When Qiu Xinran returned from outside the city by carriage and arrived at He’s Restaurant, the sky had already darkened. The restaurant was bustling with activity. As soon as she entered, He Xiu’er grabbed her: “Where have you been all afternoon? Why are you only coming back now?”
Qiu Xinran found this strange: “Has something happened?”
“A customer is looking for you. He’s been sitting upstairs all afternoon. I saw he looks fierce, and his temper doesn’t seem good at all.”
Qiu Xinran’s heart skipped a beat. She hurried upstairs in a few quick steps and pushed open the door. Sure enough, she saw a burly, bear-like man inside turn to look at her. His already dark complexion grew even darker upon seeing her. Qiu Xinran had originally thought that given He Zhong’s prejudice against her, it would take until tomorrow at least for him to get past that mental hurdle. She hadn’t expected this person to be quite capable of bending and stretching—upon seeing the token, he’d come immediately and could even sit here patiently waiting for her all afternoon. Seeing her enter, He Zhong was about to lose his temper when Qiu Xinran smiled and greeted him first: “Vice General He!” She closed the private room door behind her. “I went to an estate in the suburbs outside the city this afternoon and came back late. I’ve troubled the Vice General to wait so long.”
Only a few people knew where Mei Que was hiding. As soon as she entered, she revealed this much—making it clear she was acting on Xia Xiuyan’s behalf. This suddenly blocked all the words He Zhong had been holding in his belly, leaving him unable to say even one.
Qiu Xinran glanced at his face, dark as the bottom of a pot, and secretly laughed to herself, then quickly straightened her expression: “What matter brings the Vice General to find me?”
He Zhong snorted: “I should be asking you—what exactly did you mean by what was in that brocade pouch?”
Qiu Xinran unhurriedly took out a small iron waist token from her bosom and handed it to him. Upon receiving it, He Zhong’s expression changed dramatically: “Why is this thing with you?” It was Xia Xiuyan’s private command token, capable of mobilizing his personal guards—something he would never easily part with. Could this Daoist have secretly stolen it from him when the Marquis wasn’t paying attention? Thinking of this, He Zhong stared at her suspiciously, his expression looking even more frightening.
Qiu Xinran saw through what he was thinking at a glance. She thought to herself that this Vice General’s mind truly wasn’t very sharp. That night, Xia Xiuyan had spoken so well of her, saying she was the only one for this task, that she’d almost gotten carried away. Thinking carefully now, perhaps he’d long seen that He Zhong couldn’t shoulder this great responsibility and had reluctantly asked her to help prop up the situation? She sighed: “If the Marquis hadn’t personally given me this token, and I produced it for you now, wouldn’t that be catching the thief red-handed?”
He Zhong thought this was indeed true, but racked his brain unable to figure out why the Marquis would give such an important token to her. Seeing he still didn’t quite believe it, Qiu Xinran leaned back and deliberately said, “It’s understandable that Vice General He doesn’t believe me. To be honest, I don’t want to wade into these muddy waters either. Why don’t you take this token, and I’ll be happy to stay out of it.”
He Zhong felt she was playing hard to get, but seeing her actually stand up to show him out, he could only bite the bullet and say, “Since the Marquis gave you this token, how can you say you won’t manage it and just not manage it?”
Qiu Xinran drew out her words: “With this token I still can’t command you—what’s there to talk about managing or not managing?”
He Zhong gritted his teeth: “What do you want me to do?”
Qiu Xinran still shook her head: “Though Vice General He says this now, I’m afraid at heart you’re still very guarded against me. In that case, it would be better if I give you the token right now and extricate myself early.” After saying this, she even put on a regretful expression, irritating He Zhong until his heart itched. But at this moment, neither Gao Yang nor Zhao Rong were present—there wasn’t a single person around him who could make decisions, and the Marquis’s token was truly in her hands.
He Zhong placed both hands on his knees and thought calmly for a moment before raising his head with a serious expression and telling her, “To be honest, naturally I don’t trust you. But having fought in wars for so many years, I also know military orders are like mountains. Now that the token is in your hands, as long as it’s truly the Marquis’s intention, even mountains of blades and seas of fire are just a matter of your word!”
Qiu Xinran smiled slightly: “Good. With the Vice General’s word, I can rest easy.”
He Zhong snorted: “Now can you tell me what we need to do next?”
“To accomplish this matter, we must first find someone. I need you to deliver a letter for me.”
He Zhong’s eyes widened. She shot him a sidelong glance, and he backed down again: “Fine, it’s just delivering a letter. Where to?”
Qiu Xinran spoke calmly and steadily: “Vice General, don’t think I’m deliberately toying with you. This letter can only be delivered under the name of the Marquis Dingbei’s residence.” Hearing her say this, He Zhong perked up again: “To whom?”
Qiu Xinran smiled slightly: “Minister Han’s daughter, Han Ling.”
·
The matter of the Marquis Dingbei’s unknown whereabouts had made no progress, but as time passed, though no one spoke it directly, everyone secretly shared the same premonition—this time Xia Xiuyan’s fate was likely more dire than fortunate.
One wave had not yet settled when another rose. In these past two days, two major incidents had occurred. The first matter was that Zhao Rong, one of Xia Xiuyan’s subordinates, was actually the eldest young master of the Zhang family, Zhang Rong, who years ago had secretly escaped during his exile back to the capital, intending to assassinate Wei Yi.
This matter caused a tremendous uproar in the court. The old Zhang family case had not yet been clarified, and whether Zhang Yong had colluded with the Diyue people back then remained questionable. If Zhang Yong was truly not innocent, then Zhang Rong’s infiltration into the Changwu Army bore questioning as to his true intentions. This implicated even his superior Xia Xiuyan, whose relationship with the Diyue people suddenly became somewhat ambiguous. After all, before promoting subordinates, one must investigate their backgrounds. That Zhao Rong could disguise himself and climb to his current position in the military made it hard for people to believe Xia Xiuyan would be completely unaware of his identity.
The winds in court changed dramatically. If not for the fact that Xia Xiuyan’s life and death were currently uncertain and the Emperor couldn’t easily make things difficult for him, he would surely have had to go to the Court of Judicial Review for questioning.
Wu Guangda had been quite comfortable these past few days. He’d heard the news about the mine tunnel in the southern part of the city being destroyed, and was delighted at the prospect of Yashu dying in there together with Xia Xiuyan. Without Xia Xiuyan tripping him up in court, life was indeed much better. Even Wei Yi had been released on bail pending trial, temporarily returning to his position as Commander of the Feathered Forest Guards.
For him there was another happy matter—the missing performer from Fangchi Garden suddenly had news.
A few days ago, a woman wearing a headscarf and acting mysteriously had pawned a package of jewelry at a pawnshop in Chang’an. That box of jewelry was quite valuable. The shopkeeper had a keen eye and could tell at a glance it was from the palace and had come by improper means. Since ancient times, stealing and pawning gold and silver from the palace for money was a grave crime. The pawnshop shopkeeper secretly thought this was bad and could only try hard to keep this customer calm while immediately having the shop assistant secretly slip out the back door to report to the authorities.
That customer sat in the shop for a while and seemed to also sense something was wrong. Despite the shopkeeper’s repeated attempts to keep her there, she actually left the jewelry behind in her haste and hurriedly departed the shop. By the time the Court of Judicial Review’s officers arrived, they’d long lost track of her whereabouts.
Fortunately, the jewelry remained. The Court of Judicial Review took it back and investigated, discovering it was indeed palace property. Checking item by item, they found it was actually jewelry from Concubine Xu’s palace. But how could Concubine Xu’s belongings end up outside the palace?
The Court of Judicial Review followed the clues and dug up the old case of Xiao Song from seven years ago, discovering these were precisely the pieces of jewelry she had stolen back then. Now everything made sense—that performer was actually the younger sister of Xiao Song, the hair-combing maid beside Concubine Xu. Xiao Song had stolen jewelry from the palace that year and sent it home. Later the matter was exposed, Xiao Song poisoned Concubine Xu to death, and then immediately committed suicide herself.
Mei Que had likely heard about this matter and was bent on revenge. It was just that after fleeing for days, her money had long run out, so she had no choice but to come out and pawn these stolen goods.
But within this was another new question—what revenge was Mei Que seeking? Even if she wanted revenge, she shouldn’t have come looking for Wu Peng and set up a honey trap for him. There seemed to be other hidden circumstances in this. But after this investigation, Wu Peng’s murder charge couldn’t stand. The Court of Judicial Review could basically confirm that Mei Que was not dead and temporarily released him to his residence for future interrogation.
This day Qiu Xinran went to the Court of Judicial Review to visit Zhou Xianyi. The two sat in the room chatting idly when she heard him say with furrowed brow, “The strangest thing about this is that among that small package of jewelry was one piece not registered in the records. It shouldn’t be from Luomei Palace, but judging by the craftsmanship, it’s definitely extraordinary. Quite peculiar.”
Qiu Xinran took a sip of the fresh tea in her cup and mentioned casually, “If you really can’t figure it out, why not go ask the Empress?”
Zhou Xianyi said curiously, “What do you mean by that?”
Qiu Xinran said, “It’s something from the palace but not in the Treasury Bureau’s registry—most likely it was privately gifted between consorts. If it’s a good piece, someone might remember it.”
“I’m just afraid it was an oversight by the Treasury Bureau back then, forgotten from the records. Going specially to ask might make too much of a small matter.”
“The Empress oversees the six palaces. When jewelry that flowed out from Luomei Palace is recovered, the Treasury Bureau must present it to Her Majesty for review anyway. When the time comes, you can go along and ask in passing. Her Majesty surely won’t blame you.”
Zhou Xianyi felt her words made sense and nodded in agreement.
Two days later, Qiu Xinran deliberately made another trip to the Bureau of Astronomy to visit Yuan Zhou. Last time when he’d heard Qiu Xinran had been kidnapped, he’d been extremely anxious. Now seeing her return safe and sound, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Qiu Xinran couldn’t tell him directly about Xia Xiuyan’s plan and only glossed over it vaguely. Fortunately, Yuan Zhou was quick-witted and didn’t ask too many questions. The two also discussed some idle palace matters. At this time, a eunuch suddenly entered the Bureau of Astronomy and summoned Qiu Xinran to the Yongming Palace for an audience.
The two exchanged glances. They saw the message-bearing young eunuch smile slightly: “Director Bai is at Yongming Palace. When the Emperor heard Daoist Qiu had arrived, he requested you come over to see him as well.” Qiu Xinran exchanged a look with Yuan Zhou. In her heart, she already had a premonition about what this sudden summons from the Emperor might be for.
Arriving at Yongming Palace, she saw Bai Jingming and Emperor Xuande, ruler and minister, sitting at a table playing chess. Seeing her arrive, Emperor Xuande still had that extremely affable manner, beckoning her to his side.
The two had played halfway through when Qiu Xinran simply sat to the side watching the game. When one round ended, Emperor Xuande conceded defeat by throwing down a piece, yet his mood still seemed excellent. He smiled and said to Bai Jingming, “In this palace, only you dare to beat me at chess.” Bai Jingming smiled without speaking. Emperor Xuande sighed again, “I remember when the Daoist was still serving as my Astrologer, she often watched you and me play chess like this. In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed.”
Qiu Xinran smiled gently: “In the blink of an eye after so many years, Your Majesty’s chess skill has improved even more.”
“How can you tell?”
Qiu Xinran said seriously, “This subject remembers that back then Your Majesty always lost to Master by one stone. Now you’ve lost by one and a half stones, which shows that Master can no longer predict the game accurately.”
Emperor Xuande was stunned, then suddenly burst into hearty laughter, saying to Bai Jingming, “Your disciple’s boldness has grown even greater.” Though he said this, there was no anger in his words.
Bai Jingming shook his head and sighed, “After years in the mountains, her temperament has grown even more willful.”
“The words of an innocent child—rare and precious, not a bad thing. Would you be willing to stay in the hall and speak with me a while longer?”
Since the Emperor wished to keep her for a private conversation, Bai Jingming naturally had no reason to refuse. But as he rose, he couldn’t help casting a worried glance at Qiu Xinran before slowly withdrawing from the hall.
In the vast hall, only Emperor Xuande and Qiu Xinran remained. Even Kong Tai, who had been attending at the side, quietly withdrew from the hall. Emperor Xuande stared at the chess game before him, lost by one and a half stones, as if still immersed in the black and white struggle from moments ago. He picked up a few chess pieces and studied them with lowered head while saying unhurriedly, “Does the Daoist know why I summoned you?”
Qiu Xinran cupped her hands and stood to the side, answering respectfully and reverently: “This subject dares to guess it should be regarding the matter of the vacant Eastern Palace.”
Emperor Xuande looked over with interest: “How did you guess?”
Qiu Xinran knelt down: “This subject dares not deceive you. Earlier, Master repeatedly instructed me not to presume upon my abilities and speak recklessly about the Eastern Palace before Your Majesty.”
Emperor Xuande was startled, then laughed: “You truly dare to say anything. Since this is so, today I command you to divine a reading. Do you have any objection?”
“This subject dares not object.” Her manner of responding was as slippery as a loach. When bold, she was downright reckless, but she also had a trace of cleverness, appropriately letting you see through some flaws, always able to grasp the proper measure. Such clever people didn’t make you feel annoyed because you always had the illusion that you were cleverer than her.
Qiu Xinran took out her divination board and arranged twelve copper coins, sitting cross-legged in the hall. This was her second time divining in Yongming Palace. A wisp of smoke rose from the gold-inlaid incense burner. For a time, only the crisp sounds of chess pieces falling on the board and copper coins hitting the floor could be heard in the hall.
After who knows how long, Emperor Xuande raised his head from the chessboard to see the young Daoist kneeling in the hall, frowning at the divination pattern on the ground with a heavy expression, as if caught in an intense internal struggle. After a long while, she sighed softly. Her sleeve swept across the floor, scattering the divination pattern, and she kowtowed to the Son of Heaven seated above.
“What did the divination say?” The man sitting in the chair appeared calm and unruffled, as if he didn’t care about the divination results and was just asking casually. But years of reverence for spirits and gods made him unable to truly not care at all, especially since the diviner was Qiu Xinran, making the results even harder to dismiss lightly.
The young Daoist kneeling in the hall reported respectfully, “The divination did not indicate the choice for establishing the heir apparent. This subject believes perhaps the time is not yet ripe.”
Emperor Xuande’s brow furrowed. He was clearly dissatisfied with what the divination indicated, suspecting this was evasive language on her part. He couldn’t help but press, “Did the divination truly say nothing at all?”
The person kneeling on the ground hesitated slightly. Seeing this, Emperor Xuande immediately said, “Daoist, speak freely according to what the divination shows. I absolutely will not blame you.”
Hearing this, Qiu Xinran’s expression showed several parts struggle. After a moment she slowly said, “This divination…” She paused slightly, bit her lip, then suddenly kowtowed heavily on the ground, her voice trembling slightly:
“This divination is the Minor Superiority hexagram. Obtaining this line warns against acting willfully on one’s own. Otherwise, the son will bring disaster upon the father, and calamity will surely follow.”