Huang Zixia walked out of the Princess’s residence, heading toward Prince Kui’s carriage. She saw two people standing in front of the carriage: one was Prince Kui Li Shubai, elegant as a jade tree in the wind, and the other was Princess Qile, radiant as a lustrous pearl casting its glow.

Her footsteps involuntarily slowed as she pondered in her heart whether she should walk over. Would it be appropriate to go over and disturb the atmosphere between these two people?

Princess Qile, gazing up at Li Shubai with a smile, her cheeks bearing a faint blush, stood beneath the tree shade where gentle breezes stirred strands of her temple hair, creating a misty halo around her gazing eyes – a sight of incomparable beauty.

This princess, destined to not live long in this world – no matter how beautiful her features, they would soon fade away. Perhaps that was why Li Shubai, standing before her, gazed at her with such extraordinary tenderness, his usually melancholic countenance now showing traces of gentleness.

Huang Zixia silently stepped back two paces, sitting down in the shade behind the Princess residence’s spirit wall. The pomegranate tree overhead had already produced fruit the size of an infant’s fists, its branches weighed down so low that one dangled before her face. She raised her hand to gently grasp one, staring at it absently.

Princess Qile and Princess Tongchang – these noblewomen who grew up in the world’s most splendid places were like trees of brilliant blossoms, blooming and falling, yet ultimately unable to bear fruit.

Three unfortunate women: Princess Tongchang who died in her prime, Xinger who was sold by her birth father in childhood, and Dicui who endured the world’s greatest humiliation.

Three women with three different fathers.

The Emperor, who had presented all the world’s finest things to Princess Tongchang since childhood, even after executing the imperial physicians and implicating hundreds in his rage, ultimately couldn’t save his daughter who was killed by the Nine Phoenix Hairpin.

Qian Guansuo, who sold Xinger in his most difficult times and built his fortune from it, finally found traces of his daughter years later but was imprisoned before hearing her call him father even once.

Lu Zhiyuan, who had always dreamed of having a son and who drove his daughter Dicui from home in her most miserable moment, preferred to grow old alone while living off the money from selling his daughter.

There were also three deaths, each of a different status. If there was one connection between them, it was that they were all people who had harmed Lu Dicui.

The most puzzling death was Princess Tongchang’s. Though she had ordered Dicui’s punishment, she hadn’t intentionally caused Dicui’s tragedy, nor was she directly responsible for harming her. Yet the killer abandoned the careful planning of the previous two times and killed the Princess in public as if she were the one they hated most…

As she pondered this, she unconsciously pulled out her jade hairpin and began drawing on the bluestone slab where she sat.

Three fathers, three daughters, the Prince Consort, Zhang Xingying, Sun Laizi, Wei Ximin, Doukou…

A voice sounded behind her, asking, “What are you drawing?”

She looked up to see Li Shubai slightly bending before her. Under the blazing sunlight, the tree’s green shade enveloped them, his face just inches from hers, his eyes deep as pools threatening to drown her in their darkness.

She returned the pin to her silver hairpin, forcing herself to avoid his gaze as she said softly, “I just saw you talking with Princess Qile and didn’t dare interrupt, so I stayed here to sort out the case details.”

He glanced at her, sat down beside her, and said, “Qile came to pay respects to Tongchang. We met by chance.”

“The Princess seems… in good spirits. Her health must be fairly stable recently?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps Tongchang’s death will make her think of her condition and feel even more distressed.” As he spoke, he absently picked up a small pomegranate to examine, changing the subject to ask, “What conclusions did you just reach?”

Huang Zixia paused briefly before saying, “I remember when the Princess’s Nine Phoenix Hairpin was stolen, and Your Highness took me to visit her, you seemed quite interested in a small porcelain dog on her bedside table.”

“Yes, that’s right.” He released the pomegranate, letting it sway gently before them. “Because I remember when Tongchang was six or seven, she once cut her finger on a broken porcelain plate. The Emperor then decreed that no ceramics were to appear in Tongchang’s palace. Even after she married Wei Baoheng and moved to the Princess’s residence, she mostly used gold and silver items. Yet she had this small porcelain dog, and it looked like something commonly found in the marketplace – don’t you find it strange that such an item would appear in the luxurious Princess’s residence?”

Huang Zixia silently nodded, then asked, “Could we take a look at it?”

He stood without hesitation: “Let’s go.”

Qiyun Tower was empty, all of the Princess’s belongings had been sealed, leaving only the empty bed and locked cabinets.

The Princess’s eunuch Deng Chunmin led them in. Li Shubai walked to the bedside cabinet and had Deng Chunmin open the drawer.

Inside were many small miscellaneous items – rose water, fragrance balls, sandalwood boxes and such. Though there were many items, they were perfectly arranged by the daily maids, each thing neatly placed in the drawer, with only a fist-sized space empty on the right.

Just large enough to hold a small porcelain dog.

Seeing they hadn’t found what they were looking for, Deng Chunmin said, “Some things were also packed and sent to the storage room next door. I’ll take Your Highness to look.”

In the storage room where the Nine Phoenix Hairpin had mysteriously disappeared, the doors and windows remained tightly shut, creating a cool, dusty atmosphere that completely blocked out the external world.

Boxes and small chests sat on rows of shelves, along with cloth-covered items. From a distance, the shadowy shapes looked like strange dark figures crouching on the shelves.

“These two chests contain the Princess’s daily items, all placed here,” Deng Chunmin said as he took out the keys to open two chests.

Huang Zixia lifted the lid thoughtfully and paused.

Li Shubai asked, “What is it?”

She lightly tapped the lid, looked up at him, and asked, “Has Your Highness thought of something?”

Li Shubai looked at her hand on the chest lid, slightly frowning as he asked, “Are you referring to how the Nine Phoenix Hairpin mysteriously disappeared?”

Huang Zixia nodded, then immediately checked around the chest, discovering that all the bottom-layer chests in the surroundings were placed directly on the blue brick floor, except for the empty chest that had held the Nine Phoenix Hairpin, which had some cloth strips beneath it, apparently to prevent shock.

Li Shubai glanced around and nodded, “Let’s look inside first. If we don’t find the small porcelain dog, we can probably be certain.”

Having worked together for so long, they understood each other without needing further words. Huang Zixia searched through both chests but didn’t find the small porcelain dog.

They walked out of the storage room and returned to Qiyun Tower, looking at the space in the bedside drawer where something was missing.

“Just the right size for that small porcelain dog, isn’t it?” Huang Zixia compared the sizes.

Li Shubai nodded, looking around the room, saying, “And making it disappear would be simple…”

They both walked to the window and looked down.

Below the high platform, silk trees were still in full bloom, their clusters spread like velvet on the ground.

“Let’s go.”

Following the steps down from the platform, they searched along the foundation directly below Qiyun Tower’s window and soon found a small pile of silk tree flowers and leaves that, if not examined carefully, might have seemed naturally gathered by the wind.

Huang Zixia took a branch and swept aside the flowers and leaves, revealing porcelain shards that had been trampled into the grass beneath.

The fastidious Prince Kui Li Shubai stood aside with his hands in his sleeves, observing.

Huang Zixia carefully dug out the porcelain pieces, twenty-eight in total, large and small. She wrapped them all in a handkerchief and tucked them into her sleeve.

Seeing it was already noon, Li Shubai spoke in the carriage on the way back: “Go get Ziqin, let’s have lunch together at Zuijin Tower.”

Huang Zixia quickly told the driver Uncle Ayuan: “To Minister Zhou’s residence.”

Li Shubai pointed at the cabinet below and asked, “Are those two skulls still there?”

Huang Zixia nodded silently and said, “We can’t return them to Ziqin. If he fully reconstructs the skulls, he might discover the deceased looked like Empress Wang. But if we don’t return them to Empress Wang, where should they go…”

Li Shubai gave her a cold glance: “Making trouble for yourself.”

She ducked her head, not daring to look at him, nodding in the admission of fault: “Yes, this servant knows her error, this servant meddles too much, this servant causes unnecessary trouble. Then in Your Highness’s opinion, what should be done?”

“Find some wasteland in the outskirts, dig a hole, and bury them.”

“…” Huang Zixia silently turned her face to the window, intending to pretend she hadn’t heard what he said.

The carriage curtains swayed gently as they moved. Seeing they had arrived at Zhou Ziqin’s home, she jumped down from the carriage and ran to the gate, calling out to the doorkeeper: “Uncle Yu, is your young master home today?”

“Lord Yang! What perfect timing! Our young master had reached the gate today, then thought you might come looking for him and couldn’t find him, so he turned back to his courtyard.”

Huang Zixia quickly said, “Then please trouble Uncle Yu to call your young master, tell him His Highness is waiting to have a meal with him.”

“Oh? Certainly, right away!” Uncle Yu immediately darted inside.

Huang Zixia stood under the privet tree at their gate, waiting for a while.

The flowers above bloomed thick and fragrant, thousands of tiny blossoms weighing down the branches. Huang Zixia couldn’t help reaching up to touch them but found even the lowest flowers were beyond her reach. She could only stand under the tree, gazing up silently.

Someone reached from behind her, breaking off the branch of flowers she had wanted but couldn’t reach, and held it before her.

She turned around in surprise to see Wang Yun standing behind her, holding the perfectly blooming branch and smiling. He gazed at her and said softly, “I just saw Prince Kui’s carriage coming down the street and then saw you get out, so I came to say hello.”