“Ying Niang also said that the gate guards had canceled the arrest warrant for us both. When we entered Xianyang and crossed the bridge, no one paid any attention…”
“But the Court of Judicial Review is in the Imperial City! How can the checkpoints outside the capital compare to the Imperial City gates? Even if the arrest warrant is canceled and they don’t arrest us immediately, can you guarantee the guards won’t report to the Imperial Army?”
“If you’re worried about me being recognized, wouldn’t your giant frame, Yang Da, be even more conspicuous?”
“But Xinzhi wasn’t involved in that night’s events at Da’an Palace, so even if he gets caught…”
The setting sun gilded the falling flowers, their beauty still intoxicating. Unfortunately, two tall men arguing in the peach blossom grove completely ruined the scenery.
Chai Yingluo and Wei Shubin stood nearby watching the flowers and the argument. The Daoist priestess maintained a leisurely demeanor, while Minister Wei’s daughter’s brows were slightly furrowed with concern. She had worn this expression since Li Yuanxu told them about the information obtained from Lawyer Pei – the details of how he and his father reinvestigated the Eastern Palace poisoned wine case after the palace coup in the ninth year of Wude.
Lawyer Pei said the evidence collected during the investigation should still be sealed in the Court’s old archives. Li Yuanxu thought that examining these pieces of evidence again in person might provide insights into One Niang’s case. He had been carrying the Emperor’s investigation decree wrapped in oiled paper, intending to use it as protection in emergencies, and thought it could also be used to retrieve the old evidence box from the Court.
However, as soon as he revealed his plan, the other three unanimously opposed it, with Yang Xinzhi offering to retrieve the evidence from the Court himself. After the two men argued heatedly for half a day, Wei Shubin finally couldn’t bear it anymore and tugged at Chai Yingluo’s sleeve, calling “Sister Ying.” The Daoist priestess smiled and stopped the two men:
“Stop arguing! Neither of you can enter the Imperial City!”
“But that evidence…”
“Someone else will retrieve the evidence,” Chai Yingluo extended her hand toward Li Yuanxu, “Hand over the decree.”
“Don’t joke around, Ying Niang.” Li Yuanxu didn’t give it to her. “The Imperial City houses all provincial and ministerial offices, and women are strictly forbidden to enter. Even if you dressed as a man, no office would let you in. The Minister of Justice Sun Fuga is especially known for his frank criticism and unyielding character. Even with His Majesty’s decree and the Empress’s verbal order, Minister Sun wouldn’t do you any favors. He might instead present a memorial to His Majesty in court, causing even more trouble.”
“Who said I was going to the Court myself?” Chai Yingluo gave Li Yuanxu an exasperated look. “Do you think I’m as useless as you, being a prince for over a decade with only yourself and Yang Da to rely on?”
The person she ended up sending was… her younger brother Chai Zhewei.
As night had fallen, Chai Yingluo first took the three to stay at Purple Void Temple. Early the next morning, she sent someone into the city to quietly summon Chai Zhewei to the imperial gardens to assign him the task in person. The dark, thin, stubbly-faced Chai Zhewei was surprisingly enthusiastic:
“Rest assured, Fourteenth Uncle and Sister! How could I not do my utmost when you’re all working so hard to investigate One Niang’s case…”
“Save it! You’re just going stir-crazy from being confined at home for mourning and happy to have an excuse to go out.” Chai Yingluo didn’t mince words with her brother. “Don’t try to sweet-talk me. Let me tell you, you can’t alert Minister Sun when retrieving the evidence – it has to be done privately. Can you manage it? If not, just say so and I’ll find someone else.”
Chai Zhewei chuckled for a while, scratched his head, and said: “Should be doable, I have connections at the Court… but we’ll still need Fourteenth Uncle’s decree, and bringing some gold items would help open doors.”
After preparing everything according to his requirements, Chai Zhewei left the temple. The round trip was quite far – Li Yuanxu and the others waited at Purple Void Temple until sunset before Chai Zhewei returned carrying a bundle, declaring “mission accomplished.”
His face was full of excitement as he described the difficulties and dangers of his mission, wanting to stay and participate in examining the evidence and investigating the case. But Chai Yingluo stopped him, saying “The night curfew is about to begin, hurry back to the city and home, otherwise Father might get suspicious.” Though disappointed, Chai Zhewei was used to obeying his elder sister and could only leave reluctantly.
Chai Yingluo led the three into a relatively private inner room. After ordering a servant to light lamps and withdraw, she placed the bundle on the desk. An old wooden box covered in dust and grime appeared before the four of them.
This was the evidence box sealed in the Court of Judicial Review ten years ago after Pei Ji led the investigation of the Eastern Palace poisoned wine case. The box lid and body were sealed with paper bearing the Court’s seal and “Pei Ji’s Seal.”
Chai Yingluo drew a small knife from her belt chain, thought for a moment, then handed it to Li Yuanxu with a smile: “Let the appointed investigator open the evidence box.”
Li Yuanxu took it, first carefully confirming that the seals were intact and undisturbed, before using the knife tip to cut the paper strips and open the clasps. A cloud of dust immediately rose from the box, making him cough and tear up incessantly.
Chai Yingluo burst out laughing, Yang Xinzhi couldn’t help but laugh too, and even Wei Shubin covered her mouth with her sleeve, a fleeting smile crossing her face.
Li Yuanxu waved away the decade’s worth of accumulated dust and peered into the box. Dozens of scrolls in cloth bags were neatly arranged and stacked, with labels showing sequence numbers and contents like “Eastern Palace Imperial Kitchen Staff Testimony.” There were also two differently shaped cloth packages.
These must be the two key pieces of evidence Pei Ji relied on ten years ago to conclude that “the Eastern Palace poisoned Prince Qin’s wine.”
Li Yuanxu felt his heart rate quicken slightly. Taking a deep breath, he first reached into the box and took out the larger package, which felt hard and angular to the touch. He untied the knots and revealed the contents – a crude wooden food box.
The food box only had a bottom tray with handles remaining; the compartments and lid were gone. Remembering Lawyer Pei’s words, Li Yuanxu carefully held the handle with the cloth and turned the box over, bottom side up. Sure enough, on the bottom were eight crooked, unclear characters:
Eastern Palace poisoned the pitcher well.
The wood of the food box was rough, with uneven grain patterns, and the eight characters were written crudely and hard to make out at first glance. After ten years of storage, they had faded considerably. Li Yuanxu looked it over from different angles but couldn’t make much sense of it, so he passed it to Chai Yingluo, Wei Shubin, and Yang Xinzhi to examine while he went to open the smaller package.
From one corner of this package, golden light already gleamed through. Li Yuanxu carefully pulled back the coarse cloth and laid it flat, revealing a gilt wine pitcher with a long spout, slender neck, and large body resting in his palm.
The golden pitcher had fine, flowing patterns, and exquisite craftsmanship. The mouth, neck, and parts of the handle and body still flickered with golden light, but most of the body was covered in a layer of black residue that flaked off at the slightest movement. Li Yuanxu recalled Lawyer Pei saying “When the golden pitcher was retrieved from the well bottom, its body was covered in a thin layer of silt with moss growing on it… proving it had indeed lain underwater for quite some time… Later, father deliberately preserved the silt and moss without washing it off when presenting the case findings…”
To convince the Emperor, princes, ministers, and former Eastern Palace officials, Pei Ji had specifically preserved this layer of moss on the pitcher, apparently not washing it off before sealing it in the box. After ten years in storage, the moss was no longer visible, leaving only a layer of hard gray residue.
Just as Li Yuanxu was about to examine it more closely, he heard Chai Yingluo, sitting opposite him, let out a soft exclamation as if discovering something, and quickly looked up at her.