Su Yan felt a twinge of unease but laughed it off. “Just joking, just joking. The Tanhua Lang is noble in character, as pure as clouds in the sky or water in a bottle. Who could possibly mistake you for a suspect? Besides, look at my situation—I’m stuck here in the Eastern Garden. Judging from the emperor’s attitude, I doubt his suspicions about me have cleared. I hardly have the time or energy to look for the real culprit.”
Yet you had the time and energy to hunt for a weasel, Yun Xi thought to himself.
“—What was that, Yun Tanhua?”
“Weichen—that’s my courtesy name. You may call me that. No need to keep calling me Tanhua Lang.”
Since he insisted, Su Yan decided to oblige. After all, though “Tanhua” sounded better than “Zhuangyuan” or “Bangyan,” hearing it over and over always reminded him of Xiao Li Fei Dao, which felt oddly out of place.
“What was it you just said, Brother Weichen? I didn’t catch it.”
“I said I’ve started thinking about solving the case. I wonder if Brother Qinghe would like to join me.”
Su Yan was a bit surprised but, upon further thought, found it reasonable. Being confined in this remote location with no clue when they’d be freed must be unsettling. Although Yun Xi appeared as composed and aloof as ever, he likely shared the same anxiety. Rather than waiting passively for investigators, it made sense to solve the case themselves—a true removing the firewood from under the cauldron.
As Su Yan mulled over the proposition, he asked, “Does Brother Weichen already have a lead?”
“It’s too early to say.”
So there’s a lead, but it’s not confirmed yet? Su Yan was still pondering when Yun Xi opened the door and whispered, “Follow me.”
He crossed a section of the corridor, turned a corner, and slipped into a room. Su Yan followed closely behind, recognizing it as Cui Jinping’s quarters—the only room he hadn’t yet searched.
Once the door was shut, Su Yan turned to see Yun Xi standing in the center of the room, glancing around. His movements and gaze felt unfamiliar, even awkward. Su Yan couldn’t help but chuckle. “Leave these petty, sneaky tasks to me.”
He set to work as he had with the other rooms, searching meticulously and methodically, leaving no stone unturned. But he found nothing suspicious.
“Not a single clue. Brother Weichen, why don’t you tell me what you’ve discovered? Could it have something to do with Ping Shan?”
Yun Xi didn’t respond and instead began searching around the bed. Su Yan crouched down and peered under the bed. In the dark space near the wall, he vaguely saw the shadow of a pair of black boots.
“Ah, there’s a pair of shoes here. They’re so well-hidden in the darkness that I almost missed them,” Su Yan said. Unable to find a tool to reach them, he rolled up his sleeves and extended half his body under the bed.
Yun Xi tried to stop him but was too late, catching only the edge of Su Yan’s sleeve. The elegant image of the refined scholar was completely shattered as Su Yan’s legs and waist stuck out awkwardly from under the bed. Yet, Yun Xi’s lips quirked in a faint smile.
Su Yan hooked his finger around the edge of the boot and pulled it out. As he stood up and dusted off his clothes, he sheepishly smiled at Yun Xi, saying, “Lost all my dignity there. Pardon me, Brother Weichen.”
He was about to inspect the boots when Yun Xi stopped him, raising a hand to gently brush some dust off Su Yan’s nose with his sleeve.
Su Yan noticed a small stain on Yun Xi’s pristine white sleeve. Though it was barely noticeable, Yun Xi’s overly clean appearance made the mark stand out. Feeling guilty, Su Yan said, “Brother Weichen, you’re so fastidious. There’s no need to dirty your sleeve on my account. You could’ve just told me, and I’d have wiped it myself.”
What’s broken is broken, they can’t be stained any further, Yun Xi thought quietly.
“These are the boots that Cui Zhangyuan wore yesterday,” he said solemnly.
Su Yan examined the boots carefully and noticed that the soles were caked with black mud, mixed with bits of grass. Rubbing the mud between his fingers, he found it still slightly damp, and the grass was fresh.
“This is decayed mud, the kind found in wet areas of the forest. The archery grounds are paved with stone, and the palace paths don’t touch any soil. Besides, mud collected during the day would have dried by now… It didn’t rain last night, so where did Pingshan wander off to?”
Yun Xi spoke slowly, “Last night, though it was late, the hall was not quiet. There were some noises.”
Su Yan immediately felt guilty.
His room had been bustling all night, almost like a revolving door of activity. Could Yun Xi have actually heard something?
But with half a hall between them, Yun Xi shouldn’t have been able to hear anything, right?
“I woke in the middle of the night and heard rustling footsteps on the path outside the window. Growing suspicious, I got up and followed the sound.”
“Was it Cui Jinping?” Su Yan asked.
Yun Xi nodded. “I followed him into the woods near the southern wall, where I saw him digging a pit with a trowel used by palace attendants for tending plants. He buried a bundle of something, hurriedly filled the pit, scattered some fallen leaves on top, and then retraced his steps. I found it odd but refrained from digging it up. First, he took the trowel with him, and digging through the wet mud and rotting leaves with bare hands was not ideal. Second, I thought if he was merely disposing of something personal, or perhaps had an odd habit of stashing things, it wouldn’t be proper for me to interfere. So, I returned to my room and slept. This morning, I handed my boots to a palace attendant for cleaning.”
“I see now why you suddenly grew suspicious of him today,” Su Yan remarked, placing the boots back on the floor. “It’s because of these uncleaned boots. If he had nothing to hide, he would have handed them over for cleaning this morning, just like you did. But instead, he hid them under his bed and had someone bring him a new pair.”
“So I had no choice but to wonder, what exactly did he bury last night?” Yun Xi’s gaze lowered to the boots, a slight frown creasing his brow, as though he didn’t want to believe his own suspicions.
Suddenly, Su Yan exclaimed, “We’re running out of time!” He quickly bent down and tossed the boots back under the bed near the wall. “We’d better leave and continue talking elsewhere.”
After making sure everything in Cui Jinping’s room was back in place, the two left and carefully closed the door behind them.
Hurrying down the covered walkway, Su Yan, who hadn’t fully recovered from his ankle injury, accidentally twisted it again, grimacing in pain. He leaned against one of the pillars, waiting for the pain to subside. Noticing that Su Yan had fallen behind, Yun Xi turned back, concern evident on his face.
“Did you hurt your foot?” Yun Xi asked.
Su Yan quickly waved it off, insisting it was nothing.
Yun Xi was about to offer support when Cui Jinping appeared around the corner, his face flushed from drinking.
Surprised to see them, Cui Jinping asked, “What are you two doing here?”
Forcing a smile through the pain, Su Yan explained, “I came to find you for a game of chess, but I didn’t realize you weren’t back yet, and in the process, I twisted my ankle. He… he must’ve been taking a walk.”
Yun Xi, always reserved and cold like an ice sculpture, certainly wasn’t going to explain.
Cui Jinping gave Yun Xi a wary and slightly dismissive look. Yun Xi didn’t respond and simply walked away.
Turning back to Su Yan, Cui Jinping teased, “I say, Brother Qinghe, you and him—one with the grand ambition of ‘saving the crumbling house,’ and the other embodying ‘the only gift from Jiangnan: a bowl of soup.’ Could it be you two have an eye for each other and were planning something in this busy corridor?”
Su Yan spat back, “What could we possibly be planning? We’re just two men!”
Cui Jinping burst into laughter, “You, a man who knows the ways of romance, dare ask me? Just the other day I went to the Rouge Alley for drinks, and that famous courtesan, Ruan Hongjiao, instead of attending to the newly crowned top scholar, kept pestering me, asking about you—why the seventh-ranked of the second class hasn’t come to visit her lately!”
Su Yan laughed too. “I may know a thing or two, but that doesn’t mean I practice it. According to the laws of Great Ming, any official who frequents brothels is to be caned sixty times. You, on the other hand, Brother Pingshan, had better be careful with your escapades at flower-houses.”
Cui Jinping quipped back, “The law only bans prostitutes, not male companions. Why don’t you try the Changchun Courtyard next door? They say they have everything from the full-figured to the slender, and a variety of personalities to suit your taste. It’ll save you from being blinded by that icy face. And if you prefer cold demeanors, they even have one named ‘Bamboo Gentleman,’ who’s said to be especially noble. Sounds just like your type.”
Su Yan nearly threw his boot at him. He thought to himself, this carefree rascal hardly seems like a murderer.
But what Yun Xi had witnessed last night was undeniably suspicious.
What was going on behind the scenes? Perhaps tonight they should head to the woods by the southern wall and dig up that pit to see what had been buried there.
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