Female Coroner of Great Wei

Jin Shu is a twenty-two-year-old forensic expert in the Great Wei dynasty who possesses the rare ability to communicate with the dead, a skill known as corpse whispering. Although she is a woman, she disguises herself as a man to serve as a coroner for the Dingzhou magistrate’s office, a secret known only to her adoptive brother, Jin Rong, and her mentor, Magistrate Liu Cheng’an. Jin Shu raised Jin Rong after saving his pregnant mother from bandits six years prior, and she lives a quiet life dedicated to her work and her brother’s education. Her peaceful existence is disrupted when Prince Jing, Li Jin, arrives in Dingzhou under the guise of sightseeing but is actually investigating a murder. A young courtesan named Xiao Li has been found drowned in a well in Peach Blossom Valley, and the local authorities are struggling to identify the victim or solve the case before the prince’s arrival.

Li Jin, the former God of War who now oversees the Six Gates Bureau, recognizes Jin Shu’s talent and insists on her assistance. During the investigation, Li Jin discovers Jin Shu’s true gender when he ties her wrists to demonstrate a binding technique and notices her delicate bone structure and lack of an Adam’s apple. Rather than exposing her, he keeps her secret, recognizing her value as an investigator. He forces Jin Shu to accompany him to the capital by leveraging her financial desperation; after Li Jin deliberately runs up a massive bill at an expensive restaurant, Jin Shu is left with insurmountable debt. Li Jin offers to forgive the debt in exchange for her service in the Six Gates Bureau, a position that would allow her to earn a high salary and send Jin Rong to a prestigious academy in the capital. Jin Shu reluctantly accepts the deal, and the trio travels north to the capital, stopping in Linyang along the way.

In Linyang, the group encounters another murder case involving three beggars: a blind man, a lame man, and a mentally impaired man who is now dead. The local magistrate, Yang An, has arrested the two disabled suspects and is using torture to extract confessions, claiming they killed their companion. Jin Shu performs an autopsy on the corpse and determines that the time of death is much older than the magistrate’s report suggests and that the victim suffered a skull fracture before being strangled. She reconstructs the crime scene by simulating the strangulation on Magistrate Yang An, proving that the killer must have approached from behind with a thin rope. Li Jin, meanwhile, gathers intelligence from the local market and discovers that the three beggars were part of a gang where the blind man and the lame man exploited the mentally impaired victim.

The investigation reveals that Magistrate Yang An is corrupt and incompetent, having arrested innocent people to close the case quickly. Yang An attempts to bribe and seduce Li Jin with a banquet and a performance by his daughter, but Li Jin remains unmoved. In a desperate move, Yang An’s daughter attempts to climb down from the roof using silk, but Li Jin anticipates the trap and has Zhou Zheng intercept her. Li Jin spends the night in Jin Shu’s quarters to avoid Yang An’s schemes, causing tension and awkwardness between the two. Jin Shu continues to work diligently, uncovering clues that point to the blind man and the lame man as the killers, though the motive remains unclear. Li Jin reveals that he already knows who the killer is but is waiting to uncover the full motive. The story follows their collaborative efforts to solve the Linyang case while navigating the political dangers of the Six Gates Bureau and the hidden secrets of Jin Shu’s past, including the mysterious circumstances surrounding her parents’ death and her connection to the royal family.