While everyone was busy serving him tea like attending to a savior, Huang Zixia, the actual eunuch, had nothing to do.

Having nothing else to occupy her, she used her hairpin to sketch out the layout of Jianfu Temple, calculating the circumstances of that time.

When the candle exploded after being struck by lightning, suspect Lu Zhiyuan was at home, with multiple witnesses including a doctor and neighbors confirming this, essentially ruling him out. Unless they could find a way he could harm Wei Ximin from halfway across Chang’an.

The second suspect, Zhang Xingying. The moment Wei Ximin caught fire coincided with when he approached the giant candle to retrieve Di Cui’s headdress. Could he have possibly knocked over the candle to burn Wei Ximin to death when he saw him, seeking revenge for Di Cui?

The third suspect, Lu Di Cui. Since Wei Ximin was near the candle, he must have also been close to Di Cui. Her family had been making candles for years – perhaps she had a way to make nearby candles explode in a short time?

She thought for a moment and drew out a fourth possibility: Zhang Xingying and Lu Di Cui working together to kill Wei Ximin in Jianfu Temple.

After hesitating, she wrote down a fifth possibility: Lu Zhiyuan conspiring with Di Cui, putting on an act in public while killing Wei Ximin.

But looking at the fifth possibility, she sighed and slowly crossed it out.

So these were the possibilities that had surfaced so far.

She then took out the investigation materials from the Court of Judicial Review that Li Shubai had passed to her, comparing the names listed on the paper one by one.

This was a list of all relevant persons present and absent when Prince Consort Wei Baoheng was injured, including stable hands from the Defense Bureau and cleaners from the polo grounds, all listed with their past interactions with the Prince Consort as per Huang Zixia’s request.

However, looking at the rows saying “never met the Prince Consort,” “met once at the ministry gate,” “once fed hay to the Prince Consort’s horse” and such, she couldn’t help but hold her head and sigh deeply, feeling overwhelmed.

“What’s wrong? You look even more troubled than me.”

That cool, clear voice from behind could only be Li Shubai.

She said helplessly, “If only I could be like you, knowing everyone in the capital like the back of my hand.”

“How could that be possible? With a million people in the capital, even if I went out every day I couldn’t see them all—besides, no one can truly understand another person, even living together day and night, it’s impossible.”

As he spoke, he took the stack of papers from her hands, looking through them quickly.

He read very fast, scanning ten lines at a glance, then returned them to her, pointing at someone on one page, saying, “This person, you might want to investigate in detail.”

Huang Zixia looked down to see it was a man named Qian Guansuo, forty-two years old, owner of Qian’s Carriage and Horse Shop. That black horse with the broken hoof had come from his establishment.

When the Court of Judicial Review investigated, he had responded thus—

This horse came from Zhang Ye, purchased from the Huo family horse farm last April. It arrived in the capital in June, rested for two months, then was delivered to the capital’s Defense Bureau in early September. Being strong and well-trained, it had even received praise from Commander Wang. As for the horse’s broken foreleg, that was an issue with the horseshoe, absolutely unrelated to this batch of horses he had transported.

When asked if he had any dealings with the Prince Consort, he firmly denied it, claiming he had never had the honor of meeting the Prince Consort.

Huang Zixia was slightly surprised and asked, “Your Highness means the cause of the Prince Consort’s incident is related to that horse’s origins?”

“No, I mean—” his finger pointed to the latter statement, “this Master Qian has met the Prince Consort once.”

Huang Zixia raised her eyebrows and asked, “How does Your Highness know?”

“When that group of horses arrived, Wang Yun invited me and several others from the Ministry of War to try them out. Prince Consort Wei Baoheng was there too. During the trial, I heard Wei Baoheng complain that the frontier people’s accents were wrong, saying it would take a year or more for the horses to get used to the capital’s commands. Everyone present laughed at Prince Consort’s words, but only one short, stout man leading a group of horse trainers seemed lost in thought. Soon after, I heard jokes around the capital about how the horse trainers at Qian’s shop were struggling to practice official speech, and in their misery, several cursed their boss Qian as a short fat man in the streets, so I figured the owner of Qian’s shop, Qian Guansuo, must have been that man.”

Huang Zixia nodded: “Yes, in the Court’s records, others admitted even to feeding Prince Consort Wei’s horse. Since he concealed this meeting, he must have something to hide.”

Seeing she had taken note, Li Shubai said no more, only turning to signal the Ministry of Works staff to take away the account books, saying, “I’ve temporarily cut several expenses, gathering over twenty-five thousand taels of silver, which should be enough to repair all of Chang’an’s waterways once.”

The Minister of Works smiled bitterly: “Thank you, Your Highness, but… there will be much rain this year. I fear that after we gather the money for this waterway clearing when heavy rains come again in a few days, some waterways will inevitably become blocked. At that time, could Your Highness help us raise money again?”

“Once is enough, I guarantee Chang’an will not block up again this year.” As he spoke, he turned to signal Huang Zixia to return to the mansion with him, “Tomorrow, call the workers and supervisors, I will announce new regulations that will prevent them from cutting corners and being lazy.”

Huang Zixia followed Li Shubai back to the prince’s mansion.

As the carriage drove smoothly through Chang’an’s streets, Li Shubai casually asked her, “I couldn’t ask earlier – did Empress Wang give you trouble today?”

Huang Zixia made a bitter face and said, “Of course she did. She asked a minor eunuch like me to help her return to Penglai Hall in the Daming Palace.”

He said lightly, “That message was meant for me, you needn’t take it to heart.”

“Yes… there was nothing else beyond that.”

Li Shubai asked, “She specifically summoned you just to relay such a brief message?”

Huang Zixia nodded.

Li Shubai’s expression remained unchanged, but his eyes showed a slight change, and he frowned slightly.

But he didn’t say anything, and she couldn’t ask. Her gaze wandered unconsciously outside the window. The various wards of Chang’an passed by one by one, some with high walls, some low, the lowest barely reaching half a person’s height.

So when passing through Daning Ward, she saw two people flash past the window.

Inside Daning Ward’s waist-high wall, a woman stood uneasily there. Though her profile was somewhat blurred in the already heavy dusk, it made Huang Zixia immediately stand up and jump down from the carriage without even calling Uncle A Yuan.

Fortunately, being on the street, the carriage wasn’t moving fast. She was very agile, and after jumping down, steadied herself after a slight stumble.

Li Shubai glanced at her through the carriage window and signaled to Jing Yu beside the carriage.

The carriage turned a corner, slowly stopped, and waited for Huang Zixia in the corner.

Huang Zixia crouched and walked along the wall to where the two people were, quietly listening to their conversation.

With his back to the wall was a man with a rich, mellow voice, saying, “Miss Di Cui, you’re not even wearing a headdress and came here alone – what are you trying to do?”

The person who had caught Huang Zixia’s attention in the deep dusk was indeed Di Cui.

The person standing opposite her had a voice that seemed very familiar to Huang Zixia, but at this moment she had no time to ponder this, only holding her breath to listen to what followed.

Di Cui stood panic-stricken before that person, her voice revealing her extreme nervousness: “You… what do you want with me?”

He silently gazed at her for a long while before speaking, but didn’t answer her question, only asking, “You want to kill Sun Laizi, right? That’s why you’re not wearing a headdress – you’re planning not to return, aren’t you?”

Di Cui stood rigidly before him, not moving or speaking a word.

“That man who just left—Zhang Xingying, he came with the same intention as you, didn’t he?” As he spoke, he suddenly laughed softly, “Sun Laizi should feel honored in the underworld, having so many people come to kill him on the same day – he’s become quite popular, how amusing.”

The sky had grown darker, and Di Cui’s face and figure had merged into the night. Chang’an’s curfew drums were beating one by one, announcing the approaching night ban.

Di Cui raised her hand to clutch at her collar, saying in a trembling voice: “I… don’t know what you’re talking about… I, I need to go.”

“What are you afraid of? The person you hated most has already died in his airtight cage as you wished – shouldn’t you be happy?”

Di Cui said nothing more. She suddenly turned and walked toward the ward gate not far away.

“Di Cui, wait…” he called after her, his voice gentle as he caught up to her in a few steps.

She turned to look at him in fear, unconsciously stepping back.

But he crouched before her, reaching out to brush some dirt from her skirt, saying, “You didn’t notice, did you? It’s better not to get dirty.”

Di Cui unconsciously pulled at her skirt and stepped back, saying in confusion: “I… I can take care of it myself.”

She seemed extremely fearful of the person before her, backing away several steps, then suddenly turning and running toward the ward gate.

The man stood up, watching her figure disappear into the darkness, and stood silently for a long while before saying as if to himself: “Once dead is dead, and you’ll never find someone similar again, isn’t that right?”

Huang Zixia crouched by the wall, listening as his footsteps slowly went the other way. She was still crouching there lost in thought when someone behind her asked, “Aren’t you leaving?”

Recognizing Li Shubai’s voice, she turned to find, to her shock, that the noble Prince Kui was crouching there with her eavesdropping. She stammered in surprise, “Your… Your Highness!”

He didn’t respond, only heading toward the carriage in the alley.

Huang Zixia followed behind him, asking softly, “Did Your Highness recognize who that person was?”

“Didn’t you recognize him?” he asked in return.

Huang Zixia nodded, and after a long while, finally said: “The Princess… is more beautiful than her.”

Li Shubai gave a slight snort, unwilling to discuss these matters, and changed the subject: “From their conversation, it seems Sun Laizi is dead.”

“Yes, I’ll go inquire about it right away.” Huang Zixia said, about to return to the Court of Judicial Review for news.

Li Shubai called after her: “Yang Chonggu.”

She turned to look at him, slightly surprised.

“What’s the rush?” Li Shubai frowned slightly and said, “Even the biggest matters can wait until after eating. Besides, someone will surely come running soon.”

Huang Zixia also felt that after running around all day, she was truly tired and hungry, so she could only silently follow him into the carriage.