Zhou Xuechu entered the capital on the night of the second day of the new year. The snow had already stopped, and the sandy ground was coated in a bright silver sheen — the previous day’s snow had frozen solid by morning and still stubbornly refused to melt.

She went first to Chang Zhao’s residence, then took a side path directly toward Ye Tingyan’s estate. The front gate was firmly shut — for the three days of the palace banquets at the new year, the master of the house had not yet returned.

Going straight to the door and knocking would likely cause too much of a stir. Since it was a cold winter night, Zhou Xuechu circled the entire estate once and finally found a place where a decorative rockery was partially built up against the outer wall, and made ready to climb over.

She tossed her thin bundle of luggage over first, then crept stealthily up. She had just straddled the top of the wall when she heard a voice call out, “Xuechu.”

She got a fright. Her foot slipped — she could have steadied herself, but she could not be bothered with the effort, so she simply let herself drop from the wall. Sure enough, someone came sprinting over and caught her in his arms.

Zhou Xuechu threw her arms around Bai Sensen’s neck and said with a bright smile, “Sensen!”

Among all the people in this household who did not address him as ‘Lingcheng,’ she was perhaps the only one.

Zhou Xuechu looked him over and continued, “I have missed you terribly.”

Bai Sensen gave an awkward cough, his face coloring slightly. “I meant to leave the door open for you, but leaving it open for so long seemed improper. Ever since I received your letter, I have been waiting by this wall for five days.”

Zhou Xuechu looked up and saw the warming brazier under the covered walkway, and was deeply moved. “You are the best — here, I have gifts for you.”

She picked up the bundle she had thrown in earlier and rummaged through it, pulling out a needle case. Bai Sensen took it and saw that the needles were made of dark iron from the northern frontier — the kind that must be ground for a long time before they could achieve such sharpness.

The two were about to exchange a few more words when they heard a feeble voice from the top of the wall: “You two — do come inside to talk.”

Zhou Xuechu only then remembered Qiu Xueyu behind her and offered an apology that was not entirely sincere: “A’Fei, I’m sorry — I got carried away with joy and forgot about you.”

Bai Sensen cheerfully pocketed the needle case and led Zhou Xuechu and Qiu Xueyu toward the front hall. Pushing the door open, they found Zhou Chuyin had just finished adjusting his zither. He looked at the three of them appearing out of nowhere, somewhat bewildered. “You all…”

“Elder Brother!” Zhou Xuechu threw down her bundle and pounced on him, clicking her tongue in amazement. “So you actually came to Biandu — even after reading Luowei’s letter I couldn’t quite believe it. His Highness isn’t dead? Since he isn’t dead, why didn’t you just say so plainly when you were all stirring up rebellion together — did you have any idea what it was like for her alone in the palace…”

She talked so fast and so incessantly that Zhou Chuyin was driven to distraction. Bai Sensen on the side was helpfully chiming in with “Right,” “That’s what I said too,” and “When he was called to Biandu he came running without a moment’s hesitation — nothing like his reluctance when you asked him to travel back then.” Zhou Chuyin endured for as long as he could, then struck the zither string with a smack: “Quiet! What do you mean, ‘stirring up rebellion’?”

Zhou Xuechu put on an air of innocence. “Elder Brother, why are you so upset?”

Bai Sensen repeated the phrase after her: “Elder Brother, why are you so upset?”

Seeing Zhou Chuyin’s expression darken, Qiu Xueyu spoke before he could: “Where is Luowei?”

Zhou Chuyin drew a breath and steadied himself; his expression calmed considerably. “Tonight’s palace banquet requires only officials of the sixth rank and above as attendants. She took the opportunity to go outside and meet someone.”

The figure of Pei Xi behind him, reading a book, looked up in surprise. “She went to see Su Shiyu?”

Only then did the three newcomers notice there was another person in the room. Zhou Xuechu waved at him good-naturedly and teased, “Cuozhi, now that you’re wearing official robes, you actually look quite respectable.”

Zhou Chuyin passed over her remark and answered directly: “Yes.”

Pei Xi exchanged a look with Zhou Xuechu, then continued: “I mentioned to Lord Ye before that Su Shiyu has recently been growing close to Chang Zhao and has also received Song Lan’s personal attention. Even with the affection of a childhood friendship, he may not be entirely safe.”

Zhou Chuyin said, “Right now, the Fengle Tower is at its most raucous. Since she dared to go, she naturally has her reasons.”

Hearing this, Zhou Xuechu interjected: “Speaking of which, Luowei and Young Yan entrusted me to investigate this Lord Chang. I did actually turn up something.”

Zhou Chuyin’s brow moved. “Tell us.”

Zhou Xuechu said seriously, “The household register says his native place is Yanzhou, his father served as the Yanzhou prefect, and after the family fell into decline, he brought his wet nurse with him to Biandu to study. After passing the imperial examinations and entering officialdom, he bought a property in Yanzhou and sent the wet nurse back there.”

Bai Sensen said, “That’s what I found out.”

Zhou Xuechu shook her head. “That identity is false.”

Everyone had already suspected as much, but none knew the details, so Zhou Xuechu explained: “The father listed in his household register is Yanzhou Prefect Chang Mu. We all assumed the Chang family had fallen because Chang Mu committed some offense — but that’s not what happened. I went to Yanzhou myself to find out: the entire Chang family was slaughtered overnight, and only Chang Zhao and his wet nurse were spared. It is precisely because of this that his family background appeared clean, allowing him to pass the imperial examinations and enter official service.”

She took a sip of the tea beside her to moisten her throat. “After hearing this old story, I was curious: who could have massacred the entire Chang family, and why would they spare the young master? Were they not afraid he would grow up and seek revenge? I even went specially to the house he had bought for that wet nurse — but it was already deserted. It seems the wet nurse never even made it back to Yanzhou before being killed. Only then did I feel certain that Chang Zhao’s identity must be fabricated, because every person who knew his real identity was already dead. If not, why would he have resorted to something so ruthless?”

Bai Sensen asked with some anxiety, “So who is he really?”

Zhou Xuechu shook her head. “The Yanzhou Prefect dealt with far too many people, and Chang Mu himself made enemies on all sides — for now, there’s genuinely no clue.”

Zhou Chuyin nodded and then asked, “What of Shu Kang?”

Zhou Xuechu said, “I met with her once outside Luoyang city — she is fine. Xueyu and I took a slower route to avoid being checked at the passes between prefectures, but fortunately envoys from foreign nations had been arriving in Biandu before the new year. I understand that ever since Luowei escaped from Guyou Mountain back in the ninth month, the city controls in Biandu have been quite strict, stirring up considerable resentment among the common people. If not for the new year holiday, there’s no knowing how much longer the lockdown would have lasted.”

Zhou Chuyin laughed coldly. “So that’s why Luowei wrote telling you to make a leisurely return — if you had arrived before the first day of the new year, would you have been able to enter the city?”

“I see,” said Zhou Xuechu, not even rising to the bait. She pushed Qiu Xueyu in front of her and said, “I at least brought A’Fei back safely from the northern frontier — surely Elder Brother could give me one word of praise?”

Zhou Chuyin raised his head and looked at Qiu Xueyu with an expression of some complexity, saying softly, “Though the Jingqiu Remonstrance has done serious damage to Song Lan’s reputation and authority, Chang Zhao’s identity remains unclear. The court is full of treacherous currents and fog, with everyone lost in a maze. Even Luowei and Ling Ye are placing a wager. This is an extremely dangerous gambit — are you not afraid?”

But Qiu Xueyu broke into a smile. “I escaped from the palace, clinging to life by the thinnest of threads. I kept this life alive precisely for this day.”

Zhou Xuechu did not yet know what the two of them were discussing, but seeing everyone else overcome with feeling, she couldn’t help but reach out and take Qiu Xueyu’s hand.

Qiu Xueyu continued: “If we were afraid, then why are we standing here at all?”

From the front courtyard came the sound of official boots treading through melting snow. Whether it was Luowei or Ye Tingyan who came back first was unclear. The howling wind gave one cry, then was completely blocked out by the heavy closing of the estate gate, and scattered away, swirling into nothing.

* * *

The morning of the seventeenth day of the first month in the fifth year of the Jinghe reign. The city of Biandu.

A thick mist lay over the Bianhe River, and along the riverside there were still traces of the candle wax left over from the previous day’s lanterns, trailing out into a long stretch of red.

The Great Yin dynasty observed a seven-day holiday at the new year, then another seven days around the Lantern Festival. By the seventeenth day, the break had come to its end. Some early-rising shopkeepers had already opened for business, but the streets were still largely quiet.

By the reckoning of the hour, the morning court had not yet ended.

A young woman came out of the Fengle Tower and emptied a basin of water into the Bianhe River — water stained with face powder and rouge. The depths of winter had not yet passed, but these past several days had been warm, and the thin ice on the Bianhe had melted away, leaving the current running fast and turbulent.

Yet amid that rushing current, she still heard a distant drumbeat carried to her on the wind from far away.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

She jolted upright, stood tall and strained to see into the distance. She could only curse the dim morning light that made everything too hazy to make out clearly. But up and down the riverbank, quite a few people had already been startled awake by the drumbeats and were gathering with animated chatter.

Could someone actually be striking the Petition Drum?

At the founding of the Yin dynasty, drums had been set up at three locations — before the Mingguang Gate, in the main hall of the Ministry of Justice, and at the far end of the imperial boulevard — for use by officials and commoners respectively in seeking redress for grievances. As the legal codes evolved, the dynasty’s requirements for striking the drum grew ever more stringent. By the reign of Emperor De, an unwritten rule had taken form: the Ministry of Justice would first open its hearing, the drum on the imperial boulevard would be struck, and then three tribunals would jointly hear the case. Ordinary commoners who sought redress by striking the Petition Drum became fewer and fewer, while many were punished with court beatings for violating the regulations around drum-striking.

After the Flower Reform, although the drum-striking requirements remained strict, they had become largely a dead letter. The drum in the Ministry of Justice was removed, and a Petition Drum Court was established at the far end of the imperial boulevard. In the reign of Emperor Ming, common people would dare to beat the drum even for trivial matters like lost property or brawls.

This tradition had continued for many years. It was only when foreign affairs became pressing that petitioners gradually dwindled. After the Thorn-the-Begonia Case, the young Emperor was in regency and the court was unstable; when one actually thought about it, the drum had not been sounded for many years.

For someone to dare strike the drum at this moment, it must be a matter of great urgency that needed to reach the ears of the Son of Heaven.

Thinking this, the crowd spread the news to one another, and in an instant the imperial boulevard became suddenly lively. There was snow on the steps of the drum court, and only a single trail of a woman’s footprints had been left behind.

Only then did the crowd make out that the person striking the drum was a woman.

Though this woman was slender, the sound she struck from the drum was exceptionally powerful. The drum court had not been staffed with guards for a long time, and only after she had been drumming for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense did any guards arrive, rushing over with two officials in censor’s robes.

One of the censors spoke first: “Who stands before the drum, and for what matter are you striking it? Are you aware that if it is not a serious or important case, the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate will charge you with disturbing the peace before you can even appear before the Son of Heaven?”

The other censor tugged at his sleeve and said urgently in a low voice, “Did His Majesty not say not to ask where this person comes from first — just bring her to court? Young Lord Pei is…”

The woman turned around without any sign of submission or fear, facing the gate, and slowly knelt down. She drew a written petition from her sleeve, took a deep breath, and spoke in a voice that, while not loud, carried clearly enough for all the onlookers to hear.

“This commoner woman, surnamed Qiu, is the daughter of former Censor-in-Chief Qiu Fang. In the third year of the Tianshuo reign I was betrothed to a southern scholar named Liu Fuliang. I was later implicated in the Thorn-the-Begonia Case; my entire family was executed. As I was a female member, I was fortunate enough to survive by being conscripted into the entertainment quarters of a distant province, and managed to escape with my life. Today this commoner has evidence proving that in the Thorn-the-Begonia Case, the three persons Liu, Zuo, and Yang who allegedly carried out the assassination were falsely framed. I beg to appear before the Son of Heaven and petition for this case to be retried!”