He walked over with a smile, lifting his arms to embrace the child who was eagerly rushing toward him, holding him close while saying with a laugh, “So it’s Abao, you still remember me?”

Huang Zixia silently stepped back, hiding behind the large tree at the Court of Justice entrance to avoid making the scene awkward.

The Zhang family recognized him as the benefactor who had returned their child and hurried forward to thank him.

Yu Xuan raised his hand to shield the child’s head from the sun, carrying him into the tree’s shade. Zhou Ziqin quickly approached, his face full of admiration: “What is your honorable surname, brother? Last time when Second Brother Zhang kept saying you were like a celestial being, I didn’t believe it, but seeing you today, I completely believe it!”

Hearing this, he only smiled slightly and said, “It was nothing worth mentioning.”

He showed no intention of announcing his name, but Zhou Ziqin was undaunted: “I’m Zhou Ziqin, and I live in Chongren Ward next to Dong Zhongshu’s tomb. May I know your esteemed name and where you live? I have quite a few friends in the capital who would surely love someone like you, brother. In the future, we could get together to compose poetry, drink wine by flowing streams, play cuju ball, go on spring outings, explore mountains and waters… By the way, what’s your name? How should I address you?”

When encountering someone like Zhou Ziqin, it was almost impossible to shake him off, so he could only put the child down and bow with clasped hands: “I am Yu Xuan, an instructor at the Imperial Academy.”

“What? You’re an Imperial Academy instructor?” Zhou Ziqin jumped up upon hearing this. “That’s so unfair! When I was at the Imperial Academy, they were all white-bearded old men! If there had been an instructor like you then, would I have spent every day skipping class to raid birds’ nests?”

Yu Xuan explained: “I was recommended to come to the capital just over ten days ago. Thanks to the Chancellor’s favor, I’m temporarily teaching the Zhou Rites.”

“That’s amazing! How could someone so young become an Imperial Academy instructor? I still can’t even recite all of the Zhou Rites.” At this point, Zhou Ziqin paused, then asked, “An Imperial Academy instructor… Yu Xuan?”

He nodded, saying nothing more.

Huang Zixia saw Zhou Ziqin’s complex expression of both surprise and curiosity, knowing he must have recalled the capital’s rumors about Yu Xuan having an unusual relationship with Princess Tongchang.

A feeling of melancholy welled up in her heart, making her unconsciously lean against the tree behind her, silently listening to her breathing.

Yu Xuan paid no attention to Zhou Ziqin’s strange mood. He continued smiling, bending down to pat Abao’s head, then said to Zhang Xingying and Zhang Xingwei: “I have some matters at the Imperial Academy to attend to, so I must leave now.”

Zhang Xingying quickly pulled Dicui forward, saying: “This is my… fiancée. We’re getting married soon. When the time comes, please come drink at our wedding feast – you must come!”

Yu Xuan glanced at Dicui, smiling and nodding, but saying nothing.

However, Abao held onto his hand, refusing to let go, calling out: “Brother, Brother…”

Yu Xuan turned back, crouching down to be at eye level with Abao, smiling as he said: “Be good now. Didn’t you like eating lotus pods before? Brother will go look for some, and if I find any, I’ll buy them for you, alright?”

Abao tilted his head to think, then released his sleeve and nodded, saying: “Okay, I want two.”

“Three would be no problem.” Yu Xuan smiled, ruffling his hair before standing up to bow to them, then turning to walk toward the connecting road ahead, disappearing around a corner.

Zhou Ziqin gave his reverent evaluation: “A man who’s very good with children.”

Huang Zixia leaned against the tree, speaking as if to herself in a low voice: “Yes… someone who’s always known how to deceive children.”

For an instant, a flash of summer lotus in the evening light dazzled before her eyes. Her younger self looking up at Yu Xuan as he bent down to look at her, his deep clear eyes perfectly reflecting her image – but then it vanished in a flash, never to be seen again.

She took a deep breath, making sure she had calmed down before walking out from behind the tree.

As soon as Zhou Ziqin saw her, he boasted: “Chonggu! Where were you just now? Did you see that person? In my twenty years in Chang’an, I’ve never seen anyone so radiant and outstanding – if you missed seeing him, it would be such a shame!”

Before Huang Zixia could figure out how to answer, a rider came galloping from the direction of Daming Palace, jumping down from his horse and rushing inside: “His Majesty has a verbal decree! Where is Junior Minister Cui Chunzhan of the Court of Justice?”

Cui Chunzhan hurried out from inside, greeting the palace messenger: “Gongong, what are His Majesty’s instructions?”

The eunuch was Feng Yiquan, a close attendant to the Emperor, and his loud voice carried inside and outside the office: “His Majesty decrees that the criminal who murdered Princess Tongchang shall be executed by lingchi; his entire family, regardless of age, shall be executed and their property confiscated.”

Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin exchanged shocked glances.

Zhang Xingying and Dicui tightly gripped each other’s hands, feeling each other’s palms cold with sweat, sticking together.

Zhou Ziqin moved closer to Huang Zixia, asking in a low voice: “Should we continue investigating?”

Huang Zixia asked in return: “What do you think?”

“That’s nonsense – how can we give up when the truth of the case hasn’t come out yet?” Zhou Ziqin asked passionately, pressing his clenched fists to his chest.

Huang Zixia nodded, saying: “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Zhou Ziqin quickly asked.

“Daning Ward, Sun Laizi’s house.”

When Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin arrived at Sun Laizi’s house, a sturdy middle-aged man was already standing there anxiously waiting. As soon as he saw them approach, he hurried forward, asking: “Are you Yang Gongong? I am Chu Qiang from Qian’s Inn, the one who helped repair Sun Laizi’s house – I led the brothers who did the work.”

“Oh, Manager Chu.” Huang Zixia greeted him while Zhou Ziqin was already tearing off the seals on the door.

Inside, everything remained as it was before, but after several days without opening the doors, the air was even more stifling, heavy with the smell of mold.

Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin inspected the doors, windows, and floor again, then said to Chu Qiang: “Your work was indeed well done – the doors and windows are very secure.”

“Yes, that’s why although Qian’s repairs are recent, we have a great reputation in the capital. Everyone likes to call us to do the work!” Chu Qiang said rather proudly, patting the solid wooden window board. “Look at these windows – once latched, even an iron bar couldn’t break them open! And look at this door bolt – four or five strong men couldn’t break through!”

Huang Zixia nodded in agreement while walking around the room once more.

The room was still a complete mess, with various talismans, Buddha images, and wooden carvings still hanging on the walls. Chu Qiang pointed at these things and said: “These were already on the walls when we came. Sun Laizi did something unconscionable, so he put these things everywhere – they say he was afraid of divine punishment!”

Huang Zixia asked: “You knew he had no money and wasn’t a good person, so why did you agree to help him repair his house and reinforce the doors and windows?”

“Ah, it was because we heard that Sun Laizi had a lot of money – the candle shop’s Old Lu said he paid him quite a sum, which is why he let Sun Laizi off. I thought since he had money, why not take the job, so I agreed. Who knew this bastard would be penniless after paying compensation? Not only did I get cursed out by Master Qian, but now the man’s dead – it’s become an uncollectible debt!” Chu Qiang said with a regretful, irritated expression. “That Lu Zhiyuan is terrible – he originally came along to install lamp holders, but as soon as he saw it was Sun Laizi’s house, his face changed completely. He pointed at Sun Laizi and cursed him out, then left without installing the lamps, but he never told us Sun Laizi had no money left!”

Zhou Ziqin had no interest in these disputes over a few hundred or thousand coins. While they were talking, he had taken down the wooden tablet of the Compassionate Navigator, the picture of the Child-Giving Guanyin from the bedhead, and several messy talismans from the wall to examine them, but found no holes behind any of them – the walls were still intact walls, much to his disappointment.

Huang Zixia said: “The outer walls are intact – how could there be holes inside?”

“Just in case.” As he spoke, he stood on the doorstep, reaching for the small iron plaque of Mulian Saving His Mother nailed above the door.

Unexpectedly, when he tried to take it down, the seemingly hung plaque didn’t move at all. Zhou Ziqin made a surprised sound and knocked on it hard, discovering it was a narrow box embedded in the wall.

Chu Qiang quickly said: “Ah, that can’t be taken down – it’s a small iron box built into the wall, it’s the door’s top frame.”

“Top frame? What’s it for?” Zhou Ziqin asked.

Chu Qiang explained: “Originally, our Master Qian learned it from Western merchants. They say people there like to decorate their doors with a hollow, narrow iron box as wide as the door, creating a buffer between the wooden door and earthen wall so the door frame won’t easily deform. Now they’re made with openwork patterns and look quite beautiful above doors. It gradually became popular in the capital – we ordered over a hundred from the blacksmith’s shop, and in less than a year, they’re almost all used up. This one was just randomly picked at the time, the pattern seems to be… Mulian is Saving His Mother, right?”

“Seems like it.” Zhou Ziqin grabbed a stool and stood at eye level with the iron box, saying, “It’s even openwork, though it’s a shame it’s so black – it would look much better with some paint.”

The iron box was elongated, as long as the door but only about two inches high. The side facing the door interior was openwork, carved with the story of Mulian Saving His Mother, while the outer side was solid, painted with auspicious patterns, though the design was gray-black and cracked, looking quite ugly.

“There was paint… hey, I gave him a new one, how does it look like it’s been used for years? Who made it so pitch black?” Chu Qiang looked up at the blackened iron box with furrowed brows. “What’s going on – it’s only been a few days, how did it get so black with smoke? It was colorfully painted before!”

Zhou Ziqin peered through the openwork pattern into the box, frowning: “It’s so dirty… all black ash.”

Huang Zixia brought over a stool from the side and stood next to him to look into the iron box. The paint on the outside showed a scorched black as if burned by fire, and inside was indeed full of black ash, with several finger marks visible in the corners where something had been wiped.

“Someone reached their fingers through the openwork to take something out from inside,” Huang Zixia said, then turned to ask Chu Qiang, “Can this box be opened?”

Chu Qiang said: “The iron is very thin – if you want to open it, you can just cut it with scissors.”

Zhou Ziqin found a rusty pair of scissors in the room and cut open the outer Mulian pattern. Inside was just an iron frame containing several thick clumps of black ash, with several scraped marks visible on top of the ash.

Zhou Ziqin pointed at the larger mark, saying: “This looks like something round was pulled out.”

Then pointing at a thin mark, he said: “This looks like a small wire or something.”

Huang Zixia frowned, comparing the size of the larger round mark as she asked: “Have you noticed that, judging by the size of this drag mark, this large round object definitely couldn’t have fit through such small openwork holes?”

Zhou Ziqin measured the round mark with his finger, then compared it to the openwork iron piece he had cut off, looking confused: “True… even the largest openwork gap isn’t as big as the round mark! Look, the longest openwork is these few cloud wisps, maybe two or three inches long, but they’re flat…”

“So this object wasn’t round, it just had this kind of arc,” she said, then scraped some of the black ash down, smelling it in her palm before involuntarily breaking into a smile: “Linglingxiang.”

In the dark, dilapidated room filled with dusty air, her smile at discovering the truth was clear and transparent. Zhou Ziqin stared briefly, transfixed by the smile on her face.

Huang Zixia took out a handkerchief from her sleeve, scraped several clumps of black ash into it, and wrapped it up. Looking up to see Zhou Ziqin still staring at her, she couldn’t help asking: “What’s wrong?”

“Oh…” Zhou Ziqin quickly shifted his gaze to the side, clumsily scraping at the black ash, saying, “I’ll, I’ll take some back to examine too, to see if it’s Linglingxiang.”