The beef noodle soup at this restaurant was indeed delicious; they both had large bowls. Today there were no other customers, and the owner and his wife sat in the shop watching these two customers—a young eunuch and a young master. The eunuch’s brows were lightly raised, possessing an androgynous beauty, eating while listening to the young master speak, expressionless. The young master wore clothes of crimson paired with slate blue, a gaudy clash of colors, with seventeen or eighteen ornaments hanging from his body: sachets, fire stones, small knives, jade pendants, gold medals, and silver charms—from a distance, he looked like a peddler.
What a strange pair of companions.
After finishing the meal, Huang Zixia walked out of the shop into the crowded street. She spotted someone hurriedly walking through the crowd and couldn’t help calling out softly: “Zhang Xingying?”
Zhou Ziqin asked curiously: “Who is he? Do you know him?”
“Mm… he once helped me, and he was implicated because of me.” She sighed, then unconsciously began following him.
Zhou Ziqin didn’t understand but, seeing her quietly following, kept quiet and just followed Zhang Xingying with her through the bustling crowd.
Zhang Xingying carried a mud-covered sack as he slowly walked into Puning District. Huang Zixia, who had known the capital well in her youth, remembered there was a huge locust tree that took two people’s arms to encircle in Puning District, and Zhang Xingying’s home seemed to be near that tree.
Indeed, the locust tree was still lush with branches and leaves, and Zhang Xingying’s home was right beside it. It was early summer, and several women sat on stone benches under the tree, doing needlework while chatting and watching their children play.
Huang Zixia slowly approached Zhang Xingying’s house. Though the courtyard wall was only waist-high, it had a person-high hedge growing on top that perfectly concealed her figure. She peered through gaps in the branches and saw Zhang Xingying emptying the contents of the sack—freshly gathered medicinal herbs—spreading them on the courtyard’s blue stones to dry.
An old woman nearby noticed her and asked: “Sir, who are you looking for?” Unable to recognize the eunuch’s attire, she thought Huang Zixia was a civil servant and asked with a smile, though she barely dared glance at Zhou Ziqin, as if afraid to be blinded by the glare of his gold, silver, and jewels.
Huang Zixia quickly said: “I’m Second Brother Zhang’s friend, just came to see how he’s doing.”
“Oh, Zhang family’s second son? Wasn’t he dismissed from Prince Kui’s mansion? He’s now at Duanrui Hall with his father, supposedly as an apprentice, but they say he’s just doing odd jobs. Sometimes when they’re short on herbs, he even has to go to the mountains with the herb gatherers,” the old woman, being naturally talkative, spilled everything at once. “Didn’t they say he did something wrong at the Prince’s mansion and was sent back after three hundred military strikes? Why are you two still looking for him…”
“Twenty military strikes,” she said helplessly. Rumors were ridiculous—how could anyone survive three hundred military strikes?
“Oh, well, anyway, he was sent back. Must have made some mistake. Some people say…” The old woman’s tone became excited and mysterious as she probed, “They say it has something to do with the death of Prince Kui’s consort?”
Huang Zixia was even more speechless: “That’s nonsense. When he left, the Prince’s consort hadn’t even been chosen yet.”
The old woman shook her head and sighed, “Ah, such a good young man, handsome and tall—how else could he have joined Prince Kui’s honor guard? Only the cream of the crop gets selected! When he first went, everyone was so envious, but who would have thought that in just a few months, he’d be sent back.”
Huang Zixia stood there dazed for a moment before saying softly: “It’s not such a big deal. Prince Kui’s mansion might still call him back.”
“Could that happen? But they all say Prince Kui is extremely strict with his subordinates—how could he possibly let someone who made a mistake return?” The old woman looked around and immediately put on a gossip expression, speaking in a low voice. “Oh my, you don’t know! Before, more than ten families in our neighborhood tried to arrange marriages, wanting to marry their daughters to him. Now look—even the marriage that was being discussed has gone quiet—See, he’s not even as good as my son, who started learning early at Carpenter Liu’s shop and is almost finished with his apprenticeship!”
Huang Zixia remained silent for a long while before turning to leave. The old woman called from behind: “Aren’t you going in? He’s home today.”
“No, thank you, grandmother.” Huang Zixia said, turning to leave. She heard the old woman muttering behind her: “Such a fine young man, just a bit feminine-looking, like one of those little eunuchs from the palace.”
Zhou Ziqin couldn’t help laughing out loud, but Huang Zixia was in no mood to pay attention to him. They left Puning District, walking through streets and alleys. Only when they reached the broad Vermilion Bird Street did she come to her senses and say to Zhou Ziqin: “Thank you for helping me check the records at the Ministry of Personnel today. When there are new leads, we’ll meet again.”
Seeing her downcast mood, Zhou Ziqin patted her shoulder saying: “Come on, your friend called what… Zhang Xingying, right? Don’t worry, I’ll help you sort it out.”
Huang Zixia looked up at him in surprise.
“I’ve been around the capital for years and know quite a few people in the Six Ministries. A buddy of mine just told me that the Capital Defense Commission’s mounted patrol is looking to expand its ranks. You know how it is—among all the government offices, the mounted patrol is the most prestigious. Riding horses through the streets on patrol every day, wearing uniforms and carrying swords, lots of young women and wives peeking from their doorways—finding a wife definitely won’t be a problem. Plus, the monthly salary is good. It’s such a cushy position that many people are desperate to pull strings to get in. If your friend wasn’t tall, handsome, and upright, I wouldn’t dare recommend him!”
“Really?” Huang Zixia asked delightedly.
“Of course! The head of the Capital Defense Commission’s mounted patrol is my sworn brother—leave it to me!” Zhou Ziqin guaranteed, patting his chest. “Once this case is settled, we’ll take you to meet Captain Xu Congyun.”
“Thank you so much!” Huang Zixia was very moved, looking up at him saying, “If this really works out, I’ll do anything to repay you—just name it!”
“Haha, just let me talk freely when we eat together.” Seeing Huang Zixia’s embarrassed expression, he patted her back and laughed, “Just kidding! It’s nothing worth mentioning. After all, you’re the person I respect most after Huang Zixia—if you need anything, just ask!”
Huang Zixia nearly coughed up blood from his pat, her mouth twitching as she smiled at him, saying: “In that case, after this case is over, I’ll host a banquet for you at Cuijin Tower. Then you can say whatever you want, and I’ll listen respectfully!”
“That depends on whether you have money! I heard you’ve only been working at Prince Kui’s mansion for a short time—have you even received your monthly salary yet?” He said, then pointed at himself with his thumb. “But lucky for you, young master here happens to have some spare change. Feel free to come to me, and I’ll treat you to the best food and drink…”
“Since when did people from Prince Kui’s mansion need your support?” Someone asked beside them. That cold, indifferent tone carried an invisible pressure that made Huang Zixia’s scalp tingle. She turned to look—sure enough, it was Li Shubai.
Li Shubai’s carriage had stopped at the street corner, and he lifted the curtain to look at them. His expression was calm, showing no particular signs, but Huang Zixia still felt traces of displeasure in his eyes, so she could only choose to stand there with her head lowered, silently inching closer to this inscrutable Prince Kui.
The carefree Zhou Ziqin remained completely oblivious, smiling and nodding to Li Shubai: “What a coincidence, Your Highness is passing through here too?”
“Just returning from escorting the Turkic envoys to their lodgings,” Li Shubai said casually.
The capital’s guest house was visible in the distance. Zhou Ziqin thought nothing of it, pointing at Huang Zixia and saying to Li Shubai: “Your Highness, look at Chonggu—he’s always so stern-faced, but if you hadn’t happened to pass by, you wouldn’t have seen how truly beautiful his smile is, like a spring breeze across blooming peach and plum blossoms. Your Highness should command him to smile more often.”
Huang Zixia felt her face about to twitch—it was clearly a forced smile, and clearly, Prince Kui’s face had darkened like storm clouds after seeing it, yet Zhou Ziqin still couldn’t sense it. What terrible observation skills.
“Is that so?” Li Shubai glanced sideways at Huang Zixia, asking, “What good news made Yang Chonggu’s stone face break into a smile?”
“Nothing, just… he helped me with something,” Huang Zixia quickly said.
Seeing Zhou Ziqin nod, Li Shubai didn’t pursue it further, but still looked at Huang Zixia with a stern face, asking: “Did you find anything at the Ministry of Personnel today?”
“We made a huge discovery today!” Zhou Ziqin said excitedly, pulling Li Shubai’s sleeve, ready to discuss the case right there on the street. Huang Zixia was truly speechless and gave a light cough. Zhou Ziqin looked at her, still not understanding.
Li Shubai pointed to a tavern behind them, and Zhou Ziqin finally realized: “No, no, we can’t discuss this on the street!”
Li Shubai got down from his carriage, and the three moved to the tavern, entering a quiet private room on the second floor.
A pot of clear tea, four kinds of snacks. After everyone else had withdrawn, Zhou Ziqin finally lowered his voice and said: “Chonggu is clever. He determined that silver ingot was related to Pang Jun, so he went straight for the records of false officials appointed by Pang Jun, and sure enough, hit the mark—this ingot was indeed treasury silver privately cast by Pang Jun in Xuzhou.”
Li Shubai looked at the copied note Huang Zixia handed over, lost in thought.
Zhou Ziqin gazed at Huang Zixia with admiring eyes: “Chonggu, how did you deduce that this silver was related to Pang Jun?”
Huang Zixia answered casually: “From the blackened marks on the silver’s surface, I thought it must have been cast in recent years. Having ruled out private civilian casting and counterfeit ingots, and seeing the Imperial Treasury inscription, it could have been cast by someone planning rebellion. Among recent rebels, only Pang Jun had developed to the point of casting Imperial Treasury silver.”
“That’s right! Why didn’t I think of that!” Zhou Ziqin clapped his hands, sighing at missing a chance to solve the puzzle.
Huang Zixia continued: “Now we just don’t know how many of these ingots were cast then, and how many have circulated. If there are many, it will be impossible to trace.”
“There weren’t many, and they were all accounted for,” Li Shubai said calmly. “When Pang Jun first rebelled, due to haste, he hadn’t yet established a treasury or appointed false officials. Only when I allied with the six Military Commissioners to besiege Xuzhou did he start massively appointing officials and bestowing titles, trying to buy loyalty and bind people to himself to prevent desertion? So the treasury was established for an extremely short time, and because of successive military defeats, they barely cast any silver. After Pang Jun’s death, when I entered Xuzhou and checked the accounts, they had only cast 5,600 ingots of various sizes. Among them were exactly 800 twenty-tael ingots, almost all still in the mansion. I ordered 794 melted down on the spot, keeping only five as evidence. The molds were destroyed, so there couldn’t be any other surviving ingots.”
Huang Zixia keenly caught one detail, asking: “What about the last twenty-tael ingot?”
“If the five pieces of evidence in the Ministry of Justice are all still there, then it seems this must be the last one.” He placed the half-ingot found after Wang Ru’s disappearance in Yongshun Hall on the table, speaking slowly. “This must be the only twenty-tael ingot that went missing when counting Pang Jun’s evidence.”
Zhou Ziqin grabbed his head, sinking into even greater confusion: “How did this ingot, the only one missing when Xuzhou was searched, appear in Yongshun Hall of the Great Ming Palace? And what’s the meaning of leaving just half? It seems that after discovering the origin of this ingot, we’ve fallen into an even deeper mystery.”
“Yes, the deeper we investigate, the more it seems related to Pang Jun—or perhaps, someone is trying every way to make us think it’s related to Pang Jun,” Huang Zixia said.
Li Shubai neither agreed nor disagreed, covering his tea saucer and standing up to say: “That’s enough for today, let’s head back. Ziqin, go check if those five evidence ingots are still at the Ministry of Justice. Yang Chonggu, organize the other leads we can investigate.”
“Alright!” Zhou Ziqin was a man of action—despite it being past noon when all government offices had closed, he was still prepared to bang on the Ministry of Justice’s door to check the items. After all, he got along well with everyone there—they were all his brothers.