts."
Pi Yanlin, who had been half-sprawled on a stone bench in the corridor, flicked his eyelids at the sound.
Chapter 85