Huang Zixia exchanged a speechless glance with Li Shubai, also feeling relieved.

“However, even if you didn’t tell me your true identity for my good, there’s still one thing—” Zhou Ziqin came to his senses and started to throw a tantrum again, “Never mind everything else, just take Yu Xuan’s case back then. Prince Kui only mentioned remembering his handprint last time and said nothing else, but you could immediately discover his identity, so afterward, you must have communicated a lot more, and again didn’t include me!”

“We didn’t communicate anymore, was there any need?” Huang Zixia sighed, “Five years ago, in Guangde Ward, the first case I ever solved, naturally I remember it very clearly. The suspect definitely couldn’t have been Yu Xuan, and though he wasn’t sentenced, he had left a handprint on the case file for sealing. If he had been a witness, it wouldn’t have been kept in the final archives, so he must have been a family member of the criminal. Thinking back to the relatives of the murderer in that case, everything becomes clear.”

“…Why does everything seem so simple when you analyze it?” Zhou Ziqin sat down dejectedly beside them, thought for a moment, then asked Li Shubai, “Your Highness, let’s discuss, what should we do about Gongsun Niang and Yin Siniang?”

Li Shubai said calmly: “Ask your father about that. Everything will be judged according to imperial law, what is there for us to discuss?”

“But, they’re both beautiful women, and their murders were understandable, and they’re both so exceptional. If they die, it might mean the end of…”

“Haven’t you heard about how the late emperor executed Luo Cheng?” he asked.

“Al… alright.” Zhou Ziqin lowered his head dejectedly again, saying, “But… but do we need to follow the law so strictly?”

“I will hint to Fan Yingxi not to pressure your father, to handle everything fairly. But for the rest, we can only look to the law.”

“The law… the law should consider human feelings…” Zhou Ziqin mumbled.

Huang Zixia saw his expression and immediately asked: “Did you do something against the regulations again?”

“Shh… it was all for your sake.” As he spoke, he looked around, and seeing no one nearby, he took out something round and flat wrapped in white cloth from his chest, mysteriously handing it to her with an expression seeking credit.

Huang Zixia knew at a glance what it was. She slowly reached out to take it, unwrapping the white cloth. Inside was a bracelet, lustrous and translucent, carved with two small fish biting each other’s tails, intimate and sweet, lovely and dear.

She held this bracelet in her hand, silent.

“According to regulations, this should have been sealed and stored… but, last night I thought this was Huang Zixia’s thing, and maybe I could find her in Shu Prefecture later, then give this to her as a meeting gift, so I…” he pressed his finger to his lips, saying carefully, “Anyway, no one will check the inventory for decades after it’s stored, no one should notice!”

Huang Zixia slowly turned the bracelet, letting its radiance slide gradually across her face.

Seeing her silence, Li Shubai said: “Last night, Yu Xuan took his own life in prison, consuming poison.”

She made a soft “oh” sound as if she hadn’t heard, her expression calm.

But suddenly everything before her eyes darkened, the distant flowing clouds and nearby flowering trees all blurred into one in an instant, no longer clear. Only this bracelet before her eyes, brilliant in the sunlight, made her eyes ache with its radiance.

She forcefully suppressed her breathing, raising her left arm to hastily cover her eyes with her elbow, letting what had not yet flowed from her eyes be quickly absorbed by her clothes.

Li Shubai sat opposite her, watching her silently, saying nothing.

She covered her eyes, no one could see her expression. Even Li Shubai, so close by, could only hear her breathing, long and suppressed yet forceful.

After who knows how long, she lowered her hand, her face had already calmed, her eyes showing only a trace of redness. She looked at Li Shubai, slowly, speaking in a dry voice: “I want to go pay respects to my family.”

“I’ll accompany you.” Li Shubai spoke as if nothing had happened, standing up.

She walked out of the pavilion, on the highest broken cliff of the artificial mountain, slowly extending her right hand.

Her five fingers gently released, with a slight crisp sound. That jade bracelet she had been holding in her hand shattered on the rocks below.

The delicate carved little fish thus turned to glittering powder, never to be whole again.

Zhou Ziqin rushed to the edge of the cliff to look, immediately almost crying: “Chonggu… but I stole that out…”

Li Shubai patted his shoulder, saying: “If anyone asks, say I took it.”

Zhou Ziqin finally relaxed, thought for a moment, and said: “But it’s alright, this bracelet wasn’t valuable. Doesn’t Fu Xinruan have a good jade bracelet? That one was sealed too, if anyone asks we can just bring that one out instead.”

Li Shubai pondered briefly, saying: “Stealing one is stealing, stealing two is also stealing, you might as well take that one out too.”

Zhou Ziqin was stunned: “Wh… why?”

“Fu Xinruan’s last wish was to return this bracelet to its original owner,” Li Shubai said lightly, “And I happen to know that person.”

She had refused the easily obtainable wealth and glory, preparing to wash away the powder and rouge to become an ordinary housewife. Yet ultimately, even this down-to-earth dream, she could not have.

Seeing him speak this way, Zhou Ziqin nodded, saying: “No problem, leave it to me—though actually if Your Highness wants it, just saying a word to my father would be enough…”

Li Shubai shook his head, saying: “The fewer people who know, the better.”

Zhou Ziqin looked at him pitifully: “Alright… but if it leaks out, when my father is about to beat me to death, Your Highness must remember to collect my corpse…”

“Don’t worry,” Li Shubai said lightly, “I’ll personally write your eulogy.”

In the wild grove, facing south with its back to the north, the slanting evening sun shone warmly on the gravesite.

The graves were very neat, except for a few fallen leaves, so clean they were almost indistinguishable from someone’s courtyard. Ashes remained in the stone incense burner, clear water filled the stone tripod.

Yu Xuan had arranged everything very properly, so their grave sweeping was merely a formality before they set up the offering table.

Huang Zixia knelt deeply before her parents’ graves, praying in silence.

Li Shubai stood beside her, gazing at her lowered profile.

She was not a beauty who could topple kingdoms, but she had a pure and bright quality, a stubborn and determined expression that set her apart from all other women he had ever seen.

In this world, there were countless types of women. Yet looking at her, he thought in his heart, that perhaps in this lifetime, he would never meet anyone similar to her again.

When she stood up, Li Shubai asked her: “What are your plans now?”

She gazed at her parents’ tombstones, not yet speaking when Zhou Ziqin had already jumped out, saying: “Of course come to the magistrate’s office, be our Shu Prefecture Chief Constable! Chonggu… ah no, Miss Huang! As long as you’re willing to come, I’ll immediately give up the constable position to you, I’ll follow you from now on, all cases in Shu Prefecture will be given to you, just like before, the people of Shu Prefecture need you!”

Huang Zixia shook her head speechlessly: “There’s no such thing as a female constable in the world.”

“Hey, how would you know? Even Empress Wu could ascend the throne as a woman, what’s wrong with you being a female constable?” As Zhou Ziqin spoke, he even dragged Li Shubai into it, “Moreover, with Prince Kui here, setting up a female constable in Shu Prefecture would be easy as pie! Absolutely no problem!”

Li Shubai didn’t take up his suggestion.

Huang Zixia remained silent, turning her head to look at Li Shubai.

Li Shubai was also looking at her, their gazes meeting precisely, both seeing the hesitation and uncertainty in each other.

The Great Tang empire was so vast, yet where exactly was the future for a woman?

Zhou Ziqin asked again: “Now that the truth is out, do you still want to return to Prince Kui’s mansion, to be the lowest-ranked eunuch?”

“I…” she opened her mouth slightly, words dying on her lips.

Just then they heard footsteps nearby, several elderly people coming along the path.

Huang Zixia recognized them as some distant relatives of the Huang clan who lived in Sichuan and quickly went forward to greet them. They were all of her grandfather and uncles’ generation, and after paying their respects to Prince Kui, they said to Huang Zixia: “With both your parents gone and your brother also deceased, you’re now alone in the household. A woman ultimately cannot rely on another surname, you should return to the Huang clan first. Many things aren’t convenient for you, but the clan elders will naturally arrange everything well for you.”

Huang Zixia remained silent, head lowered.

Seeing she didn’t answer, the most senior one spoke again: “You are an outstanding descendant of our Huang family, the clan will naturally treat you well. Your father served as an official for many years, the clan has also counted his assets, you are of age now, you can bring everything to your husband’s family later.”

Huang Zixia murmured: “Husband’s family?”

“Yes, don’t you have a long-standing engagement with the Wang family of Langya? Earlier when you were wrongly accused and hunted, the Wang family showed true sincerity, never coming to us to mention breaking off the engagement. Just this morning, your fiancé Wang Yun personally came, saying you had cleared your name, asking us to settle you as soon as possible, the Huang and Wang families to be forever bonded.”

Huang Zixia suddenly remembered that her engagement to him had not yet been dissolved. They were still betrothed.

Wang Yun’s move was truly admirably swift.

“Now that Prefect Zhou has moved into the governor’s mansion, it’s not suitable for a woman to be wandering outside, you should pack your things and return to the clan soon.”

Huang Zixia nodded absent-mindedly, feeling her thoughts in complete disarray, not knowing what to do.

The clan elders had all crowded around Li Shubai, admiring the imperial relative, each smiling like chrysanthemums.

Huang Zixia walked alone silently to the graveside, sitting down on the blue stone, watching Li Shubai surrounded by the crowd in a daze.

What exactly was the relationship between them?

She had been a eunuch in the prince’s mansion, but now her identity was revealed, she could no longer go back to being that lowest-ranked little eunuch, following by his side every day.

He had promised that after she exposed the Wang Ruo case, he would help her clear the false charges she bore. And now, she had cleared her name, their cooperation was settled.

They had once depended on each other for survival in the dark mountain forests, had once embraced and fallen into deep sleep together, and had once walked hand in hand beneath the sunlight.

He had told her, that heaven and earth were too far apart.

She had told him, I will stay by your side.

Yet words spoken, like smoke and clouds dispersing in the air; things done, like flowing water left behind, could they count for anything?