The Golden Hairpin

"He is my husband, Liu Cheng. My surname is Wei, and people call me Xin Niang..." The woman sobbed uncontrollably, nearly fainting from grief. "He was a craftsman, a jeweler. Last year, we fled the chaos and came to Yangzhou, settling near Huai Shu Well. Tonight, we went out to see the lanterns, but my gold hairpin went missing, so I went back to look for it. I searched all the way home but couldn’t find it. Then I retraced my steps..."

Xuanzhan held a lantern and leaned close to his mother, listening to Xin Niang’s words while watching the constables examine the male corpse. The body was that of a man in his late twenties, his throat slit. The blood that had sprayed out was partially covered by the scattered snowfall. He lay on his side in the snow, a thin layer of white powder dusting his body, his hand clutching a gold hairpin tightly.

The hairpin was a style popular five or six years ago, when it had been fashionable to engrave a woman’s maiden name on such ornaments. The characters on this hairpin were in plum-blossom seal script. Though elegant in appearance, the jeweler who crafted it seemed unfamiliar with this style—the strokes were clumsy, barely correct. However, the first half of the character, the phonetic component, was carved to resemble a pipa pattern, clearly a deliberate effort.

Xuanzhan whispered softly into his mother’s ear, "It’s the character ‘Yun.’"

She nodded. "The seal script for ‘Yun’ and ‘Xin’ look very similar."

One of the constables pointed at the hairpin in the corpse’s hand and asked Xin Niang, "Is this the hairpin you were looking for?"

Xin Niang covered her face, tears streaming between her fingers. "Yes... that’s the one. It was lost—I couldn’t find it anywhere. How could it be in his hand...?"

The chief constable pondered for a moment, examining the marks in the snow and the hairpin in the dead man’s hand. "There’s no doubt about it. You killed your husband."

Xin Niang’s legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground. She shook her head desperately, her voice trembling as she cried, "I—I didn’t kill A’Cheng! We’ve been married for years, and we were always loving..."

The chief constable cut her off impatiently. "When we arrived earlier, we saw everything clearly. There were only four sets of footprints in the snow—two going back and forth, which were yours. The other two led to the tree: the larger set, half-buried by fresh snow, belonged to your husband, and the smaller set belonged to this child. The snow has been falling for two hours now, and your husband’s body is still warm. That means, in the short time he was killed, no one else came near this willow tree besides the three of you. This child only followed you here, so of course he isn’t the killer. That leaves only you."

Another constable added, "If you didn’t kill him, why would your husband die clutching your gold hairpin?"

"It’s a false accusation! I... I didn’t kill anyone!" Xin Niang’s face was ashen, but she could only shake her head helplessly, unable to muster a single word in her defense.

"Take her away," the chief constable ordered with a wave. The constables moved swiftly, pulling out iron shackles to restrain her.

Xuanzhan frowned as they roughly hauled Xin Niang to her feet, ready to drag her away without another word. He glanced once more at the hairpin in the dead man’s hand, then tugged at his mother’s sleeve.

The woman in green patted his head and spoke clearly to the chief constable. "Sir, I believe this lady is not the murderer. If you have a moment, may I share my thoughts?"The constable glanced at her dismissively. "A woman's opinion—don't interfere with official business."

Seeing his contempt, she merely smiled faintly and produced an insignia from her side, showing it to him. "I am from Prince Kui's household. I would appreciate your cooperation."

The constable froze for a moment, his eyes widening at the gold-and-silver-inlaid insignia, unmistakably an imperial decree. He hastily bowed with his men, his voice trembling slightly. "Prince Kui's reputation shakes the heavens—I have long admired him! Though I heard His Highness left the capital years ago with the princess consort to travel, and only occasional tales of their deeds reach us... and Yangzhou is so far away. Has His Highness come to Yangzhou this time?"

She returned the courtesy. "His Highness is not here. I merely have business in Yangzhou."

The constable pressed eagerly, "I heard the princess consort once solved many baffling cases—we all revere her deeply. Might you be one of her attendants? What are your thoughts on this case?"

"I was just thinking—if Xin Niang truly committed this crime, why would she return so soon after leaving, drawing suspicion upon herself?" She sidestepped the question about her identity, tucking away the insignia as she turned to the corpse beneath the tree. "Most of the footprints in the snow are already buried. She could have simply glanced from afar and claimed her husband wasn't standing under the tree before leaving. Had she waited until all traces were covered by snow, making the time of death harder to determine, then returned—no one would know if others had been present when her husband died. Wouldn't it have been easier to frame it as a robbery and murder?"

The constable nodded but countered, "Some criminals are simply that foolish—we've seen it before..."

"Allow me to speak with her." The woman in green walked to Xin Niang's side, helping her up and gently brushing the disheveled hair from her forehead. Softly, she asked, "Who is Yun Niang?"

Xin Niang's already pale face turned ashen. "You... how do you know Yun Niang?"

The woman in green spoke gently, "If you wish to clear your name, tell me everything in detail."

"But... we only left our hometown for Yangzhou late last year. How could you know Yun Niang..."

The woman in green gazed at her, expression tender yet firm. Xin Niang hesitated, her lips finally trembling open as she murmured, "Yun Niang and I were born together, carried to the clan elder to be named side by side. We were from the same village, both surnamed Wei, with distant ties of kinship... When we were five or six, Yun Niang's mother took in a destitute distant cousin, A-Cheng, and betrothed him to Yun Niang. So... though the three of us always played together, they were different from me..."

The woman in green lowered her lashes, giving only a faint hum. "Yet in the end, you married A-Cheng."

"Yes... Originally, A-Cheng and Yun Niang were to wed. I too had a betrothed, though we'd only met a few times, so both Yun Niang and I were preparing our dowries. Later, A-Cheng went to the city to apprentice at a goldsmith's, and both our families asked him to craft identical hairpins for our dowries, engraved with our names." Her hollow eyes fixed on the gold hairpin in her husband's hand, her face gaunt and lifeless. "Though the style is outdated now, back then it was the first of its kind in the village. We treasured them dearly—even now, I keep mine hidden at the bottom of my vanity case, wearing it only during festivals..."