The Golden Hairpin

As the night deepened into the third watch, Li Shubai and Fan Yingxi left for their residences first. Zhou Xiang saw them off, instructing Zhou Ziqin to conduct a thorough investigation.

Zhou Ziqin, however, quickly grabbed the reins of Li Shubai’s horse and pleaded, “Your Highness, please let Chonggu stay here for now. No matter what, he has to help me—you know I can’t manage without him!”

Li Shubai glanced back at Huang Zixiao, who gave him a slight nod before following Zhou Ziqin back inside.

The garden of the prefectural office wasn’t particularly large, so the so-called dock was mostly for show—essentially just a large platform.

Descending the steps beside the platform led to the pond. The pond had now been drained, revealing a stone-paved bottom where mud and water plants were tangled together. The unfortunate constables were sifting through the sludge with their bare hands, searching for the murder weapon. Yet, not only had they failed to find the weapon, they hadn’t even discovered a single scrap of metal.

“Could the weapon be so thin and narrow that it was washed away during drainage?” Zhou Ziqin worried aloud.

Huang Zixiao shook her head. “The drain is covered with a copper mesh—nothing wider than an inch could pass through.”

The hapless constables had no choice but to summon a group of servants from the estate. Bucket after bucket of water was poured to wash away the mud, all in the hope of uncovering the weapon.

While the search for the weapon continued, Huang Zixiao and Zhou Ziqin prepared their records and began questioning those present.

Fan Yuanlong, who had drunk too much, was still somewhat dazed despite being half-sobered by the shock of Qi Teng’s death. As a result, he was the first to be questioned.

Sitting across from Zhou Ziqin, Fan Yuanlong cradled his head in his hands, feigning sorrow with a strong whiff of alcohol on his breath. His speech was slightly slurred as he lamented, “Brother Qi died so tragically! I will definitely avenge him! Young Constable Zhou, you must catch the killer! Otherwise… otherwise our brotherly bond would be for nothing…”

Zhou Ziqin thought to himself, What brotherly bond do I have with you?

Drunkards tend to ramble, and without needing any prompting, Fan Yuanlong got straight to the point: “This case—no doubt about it—it’s Yu Xuan’s doing! Yu Xuan!”

Yu Xuan stood not far away, hands clasped behind his back, gazing silently at the sparse stars in the sky.

“Why do I say it’s Yu Xuan? I have proof! Back in the day, when people said Chengdu had welcomed a great beauty, I—I didn’t believe it… Who would’ve thought it was true… What? Why are you looking at me like that? You think the beauty is Yu Xuan? Pah! I’m talking about Fu Xinruan! Madam Fu from Songhua Lane!” His words were a drunken, incoherent mess, veering wildly off-topic, but Zhou Ziqin glanced at Huang Zixiao and dutifully recorded everything.

Noticing that Fan Yuanlong avoided mentioning his past infatuation with Fu Xinruan, Huang Zixiao asked, “I heard you once had dealings with Fu Xinruan as well?”"It seems... there might have been, but later, I found out her heart belonged to someone else. I was furious." Fan Yuanlong clutched his heavy head, reeking of alcohol. "A true fairy she was! Walk from one end of Wutong Street to the other—could you find such a beauty? Let me tell you, once I secretly... secretly followed Lady Fu, wanting to catch her lover and give him a good beating. And guess where I saw her go? Hahaha... Qing Garden! Yu Xuan and his group were gathering to compose poetry! She stood far away, and when I followed her gaze—damn it all—her eyes were fixed right on Yu Xuan! Among the whole crowd, he was the only one shining bright. The so-called promising young Magistrate Qi, the dashing Chen Lunyun of Shu Commandery, the Four Great Talents, the Eight Great Poets—all of them were trash! I was so mad! Truly, the madam loves money, the girl loves looks—damn it, is being handsome really that great?"

Zhou Ziqin glanced at Fan Yuanlong's ruddy nose and drooping eyes, then at Yu Xuan's refined and handsome profile, silently thinking to himself: Being that good-looking is indeed something to be proud of—don't even try to deny it.

By this point, Fan Yuanlong's logic had completely collapsed, and he was just rambling incoherently: "My heart was shattered right then, and I swore off women for life! I even went to the Night Roaming Pavilion and found a male courtesan! Ah, but I still ended up back with women in the end. It's humiliating—let's not talk about it. Let's get back to the main topic..."

Zhou Ziqin's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he debated whether to record the part about the military governor's son visiting a male courtesan. Huang Zixiang glanced at his notebook and said, "If it's irrelevant to the case, don’t write it down."

Zhou Ziqin nodded silently, then heard Huang Zixiang ask, "So, you just said Yu Xuan killed Qi Teng—why do you think that?"

"Here’s how I see it. Yu Xuan has fallen so low now—wouldn’t he hate Qi Teng? Originally, Yu Xuan was the most celebrated talent in Chengdu Prefecture, but then Qi Teng won my father’s favor and suddenly stole his position. That’s why Lady Fu grew disillusioned with him, her heart shifted to Wen Yang, and in the end, she couldn’t let go of the past and died with him! Who do you think Yu Xuan would blame? Qi Teng, of course..."

Zhou Ziqin was speechless at this drunken, illogical rant and couldn’t help but pause his writing, turning to look at Huang Zixiang. Yet Huang Zixiang leaned back in her chair and even asked him, "If that’s the case, tonight he was quite far from Qi Teng. Do you think he had the opportunity to kill him?"

"Yes! Absolutely!" Fan Yuanlong declared emphatically. "At the time, wasn’t I looking at the flower petals? Then that young lady—the one next to the lantern, quite a beauty—I wanted to get closer and strike up a conversation, but that bastard Yu Xuan yanked me away! Tell me, if it weren’t because she was Lady Fu’s sister, if it weren’t because he still had feelings for Lady Fu, why would he pull me away?"At this point, even Huang Zitang stopped humoring him, but he was still excited and kept chattering away: "Listen carefully, here's the important part—after he pulled me away, he left me by the bushes! The cold wind hit me, and I felt dizzy. Right then and there, I vomited my guts out beside the bushes. When I turned around, that guy wasn’t behind me at all—where do you think he went? Maybe he just slipped along the bushes, sneaked up to Big Brother Qi sitting by the green gauze cabinet, and since it was so dark, he pulled out a knife and—pfft... sob sob sob, my Big Brother Qi, you died so tragically..."

Huang Zitang couldn’t be bothered to figure out whether Fan Yuanlong was genuinely drunk or just pretending and steered the conversation elsewhere: "What happened after you finished vomiting?"

"I was completely out of it. After vomiting, I just collapsed under the bushes—no idea if I passed out or fell asleep. When I woke up, someone had already pulled me up and sat me by the railing. Someone brought me sobering soup and then told me Big Brother Qi was dead! I was stunned..."

"So, you don’t know when the bloodstains got on your clothes?"

"How would I know? I was completely out of it—I’m telling you, it was Yu Xuan!" He leaned closer to them, looking smug as if he had the whole truth figured out, his eyes darting toward Yu Xuan. "While I was unconscious, he went and killed Big Brother Qi! Then he wiped the knife clean on me to frame me, threw the weapon away, and hid the truth! Hurry up and arrest him—this is practically the whole story!"

Huang Zitang said flatly, "Mr. Fan, I know you’ve long held a grudge against Yu Xuan. Your cousin’s exile was also connected to him. But with the truth still unclear, isn’t it inappropriate for you to insist it was him?"

Fan Yuanlong hadn’t expected her to know so much about his feud with Yu Xuan. He gaped for a long moment before vehemently denying it: "Are you saying I’m slandering him? No way! My father’s even planning to recruit him—why would I hold a grudge?"

Huang Zitang didn’t want to get tangled in matters unrelated to the case and gestured for Yu Xuan to come over. Fan Yuanlong had no choice but to stand up and leave in a huff.

Yu Xuan refused to sit in the chair Fan Yuanlong had used and dragged over another one before sitting down.

Zhou Ziqin, taking notes, asked, "Where were you when the incident happened last night?"

Yu Xuan lowered his head, staring at the wood grain on the table, and replied calmly, "I was originally sitting at the back, but since Mr. Fan was drunk and harassing others, I pulled him away and took him to the bushes."

Zhou Ziqin pressed, "And then? Did you stay with him or leave?"

Without looking up, Yu Xuan answered in the same even tone, "I left. The stench of drunken vomit was unbearable, and it nearly splashed on my clothes, so I returned to watch Madam Gongsun’s sword dance."

"Any evidence?" Zhou Ziqin asked again.

Yu Xuan thought for a moment. "I stood at the very back. Probably no one noticed me. As for witnesses, I don’t have any."

Zhou Ziqin continued, "Any material evidence, then?"Yu Xuan said nothing, standing up to demonstrate before them. He spun, leaped, bent, and twisted—though his movements were uncoordinated and incomplete, merely approximating the essence. Yet they could immediately recognize it as the latter half of the dance that Gongsun Dayang had just performed.

As he concluded with a "lying fish" pose, soft applause came from the side. It was Gongsun Yuan, clapping in admiration. "Young Master Yu has an extraordinary memory. After A-Ruan modified this dance, I only performed it once in public. I never imagined you could remember nearly all the steps after just one viewing."

Yu Xuan stood up, brushing the dust from his clothes, and looked at Huang Zixiang as he said, "If I had gone to commit murder at that time, I probably wouldn’t have been able to witness Gongsun Dayang’s exquisite dance."

The evidence was irrefutable. Even Fan Yuanlong, who had been crouching nearby waiting to catch him in a slip, had nothing to say.

Gongsun Yuan and Yin Luyi sat down together on the chairs before them. Yin Luyi wore an expression of tension and sorrow, while Gongsun Yuan gently patted her hand and said, "Don’t worry. Constable Zhou and Eunuch Yang will surely discern the truth."

She turned to Zhou Ziqin, forcing a faint smile as she asked, "Might I ask what suspicions Constable Zhou and Eunuch Yang have about us?"

Zhou Ziqin hurriedly replied, "Ah, Eunuch Yang and I have just discussed this. In truth, the two of you are the least likely suspects. You were both in the pavilion the entire time, under the eyes of everyone present. How could you possibly have slipped away to commit murder?"

Huang Zixiang nodded and said, "We’re only asking you both routine questions. Did you ever have any interactions with Magistrate Qi Teng?"

Gongsun Yuan and Yin Luyi shook their heads in unison. Gongsun Yuan said, "Though we’ve visited Shu Commandery a few times before, it was always for performances. My last visit was at least five years ago, and Luyi only came once seven years ago, stopping at Longzhou without even reaching Chengdu. We’ve never met Magistrate Qi—how could we have had any dealings with him?"

Huang Zixiang said, "We’ll send someone to investigate this. Please don’t worry—the authorities won’t involve innocent parties."

"Thank you, Constable Zhou, Eunuch Yang," Gongsun Yuan said, then looked at them earnestly and asked, "Might I ask if there have been any developments in my younger sister A-Ruan’s case?"

Zhou Ziqin looked rather embarrassed. "We’re investigating... there’s already some progress. Please bear with us a little longer."

Gongsun Yuan said no more, only bowing with Yin Luyi in farewell.