No one had expected someone to come in so suddenly and head straight for their hiding spot. Ming Huazhang had no time to think. He immediately drew Ming Huashang behind him and pressed into the corner formed by the wooden shelf and the wall, one arm braced against the wall, his other hand quietly sliding onto the hilt of his short blade.
The shelf formed a triangle behind it, just sufficient to block out the light and the line of sight from outside. The two women had not expected anyone to be inside and chatted away without a care.
One of them came into the compartment to find something. The light inside was dim — she could barely see the floor — and she walked stumbling and grumbling: “It’s crammed with so much junk in here, I can’t see a thing. Go and fetch a lamp quickly.”
Ming Huazhang tensed — if she came back with a lamp, they would be exposed without question. Fortunately, the other woman was too lazy to move and said: “It’s only a pair of dice. Just feel around on the shelf. Find them and bring them out. Young Master Jiang is still waiting downstairs.”
The woman muttered a few curses about “that lazy little wretch” but had no choice. She stretched out her hands and began to grope around. She found the shelf soon enough and began feeling her way along it one item at a time.
The sounds were right beside them. Ming Huashang could hear the woman’s murmured self-talk. The woman was gradually working her way toward them. Fearing that Ming Huazhang might be spotted, Ming Huashang gripped his arm and pulled him further back.
But she was already against the wall. Even making herself as small as possible, the space was ultimately limited. With that pull, Ming Huazhang was pressed almost flush against her. Caught off guard, he lowered his head to look at Ming Huashang.
Their gazes met. The two looked into each other’s eyes. Ming Huashang looked up into Ming Huazhang’s eyes, and at that moment — tense as it was — every sound seemed to vanish. The world withdrew from her in an instant. The sounds of the woman rummaging and the clamour from outside seemed cut off by an invisible barrier, and all she could see were Ming Huazhang’s bright, clear eyes.
He was wearing a disguise, but his eyes alone were unchanged. His eyes turned up slightly at the outer corners and curved inward at the inner ones, giving him a somewhat imperious air — yet his irises were deep black and perfectly round, bright and luminous, as if holding within them stars and the silver river of the night sky. Even set in a rather ordinary face, they did not diminish in the slightest the quality of pine-like uprightness and bamboo-like purity that characterised him.
When books described eyes, they used phrases like “blazing with light” and “radiant with every glance.” Ming Huashang had once thought those were exaggerations. But in this moment she suddenly discovered — there really were people who shone like that.
Motes of dust floated and drifted in the column of light behind them. In the play of light and shadow, the darkness itself seemed to stir and flow. Ming Huashang heard her own heartbeat clearly — thump, thump, thump — each beat faster than the last.
As if it were not only hers.
Ming Huashang did not know how much time had passed. Perhaps a minute; perhaps only a single breath. She was too dazed to react, and while she expected Ming Huazhang to look away first, neither of them moved.
Then a tiny bouncing sound reached her ears. Ming Huashang jolted back to reality and realised the situation had grown worse. The woman had found the dice cup, but had accidentally knocked the dice out. They clattered and rolled, landing right beside the two of them.
The woman cursed under her breath and groped along the shelf toward them: “One is still missing — where did it go?”
Ming Huashang pressed herself against the wall in despair. Ming Huazhang’s face was cold as snow, as if suppressing something. He averted his eyes and rested his fingers on the hilt of his blade.
Ming Huazhang was very nearly about to act when, all of a sudden, rapid footsteps came from outside — someone running. A woman hurried over, took one look at the scene within, and said sharply: “Stop right there!”
Both women inside and out were startled and looked up in surprise at the newcomer. Ren Yao steadied herself and assumed a casual manner: “I asked you to fetch the dice — why are you taking so long? The young master is already getting impatient.”
The two women immediately grew flustered and eager to please. Ren Yao gave an imperious sniff, waved her hand, and said: “The young master wants to watch a dance and needs two more people. Both of you go downstairs. I’ll get the dice.”
The two had no more thought for the dice at all. They handed the dice cup to Ren Yao, curtsied, and hurried downstairs. Ren Yao stood in the doorway, watched them go down, then turned and sauntered into the compartment.
Training in night vision was fundamental to any martial arts practitioner. She spotted at a glance that the area behind the shelf was a dead angle — the best possible hiding place. She walked slowly, scanning the floor for the fallen dice. When she reached the edge of the shelf, a hand suddenly reached out from behind it and placed a die on the top of the shelf.
It was the sort of scene one might associate with encountering a ghost. Ren Yao fell briefly silent, picked up the die, turned around with perfect composure, and walked out. As she left, she took care to pull the door firmly shut behind them.
Ming Huashang: “…”
Ming Huazhang’s shoulders slowly relaxed. He slid the blade back into its sheath and looked downward at Ming Huashang, saying quietly: “Let’s go.”
Only then did Ming Huashang realise the two of them were still pressed tightly together. She hastily let go, not daring to look at him, and nodded her head awkwardly.
Once a particular moment passes, its flavour changes. Outside, footsteps came and went in a jumble. They did not dare go out rashly and could only wait inside the compartment.
In the darkness, a silent undercurrent spread between them. The situation was exactly as it had been before, yet now neither of them had any desire to discuss the case. The two remained in wordless silence. Eventually Ming Huazhang confirmed there was no one outside, stepped aside, and looked away without expression: “No one there. You go first.”
“All right.” Ming Huashang was equally awkward: “Take care of yourself.”
Only after she had left did Ming Huashang realise she had forgotten to call him “Elder Brother.”
Jiang Ling saw Ming Huashang come out and nearly wept with relief. He looked at her with eyes full of pleading. Ming Huashang, however, was thoroughly unmoved. She leaned close to his ear and said quietly: “Keep carousing. Whatever entertainment is on offer, enjoy it. I still have things to look into. Keeping attention away from us is up to you.”
Jiang Ling heard this, and his vision genuinely went black.
He had already foreseen it: after this mission was over, he would soon be famous throughout Chang’an. He could only hope his father’s health was robust enough that the news would not kill him.
Jiang Ling dragged his face into a mournful smile and continued his role, the sound of the dice cup mixing with the strains of silk and bamboo instruments, such that any observer would have said: the very picture of debauchery and dissipation.
Ming Huashang sat beside Jiang Ling for a while watching the dice game, then quietly slipped away and drifted around the main hall seeking out people to chat with and gather leads.
In keeping with Ming Huazhang’s instructions, their primary targets from this point forward were Yuqiong and the madam — and in particular, the two women’s movements and whereabouts had to be established in detail.
Jiang Ling shook the dice cup until his throat felt parched and his eyes crossed. At dinnertime, he made an ostentatious show of commanding that the meal be sent to his room. The moment the door closed, Jiang Ling immediately collapsed onto the floor.
He gazed at the quiet, clean room before him — no suffocating cloud of face powder, no need to worry about being casually groped by women in disarray — and felt a speechless, near-tearful gratitude.
Even the heavenly palace itself could not surpass this, he thought. After this ordeal, Jiang Ling had developed a deep psychological aversion to brothels. He truly could not understand how any man could linger in such a place for days on end — even months. It had barely been one day and he was already pining fiercely for the Zhongnan Mountains. He would rather be running laps back there than suffering like this in this blighted place.
Ren Yao too was genuinely relieved. She drank two large bowls of water in succession before she had the energy to ask Ming Huashang: “You weren’t discovered, were you? I thought you had come out already. I wasn’t paying attention when those women headed to the second floor — when I noticed, I nearly had a heart attack.”
Ming Huashang was still slightly dazed. She came to herself and said: “It was a close thing, but nothing happened.”
“Good.” Ren Yao let out a long breath, genuinely puzzled: “What on earth did you find in there? Xie Jichuan came out long ago. I thought you were both out too — who knew you were still in there. What could possibly be so interesting about that dark little box of a room that you stayed so long?”
Ming Huashang thought back over what had happened that afternoon, and felt her ears grow warm all over again. She forced herself to appear calm: “Nothing. We were talking through the case and lost track of time.”
A light sound came from the window, and a tall figure pushed it open and dropped down on the evening breeze. Ren Yao saw Ming Huazhang and said: “Good, you’re here. Tell us — what were you and Ming Huashang talking about down there for so long? You were so absorbed you nearly got caught.”
Ming Huashang had not at all expected karmic retribution to arrive this quickly. She felt painfully embarrassed and tugged at Ren Yao’s sleeve: “Sister Ren, it was nothing.”
Ren Yao looked from Ming Huazhang to Ming Huashang and back again. Her instincts told her something was off: “What’s going on with you two? Could it be that these private words can only be shared between siblings, and the rest of us aren’t allowed to hear?”
Xie Jichuan also vaulted in from behind, and upon hearing this asked: “What private words?”
At this rate it would go on forever. Ming Huazhang opened his mouth with a composed and steady calm, his bearing as clear and dignified as jade: “I was with Huashang discussing her doubts about Yuqiong. It was my carelessness — I wasn’t keeping track of what was happening outside. I must thank you all for coming to our rescue. It was my failing as team leader.”
Ren Yao naturally did not hold such a small thing against him and waved her hand dismissively: “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Not everything needs to land on your shoulders. We are one team — helping each other is how it should be.”
Jiang Ling said faintly: “You’re not like that with me.”
Ren Yao shot him a murderous sideways glance: “Be quiet.”
With Jiang Ling and Ren Yao bantering and deflecting, the earlier topic seemed to pass. Ming Huashang sat at the table and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Before she could fully relax, she suddenly felt someone sit down beside her. A cool, clean pine-and-wood fragrance wrapped around her without warning.
Ming Huashang’s back went rigid. She did not dare turn her head. Ming Huazhang’s voice sounded perfectly calm and rational, without any excess emotion, and he said lightly: “Let’s discuss the business first. This afternoon, what did each of you find?”
Jiang Ling muttered unhappily: “I was half-suffocated by those women’s face powder all afternoon and found nothing.”
Ren Yao shook her head as well. She had spent all her energy managing the madam and the others and truly had nothing left for gathering leads. Ming Huazhang knew this perfectly well — what Ren Yao and Jiang Ling had been responsible for was the cover. The evidence he needed to hear was mainly from Xie Jichuan and Ming Huashang.
A brief silence fell in the room. Ming Huazhang said: “Huashang, you go first.”
Xie Jichuan’s eyes drifted over, a smile playing at the corner of his lips: “How come it’s changed to ‘Huashang’ again — not ‘Huashang’ the way you said it just now?”
Ming Huashang felt her whole body seize up with embarrassment, unsure whether to treat it as a joke or try to explain. Ming Huazhang cast a cold glance at Xie Jichuan: “Since you clearly can’t sit still, you go first.”
Xie Jichuan shrugged and began unhurriedly: “I looked into the madam’s movements on the night in question. Shantea’s performance had been arranged long in advance, and the madam had been putting the word out throughout Pingkang Ward for some time, having invited many regular clients to come and watch. Around the hour of Xu, the guests began arriving one after another. Tianxiang Tower needed to greet guests, arrange the décor, and prepare food — everyone was run off their feet, with no attention to spare for anyone else. The madam appeared to be the busiest of all, going around receiving guests. I carefully checked the timeline of each person present and asked each of them whether they had seen the madam. I drew a diagram and roughly traced the madam’s movements, and found that for approximately one ke — the equivalent of a quarter of an hour — no one saw the madam.”
Ming Huazhang asked: “When?”
“Between the second and third ke of the hour of Xu.” Xie Jichuan said. “By that point Shantea had already come down from the air, and the red silk ribbon had fallen to the stage. It was the madam herself who insisted that leaving it there would trip someone, and had a maid collect it.”
Xie Jichuan was a prodigy who had been famous from childhood. He laid out the timeline with perfect order and clarity — even Jiang Ling, who had the least patience for numbers of anyone, followed it without difficulty. When he was done, Xie Jichuan set out his conclusion with unhurried precision: “The night before last, the madam sent wine containing Overlapping Dream Powder to Zhang Ziyun — she had a motive to kill him. She deliberately had the ribbon collected, which means she knew where it was stored and had the opportunity to tamper with it. Under the pretext of receiving guests, she was moving around throughout, giving her the time to go to the east second floor. The renovation of the compartment was also directed by her — she must certainly know about the hidden door, giving her the means to plan the entire murder. The madam meets every single condition. The killer can only be her.”
Ming Huazhang gave a mild nod and turned to Ming Huashang: “And you?”
Ming Huashang exhaled softly: “Compared to Brother Xie, I have no compelling evidence. But I still believe it is Yuqiong.”
After finishing his account, Xie Jichuan had been watching Ming Huashang with a sharp, burning gaze. What she had said to him back in Feng Qing Si Yuan was the first time in his life that someone had argued him into speechlessness. The more intelligent a person, the harder it is to accept that they have made an error. Ming Huashang had said he was reasoning backwards from a conclusion to gather evidence to support it. Very well then — he had come prepared with a substantial body of corroboration, fully ready for her to try to refute it. He had expected a properly developed counter-argument. What he heard instead was this bare and threadbare case. Xie Jichuan naturally disagreed and said: “You and Jingzhan spent such a long time in that dark room — and this is all you have to show for it?”
“That’s right.” Ren Yao added: “Actually, from the start I also felt there was something off about Yuqiong — but she was clearly in the west building, and as we tested ourselves, even if she had wings she could not have made it from the west building to the east building. From the evidence, the madam’s probability seems much higher.”
How could Ming Huashang not know all this? She was like someone trying to untangle a knotted skein — the front end was clear, the back end was clear, but the middle was stuck in an impossible tangle she could not undo regardless of how she tried.
Ming Huashang fell silent. Xie Jichuan was disappointed and asked Ming Huazhang: “What do your measurements say?”
“In terms of dimensions alone, the madam’s waist is slightly narrower than the ventilation window.” Ming Huazhang said. “But a person is not an object. Whether they can actually pass through in practice requires a real test.”
Xie Jichuan said: “Then there’s no problem. The second day is nearly over already. We have no time to waste. Let’s interrogate the madam — ask her once and we’ll know the answer.”
Ming Huashang said suddenly: “And if we’re wrong?”
The moment they took the madam away for interrogation, their identities would be revealed. If they were right, everyone would be satisfied. But if they were wrong?
Once the arrow leaves the bow it cannot return. Even if the accused flatly refused to confess, this person could never be released once taken — which meant they would have no choice but to kill her.
“If we’re wrong.” Xie Jichuan said, his voice clear and steady, unhurried and yet cold enough to be frightening: “Even if we’re wrong, given the suffering she has inflicted on so many women, she would not be dying unjustly. I looked through Tianxiang Tower’s accounts, and there is a great deal of money of unclear origin. You don’t think that chest full of medicine beneath the mute servant’s bed was meant for the use of the brothel women, do you?”
Ming Huashang was quiet for a long time. She had seen with her own eyes the heavy medicine chest under the mute servant’s bed, and had heard firsthand the maids’ accounts of how their companions had died. She knew Xie Jichuan was right — a person like the madam deserved no better than death. And yet — was that any justification for closing the case on the grounds of “probably”?
Ming Huashang’s fingertips were unconsciously pressing into her palm. Just as she was beginning to wonder whether she was simply being too inflexible, she felt a coolness touch her wrist. Ming Huazhang lifted her hand, unfolded her fingers, and smoothed out her clenched palm: “Take your time thinking it through. Don’t force yourself.”
His words seemed to carry a kind of quiet power — her heart stilled in an instant. She looked up and spoke anyway: “I object. What the scene tells me — the calm, the precision — tells me it was not the madam.”
Xie Jichuan was relentless: “Evidence?”
“No evidence — instinct alone.” Ming Huashang met his gaze without flinching: “The Feilong Mountain Estate. The Gui Family’s mansion. When I identified the killer in those cases, it was exactly this kind of instinct that guided me.”
Ren Yao and Jiang Ling looked at each other. On one side was Xie Jichuan — a transcendent prodigy with a perfect memory. On the other was Ming Huashang, who had never once been wrong in any case she had worked on. Having both these people on a team was undoubtedly a tremendous asset. But what happened when the two of them disagreed?
They were now head-to-head and neither was yielding an inch. Who should be listened to?
Jiang Ling made a face; Ren Yao shrugged. Without any prior arrangement, both of them looked to Ming Huazhang.
In truth Ren Yao herself was wavering. When she listened to Xie Jichuan’s reasoning she felt he had a point; then when she heard Ming Huashang’s questions, she felt they warranted reconsideration as well.
She had known Ming Huashang long enough to understand just how unerring Ming Huashang’s reading of people’s hearts could be. If Ming Huashang said something was wrong, perhaps there truly was something amiss.
Ren Yao could not judge. She chose to defer to Ming Huazhang.
That was probably why Han Jie had sent Ming Huazhang.
For Ren Yao, acknowledging that a man was better than her was harder than dying — yet Ming Huazhang was one of the exceptions.
She could not entirely explain why, but perhaps it was because every time they faced a crisis, Ming Huazhang had responded with maturity and composure. Perhaps it was because he bore the reputation of “the jade of the divine capital” and was adored by any number of young women, yet whenever something went wrong, he admitted fault with sincerity — even when the fault was not truly his.
Such small details, accumulated one by one, had become trust. That was precisely the feeling Ren Yao had toward Ming Huazhang. If Xie Jichuan gave an order, she would hesitate — but if it were Ming Huazhang, she would act without a second thought.
Jiang Ling looked left and right and said earnestly: “How about we eat first?”
Heaven could bear witness: he had not eaten or slept properly for a day and a night. But no one else cared about these needs, and in the end it was Ming Huazhang who spoke: “Yes, let’s eat first. I also need a moment to think.”
The meal was eaten in near-complete silence. Ming Huashang was the first to set down her bowl and said: “You all carry on eating. I’m going to take another look at the scene. If you need me, use the signal.”
Ren Yao tried to stop her: “You’ve barely eaten — you’re leaving already?”
Jiang Ling held Ren Yao back: “Let her go. She won’t be at peace until she finds her evidence. And she may have eaten quickly, but she didn’t eat little.”
Ren Yao glanced at the bottom of Ming Huashang’s bowl and was left momentarily speechless. Jiang Ling went on, clicking his tongue: “She is truly the most unbothered young woman I have ever met. Even when her mind is occupied with something, she doesn’t forget to finish her meal. Any future husband of hers needn’t worry about her being pushed around.”
Jiang Ling found himself on the receiving end of a cold look from Ming Huazhang. He rubbed his face, feeling rather bewildered: “What did I do? Is your sister not going to marry?”
Ming Huazhang replied with cool detachment: “She is currently in retreat at Princess Anding’s Daoist temple.”
Jiang Ling blinked slowly, and after quite some time grasped the implication of Ming Huazhang’s remark.
His sister might genuinely have no intention of marrying.
Jiang Ling choked on his words and found himself without an adequate response. Ren Yao picked up a piece of fruit and stuffed it into Jiang Ling’s mouth: “Enough out of you.”
Jiang Ling spat it out with a series of sounds and raged: “Was that washed before you shoved it in my mouth? What if it has those women’s face powder all over it?”
“Then consider yourself lucky!”
“Nonsense.” Jiang Ling, after spending so much time around Ren Yao, had picked up her habit of cursing. He scrubbed the fruit vigorously with a handkerchief and complained: “I’m telling you all, the sacrifices I’ve made for this mission are enormous. If my father finds out, he’ll definitely beat me to death.”
Ren Yao laughed: “Don’t worry. If you actually get beaten to death, I’ll go bear your coffin.”
“Absolutely not.” Jiang Ling said: “The pallbearers at my funeral must all be members of the Jiang Family. If you have that kind of goodwill to spare, how about you kowtow to me instead — I’ll reluctantly take you on as my adopted child.”
“You’re looking for a beating.” Ren Yao’s temper flared, and she swung her fist at him. Jiang Ling had been hit enough times by now to dodge with practiced ease. He escaped without injury, but knocked over a porcelain plate in the process, which hit the floor with a crack and shattered.
The air went instantly still. Xie Jichuan exhaled a very long sigh and seriously considered what he had done to deserve being assigned to this group by Han Jie.
Ming Huazhang said wearily: “That’s enough. Calm down, both of you. You keep discussing. I’m going to go and check on her.”
Ming Huazhang understood perfectly well why Ming Huashang had left. She disagreed with Xie Jichuan yet could produce no evidence, and her heart must be in turmoil. So he had not tried to stop her — he had given her the space to try her hardest. After she had given it her all, whatever happened, she could be at peace with herself.
But there were people everywhere outside, and he couldn’t simply leave her to wander unsupervised. Ming Huazhang was just getting up to leave when Jiang Ling muttered restlessly beside him: “If we just fit the pieces of this plate back together, you couldn’t tell it was broken.”
“Are you blind? The crack is glaringly obvious.”
“It was already crackle-glazed — what’s one more crack? Shh, don’t say a word. I’ll put it somewhere far away. The people in Tianxiang Tower will never notice.”
Ren Yao wore the expression of someone looking at a complete fool. Jiang Ling, however, found his own reasoning perfectly sound. He stood up and was about to go and hide the plate when Ming Huazhang suddenly turned around and stood motionless, staring at him with a look so sharp it was frightening.
Jiang Ling gave a start and nearly dropped the porcelain plate again. He scratched his chin and said: “I only broke a plate — it’s not like I won’t pay for it. You don’t have to look at me like that.”
Ming Huazhang still did not move. Xie Jichuan felt that something was off and asked: “Jingzhan, what is it?”
Ming Huazhang turned to Jiang Ling with a sober face and held out his hand: “Give me the plate.”
Jiang Ling looked at the ceramic shards in his own hand, thoroughly mystified, and passed them over. Ming Huazhang turned the pieces over for a moment, then raised his eyes. His gaze was bright and startling: “I know how it was done.”