Gong Sun Yuan tried a few sword dance movements on stage, then looked at Yin Luyi and asked, “Is it like this?”
Yin Luyi nodded, pointing at the large gauze curtain hanging behind: “I remember after two consecutive spins, she went behind the gauze.”
Gong Sun Yuan nodded, spinning to her rhythm. After two flashes of the sword, she went behind the gauze curtain.
Huang Zixia asked Yin Luyi: “Has Madam Gong Sun forgotten the dance steps?”
“Oh… the Sword Spirit Dance she’s performing tonight was rearranged by Aruan several years ago. It’s graceful and gentle, without too much sharp sword energy, more suitable for this kind of occasion.” As Yin Luyi spoke, she looked at the scene in the water pavilion, then took a lantern behind the gauze curtain. Gong Sun Yuan’s silhouette was perfectly illuminated on the gauze curtain, her graceful figure appearing even more enchanting in the hazy light than usual.
Zhou Ziqin whispered to Huang Zixia: “Actually, I think if her clothes were lighter, it might look better. When she spins, the skirts and sleeves flying would surely look like a divine fairy!”
Huang Zixia said softly: “They’re specialists in song and dance – would there ever be something you could think of that they haven’t? There must be another reason, such as clothes that are too light not being suitable for sword dancing, or flying sleeves interfering with sword movements.”
“Mm, you think of more things than I do.” Zhou Ziqin admitted sincerely.
Seeing it was getting late, the two worried about being away too long and having trouble explaining at the feast, so they bid farewell to Gong Sun Yuan and Yin Luyi, hurriedly running back to their seats.
Upon returning, they found the atmosphere still just as lively, with everyone deeply engaged in flattering and declaring their loyalty. Seeing his father among them, Zhou Ziqin painfully covered his face and turned away, muttering: “This is why I’d rather stay home with corpses!”
Huang Zixia gave him an understanding look of agreement.
Amid the hall’s clamor, only Yu Xuan sat quietly, his expression indifferent, as if he didn’t belong there.
Huang Zixia switched places with Zhang Xingying to sit closer to Yu Xuan, asking him softly: “How did you find time to come today?”
Could it be that he was provoked by Qi Teng and wanted to enter the Military Commissioner’s office?
Yu Xuan nodded, also keeping his voice very low, barely audible amid the hall’s commotion: “Prefecture Governor Zhou sent someone to invite me. I didn’t want to come at first, but then thought… perhaps I could see you.”
She froze for a moment, her eyes unconsciously turning toward Li Shubai’s direction, seeing him talking with Fan Yingxi, before slowly asking: “Is that so?”
“Mm…” he seemed somewhat awkward, hesitating for a long while before finally saying, “I wanted to ask you about the case of my adoptive parents, how is it progressing now?”
Huang Zixia lowered her head in thought for a moment, then said: “Actually, I wanted to ask you about Wen Yang’s matter.”
“Wen Yang… is he related to this case?”
Huang Zixia looked at him with a calm expression, her voice also very steady, slowly, as if drawing the words from deep within her chest: “I suspect the person who killed my parents is the same one who killed Wen Yang.”
Yu Xuan’s body suddenly trembled, his eyes widening, eyelashes quivering slightly. His voice also trembled, throat dry as he forced out a few words: “But Wen Yang, wasn’t he… a love suicide?”
“Do you believe that?” Her gaze turned to him.
Yu Xuan turned his face blankly, staring at the cup before him, his voice broken and dry: “I, I don’t know… everyone says so.”
“How often did you interact with Wen Yang? How much do you know about his affairs?” Huang Zixia asked again.
He lowered his eyelashes silently, saying softly: “As I told you before, we just occasionally met at poetry gatherings, I don’t know much.”
“Then, who was he close to?”
Yu Xuan’s slightly bewildered eyes lifted slightly from under his eyelashes to look at her: “I think, probably not very close to anyone.”
“Then, did Wen Yang have poor relationships with anyone?”
Yu Xuan thought for a moment, slowly raised his chin to indicate she was looking toward Qi Teng, saying: “Perhaps, you could ask Qi Teng.”
Huang Zixia’s gaze swept over Qi Teng briefly, asking softly: “He and Wen Yang didn’t get along?”
“I occasionally witnessed them arguing, Qi Teng seemed to deeply despise Wen Yang, saying he was… shameful and such.”
Huang Zixia pondered, then asked: “What else?”
Yu Xuan fell silent, saying: “I just happened to pass by, why would I eavesdrop on others? So I immediately walked away, only knowing they had argued.”
These vague words meant nothing even after hearing them left Huang Zixia somewhat helpless. She gave up questioning and turned to look at Qi Teng sitting on the left, only to see him holding his wine cup, his face full of smiles, but his gaze falling on her with thoughtful intent.
Huang Zixia knew that as someone from the Prince of Kui’s side, changing seats to whisper so intimately with Yu Xuan would surely make him unhappy – after all, just this morning, he had mocked Yu Xuan.
Huang Zixia smiled at him, then returned to her original seat beside Qi Teng, raising her cup to him: “Judge Qi, I drink to you.”
“I wouldn’t dare… I should be the one drinking to you, Eunuch.” He quickly drained his cup, then smiled and asked, “Does the Eunuch know Yu Xuan?”
“I met Scholar Yu a few times before in Chang’an,” she said casually.
A strange smile appeared on Qi Teng’s face: “Yes, I heard he’s quite favored by Princess Tongchang.”
Huang Zixia just lowered her head and tugged at the corner of her lips, saying: “Is that so? I didn’t know about this.”
He quickly pretended he had spoken out of turn: “I just heard it somewhere… May I ask the Eunuch’s surname?” Though he had met Huang Zixia before, she had been in disguise then, so he didn’t recognize her.
Huang Zixia said: “My surname is Yang.”
Qi Teng was suddenly shocked: “Could you be… that famous Eunuch Yang from Prince Kui’s side who has solved many mysterious cases?”
“I wouldn’t dare claim that.” Although Huang Zixia despised his character, to investigate Wen Yang’s news, she had no choice but to smile and say: “Speaking of which, there’s a recent case that involves Judge Qi.”
Qi Teng was stunned and asked: “What case? How could it… involve me?”
Huang Zixia studied his expression but only smiled. Qi Teng immediately felt uneasy and couldn’t resist asking: “Is it… recently? Wen Yang’s… matter?”
Huang Zixia nodded, saying: “That’s right, I heard you were in the same poetry society, and you had argued with him.”
“We did argue, but we reconciled afterward! Besides… besides, why would I kill him? We had no old grudges or recent conflicts, no relationship at all!”
Huang Zixia nodded, asking: “Then, in your view, was there any reason for Wen Yang and Fu Xinruan’s love suicide?”
“Well…” he looked around, then moved his mouth closer to her, saying softly, “Eunuch Yang, to tell you the truth, you’ve asked the right person about this.”
Huang Zixia pretended to be surprised: “Really? Judge Qi knows the inside story?”
He sighed, saying softly: “That Fu Xinruan was truly beautiful.”
Huang Zixia asked in surprise: “Judge Qi has seen her?”
“This spring, I happened to see her at Mingyue Mountain. It was warm with flowers blooming, Wen Yang and she were returning from an outing, one of her red horse tassels fell, and I happened to be below, so I picked it up for her. Through the gap in her veiled hat, I saw an extraordinarily beautiful face…” Qi Teng spoke, then sighed again, shaking his head, “What a pity, that beautiful face was covered in tears, in such lovely spring scenery, she was crying so sadly. I was stunned at the time, wondering why such a beautiful woman would cry like this while out with her lover. Never expected… they had already faced obstacles in their love, and finally… ended up in such a tragic situation.”
Huang Zixia frowned slightly, remaining silent.
“Ah, such a rocky path of love, the beauty is now gone, how painful!” He said, raising his cup to her again.
Huang Zixia smiled slightly and stopped talking to him.
Seeing it was getting late, everyone raised their cups together to toast the Prince of Kui’s health, then went together to the small pavilion to watch the singing and dancing.
The singers and dancers had already lined up by the water, and when they saw them coming, the sheng, xiao, and pipa immediately started playing together, breaking the night’s silence with festivity. After they were seated, first came a lotus dance, with twenty-four young and beautiful court dancers holding lotus flowers, spinning and dancing together, creating quite a spectacular scene.
Li Shubai, Fan Yingxi, and Zhou Xiang sat in front, with Huang Zixia and Zhang Xingying attending behind Li Shubai. Zhou Ziqin and Fan Yuanlong sat behind Zhou Xiang and Fan Yingxi, while Wang Yun, Yu Xuan, Qi Teng, several Western Sichuan army deputy commanders, and several advisors from the Prefecture Governor’s office sat in the back.
As Sheng and Xiao played together and the lotus dance continued, Wang Yun stood up and walked toward the water steps in the back.
Huang Zixia was pouring tea for Li Shubai when she felt him move slightly, and her peripheral vision glanced toward him.
She saw Yu Xuan following him toward the water. In the harmonious atmosphere of music, the two of them walked to the pool’s edge, standing there side by side by the water.
She felt some confusion rising in her heart, and her hand slowed.
Li Shubai also turned his head to look at the waterside, saying softly: “Go ahead.”
Huang Zixia looked at him in surprise.
“I’m curious too, wanting to know what these two would say to each other.” He leaned close to her ear, speaking quietly.
One was her fiancé, one was her previous lover who had caused such a stir – why would these two gather to talk?
Huang Zixia silently put down the cup in her hand and walked quietly toward the steps.
Though called a dock, it was just a Chinese parasol wood boat tied there for show. The platform in front of the water pavilion was large, but the pond was small, with several large flower vats at the bottom growing water lilies. The water was crystal clear, and under the lanterns hanging by the pool, one could see the blue brick patterns at the bottom.
The lantern light reflected the water’s patterns onto Wang Yun and Yu Xuan by the water’s edge, the rippling light on their bodies giving them a kind of transparency in the darkness.
There were only shrubs by the dock, and Huang Zixia bent down, able to hide herself perfectly. Not wanting to make it too obvious that she was going to the water’s edge to eavesdrop, she stopped behind the shrubs. Fortunately, the evening wind was blowing, and they were upwind, so although she couldn’t hear everything, most of their words reached her ears.
Wang Yun’s voice came drifting on the wind, still that gentle tone: “Pleased to meet you.”
“Commander Wang pleased to meet you.” Yu Xuan’s voice was cool and clear in the wind.
But Wang Yun just smiled casually, leaning on the railing and saying: “Scholar Yu has lived here for over three years, right? You must be very familiar with everything here?”
Yu Xuan was silent for a long while before saying: “Yes.”
“Although I am Zixia’s fiancé, I’ve never been to Shu Prefecture, never set foot in this Prefecture Governor’s mansion where she lived – I’ve always regretted this.” As he spoke, he turned his head to look at him, asking, “I heard when it happened, she was living in that small tower in the garden, should there be that one over there?”
He pointed to a small pavilion not far away, and seeing Yu Xuan silently nod, he smiled and said: “Though I was in the capital, I often heard the news about her affairs, after all – she is the fiancée I’ve been looking forward to for many years, naturally I would pay attention at all times.”
So, both Yu Xuan and Huang Zixia knew that he must be crystal clear about the rumors between them, down to the smallest detail.
Yu Xuan bowed to him and turned to leave.
“These past few days at the Military Commissioner’s mansion, I heard Judge Qi mention you. Military Commissioner General Fan seems to think highly of you as well, he even asked me if I knew you.” Wang Yun’s voice was slow and composed, drifting slowly from behind him.
“I wouldn’t dare.” Yu Xuan only said these two words softly, making no other reply.
“I could only say I wasn’t familiar with you, just having heard your name in the capital and having some impression – after all, I truly don’t know Scholar Yu, unable to make introductions.” Wang Yun laughed lightly, saying, “General Fan seems to intend to invite you to take a position in his mansion, do you have any interest?”
Yu Xuan said: “Thank you for your kindness, Commander Wang. This morning, I met Judge Qi, and he also mentioned this matter to me, but I’ve already declined.”
“Oh? Scholar Yu has no interest in an official career?”
“Wealth and rank are not my desire, the imperial capital cannot be my destination.” Yu Xuan’s voice was low, but these two simple sentences carried an unshakeable determination.
Wang Yun chuckled, saying: “However, you have already been drawn into this massive whirlpool, do you still think you can withdraw?”