Qian Guansuo seemed quite indignant at their doubting his daughter. As he spoke, he stood up and went to the inner room, taking a long time with locks before returning with a proud expression, presenting a small box before them: “Look, this is what my daughter gave me.”

The box was made of purple sandalwood, intricately carved with flower patterns – already quite extraordinary. When the box was opened, both Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin were stunned.

Inside was a golden toad half the size of a palm, made of pure gold, squatting on a piece of jade. The small bumps on the toad’s body were various precious stones, and the dewdrop on the lotus leaf was a perfectly round crystal that rolled back and forth on the emerald leaf, quite charming.

Qian Guansuo said proudly: “I was shocked at the time, quickly tried to return the box to my daughter, telling her, ‘Xing’er, how can you just give me something so valuable?’ And guess what my daughter said? She said the Princess’s mansion has plenty of such things, this was just something the Princess didn’t care for and gave to her, and told me to just keep it. Then the maid beside her also said, yes, this was bestowed by the Princess, it’s fine to keep it.”

As he spoke, Qian Guansuo closed the box again, holding it to his chest with a sigh: “Ah, knowing Xing’er now lives such a wealthy life, and the Princess treats her so well, I’m at ease! I just hope someday she’ll truly meet me face to face, and call me father just once.”

Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin exchanged glances, saying: “Yes, that would be nice indeed.”

Qian Guansuo hugged the box, his face showing both heartache and comfort.

Huang Zixia said: “There’s something else I need to ask Manager Qian.”

“Please ask away, Eunuch Yang,” Qian Guansuo quickly said.

“I heard you gave some Sweet Flag incense to Changpu who manages the Princess’s mansion kitchen?”

“Oh, yes, that’s true.” Qian Guansuo nodded, “Xing’er was found with Changpu’s help, I had to thank her somehow, right?”

Huang Zixia smiled: “Manager Qian is truly refined – ordinary people would just give money, who would think to give Sweet Flag incense?”

“Ah, Changpu said accepting money from outsiders would be a serious offense. Then when I left the mansion, I happened to meet Lu Zhiyuan. Knowing I had found my daughter, he was happy for me too…”

Huang Zixia tensed slightly, asking: “You know Lu Zhiyuan too?”

“Yes, since last year I started a masonry crew, specializing in building houses and laying bricks. Many people want wall niches for candles when building houses, or need to mount candle holders on walls and such, so we’ve worked together before. When his daughter met with misfortune, I even advised him, telling him about my daughter’s story, urging him to cherish her and not mistreat her so, but unfortunately, that stubborn old man wouldn’t listen, ah.”

“So what did Lu Zhiyuan say to you?”

“He, well, he knew I wanted to find something to thank Changpu, and told me that women surely like flowers and fragrances and such. He happened to have just received a batch of Sweet Flag incense in his shop, really good stuff, prepared for the Buddhist assembly at Jianfu Temple, and if I wanted some, he could spare some for me. Hearing this, I thought it wasn’t bad, so I agreed. The next day I went to his shop and got six taels of Sweet Flag incense, gave it to Changpu, and as Lu Zhiyuan instructed, told her to burn about one tael before bed for peaceful sleep and calming the spirit.”

“Later, did anyone else from the Princess’s mansion ask you for Sweet Flag incense?”

“How did you know?” Qian Guansuo was greatly surprised, “About five or six days later, a eunuch from the Princess’s mansion, Wei Ximin, suddenly came to find me, saying I had improper dealings with the cook Changpu, and if I didn’t give him more this time, he would make trouble. I had a headache but could only take him to Lu Zhiyuan’s place, planning to buy more for him. But as soon as we met, Wei Ximin’s face turned quite ugly, constantly urging Lu Zhiyuan to give him the incense, saying he had matters to attend to and needed to leave immediately. Lu Zhiyuan kept rummaging around endlessly inside, and seeing Wei Ximin wasn’t someone to be trifled with, I quickly made an excuse and left first.”

Huang Zixia asked: “What day was that?”

“Let me think… about…” Qian Guansuo scratched his head for a long while before saying, “The day before the Buddhist assembly at Jianfu Temple. Yes, the day before that Buddhist assembly where a eunuch from the Princess’s mansion was burned to death.”

“The eunuch who was burned to death was this Wei Ximin – did Manager Qian know that?” Huang Zixia asked.

“Oh my… this is really…” Qian Guansuo was greatly shocked, his shoulders that had just risen immediately slumped again, “Noble ones, I’m telling the absolute truth! This had nothing to do with me! I just took him to Lu Zhiyuan’s shop and then left! Look, his shop isn’t far from me, and that Eunuch Wei and I were together for at most a moment… If there was any problem with this matter, it must have been with Lu Zhiyuan!”

“Then, were you also present when Leper Sun died in Daning Ward?”

Qian Guansuo’s face fell as he nodded: “The Court of Justice summoned me once about this too. But when I went in, Leper Sun was truly already dead! Dead and almost rotting! The Court of Justice already confirmed this matter had nothing to do with me, so they let me go… you see, my luck…”

As Qian Guansuo went on and on about his bad luck, Zhou Ziqin was too tired to write anymore and closed his notebook, looking at Huang Zixia.

Huang Zixia stood up and bowed to him: “Manager Qian, we’ve troubled you much today, please don’t mind us taking up so much of your time.”

“Not at all, not at all! Welcome to come again…” he said with a bitter face, “Of course, it would be better if next time you didn’t come for Court of Justice business.”

Stepping out of Qian’s Cart and Horse Inn, Zhou Ziqin complained: “So boring… hearing these same old stories over and over, where are the corpses for me to show my skills? Where is that moment of brilliant revelation in this case?”

“Investigation is naturally tedious work. What you need now is to pull out the most important threads from this tangled mess and reorganize everything,” Huang Zixia said as she continued walking forward along the West Market road.

Zhou Ziqin asked with a bitter face: “Where are we going?”

“Lu’s Incense and Candle Shop.”

“What… dealing with that terrible old man again?” Zhou Ziqin led Little Xia with an unwilling expression, “Sometimes I want to give him a hard slap on behalf of Dicui! Can you believe there are such horrible people in this world?”

“It’s too early to say anything before the truth comes out.” Huang Zixia tied her Fusha to a willow tree by the road and walked into Lu’s Incense and Candle Shop.

Lu Zhiyuan was working on candle wicks, cutting reeds one by one and arranging them neatly by thickness. Hearing someone enter, he didn’t even look up, only asking: “What do you want?”

“Old Lu, how’s business?” Huang Zixia asked.

Lu Zhiyuan finally slowly raised his head, glanced at her, then lowered his head to continue peeling his reed leaves: “Oh, it’s you.”

“Sorry to disturb you, old sir. We have more questions to ask, please don’t mind our repeated visits.” Seeing he didn’t acknowledge her, Huang Zixia pulled over a nearby stool and sat down with Zhou Ziqin.

Lu Zhiyuan didn’t speak, and she didn’t mind, only asking: “I heard Wei Ximin came to your shop to buy Sweet Flag incense the day before he died?”

He said slowly: “Incense and candles go together, this is naturally an incense and candle shop.”

“Could you describe in detail the circumstances of Wei Ximin’s visit that day?”

“That eunuch had been to my shop before, bringing silver from the Princess’s mansion. This time he was brought by Manager Qian, I thought it was about Dicui’s matter again, but who knew he asked for Sweet Flag incense right away, saying he had headaches and often couldn’t sleep at night, and Sweet Flag incense worked well. I only had two pieces left, so I sold them all to him, three taels and four qian in total, charged him 680 wen.”

“And after he bought it?”

“What do I care what happened to him? Business came, I did it, got paid, what else is there?”

Huang Zixia did not comment, only saying: “That night, Wei Ximin disappeared. The Princess’s mansion couldn’t find him, then the next day, he died at Jianfu Temple.”

Lu Zhiyuan slowly raised his head, staring at her with cloudy eyes: “Are you suggesting this has something to do with me?”

Huang Zixia looked at him without speaking.

Lu Zhiyuan ignored her and stood up, bundling several of the longest reed wicks together forcefully, wrapping them in hemp cloth to make one giant candle wick.

Zhou Ziqin asked: “Is such a big candle to replace the one that exploded at Jianfu Temple?”

“Yes, tonight I’ll cast the candle body, tomorrow I’ll attach the colored wax-carved flowers, birds, dragons, and phoenixes, apply gold and silver powder, and then it will be done.”

So making such a large candle, though it looked like an enormous project, was quite quick in the hands of someone skilled like Lu Zhiyuan. As Huang Zixia thought about this, she looked at the barrels of wax and said: “Old Lu is quite resourceful. You said before it took Jianfu Temple a long time to gather enough wax for two candles, yet now after just a few days, you’ve gathered enough wax yourself.”

“In all these years, this old man hasn’t saved much money, but I have saved some wax.” Lu Zhiyuan said as he slowly dragged the wick to the back. In the back, a huge pot was melting wax blocks, giving off an unpleasant smell.

He pulled out a candle mold as tall as a person, then brought out several barrels of different sizes. He climbed onto a stool and used a large copper ladle about a foot square to scoop up the melted wax, filling the candle mold and various barrels one by one.

Huang Zixia casually said: “Old sir, you’re in good health – almost sixty years old and still able to do such heavy work alone.”

“Hmph, young people these days can’t endure hardship, they run away after just two days as apprentices, what can you do?” Lu Zhiyuan said coldly, “When this old man was young, I was called to serve in the army, in the crossbow unit – I could handle a three-stone bow with one hand!”

“So the old sir once served the country.” Zhou Ziqin didn’t mind and brought the topic back around, asking, “This mold seems much smaller than the finished candle, doesn’t it?”

“Where would you find a ten-zhang-tall mold?” Lu Zhiyuan said while pouring wax, “These wax blocks in the barrels below will need to be poured out too, then joined together piece by piece, the uneven parts cut away, coated with a layer of wax, and it becomes one whole candle.”

Zhou Ziqin asked foolishly: “Then how do you get the wick inside?”

The old man glared at him: “The middle takes longer to freeze, so after stacking it, don’t hurry to trim the outside. While the middle is still somewhat soft, attach a heated iron point to the bottom of the wick and push it straight through – it’ll go right to the bottom in one go.”

“I see!” Zhou Ziqin exclaimed, “Indeed, every trade has its secrets!”

Just as Huang Zixia was thinking about how to question Lu Zhiyuan about Leper Sun’s death, suddenly there was a loud shout from outside: “Old Lu! Lu Zhiyuan!”

Lu Zhiyuan paid no attention, continuing to pour his candle.

The person at the door ran in frantically, stamping his feet and shouting: “Old Lu! Your daughter Dicui… she’s going to die!”

Lu Zhiyuan froze for a moment, his hands that had been steadily holding the copper ladle trembled, then he asked: “What? She’s not dead yet?”

“Not dead! But now she really will die!” At these words, Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin were both stunned.

“Your daughter went to the Court of Justice to confess, saying she killed the Princess’s mansion eunuch and Leper Sun!”