Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 432: Born Without a Pulse

"Two carriages aren’t enough, at least three are needed!"

As the County Magistrate was preparing to set off with his men, Qin Yao kindly advised this in the main hall.

The County Magistrate took a deep breath and ordered his subordinates to find another carriage.

They hadn’t arrived at the scene yet, but he was mentally prepared to face bloodshed.

Song Zhang watched the County Magistrate and his men leave, then returned to the main hall to lead Qin Yao, who was waiting for a meal, and the nervous Yin Le to the small office hall in the backyard of the county government.

Inside the hall, on the small table for handling cases, documents and files were pushed aside, and three simple dishes with two bowls of rice were placed on it, with a few chopsticks already moved.

Song Zhang asked someone to bring another bucket of rice, inviting Qin Yao and Yin Le to sit down and have some food to fill their stomachs.

Qin Yao reminded, "My Old Huang is still outside."

Song Zhang reassured her, "I’ve already sent someone to take it to the veterinarian for treatment."

Only then did Qin Yao feel at ease and start eating from the rice bucket.

Halfway through the meal, she noticed Yin Le staring at her in shock with her bowl in hand. Qin Yao reminded her, "Hurry up and eat, the food will get cold."

"Oh, oh!" Yin Le snapped out of the shock from Qin Yao’s enormous appetite and buried her head in eating.

Song Zhang had lost his appetite, anxiously waiting for them to finish eating before he immediately asked:

"Miss Qin, you haven’t introduced the girl you brought back yet."

Qin Yao took a sip of tea and cleared her throat, answering, "She’s the Yue Niang you’ve been looking for. Since this witness is important to you, I thought I might as well bring her directly to you."

"I didn’t expect your opponent to move so fast. If I hadn’t received the news and set off yesterday, Yue Niang would have been gone."

Qin Yao spoke calmly, as if the recent killing of fifteen professional assassins was as natural to her as eating and drinking, over and done with, without wasting any extra effort on the dead.

Song Zhang couldn’t witness her single-handedly defeating fifteen, but seeing Qin Yao’s indifferent reaction now, his assessment of her combat power rose substantially.

"By the way!" Qin Yao suddenly recalled the knockout gas the assassins used and said to Song Zhang, "Can you ask a doctor to check on the two of us? They threw some stuff at us during the fight, and I’m afraid it might be poisonous."

Song Zhang nodded. With Yue Niang now in his territory, his greatest burden was lifted, and he quickly called for the forensic doctor to be fetched.

"Forensic doctor?" Qin Yao asked suspiciously, "Isn’t that for examining the dead?"

Song Zhang smiled confidently, "It’s all the same. Old Wang can check both the living and the dead."

Qin Yao slowly responded with an "oh," hoping he was reliable.

The forensic doctor was conducting autopsies in the water room of the county government office. Today, the County Magistrate had just had several female corpses dug up from a mass grave, related to Beauty Pan. With each quarter-hour delay at night, the County Magistrate bore more pressure and hadn’t rested all day.

But Wang Wuzuo still arrived quickly; he was so fast that he didn’t even change his apron and sleeves, bringing a nauseating stench of rot as he entered.

Song Zhang immediately turned his head away, unable to bear it.

Yin Le saw the hand that the forensic doctor extended, with traces of red and white on his fingers, resembling meat but not quite, and felt her scalp tingle.

But seeing Qin Yao casually sitting and sipping tea as if unfazed, she didn’t want to embarrass her benefactor, so she gritted her teeth, rolled up her sleeve, and placed her wrist on the forensic doctor’s hand.

"Miss, your pulse is quite fast..."

Yin Le asked nervously, "Am I poisoned?"

"Don’t worry, breathe slowly and have no fear. I’ve washed my hands."

Wang Wuzuo gave a reassuring smile, though Yin Le’s pulse raced wildly under his fingers, like water droplets in a pan of oil, erratic and intense.

Wang Wuzuo smiled helplessly and released Yin Le’s hand, "Your pulse is vigorous and strong; it should be fine."

He then turned to Qin Yao, "Miss Qin, please give me your hand."

Qin Yao nodded, extending her hand.

This was the first time since she had crossed over that someone was taking her pulse, and she found it fascinating, wondering if Old Wang could detect something she herself didn’t know.

Wang Wuzuo wiped his hand on his back before placing it on her wrist.

The moment he touched Qin Yao’s pulse, his eyes widened in shock, and he looked up at her, asking in astonishment, "Born without a pulse?"

"What do you mean?" Qin Yao asked, puzzled.

Song Zhang, equally curious, looked over as well. What did it mean to be born without a pulse? How could a living person lack a pulse?

Could it have something to do with her extraordinary strength?

"...Hold on." Wang Wuzuo exclaimed, neither answering Qin Yao nor explaining what being born without a pulse meant. He closed his eyes, holding his breath to focus all attention on his fingertips.

There seemed to be a slight movement.

Indeed, there was a pulse!

But because it was too fast and slippery, moving at a speed beyond ordinary comprehension, it felt as if no pulse was there.

Wang Wuzuo exhaled in relief, nearly thinking he had found a dead person’s pulse.

In Qin Yao’s eyes, this forensic doctor was jittery, alternating between tension and relaxation, speaking inconclusively.

Were it not for her strong inner resolve, she might have feared she had some terminal illness.

"Mr. Wang, what have you discovered?" Qin Yao asked, frowning.

Wang Wuzuo marveled for several seconds before explaining to Qin Yao, "Miss Qin, your pulse is extremely unusual. This is the first time in my life I’ve felt such a pulse. It beats so fast that I almost couldn’t tell if it was moving, and even thought you had no pulse."

Qin Yao raised an eyebrow, feeling her own wrist but noticing nothing. It really could easily make one think she had no pulse at all.

In that case...

"Wouldn’t it be easy for me to play dead?" Qin Yao asked with interest.

Wang Wuzuo responded with a "hiss," "Miss Qin’s words are not impossible."

"However, the body has multiple pulse points, and the pulse in your neck is clearly perceptible, making it not so easy to pretend to be dead."

Qin Yao felt a tad disappointed, "I was hoping to gain another unique skill."

With her diversion, the topic of her peculiar pulse was casually brushed aside.

Wang Wuzuo still had tasks unfinished, grabbed a leftover bowl of food from the table, and withdrew while eating.

Song Zhang’s eyes darkened slightly, realizing extraordinary people come with extraordinary pulses.

"My lord," Qin Yao looked over, giving him a smile.

Song Zhang inexplicably felt a chill in his heart, a sense that she saw through all his thoughts, which unnerved him.

She seemed to have sensed his interest in her pulse.

"Step aside for a word." Qin Yao pointed to a nearby small room, signaling Yin Le to wait where she was.

Song Zhang took a deep breath, suppressing his distractions, led her into his adjoining resting room, and closed the door.

"The government officials and officers are all taken by the County Magistrate. The remaining ones are my people."

Knowing that Qin Yao was wary of those in the government office, Song Zhang explained.

Qin Yao listened silently for a moment, confirming there was no one suspicious nearby, then took out a Red Mandarin Duck Bellyband from the hidden pocket of her inner garment.

"For you..." Qin Yao said while handing over the bellyband, looking up.

No way, County Magistrate Song, are you serious with that two-step retreat?