Ever since Qi Kedan left the royal court, he had disappeared with his remaining forces. Now that Yashu had appeared here, did that mean Qi Kedan had also arrived in Chang’an? Although Diyue had already surrendered, Qi Kedan remained a major threat to Dali’s heart. If he one day returned to the royal court to reclaim the throne, the northwest frontier would likely be engulfed in flames of war once again.
Gao Yue naturally also thought of this. With almost no hesitation, she immediately said: “I need to go back and tell the Marquis this news.”
“By the time you go and return, they may not still be here.”
“Then what should we do? We can’t just watch them leave like this.” Gao Yue’s expression showed some agitation. Suddenly she raised her head and looked over at her. Before she could speak, Qiu Xinran immediately said: “Don’t even think about it. I’m just an ordinary fortune-teller.”
Gao Yue was angry at her lack of ambition: “During the most difficult years in Qizhou, if the Diyue people had broken through, even the most ordinary women and children would have taken up cleavers to go out of the city to fight. You live in prosperous peaceful times—can you really just steal life like this when a great enemy is before you?” Having grown up on the frontier since childhood, the teachings she received and the environment she was immersed in were completely different from those who had never lived on the frontier.
Qiu Xinran sighed: “Though I’m willing to help, if I stay here to keep watch, I might expose myself and ruin the young lady’s important matter instead.”
Gao Yue was so angry she couldn’t speak. After a while she compromised: “Then I’ll stay here to watch them, and you go to the Marquis’s estate to deliver a message for me. That should be acceptable, right?”
This wasn’t difficult. Qiu Xinran thought about it and nodded: “I can only guarantee this much.”
Gao Yue’s expression improved slightly. Afraid she would back out, she took out a small token from her waist and gave it to her: “This is the token my brother gave me. When you arrive at the official residence, give this to them and they’ll know.”
Qiu Xinran took the token and looked at it, discovering it was Gao Yang’s hand warrant. She put the token away securely on her person, then heard Gao Yue instruct: “In the stable behind this wine shop there’s a date-red pony I rode here. You go down the stairs and circle around to the back courtyard, ride it and take the small roads to the official residence. Go quickly and return quickly.”
Qiu Xinran had no choice. Following her words, she got up and quietly went down the stairs to circle around to the back of the wine shop. Beside the storage room behind the stairs was a concealed small chamber. Before she could circle around to the back courtyard, she saw a tall man standing by the stable. Though dressed as a menial worker, his eyes were only watching the surroundings—he looked more like he was keeping watch.
Qiu Xinran felt a surge of alertness and turned to leave through the front entrance instead. But at this moment, footsteps of someone coming downstairs sounded from above. A corner of a robe was faintly visible—it looked like the clothing worn by those few Diyue people who had gone upstairs earlier. Qiu Xinran’s heart tightened. Afraid of alarming others, in her panic she discovered the storage room door under the stairs wasn’t latched, so she turned and ducked inside.
Only after entering did she discover this place was a wine cellar. The space inside wasn’t large, the floor filled with wine jars—just enough room for one person to stand inside. This storage room connected to the small chamber next door. Faintly she could hear voices speaking inside.
These Diyue people were probably worried that appearing in large wine shops and teahouses would easily draw attention, which was why they chose such an ordinary wine shop. But this kind of wine shop was often small with rather crude furnishings. She leaned close and pressed her ear against it, hearing several sentences of stilted Chinese before realizing that those people going upstairs earlier must have been to avoid detection, in case someone was following. After entering the private room on the second floor, they had secretly circled around to the small chamber next door on the first floor. No wonder there was someone keeping watch by the stable in back. She didn’t know who they had come to meet today that required such caution.
Gao Yue was still on the second floor at this moment and should still be completely unaware of what was happening below. She herself was trapped here in a difficult position, unable to advance or retreat. Thinking of this, Qiu Xinran smiled bitterly and could only hide in this storage room for now to observe the situation outside.
Yashu led his subordinate into the room. Upon opening the door, he saw a crude small table inside with a middle-aged man of about forty sitting beside it—none other than the Left Minister Wu Guangda. Seeing him arrive, the other party didn’t stand up. Only after he was seated did he speak: “Do you know what kind of trouble it would cause both of us if people saw you in Chang’an?” His expression was impatient, as if he didn’t want to stay here a moment longer. Yashu pretended not to understand his coldness: “My king heard that Your Excellency has recently encountered some troubles and commanded me to come especially to assist.”
“Our cooperation ended seven years ago.”
“Precisely because the last cooperation was pleasant, you and I might be able to cooperate powerfully once again.”
Wu Guangda pondered for a while. After a long time he finally asked: “What does Qi Kedan want?”
The conversation finally cut to the heart of the matter. Yashu also didn’t beat around the bush and spoke directly: “My king hopes to return to the royal court and reclaim the land that belongs to him.”
“That’s impossible,” the man said in a deep voice. “The Northwest is now Xia Xiuyan’s territory. The Changwu Army’s expansion these past years has already exceeded the scale it had under Xia Hongying. Moreover, now the thirteen frontier provinces in the Northwest are united with Qizhou as the center, establishing military defenses like copper walls and iron ramparts. You must have even deeper experience of this.”
Yashu said humbly: “Your Excellency misunderstands. My king doesn’t wish to return to the royal court to covet Dali’s provincial cities. He is advanced in years and only wishes to return to his homeland.”
Wu Guangda gave a cold laugh: “Seven years ago I promised to sell you the defense maps of Qizhou, using the peace negotiations to exchange for my position in court today. But now, if Qi Kedan wants to return to the royal court, what will he use to exchange with me?”
“We have a common enemy. His being alive does neither of us any good.” Yashu seemed to have long been prepared for this questioning and said slowly: “You couldn’t possibly not have noticed, right? You’re now besieged from all sides. If this continues, you’ll soon lose the Emperor’s trust. By the time you want to counterattack, it will be too late.”
Wu Guangda snorted coldly: “The wolf cub has come back for revenge, but Chang’an isn’t the frontier—it’s not a place where he can run wild.”
Yashu laughed: “Your Excellency has never crossed swords with him. Only we know how ferocious this former young wolf is. He has even surpassed his father. As long as he sets his sights on an enemy, if he doesn’t bite through their throat, he absolutely will not let go.”
The person across fell silent for a long time, as if considering his proposal. A long time later, the middle-aged man finally spoke: “I can help Qi Kedan return to the royal court, as long as Xia Xiuyan dies.”
Yashu placed one hand on his chest and bowed his head to him in salute: “This is also our wish.”
The two plotted in the room for a while. After Wu Guangda left the room, the tall subordinate beside Yashu said resentfully: “Han people are too cunning! They turn their backs and refuse to acknowledge people. I think he has no intention of sincerely cooperating with us at all!”
Yashu gave a cold laugh: “He treats us as a knife to kill with—we can also choose to treat him merely as a bridge to cross the river.”
“What does this mean?”
Yashu shook his head: “This place isn’t very safe. Let’s go back before we talk.” As he left the room and passed by the storage room next door, Yashu lowered his head and glanced at the handle on the door, his steps pausing. The subordinate following behind him found it somewhat strange and couldn’t help asking: “My lord?”
The other party lowered his eyes in thought for a moment, then shook his head again and continued walking toward the back courtyard.
Qiu Xinran crouched behind the wine jars, pinching the few copper coins in her hand and pushing them back and forth on the ground. She hadn’t heard all the conversation in the room clearly, only some vague information. After confirming the people next door had left, she pounded her numb legs from crouching and stood up, quietly opening a crack in the door. There was no one outside. She looked out twice before carefully and stealthily withdrawing from the storage room.
She carefully closed the door handle and was just about to turn around when suddenly someone behind her pressed a wet cloth over her mouth and nose. Immediately a pungent smell rushed into her nasal cavity. Right after, Qiu Xinran only felt the world spinning before she quickly lost consciousness.
Yuan Zhou was on duty at the Bureau of Astronomy that afternoon when someone urgently summoned him out bearing the Marquis Dingbei’s token. He really had no relationship with the Marquis Dingbei and couldn’t figure out for the life of him what matter Xia Xiuyan could have in sending for him at this time. But seeing the other party’s anxious expression, as if there was some extremely urgent matter, he could only hurriedly follow him onto a carriage all the way out of the palace.
Yuan Zhou sat in the carriage. After leaving the palace gates, he discovered they weren’t heading to the official residence where Xia Xiuyan currently lived. Completely confused, he just watched as the carriage twisted and turned through the city before finally stopping outside a wine shop not far from Fangchi Garden. Upon getting off the carriage, he was immediately taken to a private room on the second floor. Upon entering, he indeed saw Xia Xiuyan sitting at the table. Yuan Zhou hurried to bow in greeting, but unexpectedly the other party waved his hand and interrupted these formalities with an indifferent expression, raising his hand to point at the small table before him: “Can you tell what this means?”
Yuan Zhou stepped forward and discovered several copper coins on the table. Not understanding: “This is?” He couldn’t help looking up, only then discovering the person before him seemed somewhat restless and impatient.
Xia Xiuyan leaned against the chair back, pinching two copper coins in his hand: “To be frank, your senior martial sister has disappeared and most likely was taken by Diyue people.” Yuan Zhou didn’t react for a moment and just stared at him blankly, as if he hadn’t understood the meaning of his words: “What did you say?”
The other party suppressed his impatience and explained again: “According to my estate’s people, Qi Kedan’s subordinates appeared at this wine shop today. By coincidence your senior martial sister was also here and was preparing to come to the estate to report. But shortly after, she lost track—I’m afraid she’s already fallen into the hands of the Diyue people.”
Yuan Zhou was greatly alarmed: “Where would they take my senior martial sister?”
“Currently there are no clues, but this was discovered in a storage room.” Xia Xiuyan opened his hand and indicated the copper coins on the table to him. “Although I don’t know if she deliberately left it, it barely counts as a clue. I don’t understand six-line divination, so I asked Yushu to come take a look.”
Yuan Zhou’s heart was anxious and uneasy, concerned about Qiu Xinran’s safety. Although he still had a bellyful of questions, at this moment he could only forcibly suppress his urgency to look at the copper coins on the table: “Is the Marquis certain that when these copper coins were found, they were arranged exactly like this without being moved at all?”
“No.”
On the table were twelve copper coins, some heads and some tails, arranged neat and tidy, leaving people baffled. Yuan Zhou looked once: “This is a Qian hexagram—Qian represents Heaven. It counts as an auspicious hexagram.”
Xia Xiuyan frowned: “What does that mean?”
Yuan Zhou also didn’t understand. He carefully studied this hexagram for a long time but really couldn’t figure it out. Had Qiu Xinran left this hexagram to say she was completely safe and there was no need to worry? She couldn’t have gone with them willingly, could she?
Xia Xiuyan wasn’t proficient in this art. Seeing his tightly furrowed brow, he didn’t speak to interrupt. He withdrew from the room. Gao Yang was hurrying over, holding a note in his hand which he handed to him with a solemn expression: “This was just sent to the official residence.”
Xia Xiuyan took it and looked. There were only a few words on it. Zhao Rong also came over from the side: “What does it say?”
“Yashu took her as Gao Yue. It should be because he saw the token you gave her.” Xia Xiuyan’s face was cold as he casually handed the note to him. Zhao Rong took it and looked, seeing written on it: If you want to bring Gao Yue back, come to the Mountain God Temple in the city outskirts before dark.
“Who delivered the note?”
“A small beggar in the city, paid ten wen by the other party.”
Zhao Rong glanced at Xia Xiuyan’s expression and took the initiative to suggest: “How about I go?”
Xia Xiuyan shook his head: “I’ll go.”
Hearing this, Gao Yang was alarmed: “How can that be acceptable?”
“The Diyue people infiltrated Chang’an without anyone knowing. If Gao Yue hadn’t happened to see them today, not a single person in the entire court would know about this.” Xia Xiuyan said coldly. “If someone wanted to make an issue of it, this would be a dereliction of duty by the Northwest garrison. What they came to Chang’an to do, whether anyone in court is colluding with them—do you still think this is just about one Qiu Xinran being taken?”
Gao Yang’s expression became stern, but there was still some struggle in his expression: “Though that’s true, we still don’t know how many people they have or what they’re trying to do. For the Marquis to go alone is far too dangerous.”
His words had just fallen when there was a series of rapid footsteps overhead. Yuan Zhou, clutching the copper coins from the table, ran down with bright eyes. Before even reaching them, he couldn’t help shouting: “Marquis! I’ve solved it!” The several people below looked up at him in unison. They saw him leaning on the stair railing, his face slightly flushed with excitement: “I’ve figured out what my senior martial sister’s hexagram means!”