Tie Ci got up in the morning and stood at the window holding a cup of tea, gazing at the scenery outside. Though this inn was small, the view was quite nice. The Three Towers and one pool lay ahead, exquisite as green eyebrow powder beside a jade mirror stand. In the distance, snow lines were faintly visible on the mountaintops, with blue skies and white peaks.
A knock came at the door. Without turning her head, Tie Ci said: “Come in.”
The curtain lifted, and a fragrant aroma made Tie Ci turn around. It was Aunt He carrying a tray with a pot of celery and fish congee, snow-white with pale green, the fish slices crystal clear and tender as jade. Beside it, Chinese cabbage was cut fine as hair and arranged neatly. Goose oil flower rolls were layered and pressed with salt and pepper, compact yet refined.
The craftsmanship was clearly excellent.
Aunt He said: “This servant saw the inn’s food was mediocre, so I made some food for Young Master. Fortunately, the kitchen was quite clean.”
Tie Ci smiled and nodded, tasting a few bites and praising it repeatedly, then asked: “Does the Young Master like the food you make?”
Aunt He shook her head sadly: “I’m just a floor-sweeping maid. I’m not qualified to make food for the Young Master.”
“But you care deeply about the Young Master. You know what he likes to eat.” Tie Ci said: “Make some pastries he likes and sell them on the street. Don’t go anywhere else—just in this Three Towers District area.”
“For the first time, make some ordinary but delicious cakes, choose the shape the Young Master likes most, and the flavor that you Yannan people like most.”
Aunt He said happily: “Then I’ll make square sticky rice cakes with some pomegranate juice—soft, red, and fragrant!”
Tie Ci gave her silver and let her handle it herself. Aunt He borrowed the inn’s kitchen and made many in one morning. Following Tie Ci’s instructions, when the night market opened in the evening, she went to sell them on the street. Under the banner of a grand opening promotion, she sold half and gave away half, very generously, attracting countless people to buy.
She remembered Tie Ci’s instructions to pay attention to the appearance, dress, spirit, and posture of customers buying pastries. When she returned that evening, exhausted, she told Tie Ci: “Following your instructions, I paid attention to those dressed lightly, with bright eyes and quick steps—martial artists. There were about seven or eight such people, but there were still too many people overall. I could only barely remember their general appearances and couldn’t remember clearly where they all went.”
Tie Ci said: “You don’t need to remember everything at once. Go sell again tomorrow. Among those seven or eight people, if any come to buy a second time, take another look.”
Aunt He did as instructed. The next day she continued selling, and that evening she returned to tell Tie Ci: “Two customers came again, and one of them bought especially much.”
“Do you remember which direction he went?”
“It was toward Shugu Tower, but I saw him walk past Shugu Tower.”
Around Shugu Tower, front and back, left and right, there were gardens. The more famous ones like “Qingxue Garden” and “Jie Garden” were gardens of local wealthy merchants.
There were also several sizeable shops.
Aunt He suddenly said: “Oh right, I saw he was also carrying a bag from Yasheng Studio.”
Yasheng Studio was located not far from the back gate of Jie Garden. Coming out from Jie Garden’s back gate, buying something at Yasheng Studio, then walking a bit further along the way, one would reach where Aunt He sold pastries tonight.
Jie Garden also fit the conditions for You Weixing’s residence, but Jie Garden was long and narrow with several gardens inside. If the person was really in Jie Garden, just searching would be a difficult problem. By the time they found the person, the prince’s mansion would have surrounded Jie Garden.
“Tonight when you go sell pastries, cut off a section of the paper wrapping the pastries.”
Aunt He complied. That night many people came to buy pastries again. She moved a bit toward Jie Garden’s direction and focused on yesterday’s guard, indeed seeing him go into Jie Garden.
The next day Aunt He continued selling. She had been selling for several days in a row. The pastries were delicious and cheap, gaining many repeat customers, but hardly anyone asked about yesterday’s packaging paper issue. The guard she was focusing on didn’t appear on time either. Aunt He couldn’t help feeling anxious, fearing she hadn’t done her job well and had ruined the important matter of saving someone.
Seeing the pastries were almost sold out and the person still hadn’t come, she secretly hid a few cakes and told everyone they were sold out. After the crowd dispersed, she dawdled while packing up. The guard still didn’t appear. Just as she was about to return disappointed, she suddenly heard hurried footsteps—the guard had finally come.
Aunt He was overjoyed but barely restrained herself, bringing out the pastries. Just as she was about to greet him, the guard had already started complaining to her: “Ah, I came late today. That madman, I don’t know what’s wrong with him. He was eating fine before, but last night he made a big fuss and trampled all the pastries. I said maybe he didn’t want to eat them anymore, but today he’s urging me to buy more, yet saying he doesn’t want the kind from last night. He pestered me so much I came late.”
Aunt He said: “Yesterday’s were the same as today’s and the day before’s. How could he suddenly not like them? Don’t get upset—he’s family after all.”
The guard snorted: “What family? My family doesn’t have such an unlucky child.”
Aunt He looked at him in surprise. The guard realized he had misspoken and coughed: “Just weigh your pastries! Today you must arrange them properly—don’t make me get scolded again. Really, I try to keep peace by buying pastries to coax him, and even that causes trouble!”
Aunt He quickly said of course, wrapped up the pastries. The guard carefully checked them and only took them after finding no problems. But Aunt He then pulled out a small bottle from the pastry box, smiling: “This is my homemade rose water, a gift to big brother as an apology.”
The guard saw the bottle was simple and exquisite. When he pulled the stopper, the fragrance was overwhelming. He happily accepted it.
Aunt He smiled again: “It’s just that this bottle cost me quite a bit of money. Please bring the bottle back to me after you finish drinking.”
In Yannan, many tea and drink sellers allowed people to take away bowls and bottles, returning them later. The man nodded in agreement.
Aunt He returned and told Tie Ci the bottle had been sent out. Tie Ci smiled: “At the latest, by the day after tomorrow we should know where A Xing really is.”
She then let Aunt He rest. The next day she didn’t need Aunt He to go sell pastries either. Aunt He was therefore restless, frequently looking toward the street. Tie Ci was quite at ease, specially brewing herself a pot of tea in the morning, drinking tea and reading books, leisurely as if on vacation.
In the afternoon, Aunt He, who couldn’t help going out to stroll the streets, returned and told Tie Ci: “The steward from Jie Garden went out earlier, then Kun Zhou flower market delivered many flowers and trees, saying the flowers and trees in Huanfeng Residence’s courtyard suddenly died in large numbers, so they bought flowers and trees to replant.”
Tie Ci had already gotten the news from Gui Qizhai first. She changed into going-out clothes and nodded: “Since that’s the case, come with me.”
The two went out and strolled toward Jie Garden’s south side gate. Aunt He had an expression of wanting to ask but not daring to. She didn’t understand how selling pastries for a few days could reveal where the Young Master really was.
Tie Ci explained to her: “Since we deduced the Young Master should be confined within the Three Towers District range, if the other party chose to hide in plain sight, they must appease the Young Master to prevent him from making trouble and ruining things.”
“The guards watching him bear heavy responsibility and dare not close their eyes day or night, so they must work in shifts. For example, one shift during the day and one at night. Martial artists consume much energy, and those on night duty get hungry easily. Since the place guarding the Young Master avoids attention, they won’t cook at midnight, so someone must think to buy pastries to satisfy hunger.”
“Originally there are many places selling pastries here, but because the location is so good with high rent, most are very expensive. Only you, with the good skills learned from the prince’s mansion chef, make pastries that are cheap and fine, which will certainly attract them. And you said the Young Master doesn’t sleep well at night. When he can’t sleep, these people accompany him through the night. When eating pastries, they can’t not give some to the Young Master—after all, he’ll make trouble if they don’t.”
“Your Young Master can also eat well, and what you make suits his taste. When he eats it all, the guards naturally don’t have enough, so they have to buy more the next day. So by seeing who suddenly increases the quantity, we know it’s most likely them.”
“Having you cut off part of the pastry paper afterward was just to confirm this matter. After all, it’s possible people elsewhere found it delicious and wanted to buy more, and we couldn’t alert them.”
“When Jie Garden’s guard told you someone made trouble over these pastries, it could be confirmed. Because the packaging with a corner cut off would make A Xing very uncomfortable, and this kind of deficiency cannot be remedied. He can’t stand it, so making a big fuss is inevitable.”
“After confirming him, we still need to confirm which garden in Jie Garden he’s in. Today’s buy-one-get-one-free bottle is to complete this goal. Tomorrow, or the day after, if someone from Jie Garden suddenly comes out to buy large quantities of saplings and flowers, wherever these things are transported, that’s where the Young Master is.”
Aunt He listened with half understanding, just feeling it was very impressive, and asked: “Why does sending the bottle in mean the garden needs to buy flowers and trees?”
“Because there’s magic in the bottle that can make flowers and trees within a certain range of where it’s located wither, but it doesn’t harm people.”
In the Mo clan village, everyone used this poisonous spider’s juice to clear land and remove weeds.
She asked again: “What if no one comes out to buy saplings?”
“Then whichever garden in Jie Garden suddenly has all its plants wither, that’s the one.”
“Since you can fly, why don’t you just, like this,” Aunt He gestured, “flash around in the Three Towers District and find him?”
Tie Ci laughed.
“Then probably the Three Towers District would first spread rumors of ghosts.”
Teleportation was a last resort killer move when forced to desperation, not for finding people like searching for a needle in a haystack.
The owner of Jie Garden was very wealthy. Vehicles carrying flowers and trees flowed like water into the garden, but the guards in the garden checked very strictly at each checkpoint, examining the flowers and trees one by one, even looking under the vehicles. The flower delivery people had to be led by familiar flower house owners, with identity verification, ensuring no one could sneak into the team.
Aunt He sold pastries across the street with excellent business. In the gaps between collecting money and handing over goods, she occasionally glanced toward Jie Garden’s south gate direction, silently counting the number of flower and tree carts that passed.
When she counted to nearly a certain number, she looked back at Gui Qizhai next door behind her.
A clerk suddenly came out from Gui Qizhai and whispered a few words to the clerk from the fabric shop behind Aunt He. That fabric shop clerk then aggressively pushed Aunt He: “Go sell your cakes somewhere else! You’re blocking our business!”
Aunt He was pushed and stumbled, her basket of pastries scattering all over the ground.
Now the people in the long line couldn’t buy anything and immediately became upset, rushing up to shove that clerk. The clerks from the fabric shop also rushed up to help, both sides fighting in chaos, not only rolling into a pile on the spot, but some even rolled to the gate of Jie Garden across the street.
At this time, a large tree was being transported through the gate, its roots with the soil mass below loaded on two large carts. The guards were examining it when the commotion started here. More than half the people couldn’t help watching the excitement. A more responsible guard who had wanted to climb up to inspect was bumped by someone rolling over, hitting the sharp corner of the cart. Crying “ow ow” and waving his hands, he irritably told the cart to hurry inside.
Flower and tree carts continuously transported into Huanfeng Residence. The flower farmers busily planted the flowers and trees, with large flowers and trees all piled in one shaded area.
Under that pile of trees, a mud clump suddenly moved, then the mud fell away and a person stood up.
She casually removed the oil coat that was covered in mud and could disguise as a mud clump when wrapped around the body, pushed away the tree she had held the whole way, calmly stood up, and walked toward the inner courtyard.
Passing through the garden crowd busy as fire, Tie Ci took a gardener’s bamboo hat from the wall corner and put it on her head, casually picked up a flower spade, and naturally walked through the garden with upturned soil. The gardeners only felt someone pass behind them, but since everyone was walking around at the moment, no one paid attention, and even the guards didn’t notice anything wrong.
Tie Ci walked all the way to the garden’s edge. This garden was very large, directly facing the main house, probably to comfort You Weixing who needed to see natural flowers and grass. The corridor eaves were heavily guarded, and gardeners could no longer approach this area.
The hoe in Tie Ci’s hand suddenly dropped, striking a gardener’s heel.
The man cried out, his shout alarming everyone. The guards’ eyes sharpened as they ran down the steps.
As they rushed down, some vaguely felt cold wind hitting their faces with faint fragrance, others felt a cold flash before their eyes, but these sensations were fleeting. When they discovered the gardener had merely accidentally cut his heel with the hoe, they all breathed a sigh of relief and returned to under the corridor eaves.
At this moment, inside the room, there was already an additional figure.
As soon as Tie Ci entered, she slightly calmed the tumultuous blood qi in her chest, then saw in the right corner of the wall, in the same position as she had seen in Wanqing Garden before, a person with his back to her, crouching there.