The Golden Hairpin

Two horses, one ridden and one led, passed through Anxing and Shengye wards, the streets already deserted.

She galloped to the vicinity of Dong Zhongshu's tomb in Chongren ward, dismounted, and hurriedly knocked on the door. The gatekeeper opened the side door to look at her, taking in her eunuch attire before smiling obsequiously and asking, "Which master are you looking for, young sir?"

"Your young master, Zhou Ziqin," she said, showing him the small golden fish in her hand. At the sight of it, he exclaimed, "Ah! Please wait a moment."

She stood in front of the Zhou residence, watching the bright moon rise in the east. The closing drums of Chang'an had already begun to sound, faintly echoing from afar. She couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

Fortunately, movement soon came from within. A young man rushed out—no older than twenty, with clear, handsome features and an elegant demeanor. He was dressed in an intricately embroidered robe of resplendent azure and smoky purple, cinched at the waist with a white jade belt carved with coiling dragon patterns. It was adorned with jingling pouches, fragrant pendants, and green jade ornaments. At first glance, he looked like one of those spoiled young nobles commonly seen on the streets—only far more handsome.

The moment he saw her, he asked, "Young sir, is it Prince Kui who seeks me?"

"Zhou Ziqin?" she countered.

"Yes, that's me." He glanced around before eagerly pressing, "Does His Highness have need of me? I heard he spoke to the Emperor on my behalf, allowing me to accompany my father to Shu. I'm finally going to be a constable! Hahaha, a new chapter of my life is about to begin—"

"Keep your voice down," she hissed, her patience fraying. Lowering her voice, she said, "The prince has a task for you. One perfectly suited to your talents."

"Really? Even better than being a constable?"

"Yes. Digging up corpses."

"Truly, Prince Kui knows me best." Without even asking for details, he snapped his fingers. "Wait here! I'll grab my tools and be right back!"

In Chang'an, it was customary that when daylight waned, six hundred beats of the "closing drums" would sound. By the time the last drumbeat faded, the city gates would shut, remaining sealed until the following dawn, when four hundred beats of the "opening drums" would signal their unlocking.

The sky darkened further as the six hundred drumbeats grew ever more urgent. Huang Ziguang and Zhou Ziqin spurred their horses through the streets, racing toward Jin Guang Gate.

Almost at the very moment the final drumbeat fell and the gatekeeper bellowed, "Gates closing—" their horses thundered past the gate, galloping along the canal toward the desolate western outskirts.

The western hills were thick with forests, but Zhou Ziqin navigated the path with ease, leading her straight to the mortuary. Peering inside, they saw only a single dim lamp burning—the old caretaker had long since gone to sleep.

Zhou Ziqin had already shed his flamboyant robes, now clad only in a simple brown tunic. From his sleeve, he produced a slender iron wire and deftly picked the latch. Pushing the door open, he caught the falling bar midair and silently placed it on the windowsill beside them.

Huang Ziguang couldn’t help but admire him. With skills like these, he was no pampered noble—he was a fox who had honed his craft to perfection.

He beckoned her forward, then crept inside. Opening a wooden cabinet, he retrieved a ledger and flipped to the most recent entry—

"Fourteen refugees from Youzhou. Twelve men, two women. All buried beside the pine grove on the northern slope of Qi Mountain."He ran his finger over the line of text, then silently pointed toward a small hill outside, parting his lips to mouth the word "go."

The two of them tiptoed out the door. Using a flat hairpin, he painstakingly slid the latch back inch by inch, struggling to secure it again before waving for her to move.

Huang Zixiang finally understood why Li Shubai had asked her to find Zhou Ziqin—this guy was practically a seasoned offender, his movements far too deft.

After they had walked a considerable distance, Huang Zixiang finally asked, "You... do this kind of thing often? Seems like you’re quite familiar with it."

He puffed up proudly. "Yeah, it’s kind of my hobby. Let me tell you, my forensic skills were all secretly practiced on unclaimed corpses."

"Your latch-picking skills must be unmatched in Chang’an, huh?"

"Not bad, not bad. Took a lot of practice."

"Actually, I wanted to ask—the latch on the windowsill next to it seemed like it could be opened with just a flick. Why did you insist on going through the main door?"

"Win... windowsill?" Zhou Ziqin fell silent. Huang Zixiang had walked quite far ahead when she finally heard a wail from behind. "All those months of practice wasted! Who can give back the sweat I shed day and night?!"

When they reached the foot of the small hill, their horses, tied nearby, were pacing restlessly.

Zhou Ziqin led the horses to a pine grove on the northern side of the hill. Spotting a patch of freshly turned earth, he knew this must be the place. He took down the box strapped to the horse’s back before they left, opened it, and pulled out a folding hoe and shovel, tossing one to her.

She stared at the shovel in disbelief. "You even have this?" This was way too professional.

"Shh, don’t mention it. The Prince of Kui got this for me from the Armory Department. When my dad found out, he nearly beat me to death!" Tears streamed down his face as he spoke. Then he took out a clove of garlic, a piece of ginger, and a bottle of vinegar from the box.

Just as Huang Zixiang thought he might produce a steamed bun next, he pulled out two strips of cloth, crushed the ginger and garlic, mixed them with vinegar, and rubbed the concoction onto the cloth before handing her one. "Cover your nose. The stench of corpses is unbearable."

Huang Zixiang suddenly remembered something and quickly said, "I heard these people died of the plague."

"Then it’s even more important to cover up—tightly." He smirked. "It doesn’t smell great, but this is a secret family recipe."

Huang Zixiang nearly fainted from the pungency. "Your father’s an official, right? And he passed down something like this?"

"Of course not from my family! I begged for ages, spent months buttering up Old Zhu, Chang’an’s most famous coroner, before he finally gave me his family’s secret recipe."

She fell silent and picked up the shovel to dig alongside him. The bodies had only been buried today, so the soil wasn’t too hard to move. Zhou Ziqin swung the hoe with practiced ease, making quick progress.

Under the moonlight, Zhou Ziqin dug away, seemingly bored, and casually asked, "You’re that... new favorite of the Prince of Kui, right?"

"..." Huang Zixiang felt that if not for the cloth covering her face, the twitching of her expression would have made her thoughts perfectly clear. Unfortunately, Zhou Ziqin didn’t notice and continued, "What’s your name again... Yang Chonggu, right?"

She grunted in frustration, then after a moment, finally asked, "What do you mean by 'new favorite'?""Huh? I don’t know either. I just heard rumors in the capital that Prince Kui has a rather pretty little eunuch by his side, and even Prince Zhao asked for you but was refused. Looking at you, I figured it must be you."

Huang Zixiang listened to his careless and rambling words and really didn’t want to engage with this person. She could only bury her head in digging the soil with indignation.

He persisted, undeterred: "I heard you can solve cases? Even the Four Directions Case?"

"Just luck."

"But if you could solve something like the Four Directions Case, I think you’re practically on par with the person I admire most!"

"Just average."

Under the hazy moonlight, with the pine wind howling, the two of them chatted intermittently in the deserted wilderness as they dug into the earth. When something of a different color from the soil appeared in the moonlight, Zhou Ziqin quickly said, "Wait, wait—let me take a look."

He jumped into the shallow pit, put on a pair of thin gloves, and picked up a bone to examine. "Good, these are definitely burned remains. But this is clearly a man’s skeleton—look how thick these hand bones are. If we’re looking for a woman, we’ll have to keep searching."

Huang Zixiang crouched by the pit and said, "Right, we’re looking for a woman, around forty years old, about five feet three inches tall, average build, skilled in playing the qin."

"Got it." He used a small shovel to sift through the soil. Searching through the remains of fourteen people was laborious, but the women’s bones were naturally separated. He dug around carefully, examining them closely, and finally pulled out a pile of charred fragments.

At the sight of these half-burned bones and flesh, she knew Li Shubai had been right—the officers had hastily burned the bodies before burying them, failing to follow the proper procedure of thorough cremation and deep burial.

She put on gloves herself and went to examine the female corpse’s hands. Since it was nighttime, everything looked indistinct, which lessened the impact. But the smell was unbearable—even with vinegar, ginger, and garlic masking it, the stench still assaulted her nostrils.

Holding her breath, she told herself, Huang Zixiang, you’ve seen your own family’s corpses before. What’s this compared to that?

The nausea gradually subsided, and she steadied herself, reaching out to inspect the remains before her. Zhou Ziqin’s voice reached her ears: "Judging by the bones, these two female remains are both around five feet tall. But the other woman’s bones are brittle, and her posture suggests a slight hunchback—she was probably around fifty. So this one should be the person you’re looking for."

She carefully examined the charred skull of the female corpse and asked, "Is there any way to tell if there was a black mole on the left eyebrow?"

"Not possible. Moles and scars are on the skin, and all the flesh has been burned away. How could those remain?"

"Then what identifiable traces are left on a body like this?"

"Hold on, let me check." He took out a leather pouch from his box. When he opened it, the moonlight glinted off the contents—an array of finely crafted small knives, hammers, and awls."A craftsman must first sharpen his tools. My equipment is quite impressive, don't you think?" he boasted, deftly turning the bones over for a thorough inspection before swiftly dissecting the remaining flesh on the corpse. "The throat can't be touched yet... fingers completely charred, unidentifiable; eyes dried out, unidentifiable; ears missing, unidentifiable..."

Huang Zixiang crouched by the pit, tilting her head to gaze at the moon. After Zhou Ziqin's exhaustive efforts, his conclusion was: "No external injuries can be detected at all."

Resting her chin on her knees, she asked, "Didn't the Ministry of Revenue examine the body before cremation? Was there any record in the mortuary register?"

"This one died of plague, so naturally no one bothered with further examination—just wanted to dispose of it quickly." Zhou Ziqin pointed to a nearby box. "Fourth row, second compartment. Hand me that small pouch."

Huang Zixiang retrieved the cloth bag and tossed it to him. He pulled out a thin silver plaque about the size of a little finger and a small vial. Dipping a cloth into the liquid from the vial, he vigorously polished the plaque until it gleamed. Then, gripping the corpse's jaw to open its mouth, he inserted the plaque inside, closed the mouth again, and sealed it with a piece of paper. "We'll wait a while."

Having worked long enough with the constables of Shu Commandery, Huang Zixiang knew this was a poison test—the liquid used to clean the plaque was soapberry water. If the plaque turned black after half an hour, it would indicate the deceased had been poisoned.

"Could you also find one of the other bodies—either the woman or the male refugee—and conduct the same test?" Huang Zixiang asked.

"Sure," he replied, proceeding to seal their mouths as well.

She couldn't help but remind him, "Remember to examine the stomach and intestines later. Last time in Shu Commandery, a woman was poisoned postmortem, but the coroner only tested her mouth and nearly misjudged the case."

"Oh? There was such a case?" Zhou Ziqin's eyes immediately lit up as he scrambled up to join her under a distant pine tree, removing his mask. "Could you elaborate on that case?"

"It was quite simple, really." Huang Zixiang paused briefly to recall. "A young girl from Longzhou in Shu Commandery suddenly died at home. The coroner used this method and concluded she had poisoned herself. But... but the constable noticed bruises on her wrist didn't match the grape pattern from her bracelet—instead, they resembled a pomegranate pattern. He deduced another woman must have restrained her hands before death. Upon closer inspection of her mouth and nose, traces of dried, clear blood were found. After interrogating her family, it turned out her sister and a neighbor were having an affair, which the girl had stumbled upon. The sister pinned her down while the neighbor tried to silence her, accidentally suffocating her in the process. In panic, they force-fed her poison to stage a suicide. Since the poison could be detected in the throat but not the stomach, the case was solved."

Zhou Ziqin asked excitedly, "Really? Who was that sharp-eyed person who noticed the truth from just a bracelet pattern?"

"...It was Constable Guo Ming of Shu Commandery."

"No way! I've met Guo Ming—a big, bearded guy, rough around the edges. No way he'd notice the pattern of bruises on a woman's wrist!"Huang Ziyao had no choice but to roll her eyes at the moon now directly overhead and said, "I wouldn't know about that."

"I have a guess—could it be Huang Ziyao, the daughter of Governor Huang?" Zhou Ziqin suddenly suggested. "I've heard she's exceptionally skilled at deducing cases from the slightest clues."

"Don't know." Huang Ziyao buried her head in her knees and stared at the moon for a long while before replying, "I think I've heard of her."

Zhou Ziqin seemed completely oblivious to her indifference and continued excitedly, "It's obvious you haven't spent time in Chang'an or Shu Commandery before! She's quite famous in both places! And, and—do you know why I'm determined to become a coroner and a constable? It's all because of Huang Ziyao!"

"Oh." She remained unmoved.

"Wait a second," he said, turning back to his bag and pulling out a small bundle. "Here, I'll share half with you!"

A rich aroma wafted toward her, but when she looked down, she couldn't help feeling nauseated. "We're here tonight to dig up a corpse, and you actually brought roast chicken?" And it was a charred corpse they were exhuming, no less!

"Hey, I haven't had dinner yet! When I went to get the vinegar, ginger, and garlic earlier, I saw this was the only portable thing in the kitchen, so I wrapped it in a lotus leaf and brought it along. My family's cook is really skilled!"

The corner of Huang Ziyao's mouth twitched slightly—she really didn’t want to say another word to this man.

"Where were we? Ah yes... Huang Ziyao, Governor Huang's daughter—she's my beloved! My dream girl! The woman of my dreams!"

Coldly, she retorted, "You wouldn’t even recognize her if she were standing right in front of you, would you?"

"How could that be? Every time I pass by the city gate and see her wanted poster, I stop to admire her. So beautiful! Even on a wanted poster, she's stunning—now that's what you call a true beauty, right?"