Behind them, Jingyu had already set up a wooden stool under a distant locust tree’s shade. Li Shubai walked back to sit down and washed his hands before settling in.
Jingyu laid out four types of tea snacks and opened the ice bucket to prepare cold drinks.
Huang Zixia held a cup of iced yogurt while watching Zhang Liu’er and his group jumping up and down frantically at the waterway entrance. Load after load of silt was being carried out from the waterway, piling up like a mountain. Fortunately, they were far enough away not to smell the stench.
Director Jiang walked to Li Shubai’s side with a delighted face, saying excitedly: “With this rule in place, the capital’s water problems will be solved at the root!”
“When the way rises one foot, the devil rises ten. Before long, they’ll find countermeasures—and they’ll probably start by working on Director Jiang first.”
Director Jiang immediately broke into a cold sweat, hurriedly saying: “This humble one will handle matters impartially, never daring to seek personal gain!”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m just worried Director Jiang might see their hard work and become lax in supervision. After all, this matter has already caused Chang’an’s citizens to lose their homes and lives.”
“Yes, this humble one knows his responsibility and will not slack off!”
When the sun approached noon, Zhang Liu’er, now covered in mud like a monkey, finally steeled himself to come over and stammer to Li Shubai: “Your Highness, now… it should be about done.”
Li Shubai nodded and stood up to walk to the waterway’s edge.
Zhang Liu’er took a bucket of water from beside him and splashed it over himself, washing off the mud from his clothes and face, then hunched down and entered the waterway.
This time he had truly put in real effort. Li Shubai had only slowly walked halfway along the waterway when Zhang Liu’er had already darted out from the exit, with surprisingly little mud on his body.
“Not bad. If it could always be like this, would I need to personally oversee it?” Li Shubai expressed his approval.
The surrounding crowd of onlookers discussed animatedly, all showing pleased expressions. Someone shouted at Zhang Liu’er: “Liu’er, you run pretty fast! Prince Kui should make you crawl through all the city’s waterways, haha~”
Another person said: “Liu’er crawling through is nothing, they should make Boss Qian crawl through, right?”
Among the cheering crowd, a short fat man stood there with his head ducked, looking miserable with a gloomy expression.
Li Shubai spotted him immediately and gestured to Huang Zixia.
Director Jiang was calling a group of people to collect their wages. Huang Zixia saw Zhang Liu’er, after receiving his payment, walk to the short fat man’s side, and they exchanged bitter smiles.
She walked to the short fat man’s side and cupped her hands in greeting: “Brother, may I ask your surname?”
Seeing a eunuch from Prince Kui’s side approach, the short fat man hurriedly put on a fawning smile: “Greetings, Public Official! This humble one is terrified… not knowing what business you have with me?”
Huang Zixia asked: “Are you the famous Qian Guansuo, Boss Qian of the capital?”
“Oh my, I wouldn’t dare! This humble one just runs a few shops, barely making a living, barely making a living.” He bowed repeatedly as if she were some great personage, his barrel-like waist somehow managing to bend into a semicircle, truly a rare sight.
Huang Zixia had seen all sorts of people, but someone being so subservient and bowing repeatedly to a eunuch was rare indeed. She felt somewhat helpless and said: “Boss Qian, I just have a few questions, no need for such ceremony.”
“Yes, yes, please ask, Public Official, this humble one will tell everything he knows without holding anything back!”
She gestured to the waterway ahead and asked: “Are you familiar with Zhang Liu’er?”
“To be honest, Public Official, this humble one… has a horse and carriage inn, and then hired some masons to help people with their houses, later I… I took on some jobs, coordinating with these brothers who clear the waterways in the capital, so…”
Seeing his difficulty in speaking, Zhang Liu’er simply said it directly: “Sorry, Public Official, it’s just that we laborers take private jobs outside the government office, and occasionally help Boss Qian with some work.”
Though the government employed these people, their taking private jobs wasn’t a secret—everyone turned a blind eye to it, so Huang Zixia didn’t mind either. But Qian Guansuo was trembling with fear, hurriedly saying: “This humble one is guilty! This humble one requests punishment from the Public Official! Please show mercy and spare this humble one’s life…”
“Boss Qian, this matter doesn’t concern me, I’m not here about this.” Huang Zixia was truly at a loss and had to gesture for him to step aside for a private word.
The two walked to a low wall nearby, and Huang Zixia asked: “Does Boss Qian know Sun Laizi?”
“No… no, I don’t.” At the mention of this, the flesh on Boss Qian’s fat face seemed to sag, looking extremely unsightly. “Public Official, spare me… This humble one truly only broke down his door in a moment of drunken impulse. Everyone present then can testify that when I went in, he was already dead and nearly rotting!”
“I know this. I want to ask where you were at noon yesterday?”
“At noon yesterday… I was collecting debts in Jing’an Ward! Many people can testify for me!” The fat on his face was trembling with excitement. “The Court of Judicial Review has already investigated this! Public Official, this humble one is truly unfortunate! Yesterday I even… even encountered a corpse! They say such bad luck lasts three years! What about this humble one’s business? I couldn’t sleep all night…”
“Then, have you ever met Princess Tongchang’s consort Wei Baoheng?” Huang Zixia interrupted his laments to ask.
He froze, his miserable expression frozen on his fat face, looking somewhat comical.
“You lied to the Court of Judicial Review people. You had met Consort Wei Baoheng before, hadn’t you?”
Qian Guansuo finally panicked, tremblingly pulling two silver pieces from his bosom and trying to stuff them into her hand, pleading: “Public Official, please spare me… I only met the Consort those few times, I… I didn’t even get to speak to him!”
“How many times in total?” Huang Zixia didn’t even blink, pushing the silver back.
“Two… two times!”
“Boss Qian, do you know the punishment for deceiving government officials, especially lying to Court of Judicial Review officers?”
“Three… three times! One time was just at the mansion gate, I barely caught a glimpse from afar, and this humble one quickly… quickly left… so this humble one only counted it as two times!” He was nearly crying, adding another silver piece to her sleeve.
Huang Zixia threw the silver back to him, smiling: “Alright, Boss Qian, I know you’re wealthy, carrying so much silver around. I’m just a eunuch, what use would I have for these? Why don’t you tell me in detail about the times you met the Consort?”
“He says he met him three times total. The first time was at the Capital Defense Office’s horse testing grounds, the one Your Highness mentioned to me before; the second time was inside the Princess’s mansion when his men went to repair the mansion’s waterways, he went to check, and the Consort told their stinking group not to disturb the Princess; the third time was outside the Princess’s mansion, he happened to see the Consort’s carriage coming and quickly avoided to a street corner, not daring to offend.”
Li Shubai listened and asked without comment: “Do you believe it?”
“Of course not. A merchant as opportunistic as Qian Guansuo would certainly try every possible way to get close to the Consort if given the chance, how would he hide on the side?”
Li Shubai neither agreed nor disagreed, and asked again: “How does he explain lying to the Court of Judicial Review?”
“He said that knowing the Consort had met with trouble, and it was related to the horses he bought for the Defense Office, the Consort had criticized his horses before, so he feared getting involved and simply said he’d never met him.”
“Sounds somewhat plausible.” He said, standing up, “It’s almost noon, let’s return to the mansion. Have the kitchen arrange lunch at Zhenliuxie Pavilion.”
Huang Zixia hesitated somewhat but didn’t dare speak up.
His gaze swept across her face: “What is it?”
“Zhou Ziqin and I agreed… to go to the… Capital Defense Office for lunch today.” She forced herself to tell him, feeling like she was sitting on pins and needles, anxiously adding, “To see if… there are any clues about the Consort’s case.”
Li Shubai’s eyes narrowed slightly, fixing on her for a moment.
Even the summer noon sun hadn’t made her sweat, but his single glance forced sweat from her entire body, and she didn’t dare raise her eyes.
Fortunately, it was just a moment before Li Shubai turned his gaze away, looking coldly at the sky and saying: “A royal mansion eunuch, mooching meals everywhere.”
She silently wept in her heart, thinking, isn’t it because… Your Highness, you keep me in poverty? Even to mooch meals at government offices requires connections!
“Yes… this servant knows their crime, this servant will go tell Zhou Ziqin…”
“No need, lest your body be in Cao’s camp while your heart is with Han, still thinking the Capital Defense Office’s food is so delicious.” He left her with that, turning and walking away without another glance.
It felt like… she hadn’t done anything wrong!
Huang Zixia felt utterly wronged. She had at least saved the Prince Kui mansion one meal’s worth of food, yet she didn’t know why this master was giving her the cold shoulder.
“Chonggu, what are you thinking about?”
Zhou Ziqin rushed to put a pork knuckle in her bowl, saying animatedly: “Look at this pork knuckle, half lean and half fat, exactly two inches from the tip of the pig’s trotter, the essence of the entire trotter is in this piece! Only someone of my talent could snatch the best piece of the knuckle among so many people!”
“In the middle of summer…” and yet they were eating pork knuckle, and Zhou Ziqin even insisted on getting it for her.
She looked at the table before her. The Capital Defense Office’s food was indeed good, with chicken, duck, fish, and meat all present. Today, to welcome the newly joined Zhang Xingying, they had even served roasted suckling pig.
“But speaking of which, Zhang Er-ge’s horsemanship is really good. It’s only his first day, yet he can control his horse freely. After a few more days when he’s more familiar with his horse, he’ll be among the best in the Defense Office!” Zhou Ziqin lowered his voice to discuss the earlier training scene with Huang Zixia.
Huang Zixia nodded, but before she could eat much, a group from the Capital Defense Office lined up to toast her.
“Public Official Yang, that last game of kickball opened our eyes, brothers!”
“Yes, truly miraculous skills! Admirable, admirable!”
“Come, Public Official Yang, let me toast you!”
“Brother Liu Si, don’t fight me for it! I was here first! Public Official Yang, please~”
Huang Zixia looked at the crowd of men waiting for her to drink, at a loss, when Wang Yun came over to scold them: “Is it because you couldn’t match Public Official Yang on the ball field that you’re trying to get even at the dining table? Public Official Yang is a busy person with cases to investigate this afternoon. If you get him drunk, see if the Court of Judicial Review doesn’t come after you!”
Everyone immediately showed respect: “Oh? Public Official Yang also solves cases?”
Zhou Ziqin patted Huang Zixia’s shoulder, prouder than if he had solved the cases himself: “The Four Directions Case that caused such a stir in the capital early this year, and last month’s case of two maids from the Wang family of Langya trying to harm Prince Kui’s consort, both were solved by Public Official Yang here.”
“Oh my! Our apologies!” The group of simple-minded men were instantly shocked, looking at her with eyes full of reverence. “Which major case requires the Public Official’s attention this time?”
“Come, Public Official, let’s drink another toast to your heroic deeds…”
“Get out, all of you!” Wang Yun laughed and scolded, driving the crowd away, then turned to look helplessly at Huang Zixia, “I’m sorry, the Defense Office is full of rough men, can’t be helped.”
“Not at all, it’s nice here.” It reminded her of when she was in Shu Prefecture, where her partner constables were just like this, enjoying making a ruckus even during meals, young people without any scheming.
Huang Zixia turned to look at Zhang Xingying, who should have been today’s main character. He wore a smile, but his expression was constantly drifting, his eyes looking somewhere unknown.
Huang Zixia sat down and asked him: “What’s wrong, still prefer Adi’s cooking?”
He hurriedly shook his head, saying: “This is very good, very good…” As if to prove his words, he stuffed a chicken leg into his mouth.
Huang Zixia pretended not to notice, picking up her bowl and eating the greasy pork knuckle while reminiscing about the dishes at Prince Kui’s mansion.