“If that’s the case, how do you explain the ’embroidered ball butterfly’ painting in Fu Xinruan’s letter, and the line ‘sending the courtyard osmanthus flowers in a pouch’? Do you remember that there was exactly one osmanthus tree in front of the hall at Magistrate Qi’s residence?” After saying this, Huang Zixia fell silent for a moment before finally continuing, “Previously, when the Regional Command Office was invited to purchase items at the pawnshop, there was a pair of fish bracelets that were given to someone without being recorded. At that time, it was shortly after Qi Teng had become the Regional Command Office’s magistrate. He must have been present—how would subordinates dare to ask the pawnshop owner for a bracelet in front of their superior and brazenly take it away? I think the person who could take it must have been Magistrate Qi.”
Mentioning the pair of fish bracelets made her heart suddenly tremble, with pain like being cut by a dull knife slowly spreading through her chest. Her gaze unconsciously turned toward Yu Xuan standing behind the crowd, and he was also looking at her from across the lamplight, with something extremely vague in his eyes, deep and dark.
She slowly turned her face away, then raised her hand to pick up the dark blue pouch on the table and said, “The biggest evidence that Qi Teng is Fu Xinruan’s lover lies in this pouch.”
The old dark blue pouch looked unremarkable in her hand, even seeming out of place among the surrounding exquisite poems and paintings.
“We got this pouch from the wastepaper basket in Qi Teng’s study, and it was empty at the time,” she said, gesturing with the pouch toward someone standing at the back of the crowd. “Tang Sheng, do you remember the pouch your aunt, Madam Tang Zhu, took out of her bag when you met her in Double Happiness Lane?”
Tang Sheng had been standing at the very back of the crowd. He was thin and unsightly, and no one had paid any attention to him. Now suddenly being singled out by Huang Zixia, he became flustered under everyone’s gaze: “Ah? This… this pouch?”
Huang Zixia nodded: “You said that day your aunt was going to take a pouch out of her bag to give to you, but put it back, is that right?”
“Yes, she only took it halfway out before putting it back, saying something like ‘Better to take it to the city to make a pair of silver hairpins,’ but in the end, she died on the way, and we never saw any silver hairpins!” Tang Sheng said irritably, then carefully examined the pouch in her hand and exclaimed in surprise, “This pouch in your hand… it looks just like the one she half-pulled out at the time!”
Huang Zixia countered: “Are you certain? Have you made no mistake?”
“No mistake! I thought she was going to give me something good, so I stared at it intently. I looked very carefully and remember it very clearly!”
“Good, so this pouch found in Magistrate Qi’s wastepaper basket is exactly the one that went missing from Fu Xinruan’s maid Tang Zhu after her death.” Huang Zixia said, turning her gaze to Madam Gong Sun, “Madam Gong Sun once gave money to Tang Zhu after Fu Xinruan’s death, asking her to help retrieve a bracelet, and naturally Magistrate Qi could also have Tang Zhu help him place some things inside during the official search and sealing of the Fu residence, such as the letters he had secretly brought from Wenyang. At the same time, because Tang Zhu was the only person on Fu Xinruan’s side, no matter how reclusive Fu Xinruan was, no matter how cautious Magistrate Qi was, they might fool others but could never fool Tang Zhu. Therefore, to hide his tracks and design a suicide case to deceive people, the first person whose silence Qi Teng needed to buy was Tang Zhu. After Tang Zhu took Qi Teng’s money, she packed up to return home for a peaceful life, but Magistrate Qi naturally wouldn’t allow such a person to remain alive, so he naturally chose to push her off the cliff on her way home, eliminating all future troubles!”
Fan Yuanlong, who was usually on good terms with Qi Teng, weakly interjected despite the irrefutable facts: “Lord Yang, perhaps… Tang Zhu accidentally fell off the cliff? Or maybe she encountered bandits?”
“If she had accidentally fallen off the cliff, how would her pouch end up being discarded in Magistrate Qi’s wastepaper basket? If it were bandits, why was her luggage neat and orderly during the autopsy, missing only one pouch? Moreover, Master Fan shouldn’t forget that it was during the days when Prince Kui met with danger on the mountain road, the Western Sichuan army had sealed the entrances and exits, letting very few people in, and strictly prohibiting anyone from riding horses—and on that day, around the time Tang Zhu fell off the cliff, this guard Zhang Er beside Prince Kui was also knocked off the cliff by someone on horseback! At that time, even most of the Western Sichuan soldiers searching the mountain were on foot, and as for who could enter on horseback, I think the Western Sichuan Regional Command Office’s magistrate should be one possibility.”
Fan Yingxi’s face looked extremely unpleasant as he hurriedly apologized to Prince Kui first, then cupped his hands toward Zhang Xingying standing behind him.
Zhang Xingying quickly returned the gesture, not daring to accept it lightly.
“I kept wondering why the killer had to take this pouch when murdering Tang Zhu. Later, I remembered something Tang Sheng said and finally understood.” Huang Zixia looked at Tang Sheng, “At the time, your aunt put the pouch back in her bundle and said, ‘I’ll take it to Hanzhou first and make a pair of silver hairpins for your future wife,’ correct?”
Tang Sheng nodded: “That’s right, word for word!”
“First ‘take’ it to Hanzhou to ‘make’ a pair of silver hairpins—what Magistrate Qi gave Tang Zhu wasn’t money, but silver.” Huang Zixia said, pointing at the pouch, “Such a small pouch might not hold even half a string of copper coins, but because it was silver, it could fit one or two ingots. Magistrate Qi needed quite a bit of money to buy Tang Zhu’s silence, and since he regularly handled various matters at the Regional Command Office, he naturally had access to the silver treasury. It would have been inconvenient to carry several strings of copper coins to buy Tang Zhu’s silence, so he directly gave her silver instead. However, every silver ingot would have been engraved with its origin, and if he didn’t retrieve it, finding a Regional Command Office silver ingot on the corpse of Fu Xinruan’s maid might bring trouble upon himself, so he had to get it back, couldn’t let it remain outside.”
Seeing the evidence was conclusive and Qi Teng’s crimes were undeniable, Fan Yingxi finally let out a long breath and cursed: “Despicable! Infuriating! This wolf-hearted dog-lunged creature has been in my office for years, yet I never knew he was so scheming and vicious! He committed murder and framed others so smoothly, and eliminated witnesses so casually!”
Zhou Ziqian also looked toward the gauze screen where his sister Zhou Ziyan was sitting, sighed, and muttered: “Fortunately my sister hasn’t married yet.”
Everyone was busy condemning the villain and feeling relieved for the Zhou family, seeming to have completely forgotten about Madam Gong Sun and Yin Luyi. Huang Zixia turned to look at them, seeing their faces ashen, but beneath their fear was a hint of twisted pleasure. She couldn’t help but sigh softly in her heart and said: “Madam Gong Sun, I first felt that Fu Xinruan shouldn’t have committed suicide for love when I saw her wardrobe—at the time, she had countless gorgeous clothes in her cabinet, yet when she died she wore a half-old grayish-purple dress… I think no woman, when choosing to drink poison hand in hand with her lover on a path of no return, would do so in such a hurried and careless manner rather than dressing up beautifully.”
“Yes… A Ruan, she loved bright and vivid clothing the most.” Madam Gong Sun finally spoke slowly, her voice choked and hoarse, her body trembling slightly, completely losing that otherworldly grace she usually possessed. She pressed her chest, breathing heavily, and finally managed to say what she wanted to say. “A Ruan… she had a childlike personality, carefree and unrestrained… She could unhesitatingly refuse her best destiny, refuse readily available wealth and glory, all because she couldn’t forget someone we had never met, someone she had only met a few times—Wenyang… no, Qi Teng. Naive A Ruan thought he was like soft silk, gentle as gossamer, who knew he was a poisonous snake coiled around her arm, appearing boneless and gentle as it slid against her skin, yet would bare the world’s most venomous fangs when she least expected…”
Huang Zixia silently watched her without responding. Zhou Ziqian couldn’t help but ask: “You seem to have only met Qi Teng once, why did you immediately detect the truth and seek revenge?”
“A Ruan once wrote to me, worrying that Wenyang had six moles on the back of his left hand that were quite unsightly… So I taught her to use ground eclipta to rub on the moles, and they would disappear after a few applications, but eclipta would leave black marks on the skin, very unsightly, taking several days to fade.” Madam Gong Sun leaned against the railing, taking long breaths. Though her voice remained hoarse and her figure still trembled, she had become somewhat calmer. “At the mortuary, I saw A Ruan’s corpse and noticed the marks on her hand, but when I secretly looked at the autopsy records, I found no mention of moles on Wenyang’s hand. Later, when I went to the magistrate’s office to inquire about the case progress, I suddenly discovered that Magistrate Qi who was about to marry the Zhou Prefecture Chief’s daughter had six small scar points on the back of his left hand, looking just like moles that had recently been removed. I secretly inquired about Qi Teng’s family background and found it matched exactly what A Ruan had mentioned in her letters, being in the entertainment world, we naturally knew that many people would impersonate others for dalliances, so I found an opportunity to question him directly…”
At this point, Madam Gong Sun suddenly became agitated, her chest heaving for a long while before she could suppress her wild breathing, and said bitterly: “Not only did he admit it, he even mocked A Ruan, saying she was a fool, that he had more than ten lovers outside, yet she knew nothing about it, believing that when he swore before her to abandon his philandering ways, he would cut them off just like that, without harboring any suspicion…”
Speaking of this, she became so agitated that she pressed her head against a pillar, tears streaming down as she choked out: “My little sister A Ruan was famous across the land by age twelve, her composition and choreography unmatched in the world, even the old music masters from Chang’an’s Imperial Music Bureau had to consult her, calling her ‘Sixth Lady’ before they could get her assistance! How could someone as clever and perceptive as A Ruan not have noticed her lover’s oddities? Everyone knows why she endured it all, yet he dared call her stupid… this wretch deserves to be torn into ten thousand pieces…”
Yin Luyi hugged her arm, pressing her face against her shoulder, eyes closed and silent, only tears quickly seeping out and soaking Madam Gong Sun’s clothes.
Huang Zixia said softly: “Although I understand your feelings, there’s still no justification in this world for taking matters into your own hands and killing your enemy. The authorities would have helped clear your grievances…”
“Hmph… Qi Teng was one of your officials, even if you investigated and uncovered the truth, would you have held him accountable in the end?” Madam Gong Sun said, raising her chin, her face ashen yet stubborn and determined as she continued, “A life for a life, debts must be repaid, it’s heaven’s law! My little sister was killed by him, so I, as her elder sister, came to collect! Even if it costs me my own life, what of it? Gong Sun Yuan can live in this world without guilt and die without regret!”
Huang Zixia remained silent, slowly retreating behind Li Shubai, saying: “I only reveal the truth, the rest is beyond my ability.”
With the truth revealed, everyone fell silent.
Zhou Shang, as Prefecture Chief, coughed and said: “Although Madam Gong Sun killed Magistrate Qi, that… Qi had three lives on his hands and even killed the scholar Wenyang just to create the illusion of dying for love, the law can hardly spare him.”
He was secretly relieved his daughter hadn’t married such a heartless wretch, so he felt somewhat sympathetic toward Madam Gong Sun.
And Wang Yun, knowing Madam Gong Sun was Empress Wang’s elder sister, naturally smiled and said: “Madam Gong Sun was after all avenging her little sister, this passionate righteousness seems quite in the spirit of ancient knights.”
While these two spoke in Madam Gong Sun’s defense, Fan Yingxi angrily said: “Since ancient times, though life must be paid for a life, that payment must come through official channels. If everyone could kill privately for revenge and act on personal grudges at will, what use would there be for laws, what authority would officials hold?”
Seeing him speaking righteously of imperial law, those around fell silent, only able to listen to his impassioned speech: “Moreover, Qi Teng was a magistrate in my office, and now he’s dead at someone’s hands in front of everyone, isn’t this openly disregarding our Western Sichuan Army, bringing great shame upon us?”
Although they knew Fan Yingxi’s anger was half because Madam Gong Sun had wiped her knife on Fan Yuanlong, framing him, once he brought up the Western Sichuan Army, everyone immediately fell silent.
Li Shubai also remained quiet, only looking down at the tea in his hand, as if he hadn’t heard.
Seeing everyone quiet, waiting for his decision, Li Shubai placed his teacup on the table and said calmly: “According to Regional Commander Fan’s words, since this matter is so significant, it can be decided after the initial trial at the Chengdu Prefecture office. Although this prince holds the position of Minister of Justice to share the Emperor’s burden, I’m not familiar with local affairs and shouldn’t interfere.”
Seeing his words left no room for argument, everyone could only bow and agree.
Madam Gong Sun and Yin Luyi were temporarily taken into custody and removed from the scene. Zhou Ziqian thoughtfully had people arrange a cleaner women’s cell for them, and had others collect all the evidence to be sealed and stored.
“Today’s reasoning was quite brilliant—Lord Yang, this mysterious case you solved in Chengdu Prefecture is truly extraordinary.” Though the night was deep, Li Shubai didn’t rise, but sat before the waterside pavilion, quietly turning his head to look at Huang Zixia beside him, asking, “I wonder what additional entertainment follows?”
Zhou Shang immediately showed a pained expression—it was nearly the third watch, the candles in the lanterns had already been replaced once, and two twisted cases had been solved, yet Prince Kui still showed no intention of retiring and wanted to see more entertainment.
“This… Please wait a moment, Prince Kui, this official will immediately arrange for court musicians to come perform…”
Li Shubai raised his hand to stop Zhou Shang’s words, stood up, and said: “Since coming to Chengdu Prefecture, this prince has been imposing on Regional Commander Fan and Prefecture Chief Zhou. Since Prefecture Chief Zhou hasn’t prepared anything today, then tonight, let this prince prepare some entertainment for you all, please move to another location to watch.”
Everyone was stunned, not expecting Prince Kui to have prepared a performance, and invited Regional Commander Fan and Prefecture Chief Zhou to watch. When they arrived at the performance location, everyone was even more surprised—the location was actually in the Western Garden where Zhou Ziqian resided.