The Golden Hairpin

The hibiscus hedge outside Zhang Xingying's courtyard was slightly sparse in places. As Huang Zixiao and Zhou Ziqin walked under the large locust tree in the neighborhood carrying two catties of dried fruits, they saw Zhang Xingying approaching from the other end of the alley, his head bowed as he walked slowly, lost in thought.

Zhang Xingying had a tall and imposing stature, and even when he had fallen on hard times at Duan Rui Tang pharmacy, his heroic bearing was undeniable. But now, as Huang Zixiao watched him approach, he seemed distracted, as if he wasn't walking home but treading a narrow, uneven, and endless tightrope.

"Brother Zhang!" Zhou Ziqin called out to him.

Only then did Zhang Xingying look up. Seeing them, he forced a smile. "Oh... it's you two. What brings you here today?"

"We heard you mention your father wasn't feeling well the other day, so we came to visit," Zhou Ziqin said, shoving the two catties of red dates and longan into Zhang Xingying's arms. "These are for your father. Thankfully Chonggu reminded me."

Huang Zixiao quickly added, "I haven't received my monthly stipend yet since I haven't been in Prince Kui's household for long, so I had to come empty-handed. Sorry about that."

"Ah, don't be so formal! I'm just happy you're here!" Zhang Xingying interrupted her, his face brightening with a genuine smile. "Actually, I have good news to share. Thanks to you both, the Capital Defense Bureau sent official documents this morning—I can join the team tomorrow!"

"That's wonderful! Congratulations!" Zhou Ziqin threw an arm around his shoulder and laughed heartily. "See? Wang Yun was thoroughly convinced by us yesterday. He probably realized he couldn't justify refusing you to the three princes any longer!"

Huang Zixiao also felt relieved, glad she no longer owed Zhang Xingying anything. Watching the smile bloom on his face, she said, "Brother Zhang, congratulations!"

Zhang Xingying replied, "It's a double celebration, actually. My father had been bedridden for months, but when he heard I was joining the Capital Defense Bureau, his spirits lifted immediately. This morning, he was even able to get out of bed! He prescribed himself some medicine, saying his heart ailment was cured and he'd recover in a few days!"

As he spoke, he pushed open the courtyard gate and led them inside. "You came at the perfect time. It's so hot today—A'Di said she'd make cold buckwheat noodles for a snack. Come, let's all have some together."

Just then, the light clatter of wooden sandals could be heard. A'Di, who had been standing in the courtyard, had already retreated inside upon seeing guests arrive.

Zhang Xingying smiled apologetically. "A'Di is shy around strangers. Don't mind her."

Zhang Xingying went inside to fetch the cold noodles and utensils, and the three of them sat under the grapevine trellis.

Zhou Ziqin, gazing at the large bowl of cool, green buckwheat noodles, nearly forgot why they had come. He took the bowl Zhang Xingying handed him and served himself a small portion, praising as he ate, "A'Di's cooking is excellent! I'd love to come over for meals every day!"

"You're welcome anytime!" Zhang Xingying laughed.

Huang Zixiao took a bite and asked, "Brother Zhang, where were you earlier? You seemed a bit down when we saw you.""Ah... my elder brother's wife's younger brother, just four years old, got lost in the chaos at Jianfu Temple the other day. The whole family was frantic searching everywhere. Fortunately, there are still good people in this world—this morning we heard the news that someone had returned the child home, so I went over to check."

Huang Zixiang asked in surprise, "Isn't your sister-in-law an only child?"

"Yes, this child was adopted from their clan by her parents. After all, they needed someone to inherit the family business. I heard they were searching for the child the other day, but since I've been running around everywhere recently, I couldn't help and felt guilty." Zhang Xingying's elder brother lived with his wife's family after marriage. At that time in Chang'an, it was customary for couples to live with either the husband's or wife's family after marriage, so Zhang Xingying's brother wasn't exactly a live-in son-in-law.

Zhou Ziqin said, "Brother Zhang, really—the child is back now, isn't that enough? Why are you still so preoccupied with it?"

Hearing about a four-year-old child outside Jianfu Temple, Huang Zixiang couldn't help but recall the figure of that person holding the mud-covered little child in the heavy rain that day. She looked at Zhang Xingying and asked, "Who was it... who returned the child?"

"I arrived late and only caught a brief glimpse of him—he was... like an immortal!" Zhang Xingying put down his bowl earnestly and said, "Standing at my sister-in-law's doorstep, the entire courtyard seemed to brighten. In all my life, I've never seen someone so beautiful."

Zhou Ziqin laughed, "Illuminating the humble abode? Radiant as the morning clouds?"

Huang Zixiang remained silent, saying nothing.

Zhang Xingying didn't quite understand Zhou Ziqin's words and simply said, "Well, anyway, he was really good."

"Then..." Huang Zixiang's hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly, unnoticed by others, "What was his name?"

Zhang Xingying shook his head. "I don't know. That's why I say there are still good people in this world. He just drank a few sips of tea and left without leaving his name or accepting any thanks. The child is too young to know his name or where he lives, so we don't even know how to thank him."

Zhou Ziqin asked, "Then how did he find your sister-in-law's house?"

"Exactly, it was really difficult. The child couldn't say where he lived, so he had to carry him around to search every ward in Chang'an. How could a child that age walk through all seventy-two wards of Chang'an? He carried him from house to house until this morning when the child saw his home and called out, and they finally found it."

"What a pity we don't know who he is," Zhou Ziqin sighed. "I'd really like to meet him—he sounds like an ancient gentleman of virtue, and from what you say, he's also so handsome."

Zhang Xingying nodded repeatedly. "Truly! An exceptionally outstanding young man."

Huang Zixiang changed the subject. "Brother Zhang, won't you ask A-Di to come out and eat something too?"

Zhang Xingying hesitated. "She... she's shy. I think it's better not to."

"Chonggu is right! We'll all be friends from now on. It's not good for A-Di to be so shy. We'll be visiting often and would like to greet her too." Zhou Ziqin now agreed with everything Huang Zixiang said, like a perfect yes-man.

"Oh... you're right. Then I'll ask A-Di to come out and meet the guests." Zhang Xingying stood up and headed inside.

As soon as he entered, Zhou Ziqin tiptoed after him and pressed his ear against the wall.Huang Zixiang shot him a disdainful look and silently mouthed, "What are you trying to do?"

Zhou Ziqin mouthed back with an air of righteous shamelessness, "Eavesdrop! See if Second Brother Zhang and A'Di have any motive for the crime!"

Huang Zixiang was stunned by his brazen yet earnest expression. Though she knew it was improper, she couldn’t help but crouch beside him against the back wall.

Inside, the crackling of the stove fire filled the air. They heard Zhang Xingying say, "A'Di, they’re my friends—good people."

A'Di remained silent for a long time. Thinking she had tacitly agreed, Zhang Xingying reached out to tug at her sleeve. "Come, let me introduce you—"

But A'Di suddenly jerked her hand away and whispered with quiet resolve, "I... won’t go!"

Zhang Xingying froze, his hand still awkwardly outstretched, stunned into silence.

Zhou Ziqin and Huang Zixiang exchanged a glance, but before they could react, A'Di’s weak, trembling voice reached them. "Second Brother Zhang, please... I don’t want to see anyone! I—I can’t face people anymore... not in this lifetime..."

Zhang Xingying gazed at her quietly before asking softly, "So you’ll spend your whole life in this tiny courtyard, just enduring day after day?"

"You don’t understand... you couldn’t possibly..." She covered her face, crouching on the ground as she struggled to suppress her sobs. "Second Brother Zhang, you’re a good man... I just want to live peacefully by your side. I only want to stay at home... please, don’t make me go out and face others."

Zhang Xingying seemed taken aback by her intense reaction to such a simple request. He stood motionless before her, at a loss.

A heavy silence settled over the room, broken only by her muffled weeping. "Second Brother Zhang... I’ll wash your clothes and cook for you my whole life, I’ll serve you forever... I just beg for this little corner of the world, a place to stay until I die, until I rot into the earth... Please, don’t cast me out, don’t make me face people!"

Zhang Xingying listened in silence, glancing toward the courtyard to ensure no one outside had heard. Then he leaned slightly closer and murmured, "Alright, if you don’t want to, then you don’t have to. Actually... I don’t really want you to go out either."

A'Di’s tear-filled eyes widened, fixed intently on him.

He scratched his head, flushing under her gaze. "Because... every day, knowing you’re waiting for me at home, knowing you’ll never leave me, knowing I’m your only refuge... it’s like hiding a secret no one else knows..."

The tears A'Di had been holding back finally spilled over. Softly, she called his name, "Second Brother Zhang..."

Even Zhou Ziqin felt a little embarrassed now. He nudged Huang Zixiang with his elbow, signaling they should leave.

But Huang Zixiang only frowned slightly, pressing a finger to her lips in a gesture for silence.

Seeing her pensive, troubled expression, Zhou Ziqin grew puzzled. He turned Zhang Xingying’s words over in his mind—had there been something wrong with what he’d said?The atmosphere in the room suddenly grew still. Adi trembled slightly as she gazed at Zhang Xingying, finally asking in a quivering voice after a long pause, "You... when did you know... that I had nowhere to go? When did you learn... about my circumstances?"

Zhang Xingying froze for a moment, unconsciously clenching his fists as he lowered his head to avoid her gaze.

Silence stretched between them. Outside the courtyard with its hibiscus flowers, faint laughter from people enjoying the shade under the great locust tree was carried over by the breeze. A newly emerged cicada clung to the pomegranate tree, having just shed its dark shell, already eagerly filling the small courtyard with its shrill, monotonous song.

Zhang Xingying remained quiet for a long time before finally speaking in a slow, soft yet remarkably clear voice: "Last summer... I saw you at the West Market. You were crouching outside the candle shop, picking white orchids from a flower seller's basket. It was raining, and you were smiling as you selected the blossoms. When I passed by you, your radiant expression momentarily dazed me, and I accidentally splashed a drop of mud onto the back of your hand..."

Adi stared at him with tear-filled eyes, then instinctively raised her hand to examine her flawless white skin.

"At that time, I stammered out an apology, but you simply wiped away the mud with your handkerchief without a second thought, then returned to the shop holding a string of orchids. On my way home, I couldn't stop thinking about that smudge on your hand. I became so lost in thought that when I finally came to my senses, I realized I'd... I'd actually taken the wrong path home..."

Listening from outside the wall, Huang Zixiao felt her eyes grow hot again as warm tears threatened to spill over.

Inside the courtyard, Adi slowly clutched at her collar, pressing hard against her chest as if only this physical pressure could contain the overwhelming tide of complex emotions rising within her, preventing it from completely engulfing her.

Zhang Xingying crouched beside her near the flickering flames of the kitchen stove, gazing steadily at her as he continued softly: "After that... I sometimes went to watch you secretly outside your home. I saw how your father mistreated you, heard you often humming that mulberry branch tune, and learned about all the marriage proposals you received—only for your father to demand such exorbitant bride prices that no match could be made..."

He paused with a bitter smile before continuing after a long moment: "At that point... I gave up all hope and stopped going to see you. Later, after joining Prince Kui's honor guard, I thought of you again, but circumstances prevented anything from coming of it. Until... until I found you unconscious on the mountain path, still clutching that hemp rope in your death grip... Only later did I learn it was what your father had thrown at you, forcing you to hang yourself..."

"He's not my father," Adi finally spat through clenched teeth, having remained silent throughout his account. "I have no father... only a mother, long dead!"Zhang Xingying nodded without saying anything, then continued, "Back then, when I brought you home and you woke up, you said your name was Di... I thought you'd say 'Dicuì,' but you changed it and called yourself A-Di instead. At that moment, I knew something terrible must have happened to you. Later... later, when I heard the rumors in the capital about what happened to you, I was shocked, furious—I wanted to kill that bastard Sun Laizi... But the deepest thought in my heart was that I had to treat you even better. I thought... it was all my fault. If only I had sent someone to propose marriage earlier, maybe... maybe if I had pleaded harder with your father, he might have agreed. Then you wouldn’t have had to face such a fate..."

"Second Brother Zhang..." A-Di called out to him in a trembling voice. She crouched on the ground, her petite body curled up, shaking like a small flower in a fierce wind.

Zhang Xingying reached out as if to embrace and comfort her, but seeing her pale face and remembering the humiliation she had suffered, he feared she might not want to be touched. He forced himself to hold back.

Yet, Dicuì gently took his hand and quietly pressed her face against his arm.

Zhang Xingying lifted his trembling hand and, unable to resist, wrapped it around her.

The two leaned against each other in the kitchen, the firelight casting a flickering warmth over them.

They heard Zhang Xingying speak slowly and clearly, word by word: "Don’t worry, A-Di. Everyone who has done evil will face retribution."

A-Di remained silent for a long, long time before finally nodding slowly and whispering, "Yes... just like that day when we watched Wei Ximin burn to death—you know Wei Ximin, don’t you? If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have ended up like this."

"I know. The eunuch from the princess’s household." He didn’t explain how he knew, but the listener understood—when it came to A-Di, he had secretly learned far more than anyone imagined.

They stayed close together, unmoving for a long while.

Huang Zixiao and Zhou Ziqin silently returned to the grapevine arbor and sat there eating their cold buckwheat noodles, though neither could taste a thing.