After her elder brother’s feeding, Ming Huashang still had work to do. The tea pantry was nearby; Ming Huashang walked off her light meal hand-in-hand with Li Huazhang and ambled over to question the tea pantry staff.
Li Huazhang had not allowed anyone from the Feng household to come along, so no one knew where they were headed. When the tea pantry steward looked up and saw the renowned Prince of Yong and Princess of Yong, he was completely at a loss. Li Huazhang very agreeably told him to sit down and asked: “You are the one in charge of tea here? How long have you been working in the tea pantry?”
The tea pantry steward was stunned to be honored with a visit from such an important personage. Not only was this Prince of Yong of the highest rank, but he was elegant in manner and pleasant and refined in speech — the steward was so excited he could barely get his tongue to work: “In reply to Your Highness, yes, that is this humble one. Counting from when I was an apprentice, I have been in the tea pantry for about ten years now.”
Li Huazhang asked: “Were you on duty in the tea pantry last night?”
The first time in his life he had faced anyone of such consequence — and this Prince of Yong was not only of exalted rank, but composed and easy in his manner, speaking with warmth and elegance. The steward was very excited; his tongue was nearly tripping over itself: “Yes, it was this humble one.”
“Who did you see come to the tea pantry while you were on duty last night?”
Without even stopping to think, the steward replied: “First Young Master came.”
Li Huazhang looked as amiable as a spring breeze, but deep within his eyes there was a stillness like ice; he regarded the steward without any visible sign of what he was thinking: “Is that so? People come to the tea pantry to fetch tea all the time — you remember him without even having to think about it?”
The steward said: “In the evenings, not many people drink tea, so it is easy to keep track. In the past it was only Old Master who wanted tea before bed. Yesterday it was First Young Master who came to fetch it, so this humble one remembered.”
Ming Huashang interjected: “Old Master Feng has always been in the habit of having tea before bed?”
“Yes.” The tea pantry steward said: “Old Master loved silver bud tea most of all. It used to be Baozhu who came to fetch it; oh, and yesterday Baozhu also came, together with First Young Master.”
Li Huazhang asked: “At what time?”
The steward thought for a moment and said uncertainly: “Roughly near the first quarter of the hour of Hai, I think — I was not watching the time, so I cannot say precisely.”
Li Huazhang appeared to be mulling this over. Ming Huashang took over and asked: “What did Baozhu and First Young Master do after they arrived?”
“Baozhu said she was worried First Young Master might not know what kind of tea Old Master preferred, so she came along specially to tell me — instructing me to brew two qian of silver bud tea as usual. Then she left. First Young Master found it stuffy inside and went outside to get some air. When the tea was ready, First Young Master had still not come back. I was afraid the tea would stew if it kept on the heat, so I went out to look for First Young Master. He was standing in the corner with his head down, looking at something, and he gave me quite a fright. Fortunately, First Young Master did not take issue with me for startling him. He picked up the tea and left.”
Ming Huashang gave a sound of curiosity and followed up: “What was he looking at?”
“It was dark — this humble one could not really see.” The steward scratched his head uncertainly: “But First Young Master was holding something in his palm. It was probably something to eat.”
After leaving the tea pantry, Li Huazhang and Ming Huashang went to Old Master Feng’s courtyard. When Ming Huashang first went in, she almost thought she had come to the wrong place: a whole courtyard full of young, pretty girls. She nearly mistook it for the private rooms of some gracious young lady. These maids had suddenly lost their master and were at a loss; when they suddenly saw Li Huazhang and Ming Huashang, they startled like a flock of frightened birds and dropped to their knees in a large wave.
Ming Huashang quickly said: “Do not be afraid. We are not here to hold anyone to account — we were just passing through and came in to ask a few questions. Who is in charge here?”
A young maid had already gone inside to call for Baozhu. Baozhu lifted the door curtain and came out quickly, hurrying forward to courtesy bow: “I was unaware of the Prince of Yong’s and the Princess of Yong’s arrival — I failed to receive you properly, and this servant deserves death.”
“We were just walking around — there is no need to be alarmed.” Ming Huashang helped Baozhu up and asked: “The parrot from yesterday — was it found?”
The Princess of Yong was entirely at ease; Baozhu glanced nervously toward Li Huazhang. She saw the Prince of Yong looking serene and composed, his expression neither fierce nor unfriendly — just not quite as if he felt like talking with any of them. Baozhu withdrew her gaze and gave her full attention to answering Ming Huashang: “Thank you for Your Highness’s concern — it has been found. Hu Po — please bring the parrot.”
“No need to go to the trouble.” Ming Huashang showed no trace of restraint; she walked eagerly inside: “I will go and have a look.”
Baozhu had not anticipated that the Princess of Yong was quite so… forthcoming. She stood for a moment before following. Li Huazhang brought up the rear; though he was young and fine-looking and had a peaceful air about him, the little maids instinctively gave him a wide berth, daring only to look from a distance but not to approach.
Old Master Feng’s residence was very spacious — seven large, airy main rooms — and the birdcage hung in front of the east-facing window. Ming Huashang took a feather and lightly reached it in through the cage to tease the bird. The parrot was not at all timid; it cocked its head and looked at her, then suddenly flew forward and clung to the side of the cage, calling out loudly: “Many blessings, many blessings.”
The room broke into laughter. One maid, gathering her courage, joined in cheerfully: “The Princess is blessed with deep fortune — it is congratulating you.”
Ming Huashang laughed and praised: “You have raised it well. How was this parrot trained to speak so clearly? Its pronunciation is barely any different from a real person.”
The maids, seeing that the Princess was approachable, gradually relaxed and chimed in one over the other: “It was Sister Baozhu who taught it — even Old Master said Sister Baozhu had trained it well.”
Amid the praise from everyone around her, Baozhu bowed slightly: “I would not dare take credit — it is Old Master’s and the Princess of Yong’s deep blessings that rubbed off on the creature; given such blessing, even an animal gains its wits after only a little teaching.”
Ming Huashang set down the feather and smiled: “Baozhu, you really know how to talk — then I will be shameless for a moment and hope that is indeed a good omen.”
Ming Huashang had been to Old Master Feng’s rooms before when looking into the Thief Saint’s letter, but only for a fleeting glance — nothing like the close inspection she could give now. She made a circuit of the various rooms and stopped at one place, moving her nose slightly: “Why does it smell of medicine in here?”
Baozhu turned around, understanding at once, and opened a cabinet, taking out a few sachets: “These are sachets Old Master has already used. I thought it was a waste to throw them away, so I stored them in the cabinet to perfume the clothes. Was the smell the Princess noticed from these?”
Ming Huashang quickly nodded: “That is exactly the smell. What formula is this? Why use it to perfume clothes?”
“This is a folk remedy I heard of in the countryside before I entered service here — supposedly it strengthens the body and extends life.” Baozhu smiled: “A country person’s limited knowledge — it is nothing clever. I hope the Princess is not laughing at me.”
But Ming Huashang took the sachet with great curiosity: “Not at all. It does not have to be a formula written by a famous physician to be a good one — what matters most is that it actually works. Folk remedies have been passed down by many people over generations; sometimes they are better than what imperial physicians prescribe. Baozhu — could you give me a copy of this formula? My father’s health has not been good in recent years, and I would like to send it back to Chang’an for him to try.”
Hearing this, Baozhu said at once: “Your Highness honors me — having this formula noticed by you is its good fortune. Please wait a moment, Your Highness — this servant will go and fetch paper and a brush.”
A steward’s wife nearby saw this and said: “Even with the formula, Your Highness will not be able to use it straight away. Since the dispensary already has the medicines on hand, why not have a full set prepared for you? That will save you having to find a pharmacy outside, where the quality of the herbs may not be as good.”
Ming Huashang said with embarrassment: “Would that not be too much trouble…”
“Not at all.” The steward’s wife was eager to curry favor and reached out to take the formula from Baozhu: “Baozhu, you stay here and keep the Princess company — I will go to the dispensary and fetch the medicines.”
Baozhu hesitated for a fraction of a moment, then shifted slightly aside to block the steward’s wife’s hand; she kept the slip of paper in her own fingers and said: “You all don’t know which year’s medicines are needed or to what degree they should be processed — I am used to handling this. I will go. My apologies, Your Highnesses — this servant must excuse herself.”
Li Huazhang looked silently toward Ming Huashang. Ming Huashang was smiling with complete innocence and consideration: “Of course — take your time, there is no rush. We will wait here for you.”
Not a trace of her role as the one who had engineered this little scheme showed on her face.
After Baozhu left, Ming Huashang naturally slipped the old sachet into her own sleeve as though it had always belonged to her. She wandered about the room, looking at things with interest; the maids gathered around her, chatting away and introducing everything for her benefit. No one remembered that there was also in the room a young, handsome, high-ranking official who governed their entire prefecture. Li Huazhang followed quietly behind, watching Ming Huashang navigate the room with effortless charm, and thought to himself that a wife who was too good at winning people over was not entirely a good thing.
Li Huazhang inwardly sighed.
While Ming Huashang flirted — that is to say, gathered intelligence — from the young maids, she casually let fall a great deal of information. The maids had received notice only the previous day that Old Master Feng would be spending the night in the Star-Picking Tower and would not be coming back to his rooms. Baozhu, worried the Old Master might need her in the night, had also chosen not to return and would stay in the flower cottage to wait on him.
The maids had been busy packing up Old Master Feng’s personal things and had only just barely caught their breath by the third quarter of the hour of Xu. Even though Old Master Feng and Baozhu were not in the courtyard, the rules of the household could not be relaxed; when a maid went around to do her checks, she found that the parrot’s cage door had come loose at some point, and the bird had slipped out while they were all occupied. It was an Old Master’s beloved pet; the maids quickly lit lanterns to search. Fortunately, the parrot had not gone far — it had settled in a tree not far away. They tried everything but could not coax it down, and in the end, completely at a loss, they sent word to the flower cottage for Baozhu to come back quickly.
Baozhu did not return until the second quarter of the hour of Hai; she said she was coming from the tea pantry and would have to go back shortly to wait on Old Master Feng, and so after catching the parrot, she quickly hurried off again. The maids closed the courtyard gate and drifted off to bed one by one — until the hour of Zi, when cannon-fire woke them, and people were running back and forth outside saying Old Master Feng had met with an accident.
These maids had not gone to the Star-Picking Tower that night; that was all they knew. Ming Huashang spent a while chatting in the midst of the crowd of pretty maids, and before long Baozhu came back carrying two packages of medicine. Ming Huashang thanked Baozhu with a smile and left with everything in hand.
After leaving Old Master Feng’s main courtyard, Ming Huashang’s throat was somewhat dry. Li Huazhang lowered his head, leaned in, and sniffed her — then straightened up and gave a quiet sound of displeasure: “You smell of face powder.”
Being a well-calibrated emotional detector for Li Huazhang, Ming Huashang immediately realized he was displeased. She deliberately threw her arms around him. Li Huazhang put out a hand to push her away, could not manage it, and stopped trying. Ming Huashang rubbed herself all over him in triumph and lifted her head, self-satisfied: “Now we both smell of face powder.”
Li Huazhang’s lips curved despite himself — he could see through her trick perfectly well, and yet he was still, rather pathetically, won over.
As the two of them were dawdling together, they arrived at the general steward’s office — but the steward had gone to find the head of the guards and was not there. A young manservant, on seeing this, immediately moved to go and call the steward back. Li Huazhang stopped him: “No need — as it happens, we also have something to ask the guards. We will go ourselves.”
Li Huazhang, not alerting anyone, took Ming Huashang toward the guards’ quarters at the back. The general steward’s people had not expected this august Prince of Yong to be so unceremonious — the guards’ quarters were a place for coarse men, surely very shabby with a crowd of men sharing a large kang, and yet he was taking the Princess there without any hesitation, as casually as if going for a stroll in a flower garden.
The steward’s servants were horrified and extremely uncomfortable, but with Li Huazhang’s keen eyes watching, they could not slip away to alert the steward. All they could do was, as they reached the courtyard gate, shout in a loud voice: “Steward! The Prince of Yong and the Princess of Yong are here — come out to receive them at once!”
Li Huazhang did not stop the servant’s cry; he quietly took in his surroundings. The Feng estate was extraordinarily large: all the family’s living quarters were within the inner gate, but in truth, the outer courtyard encircling the inner gate was also vast, housing the general steward’s office, the accounts room, the silver store, the servants’ quarters, and more — all of which supported the smooth running of the inner household and enabled the refined life of the women of the Feng household, who never stepped beyond the inner gate.
The place they had come to was the servants’ quarters: unlike the elaborate luxury of the inner household, this consisted of two long rows of low, tightly packed flat-roofed buildings with no superfluous decoration. Originally these had housed the male servants of the Feng household, with the maids all living in the inner household alongside their mistresses, but since Old Master Feng had begun recruiting large numbers of able-bodied young men to protect his treasure, these rooms had been cleared out and given over specifically to house the temporary guards.
A simple wall enclosed a large courtyard. In the middle of winter, the yard was bare and colorless; a jumble of straw and miscellaneous items was piled in one corner. Three sections of main rooms faced forward; the middle section’s door and windows were tightly shut. Li Huazhang glanced at it without visible reaction and waited for the people inside to open the door.
From the general steward’s manner of speaking, this group of guards all lived together here; Li Huazhang had expected a crowd to come out. Unexpectedly, the door opened and only the steward emerged, ill at ease and flustered: “I greet the Prince of Yong and the Princess of Yong. I failed to receive you — this humble one deserves to die. What wind has blown two such great personages to this place?”
Li Huazhang moved past the steward, stepped through the dim room, and saw a burly man sitting with his feet up, making no effort whatsoever to come out to receive anyone. Li Huazhang recognized him — this was the man who had guarded the tower entrance the previous night; he was called Dong Hai.
Dong Hai became aware of the scrutiny and looked toward Li Huazhang with a hostile sweep of his fierce eyes. Li Huazhang calmly looked away and gave a slight nod as he exchanged pleasantries with the steward: “We came to ask about a few things — nothing to worry about, Steward. Were you two in the middle of something just now? Why were the doors and windows shut?”
The steward’s smile faltered briefly; he hurriedly said: “Not at all — this humble one was feeling the cold and closed the door without thinking. Nothing was happening — just came to have a chat with Head Guard Dong. No business at all.”
Li Huazhang said easily: “Good thing I have not disturbed you then. It so happens I also have something I wish to ask Guard Dong. Shall we go in and speak together?”
The steward froze, glanced at Ming Huashang, and she obligingly shifted to stand behind Li Huazhang. Li Huazhang patted her hand reassuringly and said to the steward: “The thief has not been caught yet — I do not feel easy letting her out of my sight, so I brought her along. You do not mind?”
The steward said “oh” and gave a dry laugh: “The Prince is thorough in his concern. It truly is not safe at the moment — as long as the Princess does not mind being in a room with unrelated men, please do come in.”
Ming Huashang followed Li Huazhang inside, playing perfectly the role of a pampered princess who was a little nervous but could not bear to be parted from her husband. Once everyone was seated, the steward made to offer Li Huazhang the head seat; Li Huazhang did not move, instead helping Ming Huashang to sit first. The steward saw this and let out another dry laugh: “The Prince of Yong truly attends to the Princess in every way — these two are such a perfectly matched young couple.”
Ming Huashang thought to herself: let alone young married couple — Li Huazhang had been accommodating her since he was still in swaddling clothes. As she took her seat, her gaze swept briefly to both sides; she noticed Dong Hai give a sniff from his nose and look them both over up and down, with not even a pretense of friendliness.
This was not the first time. Ming Huashang recalled that when they had gone to inspect the Star-Picking Tower the previous night, Dong Hai had shown the same expression — and it had been after Old Master Feng introduced their identities. Why? Given his obvious rough and lawless manner, could it be he had some grievance against the authorities?
Ming Huashang turned this over in her mind without letting it show on her face, and sat quietly against Li Huazhang’s side. When everyone was seated, Li Huazhang raised his questions, asking who had entered and left the Star-Picking Tower the previous day, and at what hours.
Li Huazhang asked in great detail. At first Dong Hai still grudgingly gave one- or two-word answers, but after more questioning he grew impatient and snarled: “You know all this already — what are you asking for?”
The steward darted a glance at Li Huazhang and lowered his voice to rebuke: “Mind yourself — how dare you speak to the Prince of Yong like that?”
Dong Hai blew air through his teeth and rolled his eyes with open contempt, plainly not caring at all about Li Huazhang’s rank. The steward was bathed in cold sweat, apologizing to Li Huazhang over and over: “The Prince of Yong, please be patient — this is a rough fellow from the streets with no manners. I beg Your Highness to show great magnanimity and not lower yourself to his level.”
Li Huazhang looked steadily at Dong Hai; even when contradicted, he showed not the slightest impatience or agitation — the very model of good character and self-possession. He raised a hand toward the steward and spoke in the same unhurried, composed voice: “Think nothing of it. Hearing Guard Dong’s accent, he does not seem to be from Shangzhou. Could I ask how Old Master Feng came to recruit him, and how long he has been with the Feng household?”
The steward was taken aback; apparently fearing Dong Hai might say something offensive, he spoke first: “In reply to Your Highness — he works as an escort. After Old Master received the Thief Saint’s letter and worried the Marquis of Sui’s Pearl might be at risk, he went to the escort agency to borrow men. As it happened, he was free, so the agency recommended him to Old Master.”
Li Huazhang nodded mildly: “I see. Guard Dong has escorted goods all over the country — he must have seen a great deal. I would like to ask Guard Dong: from your experience, who do you think killed Old Master Feng and stole the Marquis of Sui’s Pearl?”
Li Huazhang’s gaze was open and forthright; he had not lost an ounce of composure despite having his face given back to him, and could still address Dong Hai using the word “ask.” Not even a trace of awkwardness or anger. Dong Hai thought to himself: truly a formidable figure — someone who could topple his own imperial grandmother is no ordinary person. He blew out a breath and said bluntly: “No idea. All I know is that I was at the door the whole time last night and did not see anyone approach. As for what tricks those masters and young masters were getting up to — how would I know?”
Getting no answer, Li Huazhang showed no discouragement; his gaze moved to the steward, who stiffened involuntarily, seized by sudden nervousness for no apparent reason. Li Huazhang’s voice was still that same cool, unhurried composure: “Steward, I asked you all to search the estate today. Have you found where the fireworks came from?”
The steward looked like a schoolboy called on by a teacher, hanging his head in shame: “We have not.”
“And the Marquis of Sui’s Pearl — has it been found?”
The steward shook his head, bowing lower. Li Huazhang sighed: “Then you had better speed up. The city gates cannot remain closed too much longer — at most two more days before they must be reopened. Once that happens and the Nimble Hand slips out, catching him will be far more difficult.”