“Seventh Brother, what’s wrong?” Prince Zhao asked him.

But he was so distracted he couldn’t even attend to Prince Zhao’s question, merely pointing at the painting with trembling fingers, his voice uncontrollably strained: “That painting… what is that painting?”

Zhang Xingying looked back and quickly explained: “It’s a painting the late Emperor bestowed upon my father when he was summoned to the palace to check His Majesty’s pulse.”

Prince Zhao laughed: “The late Emperor’s calligraphy and paintings were exceptional. How could he possibly have painted something like this?”

“Yes, and this painting shows signs of being crumpled. I’ve secretly wondered if it might be paper used to blot excess ink from brushes that my father treasured as a find. Otherwise, what could these messy patterns be?” Zhang Xingying hurriedly said, “Besides, my father values this painting as much as his life. See, knowing I would face the Capital Defense Bureau’s test today, he took out the painting for me to burn incense and kowtow to, hoping the late Emperor’s spirit in heaven would bless me to pass the test.”

As he spoke, he turned to enter the room and took down the painting, preparing to put it in its box. Prince E Li Run stood up and followed him inside, asking: “May I have a look?”

“Of course!” Zhang Xingying respectfully handed the painting to him.

Seeing Prince E Li Run’s intense interest, everyone gathered around to examine the three ink marks closely.

They were merely three differently sized, haphazard scrawls, messily drawn on the paper. Huang Zixia studied it from different angles but couldn’t make out any meaning. However, when Prince E Li Run tilted the painting, she noticed a hint of crimson hidden beneath the thick ink. She looked more carefully at that spot, but even after studying it for a while, there was only that pinpoint of red, with everything else various shades of black.

Suddenly Prince Zhao clapped his hands and said: “I’ve figured it out!”

Zhou Ziqin quickly asked: “What has Your Highness figured out?”

“These are three people!” Prince Zhao pointed at the three ink marks, his expression animated as he explained, “Look, from left to right, the first one shows a person struggling on the ground, body twisted, and these irregular ink blots around them are burning flames! In short, it’s depicting someone being burned to death!”

With his interpretation, everyone looking at the ink blots seemed to make out the same thing. Only Zhou Ziqin, pointing at a twisted vertical line above the ink blot, asked: “Then what’s this long line?”

“Must be smoke…” Prince Zhao said uncertainly, then immediately thought of something else and slapped Zhou Ziqin’s shoulder hard, “It’s lightning, a thunderbolt! This person was struck by heavenly lightning and died a violent death!”

Before Huang Zixia’s eyes flashed the image of the person from yesterday at Jianfu Temple, who had caught fire in a lightning strike and burned to death.

Zhou Ziqin also seemed lost in thought: “Oh, I just remembered, wasn’t that eunuch Wei Ximin from the Princess’s mansion killed exactly like this yesterday, struck by lightning and burned alive? It matches this painting perfectly!”

“That is quite a coincidence,” Prince Zhao said.

Zhang Xingying said: “But this painting has been in our family for ten years now, and this is also the tenth year since the late Emperor’s passing. I don’t think the two could be related.”

“Indeed, what connection could there be between a eunuch who died yesterday and a painting from ten years ago? Just a coincidence,” Prince Zhao said casually.

Everyone agreed, and Wei Ximin was quickly forgotten.

Zhou Ziqin’s imagination was quite good too, and with Prince Zhao’s hint, he quickly pointed at the middle ink blot on the painting, exclaiming: “Now that you mention it, I think I can see it too! This second one also shows a person, look, these vertical lines seem to form a cage imprisoning them – probably a prisoner. These ink blots around them look like bloodstains, suggesting the person died in the cage.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, then turned their attention to the third ink blot. This one consisted of two masses, one above and one below, with the upper mass not resembling a person at all. As everyone was still looking, Zhang Xingying’s mouth fell open with an “ah.”

“You see something?” Prince E Li Run asked him.

He nodded repeatedly, saying nervously: “I think… I think this looks like… a large bird swooping down to peck at someone, while the person below is desperately trying to escape… There seems to be a bit of red under the black ink, like a tiny wound.”

“Yes, that’s what I thought too!” Prince Zhao nodded.

“So that’s it… so this is what the painting depicts?” Prince E Li Run muttered thoughtfully to himself.

Huang Zixia frowned slightly and asked: “But I have a question – why would the late Emperor paint something like this? What’s the meaning behind these three scenes?”

This question had no answer. Prince E Li Run rolled up the scroll and returned it to Zhang Xingying, saying: “Whether or not it’s the late Emperor’s work, it’s precious to your father, so keep it safe.”

“Yes.” Zhang Xingying hugged the scroll and put it back in its box, preparing to return it upstairs. As he turned, he froze, seeing Adi standing at the top of the stairs, lost in thought.

He saw that her face showed not just bewilderment, but also a twisted mixture of cruelty and satisfaction that made her whole appearance somewhat frightening.

He was startled, both alarmed by her expression and worried she might lose her balance and fall. After a moment’s hesitation, he quickly walked up and stood on the first step, asking: “Adi, what’s wrong?”

Adi’s blank gaze fell on his face as if still trapped in another realm. However, upon clearly seeing his features, her expression gradually relaxed. She lowered her head and said in a slightly hoarse voice: “I heard you all talking about… about the dying scenes in the painting, and… and it reminded me of that person we saw burned to death at Jianfu Temple yesterday. It seemed too horrible, and I… I think it frightened me a bit.”

“Ah, don’t worry, we were just describing that painting. Everyone was just talking casually.” He quickly consoled her.

Adi nodded, then slowly hugged herself and crouched down, muttering: “When will they leave… I need to go down and brew Uncle’s medicine.”

“Oh, I’ll handle my father’s medicine. Since you’re afraid of meeting people, just stay upstairs for a while.” Zhang Xingying said as he locked the cabinet containing the painting.

Leaving Zhang Xingying’s house, Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin bid farewell to Prince Zhao and Prince E together.

She noticed Prince E Li Run’s expression – this ethereal young prince now seemed distracted. Though he still forced a smile while saying goodbye, his eyes had changed, his gaze fixed on some distant void as if nothing else existed.

What was so strange about that painting that suddenly made Prince E so distracted?

Huang Zixia pondered this as she slowly rode Fusha alongside Zhou Ziqin, making their way back under the locust trees lining Chang’an’s streets.

In midsummer Chang’an, the locust shade brought coolness. Nameless birds occasionally sang softly in the trees.

Zhou Ziqin, riding beside her, reached out to pat her horse Fusha’s head, saying: “Chonggu, this isn’t so bad, don’t worry.”

“Huh?” Huang Zixia looked up at him.

“Though we can’t go to Shu Prefecture right now, isn’t Prince Kui still waiting for you? Once Princess Tongchang’s matter is resolved, maybe we can go to Shu Prefecture together.”

Huang Zixia sighed and said: “As you’ve seen, the death of Wei Ximin from the Princess’s mansion and today’s injury to the Prince Consort are both cases without leads. At least the Prince Consort’s case has some clues to follow, but the Jianfu Temple case – for now, we can’t even tell if it was deliberately caused by someone.”

“Exactly, but His Majesty dotes on Princess Tongchang. If she says to investigate, we have to investigate… Why don’t we just look into it casually and wrap it up in a few days?”

Huang Zixia reined in her horse, thought for a moment, and said: “We should go take a look sooner rather than later.”

“Look at what?” Zhou Ziqin quickly asked.

“Go to Jianfu Temple, see if there’s anything that needs attention.”

As she spoke, she turned her horse toward Jianfu Temple. Zhou Ziqin hurried to catch up: “Wait for me, I’m coming too!”

Unlike yesterday’s bustling scene, today Jianfu Temple was quiet and empty. Though the mess had been cleaned up, the trampled grass and broken flowers and trees still testified to yesterday’s chaos.

As Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin entered the main gate, they saw two monks carrying empty hemp sacks toward the liberation pond, shaking their heads and sighing.

Zhou Ziqin quickly asked: “Venerable ones, has something happened at the liberation pond?”

“Ah, it’s too tragic to speak of,” the monks sighed.

The two exchanged a glance and followed to look, only to be left speechless with shock at what they saw.

The liberation pond, spanning two hundred paces, was densely packed with dead fish, so crowded they formed not just one layer but a heap. In such hot weather, the belly-up fish beneath had rotted and swollen, threatening to push the fish above over the pond’s edges.

A powerful stench of rotting fish assailed them, causing both Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin to cover their noses and turn away, nearly vomiting.

The two monks shook their heads and sighed: “Merit, merit – everyone in the city wanted to accumulate merit, yet who knew all this merit would become a blade of killing instead!”

Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin took shelter under the eaves, watching the respectable monks cover their mouths and noses with cloth as they scooped up the fish with winnowing baskets, dumping them into hemp sacks.

Zhou Ziqin called from a distance: “Venerable ones, how will you dispose of these dead fish?”

“We’ll transport them outside the city and bury them deep,” the monk called back.

“What a huge pit that will need – such trouble!”

The two monks carried out a sack of dead fish, saying as they walked: “Amitabha, these fish are poisoned. This morning a cat snuck into the temple and ate one of the dead fish – it died instantly. If we don’t bury them deep, they’ll cause disaster.”

“Poisoned?” Zhou Ziqin and Huang Zixia exchanged glances. Both ignored the overwhelming stench, using their sleeves to cover their noses as they walked to the edge of the liberation pond to look at the fish.

Nothing could be determined from the mass of belly-up, half-rotted fish. Zhou Ziqin broke off a tree branch and used it to hook a dead fish by its gaping mouth, pulling it up and saying: “I’ll take this back to examine it.”

Huang Zixia frowned slightly, her gaze lingering on the crowded pond of dead fish for a long while before saying: “Logically speaking, even if the liberation pond was overcrowded, it’s impossible for all the fish to die in a single night.”

“So someone must have poisoned them,” Zhou Ziqin said angrily. “Who could be so cruel as to poison all the fish in the liberation pond?”

Huang Zixia remained silent in thought. Zhou Ziqin concluded: “Must be some twisted person who can’t stand seeing others do good – a truly evil person!”

Huang Zixia really couldn’t stand the overwhelming stench anymore and ran several steps toward the main hall: “You secure the fish first, let’s go look at where yesterday’s incident occurred.”