At these words, both Yun Xi and Cheng Ye froze.

The young soldier’s voice had carried loudly, and even though most of the crowd at the palace gate had already dispersed, several passing ministers overheard the news of Yao Susu’s death.

At once, people stopped in their tracks, murmuring among themselves.

Cheng Ye asked urgently, “How could this happen? Have you reported it to the authorities? Does the Yao household already know?”

“Reporting to the young prince, it has been reported. The case now falls under the Capital Prefecture. When the old madam of the Yao household learned of it, she fainted on the spot. The lady of the household, the eldest young master, the fifth young master, and two concubines have all descended on the yamen in an uproar. And also—”

The soldier paused. “Since last night, Official Yao has remained in the palace and has not come out. We have had no way to inform him. We beg the young prince to think of some way.”

Cheng Ye looked back toward the palace.

Last night’s bandit disturbance had enraged the Emperor, and Yao Hangshan and the Privy Council officials were still being punished, kneeling in the Hall of Golden Luan.

By rights, with His Majesty in such a foul temper, no one should trouble him with anything else. But this was a matter of life and death, and Yao Susu was Yao Hangshan’s most beloved daughter. For her to have died so inexplicably — surely he had to be informed without delay.

Cheng Ye summoned a palace gate guard and instructed him, “Go tell General Guide about young miss Yao. See if he has any way to ask His Majesty to grant Official Yao a temporary reprieve from punishment.”

At that moment, someone also arrived from the Capital Prefecture, saying that Prefect Zhang wished to personally interrogate the case, and requested that the third young master, the young prince, and Commandant Yun all come to the yamen.

Of the three of them, two had been the first to discover that something might have happened to Yao Susu, and one had been the one who sent men to search for her.

None of the three — Yun Xi, Cheng Chang, or Cheng Ye — made any excuses, and they hurried at once to the Capital Prefecture.

The hall of the Capital Prefecture was in chaos. The daughter of a first-rank Privy Councilor’s household had died, and her family members wept and wailed in disarray.

Zhang Huailu had a temperament inclined toward smoothing things over, and faced suddenly with such a thorny case, not daring to offend the Yao household, found himself utterly at a loss.

When Cheng Chang and Cheng Ye finally arrived, he hurried forward to greet them. “Third Young Master, Young Prince.”

Cheng Ye asked anxiously, “How is the interrogation going, Prefect Zhang?”

Zhang Huailu hedged. “It has not yet begun.” As if he hadn’t been waiting for the two of you to arrive and steady the room.

He added hastily, “We’ll begin at once, at once.”

So saying, he returned to his seat behind the bench, sat up straight, struck the gavel block, and called out loudly, “Bring in the suspect—”

Two constables dragged in a disheveled, unkempt woman. Yun Xi looked closely and realized — it was the maid she and Luo Shu had encountered at the Daoist temple the day before, the one who served Yao Susu.

The maid had already been subjected to finger-press torture. Panicked, she shook her head repeatedly. “It wasn’t me — it wasn’t me…”

Zhang Huailu tried to bluff her. “How could it not be you? Yesterday when young miss Yao left the household, she brought only you with her. And last night, you didn’t return to the Yao household at all — you were wandering the streets all night. If the young prince’s soldiers hadn’t found you this morning, who’s to say you weren’t fleeing the city the moment the gates opened at dawn, out of a guilty conscience?”

“My lord, my lord, this servant is wronged, truly it wasn’t me,” the maid said.

Her voice took on a tearful edge as she scrambled to defend herself, her words tumbling out in disorder. “Last night, when this servant parted with my young miss, Miss Shu — the fourth young miss of the Luo household — was still with my young miss, and the two of them had gotten into an argument.”

“Later, my young miss’s cat, Snowball, ran off, and she sent me to chase after it. That’s when I parted from my young miss.”

“But this servant is useless — I couldn’t find the cat, and I was afraid of being punished, so I searched the city all night and didn’t return home.”

“You’re telling me you searched all night for a cat?” Zhang Huailu asked slowly, then slammed the gavel block. “Absurd! Do you think I’m so easily fooled?”

“It’s true! Snowball was a gift from the Imperial Noble Consort herself to my young miss. She treasured it above everything!” the maid said in a panic, glancing around before pointing at Yun Xi. “If my lord doesn’t believe me, ask Miss Yun. That day, at the Prince of Nan’an’s residence, my young miss nearly had Miss Yun’s puppy beaten to death just because Snowball got a minor scratch!”

The maid’s account was slightly off in details, but was largely accurate.

Zhang Huailu looked to Yun Xi, who nodded. “That did happen.”

She thought for a moment, then added, “And in fact, the reason the third young master and I asked the young prince to help search for young miss Yao yesterday was precisely because we had found Snowball on the street. Young miss Yao never went anywhere without that cat — she was rarely apart from it.”

Zhang Huailu looked next to Cheng Chang and Cheng Ye.

Both confirmed it.

Zhang Huailu nodded slightly and said to the maid, “Very well, I’ll take your word for that, for now.”

He considered a moment. “You said just now… that when you parted from young miss Yao last night, she was still with the fourth young miss of the Luo household, and the two of them had quarreled?”

“Yes.”

“As far as I know, yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Festival, and young miss Yao brought only you with her when she left the household — she had no appointment to meet anyone. Why, then, was she together with the fourth young miss of the Luo household? Was it a chance encounter, or a deliberately arranged meeting? What did they quarrel over? And at what hour did this happen?”

“Repor— reporting to my lord, it was… around the end of the Xu hour.”

Zhang Huailu asked his clerk in a low voice, “Has the coroner examined the body yet? What hour was young miss Yao killed?”

The clerk shook his head. “Not yet.”

Zhang Huailu said to the maid, “Continue.”

“Con— continue what?”

Zhang Huailu, impatient, prompted her. “Why were the fourth young miss of the Luo household and young miss Yao together? What did they quarrel about?”

“This — this—” the maid stammered, then bowed her head to the floor. “This servant does not know.”

“Nonsense!” Zhang Huailu scolded. “You were right there beside your young miss — are you saying you have no idea what she said or did? Or was everything you just said a pack of lies, and it was you — you who killed your young miss!”

“No, no,” the maid shook her head. “My young miss and young miss Shu quarreled because — because—”

“Because of what? Out with it!” Seeing that she couldn’t force out an answer, Lady Zhao, the wife of the Yao household, grew anxious too and pressed her sharply.

“Because of the second young master of the Pei household — General Pei!”

The maid gritted her teeth and blurted out the truth.

Once that door was opened, the rest came more easily.

“When my young miss went out yesterday, it wasn’t true that she had no one to meet. She… in fact, used the excuse of the Mid-Autumn Festival to slip away to the Daoist temple near Zhuque Street for a secret meeting with young master Pei.”

“Later, somehow… Miss Shu and Miss Yun stumbled upon my young miss and young master Pei together, and that’s what the quarrel was about.”

Hearing this, Zhang Huailu was startled, and asked Yun Xi, “Was Commandant Yun there yesterday as well?”

A secret tryst between a man and woman was, after all, a matter of shame, difficult to speak of openly.

Yun Xi hesitated, then spoke. “Yes. Actually, yesterday Luo Shu had made plans to go out with my sister-in-law, and near Zhuque Street we happened to see young miss Yao acting suspiciously. Luo Shu grew suspicious at once and followed young miss Yao into the temple. Seeing something was off in Luo Shu’s expression, and worried something might happen, I followed her in as well — and that’s how we came upon… young miss Yao and General Pei together.”

“However,” Yun Xi added after a moment’s thought, “once the two of us discovered them, we said nothing of it. Luo Shu said she was afraid that if it became known, the marriage being arranged between her and General Pei would fall through, so she left with me at once.”

“After we left, we went to the medicine shop where my sister-in-law regularly sees the physician. It was around the end of the You hour by then. Since I had to report for duty, I asked our household servant and my sister-in-law to look after Luo Shu, and then I went to Zhuque Street.”

“As for what happened afterward — why Luo Shu left the medicine shop, and why she quarreled with Yao Susu — that, I do not know.”

Zhang Huailu nodded and said to the maid, “Continue.”

“Yes. When Miss Yun and Miss Shu left the temple, they ran straight into this servant. Realizing that my young miss’s tryst with young master Pei had been discovered, I went to tell her.”

“My young miss and young master Pei have long harbored feelings for each other. If not for the Pei household’s old matriarch insisting that young master Pei marry Miss Shu, young master Pei would likely have already proposed to the Yao household. With their tryst now exposed, my young miss, feeling she had nothing left to lose, decided to confront Miss Shu directly and ask her to give up young master Pei. But Miss Shu refused, and so the two of them—”

“You’re lying!” Before the maid could finish, Lady Zhao cut in sharply. “Susu was gentle and refined — how could she ever debase herself so, over a man! And what tryst? Susu was under this lady’s watchful eye every single day, utterly well-behaved — when would she have had time for secret meetings? You must be the one who harmed Susu, and now you’re spinning these outrageous lies, dragging Susu’s good name through the mud to save your own skin!”

“My lord!” Lady Zhao bowed slightly toward Zhang Huailu. “This wretched girl speaks recklessly and is utterly ruthless — I beg my lord to sentence her to death at once!”

“My lord, this servant is not lying!” Seeing things turning against her, the maid protested repeatedly.

In her panic, she abandoned all restraint and let everything she had held back come pouring out. “My young miss and the second young master of the Pei household have long been involved — who in all of Jinling doesn’t know it? Since young master Pei returned to Jinling, he and my young miss have met in secret more times than once or twice, always at the temple. Sometimes… sometimes the two of them would stay together for an entire afternoon! My young miss had pledged her whole life to young master Pei — that’s why she refused to marry anyone else, and why she went to beg Miss Shu to give him up…”

“Silence!” Lady Zhao nearly fainted from fury. A concubine beside her caught her, and heedless of the constables trying to stop her, she stepped forward and slapped the maid hard across the face. “The Yao household raised you for over a decade — how did we end up raising such an ungrateful, wolf-hearted creature? Isn’t it enough to sully Susu’s reputation — now you want to sully her chastity as well?”

“Susu was pure as ice and jade, brilliant and beautiful — is there any household in all of Jinling she couldn’t have married into? Even among the imperial clan and nobility, she would have been a match! Why would she hang herself over that piece of rotten wood, Pei Lan, whose engagement had just been broken off? Not to mention—”

The concubine, lacking any sense, spoke with increasing recklessness, her eyes sweeping the room until they landed on Cheng Chang.

“Not to mention that the third young master of the Prince Cong’s household has long had feelings for Susu as well! In birth, in status, in looks — how could Pei Lan possibly compare to the third young master? Why would Susu choose Pei Lan over him?!”

Cheng Chang: “…”

“Silence!” Zhang Huailu, startled by this outburst, quickly struck the gavel block. “This is a court of law — how dare you all babble on so freely! Guards, drag this shameless woman out of here!”

He then rose and bowed apologetically to Cheng Chang. “Third Young Master, please don’t take offense. That woman has surely gone half-mad with grief over the sudden death of her family’s eldest daughter. I will punish her according to the law shortly.”

Cheng Chang: “…It’s nothing.”

After that outburst from the concubine, the hall grew considerably quieter.

Fearing they might offend the household of Prince Cong, the Yao family members sobered somewhat and said no more.

Zhang Huailu, still shaken, sat back down and pieced together the testimony given so far by the maid and Yun Xi.

In short: yesterday, Luo Shu had made plans with Fang Fulan, and accompanied by Yun Xi, the three had gone near Zhuque Street, where they came upon Yao Susu acting suspiciously. Since Luo Shu’s engagement to Pei Lan was currently being arranged, and she knew of his affair with Yao Susu, she grew suspicious and followed with Yun Xi, and indeed discovered the two of them in a secret tryst.

According to Yun Xi’s account, Luo Shu valued her engagement to Pei Lan a great deal and, fearing the matter would spiral out of control if exposed, chose to let it go quietly. She left the temple with Yun Xi and returned to the medicine shop where Fang Fulan was being treated — this was around the end of the You hour.

On the way there, the two of them encountered Yao Susu’s personal maid, who told Yao Susu that Yun and Luo had discovered the tryst. Yao Susu, who had long harbored feelings for Pei Lan, decided she had nothing left to lose and went to find Luo Shu, begging her to give up Pei Lan.

Luo Shu apparently refused, and the two quarreled.

During the quarrel, Yao Susu’s cat Snowball ran off, so she sent her maid to find it — this was around the end of the Xu hour.

If everything the maid said was true, then the last person to see Yao Susu alive was Luo Shu.

Since Snowball was found by Cheng Chang and Yun Xi at the start of the Hai hour, and the gap between the end of the Xu hour and the start of the Hai hour was at most the time it takes to drink a cup of tea — and when Cheng Ye had sent someone to look for Yao Susu at the start of the Hai hour, she was already nowhere to be found.

Zhang Huailu asked Yun Xi, “After you and the fourth young miss Luo discovered young miss Yao’s tryst, you returned to the medicine shop. Was General Yun’s widow, Madam Fang, present at the time?”

Yun Xi said, “She was.”

“Besides Madam Fang, who else was in the shop?”

“The shop’s errand boy and proprietor, my household’s Zhao Wu, and my maid Mingcui. However, my sister-in-law had just taken her medicine and was resting alone in the back room. When Luo Shu returned to the shop, my sister-in-law, seeing that her mood was poor, called her into the back room to comfort her. Everyone else, including Mingcui and the shop staff, remained in the front, and Zhao Wu stood guard at the shop entrance.”

“By your account, then, if young miss Yao later came looking for the fourth young miss Luo, Madam Fang, Zhao Wu, the maid Mingcui, and the shop staff should all have seen it.”

“Yes,” Yun Xi confirmed.

Zhang Huailu thought for a moment. “Someone go at once to the Marquis of Loyalty and Valor’s residence to summon Madam Fang, the servant Zhao Wu, and the maid Mingcui. And go to Huichun Hall near Zhuque Street to summon the proprietor. As for the Luo and Pei households…”

At present, Luo Shu was the primary suspect, and Pei Lan was a key witness — both had to be brought in for questioning.

But between the Luo household and the Pei household, there was neither he could afford to offend.

Zhang Huailu hesitated for a long moment, then his gaze fell on Yun Xi.

Though Yun Xi had been promoted to commandant today, the imperial decree had not yet arrived, so she remained, for now, a constable of the Capital Prefecture.

Yun Xi’s eyes met Zhang Huailu’s, and understanding his meaning, she cupped her hands. “Yes, this humble servant will go to the Luo residence at once to bring the fourth young miss Luo in for questioning.”

Zhang Huailu relaxed slightly, then turned to Cheng Ye with an ingratiating smile. “General Pei is surely on duty at the Privy Council right now. Since the young prince commands the Capital Office of the Privy Council, perhaps…”

Cheng Ye replied, “Very well. Prefect Zhang, send a head constable along with me to the Privy Council to bring General Pei in for questioning.”