The Golden Hairpin

"What exactly is going on? Explain everything clearly to Us!" The emperor turned directly to Huang Zixiao, flicking his sleeve as he pointed at her and demanded.

"Yes. I believe this matter should be traced back ten years." Seeing Qian Guansuo bewildered and at a loss, while Chui Zhu lay prostrate on the ground, weeping so hard she nearly fainted, and with the emperor standing right before her awaiting an answer, Huang Zixiao had no choice but to continue: "Back then, Qian Guansuo was so destitute that he sold his daughter Xing'er. After entering the palace, Xing'er was renamed Chui Zhu and assigned to the princess's household. Intelligent and diligent, Chui Zhu spent ten years honing her skills, eventually becoming the princess's most indispensable attendant—just as she discovered her father had reappeared. At the very moment she was about to marry a promising young official with the princess's help, the father who had abandoned her as a child suddenly returned. Although intermarriage between officials and merchants has become more common in our dynasty, which do you think a husband's family would prefer—a merchant's daughter or a maidservant personally freed from bondage and betrothed by the princess herself?"

The crowd fell into silence, their gazes fixed on Chui Zhu, who trembled as she lay collapsed on the ground.

Finally, Chui Zhu lifted her head, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. She struggled to open her eyes wide enough to see her father, Qian Guansuo, but her vision remained blurred by tears, rendering him indistinct no matter how hard she tried.

In a trembling murmur, she said, "Yes... I endured ten years, finally about to rise above my station... and then you... why did you have to reappear now? Why did you have to ruin the glorious future the princess paved for me? Do you even realize that if I acknowledged you, my marriage would be over? Even if the groom didn’t call it off, how could I, a merchant’s daughter, ever hold my head up in my husband’s household?"

Huang Zixiao watched her silently before softly adding, "Yet your father has always longed to reunite with you."

"Of course! The daughter he sold off didn’t die—instead, she ended up living so well in the princess's household. He must have been overjoyed, clutching that golden toad, boasting to everyone about his daughter’s success. But he never knew how terrified I was... how I lay awake all night, terrified someone would discover I was just a merchant’s daughter." Chui Zhu slumped to the ground, her despairing expression and posture mirroring her father’s so closely that the onlookers could hardly tell them apart.

At last, Qian Guansuo stammered in a low voice, "But... when we met, you showed me your birthmark so readily... I even heard you laugh... and that golden toad—you gave it to me yourself! I didn’t ask for it..."

Chui Zhu froze, staring blankly without a word.

Huang Zixiao then asked, "Master Qian, didn’t you notice that the voice of the 'daughter' who spoke to you was different from Chui Zhu’s voice now?"

Qian Guansuo nodded dejectedly. "Yes... it wasn’t quite the same."

"The one who spoke to you, showed you the birthmark, and gave you the golden toad... wasn’t me." Chui Zhu finally spoke in a quivering voice, her fearful gaze shifting to the emperor and Consort Guo. "She... she was...""It was Princess Tongchang, wasn't it?" Seeing her still too afraid to speak, Huang Zixiao said for her, "Though I don't know why the princess would impersonate Qian Guansuo's daughter, in the princess's residence, we once saw a small porcelain dog by her side. That kind of porcelain dog is just the most common toy in the market, completely out of place in its surroundings. At the time, I found it strange because the princess had her wrist cut by broken porcelain as a child. The Emperor, who cherished her dearly, thus decreed that no ceramic items were to be near her. So, where did this little porcelain dog come from, and after the princess's death, who was it that broke it, trying to conceal the truth?"

Chuizhu's breathing became rapid, tears falling one by one, but she said nothing.

"Now that I think about it, that must have been the little porcelain dog that Boss Qian gave her in exchange for the golden toad. And after the princess's passing, someone close to her—likely you—destroyed the little dog to cover it up. The simplest method, of course, was to throw it from a high platform, then pretend to accidentally walk under the silk tree and trample the shards into the mud, leaving no trace." Huang Zixiao shook her head. "Besides the little porcelain dog, I imagine the only one who could make the cook Changpu and you lie and risk drawing fire upon yourselves to conceal the truth, and who could casually give away items bestowed by the Emperor, was the princess herself."

"Yes..." Chuizhu finally spoke, not daring to look at the people before her, her head hanging so low it was almost inaudible as she murmured, "Who would have thought? I heard Changpu mention that Boss Qian... Boss Qian was looking for his daughter with a birthmark on her hand. Since the burn on my hand had long erased any birthmark, I pretended not to know. But the princess happened to wake up in the inner room and overheard. She said she was bored to death with nothing to do every day, so she had me help her draw a birthmark on her wrist with eyebrow ink and discussed with me how to trick him. Seeing how excited she was, I had no choice but to agree. I drew the birthmark from memory on her hand and suggested she speak to him from behind a screen, thinking she'd just play a trick for fun and that would be it. But then they happened to mention the little porcelain dog in their conversation, and Boss Qian... Boss Qian eagerly went and got it for her. Back and forth, the princess ended up thoroughly enjoying herself..."

A princess, the most beloved in the court, had actually impersonated an orphan girl sold off in childhood—a girl who happened to be her own maid. Everyone listened to this almost unbelievable tale, and the hall fell into stunned silence.

Qian Guansuo knelt dumbly in the hall. At this moment, even the trembling of his body ceased, as if he could no longer feel the pain of his battered form. He just knelt there, dazed, unable to comprehend, lost and sorrowful."I knew things couldn't go on like this. The princess actually got along quite well with Qian Guansuo. Though she never called him father, she initially referred to him privately as 'the short fat man,' which later became 'fatty,' and gradually turned into 'the old fat man'... Meanwhile, I heard Qian Guansuo had been boasting to others about his golden toad and his daughter in the princess's residence. The more excited he became, the more worried I grew... worried that my true identity would be exposed, that my impending marriage might be ruined overnight by him..." Chui Zhu lowered her head, staring at the seamless green bricks on the ground, murmuring, "It was at this time that the princess had that dream—the one about Pan Yu'er coming to claim the Nine Phoenix Hairpin. Then Wei Ximin died, the imperial son-in-law had an accident, and the princess fell ill from anxiety. I couldn't sleep night after night, keeping watch over her, terrified of any mishap—until one day, when I went as usual to the Imperial Hospital to fetch the princess's medicine, someone stared at my wrist as I stepped out of the carriage and asked, 'Are you Chui Zhu?'"

All eyes turned to her wrist.

Dressed in white hemp robes, the faint scars beneath her sleeves were barely visible. She pulled up her sleeve, revealing the arm covered in hideous burn scars, and said softly, "I suppose it was my hand that confirmed my identity to him. When I turned to look at the man... I didn't know who he was. He wore a tattered cloak, its hood covering half his face, while the lower half was obscured by a black cloth. In such sweltering heat, he was completely covered up. I didn’t want to acknowledge him, but he stopped me and said, 'Xing'er, your father is about to die.'"

Her gaze wandered blankly past Lü Zhiyuan before settling on Qian Guansuo, her voice faint and distant: "I... I was so frightened by his words that I nearly jumped. I was terrified of anyone discovering my identity, but he said he only wanted to speak two words with me before leaving. So I had no choice but to step away from the carriage and follow him to a secluded spot in the alley to hear him out. He said... 'I know you're Xing'er, Qian Guansuo's daughter. Wei Ximin was killed by your father because he demanded lingling incense from him, and when they argued, your father set him on fire in the Jianfu Temple. As for the imperial son-in-law's horse, your father damaged its shoe while inspecting the horses he sold to the Capital Defense Office, inadvertently causing harm. And Sun Laizi—your father killed him when he barged in...' Then he asked me, 'Do you realize that once your father is arrested by the authorities, your identity will be exposed? What will become of your life then?'"

Qian Guansuo's lips trembled, his plump face quivering uncontrollably. Shakily, he raised his hand as if to touch his daughter's scarred wrist, but Chui Zhu recoiled as if burned, hiding her hand behind her back.

Qian Guansuo's hand remained suspended in front of his chest, lingering there for a long time. His mournful expression, paired with his bloated face, was so pitifully ugly that one couldn't decide whether to sympathize or despise him.

Chui Zhu's voice choked with sobs, nearly breaking: "He... he told me, 'Do you think you can keep your secret forever? But I'm your father's friend—I must help him, and I must help you too.' I was terrified and could only ask him, 'What should I do?'"

"So, he told you to steal the Nine Phoenix Hairpin, didn't he?""Yes... He said that during the previous two murders and when the imperial son-in-law was attacked, Merchant Qian had both the opportunity and alibis. He told me... to help my father create an ironclad proof that he couldn't possibly have done it."

Imperial Son-in-Law Wei Baoheng stared at her in disbelief, asking, "So... you killed the princess?"

"No! I didn't!" Chui Zhu bit her lower lip, her voice trembling. "I... how could I ever harm the princess... That man said it was simple—since the princess had dreamed of her Nine Phoenix Hairpin going missing, we could connect it to this case... and everyone knows Merchant Qian could never possibly obtain the Nine Phoenix Hairpin... I still refused, saying the princess had personally locked the hairpin away in her chest, so I couldn't get it. But he... he taught me this method to secretly take the hairpin while handling other items. I... I truly had no choice..."

Consort Guo's voice cut in sharply, "So the Nine Phoenix Hairpin was in your hands after all? After all this beating around the bush, why don't you confess truthfully—how exactly did you use it to kill the princess?"

"Consort, I understand your feelings, but we must start from the beginning. Otherwise, how can the truth come to light?" Huang Zixiao interjected with a sigh. "The princess died instantly from a stab to the heart, leaving little sign of struggle. What's more puzzling is how a jade hairpin like the Nine Phoenix could break upon piercing the heart. Perhaps, Chui Zhu, even though you'd laid cloth beneath it, the hairpin still cracked when it slipped from the chest lid, splitting into two pieces—the head and the tail—is that right?"

Chui Zhu nodded heavily between sobs. After a long pause, she continued, "I never thought the hairpin's disappearance would affect the princess so deeply. Her old illness flared up uncontrollably. When the scrutiny died down, I hurried to retrieve the hairpin from behind the chest, intending to secretly return it to her side. But... when I took it out, I saw it had broken!"

Her gaze drifted past everyone in the hall, settling blankly on the collapsed figure of Qian Guansuo. "I... I was so terrified my heart nearly stopped. Holding the broken hairpin felt like clutching a noose around my own neck... As agreed, I took the hairpin to the side gate of the princess's residence that night. But the moment I handed it to him, I was overcome with dread—as if this act would drag me into an abyss. I don't know why... I clenched the hairpin's head and asked, 'Who are you?'"

"The masked man said nothing. He just snatched the hairpin from me, not realizing it was broken. He grabbed the tail, but the head remained in my hand. I turned and ran, dashing through the side gate. He didn't dare follow me inside—after a few steps, he hurried away down the alley."