Li Yuangui received the news of "a foreign merchant's death and missing persons at the Small West Market's mule and horse trade" long after noon had passed.
The message was personally delivered to the Pei family estate by the straightforward old man Zhang Zhuangtou. His expression was grim, and he grumbled irritably about how this favor of gathering information had delayed his supervision of farm work. However, having promised his master, he naturally took the task seriously.
When foreigners living in their own communities suffered casualties, they typically didn’t report it to local authorities like the Han people would, nor did they involve officials in a way that would alert the entire neighborhood. The government rarely interfered in the internal affairs of foreign merchants. The owner of the mule and horse inn where the deceased had been taken had sought out the local Zoroastrian priest in town—both to prove the death wasn’t caused by the inn and to begin preparing the funeral rites according to their religious customs. The priest spread word to locate the deceased’s family, and the news circulated among the foreign merchants for most of the day before reaching Zhang Zhuangtou’s ears.
Upon hearing this, Li Yuangui grabbed his bow and knife, summoning Yang Xinzhi and other attendants to leave immediately. Pei Lvshi, ever thoughtful, also called for a few strong men from the estate to join them with wooden clubs. After much pleading, Zhang Zhuangtou agreed to lead the way personally, and Pei himself joined the group. The party followed Li Yuangui straight to the warehouse district behind the Small West Market town.
The old man Zhang’s reputation carried weight. With a few words of inquiry, he led them into an earthen-walled warehouse. At a glance, Li Yuangui recognized the corpse on the ground as An Yan-na. Further questioning of the foreign warehouse keeper revealed that a young man and woman had been hiding there with An Yan-na for several days. Early that morning, when the keeper opened the door, they found the body—but the two youths were gone...
Through Fen Dui’s translation, more detailed questioning confirmed that the girl’s appearance matched the Seventeenth Princess, while the identity of the young man remained unclear. The foreigners only described him as "resembling a horse-herding tribesman." After discussing with Yang Xinzhi, both concluded it was likely Sang Sai, the young Tuyuhun prince who had escaped from the Great Peace Palace, coming here to meet An Yan-na.
If that were the case, how had An Yan-na ended up dead in this place?
There were few signs of a struggle inside the room. Examining the wounds on the body, there was only one—a stab wound from a short knife driven into the back of the heart. The knife had been pulled out and left nearby. The warehouse keeper explained that when they opened the door at dawn, An Yan-na was lying face down on a straw mat, the knife’s hilt protruding from his back. They had pulled it out while attempting to help.
Li Yuangui examined the knife. Its hilt was wrapped in gold wire, the guard ornately carved—a distinctly Western Regions merchant’s style. He suspected it might have been An Yan-na’s own weapon. If so, this murder was likely committed by someone familiar, striking when the victim was unprepared...
Seventeenth Sister, could it have been you?
A surge of heat rose in his chest. Li Yuangui almost wished it were true, but reason told him it was unlikely. His sister was small, weak, and timid by nature—even with a surprise attack from behind, she wouldn’t have the strength to kill a grown man with a single stab. If it had been Chai Yingluo or even the young lady from the Wei family, the possibility would have been far greater...
But now wasn’t the time for such thoughts. Li Yuangui turned and signaled A-Chen to bring in the greyhounds they had brought from the Great Peace Palace. The Seventeenth Princess and the boy suspected to be Sang Sai had stayed in this room for several days, leaving a strong scent—perfect for the dogs to track.
The results were excellent. The greyhounds sniffed the scattered straw mats and bedding, then followed their handlers outside. At a brisk trot, they led the group straight to the edge of the warehouse district’s courtyard wall.The warehouse complex covered a large area, but its perimeter walls were not high—just the common unplastered rammed-earth walls found around residential courtyards. Standing by the wall, Yang Xinzhi could see outside without even tiptoeing. The group carefully examined where the greyhounds had been digging and indeed found fresh signs of climbing and crossing.
So after the fight inside the house last night that resulted in An Yan-na's death, Sang Sai must have decided the place was no longer safe. He then took the Seventeenth Princess and fled under cover of darkness, scaling the wall here to escape... That foreign youth was truly a habitual wall-climber.
This spot was quite far from the warehouse entrance. Unwilling to waste time detouring, Li Yuangui and the others also climbed over the wall, passing the greyhounds over one by one. Outside, the scent trail remained clear. The dogs hesitated not at all, sniffing and leading them forward until they reached the market streets. They paused at several corners before finally guiding the group away from the main road of the West Market, heading straight for the pontoon bridge over the Wei River.
"This can't be right?" Yang Xinzhi was the first to exclaim. "How would Sang... that youth dare walk straight into a trap?"
Li Yuangui was equally puzzled. The Wei River pontoon bridge was the main official route west of the capital Chang'an—the very place where the Son of Heaven had formed his alliance with the Turkic army beneath the city walls nine years prior. In recent years, with the Turks defeated, trade routes had flourished increasingly. The bridge saw constant traffic, with checkpoints and garrisons stationed at both ends.
Now as the golden crow dipped westward and weary birds returned to their nests, the bridge guards were already shouting at travelers to hurry across while pushing the heavy wooden barriers into place for the night curfew. At a glance, there were a dozen or so guards armed with spears and clubs at the bridgehead. Li Yuangui knew there were also properly armed checkpoint soldiers resting in shifts within the riverside huts—altogether numbering thirty or forty. Their primary duty was "inspecting and preventing malfeasance."
According to Tang legal statutes, commoners leaving their home counties had to first obtain travel documents from local authorities. These would detail the traveler's name, age, appearance, origin, purpose of travel, and any accompanying persons, animals, or goods. Every city and checkpoint along the way would inspect and endorse these before allowing passage. Given the heavy traffic at Xianyang Bridge, guards usually ignored obviously penniless farmers from either bank, while major merchant caravans had their own arrangements. But unfamiliar travelers who appeared somewhat respectable could hardly escape inspection.
Li Yuangui and his men had recently been traveling between Xianyang and Chang'an while deliberately avoiding this main bridge route. How could Sang Sai—a foreigner who didn't speak Chinese, escorting an inexperienced young girl, without any proper travel documents—dare come here?
Was he truly ignorant of Tang checkpoint regulations, or did he believe the gold ingots he carried could smooth any obstacle?
Speculation was useless. Li Yuangui hesitated about a hundred paces from the bridgehead before stepping toward the guard post to question the bridge captain, only to have Pei Lvshi seize his sleeve:
"Fourteenth Young Master, wait!"
"Hmm?" Li Yuangui turned to look at him.
"Didn't the Young Master mention..." Pei Lvshi lowered his voice, "that palace guards were searching for you? Such arrest warrants are usually quickly distributed to all garrisons inside and outside the capital—especially crucial exit points like Xianyang Bridge—ordering guards to watch for the suspect's description. If the Young Master appears there now, I fear..."Before he could finish speaking, Li Yuangui understood. In his haste, he had forgotten that he was also "wanted." If he went to question the bridge guards himself, regardless of whether he could get any news about the seventeenth sister, he would likely be detained and sent to the capital immediately. Then... should he ask Yang Xinzhi to go?
Turning to glance at Yang Rou-ta's towering figure, Li Yuangui sighed. Yang Xinzhi's appearance was even more distinctive and recognizable than his own—there was no way the arrest warrant would miss him.
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