The Golden Hairpin

Zhou Ziqin opened his mouth but ultimately placed the small bowls onto the tray and carried them back to his quarters.

Li Shubai and Huang Zixiang followed him to the courtyard, waiting by the door.

Neither spoke. The sky was hazy and dim, shrouding the corridors draped with creeping fig vines. The last few lotus flowers of late summer stood solitary atop their emerald canopies, a strikingly vivid crimson.

A long wind, carrying the last remnants of summer heat, rolled across the lotus pond and swept toward Huang Zixiang, enveloping her body.

A thin layer of sweat clung to her skin, each bead pricking like needles. It was swiftly evaporated by the hot wind, leaving only a faint, barely perceptible sting.

All that remained was the breeze rippling the water's surface and the lingering glow of the setting sun.

Huang Zixiang leaned against the railing, taking a long moment to steady herself before staring blankly at Li Shubai before her.

Li Shubai returned her gaze, silent.

Dusk settled over them, and the entire governor's residence was eerily still.

The setting sun scattered flecks of gold across the water near and far, the shimmering reflections dazzling and sharp.

Four years.

Here, she had transformed from an innocent girl unaware of the world's ways into a reckless young woman. Here, she had fallen from being an admired prodigy to a despised murder suspect.

She had thought she had already endured the most unbearable suffering life could offer, tasted the most heart-wrenching agony imaginable. She had believed there was nothing left in this world more terrifying to face—

Yet she never imagined that when the truth arrived, it would be even more horrifying than anything she had envisioned.

Her body trembled violently. Despite the lingering warmth of late summer and early autumn, her bones felt frozen, and cold sweat seeped from her forehead and body—fine, needle-like pricks.

She clutched Li Shubai's hand, her voice hoarse and strained, asking him, "Could it really have been me... who personally delivered that bowl of poisoned soup, sending all my loved ones to their deaths?"

Li Shubai gazed at her silently, seeing her eyes wide open yet dull as ashes, devoid of any flicker of light.

The fire that had once burned in the eyes of that determined girl—who had traveled a thousand li in disarray, pressed down in his carriage yet stubbornly insisting she would clear her family's name—had been extinguished.

The conviction that had carried her this far had vanished.

Li Shubai held her hand, feeling the bone-deep chill. The cold radiating from her sent a sharp, stinging iciness through his own chest. Slowly, he raised his arms and pulled her into an embrace, suppressing the tremor in his voice as he murmured, "No, it wasn't you."

"It was me! I was the one who brought that bowl of soup, the one who served it to each of them, the one who urged them to drink it—everything... was me!"

She cried out uncontrollably, her body held tightly by Li Shubai, unable to break free. Yet the muscles in her face twitched and convulsed, a terrifying sight.

A pang of alarm struck Li Shubai. He pressed the frenzied girl against the railing, gripping her firmly as he commanded in a low voice, "Huang Zixiang, calm down!"

She seized his arm, trying to throw him off. But how could she match his strength? Easily overpowered, her frantic struggles only left her gasping for breath.She heard him whisper in her ear, "I told you it wasn't your fault, and it wasn't. You were just one link in this scheme of using others to kill—you were used without knowing. And the one you should hate most isn't yourself, but the person behind it all."

Her movements slowed as she stared blankly at him.

He met her gaze and said, word by deliberate word, "After all the hardships you've endured to get here step by step, instead of wallowing in regret and self-blame, you should rise up and expose their conspiracy. Clear your own name, apprehend the real culprit for your parents, brother, grandmother, and uncle—that's what truly matters!"

Huang Zixiang stared at him for what felt like an eternity before finally parting her lips. From her hoarse throat came broken, fragmented words: "The reason... I need to know his reason..."

"Yes, that's what you should focus on next, not regret and self-blame!"

Gradually, his words calmed her. After a long silence, the lifeless gray in her eyes finally welled with moisture, and large teardrops slid down, landing on his hand with a faint sting.

He looked down and saw the small scratches she had left on his hand earlier. The falling tears seeped into the wounds, causing a slight pain.

Silently, he raised his hand and gently wiped away her tears, then carefully tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ear. His usually cold eyes now held an exceptionally gentle clarity, like a hidden lake unknown to anyone else. When he revealed it to her, it enveloped her completely, shielding her from the storms of the world.

Gazing at her, he said softly, "If you're truly too tired, rest for a while. Leave it to me—I'll carry you forward."

Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed uncontrollably in his arms for a long time.

But in the end, he finally heard her voice, choked and strained, forcing out each word with immense difficulty: "No... I was right. After all the hardships to get here... I'll see this through to the end. I'll... finish everything with my own hands!"

Some time later, Zhou Ziqin's tightly shut door suddenly swung open. His face was ashen, eyes wide, as he rushed out and stood before them, gasping for breath but unable to utter a word.

Li Shubai had already released Huang Zixiang. The two sat on the veranda railing, half a foot apart—neither too close nor too far.

Huang Zixiang straightened her back, pulling away from the pillar, and stood firmly before Zhou Ziqin.

Li Shubai asked, "What's the result?"

Zhou Ziqin, still panting heavily, struggled to steady his breathing before finally forcing out four words: "Poison! All five bowls!"

Huang Zixiang's rigid body seemed to lose all strength as she slumped. Li Shubai caught her, helping her sit on the waterside veranda, gently patting her back.

Finally catching her breath, the darkness before her eyes and the ringing in her ears gradually faded.

She leaned her head against the pillar, closed her eyes, and murmured softly, "Case closed."

Zhou Ziqin gaped at her in stunned silence. "Case closed? Which case? Fu Xinruan's? Qi Teng's? Or Tang Zhuniang's?""All of them, and the case involving the former Prefect of Shu Commandery, the Huang family." She mustered the last of her strength, enunciating each word clearly, "These three cases are connected by an invisible thread. Now that we've grasped the end of this thread, all we need to do is give it a firm tug. The curtain concealing everything will fall, and this case will be concluded."

"Concluded...?" Zhou Ziqin mulled over her words, feeling an overwhelming sense of desolation—he still had no leads at all, so how could she already understand everything?

"Yes, this case—no, I should say, these three cases—are already over."

Night had fallen, and the deep twilight had enveloped the entire Chengdu Prefecture. Yet, at Prince Kui's command, all relevant parties were summoned before the lanterns were lit.

Though unaware of what had happened, even Fan Yingxi, the Military Governor of Xichuan, hurried over with his son to the Prefectural Office.

Wang Yun arrived with them, dressed in a pale violet silk robe. When he saw Huang Zihuang, though his face still bore his usual gentle smile, his complexion was noticeably poor.

Prefect Zhou Xiang had already set up chairs at his waterside pavilion dock and had his daughter conceal her face behind a fan before entering the green gauze cabinet.

Gongsun Yuan and Yin Luyi arrived together. Seeing that everyone present at Qi Teng's death had gathered, they nodded to Huang Zihuang and Zhou Ziqin before taking their seats in the pavilion.

Yu Xuan arrived shortly after, dressed in a sky-blue scholar's robe. He quietly sat by the pavilion, as low-key as ever.

To everyone's confusion, the abbot of Guangdu Temple, Monk Mushan, who hadn't been present that day, was also invited and given a meditation cushion outside the pavilion.

All the musicians from Chengdu Prefecture present that day, the Prefectural Office's servants, Zhou Ziyan's maids, and even Tang Sheng, the rogue nephew of Tang Zhuniang, were tracked down and summoned.

Once everyone had either taken their seats or stood in place, Li Shubai looked at Huang Zihuang and nodded to her. Huang Zihuang stood and addressed the crowd, "We've gathered everyone here today because of a murder that occurred a few days ago at the Prefectural Office—the killing of Qi Teng, the Military Governor's Office's Judge."

Her words immediately silenced the crowd. Fan Yingxi stroked his beard without speaking, Zhou Xiang frowned in thought, Gongsun Yuan gently placed a comforting hand on Yin Luyi's shoulder, while Fan Yuanlong blurted out, "What? The Qi Teng case? Eunuch Yang already has leads?"

"I already know who the culprit is, as well as how the murderer killed Judge Qi in plain sight and where the weapon was hidden."

Fan Yingxi glanced at Li Shubai, who sat behind Huang Zihuang but remained silent, and understood that he was already aware of the matter. He promptly added, "Eunuch Yang, this is no trivial matter! Whoever targeted my office's judge may hold a grudge against me, or harbor resentment toward the Prefect, His Highness, or the imperial court. They must be severely punished!"

"General Fan's concern for the court and His Highness is commendable, but the root of this matter has nothing to do with affairs of state. The sole cause is nothing more than a matter of the heart," Huang Zihuang said calmly.Upon hearing this, Fan Yingxi's face registered shock, yet Li Shubai noticed a slight relaxation in the tension of his gaze. After all, if this matter had nothing to do with the imperial court or Prince Kui, then as a military governor, he bore no responsibility. As for the death of his subordinate judge, he wasn't particularly concerned.

"Regarding Judge Qi's death, apart from Monk Mushan, everyone was present here at the time." Huang Zixiao's gaze swept across each face in the room, noting expressions of tension, focus, astonishment, and confusion. Ignoring their reactions, she slowly pointed toward the waterside pavilion and continued, "In this case, there are two key factors obstructing our ability to solve the mystery and apprehend the murderer—first, the timing."

Everyone nodded involuntarily, clearly in agreement.

"The murderer must have killed Judge Qi during that brief dance performance. Before the dance began, as we were arranging our seats, Judge Qi was still moving a round stool near the green gauze cabinet to speak with Miss Zhou. Even after the performance started, he continued conversing with her—until Fan's son vomited by the bushes. That was when he stopped speaking, never to speak again."

Zhou Ziqin nodded. "Therefore, the time of death must have been during or after Fan's son vomited—when the petals were fluttering, Lady Gongsun entered the gauze curtain, and the butterflies were released."

"Yet at that moment, everyone had an alibi proving they couldn't have committed the murder. Nearly every person was under someone else's observation—Prince Kui, Military Governor Fan, Prefect Zhou... even the maids and servants in the residence couldn't have slipped away unnoticed to commit the murder. Moreover, the evidence at the scene indicated no signs of an outsider's intrusion. This means the murderer was among us on the waterside pavilion's dock—one of us present here."