The Golden Hairpin

Today happened to be the day of the Qingyuan Poetry Society’s gathering by the Clear Stream, and all members had received invitations.

"Let’s go. Since everyone’s here, we might as well meet them," Zhou Ziqin said as he and Huang Zixia rode out of the city. "The scenery by Clear Stream is lovely. I’ll take you there to enjoy it."

Clear Stream was located in the outskirts, beyond Chengdu Prefecture, on the road leading to Hanzhou and Longzhou.

Zhou Ziqin and Huang Zixia rode side by side. After passing through the city gates and traveling over ten miles into the countryside, they reached the mountain path.

A checkpoint was set up along the mountain road. The search for Prince Kui had concluded some time ago, and no important fugitive notices had been issued since. A few soldiers from the Western Sichuan Army sat idly, casually observing passersby.

Zhou Ziqin, being well-connected, dismounted and handed them a basket of freshly bought fruit as they passed the checkpoint. "Brother Liu mentioned last time that guarding here was tiring and thirsty. I thought bringing alcohol might interfere with your duties, so I brought these instead."

The soldiers, touched by his thoughtfulness, immediately began addressing him warmly as "Young Chief Constable" and insisted he rest awhile, even pouring him two cups of cool tea.

Huang Zixia glanced at the sparse flow of travelers and casually asked, "It must have been busy these past few days? You all must be exhausted."

A young soldier nodded. "Absolutely. The mountain was sealed off for days, and people were restless. Now that Prince Kui is confirmed safe, the restrictions are lifted, and the crowds have surged."

"During the search for Prince Kui, I heard no horses were allowed in or out except those of the Western Sichuan Army?" Huang Zixia pressed.

The guards, munching on the fruit, chuckled. "Of course! If anything had happened to Prince Kui, not just us—the entire Western Sichuan Army and Shu Commandery would’ve been held accountable! No one dared let anyone through."

"We worked in three shifts back then. Not a single outsider got in."

"Must’ve been tough..." Huang Zixia murmured, then suddenly remembered something. "By the way, Magistrate Qi is a civil official. Why did he enter the mountain back then?"

Zhou Ziqin was stunned, staring at her in disbelief. He couldn’t fathom why she’d suddenly bring up Qi Teng—let alone mention his entry into the mountain. Most importantly, how did she even know about it?

"Oh, right. That was strange. We thought Magistrate Qi shouldn’t have gone in either, but that day he just rode up casually and said he was worried, so he wanted to patrol personally."

"Yeah, I hurried to saddle my horse to follow him, but he said he’d just take a quick look and return immediately. By the time I mounted, he’d already galloped off. What could I do? I just got back down..."

"Ha! And your attempt to suck up failed—he completely ignored you!" The others burst into laughter, teasing him.

Someone suddenly turned to Zhou Ziqin. "Hey, Young Chief Constable, is Magistrate Qi... dead?"

Zhou Ziqin nodded. "Yes, and under very suspicious circumstances. Eunuch Yang and I have been investigating for days but have no leads."

"Really? Even someone as brilliant as you can’t crack it? That’s really something."

"Magistrate Qi was always kind to us lowly soldiers, always smiling. Who’d have thought he’d be murdered?"

As the group buzzed with discussions about Qi Teng’s death, one young guard remained silent, pensively squeezing the fruit in his hand, hesitating for a long while.Huang Zixiang then asked, "Brother, did you have any dealings with Magistrate Qi? What are your thoughts on this matter?"

"No, no..." He hastily took a big bite of the fruit but didn’t chew, mumbling instead, "I was just thinking... Magistrate Qi’s wife... wonder what will happen to her now."

Wife. Huang Zixiang immediately caught this puzzling term and shot Zhou Ziqin a meaningful glance. Zhou Ziqin understood instantly, reaching out to sling an arm around the man’s shoulders. "Nature calls—do you have an outhouse here? Take me there quickly."

Before long, Zhou Ziqin returned, grinning as he bid farewell to the others.

The two mounted their horses and rode together toward Qingxi.

Once they rounded the mountain path and saw no one around, Zhou Ziqin immediately pulled his horse closer to hers, his expression brimming with excitement. "Chonggu! A major discovery! Earth-shattering, heaven-shaking news!"

Huang Zixiang quickly asked, "What is it?"

"That guy mentioned that a few days ago while on duty, he saw Qi Teng heading to Mingyue Mountain!"

Huang Zixiang knew Zhou Ziqin wasn’t the most reliable, but surely not unreliable to this extent. She suppressed her impatience and waited quietly for him to continue.

Seeing that Huang Zixiang neither responded nor begged him to hurry up, Zhou Ziqin felt a pang of loneliness and reluctantly added, "He wasn’t traveling alone. The woman with him wore a veiled hat, the white gauze covering her completely, but you could vaguely tell she was stunningly beautiful."

Huang Zixiang nodded thoughtfully, while Zhou Ziqin fumed. "That bastard Qi Teng—good riddance he’s dead! Over thirty and still such a philanderer. His previous wife probably died of anger because of him!"

Huang Zixiang knew he was worried for his sister and couldn’t help but smile.

Sure enough, Zhou Ziqin added, "Thank goodness Ziyan didn’t marry him! With her temper, if she’d ended up with a man like that, wouldn’t she have just stabbed him?"

Huang Zixiang arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

Only after speaking did Zhou Ziqin pause, then hurriedly backtracked. "No, no! That’s not what I meant! I’m not saying my sister would kill anyone! Even if... even if she didn’t want to marry Qi Teng, she’d just throw a tantrum with us—she’d never silently go and murder someone!"

"I know," Huang Zixiang said before shifting the topic. "Any clues about the woman who went on that outing with Qi Teng? Could she be connected to the case?"

Zhou Ziqin smacked his forehead. "Almost forgot! They were heading to Mingyue Mountain. When they rode past the checkpoint, A-Lu noticed a red tassel had fallen from the woman’s saddle and quickly picked it up to hand it to her. Since he was standing below, he happened to glimpse her face through the gap in the veil. And let me tell you—that one glance was unforgettable. Her face, hidden behind the white gauze, was like a celestial beauty. He was so stunned he couldn’t snap out of it even after they’d left!"

Huang Zixiang reined in her horse, thinking for a moment before asking, "Did he remember any distinguishing features?""There was nothing unusual about her appearance, and he was so stunned at the time that now, thinking back, all he could recall was a sense of overwhelming beauty—how could he remember the details? But after that lad saw her face, he truly couldn’t forget it. Later, he heard that Magistrate Qi was about to marry, so he thought, perhaps it was his betrothed, my sister… This time when he saw me, he actually tried to fish for information about my sister. As if a lowly soldier like him could ever win my father’s approval." Zhou Ziqin spoke, then added with a hint of guilt, "But it doesn’t matter anyway—it wasn’t my sister he fancied. Ziyan wouldn’t likely go out with someone, nor does she possess that kind of devastating beauty. And with her temperament, plus the two setbacks in her marriage prospects, it’ll be hard for her to marry into a good family."

Huang Zixiao remained silent, tilting her head to gaze at the sky obscured by the dense canopy of towering branches. Beyond the layers of foliage, a bright azure still peeked through.

She exhaled deeply and murmured, "So that’s how it was…"

Zhou Ziqin immediately leaned closer from his horse, pressing her, "What? What do you mean?"

Huang Zixiao turned to him and said, "Substituting one thing for another—or you could call it a golden cicada shedding its shell. I think we’ll soon be able to go to Qingxi and verify it."

"Actually, it’s not really a formal poetry society. It’s just that Chengdu isn’t that big, and a few of us who often gather occasionally felt inspired and invited friends to join in poetry gatherings. Over time, it became a tradition—we’d meet at Qingyuan every now and then to share poems and discuss philosophy. The timing was never fixed…"

The members of the poetry society gathered by Qingxi Creek wore expressions of unease and apprehension when Zhou, the young constable, came to question them. The leader of the group, a scholar named Chen Lunyun, whispered to the others, "Could it be that the poems we wrote during our visit to the Goddess Temple this year were too frivolous, and so… the deities punished us, taking two lives at once…"

"How could that be? If we’re talking about frivolity, Wen Yang would never be the one! He never indulged in romantic talk! Even when we were admiring the Goddess statue, he was studying the poems on the walls, completely ignoring our chatter."

As the group continued to argue, Zhou Ziqin cut in, "But I heard Wen Yang often visited the pleasure quarters—so he must have had a fondness for beautiful women."

"Really? That… we’ve never heard of such a thing," Chen Lunyun asked the others. "Besides, Wen Yang was always so aloof—for him to die for love with a courtesan is shocking. Did he seem like the type to be so passionately devoted?"

"Passion aside, isn’t the whole thing just bizarre? His parents were gone, he had no close relatives in his clan, and he didn’t even have a wife anymore. If he wanted to marry a courtesan, who would have stopped him? Why would he need to die for love?" another chimed in. "Didn’t Old He marry Sister Liu, a courtesan, as his second wife? After she left the profession, everyone loved visiting the Hes—his wife is witty and gracious, handling any situation with ease. Sometimes she even dressed as a man and went on outings with us. Who wouldn’t call Sister Liu a fine lady? We secretly envied Old He—so why would anyone care if Wen Yang married a courtesan?""Besides, if it were Qi Teng, he might worry that marrying a woman from the entertainment class could harm his official reputation and hinder his career prospects. But Wen Yang has never shown any interest in pursuing an official career, so what does he have to fear?"

Huang Ziyao remained silent, letting them discuss for a while before asking, "How was Qi Teng's relationship with Wen Yang in daily life?"

Chen Lunyun replied, "Oh, because Qi Teng's courtesy name is Hanyue and he's quite handsome and amiable, we nicknamed him 'Prince Cold Moon,' which coincidentally pairs well with Wen Yang's name, so they were often mentioned together. But Qi Teng enjoys lively gatherings while Wen Yang prefers quiet, so they didn't seem to interact much—just nodding acquaintances at best."

Huang Ziyao then asked, "Who was close to both Qi Teng and Wen Yang?"

Immediately, two or three people answered in unison, "Yu Xuan!"

Huang Ziyao nodded without speaking.

Zhou Ziqin, still puzzled, pressed in surprise, "You mean Yu Xuan was close to which one of them?"

"To both!" they affirmed.

Seeing Zhou Ziqin's disbelief, Chen Lunyun explained, "Wen Yang enjoys tranquility and calligraphy, and Yu Xuan is one of the best calligraphers in Chengdu Prefecture, so Wen Yang often sought excuses to approach him, going out of his way to befriend him—remember that incident with Zhong Hui's supposed handwritten letter? Wasn’t that when they fell out?"

"Yes, I remember that!" a young man chimed in. "It happened last autumn. Wen Yang claimed he had obtained a letter handwritten by Zhong Hui and invited Yu Xuan to appraise it. Yu Xuan went eagerly but afterward stopped acknowledging Wen Yang entirely, refusing to speak of it when asked. I once asked Yu Xuan what he thought of that letter—whether it was genuine."

Zhou Ziqin quickly asked, "What did Yu Xuan say?"

"He had a strange expression then. If you’re not familiar with him, you might not know, but Yu Xuan is the most outstanding member of our poetry society, with an ethereal demeanor no one else can match. I’ve known him for years and never seen him angry. But that time, his expression was cold, and his tone stiff as he said, 'A letter dated the twelfth month of the first year of Jiaping, where Zhong Hui refers to himself as a Secretary of the Imperial Library—how could it possibly be genuine?'"

Chen Lunyun nodded. "Exactly. At first, we didn’t understand, but after checking historical records, we realized Zhong Hui had already been promoted to Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat by then. That’s how Yu Xuan instantly recognized it as a forgery."

Zhou Ziqin couldn’t help but ask, "Even if it was forged, Wen Yang was just deceived into buying a fake. Why would that lead to a falling-out?"

"True, but after that incident, Yu Xuan cut off all contact with Wen Yang. At poetry gatherings, Wen Yang still tried to engage with him, but Yu Xuan avoided him like the plague, even skipping several meetings because of it."

Huang Ziyao glanced at Zhou Ziqin, who still looked perplexed, and changed the subject. "What about Qi Teng’s relationship with Yu Xuan?"

Chen Lunyun said, "This I know well. They used to have an ordinary relationship, but after Yu Xuan’s attempted suicide, they began associating, even quite frequently for a time."

Huang Ziyao had heard Yu Xuan mention this before, though he hadn’t elaborated. Now, hearing Chen Lunyun bring it up, her heart skipped a beat, and she blurted out, "Attempted suicide?"