Huang Zixia gripped her spoon and looked at Li Shubai. Li Shubai shook his head at her but lowered his voice, speaking to Zhou Ziqin in a hoarse, unpleasant tone: “You both speak truly. Finding only the horse means little; surely he has turned misfortune to fortune and successfully overcome this difficulty.”

“You think so too?” Zhou Ziqin immediately brightened up and quickly asked, “I could tell at a glance that you two were extraordinary. Where are you from, and what brings you to Shu Prefecture?”

Li Shubai replied naturally: “My surname is Wang, I’m from the capital. I’ve come to Shu Prefecture with my cousin, mainly because we admire Sichuan’s landscapes and wish to stay for a few months.”

“Oh! Indeed, Sichuan’s scenery is incomparably beautiful, especially following the river through the Three Gorges, from White Emperor City to Nanjin Pass. The clouds and mists of Wu Mountain, the mysterious peaks of the Goddess, the towering mountains and cliffs all along the way – it’s breathtaking!” Zhou Ziqin immediately recommended, “It’s a pity I’m too busy here now, otherwise I’d go sightseeing!”

“Constable Zhou now bears the important responsibility of the city’s police force. Finding time for tourism would be difficult,” Li Shubai casually responded.

Zhou Ziqin nodded seriously: “Exactly, I’m responsible for the safety of the entire city’s people, how could I leave? Besides, with Huang Zixia setting such a high standard, I can’t be too lax. I must work hard to catch up to her!”

Huang Zixia expressionlessly added another pinch of chopped cilantro to her bowl and drank half her douhua.

Zhou Ziqin asked her: “Is it good?”

She nodded.

“I think cilantro has a strange taste. They say the Hu people from the Western Regions prefer it…” As he spoke, he added some to his douhua, took a sip, then quickly picked it out.

A passing server casually remarked: “Back then, Miss Huang from the Governor’s household was famous for loving cilantro. She always put a small pinch in her douhua.”

“Really?” Zhou Ziqin grabbed another handful and sprinkled it in, happily drinking it up, “Oh, now that you mention it, it does have a unique flavor!”

Li Shubai turned his gaze to Huang Zixia, the corner of his eye lifting slightly in an amused smile.

Huang Zixia was pleasantly surprised and happily finished all her remaining douhua, holding her bowl.

When she put down her bowl, Li Shubai stood up and said to Zhou Ziqin and Zhang Xingying: “My cousin and I plan to look around Chengdu today. Please excuse us.”

Zhou Ziqin quickly finished his cilantro-laden douhua and said: “It’s getting late, I need to go patrol the streets. If I have time this afternoon, I want to check the forest where the Prince of Kui disappeared…”

“I don’t think you need to check there,” Li Shubai said casually.

Zhou Ziqin paused, asking: “Why?”

“Because…” he leaned close to Zhou Ziqin’s ear and whispered, “I’m already standing in front of you.”

Zhou Ziqin’s eyes immediately widened, his mouth gaping large enough to fit an egg.

“Don’t be so surprised. When the enemy is hidden and I’m exposed, naturally I need to disguise myself.”

Zhou Ziqin finally managed to close his mouth and stammered in a low voice: “Then… what should I do?”

“Pretend nothing’s happened, and first control your surprised expression.”

But Zhou Ziqin had always been most expressive with his face; asking him to control it was practically impossible. Even forcing himself to be somewhat calm could only fool straightforward people like Zhang Xingying.

“You can invite me to the Governor’s mansion as a guest, saying I’m a new friend you’ve made. Your father should understand what to do.”

“Yes…” Zhou Ziqin quickly nodded, then noticed his expressions and movements were odd again, and hurriedly put on an arrogant look, nodding: “Fine, since you were introduced by Minister Li, what’s so difficult about meeting my father? I happen to be free now, let’s go quickly!”

Huang Zixia stood up with Li Shubai. Zhou Ziqin’s gaze fell on her, sensing something very familiar. So as he walked, he kept turning to look at her. After leaving the door, he deliberately fell back to walk with her, carefully moving closer to whisper: “Chonggu?”

Huang Zixia nodded once.

He was immediately both surprised and delighted, couldn’t help raising his elbow to bump her shoulder, and was about to put his arm around her neck.

Li Shubai’s back of the head seemed to have eyes as he said coolly: “Don’t draw attention.”

Zhou Ziqin stuck his tongue out at Huang Zixia and shrank his neck, not daring to speak again.

“Introduced by Minister Li? Which Minister Li? No, no, no.” When Zhou Dong heard Zhou Ziqin mention Minister Li, he immediately scolded him irritably: “Has he found you more mummies or ancient corpses again? Why are you bringing people to see me when you have nothing better to do?”

“Governor Zhou, you’ve misunderstood Ziqin this time,” Li Shubai laughed from the side.

Hearing his voice, Zhou Dong was immediately shocked and stood up trembling. When he looked up and saw him, he was bewildered, examining him for a long while without daring to speak.

“The Governor isn’t mistaken, it is me.”

Zhou Dong immediately dismissed everyone else, then quickly bowed in greeting: “Prince of Kui, please forgive me! Your Highness being attacked in Shu Prefecture, I truly cannot escape blame…”

“You’ve just arrived in Shu Prefecture and aren’t yet familiar with everything. Why should you bear this responsibility?” Li Shubai gestured that excessive courtesy wasn’t necessary, then continued, “The mastermind behind this incident isn’t yet clear. I hope the Governor can lend me assistance, keeping this quiet for now while quickly rooting out those behind it.”

“Yes! This official will carefully follow Your Highness’s orders!”

Li Shubai paused, then asked: “Princess Qile… how is she now?”

Zhou Dong sighed, his face immediately showing grief: “The Princess unfortunately has… passed away!”

Li Shubai silently closed his eyes. Huang Zixia couldn’t see his expression, only his tightly pressed lips.

Her ears seemed to echo the words Li Shubai had once said to her.

At his most painful and sorrowful moment, only Princess Qile had held his hand.

She stood silently behind him, seeing his eyelashes tremble slightly, but soon heard his voice, still as cold as usual: “I trust Governor Zhou will arrange her funeral matters properly.”

Zhou Dong quickly said: “We’ve already sent messengers to Chang’an to report her death, and we’re taking good care of the Princess’s body.”

“Of my guards, how many escaped?”

Zhou Dong’s face showed a sighing expression as he said: “Only about a dozen of Your Highness’s guards and eunuchs made it back, all with injuries of varying severity. They’re recovering at Military Commissioner Fan’s residence. Would Your Highness like to visit them there, and also let Commissioner Fan stop the forest search?”

“I’ve just escaped danger. If I go to the Military Commissioner’s residence and am discovered, wouldn’t I again be in a situation where the enemy is hidden and I’m exposed? Besides, letting him search the forest a while longer might help find a few more survivors.” Li Shubai paused briefly in thought, “Another question: among those rescued, were there any whose names begin with Jing?”

“This… this official doesn’t know…”

“Never mind,” he didn’t ask further.

Zhou Dong remembered something else and quickly said, “Also, when this official and Commissioner Fan examined the scene of Your Highness’s incident, we found a glass cup in your carriage with a small red fish still swimming inside…”

Li Shubai nodded once and asked: “Where is it now?”

“At Commissioner Fan’s residence.” The Military Commissioner’s authority naturally exceeded the Governor’s; if he wanted to take it, Zhou Dong certainly couldn’t stop him.

“Then let it stay there for now. I’m sure the Military Commissioner can find someone who knows how to care for fish.”

Zhou Ziqin felt his life had never been so perfect. He felt that walking down the street, he was practically radiating brilliance, dazzlingly bright.

The reason was — on his left, patrolling on horseback with him was the capital’s famous detective Yang Chonggu, and on his right, casually admiring the street scenery was someone even more impressive, the current dynasty’s Prince of Kui, Li Shubai.

Going on official business with two such people — wasn’t he just life’s biggest winner?

It’s just… the official business was perhaps a bit beneath their station…

“Auntie, these lotus pods of yours look quite good, so fresh and tender — but it seems you’ve spread them into the middle of the street. What if someone rides by too fast and kicks you? Right, right… quickly, let me help you move them back…”

“Hey, brother, although your sugar figurines are well-made, setting them out on such a dusty street isn’t clean, right? Let me make a suggestion — go blow them under that big banyan tree over there. Come on, I’ll help you carry them over…”

“Young miss, I’m not criticizing, but such a pretty girl, why are you selling mutton on the street? Yes, Tang Dynasty law doesn’t forbid women from selling mutton, but look at your appearance, out here in public, every young man coming to fight over buying your meat, blocking up the street…”

That young miss held her knife and shot Zhou Ziqin a look: “What’s wrong? Is the great Constable Zhou just here to manage such trivial street matters? If you’ve got the ability, hurry up the mountain and find the Prince of Kui! The whole world would thank you!”

Zhou Ziqin stood before her with no power to retort, a lotus pod in his left hand and a sugar figurine in his right: “Well… the mounted patrol has already gone up the mountain, me going wouldn’t help much…”

The young miss was even quicker with her tongue as she chopped ribs for customers: “Then you have time to go tour the morgue! Not only is it cool there, but how many corpses are waiting for justice, waiting for Young Constable you to show your skills!”

Huang Zixia watched their verbal sparring with great interest while observing this young miss. She was probably not yet twenty, petite, with a pretty round face and skin as fair and delicate as most Shu Prefecture girls, very lovely.

Zhou Ziqin was completely defeated and could only dejectedly turn to mount his horse, then said to Huang Zixia: “Speaking of the morgue, I remembered something. Chonggu, this matter, I think there might be an issue, but maybe there isn’t… anyway, there are no leads at all, I’ve been waiting for you to help!”

“I’ll go look with you,” Huang Zixia said, then turned back to look at Li Shubai and said softly, “You haven’t fully recovered yet and shouldn’t tire yourself. Besides, for things like examining corpses, Ziqin and I can go check it out.”

Li Shubai nodded, saying: “Don’t exhaust yourself either. After several days of rushing about, you should rest well too.”

Huang Zixia felt a warm current flow through her heart and nodded: “Yes.”

“Also… pay respects to Princess Qile for me.”