by Qinghan CeCe
The Emperor looked surprised. “I heard it had something to do with Pang Xun’s former followers taking revenge, but this sounds deeper than that.”
“It is. And the person behind it may affect the court and royal family, even implicate an old, aristocratic family.”
The Emperor looked back at the mourners. “A girl died. You think there’s a conspiracy behind it? That’s not an accusation to make lightly.”
“I wouldn’t,” Li Shubai said.
The Emperor turned to Huang Zixia.
The funeral hall was filled with smoke. Twenty-four Taoists were chanting with wooden swords in their right hands and bells in their left. Their voices boomed. “The earth is dark and heaven gray; the five Emperors’ edicts move the spirits like rain and thunder. They depart to their ancestral villages; all ill will is released. Blood is indiscriminate. The new lotus shines like the spirit of eternity. Go forth.” Eight sturdy servants gripped the ropes and heaved the coffin, carrying it out the door.
“Wait.” The sound wasn’t loud, but everyone could hear where it came from. The room went quiet out of fear, and all eyes fell on Li Shubai. He walked into the hall, touched the coffin, and took a white jade bracelet from his pocket. “I intended to give this to her when we married. I want to give this to her for her journey to the afterlife, for though we couldn’t marry in this world, I still belong to her.”
Everyone was stunned. The Prince of Kui was known for not displaying much emotion, but he had clearly been moved so deeply by the Princess’s death.
“Thank you so much for your tenderness, Prince of Kui. The Langya Wang family will be eternally grateful,” Wang Lin said.
“The Prince of Kui’s gesture is much appreciated,” Wang Yun said in a mellow voice. He bowed to Li Shubai. “I’m afraid, however, that Ruo’s body is too disfigured to wear your bracelet.”
“It’s adjustable, so it should fit.” Li Shubai took it apart and gave it to Huang Zixia. “In my memory, Wang Ruo is as beautiful as a peach blossom. I don’t dare disturb that image. You put it on for me.”
Huang Zixia took it, knowing the task of touching the corpse had fallen on her. Wang Yun couldn’t protest. The hall went quiet. Everyone looked at the bracelet, feeling moved by the Prince of Kui.
Some servants lifted the coffin lid about a foot.
Huang Zixia took a deep breath and held it, then quickly lifted the rotten hand. She paused for a moment so that everyone could see her holding the corpse hand. She clenched her teeth and turned to Li Shubai. “Prince. I have something to say.”
“Speak,” he said.
Huang Zixia let go and kneeled. “My Prince, when I was putting on the bracelet, I noticed something unusual. It’s very important, even for the Emperor, so maybe all uninvolved parties should leave.”
The Emperor thought a moment, remembering that Huang Zixia had some theories about Wang Ruo’s murder. The Emperor nodded.
Wang Lin frowned slightly and waved the attendants away.
“Actually.” Huang Zixia cleared her throat. “Xian Yun and Ran Yun should stay.” The two attendants froze. They looked at the ground as they walked back over to those who would remain.
Soon it was only them, the Emperor and Empress, Wang Lin, Wang Yun, Li Shubai, and Huang Zixia left in the room with the corpse.
Huang Zixia put her hand on the coffin. “Emperor, Empress, I don’t think this body is Wang Ruo!”
Everyone gasped. Empress Wang stood up in shock.
Li Shubai even acted surprised. “The body has been guarded in the palace. How could it have been switched?”
“Yes,” Wang Lin agreed. “The hall has been under constant watch. And who could make a replica of such a deformed corpse?”
“Let me clarify, Minister Wang. What I mean is that the corpse has never been her.”
Wang Yun frowned and touched his father’s elbow. Wang Lin looked at the Emperor in horror. The Emperor looked confusedly at the coffin.
Empress Wang was calm. She pursed her lips. “You’re Yang Chonggu?”
“Yes, a servant of Kui Palace.”
“I’ve heard you’re a savvy investigator. So tell us why you think this body isn’t Wang Ruo.”
“My Empress, I was tasked with teaching the palace law to Wang Ruo. We were together many times, and I know her hands were small and slim. But this body’s palms are very large in comparison.”
“But you know her body swelled after being poisoned, right?”
“The swelling only occurred in the muscles and skin, not the bones. This woman’s hand bones are certainly larger than Wang Ruo’s.” Huang Zixia straightened up. “Minister Zhou’s son Zhou Ziqin examined the body before. He knows all about this. Maybe Your Majesties would like to call him here to explain his findings.”
Wang Lin jumped in. “Mr. Yang, the coffin is about to leave. Are you trying to embarrass our family? Your speculation is keeping her from resting in peace.”
Empress Wang nodded. “Mr. Yang. This death has been awful for our family. Why make it worse?”
“I wouldn’t dare,” Huang Zixia said, lowering her head. “I just know there are significant differences and would like to take a closer look so we don’t get it wrong. It would be a shame to lay the wrong body to rest in her name.”
“Chonggu’s right,” Li Shubai finally said. “He’s right. How could the illustrious Langya Wang family insult their ancestors by burying a strange corpse among them? Why don’t we have Zhou Ziqin come and take another look? What does the Empress think?”
Empress Wang frowned and turned toward the Emperor. “It would indeed be a shame to the family. We must know. Go call Zhou Ziqin.”
Zhou Ziqin had already packed up everything pertinent to the investigation according to Huang Zixia’s orders. He had the records from last time; Ah Bi and Ah Yan followed behind him with a heavy box. They put it down, bowed, and quickly left.
Zhou Ziqin greeted the Emperor and Empress and then looked at his records. “After Yang Chonggu and I examined the body closely, I wrote: ‘The deceased is female, five feet seven inches tall, with distorted facial features and swollen, festering, black skin. Her teeth are complete, her hair long and healthy. The body shows no signs of trauma, and was likely poisoned to death.’ I also noted discrepancies with the hand bones and other issues, but because I couldn’t undertake a closer examination, I kept that in the file.” He closed the record and continued. “Combining this with Pao Ding’s articles on bovine anatomy, I learned that muscles, joints, and bones are related according to certain laws. If you would allow me, I should be able to make a replica that restores the skin and muscle features to their original shapes.”
The Emperor raised a hand. “Do it. Quickly.”
Wang Lin cleared the hall so that Zhou Ziqin and Huang Zixia could work.
Zhou Ziqin took a mask coated with garlic and vinegar, and a pair of thin leather gloves from his bag. He handed them to Huang Zixia. She took the gloves and put them on even though she had already touched the corpse with her bare hands. She helped him hold the body’s hand, which he felt and squeezed. Then he drew a complex network of lines and points in his notebook.
Zhou Ziqin opened his box and took a firm hunk of yellow clay from one of its compartments. He kneaded it into the bones of a hand to match the drawing and then connected them with pieces of fine wire. Next, he took out a softer piece of clay and sculpted it around the bones. He let it dry, then used fish gelatin glue to paste a layer of thin white cloth to the outside.
“What do you think?”
Huang Zixia took it. It had a slender palm with thick, strong fingers. It looked nearly real. The strangest thing was that it was just as she remembered Jin Nu’s hand. “Amazing!” Huang Zixia said.
“All right! I wonder if it would impress my sweetheart, Huang Zixia?”
Huang Zixia looked away.
Word came that the Emperor wanted Zhou Ziqin to take his things to Yanji Hall. Ah Bi and Ah Yan didn’t dare complain. They took
the heavy box to where they were called. Huang Zixia asked Xian Yun to go with her to Wang Ruo’s room to get a bracelet.
The Emperor and Empress were seated at the head of two rows of twelve chairs. Li Shubai and Wang Lin sat in the next two, and Wang Yun stood behind his father. Huang Zixia asked Wang Yun for a tray and put Zhou Ziqin’s model hand on top and held it for the Emperor and Empress. Zhou Ziqin then put his own next to it and said, “Look, the length of the palm isn’t much smaller than a man’s, but the finger bones are thick and strong. The hand clearly belongs to that of a relatively robust woman. Also, there is a callus between the thumb and forefinger on the left hand.”
Huang Zixia looked at Xian Yun and Ran Yun. “How does this compare to Wang Ruo’s hand?”
They looked at each other. “Um . . . it’s about the same. I don’t know,” Xian Yun said.
“Say it!” Wang Yun snapped.
“Her hand was very slim and delicate. Su Qi bragged about it after she started teaching her the palace rules,” Xian Yun said.
“That’s what I thought. There is more evidence.” Huang Zixia took Wang Ruo’s bracelet. Then she started to put it on. It squeezed the clay but wouldn’t fit. “This is Wang Ruo’s bracelet. We’ve all seen her wear it. It clearly doesn’t fit.”
Everyone looked at one another. Wang Yun spoke first. “If this body isn’t my little sister, then where is she? And whose body is it?”
Huang Zixia instructed Zhou Ziqin to hold up his drawing. She pointed to the calluses on all three fingers. “Only a pipa player would have such markings.” Huang Zixia mimed holding a pipa’s neck with her left hand and plucking with her right.
Wang Lin frowned. “But there are so many pipa players. How can we tell which this is?”
“I think I know,” Huang Zixia said. “A pipa player recently disappeared from the academy. Her things were found outside the academy. There were only a few pieces of clothing and jewelry, which were obviously not packed by her. Most importantly, she was also poisoned to death.”
Zhou Ziqin gasped.
“This is Jin Nu!” Huang Zixia said. “Do you all remember when Jin Nu told the Empress and Lady Zhao about her past? We all saw how large her hands were.”
“What about the beheaded body that was found outside the academy?” Zhou Ziqin asked.
“The headless corpse isn’t Jin Nu. The corpse made to look like the Princess is Jin Nu.” Huang Zixia told everyone about the night Jin Nu helped pack the leftover food for Zhou Ziqin. She explained how just a simple cherry stem was too rough for her fragile hands. It was with that prick of the cherry stem that Jin Nu was poisoned.
Zhou Ziqin was even more shocked. “But Jin Nu was at the table with us. She didn’t leave. She ate the same food. Why are we okay and she got poisoned?”
“Because the poison was mixed into the rosin she used on her pipa,” Huang Zixia said with a sigh. “She played some songs at first, but the pipa didn’t sound right because of the humidity, so she rubbed rosin on her strings. Remember?”
Zhou Ziqin nodded. “Yes.”
“The antiaris poison would have slowly spread through her system. She would have fallen into a coma, and the swelling would have made her face unrecognizable. It would have made her body perfect to take the place of the Princess’s,” Huang Zixia said.
“Why would the killer go to such pains to find a substitute for Wang Ruo’s body? And how did they get Wang Ruo out of the palace? What’s the motivation for all this?” the Emperor asked.
“Ziqin,” Li Shubai said. “You worked hard on that hand. Why don’t you go take a rest?”
Zhou Ziqin looked puzzled. “But Yang Chonggu hasn’t finished.”
Li Shubai just glared at him. Even Zhou Ziqin understood that it wasn’t a request. “I’ll be going!”
Zhou Ziqin left, and Huang Zixia closed the door. She bowed slightly to the Emperor.
“I believe the killer is in this hall.” Her words resounded clearly throughout the room, causing her listeners to straighten up like they’d been pricked by a thorn.
Empress Wang sneered. “Nonsense. You mean they’re part of our family?”
“I would only say such a thing if it were the result of a careful investigation. I only want to tell the truth.”
The room filled with gasps and whispers.
The Emperor raised his hand. “Let’s let Chonggu finish.”
“Thank you, my Emperor!” Huang Zixia bowed to the Emperor. “Remember when that aristocrat took a risky chance and attempted to assassinate her? Zhang Ling, who was a step ahead of me, saw the shadow go out the window. When I got there, nothing. Are there really people who can turn invisible like that? I think the purpose of that intrusion was to get Your Highnesses to move her to Yongchun Hall.”
Empress Wang smiled coldly. “So moving her for her protection makes it my fault?”
“I wouldn’t say that. What I mean is that maybe it may have contributed. Yongchun Hall may have been selected ahead of time as the best place to make Wang Ruo disappear.” Huang Zixia took out a sheet of paper from her sleeve pocket and unfolded it. It was the map of Yongchun Hall she had drawn before. She pulled the smaller jade pin out of her hairpin and started sketching on the paper so everyone could see. She showed them the layout of Yongchun Hall and where the guards stood.
Everyone hung on her every word.
Huang Zixia recounted how Wang Ruo intentionally came out of the hall to talk to the Prince. “She made sure we would see her go back inside,” Huang Zixia said. She used her hairpin to draw a circle around the east court’s inner hall to show the tight watch. “After she disappeared, I kept wondering how she could vanish so quickly after I saw her enter the hall. How did she avoid all those eyes?”
Her audience was silent. Even Li Shubai, who already knew, couldn’t help but listen intently.
“It wasn’t until I learned a magic trick from a street performer in the West City that I understood. Wang Ruo didn’t suddenly disappear from Yongchun Hall; she never went in at all.”
“But, according to you,” Wang Lin said coldly, “the Prince of Kui and dozens of guards all watched her walk inside. How could they all be under such an illusion?”
“The trick only takes an instant. Under Commander Wang’s orders, no guards stood behind the rock garden where Li Shubai and myself were seated. The only guards that could have seen it were told to watch the window. So all of us who supposedly saw her go back inside really only saw her silhouette from behind.”
“It’s not enough proof to just see her silhouette?”
“Certainly not.” Huang Zixia pointed her hairpin to the rockery. “Between the inner and outer halls, the rockery is low with a winding slate path going through it. Here is the tallest part, tall enough to cover the five-foot-seven Wang Ruo. So all that was needed was someone wearing the same clothing, hair, and jewelry as Wang Ruo to hide there in advance. Then, when Wang Ruo reached that highest point, she crouched down and switched clothes with the other woman. Thus, in a moment, the person we saw walk back to the hall wasn’t Wang Ruo but someone else entirely!”
“Then who traded places with her?”
“Ran Yun came with Wang Ruo to see the Prince of Kui, so the person hiding in the rockery was the attendant Xian Yun,” Huang Zixia said.
“Ridiculous! Xian Yun is shorter than Wang Ruo,” Wang Lin said.
“A piece of charred wood was found on the stove. I believe it was from platform shoes,” Huang Zixia said. “You did this because you were ordered to.”
Wang Lin interrupted. “So what about everyone searching Yongchun Hall for her after?”
“Simple. There would have been clothing for a eunuch or lady hidden in the rocks. She changed into her disguise. Then she joined in the search for the hairpin. She blended in and then left with the Empress’s attendants.”
Yanji Hall was silent.
The Emperor thought over what she said and looked at the Empress. Her eyes were downcast. “So what is the point of a
ll this? Why would she do this?”
“Think about the man with the birdcage at Xianyou Temple. Who had the power to sneak in and out of the temple? The temple was heavily guarded. The person with the birdcage was someone in this room. It was a slight of hand.”
A few whispers filled the hall as those listening tried to put it together.
“This person wanted to get rid of Wang Ruo to preserve the Wang family name. Unfortunately, he didn’t know who had really invited Wang Ruo to the palace. He had no way of knowing that his disappearing trick would result in more tragedy.
The anticipation made the room seem small.
Huang Zixia cleared her throat. “You played the disappearing trick, didn’t you, Commander Wang Yun?”
Sixteen
PERPLEXING SITUATION
Wang Yun looked at her quietly. His facial expression faltered for only a moment. “I’m not sure what you mean by this, Mr. Yang,” he said gently.
“I’m saying that you disguised yourself as the mysterious man at Xianyou Temple. And you went to the West City to buy that trick birdcage. When you bought it, you wore an outfit that would stand out in the salesman’s memory in order to mislead them. This was pretty cautious, but you overlooked an important detail.”
“What detail?” Wang Yun smiled. “Why do you insist it was me at Xianyou Temple?”
“Because you intended to use the spirit of Pang Xun to disrupt this marriage, but by leaving the arrowhead that Li Shubai used to kill Pang Xun on the altar, you exposed yourself!”
Wang Yun now looked slightly rattled. “What would that arrowhead have to do with me?”
“You led troops to defeat bandits in March, yes?”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Those bandits stole the arrowhead. You took it from them when you defeated them. It was you who planted it. Very few people could have gotten that arrowhead; fewer could have put it in Xianyou Temple. The only person who could have done both is you, Commander Wang Yun!”