The Golden Hairpin

After the clan elders had dispersed, she bid farewell to her parents, elder brother, uncles, and grandmother, then rode Nafusha slowly along the mountain path toward the city.

Li Shubai rode alongside her, turning to look at her in the oncoming breeze.

"Zixia..." he called her name softly.

This seemed to be the first time he had addressed her this way.

Huang Zixia turned her head to look at his face.

Before he could say anything, Die'e had already leaped to Nafusha's side, bringing the distance between them to less than half a foot.

Close enough to hear each other's breath.

Huang Zixia awkwardly averted her gaze, but he whispered by her ear, "Don't worry, I'll handle everything."

Her heart skipped a beat at his words.

All the worries and sorrows that had drifted through her mind like passing clouds suddenly dissipated completely because of those eight simple words.

She lowered her head, recalling when she had first come to his side disguised as a young eunuch. She had worried then whether anyone would suspect her true identity, and he had said, "I'll help you resolve it."

Indeed, apart from Wang Yun, her identity had never truly been questioned.

She didn't know what method he had used. But she believed that whatever he promised, he would deliver. Because he was Li Shubai, the Prince of Kui of the Great Tang.

Zhou Ziqin, riding Xiaxia, caught up with them from behind and asked, "Chonggu, why are you smiling at His Highness?"

Huang Zixia turned her face away, ignoring him.

"Ah... I just can't get used to the fact that you're a woman. I still can't help thinking of you as Chonggu," Zhou Ziqin said while circling around her horse. "Look, you're not even wearing that hairpin you used to anymore—you've changed to another one. It really feels strange."

Huang Zixia silently touched the side of her hair, then turned to look at Li Shubai. Slowly, she drew a hairpin from her sleeve.

The smooth jade hairpin had a scrolling grass pattern at the top and a silver shaft. By pressing the pattern, the inner jade pin could be removed without loosening her hair.

"I was afraid it might get lost if I left it at the governor's residence, so I kept it with me," she said softly.

Li Shubai smiled faintly. Zhou Ziqin was even more baffled by their exchange and could only say, "Alright, Chonggu... If you really are Huang Zixia, then I just remembered something—something serious!"

Huang Zixia looked at him questioningly.

Zhou Ziqin wore a worried expression. "You're Wang Yun's fiancée, but all this time, you've been His Highness's little eunuch. This... When we return to the capital, if people ask me, 'Where's Yang Chonggu?' and I say, 'Yang Chonggu married Wang Yun,' what will everyone think about the eldest grandson of the Langya Wang family marrying a eunuch?"

Both Li Shubai and Huang Zixia were stunned by his unconventional line of thought and momentarily speechless.

"Right? So we have to think things through carefully. I think solving this problem is crucial. First, we should hold an identity reveal conference for Yang Chonggu in Chang'an—"

"Ziqin," Li Shubai couldn't help but ask, "do you know your father recently sent someone to arrange another marriage proposal for you?"

"Eh? Really? Who's the girl?" Zhou Ziqin immediately forgot all about the identity reveal conference. "Is she pretty? Smart? What's her personality like?"

"I don't know. I only heard that she turned it down again.""Hahaha... force of habit," Zhou Ziqin waved his hand nonchalantly. "I don't know why, but after just a few days in Chengdu, everyone already knows I like handling corpses! There's even a rumor that I sleep in piles of dead bodies every night—I mean, it would be convenient for autopsies, but honestly, the mortuary in Chengdu is freezing cold. No way anyone could sleep there, right? The weird thing is everyone believes it, so if my dad tried to trick someone into marrying their daughter to me, it definitely wouldn't work..."

Though Zhou Ziqin rambled endlessly, at least he didn’t drag them into it, so Huang Zixiao and Li Shubai let him be.

Entering the city and following the stone-paved road ahead, Zhou Ziqin immediately spotted Second Sister—her mutton stall was once again blatantly set up right in the middle of the street.

"Enough is enough! Second Sister, how many times have I told you to move your wheelbarrow to the side?" Zhou Ziqin jumped down from his horse, planted his hands on his hips, and bellowed at her in the middle of the street.

Second Sister, wielding her cleaver as she chopped meat, merely glanced at him, utterly unfazed. "Oh, Officer Ha, haven’t you been off the streets lately? What brings you back?"

At her words, for some reason, Zhou Ziqin’s face flickered with a mix of nervousness and delight. "Recently... I just cracked a major case. Haven’t you heard?"

"Of course I have. Eunuch Yang from Prince Kui’s entourage rushed from the capital to Chengdu, investigated for days, and solved three major cases overnight. These cases were interconnected yet separate—truly a mystery within a mystery, tangled threads revealing shocking secrets. Our Chengdu constables were helpless; it was all thanks to him."

As she spoke, Second Sister pushed her wheelbarrow aside slightly and resumed chopping ribs.

Zhou Ziqin, deflated, climbed back onto his horse. To salvage his dignity, he shouted again, "Good! At least you remember the line I drew for you last time! From now on, keep your stall behind it—not an inch further!"

Second Sister shot him a mocking sidelong glance. "Got it, Officer Ha!"

Zhou Ziqin’s face again betrayed that odd mix of tension and joy as he urged his horse forward. Huang Zixiao, noticing his expression, couldn’t help but ask, "What’s wrong?"

Zhou Ziqin’s face turned slightly red as he stammered, "She... she called me 'Officer Hao' in public. That title... sounds kind of embarrassing..."

Huang Zixiao burst out laughing, covering her forehead. "Officer Ha!"

"Wait... not 'Officer Hao'?" Only then did he realize his mistake, freezing in shock. Seeing Huang Zixiao still laughing, he grabbed her reins and pressed, "What does 'Officer Ha' mean?"

Before Huang Zixiao could answer, a passing elderly woman chimed in, "In our Sichuan dialect, 'Ha' means 'stupid.'"

Hearing this, even Li Shubai couldn’t suppress a laugh. Zhou Ziqin instantly flared up. "Go on ahead!" he snapped before wheeling his horse around and charging back toward Second Sister.

Huang Zixiao and Li Shubai watched as Zhou Ziqin, dismounting, was swiftly reduced to a wilted mess by Second Sister’s sharp retorts, retreating to crouch by the wall. They exchanged amused glances.

Huang Zixiao grinned. "Seems this fierce Second Sister isn’t afraid of corpses at all."

Li Shubai nodded.

"What? Here to pick a fight? A grown man, walking all the way back just to argue over one word?" Second Sister’s voice carried from afar.Zhou Ziqin bellowed, "No! I came back... I came back to buy fish!"

To prove his point, he pointed at the nearby fish stall and said indignantly, "Boss, I’ll take everything! Deliver it all to the yamen!"

Huang Zixia watched as the fishmonger gleefully scooped up various small miscellaneous fish, her expression gradually turning grave.

Li Shubai asked, "Thinking about Qi Teng’s little red fish?"

"Yes..." Huang Zixia murmured thoughtfully. "Judging by all the signs, when Yu Xuan was first incited by Monk Mushan to kill my family, that fish was still there. But by the time Yu Xuan took his own life in front of my parents' grave and forgot everything, the fish had disappeared."

"I believe something must have happened in between. Otherwise, when Qi Teng mentioned that fish, Yu Xuan wouldn’t have looked so disturbed. Even if he couldn’t remember, that fish must have left an unusually deep impression on his subconscious."

"And where did Qi Teng get the poisoned wine? Also, what about Monk Mushan? Shouldn’t we go question him as soon as possible?" Huang Zixia asked.

"He passed away," Li Shubai said.

Her eyes widened in shock.

"Early this morning, when he was returning to Guangdu Temple, the Western Sichuan Army escorted him to the temple gates. His meditation room was up the mountain, so he began climbing the steps. It was dark, the path was slippery, and he was already old—he fell down the steps and died," Li Shubai said with a frown. "I only learned of it this morning when I sent someone to find him."

Huang Zixia whispered, "I wonder if Qi Teng’s little red fish has any connection to the one in your possession. And whether it has anything to do with Wang Zongshi."

"None of the mysteries have been solved yet, and these emerging clues keep breaking off abruptly. It’s hard not to suspect that behind all of this, there’s a massive, unseen hand at work. We can’t see it, yet we can clearly feel its presence."

He turned to look at her but ultimately chose not to tell her that the talisman in his secret box had once again quietly changed color.

They reined in their horses and stood in the streets of Chengdu, gazing at the bustling city beneath the vast sky.

The hibiscus flowers bloomed across the city like brocade, sprawling in great clusters among the countless households. The mundane scenery flowed before their eyes—vibrant lives, enigmatic pasts, diverging destinies. There was no escape; they could only face it all head-on.

The little fish, quietly hidden in the glass vessel, leaped out of the water, sending ripples of unrest across the surface.