“Correct, it’s kapok flowers.”
As Zhu Qing spoke, he pulled out two waist tokens from his chest.
One was precisely the waist token chopped in half found in the Zheng family ruins. The other…
Several heads slowly leaned in closer.
This was a complete waist token with a layer of gold lacquer brushed on it. The front face had the character “Wu” carved in intaglio.
If that half token were restored, one could see the two waist tokens were almost identical in size, almost identical in shape, almost identical in thickness.
The only difference was the border pattern. The complete waist token’s edges were carved with kapok flowers connected one after another.
Yan Sanhe looked up at Zhu Qing: “Where did that complete waist token come from?”
Zhu Qing: “It’s A Qiang’s. Every one of their shadow guards has one.”
Li Buyan was full of doubt: “What does this mean?”
“It means…”
Yan Sanhe forcefully suppressed the excitement in her heart.
“This is something that can truly clear Wu Guanyue and his son’s names. It’s also the only concrete evidence we’ve found in investigating this case so far.”
Zhu Qing nodded slightly: “Miss Yan is clever.”
Li Buyan grew anxious. “Yan Sanhe, explain in detail—I’m still confused.”
Yan Sanhe tapped the desk with her finger: “Buyan, I ask you—what was planted on both banks of North Warehouse River?”
Li Buyan: “Many things were planted.”
Yan Sanhe: “Were there kapok flowers?”
Li Buyan: “I only saw kapok trees, no kapok flowers.”
Yan Sanhe: “Zhu Qing, did A Qiang tell you what kapok flowers look like?”
“Miss Yan, I saw them with my own eyes on this trip.”
Zhu Qing: “The trees are very tall and strong, standing in an upright posture. The petals are red as blood, like a warrior’s character, the color like a hero’s blood staining the treetops. After the flowers fall from the tree, they don’t fade or wilt, like heroes bidding farewell to this mortal world. So locally, this flower is also called the hero’s flower.”
Yan Sanhe: “Heroes deserve hero’s flowers. It seems Wu Guanyue loved kapok flowers most.”
“Not only Wu Guanyue’s favorite, but also Wu Shunian’s favorite.”
Zhu Qing: “A Qiang recalled that every year in March and April when the kapok flowers bloomed, Wu Shunian would often stand beneath the kapok flowers for a while.”
“North Warehouse River was the place Wu Guanyue longed for most in his life. After he took the throne, I don’t know if he changed the Qi Kingdom’s national flower to kapok. But…”
Yan Sanhe picked up the thumb ring and examined it.
“On some of his personal items—like this thumb ring, like waist tokens—he removed the lotus and changed it to kapok.”
Zhu Qing: “A Qiang said the Master found the lotus growing in water too soft and feminine. He issued an edict changing the national flower from lotus to kapok. Not just the thumb ring and waist token—even the jade seal the Master used was carved with kapok flowers.”
“This is exactly what Wu Guanyue would do. Since rebelling, he rebelled completely.”
Yan Sanhe smiled genuinely.
“But An Ran, who went by the alias Xu Erlang, didn’t know any of this. When he fled to the capital, he still naively thought the Qi Kingdom’s national flower was the lotus. Little did he know another world had replaced the old regime.”
“And the capital is too far from the Qi Kingdom.”
Xie Zhifei decisively continued: “They didn’t verify, or rather, didn’t have time to verify, so they believed An Ran.”
Pei Xiao slapped his palm down. “From this we can deduce that the true culprit in this case is genuinely from our Hua Kingdom, with absolutely no connection to Wu Guanyue and his son. That half waist token is fake.”
“Miss Yan, Third Master, Young Master Pei.”
Zhu Qing: “A Qiang said if those important people don’t believe this waist token, show them the jade thumb ring. Besides the kapok flowers carved on this ring, there’s also a painting.”
Really?
Xie Zhifei picked up the jade thumb ring again. On a stretch of continuous passes, a half-moon hung high.
“The painting shows passes under the autumn moon?”
Zhu Qing nodded.
The study fell silent. Everyone’s gaze fixed on that jade thumb ring.
“Where is the heart most wounded? At the passes seeing the autumn moon”—this line of poetry was the origin and source of Wu Guanyue’s name.
The thumb ring’s true owner was Wu Guanyue, carved with his beloved kapok flowers.
Later the ring passed to Wu Shunian, who gave it to Third Master. Now it had become the only evidence proving their father and son’s innocence.
So fate had already laid its mysterious plan long ago in imperceptible ways, waiting for mortals to slowly glimpse the truth.
Then what should be done next?
Eyes lifted, all falling on Yan Sanhe.
Yan Sanhe took a deep breath. “Zhu Qing, go rest first. Wash up, eat a full meal, get a good sleep.”
“Yes!”
“Ding Yi, Huang Qi, you two go rest as well.”
Seeing Yan Sanhe’s grave expression, Ding Yi and Huang Qi also responded “Yes” and left supporting each other.
“It’s time for my martial practice.”
Without waiting for Yan Sanhe to speak, Li Buyan quickly escaped.
She couldn’t understand the case, but the current situation was crystal clear—Yan Sanhe had important words to say to Third Master and Young Master Pei.
“Chengyu, Mingting, I need to see the Crown Prince.”
Yan Sanhe paused, her eyes showing some complexity. “You two need to prepare yourselves mentally.”
Pei Xiao’s gaze shot toward Xie Zhifei: Brother, she wants to see the Crown Prince—what do we need to prepare for?
Cold sweat slowly seeped from Xie Zhifei’s palms. Gritting his teeth, he said:
“Initially we only told him that Old Lady Ji’s beloved was Wu Guanyue, that the black dog was Wu Guanyue’s gift to her. We concealed everything else.”
Pei Xiao’s whole body swayed.
Good heavens, he’d actually forgotten this detail!
The Zheng family case involved the Three Judicial Offices and the Embroidered Uniform Guard—pulling one thread moved the whole fabric. Moreover, the case was presided over by Huairen’s father, the current Emperor. To avoid putting Huairen in a difficult position, they’d concealed it.
They’d even lied to Huairen, saying they’d never met Wu Guanyue and his son.
Now with things at this point, they had to reveal everything.
After Huairen learned this, what would he think?
Would there be a barrier in his heart?
Would he blame them for not treating him like brothers?
Yan Sanhe: “One lie requires many lies to cover it. My meaning is—we should come clean about everything.”
Xie Zhifei certainly knew this, but his heart was somewhat chaotic. The three of them had grown up together. All these years, they’d had no secrets from each other.
“Then let’s tell him. Mingting, what do you think?”
“We really can’t hide it anymore.”
Pei Xiao straightened his head. “Yan Sanhe, clearing the Wu father and son’s names—the Late Emperor is already buried. Does the case need to continue being investigated?”
“This matter isn’t for me to decide. When the war horses can charge into battle, this case can stop being investigated.”
Yan Sanhe let out a slow, cold laugh.
“I’m giving you advance warning—my purpose in seeing Zhao Yishi, besides restoring the truth of the case, is to have him find a way to convince the new Emperor to issue an imperial edict to the realm, clearing the Wu father and son’s names.”
She looked at Pei Xiao: “You personally promised Wu Shunian this. Your word should count.”
Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao were shocked speechless.
Issue an edict to the realm—this matter would blow up enormously.
Where would the Hua Kingdom’s dignity be placed?
Where would the Three Judicial Offices and Embroidered Uniform Guard’s dignity be placed?
Most importantly, did Huairen have the ability to convince the new Emperor?
Pei Xiao’s Adam’s apple rolled up and down. He decided he still needed to persuade her. “Yan Sanhe, could we possibly…”
“No.”
Yan Sanhe coldly interrupted.
“Without an edict to the realm, how can we comfort the spirits of the Wu father and son? Without an edict to the realm, how can we comfort the spirits of the one hundred eighty souls of the Zheng family?”
Without an edict to the realm, how can I step by step force out who the true culprit is?
—