◎North Street◎

Like the dynasty before it, Great Yin maintained three separate judicial bodies — the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate. The Court of Judicial Review’s role among them was to investigate wrongful convictions and correct them, and to overturn unjust rulings in accordance with the law. But before Zhou Tan’s reforms, the Court of Judicial Review had held a relatively low position among the three offices — even though the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review held the same rank as the Vice Minister of Justice, his actual authority fell far short.

Before entering the imperial prison, Zhou Tan’s position had been Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. After his release, he was transferred to Vice Minister of Justice — on paper, his rank hadn’t changed, but in practice, he now stood much closer to the center of power. What’s more, throughout the Yongning era, the position of Minister of Justice had never been filled, and though Emperor De’s attitude toward Zhou Tan remained ambiguous, he was, in the end, clearly someone the emperor relied upon heavily.

Officials serving in the Court of Judicial Review mostly wore black-and-silver robes, adding standing-collar cloaks during spring and autumn — quite distinctive and easy to spot.

Gu Xianghui, a courtesan of humble, impoverished origins — could she really have been the lover of some official in the Court of Judicial Review?

But if she’d had a patron like that, why would she have been driven to such despair as to take her own life?

If that were the case, then this man surnamed Yan must be connected, in some tangled way, to her death.

“The surname Yan isn’t common. I’ve already sent someone to the Court of Judicial Review to look into it,” Zhou Tan said. “I still have some documents to review at the Ministry of Justice. You were worn out yesterday… you should go home.”

Qu You thought it over briefly, then agreed at once. “All right.”

The two of them had entered the Bureau of Minor Offenses at noon the day before, and had gone to inspect the East Tower again that night. By the time they’d returned to the Ministry of Justice, Zhou Tan had taken her to the inner chamber of his own study to rest briefly.

When Qu You rose the next morning, she still found Zhou Tan sitting at his desk reading documents, his back perfectly straight, showing not the slightest hint of fatigue.

Why didn’t he ever seem to need any sleep at all?

She swallowed back the words “you should rest a while too” that had risen to her lips, just as Zhou Tan turned around. “I’ll have someone prepare a carriage for you.”

“No need,” Qu You hesitated, then declined. “Since I happen to be dressed like this already, I might as well go out and look around a bit. I brought money with me, and I know the way — I can get home on my own.”

Zhou Tan seemed not entirely convinced, but unable to withstand her insistence, he let her go anyway.

On her way out of the Ministry of Justice, Qu You happened to run into the very talkative Li Hongyu from before. Seeing her walking confidently beside Zhou Tan, Li Hongyu was momentarily dumbfounded, but not daring to look too closely, he lowered his head and bowed respectfully to Zhou Tan off to the side.

The two of them walked all the way to the main gate of the Ministry of Justice, where they happened to pass a guard seeing an elderly woman draped in gold and silver jewelry out the door. A thick cloud of perfume drifted past Qu You’s nose, and she nearly sneezed.

Zhou Tan suddenly remarked, “That’s the madam from the Heart of Fragrance House.”

Before Qu You could even express her surprise, Zhou Tan had already turned and walked off, and behind the pungent perfume, she caught the faint trace of the still-water fragrance that always lingered on his robes, just as she had the very first time she’d met him.

Bo Ying had nearly failed to recognize Qu You the first time he saw her dressed as a man.

Since moving into the Zhou household, Qu You had had plenty of money to spare, and had been helping pay Bo Ying for treating Zhou Tan’s condition, earning him a fair bit of silver — enough that he no longer had to go hungry as he once did. He’d simply set up shop right at home, so that the poor could come to him for treatment, sparing him the trouble of carrying his medicine box up and down the streets.

That day, Bo Ying had been lazing about, sleeping until well past sunrise, and since no one had come looking for him, he only got up when someone knocked at his door.

Seeing the person’s cornel-embroidered brocade robe, Bo Ying spoke up at once. “My lord, you’re clearly a person of wealth and standing. My skills are humble — I only treat those who can’t afford proper physicians. I’m afraid I can’t help you…”

“Is my disguise as a man really that convincing?” Qu You cut him off, smiling as she asked. “It’s not actually that hard, once your hair’s bound up and your features are drawn a bit more sharply.”

Only then did he recognize her, and after clicking his tongue and offering a round of praise, Qu You explained why she’d come. He tried at first to refuse, but couldn’t resist the lure of money in the end.

Qu You changed into a somewhat worn-out robe, and she and Bo Ying set off for North Street together — he continuing to play the role of a physician, she disguised as a poor scholar.

On the way there, Qu You asked, curious, “You’re skilled at medicine, and you’re always after money — so why did you say, when I first knocked, that you wouldn’t treat people of high rank and status?”

“Listen to yourself,” Bo Ying rolled his eyes. “Aside from you, when does anyone wealthy or powerful ever come looking for me? The capital’s got no shortage of official physicians — why would nobility come to me? Anything that unusual is bound to be trouble. I love money, sure, but I hate hassle even more. Getting mixed up with people like that is too risky — not worth it.”

He really did have a carefree way of looking at things. Qu You laughed. “If I turn up anything useful today, I’ll pay you extra when we get back.”

“Sure, sure, deal!”

The two of them rented a carriage at the end of an alley and rode all the way to the front of the Heart of Fragrance House on North Street. Conveniently, there was a teahouse across the street where travelers could rest, so the two of them ordered two pots of tea and a plate of peanuts, and sat on the second floor to observe.

“What are you even doing here?” Bo Ying munched on the peanuts by his hand, but found them unsatisfying and reached over to add a plate of sunflower seeds too. “And going out dressed like this with another man, no less — your husband’s got some nerve, letting you.”

Qu You glanced around and, sure enough, spotted a few stern-faced men nearby, so she lowered her voice. “I came from the Ministry of Justice. I didn’t ask him to escort me, but knowing him, he’d never really let me leave on my own. Don’t worry — the whole way here, we’ve had people following us.”

Bo Ying immediately scooted his stool back a step. “Then why didn’t you just have him come with you instead?”

Qu You breezed right past his question. “Take a look at this pleasure house — do you notice anything different about it?”

“I-I-I’ve never even been to a pleasure house, how would I know?” Bo Ying glanced quickly downstairs, then seemed to have a realization. “Oh, I get it — you said earlier you went to the Ministry of Justice with your husband because of that woman who fell to her death at Fan Tower yesterday. So, that woman who fell — was she from this establishment?”

“You caught on fast,” Qu You said, surprised.

“It’s not that I caught on fast — the whole city’s been buzzing about it since yesterday afternoon, hasn’t it?” Bo Ying said, chewing on his peanuts as he recalled. “I heard yesterday that the woman wasn’t from a decent family — she came from a lower-tier pleasure house, and it was probably some madam who caught her committing adultery, or some other scandal too shameful to hide, and she killed herself out of shame and desperation…”

The more he talked, the darker Qu You’s expression grew, and he quickly fell silent. Qu You gazed out the window for a moment, lost in thought, then turned back to him with a bitter smile. “The dead was a woman — in the mouths of the world, it’s always something this unseemly.”

“That’s just the kind of story people love to hear,” Bo Ying said, brushing crumbs off his hands, looking out in the same direction as her. “Rumor and gossip with a bit of scandalous color — even if it’s spun out of thin air, people happily gossip about it. As it passes from mouth to mouth, all that matters is whether it sounds good — who bothers to check if it’s true or not?”

Qu You didn’t answer that, but instead said, “Today at the Ministry of Justice I met the madam of the Heart of Fragrance House, and something struck me as odd right away.”

She pointed a finger at the worn two-story building across the street. The news from the Ministry of Justice hadn’t leaked out yet — the Heart of Fragrance House hadn’t even closed its doors. Four errand boys stood with lowered heads at the entrance, and several listless-looking women sat behind the second-floor railing.

“Yesterday I looked at a map of the capital at the Ministry of Justice. North Street is near the docks, with plenty of warehouses, and to the east lies the largest slum in the capital. The people who pass through here are mostly farmers, laborers, and beggars. Along this entire stretch of North Street, this is the only pleasure house.”

Bo Ying didn’t quite follow. “It’s not that strange for a place like this to have a pleasure house, is it?”

Qu You sighed, then suddenly asked, “Take a look at the women over there — are they pretty?”

Bo Ying answered honestly, “They’re pretty.”

Qu You said, “Seeing the madam draped in gold and silver only gave me one part of the suspicion. Seeing these women just now gave me the other nine.”

Bo Ying gradually began to grasp what she meant. “Ordinarily, a woman of real beauty, whether sold or selling herself, would end up somewhere wealthy near the Bian River. With looks like theirs, why would these women end up on North Street?”

The moment he finished saying this, he immediately added, “I still have to ask — if you had suspicions, why not just tell your husband and have him come investigate with you? Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing he’s in charge of?”

If Zhou Tan hadn’t pointed out the madam to her on their way out, Qu You probably wouldn’t have even noticed this detail at all.

“Right,” Qu You said. “Even I had suspicions. So why didn’t he?”

Author’s Note:

Thanks so much for the nutrient fluid gifts~ (waves)