After evening classes, Tie Ci didn’t return to her dormitory. That was just a place for her to sleep. To avoid too much contact with a bunch of men, she would wash up by Liuxiang Lake—anyway, it was hot weather, so it didn’t matter.
Dan Shuang had even hidden a hammock for her in the artificial hill in a secluded part of the Liuxiang Lake forest. When needed, she could set it up and lie there leisurely watching the lake scenery.
The lake water reflected flower groves and pavilions, with a faint light twinkling like a bright pearl—that was the mountain chief’s Aiwan Study.
Tie Ci swayed back and forth, appearing drowsy, but the instant that point of light went out, she opened her eyes.
She rose silently. Dan Shuang, who had been standing guard under the tree, also stood up, put away the hammock. Master and servant removed their green robes, changed into black clothes, put on face masks, and swept out of the flower grove like light smoke.
On the way, Dan Shuang quietly told her that she had gone to Lingquan Village and heard that Murong Duan had already escaped.
As expected. Tie Ci nodded.
After waiting a while under the pitch-black Aiwan Study and confirming it was empty, Dan Shuang guarded at the courtyard gate while she swept up to the building.
Upstairs was a row of three rooms, with the mountain chief’s study in the middle. She pushed open the door silently, confirmed no one was inside, entered, and headed straight for the treasure shelf against the wall.
In the very center shelf sat a box brazenly displayed. Shen Mi had inquired—the mountain chief’s collection of small gold and stone objects were all kept there for his convenient handling and appreciation.
Tie Ci reached for the box.
With one grab, there was a clanging sound.
A hand pulled out from behind the box.
That hand grabbed the box and yanked it back.
Tie Ci yanked the box again.
That hand pulled it back again.
The two of them were bizarrely playing a tug-of-war game with the box through the wall.
Both seemed to be enjoying it immensely.
Tie Ci yanked back once more—then suddenly backhandedly shoved the box forcefully inward!
The other party, unprepared for her trickery, let out an “aiya” and was already struck by the hard stone box.
After Tie Ci’s shove, she turned and pounced toward the window.
The door must already be blocked, but the window was on the second floor, suspended in air—no one would be there.
She rushed to the window, just about to jump down, when she suddenly stopped.
Below, torches burned. Dan Shuang was restrained between two black-clothed men, with two sword blades at her neck.
The whistle for signaling had already been crushed underfoot.
When Tie Ci poked her face out, Dan Shuang saw her at a glance, closed her eyes, and without a word was about to thrust herself onto the swords.
Someone upstairs behind Tie Ci cried out in alarm: “Don’t!”
But Tie Ci moved even faster than Dan Shuang. The moment she saw Dan Shuang captured, she immediately said: “Dan Shuang, if you dare commit suicide, I’ll immediately drop my weapons and surrender!”
Due to the urgency, she didn’t even dare punctuate her words.
Dan Shuang stopped abruptly. At the same time, those restraining her immediately withdrew their swords, avoiding a bloody disaster.
Tie Ci breathed a sigh of relief, then angrily said: “Always seeking death at the slightest provocation—do you even consider if it’s worth it! If you’re this reckless and extreme again, don’t blame me for sending you back!”
Only then did Dan Shuang lower her head.
Only then did Tie Ci turn back, squinting at the mountain chief across from her. The middle-aged, handsome man was covering his nose, with blood traces under his fingers—her box blow had hit him hard.
Seeing Tie Ci turn back, he mumbled: “What kind of temper does that servant girl of yours have, always seeking death and scaring people to death!”
“Indeed. You should remember this lesson and not casually threaten my people with knives in the future,” Tie Ci said lightly. “She will seek death, while I will kill.”
“You,” the mountain chief smiled bitterly, “everyone says Ye Shiba is not to be trifled with. I see you’re domineering. You’re the one who broke into my study at night with ill intent, yet you won’t allow me to apprehend your people?”
“What breaking in at night? Clearly I was invited by the mountain chief,” Tie Ci spread her hands. “You extinguished the lights, closed the doors, hid behind walls, invited many friends—wasn’t it all to wait for me?”
Someone coughed in the inner room.
The mountain chief said helplessly: “What’s the point of hiding anymore? Come out. She discovered you all long ago.”
Several people emerged from the inner room: the supervisor, the dean, Chen Zhuolin, and one she didn’t recognize—a woman with quite dignified bearing. From her clothing and manner, she looked like a nanny of status from a wealthy household.
The mountain chief opened the gold and stone box, took out a personal seal, and waved it at Tie Ci: “Were you looking for this?”
Tie Ci looked at those special curved patterns, which indeed matched the impression on her paper slip, and nodded.
“So it really is you.”
“What am I? Am I Madam He’s handler spy?” The mountain chief laughed. “If I were really that spy, I should have long ago accepted the court’s recruitment to an official position, entered the center of your Great Qian’s court to gather intelligence. Wouldn’t that be more convenient and promising than being a mountain chief at an academy?”
Tie Ci fell silent.
This was also the most incomprehensible part of the whole affair.
Whether this handler was the mountain chief, supervisor, or dean, none of it made sense. The purpose of spies was to obtain more intelligence. These academy higher-ups, even if not famous great scholars, mostly enjoyed reputations in scholarly circles. The court was eager to recruit them—becoming an official would be very easy.
But she still smiled: “Perhaps someone wanted to make long-term plans, letting the mountain chief have students throughout the world, so when the time came, one call would bring hundreds of responses, easily overthrowing the court.”
“How long would that take?” The mountain chief smiled and shook his head. “Besides, could a single word ‘teacher’ really make former students disregard their lives and families to follow? Eighteen, you’re a smart person—what do you think?”
Tie Ci smiled.
“Then how do you explain this seal?”
“Eighteen, do you really want to know the truth? Actually, sometimes not knowing the truth is better for you, better for everyone.”
“I promised Master He that I would seek an answer for him. No matter what that answer is, I think both he and I have the courage to face it.”
“Then sit down and have some tea.”
…
The mountain chief’s tea room was spotless, but the objects were quite messy.
Curling white steam rose like clouds. Tie Ci and the mountain chief sat facing each other. She gently turned her wrist, pouring a shallow cup of tea for the mountain chief.
The mountain chief smelled the fragrance and praised: “Exquisite technique.”
Tie Ci smiled.
Tea ceremony wasn’t among her required studies. She was a future emperor—she didn’t need to pour tea for anyone.
She had only learned the skill from Chi Xue.
A good cup of tea put the mountain chief in quite a good mood. He introduced the elderly woman to her: “This is Senior Nanny Gao from beside Old Madam Rong of the Rong family in the capital.”
Tie Ci frowned slightly, thinking that Old Madam Rong was a first-rank lady who often entered the palace. The nanny beside her might have seen herself before.
Looking at Senior Nanny Gao, the nanny’s expression wasn’t very good, but she didn’t seem to recognize her identity.
Rong Pu and Chen Zhuolin hadn’t told her?
Because of the Empress Dowager’s concerns, she rarely summoned outside noble ladies. Even at occasional grand palace banquets she had to attend, she was seated far from those ladies. With slight disguise now and dim lamplight, not being recognized was normal.
She relaxed a little.
She nodded to Senior Nanny Gao, but the nanny ignored her, only saying to the mountain chief: “Sir, our lady’s meaning…”
The mountain chief waved his hand: “Why go so far!”
Senior Nanny Gao had no choice but to remain silent, sitting coldly to one side.
The mountain chief said: “I originally thought you couldn’t solve this puzzle, never expecting you’d still find your way here. This is heaven’s will—heaven’s will that we old folks need no longer guard this secret. Very well, ask whatever you want to ask.”
Tie Ci said: “Then I’ll ask. Was Madam He really a spy?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of spy?”
“She killed herself too quickly to be certain. But we suspect it’s related to Liaodong.”
“Then did she really commit suicide?”
The mountain chief was silent for a while.
After a moment, he said: “Let me start from the beginning. Back when Prince Tang and Prince Lu rebelled, Prince Ping also got involved. Both sides worked hard to win over Teacher—that is, Master He. To gain Teacher’s favor, both sides successively sent their most valued advisors. Those advisors mostly held various intelligence about their masters and were responsible for handling it, carrying some confidential documents with them. Sometimes they would also reveal some things to Teacher—partly to gain his favor, partly to seek strategic advice, since Teacher was talented in all areas, including military command.
“This inevitably meant various important information flowed through his study. One day, I went to bring Teacher a late-night snack, but saw the Teacher’s wife standing outside the door. Teacher’s study was off-limits to anyone, so her behavior caught my attention. Just then, Supervisor Ge—who was still head librarian then—casually mentioned that the Teacher’s wife often went to the library, always on the second floor. Once when his wife wanted to go upstairs to find books, the Teacher’s wife was quite displeased, and they nearly quarreled.
“The Teacher’s wife had visited the library before, but recently it was particularly frequent. Just at this time, Prince Tang and Prince Lu in the capital nearly made the reckless mistake of prematurely attacking the palace due to switched information, fortunately discovering it at the crucial moment and calling it off. Later investigation found the problem lay with one of Prince Tang’s advisors, who was then on a mission to persuade Teacher. He was urgently recalled and disappeared thereafter. Soon after, Prince Tang and Prince Lu changed their previous tactful attitude and almost forcefully took Teacher away.
The mountain chief looked at Tie Ci: “Master He probably didn’t tell you that when he was detained in the capital, he was actually interrogated as a spy who leaked secrets, suffering greatly. When this news reached us, we became anxious. I, Luchuan, Old Ge—we were all Teacher’s disciples and naturally didn’t believe Teacher could be some spy leaking secrets. Then we thought of the Teacher’s wife. We kept following her. Once, when the Teacher’s wife came out of the library very early in the morning, we immediately followed and searched for most of the day. Finally, like you, we pieced together a message—but it wasn’t military secrets, rather a request to the handler for help rescuing Master He.”
Tie Ci thought this was probably the time Supervisor’s wife mentioned—when Madam He came out of the library very early in the morning and then committed suicide.
“With this evidence, we were extremely angry. Being young and hot-blooded then, we immediately went to confront Madam He. We angrily enumerated her wrongs against Teacher—heartless, ungrateful, with wolf-like ambitions. She listened silently throughout, looking very shocked. We also pressed her to reveal her contact’s identity so we could use false intelligence to trick them into rescue. After hearing this, Madam He indicated she wanted to go to the inner room to change clothes. Due to the separation of men and women, my wife and Rong Luchuan’s wife were present, and they followed into the inner room, standing guard outside the curtain. Before long, we heard Madam Rong scream and rush out saying Madam He had committed suicide.”
Tie Ci let out a long breath.
So that’s how it was.
It was suicide, yet also not suicide.
To say she was forced to death, yet one couldn’t say it was the mountain chief and the others’ fault.
Everyone was the murderer, everyone was not the murderer.