She turned around in surprise to see Wang Yun standing behind her, holding a flower in full bloom and smiling. He gazed at her and said softly, “I just saw the Prince of Kui’s carriage pass by on the street, then saw you come down, so I came over to say hello.”

The flower remained before her, emanating a fragrance so rich it was almost dizzying. She unconsciously reached out to accept it, asking, “You’ve already joined the Imperial Guards?”

“Yes, today is my first day. The capital is so big, yet on my first patrol, I happened to meet you – it must be fate.” He smiled, relaxed and composed. “I originally thought you would be out investigating cases more often at night.”

“Yes, I’ll still frequently be out at night. Now that you’ve left, I hope the brothers at the Defense Bureau will still be lenient with me,” Huang Zixia said.

“If no one else, Zhang Xingying will escort you personally.” He smiled, then turned to greet Li Shubai through the window, “Your Highness.”

Li Shubai nodded in acknowledgment and asked, “Are things going well in the Imperial Guards?”

“Very well, just like at the Defense Bureau,” he replied with a light smile, appearing carefree.

Huang Zixia held the privet flower in her hand, feeling a surge of guilt in her heart. After all, Wang Yun, who had once been riding high at the Defense Bureau, was now transferred to the restrictive Imperial Guards precisely because she had exposed Empress Wang’s true identity, allowing the Emperor to check the Wang family’s power.

She tucked the privet flower into her sleeve and said “Wait a moment” to Wang Yun, then went up to the carriage to retrieve the bag and handed it to him, saying, “This… if you have the chance, could you see about delivering it to Little Shi?”

Wang Yun felt what it was as soon as it was in his hand. He glanced briefly at the two skulls, then placed them on his horse, asking, “Where did these come from?”

“Don’t ask. In any case… I thought they should at least have complete remains,” she said softly.

“Yes, I’ve always regretted it too. Her death is inextricably linked to me,” Wang Yun said, his gaze lingering on her downturned face for a long while before saying quietly, “Thank you…”

“What are you thanking her for?” someone jumped out from behind and asked with a laugh.

This ghostlike appearance could only be Zhou Ziqin. Today he wore clothes in purple with yellow accents, as garishly bright as ever.

With one hand on Wang Yun’s arm and one on Huang Zixia’s shoulder, Zhou Ziqin’s eyebrows danced as he said: “Come on, let me in on the grudges between you two~”

Huang Zixia quickly shrugged off his hand, while Wang Yun simultaneously pulled Zhou Ziqin’s arm away. Their coordination was so perfect that even Li Shubai, watching through the window, raised an eyebrow slightly, his eyes taking on a complex meaning.

“Commander Wang gave me a flower, and I gave him something in return,” Huang Zixia said.

Li Shubai then said, “Yunzhi, don’t go back to the office, come with us to the Cuijin Tower instead.” Yunzhi was Wang Yun’s courtesy name.

“That’s right, the food at the Imperial Guards is atrocious, ranked among the bottom five in the capital!” Zhou Ziqin immediately chimed in.

So Wang Yun followed on horseback, Zhou Ziqin got into the carriage, and they all headed to Cuijin Tower.

“Chonggu, tell me, what did you give in return? ‘Return a peach for a plum’ – he gave you a flower, so you must have returned something equally refined, right?” Zhou Ziqin was incredibly noisy the whole way, constantly prying.

Huang Zixia had no intention of telling him that her “refined” return gift was those two skulls.

Unable to get an answer from Huang Zixia, he sulked with pursed lips, leaning against the carriage wall while glaring at the privet flower in her hand. “Now, wasn’t that flower picked from outside my house? What’s so special about that – using borrowed flowers to make an offering!”

Li Shubai, gazing at the passing street scenes outside, asked, “How do you know Yang Chonggu isn’t also using borrowed flowers to make an offering?”

Zhou Ziqin, completely unaware that his flowers had been borrowed twice, became excited upon hearing this: “You mean to say that Chonggu’s return gift came from Your Highness? These two are so stingy, giving each other other people’s things!”

Unfortunately, his attempt at stirring up trouble was useless – Li Shubai and Huang Zixia, well-acquainted with his personality, both turned their gaze to the window, pretending not to hear.

Zhou Ziqin, who had been practically suffocating the whole way, ordered a pile of dishes at Cuijin Tower but still hadn’t recovered his spirits, lying face-down at the table waiting for the food with a miserable expression, looking every bit like an abandoned puppy.

Huang Zixia didn’t try to comfort him, instead asking the waiter to bring a basin of clear water, then requested some fish glue and glutinous rice powder to mix into a viscous semi-solid.

Zhou Ziqin, still sprawled on the table watching her, asked listlessly, “Chonggu, what are you doing?”

Huang Zixia took out the broken porcelain pieces from her sleeve, dropped them in the water basin, and carefully began washing them one by one. Wang Yun also stood up to help, saying, “Be careful not to cut your fingers.”

Li Shubai watched coldly from the side, neither helping nor speaking.

Zhou Ziqin perked up, grabbed a cleaned piece to look at, and asked, “What’s this?”

“A broken piece of porcelain found in the Princess’s mansion. Can you guess what it is?” Huang Zixia washed each piece clean and laid them out on the table.

Zhou Ziqin was holding what appeared to be a dog’s ear. He turned it over examining it and said, “Looks like it’s some kind of porcelain ornament… a cat or dog or something.”

“Should be a dog.” As she spoke, she began gluing the cleaned pieces together in sequence. Zhou Ziqin immediately forgot his dejection and helped her search for and piece together the fragments.

Just as a complete porcelain dog emerged, the waiter began serving their food.

After the three finished eating while looking at the little porcelain dog, the fish glue had dried, and the entire dog was very tightly bonded. Zhou Ziqin took it in hand, turned it over examining it thoroughly, then declared confidently, “This thing would be quite difficult to buy now.”

Wang Yun also took it to look and asked, “Isn’t it just an ordinary porcelain dog? I seem to have played with these as a child too, how could it be hard to buy?”

“Your Highness grew up in the palace, so I won’t ask you, but Chonggu, did you play with these porcelain dogs when you were little?” Zhou Ziqin asked.

Huang Zixia nodded, saying, “I seem to remember them, I should have seen them when I was young.”

“Right, these porcelain dogs were all the rage ten years ago when we were children, but they’ve become quite rare in recent years. Just look at my brothers’ children – none of them have these things anymore,” Zhou Ziqin said with certainty. “Plus these porcelain things were always getting broken by children. I guarantee these are very scarce now.”

“These porcelain dogs? We have plenty! However many you want!”

In the small shop specializing in trinkets in the West Market, the shopkeeper’s opening words dealt Zhou Ziqin a huge blow.

But Zhou Ziqin’s thick skin was extraordinary – he immediately put it out of his mind and enthusiastically followed the shopkeeper into the storehouse to help bring out a large box of these porcelain dogs.

The shopkeeper opened the box to reveal neatly arranged porcelain dogs in three layers – top, middle, and bottom – totaling seventy or eighty pieces. The first layer was missing a few pieces and wasn’t full.

Huang Zixia crouched down and noticed that all the dogs were covered in dust except for one on the second layer which had no dust on top. She reached out to take it, held it in her hand to examine it, while asking, “Shopkeeper, why haven’t you thrown out these ten-year-old dated goods? Are people still buying them?”

“Yes, they came from a Jiangnan kiln ten years ago and were very popular in the capital! But later they fell out of fashion, that kiln went bankrupt, and nobody wanted these anymore. But coincidentally, someone came asking about them last month, and I found I still had a box in storage, so I brought them out again. These things – probably only my shop still sells them in the entire capital. Apart from the one sold last month, only you folks have come asking about them.”

Huang Zixia weighed the dog in her hand and asked, “Who came to buy one last month? Was it someone our age wanting to buy a childhood toy?”

The shopkeeper laughed heartily as he took the money Zhou Ziqin handed him, saying, “Not at all – it was that innkeeper Qian Guansuo. A man in his forties or fifties coming to buy something like this – isn’t that funny?”

Zhou Ziqin turned to face Huang Zixia, mouthing the words: “Him again.”

Huang Zixia nodded slightly, also mouthing: “Indeed.”

Zhou Ziqin became dejected again: “You knew already? And didn’t tell me!”

“Aren’t I telling you first now?” Huang Zixia consoled him as they walked out of the shop together.

Zhou Ziqin immediately climbed out of his valley of dejection. He happily carried the porcelain dog back to Cuijin Tower, placing it before them: “Guess who bought a porcelain dog at that shop?”

Li Shubai didn’t even look up, casually saying: “Qian Guansuo.”

These three words knocked Zhou Ziqin back into the valley. He turned tearfully to look at Huang Zixia: “Didn’t you say you were telling me first?”

“He guessed it himself,” Huang Zixia spread her hands, indicating helplessness.

“But, even if Qian Guansuo recently bought a porcelain dog, that doesn’t mean the broken one from the Princess’s mansion has anything to do with the one he bought! Besides, what connection could a porcelain dog have with the Princess’s case?”

“Of course, there’s an extremely important connection. You could say the Princess’s death hinges on this porcelain dog,” Huang Zixia said as she carefully wrapped up the two porcelain dogs.

Wang Yun watched her busy work and asked with a smile, “Chonggu, that case of Sun Laizi you investigated overnight last time – how’s it progressing now?”

“That case… hasn’t progressed,” Zhou Ziqin lay sprawled on the table, saying listlessly. “The Court of Justice decided to conclude that Qian Guansuo took advantage of pipe repairs to crawl through the sewers and commit murder, but there are still many unexplained questions in this case.”

Wang Yun asked, “For example, the Linglingxiang fragrance I smelled?”

“Yes, of course,” Zhou Ziqin nodded seriously.

Li Shubai asked from the side, “What Linglingxiang fragrance?”

Wang Yun explained, “That night I met them investigating while patrolling the streets, so I went in to take a look too. I may not understand the rest of the scene, but I can identify the scent of Linglingxiang – Your Highness knows I have some knowledge in this area.”

“You’re the capital’s foremost expert in fragrances – if you only claim ‘some knowledge,’ who would dare claim mastery?” Li Shubai indicated he needn’t be modest, then asked, “There was a Linglingxiang scent in Sun Laizi’s home?”

“Yes, I was quite surprised to smell it in such a place. Though mixed with various odors, the Linglingxiang was quite unpleasant – unforgettable even now,” Wang Yun recalled that nauseating smell with a bitter smile.

Zhou Ziqin asked Huang Zixia, “Should we make another visit to Sun Laizi’s house?”

“Yes, among these three cases, this is the only one I still have questions about. I believe once we uncover why Sun Laizi could be killed in such a well-guarded home, the case can be concluded.”

Li Shubai remembered something else and said, “Yang Chonggu, take the Prince of Kui’s warrant and get Lu Dicui released.”

Huang Zixia looked at him in surprise, nodding gratefully and saying, “Yes.”

Now that Qian Guansuo was the prime suspect, although Dicui was involved in the first two cases, the Court of Justice’s attention was no longer on her. Now with the Prince of Kui vouching for this commoner woman – especially since Li Shubai also held the position of Minister of Justice – it was naturally no problem for her to return home while awaiting summons for further questioning.

Zhou Ziqin sighed, saying, “Dicui really… when this case concludes, she’s sure to be charged with confusing the investigation. She definitely won’t escape a beating then.”

Wang Yun smiled from the side, “What’s there to fear? When the time comes, if Your Highness says a word to Cui Shaoqin, and he gives a look to the person administering the beating, it’ll all be taken care of.”

“How would an upright person like me understand your methods!” Zhou Ziqin lamented, hitting his head.

Seeing Huang Zixia had already reached the door, Wang Yun stood up saying, “I should return to the Imperial Guards too. Since Yang Gongong and I are heading the same way, let’s go together.”

“I’m coming too!” Zhou Ziqin jumped up. “I need to quickly get on Dicui’s good side – her cooking is just too delicious!”

The three went downstairs together, leaving only Li Shubai, who stood up and went to the window to look down.

The excited Zhou Ziqin jumped around on Huang Zixia’s left side, constantly gesturing and talking about something.

Wang Yun walked to Huang Zixia’s right, occasionally turning to look at her, wearing his usual smile.

Li Shubai stood there, watching them until they left the West Market. In the midsummer sunlight, all of Chang’an radiated a kind of dazzling white light that made his eyes uncomfortable.

Jingyu and Jingyou stood behind him, neither understanding why he suddenly turned around, no longer looking outside.