The Golden Hairpin

Wei Baoheng gazed at the tightly shut gates of Zhijin Garden, his face flickering with a complex mix of astonishment and sorrow. He shook his head and said, "This courtyard... the princess ordered it sealed, claiming it was haunted by wandering spirits. She said it would take ten years for the lingering evil to dissipate..."

"But the princess has already passed away, hasn't she?" Huang Ziguang asked, looking at the seal bearing Princess Tongchang's stamp on the gate.

"Still... it's just an abandoned garden, and with the rumors, I think..." Wei Baoheng glanced at Li Shubai, who instead said, "The banana leaves spill over the walls, and the sound of flowing water is faintly audible. It must be a captivating sight—I'd like to see it."

Wei Baoheng said nothing more and had someone fetch the key. Soon, the garden gate was opened.

It was indeed a garden suited for summer. As soon as the gate opened, a wave of cool air greeted them. Inside, banana trees were planted everywhere, and a winding stream flowed around the small pavilion in the garden. The shallow water was filled with water lilies and calamus. Having been sealed for so long, the grass on the banks had grown lush, and the water's surface was entirely covered with duckweed—a silent, frozen expanse of green.

"Such a beautiful garden—it's a shame to leave it empty," Li Shubai remarked as he stepped inside first. Wei Baoheng hesitated but eventually followed him in.

Li Shubai walked to the edge of the pond and turned to Wei Baoheng. "Why did Tongchang seal this garden?"

"Because... last month, someone drowned here."

"A maid from the garden?"

"Yes..." Wei Baoheng stared blankly at the water as he spoke.

"From the palace?" Li Shubai pressed.

Seeing that Li Shubai was fixated on this topic, Wei Baoheng knew he couldn't evade it. Reluctantly, he replied, "No, she was a maid I brought from home. She had served me since childhood. Her name was... Doukou."

"I've heard others say that the consort's paintings of Doukou are exceptionally well done."

"Yes, Doukou grew up with me. To me, she was... like a mother, like an elder sister."

Li Shubai watched as the wind parted the duckweed on the pond's surface, revealing the clear, shallow water beneath. After a moment of contemplation, he asked, "If she had always served by your side, how did she suddenly drown here?"

Wei Baoheng bit his lower lip. After a long pause, he finally said, "The household said she was lured here by the garden's ghosts..."

"You know full well that isn't true," Li Shubai said, shaking his head. "The princess has passed, and I understand your wish to spare the dead from scandal. But now that things have come to this, and His Majesty has ordered Yang Chonggu to investigate thoroughly, there's a question we must ask. I hope the consort won't take offense."

Wei Baoheng's expression immediately darkened. "But... I still don't know why Doukou died."

"But you do know who killed her, don't you?" Huang Ziguang interjected.

Wei Baoheng, caught off guard by her piercing through his secret, took a step back in shock. He stared at her, speechless.

"Consort Wei, to avenge Doukou, you orchestrated this entire act, diverting everyone's attention to the princess's residence. And it seems you've succeeded." Huang Ziguang sighed softly at the stunned look on his face. "Originally, I wouldn't have imagined it would turn out like this. But by sheer coincidence, three people have now died, and these three cases resemble 'divine retribution'—each tied to a painting by the late emperor. Three scribbles, three victims, as if this outcome was predestined a decade ago."

"Divine retribution..." Wei Baoheng murmured the words."Indeed, three cases, and currently, none reveal the method of murder. The best explanation is to invoke the late emperor’s writings, attributing it to divine retribution or a curse. However, that painting does not depict your fall from the horse. So, although it was your case that made Princess Tongchang uneasy and prompted the emperor to order us to monitor the princess’s residence and investigate cases related to it, after thorough examination and comparison, I believe your case should be treated separately from the others—there is no connection."

Wei Baoheng silently watched her, neither defending himself nor admitting anything.

"First, your case does not appear in that painting, indicating the killer never considered you a target. Second, while falling from a horse is dangerous, the likelihood of injury is greater, yet you only suffered minor wounds—completely unlike the killer’s precise and ruthless methods, clearly not the work of the same person. As for the third point..."

Huang Zixiao gazed at him and sighed softly. "You have no direct connection to Lü Dicui’s tragedy. In that regard, you are innocent and should not be implicated."

Wei Baoheng pressed his lips together, staring at her for a long moment before asking, "Why do you think that polo accident was staged by me?"

"On the surface, the accident during the polo match seems unlikely to involve human intervention. After all, you chose your horse at random, so any mishap would appear coincidental or the result of indiscriminate sabotage—you were simply unlucky. However, there is one person who could ensure that no matter which horse you picked, a minor but noticeable accident would occur, and you could control the timing and take precautions, couldn’t you?" Huang Zixiao fixed her eyes on him, enunciating each word clearly. "And that person is you."

Wei Baoheng lowered his gaze, avoiding her scrutiny, and turned to look at the scattered water lilies on the pond’s surface. "Evidence?"

"The evidence is the horseshoe. The nails on it had just been pried off. If tampered with before the match, the marks would have rusted or gathered dust. But during the game, no one could interfere while your horse was running. The only opportunity was during the break, when all the horses were kept at a distance due to Prince Kui’s steed, Dì È, preventing even the grooms from approaching. This cleared suspicion from others but also made it impossible for you to act unnoticed, exposing your own scheme."

Wei Baoheng’s lips twisted into an ugly, forced smile. "Are you suggesting you saw me tampering with my own horse’s hoof?"

"There was no need for deliberate action. At the time, you were holding a polo mallet. Your mastery of the mallet and horsemanship is renowned in the capital. All you had to do was wait for the moment when the horse reared up and the crowd erupted in cheers—when all eyes were on the ball and the noise drowned out everything else. As your horse reared and neighed, you struck its raised right forehoof at an angle with the mallet. The impact would loosen the nails, causing the horseshoe to flip up. Once the horse started running, it would stumble and break its leg, creating the illusion that someone had sabotaged you."Wei Baoheng continued to stare at the listless water lilies on the pond's surface, his voice faint and distant: "Eunuch Yang, tell me, why did I deliberately injure myself on the polo field?"

"For Doukou, wasn't it?" Huang Zixiang stood behind him, her voice as calm as before. "After hearing about Doukou from the cook Changpu, I noticed something—a maid who lived in the Suwei Garden where you resided, yet died in the faraway Zhijin Garden. And after her death, no one else in the mansion reacted. It was the princess, who lived in the Qiyun Pavilion at the other end, who claimed to hear weeping at night and ordered Zhijin Garden sealed off—"

Her gaze, like Wei Baoheng's, drifted to the shallow water as she murmured, "Moreover, this garden's pond is so shallow—too shallow even for lotuses, only water lilies can grow here. For someone to drown in such a place would be quite difficult, wouldn't it?"

"So everyone said she was lured by a ghost and dragged under," Wei Baoheng finally spoke, his tone heavy with exhaustion and sorrow. "I knew it wasn't true. But there was nothing I could do. I... am a worthless man who couldn't even protect the person I loved..."

Huang Zixiang lowered her eyes and fell silent.

"Since childhood, I've had no great ambitions. Even as an adult, I had no remarkable talents—except for polo, I had no other strengths. Doukou was ten years older than me and often advised me that at least my handwriting was decent, so I should practice that. So for three months, I worked hard, writing only her name. Those two characters, I did master them well..." A faint smile crossed his face as he spoke, his gaze fixed on an empty point in the air, as if reminiscing about his younger, ignorant self with fond regret. "When I was eight, my father once said he would marry Doukou off. I threw myself on the ground, crying and refusing to eat for three days until my parents finally relented. That's how I monopolized over twenty years of Doukou's life. Now, looking back, if she had married someone else then, her life would have been... so much better than by my side..."

Li Shulang frowned and interrupted him, saying, "And then you married Princess Tongchang, ruining yet another person's life."

"What choice did I have? I was just playing a polo match when I noticed a woman watching me from the sidelines. I smiled at her and waved my mallet. Who knew that days later, an imperial decree would arrive, announcing the emperor's decision to marry Princess Tongchang to me—back then, I couldn't even enter the Hanlin Academy. Yet within a year, I became Vice Minister of War and a Chief Councilor!" Wei Baoheng retorted urgently, as if defending himself. "Prince Kui, perhaps you were born with all this and don't care, but for an ordinary man, to marry a wife, secure a brilliant future, and even rise to the rank of chancellor in a year or two—can you imagine anyone refusing such an opportunity?"

"But you wanted too much, Consort Wei," Li Shulang slowly shook his head. "Bringing Doukou into the princess's residence—what position did that leave the princess in? And knowing full well the princess would never tolerate sharing her husband, yet still exposing Doukou to such danger—what position did that leave Doukou in?""My parents said the same... But I... I truly couldn't bear to part with her. When the princess discovered Doukou, I knelt on the ground begging her to tolerate Doukou's presence. She agreed, but then Doukou ended up dead here... In such a shallow pond, how could she have drowned from merely slipping in? The only possibility is that someone held her head down into the mud at the bottom until she suffocated..."

As he spoke, he stared blankly at the lush grass by the pond, his throat constricting, his breathing heavy, unable to continue.

Huang Zixiao felt a tumult of emotions, unsure whether to sympathize with his affection for Doukou or despise his cowardice toward Princess Tongchang.

She heard Li Shubai's voice, usually calm but now laced with icy undertones: "Imperial Son-in-Law Wei, you knew full well the princess had a congenital illness that flared up after Wei Ximin's brutal death and her dream of Consort Pan demanding the Nine Phoenix Hairpin. Yet you piled on more stress, creating an illusion of lurking danger around her. I suspect the so-called restless spirit of Doukou and the ghostly wails in Zhijin Garden at midnight were your doing—attempting to break the princess and avenge Doukou, weren't they?"

"I only wanted to frighten her, not kill her... I truly just wanted to scare her..." Wei Baoheng shook his head in confusion. "As long as I remain Princess Tongchang's husband, my future is boundless. What good would her death do me? Tell me, what advantage would it bring?"

"Your actions weren't merely to frighten the princess," Huang Zixiao couldn't help interjecting. "Your manipulations at the polo field made the already distraught princess request His Majesty to send investigators. And during our inquiry, you deliberately steered all suspicion and clues toward Doukou's death. You were trying to exploit the situation, weren't you?"

Wei Baoheng listened to her blunt words, gazing at the varying shades of green in Zhijin Garden. After a long pause, he finally took a deep breath and said, "The princess... she's the emperor's treasured pearl, heaven's favored daughter, with a naturally intense temperament. When she first discovered my relationship with Doukou, she was furious. But I pleaded desperately, and seeing Doukou was older and had raised me, she reluctantly let it go. Later, after Doukou's death, I reviewed the household accounts and found she'd been arranging for an outside residence for Doukou, planning to send her away once it was ready." At this point, tears finally streamed down his face as he murmured, "The princess... wasn't truly wicked. Though temperamental, she'd already prepared to send Doukou away—why would she kill her here?"

Li Shubai and Huang Zixiao exchanged a silent glance before he asked, "So, the one who killed Doukou wasn't the princess?"

"I think not... but rather, someone who could make the princess take responsibility for it."

He said no more, but both Li Shubai and Huang Zixiao instantly understood whom he meant.