The Golden Hairpin

The flickering candlelight cast a distorted glow upon his face, making him appear both pitiful and terrifying in the shifting shadows.

"An orphan, nurtured with care by the prefect, saw his life transformed. He entered the prefectural school, receiving the most attentive instruction from the finest tutors. He became a renowned talent in Shu Commandery, adored by all. Gentle and considerate, he showered the prefect's daughter with affection, making her fall for him unreservedly. Three years later, he passed the provincial examination, riding high on success, poised to ascend the ladder of officialdom—knowing he no longer needed to exploit his enemies. So he moved out of the prefect's residence and gave Huang Zixiang a hollowed-out jade bracelet carved with twin fish."

At the mention of the twin-fish jade bracelet, Zhou Ziqin froze momentarily before rushing to the adjacent room to retrieve it. Placing it carefully on the table, he warned, "Be careful—this is laced with deadly poison."

"A bracelet laced with poison," Huang Zixiang said without fear, picking it up gently to show the others. The bracelet shimmered under the light, its intricate hollow patterns refracting countless beams, creating an indescribable play of colors.

Taking a deep breath, she pointed to the eight characters inscribed inside: "The king of trees need not fear minor flaws. This bracelet was designed based on the jade's natural grain, and these words were carved by his own hand. Truly, this bracelet is one of a kind—there is no other like it in the world. After Huang Zixiang fled, we found it in Fu Xinruan's possession. Zhou Ziqin's examination revealed that the poison Fu Xinruan and Wen Yang used to commit suicide was not arsenic, as the coroner had initially concluded. Instead, it was an extremely rare and precious poison passed down from the depths of the imperial palace—zhen poison."

At this, not only did Zhou Xiang and Fan Yingxi gasp in shock, but even Wang Yun's expression darkened, his brow furrowing.

"This led me to recall something—when Prefect Huang's family met their tragic end, Huang Zixiang was also wearing this bracelet given by Yu Xuan, never taking it off. And Fu Xinruan wore it as well before her death. Moreover, those who died from poisoning all exhibited symptoms of arsenic poisoning. Could there be a connection between these two cases?" She set the bracelet down slowly and said in a low voice, "So Zhou Ziqin investigated the graves of Prefect Huang's family, exhumed the bodies for re-examination, and brought back strands of their hair—sure enough, they too had died from zhen poison!"

Her gaze pierced through the stunned crowd and settled on Yu Xuan as she enunciated each word deliberately: "Prefect Huang's family and Fu Xinruan—two groups with no possible connection—yet both died from the same rare poison. Therefore, it is highly likely that the zhen poison came from this very bracelet, crafted by Yu Xuan's own hands. This is their only common link."

Yu Xuan's body trembled violently. He curled in on himself involuntarily, pressing his hands hard against his temples, desperately trying to maintain his seated posture. But it was futile—the veins on his temples and the backs of his hands bulged grotesquely. He bit down on his lower lip with such force that it turned blue, yet he could not suppress his ragged, agonized breaths.Huang Ziyao watched his death-like agony, yet he remained silent, only breathing heavily, forcing the resentment and grief in his heart out bit by bit with each trembling breath, lest his consciousness be torn apart by those emotions.

A turbulent undercurrent of unrest.

"Chonggu, I have a question. You once had Fugui lick your hand after you touched this bracelet, and I also examined both the inside and outside of it. The evidence shows it was non-toxic," Zhou Ziqin spoke up, breaking the oppressive atmosphere. "Moreover, Yu Xuan gave this bracelet to Huang Ziyao, and Qi Teng gave one to Fu Xinruan—both several months before the incidents occurred. My question is, if this bracelet was indeed poisoned, does that mean the poison was sometimes present and sometimes not? Or could the poison be activated at will after the bracelet was given away?"

"Yes, the poison in this bracelet could indeed be controlled—with just one small action." Huang Ziyao slowly picked up the bracelet and held it before her eyes, staring at it intently.

The two exquisitely hollowed-out little fish, lively and affectionate, playfully nibbled at each other's tails, chasing and frolicking. Tiny waves swirled around them, appearing exceptionally translucent and bright due to the hollowed-out design.

Gazing at the two fish, she said softly, "Because the jade quality was poor, the center was hollowed out to enhance its clarity. With countless carvings and hollow spaces, it would be impossible to inspect each one individually. At this point, all one needed to do was seal a tiny amount of poisoned substance inside the hollowed-out part of the bracelet. Once it dried slightly, a thin layer of wax could be applied to cover it, ensuring no leakage. If nothing unexpected happened, this deadly poison might accompany its owner for a lifetime, completely unnoticed."

She lowered her lashes, shifting her gaze away from the bracelet. The thorn that had been lodged in her heart for over half a year now, amidst the excruciating pain, sharpened her thoughts with chilling clarity. It sent a shiver down her spine, stiffening her body and allowing her to stand even straighter, more resolute.

"The day the Huang family met their tragedy, a spring snow fell, and the plum blossoms were in full bloom."

Yu Xuan had come to see her that afternoon, bringing her a branch of green calyx plum blossoms. Perhaps as she laughingly accepted the flowers, or while they picked plum blossoms together in the backyard, or even when they walked hand in hand, arms full of blossoms—he had lightly scraped the bracelet with his fingernail or a twig, dislodging the wax seal. The poison hidden within the bracelet was then fully exposed.

Afterward, Yu Xuan left, and the Huang family gathered in the hall for a warm meal together. As the most beloved daughter of the family, she had always served soup to everyone, placing each bowl before their guests.

But that day, after the earlier unpleasantness, she had heeded her mother's advice and personally carried the large bowl of lamb trotter stew from the kitchen to the hall.

Leaving the kitchen, passing the loquat tree in the courtyard, stepping through the cracked wooden gate, she walked along the polished brick path beneath the covered corridor.

The large bowl was heavy, and with a lid, it would have been impossible to carry all the way. So she left the lid behind, cradling the bowl as she went.

Amidst the rising steam of the winter soup, the bracelet on her wrist grew damp from the heat. Occasionally, it lightly clinked against the bowl—a soft, delicate sound—The damp moisture dripped down, carrying an inescapable and incurable poison, merging into a whole bowl of lamb trotter soup.

As he had wished, she diligently served the soup to everyone as an apology, the poison spreading in each bowl.

But contrary to his wishes, she, overwhelmed by grief, did not partake of the slightly gamey lamb trotter soup.

He had used her as a blade, wielding her hand to exact vengeance for his own family's destruction, leaving her, like him in the past, alone and adrift in the world.

By the time Huang Zixiao reached this point in her narration, the room had fallen into complete silence.

All eyes were fixed on Yu Xuan.

His cold sweat had soaked through his clothes. From pressing his temples too hard, a few stray locks of hair had come loose, drenched in sweat and clinging to his pale face—stark black against stark white, a shocking sight.

Yet Huang Zixiao did not look at him. Her gaze was fixed in midair, and only her words, spoken softly and slowly, were unyielding: "And on the bracelet, so many holes. To be safe, fearing it might be hard to find the poisoned spot at once, you must have sealed multiple places with wax. That day, you might have opened one, or two. But you would have left one or two more—because Qi Teng, when he saved you, likely learned about the bracelet from you. When he resolved to kill Fu Xinruan to marry the governor's daughter, he thought of this method. He retrieved the bracelet from the pawnshop, lured Wen Yang to Fu Xinruan's home, and used the same technique—scraping open a poisoned seal, letting Fu Xinruan prepare the poisoned soup herself, leading to her wrongful death. And yesterday, during my test, I opened the last one."

Zhou Ziqin immediately nodded, exclaiming in sudden realization, "Yes! No wonder you used your nail to pick at it then. If you hadn’t mentioned it now, I’d never have known what that was for!"

Yu Xuan, breathing heavily, stared straight at Huang Zixiao. After a long, long silence, he finally uttered in a hoarse voice, "Impossible..."

Huang Zixiao slightly raised her chin, waiting for his rebuttal.

Biting his lower lip, he asked in a low, raspy voice, "If... if I really did kill them, then tell me—what was that confession letter that appeared in my room?"

The others had no idea what this "confession letter" referred to, but seeing the grief and confusion on Yu Xuan's face, they felt he must have been unaware of it and began murmuring among themselves.

Li Shubai raised his hand to quiet them and said, "I remember that letter."

He took paper and brush and, in the style of Lady Wei’s small regular script, wrote out the letter:

For over a decade, I basked in familial joy, only for turmoil to arise in a single night, leaving me the sole survivor of my ruined family. I cannot bear to live with bloodstained hands. Loving the wrong person, forever straying from my heart’s desire—such twisted fates are but the whims of destiny. In another life, we shall not meet; in this one, all is over. With this brushstroke, I bid you farewell, parted forever by the storms of heaven.

The handwriting was identical—even the two horizontal strokes between the two "leaf" radicals were written just as in the original letter: one stroke occupying half the space, the other dividing the remaining half, as if added later.

When he showed the writing to everyone, Fan Yingxi immediately said, "This... this is about Governor Huang’s daughter! Could this be her confession?"Zhou Xiang nodded and said, "Exactly. Judging by the content, her parents raised her for over a decade, yet in one night she became the sole survivor with blood on her hands—all stemming from love. Isn't this clearly the confession of Prefect Huang's daughter, Huang Ziyao?"

Yu Xuan silently nodded in agreement. "Moreover, I was often with Huang Ziyao and am very familiar with her handwriting. This... is undoubtedly written by her own hand."

"Are you certain?" Huang Ziyao took a deep breath, gripping the confession tightly. "May I ask when you obtained this so-called confession?"

Yu Xuan met her unwavering gaze, and the resolve he had clung to for so long finally began to waver. "On... the day Prefect Huang's tomb was completed—April 16th this year."

"Then was it when you attempted suicide at the grave and were saved by Qi Teng that you received this 'confession'?" she countered.

Yu Xuan nodded. At the mention of "suicide," a sudden, icy sharp pain shot up his spine, piercing his mind like a blade—

A terror unlike anything he had ever felt before seized him, making his breath come in ragged gasps.

"And how did this letter appear? You claimed it suddenly appeared on your desk after you were brought home. But in a house undisturbed, who could have slipped in, done nothing else, and left only this letter for you?"

Yu Xuan's breathing grew labored, like a dying beast. He saw his greatest fear advancing relentlessly, step by step, until it would utterly destroy him.

Huang Ziyao's voice, clear and resolute, reached his ears word by word: "After fleeing Chengdu, I arrived in the capital in March. By April, I was in the capital, living under an assumed name and assisting the Prince in solving the case of the missing Princess. When would I have had the chance to send you a letter?"

Her gaze slowly shifted to Monk Mushan as she said calmly, "Your reputation for boundless Buddhist wisdom and the ability to alter a person's thoughts is renowned throughout Chengdu. So I can't help but wonder—why did Yu Xuan attempt suicide? Why did Qi Teng bring you to his side immediately after saving him? And what exactly did you do to Yu Xuan? I think I can guess."

Monk Mushan clasped his hands together, his brows drooping sorrowfully as he glanced at the Prince. "Amitabha... Benefactor Qi sought me out that day, saying his friend wished to end his life and begged me to save him. When I arrived, Benefactor Yu was indeed in a state of uncontrollable agitation. To save a life is to build a seven-story pagoda of merit—how could I stand idly by? So I helped him forget the most harrowing memories of his past."

The thousand-branched candelabra blazed brilliantly, its flickering flames casting chaotic shadows in the night breeze.

All eyes turned to Yu Xuan, yet no one spoke, only watching his face. As he stared at Monk Mushan, the last traces of hope in his expression melted away like spring snow, leaving only despair and agony to slowly drain all color from his features, leaving behind a deathly pallor.

In the suffocating silence, Huang Ziyao felt only a hollow ache in her chest, a hollow hatred—yet what filled her with even greater despair was the hollowness itself.She stared at Yu Xuan, the man she had once loved recklessly in her youth, and suddenly, overwhelmed by the despair in her heart, she was seized by a near-frenzied emotion. Grabbing the confession letter written by Li Shubai, she hurled it violently at Yu Xuan. "Yes, you've forgotten! Even all the wicked deeds you once committed—you've forgotten them all!"

Her body trembled, her thoughts in disarray, and her throat rasped as she struggled to form coherent words. "You wrote that confession letter, left it in your room before taking your own life, yet still clung to the delusion of preserving your reputation—only daring to use Huang Zixiao's handwriting! This is clearly your own handwritten confession, yet after forgetting everything, you've engraved it in your heart as another piece of evidence against Huang Zixiao!"

The crowd was stunned by her sudden outburst, unsure why she was so agitated.

Li Shubai stood up and gently patted her shoulder but said nothing. Instead, he turned to the others and remarked, "Magistrate Huang and his wife showed great kindness to Chonggu."

Everyone nodded hastily, forcing expressions of sympathy.

Only Yu Xuan remained frozen, his pale face devoid of light, his dark eyes hollow. After a long silence, he slowly shook his head and murmured in a hoarse voice, "No... that's not true."