When Qiu Xinran arrived at Yishan Ward carrying her fortune-telling banner, she saw Zhou Xianyi leading people out from the Marquis Dingbei’s official residence. Behind him was a group of officials from the Court of Judicial Review—clearly on official business. A crowd had gathered outside the official residence, whispering among themselves but not daring to approach.
Xia Xiuyan was not at the residence. What had the Court of Judicial Review come here to apprehend? She stood by the roadside, and after a short while saw officials escorting out a man wearing a mask. Her heart jumped, guessing that Zhao Rong’s identity had likely been exposed, but when she saw him emerge from the residence, he wasn’t wearing shackles, and the officials beside him maintained a reasonably courteous attitude. They simply invited him onto a carriage—it seemed they were requesting he return with them for investigation, not yet the worst-case scenario.
Before boarding the carriage, Zhao Rong seemed to sense something. He raised his head to look in her direction and spotted her immediately. His expression paused briefly, then he quickly looked away with studied indifference.
Zhou Xianyi hadn’t noticed the activity on this side. Seeing Zhao Rong board the carriage, he urged his subordinates to depart, and before long they had disappeared from the front of the Marquis’s residence, leaving only neighbors emerging from their hiding spots in various corners to discuss what had happened.
Qiu Xinran stood in place for a moment. After everyone had dispersed, she straightened her clothes and walked to the entrance of the official residence, grasping the door knocker and tapping it lightly. Before long, the main door opened a crack and the gatekeeper poked his head out from behind it. Seeing her, he was also startled: “Daoist Qiu? What brings you here…”
Qiu Xinran smiled amiably and asked, “I wonder if Vice General He is at the residence?”
Upon hearing she was looking for He Zhong, the gatekeeper glanced back with lingering apprehension and advised in a low voice, “If it’s nothing urgent, I’d suggest you come back later.”
Qiu Xinran was quite good at taking hints. Hearing this, she immediately understood that He Zhong was likely inside throwing a temper tantrum, so she decided not to enter and invite that trouble. Instead, she took out a small brocade pouch from her sleeve and handed it to him: “Then please give this to him. Tell him if he’s willing, he can find me at He’s Restaurant.” She then took out an ingot of broken silver and pressed it into his hand.
The gatekeeper felt the silver and said politely, “Daoist, what’s this for? It’s just part of my duties.” Qiu Xinran smiled: “Vice General He is in the middle of his anger. Having you make this trip is only appropriate.”
The gatekeeper’s face bloomed into a smile. He tucked the silver into his sleeve and repeatedly promised to deliver the message.
Leaving the official residence, Qiu Xinran hailed a carriage to leave the city. It was the busy farming season, and there were many farming families along the road. As soon as she exited the city, she jumped down from the carriage and walked west on foot. At noon, she arrived at an unremarkable estate. She glanced twice at the three poplar trees outside the estate before stepping forward to knock on the door. Soon a woman emerged and, seeing a stranger standing outside, looked quite guarded.
Qiu Xinran quickly held up her fortune-telling banner: “Madam, would you like your fortune told? Five coins per reading, honest prices for all.”
This was a code phrase Xia Xiuyan had taught her earlier. Upon hearing it, the woman’s expression indeed softened considerably. She quietly opened the door a crack to let her in. The estate wasn’t large. The woman silently led her to the courtyard and pointed to a small room in the back: “That’s the place.” Qiu Xinran thanked her and went forward to knock on the door. Soon the door opened, revealing a delicate face behind it—it was Mei Que.
Seeing it was her, Mei Que first froze, then showed delight, quickly pulling her inside the room: “It’s you? Did the Marquis send you to find me?”
Qiu Xinran deliberately sighed: “If not for him, I wouldn’t have been able to find you.”
Mei Que had been hiding at this estate outside the city for some time and knew nothing about what was happening outside. She anxiously pulled at Qiu Xinran with a barrage of questions: “How are things outside? Is Sister Lan alright? Did I cause her trouble? What about Wu Peng? After that day, did he give you any trouble?”
Qiu Xinran’s head ached from this rapid-fire questioning. She quickly raised her hand to interrupt: “I’ll tell you in a moment. First, you tell me what exactly happened that day? How do you know the Seventh Princess?”
“You don’t know? Then how would the Marquis have you come find me?” Mei Que was somewhat surprised. After pondering for a moment, she explained in detail: “Wu Peng had come to Fangchi Garden several times before. I couldn’t find an opportunity to act. Once, in a moment of desperation, I took a dagger and planned to sneak into his room to attack him, but his servants discovered me. I thought I was surely dead, but unexpectedly that person let me go. The next day, the Seventh Princess secretly sought me out. She asked if I wanted revenge. Of course I did, so she said she could give me an opportunity.”
It seemed Li Hanru had planted eyes and ears around Wu Peng. No wonder that night she was able to slip the Melting Pear Fragrance into his wine. Speaking of which, she had truly misunderstood Xia Xiuyan. Qiu Xinran’s feelings were somewhat complicated: “What about the Marquis Dingbei? What’s his involvement?”
Mei Que said, “Not long after I met the Seventh Princess, Sister Lan found out about it. She came looking for me, both angry and anxious, but at that time my mind was filled only with thoughts of revenge—how could I listen? I had an argument with her right there. I thought I’d hurt her feelings and she’d never care about my affairs again, but unexpectedly the next day she brought me to meet the Marquis. Speaking of which, it was that time you encountered us at the official residence.”
Qiu Xinran naturally remembered that occasion, but hadn’t expected it was for this reason: “What did the Marquis say to you?”
“He told me to do as the Seventh Princess instructed, but he asked me to sing an opera he’d prepared that night at the lake pavilion.” Mei Que also found this strange, clearly still puzzled about what purpose that opera served. But speaking of this reminded her of another matter. She got up and retrieved a box from under the bed: “Oh right, the Marquis also said to give this to whoever came looking for me.” She carefully took out a small box from the larger one and placed it on the table, indicating Qiu Xinran should open it.
Opening it, Qiu Xinran found it contained some jewelry. She took out a few pieces to examine—finely crafted from excellent jade. That Mei Que had some savings after several years at Fangchi Garden wasn’t surprising, but why would Xia Xiuyan have her give these to herself?
“This is…”
“These are things my sister sent home.”
Qiu Xinran’s eyes flew wide open. She examined the jewelry in her hand more carefully and indeed recognized the craftsmanship as something only the palace could produce. Mei Que continued, “I have a sister who was sold into the palace when we were young. When my younger brother fell gravely ill, our family was so poor we couldn’t make ends meet. My mother had no choice but to secretly have someone send word to the palace, hoping she might help support the family. We didn’t hold much hope, but unexpectedly before long, someone really did deliver this package of jewelry along with some broken silver. My mother was afraid if my father knew about it, he’d take these things to gamble, so she secretly gave them to me to hide, taking only the broken silver herself to find a doctor in the countryside. Who could have known that black-hearted father of mine…” Her voice grew hoarse here, unable to continue. But even without her saying it, Qiu Xinran knew what happened next.
She recalled that day in the palace when she’d run into Xiao Song sneaking around, having a young eunuch deliver these items out. She’d caught her at it and promised that if she could retrieve the items first, she’d then lend her some silver for her emergency. Unexpectedly, for some reason the jewelry wasn’t recovered, and after going round and round, it had ended up before her eyes anyway.
Mei Que’s eyes reddened slightly: “I hid this package deep. After being sold, I almost thought I’d never get it back. During the hardest years, I thought about selling them, but Master wouldn’t allow it. He said this was a keepsake left to me by my mother and sister, and refused no matter what to let me pawn them.”
Qiu Xinran lowered her eyes, not knowing what to say. Finally she only asked, “What else did the Marquis tell you?”
Mei Que wiped the corner of her eye and recalled, “The Marquis said someone would come find me and told me to give these things to them. He said that person was an old acquaintance of my sister’s and would properly arrange for these items.”
Hearing this, Qiu Xinran carefully took out the pearl hairpins and rings from the jewelry box one by one to examine them. Since Xiao Song had stolen them, she naturally wouldn’t dare take anything too fine—she’d mostly picked items from Concubine Xu’s dressing box that had the most inconspicuous designs or pieces Concubine Xu rarely wore out.
Among them was a pair of earrings that Qiu Xinran suddenly found familiar. Taking them out for a closer look, she discovered they were circular earrings carved from white jade, engraved with butterfly patterns—lifelike and exquisitely delicate. Seeing her examine the earrings for so long, Mei Que couldn’t help but lean closer: “There are characters on them.”
“Hmm?” Qiu Xinran responded absently.
“Look.” Mei Que took them from her hand and walked to the window, holding the earrings up to the sunlight. Faintly visible were two characters the size of rice grains in seal script. Qiu Xinran read them character by character—they were “Not Stone.”
Mei Que didn’t recognize those two characters. Only after hearing her read them did she say, “Clearly it’s a piece of jade, yet it has such a name. How strange.”
But Qiu Xinran stared at the white jade earring in her hand, her gaze heavy, and suddenly said, “This one is called ‘Not Stone.’ Can you guess what the other one is called?”
“I don’t know. Do you?” Mei Que held the other one, looking at her curiously.
Qiu Xinran smiled slightly, though somehow that smile seemed mixed with a few parts mockery: “I’d guess the other should be called ‘My Heart.'”
She thought of the white jade finger ring Li Hanyuan had given her. Inside the band was a worn trace—there should have been an engraving once, but someone had erased it.
“My heart is not stone, it cannot be turned.”
Even characters carved in stone could easily have their traces erased, let alone the human heart.
Mei Que didn’t understand why her expression had suddenly grown sorrowful, and couldn’t help but ask, “Daoist Qiu, you know my master—do you also know my sister?” As she asked this, her manner carried a trace of hope even she herself hadn’t noticed.
Under such a gaze, Qiu Xinran found it very difficult to shake her head. Mei Que’s eyes brightened, and she became somewhat embarrassed: “Could you tell me about her? I was too young when she was sold into the palace, but I always wished my sister could still be at home.”
Qiu Xinran looked at her, thinking of that day at the Marquis Dingbei’s official residence when she’d stood up for Lan Hui and quarreled with Gao Yue, as if wholeheartedly protecting her own sister, unwilling to see her suffer any grievance. Thinking of this, her heart felt somewhat sour, and for a moment she found it difficult to speak. After a long while she finally said, “I met Xiao Song twice… Her features resembled yours somewhat.”
“Really?” Mei Que was rather pleased and eagerly pressed on, “What does she do in the palace? What’s her temperament like?”
“She’s the hair-combing maid for Lady Concubine Xu, much valued by Her Ladyship, which is why Her Ladyship rewarded her with so much jewelry.” Qiu Xinran spoke slowly: “Xiao Song has a very good temperament, though she’s a bit timid. But for people important to her, she could risk her life.”
“Then…” When it came to the final question, Mei Que clearly hesitated, biting her lip and deliberating for a long time before saying, “Is she still in the palace now? Later I had someone inquire… but they said there was no such person in the palace. Has she already passed away?”
Qiu Xinran paused, suddenly understanding the meaning behind what Xia Xiuyan had said to her by the fire that night: “I can tell you her whereabouts, and I hope then you’ll still be able to do what you’ve said today.”
Pushing Mei Que forward now would be best—having Mei Que take this package of jewelry before any princess or prince, they would all gladly take her in, using this matter to make a big issue against Li Hantai. But what about afterward? Once she’d lost her usefulness, they would discard her like an unwanted chess piece.
Xia Xiuyan had long seen through her fate, so now he was placing Mei Que’s destiny in her hands, making her choose: tell the woman before her the truth or choose to deceive her? Qiu Xinran could almost see him narrowing his eyes with a trace of mischief, asking her: Which do you choose? She bit her lip, because she didn’t want to choose either. Looking at the woman’s slightly anxious gaze before her, she pondered for a moment before saying, “She has indeed already passed away.”
Mei Que’s gaze dimmed: “How did she die?”
Qiu Xinran considered her words carefully: “This I’m not clear about. Perhaps she fell ill and passed away.”
“That’s truly…” Mei Que lowered her eyes, not knowing what to say. After a while she asked again, “She shouldn’t have suffered too much when she went, should she?” Qiu Xinran realized she must be remembering Yu Yin’s final days before passing, so she said gently and softly, “I heard it happened very quickly—she didn’t suffer.”
“That’s good then.” Mei Que smiled. She and Xiao Song hadn’t actually spent much time together, and her impression of her had long grown faint, but thinking there was a sister in the palace always made her feel there was still a relative in this world, that perhaps someday they might meet. Now hearing she was long gone, she couldn’t help feeling disappointed, but because she’d already been mentally prepared, she wasn’t overly sorrowful.
Qiu Xinran looked at her and suddenly asked, “Can you give me this box of items?”
Mei Que froze. She looked at the items in the dressing box for a long time. Even during the most difficult days, she hadn’t sold these things—perhaps because she held a trace of hope in her heart that if Xiao Song were still alive and didn’t recognize her, this package of jewelry would at least serve as proof. Now that Xiao Song was gone, these pearl and jade ornaments were no longer so important.
She pushed the box across to her. Qiu Xinran added, “If you give them to me, you may never get them back.”
“They were meant for you anyway.” Mei Que said, “You saved me once. Master said people should repay kindness.” She didn’t ask even once what these things would be used for.
Hearing this, Qiu Xinran’s heart warmed, and she couldn’t help but smile slightly. Fortunately—fortunately, though this world was so bitter, there were still people willing to emit brief and humble light.