By coincidence today, the Qingyuan Poetry Society was gathering by Clear Creek, and all members had received invitations.

“Let’s go, since everyone’s here, we might as well meet with that group,” Zhou Ziqin said as he rode with Huang Zixia out of the city. “The scenery at Clear Creek is beautiful, I’ll take you to appreciate it.”

Clear Creek was in the suburbs, on the road to Hanzhou and Longzhou after leaving Chengdu Prefecture.

Zhou Ziqin and Huang Zixia each rode a horse, passing through the city gates and traveling over ten li through the suburbs before reaching the mountain path.

There were checkpoints along the mountain road. The search for Prince Kui had already concluded, and with no important wanted notices currently, several Sichuan soldiers sat there idly, casually observing passersby.

Zhou Ziqin, being the most sociable, dismounted at the checkpoint and handed over a basket of freshly bought fruit to the soldiers, saying, “Last time Brother Liu mentioned being on guard duty here was tiring and thirsty. I thought bringing alcohol might affect your duties, so I brought you these instead.”

Seeing his thoughtfulness, they immediately started calling him “Young Captain” this and that, insisting he rest a while, even pouring two cups of cold tea.

Huang Zixia watched the scattered travelers and carriages passing by and casually asked, “There must be many people these days. It must be hard work for all of you.”

A young soldier nodded, “Indeed, during the mountain closure earlier, many people were held up. Now that Prince Kui is safe and the restrictions are lifted, there are quite a lot of people.”

“I heard that during the search for Prince Kui, except for Sichuan troops, no horses were allowed in or out?” Huang Zixia asked further.

The guards munched on fruit while laughing, “That’s right, if anything happened to Prince Kui, forget about us, the entire Sichuan army and Shu Prefecture couldn’t bear that responsibility! We couldn’t risk letting people through.”

“Those days we worked in three shifts, and not a single non-Sichuan soldier got through.”

“Such hard work…” Huang Zixia said, then suddenly remembered something and asked, “Oh right, Official Qi was a civil servant, why did he enter the mountain then?”

Zhou Ziqin was shocked, staring at her in astonishment, not understanding why she suddenly brought up Qi Teng and his mountain entry—more importantly, how did she know Qi Teng had entered the mountain?

“Oh, yes, come to think of it, it was strange. We also thought Official Qi shouldn’t enter the mountain, but that day he just came riding leisurely on his horse, saying he was worried and needed to patrol personally.”

“Right, I quickly saddled up to follow him, but he said he’d just take a quick look and return immediately. By the time I mounted, he had already galloped away, so I had no choice but to dismount again…”

“Yeah, and you couldn’t even succeed at flattering him, he completely ignored you, haha…” The others around teased and laughed at him.

Someone else suddenly remembered something and quickly asked Zhou Ziqin, “Hey, Young Captain, is Official Qi dead?”

Zhou Ziqin nodded: “Yes, and it was quite suspicious. Eunuch Yang and I have been investigating for several days but haven’t found any leads.”

“Really? If even the brilliant Young Captain can’t figure it out, then it’s truly a mystery.”

“Official Qi was usually quite nice, always smiling even at us lowly soldiers. Never thought he’d be murdered.”

As everyone discussed Qi Teng’s death, one of the younger guards remained silent, thoughtfully squeezing the fruit in his hand, hesitating for a long while.

Huang Zixia asked him, “Brother, did you have any interaction with Official Qi? Do you have any thoughts on this matter?”

“No, no…” he hurriedly bit off half the fruit but didn’t chew, only mumbling, “I was just thinking about Official Qi’s wife… don’t know what she’ll do now.”

Wife. Huang Zixia quickly caught this strange word and gave Zhou Ziqin a look. Zhou Ziqin understood immediately, reaching out his right arm to grab the guard’s shoulder: “Nature calls, do you have an outhouse here? Please show me quickly.”

Shortly after, Zhou Ziqin returned, smiling as he bid farewell to everyone.

The two mounted their horses and rode toward Clear Creek.

After turning a bend in the mountain path, Zhou Ziqin saw no one ahead or behind, immediately pulled his horse close to hers, and with exaggerated expressions said: “Chonggu! Big discovery! It’s earth-shattering!”

Huang Zixia quickly asked, “What is it?”

“That guy was on duty days ago and saw Qi Teng go to Bright Moon Mountain!”

Huang Zixia knew he could be unreliable, but surely not to this extent, so she could only contain herself and quietly wait for him to continue.

Seeing that Huang Zixia neither responded nor begged him to continue, Zhou Ziqin felt quite disappointed and reluctantly said, “He wasn’t traveling alone at the time. The woman with him wore a veiled hat, with white gauze hanging down covering everything, but you could vaguely tell she was a very beautiful woman.”

Huang Zixia nodded thoughtfully, while Zhou Ziqin was extremely frustrated: “That bastard Qi Teng, good thing he’s dead! Over thirty and still such a playboy, his previous wife probably died from anger!”

Huang Zixia knew he was worried for his sister and couldn’t help but smile.

Sure enough, Zhou Ziqin continued: “Fortunately Ziyan didn’t marry him! Otherwise, with Ziyan’s temperament, if she ended up with such a husband after marriage, wouldn’t she have stabbed him?”

Huang Zixia raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Zhou Ziqin realized what he’d said and quickly added, “No, no! That’s impossible! I don’t mean my sister would kill someone! Even if… even if my sister didn’t want to marry Qi Teng, she would cry and make a fuss with us, she wouldn’t silently go kill someone!”

“I know,” Huang Zixia said, then asked, “That woman who went spring-viewing with Qi Teng, are there any clues? Could she be related to this case?”

Zhou Ziqin slapped his forehead and said, “I almost forgot about that! They were heading to Bright Moon Mountain, and when they rode through the checkpoint on horseback, Alu noticed a red tassel had fallen from the woman’s saddle, so he quickly picked it up and handed it to her. Being below her horse, he looked up and happened to see her face through a gap in the veiled hat. That one glance was incredible, her face behind the white gauze was like a celestial maiden, he was so stunned that even after they left, he couldn’t recover!”

Huang Zixia reined in her horse, thought for a moment, and then asked, “Did he remember any distinguishing features?”

“Not about her face, and he was so stunned at the time that now he only remembers feeling amazed, how could he remember those details? After seeing her appearance, that guy really couldn’t forget it, and later when he heard Official Qi was about to marry, he thought perhaps it was his bride-to-be, my sister… When he met me this time, he tried to subtly ask about my sister, not thinking that with him being just a common soldier, how could my father agree?” Zhou Ziqin said, then became slightly embarrassed, “But it doesn’t matter anyway, the one he saw wasn’t my sister. Not only would Ziyan not likely go out with someone, but she doesn’t have that kind of beauty that could topple kingdoms. And with her personality and temperament, now that her marriage prospects have been troubled twice, it’ll be hard to find a good match.”

Huang Zixia remained silent, looking up at the sky hidden behind tall tree branches, where bright blue still showed through the layers of leaves.

She took a deep breath and said softly, “So that’s how it is…”

Zhou Ziqin quickly leaned over from his horse, pressing her, “What what? What do you mean ‘that’s how it is’?”

Huang Zixia turned to him and said, “Substituting a fake, or what you might call a cicada shedding its shell. I think we can go to Clear Creek soon to confirm.”

“To say it’s a formal society isn’t quite right. It’s just that Chengdu Prefecture isn’t that big, and when several people who often gather together are in the mood, they invite their friends to hold poetry meetings. Over time it became a tradition to meet monthly at Qingyuan for poetry and friendship, sitting together discussing the Way, though the timing isn’t fixed…”

The poetry society members gathered by Clear Creek all wore expressions of fear and unease when Young Captain Zhou came to inquire. The society’s founder, a scholar named Chen Lunyun, quietly asked others, “Could it be because the poems we wrote during our visit to the Goddess Temple this year were too frivolous, so… we were punished by the divine, with two people dying suddenly…”

“How is that possible? Speaking of frivolity, it couldn’t possibly be Yang Wen, right? He never discussed romance! Even when we were critiquing the goddess statue, he was studying the inscribed poems on the wall, not joining in our conversation at all.”

While several people were still arguing, Zhou Ziqin interrupted them: “But I heard Yang Wen often visited brothels, so he must have liked beautiful women.”

“Really? This… we’ve never heard of such things,” Chen Lunyun asked others, “Besides, Yang Wen was usually cold and distant, we were also surprised that he would die for love with a performer. Was he that kind of passionate person?”

“Forget about being passionate, isn’t it strange any way you look at it? His parents were gone, he had no close relatives in the clan, and even his wife had passed away long ago. Even if he wanted to marry a performer, no one would stop or oppose him, so why die for love?” Another person said, “Didn’t Master He marry the performer Sister Liu as his second wife two years ago? After Sister Liu left her profession to marry properly, now everyone loves visiting Master He’s home, his wife is both witty and gracious, handling any situation well, sometimes even dressing as a man to go spring-viewing with us. Who doesn’t call Sister Liu a good wife? We secretly envy Master He, so who would think it’s a big deal if Yang Wen married a performer?”

“Moreover, if it were Qi Teng, he might worry that marrying a former performer would affect his reputation in official circles and harm his career. But Yang Wen never showed any interest in becoming an official, so what would he have to worry about?”

Huang Zixia remained silent, letting them discuss for a long while before asking, “How was Qi Teng’s relationship with Yang Wen usually?”

Chen Lunyun said, “Oh, because Qi Teng’s courtesy name was Hanyue, and he was handsome and agreeable, we nicknamed him Young Master Cold Moon, making a pair with Yang Wen, so they were often mentioned together. But Qi Teng loved excitement while Yang Wen preferred quiet, so the two didn’t seem to interact much, probably just nodding acquaintances?”

Huang Zixia asked further, “Then who was close to both Qi Teng and Yang Wen?”

Immediately two or three people said in unison: “Yu Xuan!”

Huang Zixia nodded silently.

Zhou Ziqin hadn’t yet understood and asked in shock: “You mean Yu Xuan was close to which of them?”

“To both of them!” they all said with certainty.

Seeing Zhou Ziqin’s disbelief, Chen Lunyun explained, “Yang Wen loved quietude and enjoyed calligraphy, and Yu Xuan’s calligraphy was outstanding in Chengdu Prefecture, so he often found excuses to approach Yu Xuan, trying every means to associate with him—does anyone remember the incident with Zhong Hui’s handwritten letter? Wasn’t that when they started becoming hostile?”

“Yes, I remember that!” a young man quickly said, “It was last autumn. Yang Wen said he had obtained a letter written by Zhong Hui and invited Yu Xuan over to appraise it. Yu Xuan went gladly but after returning never associated with Yang Wen again, and wouldn’t say a word about it when asked. I once asked Yu Xuan what he thought of that letter, whether it was genuine or not.”

Zhou Ziqin quickly asked, “What did Yu Xuan say?”

“His expression was quite strange at the time, but you might not know since you’re not familiar with him. Yu Xuan was the most outstanding person in our poetry society, with an otherworldly bearing and manner that no one could match. I’ve known him for several years and have never seen him angry. But that time his expression was cold, his tone very rigid, saying, ‘A letter from the twelfth month of the first year of Jiaping, where Zhong Hui called himself Lang of the Imperial Secretariat, how could it possibly be genuine?'”

Chen Lunyun nodded: “Exactly, we didn’t understand at first, but later when we checked the books, we discovered that by the first year of Jiaping, Zhong Hui had already been promoted to Assistant Director of the Imperial Secretariat, so he recognized it as a forgery at a glance.”

Zhou Ziqin couldn’t help saying, “Even if it was forged, that just means Yang Wen was deceived into buying a fake, why would they become hostile over that?”

“Yes, but after this incident, Yu Xuan had no more contact with Yang Wen. During poetry society meetings, Yang Wen still enthusiastically approached Yu Xuan, but Yu Xuan kept his distance, even missing several poetry meetings because of this.”

Huang Zixia turned her gaze to Zhou Ziqin, seeing his still confused expression, she changed the subject and asked, “What about the relationship between Qi Teng and Yu Xuan?”

Chen Lunyun said, “This I know clearly. They were just casual acquaintances before, but after Yu Xuan’s failed suicide attempt, they began associating, even quite frequently for a period.”

Huang Zixia had heard Yu Xuan mention this before, but he hadn’t given details. Now hearing Chen Lunyun bring it up, her heart suddenly jumped, and she blurted out: “Failed suicide attempt?”