The officials arrived quickly. The crowd was driven away by the constables shouting orders. The constables gave only a cursory inspection of the area around the body, then lifted the corpse onto a stretcher in a disorganized rush, draped a cloth of rough hemp over it, and hurried out of the narrow alley.

As the stretcher passed through the alleyway exit, it carelessly knocked against the bluestone wall. From beneath the white hemp cloth, an arm slipped out into view — a slender, pale and lustrous arm, with fingers delicate as jade, one by one, and nails painted in bright red rouge. Whoever its owner had been while alive was clearly someone who had taken considerable care of her appearance.

After the constables departed, the people lingered on the spot for a while, discussing the matter, then drifted away one by one, their interest spent. Chang’an City had something new and sensational happening every single day — from a princess changing her betrothal to a corrupt official falling from power — and never lacked for fresh talking points. This singing girl who had died in vain in a dingy alleyway was but a drop in the ocean of Chang’an’s news, and would soon be forgotten by people entirely.

Qin Yao returned to the Qu family carriage with a preoccupied expression, resting her chin in her hand and remaining silent for a long while. Qu Chen Shi flicked her an irritated tap: “Did you get a good enough look? Getting bolder all the time — even daring to press your way into a place of such ill omen!” In Qu Chen Shi’s inner mind, no matter how much ability Qin Yao had learned or how capable she now was, she remained in her mother’s eyes the little daughter who needed to be sheltered and protected.

The tap didn’t even register as pain to Qin Yao. She shook her head in a daze and said: “It really is strange — not only were there no signs of an evil spirit at work on her body, there was not even the faintest trace of lingering grievance. Mother, can you imagine — is there truly someone in this world who would willingly allow themselves to be murdered?”

To have one’s throat excavated entirely — by any measure, that would be a death both cruelly brutal and utterly without dignity.

“Stop, not another word!” Qu Chen Shi was frightened so badly her face went pale. “The authorities will handle this matter — it has nothing to do with you. You are forbidden from getting yourself mixed up in it!” She then called out through the curtain: “Yuan Da! What are you still standing there for? Drive the carriage — let’s go home.”

The carriage wheels began rolling once more. Qin Yao lifted the curtain to look outside. Out on the street, blue-robed figures and red-skirted ones moved to and fro in lively bustle; the foreign proprietresses’ wine shops were just as boisterous as ever. Pingkang Ward was still that same Pingkang Ward, resplendent with prosperity and splendor — as though everything that had just happened had never occurred at all.

Qin Yao gazed in a thoughtful reverie at that narrow, shadowy alleyway, so utterly at odds with its surroundings, until the carriage turned the corner and the alleyway disappeared from view entirely. Only then did she pull her gaze away, her mind still full of unanswered questions.

The spring examination lasted three full days. When Qu Ziyu and Feng Boyu emerged from the examination grounds, both had lost a considerable amount of weight.

Though fatigue was written plainly across both their faces, neither could conceal their high spirits. Feng Boyu had heard that the Donglai Establishment was holding a peony viewing banquet that evening, and suggested they also go and join in the festivities.

Qu Ziyu agreed readily, and asked Qin Yao if she would like to come along.

Qin Yao was naturally willing.

The Qu parents, seeing that the young ones were in such high spirits, gave them a few words of instruction and then let the three of them go.

Qu Ziyu had always been frail in years past, spending most of the year at home recuperating, and rarely going out for entertainment. So now that Qin Yao, at fourteen years old, was finally going out with her elder brother for the very first time, she was enormously happy — and she walked the whole way arm in arm with her brother, chattering without pause.

Feng Boyu was entirely left out to one side. At first Qu Ziyu felt rather guilty about it, but seeing that Feng Boyu’s expression showed no sign of displeasure, he finally relaxed.

Feng Boyu listened quietly from the side as Qin Yao talked, finding her voice clear and pleasant, and her conversational cadence lively and entertaining — the kind that made it impossible to hold back a smile.

“Elder brother, do you know why this shop is called the Twin Beauties Silk and Satin House?” Qin Yao raised her fair, slender finger and pointed toward the side of the street.

Qu Ziyu and Feng Boyu looked up and saw a fabric shop, in front of which stood two foreign women of deep-set, exotic features, chatting warmly with several young married women while comparing fabrics. The fabrics were of dark, luxurious colors and intricate patterns — with a different, distinctly foreign allure compared to the fabrics sold in other fabric shops in Chang’an.

“Because the proprietors of this fabric shop are two foreign sisters — that is why it is called the Twin Beauties.” Seeing that Qu Ziyu and Feng Boyu remained silent for quite some time, Qin Yao explained earnestly.

“So that is the story.” Qu Ziyu feigned sudden understanding, patiently playing along with his sister. Feng Boyu suppressed a quiet laugh.

Qin Yao gave a satisfied nod, then spotted another shop and brightened with delight, pulling her elder brother forward. “The biro pastries at that shop are so delicious.”

In front of the shop was a long winding queue. By the entrance, two large steamers were billowing clouds of steam, and every time the lid was lifted, a rich fragrance surged straight into one’s nostrils and made the mouth water.

Qin Yao joined the queue with eager enthusiasm, and after waiting quite a long while, emerged holding three packages of warm, freshly steamed biro pastries, then pulled the other two inside.

After taking their seats, she handed one package first to Qu Ziyu, then looked over at Feng Boyu: “Elder Brother Feng, you try some too.”

As she spoke, she pulled back the gauze veil of her curtained hat, and with a cheerful smile pressed the package of biro pastries into Feng Boyu’s hands. Feng Boyu looked up, and without intending to, caught sight of a face as luminously fair as the bright moon — dark, lively eyes and a smile that was utterly clear and pure. Something in his heart warmed inexplicably.

As it happened, his family was poor, and on the road from his hometown to Chang’an, he had been pinched for money at every turn and had met with no small amount of people looking down on him. After arriving in Chang’an, wherever he cast his eyes, he saw only wealth and splendor — which had, for a brief time, left him feeling at a loss and without footing.

Later, when he first came to the Zhaozhao Academy, his talent earned him the appreciation of Master Ji. Master Ji not only offered him lodging in the academy, but also declared unequivocally that the top place in this year’s imperial examinations would be none other than his. After that, his reputation spread far and wide among the scholars of Chang’an, and classmates who had previously ignored him suddenly began to be warm and familiar with him.

Only Qu Ziyu alone — from the very first time they met, had never shown the slightest condescension, and when others were fawning over him, had not treated him any differently than before. He treated him with a steadiness that was both unpretentious and sincere — truly a man of the gentleman’s virtue.

His sister, Qin Yao, though not as steady and composed as her elder brother, was more natural and charming than any young woman Feng Boyu had encountered before. Being in her company felt like a spring breeze brushing one’s face — one felt, in one’s heart, a comfort that was beyond words.

The fragrance of the biro pastry drifted through the air around him. He smiled and took it from Qin Yao’s hands, and quietly took a bite — the pastry was crispy and refreshing, its juices and fragrance flowing richly, and it was indeed superior in flavor to ordinary biro pastries.

“Is it good?” Qin Yao asked Qu Ziyu and Feng Boyu inquiringly.

Both of them nodded with great enthusiasm at the same time, expressing their approval of Qin Yao’s taste.

Qin Yao smiled until her eyes curved into crescent moons, and said with the spirit of a grand declaration: “There are still so many delicious places in Chang’an. When we have another chance in the future, let’s come out and eat again!”

After leaving the food shop, they soon arrived at the Donglai Establishment. As the hour was still early, there were only scattered guests in the shop — just three or two here and there.

“Proprietor, are there any private rooms available on the upper floor?” Qu Ziyu asked without much expectation, quite casually.

“You have come at precisely the right time, Young Master. The private room on the second floor was originally booked long ago, but one of the patrons had an unexpected matter come up and couldn’t make it — a room has just happened to open up. Please, right this way, all of you.”

Qu Ziyu and the others were overjoyed at this unexpected fortune, and followed the proprietor up to the second floor.

After taking their seats, voices of men in conversation drifted faintly from the neighboring private room. Qin Yao paid no particular mind. She removed her curtained hat, leaned halfway out the window, and looked down — and saw a small, delicately designed courtyard, every inch planted with peonies. Unfortunately, apart from one cluster of pink-and-purple blooms that had already fully opened, all the others had put out only a few small buds.

“What a pity — only one cluster of peonies has opened.” Qin Yao sighed, not without regret.

Qu Ziyu shook his head and smiled: “Today, the Donglai Establishment is offering free drinks, and we arrived early enough to get a private room on the second floor for the flower viewing — by any account, that is already an extraordinary stroke of fortune. And you, little one, still don’t know how to be satisfied.”

Feng Boyu looked around with a careful eye, then joined in: “It seems the proprietor of this Donglai Establishment is also a person of refined taste — not the kind of ostentatious, common merchant. Just look at the few paintings hanging on the walls — every one is by a master’s hand.”

Qu Ziyu rose to examine them closely, and smiled: “I recall once vaguely hearing that the proprietor of this Donglai Establishment is a distinguished personage of Chang’an, with two great passions in life: peonies and wine. It was for this reason that he opened a place like this Donglai Establishment — one that has both fine wine and peonies — as a means of making the acquaintance of kindred spirits and finding some consolation in life.”

“No wonder the proprietor is so magnanimous in his ways, and the shop’s decor everywhere exudes an elegant refinement. So he is a person of true feeling.” Feng Boyu’s expression held a note of admiration.

The guests downstairs were gradually increasing in number, and the sounds of clamor rose intermittently. Qin Yao had drunk several cups of warm fermented green wine and felt a sudden need, so she begged pardon of her brother and Feng Boyu, put on her curtained hat, and went off on her own to find the washroom.

On her way back, the neighboring private room happened to have an attendant entering with wine and dishes in a procession. Qin Yao glanced inside without thinking — and saw that seated in the place of honor were several young gentlemen dressed in sumptuous finery. Beside each of them sat a beautiful concubine-companion, every one of them with the upper curves of their chests half-exposed and eyes brimming with seductive allure, warmly urging their companions to drink.

The young gentleman in the very center had a face like polished jade, his bearing noble and elevated, yet his expression was cold and distant.

With a single glance, Qin Yao recognized that the person was Lin Xiao. She thought it strange: why was he here?

The companion in red beside him was the most beautiful of all, particularly her eyes — dark and bright, and full as pooling spring water. Just one glance from her at anyone was enough to set one’s heart fluttering, perfectly deserving of the description “beautiful eyes glancing, dimpled smile charming.”

She reclined halfway against Lin Xiao, her bearing languid and coquettish, and with pouting red lips placed the wine cup in her hand at the edge of Lin Xiao’s lips. As she moved, her wide half-sleeve slid down to one side, revealing half a snow-white, rounded shoulder.

Quite the scene of enchanting allure — Qin Yao stared, momentarily dazzled, frozen in place.

Sensing someone’s gaze, Lin Xiao’s eyes swept toward Qin Yao’s direction with an almost electric sharpness. Qin Yao quickly lowered her head, pressed down her curtained hat, and walked rapidly back to her own room.

“What took you so long?” Qu Ziyu asked Qin Yao with concern.

“Oh — I mistook someone for an acquaintance,” Qin Yao explained, helping herself to a cup of wine with practiced calm.

Qu Ziyu studied Qin Yao with suspicious eyes. He was just about to speak when an urgently anxious voice came from outside the door — it was the proprietor: “That private room already has guests seated in it. This was entirely my own blunder — I am guilty of a thousand deaths!”

“Then go die!” Before the words had finished, the door to the private room was flung open with a crash. In walked a group of young women dressed in foreign attire.

The woman at the front was strikingly beautiful, with an imperious air between her brows. The moment she walked in, she looked down upon Qin Yao and the others from a position of superiority, and demanded of the proprietor: “These are the ones who took the room I booked in advance?”

The proprietor’s face had gone white as paper. He stood trembling and apologizing: “It was entirely because I failed to hear the young lady’s instructions clearly, and assumed the young lady would not be coming this evening to view the flowers. So I let this room to these guests—”

“Get out!” The young woman cut the proprietor short, then tilted her chin coldly at Qin Yao and the others.

Neither Qin Yao nor Qu Ziyu were the sort to court conflict, and in ordinary circumstances they might well have simply yielded and let it go. But the young woman’s manner was excessively overbearing — she allowed not the slightest room for others — and in her stung indignation, Qin Yao got to her feet intending to argue back.

Qu Ziyu caught her with one hand and gave her a long, meaningful look, indicating that she should not act on impulse.

Better to endure the small slight than to disrupt the larger scheme. This young woman’s behavior was so outrageous that she was sure to have some sort of background — why invite catastrophe over a momentary point of pride?

Both Qu Ziyu and Feng Boyu understood this reasoning, so they simply gave the young woman a calm, indifferent glance, and then made to rise and leave.

But the young woman, seeing that the three of them had not moved immediately, assumed they were deliberately trying to challenge her, and flew into a sudden rage: “What audacity — daring to play high and mighty in front of me! Snow Slave, Red Slave — teach them a lesson for me!”

The several maidservants behind her acknowledged the command, and in a few flashing steps had positioned themselves in front of Qin Yao and the others, launching punches swift as wind and attacking all three simultaneously.

Qin Yao had finally reached the limit of her patience. She raised her hand to block the fist of the maidservant driving toward her, deflecting it into midair, then launched a kick that struck the maidservant squarely in the abdomen. The maidservant winced in pain and let out a low, muffled groan.

The young woman had never imagined Qin Yao to be so skilled. In a fury, she shouted at the maidservants behind her: “What are you still standing there for? Keep hitting until she’s flat on the ground!”

In an instant, several more maidservants came rushing at Qin Yao and the others. The private room was already a narrow, confined space, and with this development, the three of them were completely surrounded.

Qin Yao could manage on her own — but Qu Ziyu and Feng Boyu knew no martial arts, and those maidservants were all accomplished martial practitioners of external combat arts. How could the two of them withstand them? Within the space of just a few breaths, both had taken several solid blows.

Qin Yao was both anxious and furious. Unable to hold back any longer, she formed hand seals with both hands and quietly cast a visual-confusion technique.

The maidservants suddenly felt as though the floor beneath their feet was strewn with countless obstacles. Though Qin Yao and the others were clearly right before their eyes, every step they took landed in a solid fall — one after another, they stumbled and crashed to the floor like wooden posts, falling over left and right with heavy thumps.

“So you actually know dark arts!” The young woman watched with sharp, clear sight, her expression changing. She quickly retreated to outside the door, curled her fingers into a ring-shape, and let out a piercing whistle toward those below.

Sensing that things were turning dangerous, Qin Yao grabbed her elder brother and Feng Boyu and pushed past the young woman, making to run outside.

Then came the sound of heavy footsteps on the staircase — the wooden steps groaning and creaking under the weight. On the staircase wall, a massive shadow appeared suddenly.

As the sounds on the staircase drew closer and closer, the shadow grew larger and larger. In the blink of an eye, there appeared what seemed like a giant of iron — a figure of tower-like proportions.

This giant stood fully nine feet tall, his face dark as charcoal, his fists as large as iron hammers. As he reached the second floor, his head loomed higher than the ceiling.

The young woman planted her hands on her hips and strode up to stand before the giant, then pointed at Qin Yao and the others with an imperious air, and commanded: “Seize every single one of them and have them thrown into the government prison!”

The giant gave a low sound of acknowledgment — his voice like the deep thrum of a war drum, somehow extraordinarily muffled and low, and landing in the ears in a manner that was strangely and thoroughly unsettling.

Qin Yao looked coolly at the giant, and said to Qu Ziyu and Feng Boyu: “I will deal with him. You two go first.”

The giant seemed to find this the most hilarious thing he had ever heard in his life. He let out a hoarse, guttural laugh — “hoho hoho” — that made the surrounding walls tremble and shake.