The Golden Hairpin

by Qinghan CeCe

  Apart from a few spring rolls in the morning and some tea in the afternoon, she hadn’t even had a single grain of rice while she ran around all day. She clutched her stomach on the way to the dining room, but the stove was cold and no one was there.

  “I can’t handle this.” Huang Zixia was angry at herself for not asking Ms. Lu where she kept things. Now, without her there, she couldn’t find food. There were a couple of stale buns in the cupboard. Huang Zixia took one in each hand and gnawed on one on her way to her room.

  When she reached the courtyard entrance, she saw the light in her room was on. She was surprised and went to the doorway to have a look. The buns almost fell from her hands.

  Li Shubai looked up and waved her in.

  She hesitated before going forward. “My Prince, what are you doing up so late?”

  He just raised his chin a little to point out a box of food next to him.

  She opened it slowly and removed its contents: a cup of porridge, a plate of fried sweet buns, a bowl of pork tenderloin, roast quail, and her favorite grilled shrimp and frogs with bean sprouts. It was somehow still hot. She glanced at Li Shubai and saw he was still ignoring her. She immediately threw away the buns in her hands and took the ivory chopsticks out of the box and gave Li Shubai a pair. Using her own, she plucked up one of the roast quail.

  Li Shubai put down his reading. “Any developments?”

  She put the half ingot on the table.

  Li Shubai took it and turned it over in his hands, looking closely.

  On its back were two lines of writing. The first said, Deng Yunxi, Song Kuo. The other, twenty silvers.

  Huang Zixia took the other half ingot from the drawer and handed it to him.

  The two pieces were indeed part of a whole. The words on the back were now complete. Deputy Liang Weidong, Deng Yunxi, Song Kuo, and Master Zhang Junyi, cast twenty silvers.

  Li Shubai put it down and looked at her. “Where’d you find it?”

  “In the room, below the flower stand.”

  “Couldn’t be,” Li Shubai said confidently.

  “Really. Lots of people had already been through the room, so that ingot shouldn’t have still been sitting in such an obvious place.” She drank some porridge. “So it must have been put there by Cheng Xuese, who had just left.”

  “Cheng Xuese?” Li Shubai was finally a little excited. “She’s in the capital?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t see her, just heard some of the students say a gorgeous woman with a portrait came to Jin Nu’s room, but she was already gone when I got there.”

  “Well, you missed her,” he said with a frown. “Why didn’t Chen Nian tell you?”

  “Or, Xuese and Jin Nu were so close, she went to Jin Nu’s first?” Huang Zixia said thoughtfully. “But Chen Nian and Feng Yi’s thing should be most important. Either way, she should have brought her to me right away.”

  Li Shubai nodded. “Chen Nian’s at Li Rui’s palace. We can go there to see her tomorrow.”

  “Right. Also, I looked at the area outside the academy today and found a place. It was too late, but if we go and look tomorrow, we might find something.”

  “Looks like you’ll be busy all day again tomorrow.” The candle was going dim. He closed his book, picked up a pair of scissors, trimmed the wick, and it got brighter.

  The flickering candlelight made the room feel calm. As Huang Zixia ate, she noticed Li Shubai was looking at her and couldn’t help but pause.

  Li Shubai looked away and casually picked up a pair of chopsticks, lifted a few bean sprouts, and put them in his bowl.

  It took Huang Zixia a while to get the words out. “Thank you, Prince, for getting me this—”

  “No need,” he interrupted her. Then he looked at her for a long time. “A full horse runs fastest.”

  Her mouth twitched a little. “The Prince is wise.”

  “So run faster tomorrow. Don’t forget the Wangs are going to send the body off soon.”

  “Yes . . .” This reminded her that she saw Wang Yun that night. She held her chopsticks in the candlelight and thought it’d be best not to mention it.

  It was just a chance encounter unrelated to the case.

  The weather was good the next day with a lofty, blue summer sky, bright and piercing. As per their agreement, she met Li Shubai in the stables. He was already atop a strong, dark horse, trotting to warm it up. He wore a gray-purple robe. When the light hit it from the right angle, you could make out blue and purple beads woven into it—sublime and bright. He pulled on the reins when he saw her and pointed to the back of the stables with his whip. “Pick one.”

  Huang Zixia untied a white horse and got on. Last time she went to see Zhou Ziqin, she rode a different horse and brought this one. It won her over on that trip.

  Li Shubai liked her taste. “That’s a good one,” he said. “I used to ride it a lot. Called Nafusha.”

  “Interesting name,” Huang Zixia said.

  “In Dayuan, it means a noble and gentle temperament. It’s obedient and easy to approach, tame, so it can forget who its master was,” Li Shubai said with a frown, as if remembering something in the distant past. He patted the proud, dark horse below him and added, “This one, Di’e, by comparison, is much better.”

  “Di’e?”

  “In Dawan, it means daylight.” They rode to the gates and out of the palace. She trailed about half a horse-length behind.

  “Di’e’s temper is much worse. It took me three days and four nights to break him. Only in the morning after the fourth night was he finally unable to stand, and bowed down to me,” Li Shubai said. “No one else has ever been able to control him.”

  Huang Zixia looked at Di’e, wondering whether or not she could ride him. He had long, flat eyelashes. His eyes crossed, and he kicked his right hind leg, sending sand into Nafusha’s belly. Nafusha let out a cry and leaped forward, nearly causing Huang Zixia to fall off. Angry, she kicked Di’e. She hit him in the neck and he became furious, but Li Shubai pulled on his reins and he obediently calmed down, nostrils flaring. He looked disappointed.

  Huang Zixia couldn’t help but point her whip at him and laugh.

  This was one of the only times Li Shubai had heard her laugh. He found himself looking at her for a long time. She had a smile as gorgeous as the early summer sun, as if all the world’s light shone in her clear, young face.

  As if afraid of being burned by the sun, he turned away.

  Huang Zixia looked at him, puzzled. He coughed and said, “Let’s go. Li Run’s palace.”

  Fourteen

  BRIGHT SKY, DARK CLOUDS

  They met Li Run in that carefully decorated tearoom again. When Li Shubai said they had come to see Chen Nian, Li Run was shocked. “Why would you want to speak with her today, brother?”

  “Just a little something I want to ask her about.”

  “How unlucky,” Li Run said helplessly. “Chen Nian already left.”

  “What? Chen Nian left?” Li Shubai said. “When?”

  “Yesterday. She got her things and left the palace, didn’t say goodbye. All I got was a letter. I’ll show you.”

  A servant quickly brought it over, but it wasn’t really a letter, just a note:

  Your Royal Highness Li Run:

  I will never forget the Prince’s incredible kindness in receiving me. Now this old woman’s only wish is to leave the capital and never return. May Your Highness live a long and fruitful life.

  Your servant, Chen Nian

  The handwriting was beautiful, but it looked rushed. Huang Zixia looked at the word wish and thought awhile, then handed it back to Li Run. “That being the case, it’s unlikely we’ll see her again. Unfortunately, my guqin playing is so poor. I really wanted to have another lesson!”

  Li Run smiled. “There are a lot of good teachers around, some of them masters. Oh, right, yesterday was the twelfth. Before I paid my respects to the lady, Chen Nian said that since the lady loves pipa the most, she could show her the p
ortrait of the Six Women of Yangzhou in a few days. When I mentioned it, she just laughed.”

  “So when you came back from the palace, Chen Nian was already gone?” Li Shubai asked.

  “Yes, so even if the lady wanted to, I wouldn’t have been able to show her the painting,” Li Run said with a smile. He seemed to be in a very good mood. Clearly, Chen Nian’s leaving hadn’t upset him at all.

  Li Shubai nodded. “She’s gone, so it won’t be easy to find her. Thank you so much for making tea, anyway.”

  “Don’t mention it. It’s great to have you here.”

  Li Shubai and Huang Zixia left on horseback.

  It wasn’t until Li Run’s palace was far behind that Li Shubai pulled on his reins, and the two of them stopped on the street.

  They both looked thoughtful.

  “Where did you say you wanted to take a look yesterday?” Li Shubai asked.

  “The channel outside Guangzhai Square. It’s still morning. There might be people collecting water there. Afternoon would be better.”

  Li Shubai nodded, then turned his horse. “Let’s go to the West City.”

  Huang Zixia gently swung her whip over Nafusha’s rear. “Oh? To watch more magic tricks?”

  He didn’t answer. “What do you think the key to this case is?”

  Huang Zixia took a moment to think about it. “This case has so many difficult components, but in my opinion, the biggest is how Wang Ruo disappeared from Yongchun Hall while it was closely guarded by two hundred people. By what means could someone vanish like that?”

  “Yes. Wang Ruo’s disappearance is crucial to solving this mystery. Maybe we should focus on that.” Li Shubai slowed down, allowing them to ride alongside each other. “I was thinking about this earlier. The thing about that birdcage trick is that there is a trapdoor that lets the bird out, so maybe there is something like that in Yongchun Hall.”

  “But then how many ways out could there be in a room with almost no furniture?” They thought about the lanterns hanging from the caisson ceiling―no skylight, not even a beam. The four walls were all solid, no gaps.

  “She disappeared just like that from a sealed room like a birdcage,” he concluded.

  “Right, and a few days later a completely different body appeared, but not of the person who disappeared.”

  They lowered their voices to a whisper. They’d already arrived in the West City. They tied their horses in the borough stables and joined the bustling crowd. There were lines of people shopping for exotic animals and fine alcohol, blue-eyed foreigners. The extravagance of the current Emperor had spread throughout Changan. The fish shop owner was still there teasing the fish, ignoring the customers who came in. Li Shubai bought the same fish as last time, looked back, and saw Huang Zixia giving him a complicated look. He didn’t feel like explaining but eventually said, “That fish likes this food, seems to be fattening up.”

  Huang Zixia was speechless. “How ’bout we go see that magician couple.”

  The couple was early that day, already performing on the street. They were doing a trick where an egg turned into a chicken. Though Huang Zixia knew it was just sleight of hand, she still felt moved by the sight of the chick running along the ground and even helped them catch it and put it back in its cage.

  After the crowd dispersed, the woman noticed them and smiled. “What trick do you want to learn today?” she asked.

  “We still haven’t gotten that birdcage one to work,” Huang Zixia said. “Can’t find a trained bird! Do you know any simpler ones?”

  “Bring the birdcage over,” the woman called to her husband. “And that cloth. Yes, the black one.”

  The woman shook the black cloth to show it held nothing. Then she put it over the empty birdcage and looked at Huang Zixia. She didn’t move or speak, just smiled.

  Huang Zixia knew that it was top secret and the woman wouldn’t reveal it easily. She reached a hand out to Li Shubai for payment.

  He understood and took a small ingot from the purse and handed it to her.

  The female performer took the money, and her eyes gained a certain brilliance as she removed a bird from another cage and gently put it inside the one with the black cloth over it. Then she brought her hands away slightly and flicked them open to show they were empty.

  Then she put both her hands behind her back. It seemed the little bird really was in the cloth-covered cage.

  She smiled at them and took the black cloth off. The cage was empty.

  Huang Zixia instinctively lifted it up and looked carefully inside. It really was empty, and it was crudely made, apparently without hidden doors.

  The female performer smiled. “This time, I didn’t touch the cage, and the bird was freshly hatched—no training. It also takes no special skill. As long as you know how it works, you can do it.”

  Huang Zixia’s and Li Shubai’s eyes fell on the piece of black cloth. There was something wiggling inside.

  The woman smiled and opened the black cloth. Inside was a small pocket. The chick’s head peeked out.

  Seeing it was so simple, Huang Zixia couldn’t help but laugh. “So that’s how you did it . . .”

  Images raced through her mind.

  The prediction of the man who suddenly appeared at Xianyou Temple; the invisible assassin in Penglai Hall; the leafy hairpin that fell in the rock garden; the tight protection of Yongchun Hall . . . They all had an invisible thread connecting them. Her sudden realization made her sigh as if she couldn’t bear it as she stared ahead in a trance.

  Li Shubai patted her on the shoulder. She didn’t respond, so he took her by the sleeve and led her away.

  Her hand was slim and soft, like a little pigeon in his palm.

  Huang Zixia followed him, looking drained, under an elm. She sighed and said, “I need to talk to Zhou Ziqin.”

  Li Shubai slowly let go of her hand and frowned. “What’d you realize?”

  “I want to see if I’m right, and I’ll need Zhou Ziqin’s help,” she said. “Are you going back to the palace?”

  Li Shubai grunted. “No.”

  “Do you want to go see Zhou Ziqin with me?”

  He turned toward their horses. “Might as well.”

  The Zhou family porter immediately smiled when he saw them. “Back again, Mr. Yang? And who’s this?”

  Li Shubai didn’t get off the horse. “You go in. I’ll wait,” he told Huang Zixia.

  Huang Zixia dismounted and tied up the horse. The porter smiled and said, “The master said to take you right to his quarters. Come. I’ll show you the way.”

  Huang Zixia thanked him and followed inside. They walked to a courtyard covered in creeping fig by a corner of the flower garden. The door was open, and inside were two servants playing cat’s cradle under the grapevine. Zhou Ziqin’s voice came faintly: “I said I need help; how about it?”

  “Master, it’s not that we don’t want to help it. That thing’s just scary. How can we touch it!” one of the servants said without looking away from their string.

  Huang Zixia could hear his exasperation. “You two dolts would rather play girly games than help your master. I’ve had it up to here.”

  The porter was unfazed. He calmly smiled and left. Huang Zixia walked inside. “Come on out, Zhou Ziqin. We’ve got important business to take care of !”

  His voice was rapturous. “Chonggu! Come help! It’s an emergency!”

  Huang Zixia went inside and found him lying on the ground with two bronze human figures pinning him down as he clutched a white skull in his hand. She didn’t know what was going on, but she dragged the bronze figures aside. They were nearly solid and very heavy, so she had to sit and recover for a while.

  Zhou Ziqin was wearing a green robe embroidered with purple peonies and a big red belt, still bright and garish despite getting dusty from the ground. He got up and affectionately touched the skull. “Lucky it didn’t break, or I’d feel terrible. I paid fifty for it. Used to belong to a young man. Look at this beautiful
arc, nice white teeth, deep eye sockets—”

  “How’d you end up like that?” Huang Zixia interrupted.

  “I slipped when I was getting the skull off the shelf, and the statues fell down. I had to dive to save my precious skull and—good thing no one makes solid bronze figures, or I’d be in serious trouble!”

  Huang Zixia looked at the handsome, healthy, good-natured guy holding the perfect white skull and realized why he hadn’t found a wife yet. No woman wants to compete with bones for her husband’s affection. It also must have been why he stayed in that remote corner of the complex.

  “Right, so what’s the important business, Chonggu?”

  “You remember those beggars who were poisoned to death?”

  Zhou Ziqin jumped. “Of course! How could I forget? I have to figure out how they died!”

  “I have some ideas. If you want to get to the bottom of it, I need you to help me do something.” Huang Zixia motioned for him to put the skull down, then headed out. “You should change into some lightweight, coarse clothing. The worse, the better.”

  They got ready and joined Li Shubai. The three of them rode northeast.

  Zhou Ziqin quickly approached Huang Zixia. “So you know how the beggars died?”

  “Yes, I have a good idea. I just need someone to appear.”

  “Someone? Who?” Zhou Ziqin asked. “Someone really important?”

  Huang Zixia nodded slightly. “If my guess is right, as soon as she comes, this awful case will finally be solved.”

  “Who could that be?” he said, amazed.

  She smiled. “It’s just an idea. I haven’t even seen them yet!” Zhou Ziqin looked at her doubtfully. She didn’t say more; he could guess himself. Tough-tempered Di’e rushed ahead with Nafusha close behind, and Zhou Ziqin’s horse in the rear.

  They went like that through the streets of Changan. Zhou Ziqin slapped his forehead. “I got it! I know who you’re waiting for.”

  Huang Zixia looked back at him, shocked. He had one hand on the bridle and one waving excitedly in the air. “Is it a girl?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sixteen or seventeen years old?”