The Golden Hairpin

In Songhua Lane, the Fu residence.

Fu Xinruan had been renowned throughout Jiangnan since she was twelve, with various song and dance houses vying to hire her to compose music and choreograph dances. Without a mother or matron to exploit her earnings, she had managed to buy a small courtyard in Songhua Lane upon arriving in Shu Commandery, where she lived alone.

Zhou Ziqin tore off the official seal on the gate and took out a key to unlock it.

Huang Zixia noticed another note pasted on the door, which read, "I am now at the Yunlai Inn in Zizhu Lane. You must come."

There was no signature, only a small paper kite drawn beneath.

As Huang Zixia was still examining it, an elderly woman from next door spotted them and hurried over to warn Zhou Ziqin, "Young man, that's an official seal! You'll get into trouble for tearing it off!"

Zhou Ziqin tugged at his official uniform and grinned. "Auntie, I am the authorities."

The old woman then eagerly asked, "Does that mean... there's been progress in the case?"

"Not yet. We're here to investigate now."

"Oh, hurry up! Two people died in this courtyard—two at once! We neighbors are all terrified and can't sleep at night!"

"Don't worry, Auntie, leave it to us," Zhou Ziqin replied before suddenly remembering something. "By the way, Auntie, may I ask you something? Did that Lord Wen Yang visit here often?"

"How would I know? That Miss Fu was a strange one! She only had one old servant attending to her and hardly ever stepped outside. In the year or so she lived here, I only saw her four or five times—let alone some Lord Wen! But I tell you, she was truly beautiful, just had the look of a tragic fate. The first time I saw her, I knew she was doomed!" The old woman shook her head, then scrutinized Zhou Ziqin. "Listen, I've seen plenty of people in my time, and my judgment is spot-on. Take you, for example—I can tell right away you'd make a perfect match for one of my nieces. How about this? Leave me your address, and when she visits, I'll call for you. What do you say?"

After finally shaking off the matchmaking auntie, Zhou Ziqin unlocked the gate and quickly shut it behind them, leaning against the door to catch his breath. "No wonder Fu Xinruan never went out. If that neighbor caught her, her whole day would be ruined!"

Huang Zixia and Li Shubai wholeheartedly agreed, offering him a few words of sympathy before heading inside to inspect the premises.

The front courtyard was a small atrium with two clusters of flowering plants and a few pots of orchids. On the altar in the main hall stood an incense burner and ritual implements, enshrining a woman. Dressed in fine robes and adorned with jade, she was depicted mid-dance with a sword, her sleeves and ribbons fluttering as if she were an immortal.

Huang Zixia's gaze fell on the woman's hand. The sword she held was a dull, dark iron blade—short and small, unlike a longsword or the kind typically used in dance. Instead, it resembled an unremarkable, rusted dagger.

Li Shubai's attention was also fixed on the dagger. He murmured, "Do you see that dagger?"

"Yes. Does Your Highness know its origin?""This is the dagger that Emperor Taizong bestowed upon Empress Wu to subdue the 'Lion Colt,' later given to Gongsun Daniang and passed down to her disciple, Li Shiniang. Seventeen years ago, when the six Yunshao women entered the capital, Gongsun Yuan used this very dagger in her dance performance," Li Shubai said, his gaze lingering thoughtfully on her. "This dagger was originally Emperor Taizong's personal possession, forged from cold iron sent from overseas into twenty-four blades. Only this one was chosen by Emperor Taizong to carry with him. It was said that the cold iron from the sea would never rust, yet who would have thought that once it left the palace, it would become so tarnished?"

Huang Zixiao remarked, "It seems rumors are not to be trusted."

Li Shubai nodded. "Indeed, when the late emperor saw this dagger in Gongsun Yuan's hands, he sighed deeply, lamenting how something so cherished by Emperor Taizong could have deteriorated so. Time spares no one."

Huang Zixiao recalled how the late emperor had been called the "Little Taizong," deeply admiring the grandeur of Emperor Taizong. Looking at the dagger in the painting and thinking of Li Shubai's father's sentiments, she couldn't help but feel a pang of melancholy.

Behind them, Zhou Ziqin finished securing the door and called out, "Can we start inspecting now?"

"Let's check the back first," the three of them moved to the rear courtyard, where clusters of purple crape myrtle blossoms bloomed in vibrant layers, partially obscuring the study pavilion.

Inside the study, they found several floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled mostly with scrolls. Huang Zixiao opened a few and saw symbols as cryptic as celestial script.

Li Shubai examined them and said, "These are pipa scores in the 'Four Strings and Four Phases' banquet music notation, likely used by Fu Xinruan for choreography or composition. The others must be musical scores as well."

Huang Zixiao looked again. While she could somewhat understand the qin notation, the dance notation was entirely beyond her, so she set it aside.

Zhou Ziqin found a stack of papers in a drawer and exclaimed excitedly, "Look at this!"

They gathered around and saw handwritten copies of scriptures, the handwriting identical to the half-finished manuscript found in Wen Yang's study.

Zhou Ziqin quickly flipped through the stack and confirmed that the last page ended with, "Subhuti, the so-called Dharma is not the Dharma. Subhu—"

The next character, "ti," matched perfectly, in the same handwriting. Zhou Ziqin tapped the scriptures in his hand and said, "Since they were together, Fu Xinruan must have had something of Wen Yang's here. This is it."

Huang Zixiao nodded. "This scripture undoubtedly belongs to Wen Yang."

"But a scripture isn't much help in solving the case," Zhou Ziqin said dejectedly, tossing it onto the dusty table. "We need more evidence to understand why they chose to die together."

Li Shubai, however, studied the stack of papers and asked Huang Zixiao, "Do you notice anything unusual about these?"

Knowing he wouldn't touch the dusty table, Huang Zixiao picked them up herself and nodded. "Yes, this might be useful."

Zhou Ziqin snatched the stack of Diamond Sutra copies and asked eagerly, "Where? What's different?"

Huang Zixiao explained, "The margins of these papers are unusually wide. I suspect they were meant to be bound in butterfly binding."

Zhou Ziqin looked puzzled. "What's wrong with butterfly binding? It looks nice."Huang Zixiao had no choice but to give up. She stood and walked to Fu Xinruan’s wardrobe and chests, opening them to inspect carefully. Inside were a couple of men’s undergarments, which she picked up and handed to Zhou Ziqin to compare with Wen Yang’s usual clothing. She then rummaged through Fu Xinruan’s everyday clothes. Since it was summer, most of them were brightly colored, lightweight gauze garments—pale yellow, soft green, moon-white, peach-pink—radiating an indescribable liveliness.

Standing before this wardrobe, Huang Zixiao was visibly moved. She couldn’t resist running her fingers slowly over the sheer silks and satins, watching as their vibrant, airy hues blurred before her eyes into the colors of spring and summer.

Zhou Ziqin, who was sorting through the men’s clothes, turned and laughed at her. “Chonggu, not only do you look like a woman, but you even like women’s clothes?”

Huang Zixiao wordlessly closed the wardrobe door and moved on to inspect Fu Xinruan’s jewelry box. “Clearly, you don’t understand women at all.”

Zhou Ziqin teased her, “Oh? And you sound like an expert.”

Ignoring him, Huang Zixiao opened the jewelry box. Inside were many hairpins and ornaments, not just the usual flowers and birds but also delicate hairpieces shaped like dragonflies and grasshoppers, utterly charming. There were also several gold bracelets and jade bangles, all buried beneath the hairpins.

At the very bottom of the box lay a separate sandalwood case.

Huang Zixiao opened it and found an exquisitely smooth mutton-fat jade bangle. Under the daylight streaming through the window, the entire surface of the jade shimmered with a faint glow, as if veiled in a delicate mist.

She held the bangle up to the light for a long time. The jade’s hue seemed to shift with the changing daylight, its depths conjuring countless shapes.

Such a rare treasure—no wonder Fu Xinruan had kept it separately in its own case, carefully preserved.

Huang Zixiao placed the bangle back in the box and asked, “Did Gongsun Yuan come here before?”

Zhou Ziqin looked surprised. “Impossible. Gongsun Yuan arrived after Fu Xinruan’s death. This place was sealed right after the autopsy, and there’s no sign the seal was broken. Besides, the courtyard walls are quite high—it’s not like she could scale them.”

“Hmm… So she must have bribed the caretaker of the mortuary after Fu Xinruan’s death to see her?”

“Most likely,” Zhou Ziqin agreed.

Lost in thought, Huang Zixiao glanced at Li Shu Bai. Naturally attuned to her thoughts, he immediately understood. “That bangle.”

Before Gongsun Yuan entered the mortuary, Fu Xinruan’s bangle had already appeared by her side.

How it ended up in her hands was absolutely a question worth pursuing.

Li Shu Bai took the box from her hands, retrieving the lustrous jade bangle and examining it closely.

Noticing his slight frown, Huang Zixiao asked softly, “Your Highness recognizes the origin of this bangle?”

Li Shu Bai turned to her. The jade was so translucent that the sunlight refracted off it, casting reflections onto his face. In the light, the curve of his lips seemed to reveal a troubled, almost startled expression.

He said quietly, “This is an old item from the palace.”

Huang Zixiao was stunned.

“Moreover, it was newly carved by the inner court shortly before my father’s passing.”He didn't specify whose it was, but Huang Zixiang knew that in the late emperor's final years, the closest person by his side was none other than the mother of Prince E Li Run—the later maddened Consort Chen.

Li Shubai, realizing she must have figured it out, gave a slight nod and said, "An item from the palace appearing beside the body of a songstress who committed suicide for love—there must be a complicated story behind this."

Huang Zixiang nodded and asked, "Are you certain... it belonged to that person?"

"Yes. Before my father passed, I often visited him during his illness. She was always personally attending to him at his sickbed, and this bracelet was one of her cherished possessions, frequently worn on her wrist. Once I've seen its luster and patterns, I could never forget them."

Huang Zixiang nodded and handed the bracelet back to Zhou Ziqin. Seeing him turn it over repeatedly to examine it, she changed the subject and asked, "By the way, Ziqin, wasn't there a maidservant who served Fu Xinruan here before? She was sent home because Fu was getting married. Has this maidservant been found yet?"

"Oh, we sent someone to look for her long ago. They say she's from Hanzhou—very close by—so she should be found in a few days," Zhou Ziqin replied, hastily setting aside the bracelet and grinning as he leaned closer to her, lowering his voice. "They say this maidservant is an excellent cook, especially her Sichuan pepper chicken—so fragrant it could rouse the entire Songhua Lane! We can have her cook some for us to try when she's found!"