The Golden Hairpin

Huang Zixiao was momentarily stunned. Xiao Shi silently knelt down, performing a deep bow of respect to them. The soft hem of her skirt brushed soundlessly against the ground, as quiet as a flower falling without wind.

"Xiao Shi thanks Prince Kui for his life-saving grace from years past."

Li Shubai gave a slight nod but said nothing.

Xiao Shi remained kneeling, her calm yet sorrowful gaze fixed on him. Her eyes seemed to swirl with countless unspoken thoughts, yet none could be voiced.

After a long silence, she finally spoke in a hoarse voice, "I have been staying in the abandoned Taiji Palace... where almost no outsiders pass by, and no one knows who I am... until today, when Empress Wang came to tell me that if not for me, Xuese might not have died."

Xiao Shi spoke quietly, her head bowed as she knelt on the ground, so still she seemed to barely breathe.

Huang Zixiao said slowly, "Everything was a twist of fate. Xuese's death... you are not the murderer."

Xiao Shi's pale face, devoid of rouge, was tinged with a cold pallor. She looked up with lifeless, weary eyes and whispered, "But I think Her Majesty the Empress is right. If not for me, Xuese wouldn't have died..."

Huang Zixiao replied, "Yet if not for you, Xuese would have been gone three years ago."

But Xiao Shi found no solace in these words. Her head sank lower until she was almost prostrate on the ground. Pressing her forehead against the back of her hands, her voice choked with sobs, she murmured, "If not for Xuese, I wouldn’t be in this world either... We relied on each other amidst the chaos of war, then traveled together to Yangzhou, to Puzhou... Aunt Landai treated us as her own, and like Xuese, I learned the qin and dance from her. Though we weren’t very skilled, these three years were good... If only... if only Feng Niang hadn’t appeared before us, we would still be living so happily..."

Li Shubai watched coldly, saying nothing.

"Today, the Empress scolded me in anger, saying I coveted vanity and recklessly impersonated Xuese, leading to this tragedy... But in truth, neither Xuese nor I knew of her current status. Even Feng Niang didn’t know when she came to fetch us..." Xiao Shi covered her face with trembling hands, tears streaming uncontrollably between her fingers. "At the time, Aunt Landai and her husband had gone to Zhangye... When the gatekeeper told Xuese that her mother had sent someone to take her to the capital for an arranged marriage, she discussed it with me. She said she had no desire to marry, especially since her mother had abandoned them for wealth and glory, causing her father to die young from grief in his early thirties... So, she refused to see her mother! But I persuaded her—though Aunt Landai cared for us, finding suitable matches for girls of our background wouldn’t be easy. If her mother could secure her a good future, it might not be a bad thing...

"Xuese then grasped my hand and said, 'Why not do this? My mother left me at five, and Feng Niang only saw us once in Yangzhou when we were thirteen or fourteen, covered in dust. Who would recognize me now? You pretend to be me and go to the capital with Feng Niang. If there’s a good match, you’ll be fortunate to marry well. Then... then...'""Then she took out the silver ingot that Prince Kui had us bring away back then, split it in half, and gave me one piece, saying, 'Take this as proof. I hope you can help me inquire about that person in the capital, to see where he is now. Three years have passed—why hasn’t he come to find me with the hairpin? Even if he went to Yangzhou, the people at Yunsiao Court would have told him Aunt Landai is in Puzhou...'

"At that moment, I really wanted to tell her that her leaf-vein hairpin had been thrown away immediately by the other person. I had secretly kept it for her for three years, intending to return it to her when she got married. But I knew that telling her this would only humiliate Xue Se terribly, so I thought it better not to say anything—I might as well take it to the capital and return it to her mother instead."

Xiao Shi paused here, staring blankly for a long while before biting her lower lip and continuing, "However, when I arrived at the Wang residence and saw Empress Wang at first glance, I knew that Xue Se and I had likely already made a grave mistake. We didn’t know her mother had now become someone beyond the reach of mortals. We thought... we thought she had merely married a wealthy merchant or a minor official... But... but I didn’t dare speak up! After learning her identity and uncovering such a significant palace secret, if I were to admit I was merely an impostor, wouldn’t that be akin to seeking death? I presented the leaf-vein hairpin to Empress Wang, and she had no further doubts about my identity. She then told me that Prince Kui was in the process of selecting a consort, and since the Wang family currently lacked any outstanding young women, I could attend the selection as the fourth daughter of the family. At the time, I was overjoyed, thinking that if I became the princess consort, not only would I enjoy wealth and status, but I could also use the prince’s influence to find our benefactor—Xue Se’s beloved. But... but when I was led to the rear hall and saw Prince Kui standing before me..."

Her lips trembled violently, her throat tightening as she struggled to speak. After a long silence, she covered her face and sobbed, "I knew then—fate had played a cruel joke, and everything was over."

Her voice was strained, barely squeezing past her throat, sounding particularly desolate in the quiet night. A sudden gust of wind made the palace lanterns sway violently, casting flickering light across her face in eerie, distorted layers that sent chills down the spine.

"I couldn’t reveal the secret I carried. Night after night, I had nightmares—dreaming that I, who had stolen Xue Se’s beloved, would meet a gruesome end... Yet I couldn’t help but indulge in guilty fantasies of rising to prominence, becoming the envied Princess Consort of Kui..." She collapsed onto the ground, her nails digging into the brick floor until they broke, yet she seemed oblivious to the pain. "I even thought that after marrying Prince Kui, I could simply prevent Xue Se from ever meeting him, and then find her the very best man in the world..."

Huang Zixiang glanced at Li Shubai’s profile, but his expression remained unreadable as he stared at the spinning palace lanterns beneath the corridor.

She couldn’t help but wonder—was there any meaning in such torment, suffering, and longing, all wasted on a man who felt nothing for you?

Just like the lanterns scattered across the garden, no matter how brilliant or dazzling they might be, who would ever know which midnight-blooming flower they once illuminated?"Those days, I could neither eat nor sleep in peace. Eventually, I revealed the secret in my delirious dreams. I don’t know if Feng Niang truly noticed, but she must have grown suspicious. And I knew that once this matter was exposed, my life... would surely end in Chang’an. It was then that Empress Wang privately sent someone to ask me whether Feng Niang seemed reliable. I... I don’t know why, but as if possessed, I shook my head..."

Indeed, it was Empress Wang who had someone poison Feng Yiniang, then discarded her body among the refugees of Youzhou, disguising her death as one caused by plague.

"Then, Empress Wang helped you poison Feng Yiniang and disposed of the body?"

Xiao Shi was crying so hard she nearly fainted. Unable to speak, she could only manage a weak nod.

Huang Zitang sighed inwardly, stepping forward to help Xiao Shi, who was collapsed on the ground in tears, and said softly, "Get up. That Her Majesty the Empress spared your life is already a great fortune for you."

Li Shubai finally spoke up, "What does she want you to do now?"

Xiao Shi opened the bundle beside her and, with trembling hands, took out a small urn. She cradled it in her arms, gently stroking it for a long while before raising her head to look at them and said, "This is Xue Se’s ashes. I will take her back to Liuzhou and bury her beside her father. From now on, I will guard her grave until my dying day, tending to it daily, never to be parted again."

Huang Zitang stood before her, watching the loose strands of hair by her cheeks tremble slightly in the night breeze seeping through the window, like rootless duckweed, with no way back and no path forward.

Li Shubai took two silver ingots from a nearby drawer and placed them before her, saying, "Take these back."

Xiao Shi looked at the two nearly identical ingots and murmured, "Xue Se often told me that if one day she could see you again, when you took out that leaf-vein dew hairpin, she would take out this silver ingot. It was meant to be... your token of love. Back in Yongchun Palace, I knew I could never be with you again, and even Xue Se... probably never would be either. So I left it there, thinking that if you truly still remembered us and saw it, perhaps it might leave a faint trace in your heart..."

Huang Zitang sighed and picked up the other half, saying, "And this half is proof that the woman who came to the Outer Music Bureau was Xue Se. Perhaps she was attacked in that very room, mere moments before I arrived, yet fate made us miss each other."

"All of this is destiny," Xiao Shi clutched the silver ingot, murmuring, "My fate, her fate—it was all decided twelve years ago."

Because one woman altered her own destiny, the trajectories of many lives were changed from that moment onward.

After seeing Xiao Shi off, Huang Zitang watched the palace carriage disappear into the silent night beyond the city gates of Chang’an, heading toward an uncertain future.

She turned back toward the mansion gate, only to find Yongji and Changqing, who had accompanied Xiao Shi, standing at the entrance, gesturing for her to board the carriage: "Eunuch Yang, Her Majesty the Empress has ordered that no matter how late it is, no matter your condition, even if you’ve fallen into the water and caught a chill, she demands your presence."

It’s coming—the prelude to the strike.Empress Wang knew very well that the key witness Xiao Shi was coming to seek an audience, and she would certainly grant it. So, the trap was laid here!

Her face twisted in distress as she instinctively glanced at Li Shubai.

Li Shubai gave an imperceptible nod, signaling for her to follow.

Her eyes widened slightly as she stared at him wordlessly, her gaze conveying—Empress Wang is going to make me disappear from this world!

He only returned her a look that said, "Stay calm and composed," leaving Huang Zitang utterly speechless and helpless. Such misfortune in life, such fickleness of the world—just after helping him resolve the thorny case of the princess consort, was he now burning the bridge? How could he stand by and watch as Empress Wang took action against her?

Yongji and Changqing were still staring at her. She had no choice but to steel herself, release Xiao Shi, and walk out.

Just as she passed by Li Shubai, she heard his hushed voice say, "True form."

Huh? She thought she must have misheard and turned her head to look at him. Yet, he remained impassive, not even sparing her another glance, only uttering a casual remark, "The night is deep and the dew heavy—take care not to catch a chill."