With everyone who needed to leave gone, Lord Su finally had a peaceful sleep.
The next morning, the swelling in his ankle had subsided significantly. After another application of ointment, he roughly massaged it, stuffed his foot into a sock and shoe, and walked a few steps. Though still a bit sore, it was manageable. Once dressed and tidy, he washed up with the hot water brought by a young attendant and stepped out of the room.
Breakfast was still served in the main hall. The few officials who stayed the night were scattered about. Apart from the two bosom-buddy Shaoqing from the Court of Diplomatic Rites, the others sat apart. Liu Shaozhanshi and Censor Jia, however, engaged in a silent battle of glares, exchanging three rounds of killing intent with every sip of porridge.
Top Scholar Cui sat at the main table, legs wide apart. Though his rank wasn’t high, his pride was considerable. He viewed everyone in the room as unworthy company—except for Yun Tanhua who wasn’t unworthy but rather too cold and detached for his taste.
Upon seeing Su Yan enter, he finally smiled and beckoned him over, “Brother Qinghe, come sit here.”
Taking care of his still-recovering leg, Su Yan slowly made his way over and sat across from Cui Jinping. A palace servant filled his bowl with congee. Su Yan, not fond of congee in the morning, asked, “Are there any buns? Or pancakes? And a bowl of spicy soup would be nice.”
Cui Jinping laughed. “You’ve been eating too many street snacks, haven’t you? Unfortunately, the meals here are all standard fare. I’ve asked before—no special treatment—”
“There is, there is! Cheng Sheng Gonggong instructed that anything Lord Su requests, be it food or clothes, must be provided, even if we have to conjure it out of thin air. Please wait a moment, my lord.” The palace servant bowed and hurriedly ran out of the hall.
Cui Jinping, now embarrassed, wore a stiff smile. “That must be a favor from the Crown Prince. They say Qinghe is highly favored by the Eastern Palace, but from what I see, they’re putting it too lightly. The Crown Prince clearly treats you like his closest confidant, tending to even these small matters.”
Cui Jinping couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous, though he also took pleasure in seeing Su Yan’s rise. After all, they were on friendly terms, and Su Yan’s success might benefit him too in the future. But beneath the surface, a bitter taste lingered—he couldn’t help wondering what made Su Yan so special to earn such favor from the Crown Prince. His writing wasn’t extraordinary, and his impeachment at the palace exams seemed like a lucky shot. Even his playful poems at the banquet had a showy, crowd-pleasing quality.
As for himself, a top scholar, he could write brilliant essays, knew astronomy and geography, possessed a sharp mind, and had a photographic memory. Yet, he remained unnoticed, buried in the dusty archives of the Hanlin Academy. Either dedicate your life to exhaustive study, or, after a few years, transfer to one of the Six Ministries or be assigned to a provincial post, starting from the grassroots again.
Chuxiang, Chuxiang—sounds prestigious, doesn’t it? But out of hundreds, even thousands, of Hanlin Scholars, how many ever make it to the Inner Cabinet? Let alone the position of Chief Grand Secretary!
At this thought, Cui Jinping couldn’t help but feel a bit disheartened, sighing quietly to himself: “So, it’s true that ‘being an official isn’t about hard work, it’s all about having the right connections!’ Su Qinghe only enjoys such ease because he’s got the strongest connection of all. Turns out, no matter how much real knowledge you have, it can’t compete with simply playing with the young crown prince.”
Just as he was mulling over these thoughts, a palace servant entered carrying a food box, carefully laying out two trays of crab roe soup dumplings, a plate of fried spring rolls, a bowl of spicy hot soup, and a bowl of duck blood noodle soup. Finally, there was a plate of sliced sausage, filling up half the table.
The smell of the rich food filled the air, far more enticing than the plain porridge with stuffed buns served to everyone else. The other officials in the hall craned their necks, especially the two officials from the Court of Diplomatic Rites, who looked as if their eyes were about to fall into the duck blood noodle soup.
Seeing that the dishes were all his favorites, Su Yan thought to himself, “The little brat may be domineering, but at critical times, he does show some thoughtfulness.” After overhearing Su Yan’s grumbling the previous night about the poor food served to the Court of Diplomatic Rites officials, the young crown prince had taken it to heart, preparing this feast in advance.
Su Yan graciously pushed the bowls and plates toward Cui Jinping: “There’s no way I can finish all this by myself. Come, Brother Pingshan, let’s eat together.”
Cui Jinping, feeling a bit ashamed of his earlier jealousy, quickly suppressed it, thanked Su Yan, and helped himself to a bowl of noodle soup and some spring rolls.
“How about a crab roe soup dumpling?” Su Yan asked.
“No, no, I can’t eat crab.”
Su Yan remembered that from the imperial examination, Yun Xi, enjoyed eating crab. So he took a tray of the crab roe soup dumplings and placed them in front of Yun Xi, who was sitting nearby.
Yun Xi, seemingly unaffected, glanced at him briefly before continuing to spoon his porridge.
Su Yan smiled and said, “This is a thank-you gift. Thanks for helping me last night and preventing me from falling disgracefully.”
Only then did Yun Xi look at the dumplings.
The crab roe soup dumplings were large, as big as the palm of a hand, plump and round, with delicate white skins so thin they were almost transparent. The neat, tiny folds at the top looked like a tightly closed chrysanthemum bud, soft and delicate, as if they would burst at the slightest touch.
Yun Xi seemed lost in thought, and for some reason, his ears turned slightly red.
Seeing that Yun Xi did not reject the food, Su Yan handed him a straw to sip the soup from inside the dumplings: “Poke a hole first, and be careful not to burn your mouth.”
Yun Xi took the straw and said softly, “Thank you.”
Su Yan returned to his seat, and Cui Jinping stared at him in amazement, clicking his tongue in wonder. “Now I truly believe it.”
“Believe what?”
“The gossip from the streets. They say that during the scholars’ parade, every one of them is handsome, but you, Su Qinghe, are like someone walking on Jade Mountain, radiating brilliance and dazzling others. Some even say you’re the reincarnation of the Eastern Monarch. Look at this—you’re so radiant you even coaxed the cold plum blossoms into blooming.”
What nonsense street rumors! Ordinary folks wouldn’t come up with phrases like “walking on Jade Mountain.” Clearly, Cui, the top scholar, made it up just to tease him. Su Yan pretended to hit Cui Jinping on the head with his spoon, laughing and cursing, “You mischievous rascal!”
After finishing breakfast, the officials waited in the hall for the investigation to proceed. However, they waited and waited, sitting idly for half a day, with no eunuchs summoning them to an audience or even investigators showing up.
Impatient, Jia Gongji decided to take a look at the situation in the southern courtyard, only to be politely stopped by the guards. They told him the officials were free to move around the hall but were not allowed to step beyond the doors.
Jia Gongji asked when they might be summoned or questioned about the case.
The guards replied, “We don’t know. Wait and see.”
After lunch, they waited until evening, at which point the officials realized the emperor hadn’t forgotten about the murder but simply had no intention of seeing them. Instead, he’d shut them in the southern courtyard to resolve matters as he saw fit.
As for how long they would remain confined…Who knew!
The Shaoqings of the Court of Diplomatic Rites were so anxious they were pacing in circles. Liu Weiyi and Jia Gongji, unable to sit still, got into two more arguments before storming back to their respective rooms in a huff. Even Cui Jinping began to grow uneasy. He asked Su Yan privately, “Do you think the emperor might be holding to the idea of ‘Better to kill wrongly than to let someone go’…?”
Su Yan chuckled. “You’ve got quite the conspiracy theory, but the emperor is no Cao Aman.”
Cui Jinping sighed. “I’m not afraid of interrogation by the Ministry of Justice. I’m afraid of being locked up here indefinitely, only to die of old age.”
“Then where were you yesterday when it happened? What were you doing?” Su Yan asked.
Cui Jinping replied, “Drinking. I’m not interested in shooting arrows at willows. When I found the calamus wine at the banquet quite palatable, I thought I’d look for the servants who handled the wine and secretly buy a few bottles. All the palace banquets are prepared by the Imperial Kitchens, and they’ve always been greedy, taking bribes at every level.”
“Did you manage to buy some?”
“No, I spent the money, but before I could get the alcohol, I heard about the incident and rushed back.”
Su Yan glanced at Yun Xi, who was watching the fish by the pond under a tree, and added, “I wonder where Yun Tanhua was at that time. He doesn’t like crowds, and yesterday he was wearing his regular robe, so I don’t think he planned to participate in the archery event.”
Cui Jinping replied, “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had any interaction with him, so I don’t pay attention to his whereabouts.”
Su Yan nodded, not asking further.
At dusk, the eunuchs invited the officials to dinner. After just a couple of bites, Su Yan, claiming he was too full from lunch, excused himself and left the hall alone.
But instead of returning to his room, he quietly made his way to the rooms of Liu Weiyi and Jia Gongji.
In the case of Ye Donglou, the killer must have used an outer robe to cover the blood spatter. Afterward, the killer would need to dispose of it. With little time, it would be difficult to properly deal with a bloody garment. If the robe had simply been discarded, the Embroidered Uniform Guard would have already found it.
This led to one conclusion: the outer robe was reversible and waterproof. The killer likely removed the robe after the murder, revealing an identical garment underneath, and put the outer robe back on, hiding the blood and remaining unnoticed among the crowd.
The previous night, all the officials who weren’t present at the time of the murder had bathed in the Southern Courtyard, and their clothes had been sent to the servants to be washed. Yet, no bloody robe or matching inner garment had been found.
In the Chongzhi Palace, there were many palace attendants, so the officials were always followed wherever they went. If the culprit had tried to burn or bury the blood-stained clothes, it would have been noticed. Therefore, it was highly likely that the culprit had hidden the clothes in a secret spot in their own room, waiting for the right moment to destroy them.
For this reason, Su Yan decided to use dinner time to search the rooms, one by one.
He thoroughly searched the rooms of Liu and Jia, but found nothing suspicious. He then moved on to the rooms of the two Shaoqings, but again found nothing.
Only Cui Jinping’s and Yun Xi’s rooms remained unsearched. After some thought, Su Yan decided to search Yun Xi’s room first, as this gentleman adhered to the refined etiquette of not speaking during meals and would finish eating quickly. On the other hand, Cui Jinping enjoyed drinking, so he would likely take longer to return to his room.
Moreover, Cui Jinping had an alibi—he had gone to buy alcohol from the servants of the Imperial Household Department during the incident.
Yun Xi’s room was meticulously clean and minimalistic. Every object was placed in its designated spot, and not a single thing was out of order. There was a lingering fragrance of incense in the room, though it was faint—a cold and pure scent of plum blossoms, perfectly matching its owner’s temperament.
Although Su Yan didn’t really believe Yun Xi was the murderer, he still carefully examined the room. Yet, nothing suspicious was found.
Frowning, Su Yan wondered if his deductions had been wrong. He opened the door and unexpectedly bumped into Yun Xi, who was dressed in plain clothes.
Yun Xi paused and asked, “What are you doing in my room?”
Feeling guilty, Su Yan averted his gaze, noticing the branch of plum blossoms embroidered on the hem of Yun Xi’s tea-white robe—solitary and cold, symbolizing purity and integrity. A line of poetry flashed through his mind: “Fallen into mud, ground into dust, yet its fragrance remains.”
Seeing that Su Yan didn’t answer, Yun Xi closed the door behind him and stepped closer, asking again, “You know I was in the main hall, so you weren’t here to find me. You were looking for something, weren’t you? What was it?”
Su Yan, flustered, took a step back and blurted out, “I was… looking for a weasel.”
“What?”
“That… weasel! It probably sneaked in through a crack in the wall. I caught one last night. Those pests love eating melons, and since I didn’t have any to feed it today, it must’ve gone missing.”
Yun Xi coldly replied, “There are no melons here.”
Su Yan quickly apologized, “Then I’ll go look elsewhere. Sorry for the disturbance.”
As Su Yan reached for the door, Yun Xi suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“The weasel you’re looking for—isn’t it actually the murderer?”
