The sugar frosting from Fumantang was indeed delicious.
That night, Li Ying lay on the table, her chin resting on her arm, gazing sideways at the pale yellow winter jasmine in the jade spring vase. With sugar frosting in her mouth, its sweetness gradually permeating her taste buds, and the subtle fragrance of winter jasmine filling her nostrils, Li Ying continued to look at the fully bloomed winter jasmine, her gaze filled with affection and longing, until finally she fell into a deep sleep.
After three thousand beats of the dawn drum, a new day began in Chang’an.
Cui Xun went to the Investigation Bureau early. The green five-colored twelve-pattern ceremonial robe should have been kept in the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau, but had mysteriously disappeared. There must be an accomplice within the palace.
However, when Cui Xun ordered the arrest of suspicious persons from the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau, the female official who had been guarding the storeroom that day suddenly committed suicide out of fear of punishment. The trail ended there. Though the lead was cut off, Cui Xun became even more convinced that the cat ghost affair couldn’t be Jiang Liang’s plot alone; someone else must be behind it.
To clarify the entire matter, perhaps they needed to start from the beginning, with Wan Xiang, Jiang Liang’s courtyard companion.
Wan Xiang had been beaten to death by the Empress Dowager twenty-nine years ago, and her body buried in the city’s mass grave. In a few days, it will be the Cold Food Festival. After the Cold Food Festival, the gates of the underworld would close, so the Great Zhou had designated the Cold Food Festival as a day for grave-sweeping, to ensure that the deceased could receive the burnt paper money before the underworld gates closed.
Cui Xun thus had the Investigation Bureau’s guards keep watch day and night over Wan Xiang’s grave in the mass burial ground. On the day of the Cold Food Festival, someone indeed came to pay respects to Wan Xiang, but it wasn’t Jiang Liang—it was a woman close to fifty years old.
After capturing the woman, the guards brought her back to the Investigation Bureau. When Cui Xun received the news, he prepared to take a carriage to the Investigation Bureau, but Li Ying said, “I want to go too.”
She explained, “The cat ghost matter concerns my mother’s safety. I also want to get to the bottom of it.”
Cui Xun nodded: “Then let’s go together.”
This was Li Ying’s third time entering the Investigation Bureau. The first time, Cui Xun had tortured Wang Liang, intending to frighten her away. The second time, Wang Ranxi had confessed to killing her, though in reality, Wang Ranxi hadn’t killed her at all—it was a false confession that Cui Xun had coerced. Neither experience had been particularly pleasant, so after alighting from the carriage and looking at the black ceremonial gate, Li Ying hesitated.
Cui Xun seemed to notice her hesitation. As he passed by her, he said softly, “Never again.”
Li Ying understood. The corners of her mouth curled into a slight smile, and she murmured in agreement, then prepared to follow Cui Xun into the Investigation Bureau.
But on the stone steps at the entrance of the Investigation Bureau sat a child of about four years old.
Cui Xun’s brows furrowed slightly. The guard leading the way stopped and turned back to apologize: “Deputy Commissioner, this is Madam Yan’s grandson.”
“Madam Yan?”
“The woman who was paying respects to Wan Xiang,” the guard explained with difficulty. “He insists on waiting here for Madam Yan. We couldn’t drive him away no matter what.”
Since the four-year-old child wouldn’t leave, they couldn’t beat him. Otherwise, the Investigation Bureau would become even more despised in Chang’an.
Cui Xun said, “Ignore him.”
The guard acknowledged. The stone steps in front of the ceremonial gate of the Investigation Bureau were identical to those of the Dali Temple—eighteen in total. To the east of the ceremonial gate was the grievance drum, and to the west was the pathway gong. The ceremonial gate was normally closed and only opened when the Deputy Commissioner of the Investigation Bureau or higher officials arrived; everyone else entered and exited through the side doors. As Cui Xun lifted the hem of his official robe and ascended the steps, the child also stood up. He didn’t cry or shout, but simply looked at Cui Xun with innocent eyes and asked, “When will you release my grandmother?”
The child was indeed clever, recognizing at a glance that Cui Xun was the one in charge of the Investigation Bureau, which was why he addressed his question to him. Cui Xun didn’t want to respond, but the child stood in his way, fearless, and asked again, “When will you release my grandmother?”
The guard became annoyed, but Cui Xun waved him off. With a calm expression, he said, “If your grandmother hasn’t done anything wrong, we will release her.”
Hearing this, the child replied, “My grandmother never does anything wrong.”
After saying this, he made way for Cui Xun. Cui Xun was somewhat surprised by the child’s appropriate behavior. He examined him for a moment, then turned around and stepped onto the stairs, preparing to enter the ceremonial gate. Li Ying followed beside him, but as she stepped onto the stairs, her robe was quietly tugged by the child.
The child looked up at her, his eyes full of entreaty. Li Ying was startled—could this child see her?
But then she realized that it was said that children under six, with their pure hearts, could perceive all things. So it wasn’t particularly surprising that this child could see her.
The child’s young face was filled with helplessness. Li Ying felt sympathy for him. At this moment, Cui Xun also turned back. The guard leading the way, hearing Cui Xun stop, also turned around. The guard couldn’t see Li Ying, only the child looking up in Cui Xun’s direction with a pleading expression. The guard was terrified, fearing that Cui Xun would become angry, and was about to rebuke the child when Li Ying said to Cui Xun, “Cui Xun, you go in first.”
Cui Xun looked at the precocious child for a moment, then responded with an “Mm,” and followed the guard up the steps, entering the Investigation Bureau ahead of her.
Madam Yan was detained in the prison chamber. Before Cui Xun entered, the guard reported, “Deputy Commissioner, we’ve investigated. This woman’s name is Madam Yan. She was once a maid in Empress Zheng’s palace. After the Taichang Blood Incident, she was expelled from the palace. She married a husband and had a son. A few years ago, both her husband and son died, leaving behind only a four-year-old grandson.”
Cui Xun nodded. He looked through the iron window into the prison chamber and saw Madam Yan in shackles, looking haggard. She appeared much older than her actual age, with hair at her temples almost completely white, deep wrinkles lining her face, hands rough and worn, and clothing very simple. It seemed that these twenty-nine years had not been kind to her.
Cui Xun examined her for a while. Although charcoal fires burned throughout the investigation chamber, the chill brought by malevolent spirits still made him cough lightly twice. He wrapped his crane-feather cloak tighter and pushed open the iron door. Madam Yan turned around in a panic. Upon seeing Cui Xun in his crimson official robe, she immediately knelt and kowtowed: “Deputy Commissioner Cui, I’ve done nothing wrong. Please release me.”
Cui Xun looked down at her, his voice cold but carrying a fearsome chill: “You’ve done nothing?”
“I…” Madam Yan stammered, “I… I only burned some paper money for a former friend. Is that also wrong?”
“Your friend was no ordinary person,” Cui Xun said calmly. “She was a guilty maidservant beaten to death for offending the Empress Dowager.”
Madam Yan’s body trembled incessantly with fear. Her once beautiful features had been completely eroded by life’s hardships. Her eyes were clouded, and she looked pitiable and timid. Yet this pitiable, timid person dared to burn paper money for a guilty maidservant who had been dead for exactly twenty-nine years.
Though she shook like a sieve, Madam Yan still summoned the courage to look up: “Deputy Commissioner Cui, there’s no law saying one cannot pay respects to a guilty maid. The Empress Dowager never said so either. So what crime have I committed?”
Hearing this, Cui Xun didn’t get angry but instead laughed lightly: “I’m not accusing you of any crime. I’m just curious. A friend who died twenty-nine years ago—if you didn’t pay respects to her, no one would criticize you. That being the case, why would you risk your life to burn a few pieces of paper money for her?”
Madam Yan lowered her head: “I haven’t read books. I can’t expound on great principles. I only know that Wan Xiang was my friend. No matter how many years she’s been dead, she remains my friend.”
As she spoke, her body trembled with fear. The reputation of Cui Xun and the Investigation Bureau was well-known throughout Chang’an. Everyone said that Cui Xun was an evil spirit crawling out from the path of Asura; no, he was even more terrifying than an evil spirit. Whether princes and nobles or common folk, anyone who fell into the hands of this cruel official would end up disabled if not dead. At that moment, she heard the agonized screams of a prisoner being tortured in the adjacent cell, which frightened her into another bout of trembling. But Cui Xun crouched down, his eyes, though rippling with waves, yet cold as frost and snow, staring at her steadily. Madam Yan fearfully shrank back, but Cui Xun lowered his head and unlocked the shackles on her hands.
Madam Yan was stunned. Cui Xun said, “The guard was rough and offended the elder. It was my fault.”
Madam Yan asked in confusion, “Why… why this?”
Cui Xun didn’t answer but said, “I invited the elder to the Investigation Bureau only to understand one question.”
Madam Yan finally came to her senses: “What… what question?”
“Why exactly did Wan Xiang die?”
While Cui Xun was questioning Madam Yan in the Investigation Bureau, Li Ying was sitting on the stone steps outside, keeping her grandson company.
Madam Yan’s grandson was named Hu Nu. He had a tiger-like head and face, and was quite adorable. But unlike his appearance, Hu Nu was very precocious. When he spoke, he didn’t sound like a four-year-old child but was methodical and reasonable.
Hu Nu asked, “Will my grandmother be all right?”
Li Ying reassured him: “She’ll be fine.”
“But I’ve heard that the Investigation Bureau, and that very bad person inside, are quite terrifying. Once you enter the Investigation Bureau, you never come out.”
Li Ying thought for a moment, then said, “That bad person can be quite scary sometimes, but at other times, he’s quite nice. He doesn’t enjoy killing people. If your grandmother hasn’t done anything wrong, he’ll release her.”
“Really?”
Li Ying nodded: “Really.”
Hu Nu sighed in relief: “My grandmother hasn’t done anything. She just went to burn some paper money for someone, and they arrested her.”
“Why did your grandmother go to burn paper money for someone?”
“I don’t know. Grandmother said that person was her friend, and if she didn’t look after her, she would be very pitiful in the underworld.”
The child’s words were simple and innocent, but after hearing them, Li Ying thought of many things. She pursed her lips and smiled slightly: “Hu Nu, I have good news to tell you.”
“What good news?”
“That bad person, he won’t kill your grandmother.”
“Why?”
“Because he also has many friends. In his heart, he also wants to burn some paper money for them during the Cold Food Festival.”