She didn’t know how long had passed when she turned around to see Li Shubai watching her through the window. Who knew how long he had been standing there — only when she turned did he slightly lift his chin, gesturing for her to come in.

Huang Zixia quickly put away the fan and entered Jingyu Hall.

The room was quiet, the tea fragrance had dissipated. Jingyou had lit ice-crystal incense, making the small window suddenly feel cool.

Li Shubai gestured to the chair opposite him, and Huang Zixia sat down. Through the window, they saw Jingyou walking out of the courtyard, so Huang Zixia got straight to the point: “It seems we must solve this case within three days, otherwise once the body leaves the capital for burial, we’ll lose a major piece of evidence.”

Li Shubai nodded slowly and said: “You investigate freely first. If it doesn’t work out, leave it to me then — we cannot let the body be buried.”

Huang Zixia agreed, then continued: “Chen Niangniang came to find me this morning. I think if nothing unexpected happens, solving this case within three days shouldn’t be a problem.”

Li Shubai made an “oh” sound, his eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly as he looked at her: “Is that so? What did Lady Chen say today that led to such rapid progress?”

“First point, I suspect that corpse…” She habitually raised her hand to touch the hairpin on her head. Li Shubai watched from across as her hand pressed against her temple, then slowly lowered, a look of helplessness on her face.

The corner of his lips curved up almost invisibly as he took out a long, narrow brocade box from the drawer and placed it on the table, pushing it toward her with two fingers.

Huang Zixia looked at him puzzled, asking: “What is it?”

“Take a look,” he said.

“Is it related to the case?” she asked as she took it.

Li Shubai turned his head to examine the small red fish swimming quietly in the crystal cup on the table, speaking in a very impatient and cold tone: “I suppose so, to help you solve the case more easily.”

Huang Zixia opened the brocade box to find a hairpin lying on a silk brocade lining. She picked it up curiously to look — the pin was about five inches long, with a silver body and a jade-carved morning glory flower pattern with curled leaves at the front. Besides the beautiful and delicate pattern, she couldn’t see anything unusual about it, very suitable for a minor eunuch of the Prince’s mansion like herself to use.

But as soon as she held it, she felt the weight was off. Looking carefully, she immediately discovered the mechanism. She pressed the lowest curled leaf of the morning glory, and with a light click, the outer silver pin came off, revealing a thinner white jade pin inside, cool and smooth to the touch with a subdued luster.

She looked up at Li Shubai, hesitating for a long while before asking: “Is this… for me?”

Li Shubai made an affirmative sound, still not looking at her, his tone calm and detached: “You’re always touching your hairpin, then not daring to pull it out when you touch it — it’s annoying. Besides, if your hair comes loose, you could be discovered as a woman, which would be troublesome to deal with later.”

But Huang Zixia seemed not to hear his cold words, nor did she mind him saying she was annoying. She put away the box and looked at the person before her, saying sincerely and solemnly: “Thank you, Your Highness. This is what I need most right now.”

Seeing her about to put the box away, he said: “I don’t know if the craftsman understood my meaning — is it convenient for your daily use?”

“I just tried it, it’s very convenient. The craftsman did an excellent job.”

Seeing her bewildered expression, he could only remind her expressionlessly: “How would you know without trying it?”

“Oh…” Only then did she realize. Since she didn’t usually wear a gauze cap when going out anyway, typically just putting her hair in a bun, she directly held her hair, first removing Li Shubai’s gifted pin, then removing the original one inside, her hairstyle remaining perfectly neat.

She raised her hand again to pinch the pin head, sliding her fingers down along the morning glory pattern, squeezing and pressing at the curved pattern — the inner jade pin came out while the outer silver pin remained, her hairstyle completely undisturbed.

“It works very well, really nice,” Huang Zixia praised, then raised both hands to feel for the silver pin’s opening, putting the jade pin back in with a slight click to lock it.

Huang Zixia was so pleased that she didn’t even notice her sleeves sliding down when she raised her hands, revealing both fair wrists. She just stroked the hairpin on her head and smiled at Li Shubai: “Thank you, Your Highness! Now I can work out case details anytime, anywhere.”

“You’d better break this bad habit,” he said.

Huang Zixia ignored him and pulled out the middle jade pin again, saying: “Based on what Chen Niangniang said, I think two crucial points have emerged in this case.”

“Is that so?” Li Shubai poured her a cup of tea and pushed it toward her.

Preoccupied with the case, Huang Zixia didn’t notice and just drank it in one gulp, then pointed the hairpin at the table, looking at him steadily: “That female corpse that appeared in Yongshun Hall — it wasn’t Wang Ruo.”

“Mm, you mentioned doubts about this last time.”

“But now I’m certain — the person who died should be Jin Nu, whom Your Highness should have met, the pipa player from the Music Bureau who was close to Prince Zhao!”

“You’re certain?”

“Almost certain. I didn’t quite understand before about the peculiarity of the corpse’s right hand — why there was a thin callus under the little finger on the palm edge, what activity would regularly wear that spot — now I realize, it’s from using a pipa pick. The pick’s tail rests against the palm edge under the little finger, and years of friction there left a thin callus.”

“Though that makes sense, there are countless pipa players under heaven. How can you be sure it was Jin Nu?”

“Only because now, Jin Nu has disappeared, and her disappearance coincides with when that female corpse appeared in Yongshun Hall.”

Li Shubai nodded slightly: “Is there any more irrefutable evidence?”

“Yes.” Huang Zixia drew an arrow on the paper with her hairpin and wrote “Chongren Ward” beside it: “The night Jin Nu disappeared, the food Zhou Ziqin packed from Cuijin Tower poisoned several beggars.”

Zhou Ziqin had specifically come about this matter, so Li Shubai remembered it clearly. He nodded slightly: “That time, I remember you said Jin Nu was there too.”

“Yes, the food that Zhou Ziqin and I gave to the beggars was our leftovers. Everyone at the table was fine, and we delivered it directly to the beggars and watched them eat it immediately. There are only two possibilities — one is that something was wrong with the lotus leaves we used to wrap the food. But Zhou Ziqin said the arrow wood sap is extremely poisonous, leaves that touch it turn black, and all the lotus leaves we got were freshly washed and tender green, impossible to have been poisoned.”

Li Shubai nodded: “And the other possibility is that the poison was on your hands at the time.”

“Yes, there were three people who handled it — I was fine, Zhou Ziqin was perfectly well, and the only possibility is that the poison came from Jin Nu’s hands.” Huang Zixia sighed, “She was usually very tactful, but that day she complained about her hand being pricked by cherry stems —, that must have been from contact with arrow wood sap, the poison taking effect, her hands already feeling numb and itchy. Otherwise, no matter how well-maintained her hands were, how delicate her skin, how could she be pricked by cherry stems?”

“Can arrow wood poison still kill if it just touches the skin?”

“They say it can’t. So there’s still one thing I don’t quite understand — when did Jin Nu get poisoned? She had no wounds on her hands, and the poison didn’t seem to have entered through her mouth. Moreover, she was with us all evening but was poisoned just before leaving… Given arrow wood’s instant fatal effect when it meets blood, someone can’t have openly poisoned her in front of us. So how exactly was she poisoned, and when — I haven’t figured it out yet.”

“But at least the build matches, the hand characteristics match, the cause of death matches — it should be conclusive.” Li Shubai nodded, directly setting aside this question and asking, “What’s your second point?”

Huang Zixia drew a second arrow on the paper with the jade pin, pointing to the character “Xuzhou”: “Just as Your Highness previously suspected, this matter might indeed be related to those two young women you saved in Xuzhou.”

“Oh?” This time Li Shubai showed a slightly surprised expression.

“So Chen Niangniang and I are now waiting for someone to arrive in the capital. Once she arrives, this case should be easily solved.”

“Who?”

“Cheng Xuese — that is, the Cheng girl you saved in Xuzhou back then. I’m waiting for her, waiting for her to bring a painting. I think she will be the most convincing evidence in this case.”

Her expression was solemn, her tone very certain, already confident of success.

Li Shubai sat in Jingyu Hall, slightly raising his eyes to look at Huang Zixia before him. Sunlight filtered through the curtains onto her, for an instant making her whole body bright and translucent, that radiance seeming able to illuminate all the filthy darkness in the world that couldn’t bear scrutiny.

He slowly raised his head, leaning back against the chair, letting out a long breath, saying: “That’s good then. I hope the bet I placed on you will prove satisfactory.”

“I absolutely won’t disappoint Your Highness.” After all, overturning her family’s murder case still depended on the person before her, so Huang Zixia immediately declared her loyalty.

Unfortunately, Li Shubai seemed unconcerned with her loyalty, only asking: “What’s your next step?”

“I’ll try to break through from Jin Nu’s side. While it’s still early, I’ll go investigate Jin Nu’s quarters in the Outer Music Bureau first, see if there are any clues.”

“Under what authority will you search?”

Huang Zixia pondered briefly, saying: “I’ll say I’m a eunuch from a certain prince’s mansion, and my prince entrusted important items to Jin Nu, so I’ve come to search for them.”

Li Shubai said coldly: “You are not permitted to use the Prince Kui mansion’s warrant.”

Huang Zixia stood up and bowed to take her leave: “Don’t worry, Your Highness. I just need to say ‘a certain prince’s mansion’ and everyone will assume it’s Prince Zhao’s.”

“Hmph.” Seeing her already withdrawing, Li Shubai asked, “Not staying for dinner?”

“No need, if I delay any longer, it might be past curfew when I return.” As she spoke, she thought for a moment and turned back, saying, “To avoid using the mansion’s warrant, I request some case funds plus twenty coins.”

Li Shubai was surprised: “What are the twenty coins for?”

“To hire a carriage when returning to the mansion tonight.”

Li Shubai looked at her with a complex expression: “How did you become this poor?”

“Because since becoming Your Highness’s lowest-ranking eunuch Yang Chonggu, I’ve been penniless and destitute,” she said without any shame.

“Why not go to Jingyu at the accounting office for an advance?”

“By the time the approval comes through, it would probably be next month, and by then I’ll have my salary — distant water can’t quench present thirst!”

Li Shubai raised his eyebrows slightly, that eternally unperturbed face finally showing helplessness and vexation. He pulled open the drawer and took out a purse to throw to her.

“Thank you, Your Highness!” Huang Zixia caught it in one motion and ran off.