Ming Huashang certainly did not dare stay behind alone. She got up quickly and followed Xie Jichuan outside.
The moment Ming Huazhang sensed an eavesdropper, he gave chase immediately. Whoever it was clearly knew the terrain very well — weaving left and right, making full use of the trees and walls that grew thick throughout the villa. The person ducked into a grove and kept glancing back, and breathed with relief to find the space behind him empty. He had managed to shake off the young man after all.
Just as the man was about to move on, a figure suddenly leaped down from the wall beside him. The figure was light and swift, landing with the agile grace of a snowflake drifting down — but the kick that followed was driven with tremendous force, landing squarely on the man’s side.
The attack came from nowhere, completely catching the man off guard. He was struck full-on and hit the ground heavily, rolling over once. Before he could cry out in pain, the next attack was already upon him.
Ming Huazhang had predicted the man’s movement. Rather than continuing to give chase, he had feigned losing track of him and waited in ambush behind the wall. Just as he had anticipated, the man cut through this shortcut and was caught on the spot.
After subduing him, Ming Huazhang was about to execute a restraint technique when the man — who had appeared utterly helpless on the ground — abruptly flung his hand up and scattered a cloud of white powder directly at Ming Huazhang. Fearing it might be a poison, Ming Huazhang immediately fell back. The man seized this opportunity to scramble to his feet and flee with astonishing speed.
When a person is faced with life or death, they can summon terrifying power. Despite his injuries, the man’s fleeing footsteps were like wings. He ran with all he had, glancing back repeatedly — and seeing that the young man had been held in place and was not giving chase, he was beginning to feel smug.
Then, without warning, a gust of wind roared toward him from ahead — so swift it made the very air hum. Instinctively, the man threw himself aside, and only then did he see clearly: a red-tasseled spear was before him. Before he could even make sense of the situation, the silver gleam of the spear tip flashed, and then swept toward him in the fluid, coiling arc of a soaring dragon.
It is a truth in the world of weapons: the longer the weapon, the greater the advantage. The spear is called the king of ten thousand weapons; even seasoned swordsmen are at a grave disadvantage against a skilled spear-wielder — let alone an unarmed amateur like this man.
The spear tip was swift and fierce. In its wake, snow was thrown up in layers; through the white haze, the red tassel surged like a viper striking from its den, its direction wholly unpredictable. Before long, the man could no longer dodge and tumbled to the ground. He tried to rise, but the moment he moved, a sharp gust of air rushed at his throat — and then stopped, precise and deadly, against the skin of his neck.
The man’s whole body went limp with terror. Ren Yao pivoted the spear tip and looked down at him from above with contempt. “Keep running, then. Let’s see how long you can keep playing ghost.”
Ming Huazhang came walking over from behind. “The matter is not yet fully resolved. Keep him alive.”
When Ming Huazhang had been lying in ambush behind the wall earlier, he had seen Ren Yao give chase. He had signaled her with a gesture to go ahead and cut off the man’s escape route — which was why, when the man used the unknown powder to attack, Ming Huazhang had not continued after him. Feigning injury from the powder had been part of drawing the man into the trap.
Ming Huashang and Xie Jichuan had followed the sounds of the chase and scuffle. Xie Jichuan’s breathing was perfectly steady; Ming Huashang was not so fortunate, and arrived panting. “Was he caught?”
She had barely finished the words when she saw the brown-robed man pinned to the ground by the spear.
Their chase and the fighting had made considerable noise, and it had alerted others as well. Before long, Ming Huazhang and his companions found themselves in the main hall, looking up at Princess Taiping, Prince Wei, Prince Ding, and several other commandery princes. Ming Huazhang said, “Your Highnesses, this man was eavesdropping outside our quarters and behaved with suspicious intent. I believe this person has some connection to the strange incidents of these past two days.”
Prince Wei gave a considering sound, his tone unreadable. “You are saying that the strange occurrences of these last two days were not the work of a ghost’s spirit, but of someone playing ghost?”
Ming Huazhang lowered his eyelashes slightly. “This official holds no government post and would not presume to speak rashly. But this man’s behavior is highly suspicious. Questioning him closely may yield something.”
The great hall was packed with people who had come to find out what was happening. The bolder young lords and ladies had come in person; the more timid ones had sent their trusted maidservants. The crowd whispered among themselves: “Is this real? Could it be that there is no ghost, and it was all a person in disguise?”
Princess Taiping’s expression was grim. Despite her magnificently lavish adornments, it was plain to see that she was in poor health.
Princess Taiping professed not to believe in ghosts or spirits, but with her own maidservants being killed one after another, she was frightened all the same. The thought that someone had been acting out this ghost pantomime right under her nose — frightening her so badly she dared not leave her rooms, and making such a complete spectacle of herself before all her guests — filled her with furious indignation. She brought her hand down hard on the armrest. “Speak. What is going on?”
With the mistress’s command given, the brown-robed man kneeling on the ground finally dared open his mouth. “Your Highness — this servant has been wronged! This servant was only going to the quarters of the young miss of Zhenguo Duke’s household and Marquis Pingnan’s household to ask about the evening meal. I don’t know how I ended up being seized. This servant is nothing but a messenger. I have faithfully served the Princess’s household and would never dare harbor a treacherous thought. I certainly don’t have the ability to play ghost. Please, Your Highness, look into this matter!”
The man wept with mournful conviction, and it was convincing enough that the onlookers began to waver. “This — who exactly is telling the truth?”
Ming Huashang, Xie Jichuan, and Ren Yao stood behind the captive. She looked up at her elder brother, standing alone at the front, and said softly, “Your Highness, hearing both sides brings clarity, while trusting only one leads to error. Why not summon others to account for what this person has been doing these past two days? The truth will become apparent from their testimonies.”
Princess Taiping had no better idea at this point and raised her hand to summon the head steward. The steward came quickly, bowing in anxious reverence: “This old servant pays his respects to the Princess and Your Highnesses.”
Princess Taiping waved impatiently. “Enough. This seat has a question for you. Do you recognize the man on the ground?”
The steward glanced over, then replied with care: “This old servant recognizes him. His name is Yang Er. He does odd jobs at the Princess’s household. When there was a shortage of hands for the Feihong Banquet, he was brought along. These past few days, he has been running errands in the kitchen.”
This matched what Yang Er had said himself. Princess Taiping asked again, “What has he been doing these past two days?”
The steward furrowed his brow in thought. “Yesterday, when the guests first arrived, there were people needed everywhere and this old servant did not pay attention to where he was. Last night, after the… incident, the Princess forbade people from wandering outside, and this old servant sent everyone back early. This morning, with the avalanche blocking the mountain, the noble guests all came requesting charcoal, and he was busy moving and delivering things straight through until evening. This old servant saw that he knew the paths to the various courtyards well, so he sent him to ask the noble guests what they wished to eat tonight, so this old servant could have the kitchen prepare accordingly.”
The onlookers nodded — they had indeed seen Yang Er come to ask about the menu. Ming Huazhang asked, “Between last night when everyone returned to their rooms and this morning’s second quarter of the Hour of the Dragon — where was he?”
Yang Er cried out frantically: “The young lord has wronged this servant! This servant was sleeping in his room all night. Seven people who shared the room can all testify!”
Princess Taiping sent people to verify. Those who returned reported, “In reply to Your Highness — Yang Er’s account is accurate. After returning last night, he remained in his room and did not go out. He did not leave until the third quarter of the Hour of the Dragon this morning, when the storeroom was short-handed and the steward called him to help. He has been with the storeroom staff since then and has not been alone at any point.”
This turn of events was well beyond what Ren Yao had anticipated. She had been fully certain they had caught the culprit, only to find that this person had witnesses for the entire night. Wei Zi had died between the fourth watch and the second quarter of the Hour of the Dragon — if Yang Er had never left his room, who had committed the murder?
Could it truly be a ghost after all?
The crowd stirred uneasily. They had only summoned the courage to come out because they thought the perpetrator had been caught. To find out it had all been nothing? Ren Yao could not accept it. “Perhaps his companions have made false statements to cover for him! Chi Lan left writing on the ground when she died — if we make him write something now, we can compare the handwriting and know whether it was him!”
Someone frowned and said, “But that writing was left by the ghost…”
Ren Yao said sharply: “If he killed her, then it was him who left the writing!”
Ren Yao stood with flashing eyes, radiating the lethal fury of a female guardian spirit — and many people in the hall were cowed by her intensity. The head steward, however, wore an expression of difficulty, clasping his hands together: “Young miss Ren, you do not know — this Yang Er has never read a day in his life. He does not even recognize characters. How could he have written anything?”
Ren Yao jolted, and in that instant she caught what looked like a flash of triumph in Yang Er’s eyes — then he swiftly replaced it with an expression of terror and fright: “Young miss Ren, mercy, please — this servant truly cannot read. Please do not pin false charges on this servant.”
The situation had proven to be nothing but a misunderstanding. Yet the expressions of everyone in the hall — including Princess Taiping on the high seat — had not lightened. If anything, they looked worse. The crowd broke apart with a roar, eyeing each other warily and with hostility: “I thought you’d actually found something. Turns out it was only your imagination! The ghost is still out there looking for its scapegoat, and you deliberately dragged us all out here just so you could feel safer yourselves!”
Ren Yao blinked hard. Yang Er in front of her still wore his frightened look — but Ren Yao was certain he had actually smiled. She pointed at him, furious: “It was definitely him! And if not him, then one of his accomplices. As long as we question him, the truth will come out!”
Yang Er put on the air of a man afraid of being tortured into a false confession, kneeling and wailing, beseeching Princess Taiping and Prince Ding to see justice done. Ren Yao could not make her case and was so angry she reached for her spear, intending to conduct the interrogation herself.
“Enough.” Princess Taiping let out a cold, sharp sound, her expression displeased. She rose, flicking her sleeve with contempt. “This is not some street market, to allow you to make a scene here. Have Yang Er detained. When the mountain road reopens, he will be taken to the Court of Judicial Review for questioning. This is a matter of this seat’s household, and outside parties have no business interfering. Everyone else — disperse.”
Who the “outside parties” referred to could not have been more obvious. Ren Yao was furious and wanted to say more, but Ming Huashang gripped her arm and gave her a small, quiet shake of the head.
Ren Yao swallowed her anger and walked out, each footfall hitting the ground as though it had personally wronged her: “I clearly saw it — why does no one believe me?”
“I believe you.” Ming Huashang said quietly. “But we have no evidence. Forcibly interrogating Princess Taiping’s household staff will only offend the Princess and Prince Ding. Ren Jiejie — we have no need to throw an egg against a stone. Bear with it for now.”
Ming Huashang had not herself seen anything unusual in Yang Er’s expression, but she knew Ren Yao well enough. Even after only two days of acquaintance, she had formed a clear picture of Ren Yao as someone impulsive and hot-tempered, with no tolerance for anything amiss. If she was furious enough to point straight at Yang Er, she had very likely truly seen something.
But without evidence, words alone meant nothing. Ren Yao said no more, but still had nowhere to vent her fury: “So we just let it go like this?”
Ming Huazhang walked at the rear. Unlike Ren Yao’s righteous indignation, his expression remained calm and cool, as though having gone to all this effort only to come away empty-handed left him entirely unmoved.
Ming Huazhang said, “Naturally we cannot let it go. Looking at the timing of the two murders, the killer is almost certainly someone inside. I am certain the killer is still in this villa, and must still have the tools of the crime and evidence somewhere nearby.”
“That is precisely the difficulty.” Xie Jichuan quietly poured cold water from the side. “This is Princess Taiping’s mountain villa. Do you dare offend the Empress’s most beloved little daughter and conduct a forcible search of her people and her grounds?”
It seemed to become an impossible loop: if they searched the villa, they could find the killer — but without certainty of who the killer was, who had the nerve to search Princess Taiping’s territory?
Ren Yao was only growing more furious. She wanted to throw a punch and knock out the scoundrel behind all of this. The four of them walked and talked. From behind them came the sound of urgent, thumping footsteps.
From the rhythm of those purposeful, ground-shaking steps, Ming Huashang had already guessed who it was. Sure enough, Jiang Ling’s familiar booming voice came from behind: “Ming Er-lang, Ming Er Niang — don’t go, wait for me!”
Without consultation, all four of them quickened their pace. Even so, Jiang Ling caught up. He had chased them halfway across the garden, and arrived panting: “You walk so fast! How did you catch Yang Er? What made you think it was him?”
This was precisely the sore subject they were brooding over, and of course Jiang Ling had to bring it up. Ren Yao had already been in a foul mood, and now this pampered young master had come to rub it in her face. She went cold-faced and without a word walked straight ahead, refusing to dignify him with a response.
Jiang Ling glanced ahead, puzzled. “Why is she walking away?”
Ming Huashang kept her smile in place and thought: Jiang Ling was truly worthy of being called one of Luoyang’s most notorious young heirs. He never needed to read the atmosphere, and was completely unaware that he had given offense.
She understood Jiang Ling had asked in genuine innocence without any intent to mock — but under these circumstances, combined with his words, how could a person who heard them not feel that way?
Ming Huashang said a few neutral words to smooth things over, then hurried off to catch up with Ren Yao. Behind her, Jiang Ling continued to push his luck as always, oblivious to the cues. With one person gone in anger and another having slipped away using the opportunity, and the other remaining being someone too lofty to bother with interpersonal niceties, Xie Jichuan had no choice but to maintain his smile and deal with Jiang Ling.
They had been brewing tea when it turned dark. Then came the chase and capture, the confrontation — by the time they left Princess Taiping’s presence, it was already very late. Ren Yao was striding ahead, Ming Huashang trailing behind in a half-run, until finally, just outside the courtyard, Ming Huashang caught up.
Ming Huashang braced herself against the courtyard gate, out of breath: “Ren Jiejie, you were walking far too fast!”
Ren Yao was not the least bit flushed or winded. Having long since lost any appetite for tea, she pushed open her room door and walked inside: “I just couldn’t stand that idler. Even sharing air with him felt like breathing pollution. Why did you follow me?”
Ming Huashang gulped in large mouthfuls of air. This Feihong Banquet trip had taught her above all else just how hopelessly out of shape she was. Part of her was already contemplating whether she ought to make more of an effort after getting back — but in the meantime, still catching her breath, she tried to console Ren Yao: “We only crossed paths with him at this banquet. Once we’re back in the capital, we’ll never have to see him again. Why let him get to you? Ren Jiejie, let it go — vexing yourself over him is not worth it.”
Ren Yao knew this perfectly well, but she had an ancestrally inherited temper and simply could not help it. She stormed back into the room, fuming — and found that the bedding had somehow come loose. The corner of the quilt was hanging all the way to the floor, and she could not think who had been so careless. She walked over to straighten it, and continued talking outward: “I know, but looking at him I still—ah!”
Ming Huashang was blotting the sweat from her face when a scream erupted from inside the room. She startled so badly her hand jerked, and her handkerchief drifted softly to the ground. She had no time to pick it up — she rushed inside: “Ren Jiejie, what happened?”
Ming Huashang took in the scene — and her pupils constricted sharply.
There on the bed, the layered silk quilts she and Ren Yao had slept under the night before rose gently in a soft mound. Beneath the turned-back half, the figure of a woman in red lay exposed.
She lay rigid upon their bed, blood soaking through the quilts. Her head was tilted outward to the side, her face wearing the ghost of a smile — and the most horrifying thing of all was the two black, gaping cavities where her eyes should have been.
They had been gouged out. She lay utterly still, staring at the doorway, and in that unsteady moment, Ming Huashang almost felt as though she were looking back at her.