by Qinghan CeCe
In the darkness, the shrill, ominous voice mingling with the groans of the pregnant woman gave her the creeps.
“Owl,” Li Shubai said thoughtfully. “Really ominous.”
It was a night owl, which the ancients thought counted people’s eyebrows with its hoots and took a number of lives when it got the number right. Since women could easily die during childbirth, the people in the house panicked. An old woman ran out from the kitchen and shouted, “I’m going to cover Daughter’s face. Go boil water, Papa!”
The grandpa hurried to the kitchen, and the old woman wrapped cloth around the woman’s face to make sure her eyebrows weren’t exposed as the owl outside hooted twice. She quickly picked up a clothes-hanging rod and ran to the yard, toward the pomegranate tree, to drive away the owl.
The moment she left, the man was already around the back of the house.
Huang Zixia jumped up, but Li Shubai was faster. He leaped over the peonies. Huang Zixia heard the wind rush past her ear. In a few steps, they were behind the house in time to see the shadow disappear through the back door.
Li Shubai kicked the door open, pushed Huang Zixia in, and hid a few steps behind her.
Huang Zixia saw the murderer raising his dagger high, the pregnant woman’s stomach his target. Li Shubai pushed her again. She staggered forward a few steps, then fell down hard. Her shoulder struck the killer’s side, knocking him away.
The killer knew he’d been caught in the act and, gripping his dagger, tried to flee. Huang Zixia lay on the floor and pushed a nearby shelf over at his feet.
The flowerpots hit the floor with a bang and caused the killer to stumble. When he fell to the ground, his face hit the dirt.
Before he could stand up, Huang Zixia was already on her feet. She stomped on his wrist, forcing him to let go of his dagger. Huang Zixia grabbed it, then pounced on his lower back and shouted, “Don’t move!”
Li Shubai stood in the doorway watching. “Nice,” he said. “Quick movements, lacking technique, though.”
Huang Zixia couldn’t believe it. “Mind coming to help me a second?” She was fighting for her life, and he was standing idly by, his whole body still covered in moonlight.
“A woman’s about to give birth inside; how could I, being a man, enter?” He looked up at the moon, turning his back to her. “How is she?”
Before Huang Zixia could answer, the child’s cries filled the room.
The mother-in-law heard the commotion and came in from the yard. In the room where her daughter-in-law had been alone was an apprentice holding a dagger at the back of a man dressed in black. There was a squirming baby on the bed, and a man outside looking at the moon. In surprise and fright she shouted, “Good God! Wh-what happened?”
Neighbors who had heard the baby crying came over, and the father-in-law was back with hot water. Amid the chaos, Huang Zixia could only offer a reluctant smile. “I apologize; we came to catch the intruder.”
The father returned and called for help.
A patrolman soon came. After he saw Li Shubai, he hurried to tie up the killer.
The midwife came in, amazed. “The mother was afraid and so got the child out in one big push. Luckily, she’s okay, and I washed the child.”
The child’s father held his wife’s hand and said sweetly, “Poor woman, how about we call him Surprise?”
She leaned weakly against the bed. “Why not Shock?”
“Good idea. It’s decided. Wei Shock. Very good.”
Huang Zixia saw that even Li Shubai couldn’t help but smile a little.
When Cui Chunzhan and Wang Lin rushed to the Prince of Kui’s palace, it was already dawn. Li Shubai offered them tea. “The Four Directions Case’s perpetrator has been arrested,” he said. “He can be on trial tomorrow.”
Wang Lin nodded. Cui Chunzhan hesitated. “My Prince,” he said, “We still don’t have any motive or evidence for the Four Directions Case. Are you sure the man you caught is the killer?”
“Whether he is or not, you can find out during the trial tomorrow, right?” Li Shubai said as the tea came. “No one has been out because of the curfew, and he was certainly staying in the Puning Square Inn beforehand. You can look for evidence there.”
The next day, the Board of Punishments and Central Court determined the weapon the man had was used in the previous murders, and documents at the inn showed handwriting consistent with that left behind at the crime scenes. The murderer had no choice but to confess and tell them his reason for the killings.
And, like that, three months of hysteria over the Four Directions Case ended.
Emperor Li Cui, who had been ill in Daming Palace’s Purple Hall, felt better after hearing the news and invited guests, including Cui Chunzhan and Wang Lin from the Board of Punishments.
Huang Zixia had just woken up and gone to Yubing Hall to see Li Shubai.
“Change your clothes and come with me to the palace.”
Huang Zixia was surprised. “Go to the palace?”
“As I said, if you solve the case within ten days, you’ll have proven yourself worthy of serving me. So from now on, I have something I want you to help me with. And this thing requires you to have a fixed identity.” He stood elegantly, not like someone conducting business at all. “In sum, today is an important day for this little palace eunuch. If I don’t take you, wouldn’t you miss out on a lot of fun?”
She lowered her head and said, “Yes.”
Li Shubai walked to the doorway again and ordered the man standing there to summon Jing Yi.
A moment later, Jing Yi came. He glanced at Huang Zixia before asking, “What is it, my Prince?”
Li Shubai asked casually, “You’re in charge of the residence personnel. How many eunuchs do we have?”
“Three hundred sixty-seven in total.”
“And what if three hundred sixty-seven suddenly became three hundred sixty-eight?”
Jing Yi understood. After thinking a moment, he said, “Your servant remembers that last year, Jiucheng Palace lost quite a few eunuchs in that storm. Most of them were orphans who had been sent to the palace. Some of their bodies were never found.”
Li Shubai nodded. “So he could be one of the Jiucheng eunuchs who came back?”
Jing Yi said sincerely, “That would be my guess, but exactly who, your servant can’t remember; please allow him to check the file.”
Li Shubai motioned for him to go check. He was soon back with a thick file. “Your servant found it. Jiucheng Palace had a eunuch called Yang Chonggu. He was in charge of sweeping the Hazy Hall. Seventeen years old, five feet five, thin. He came to the palace as an orphan and had no friends at Jiucheng. He was in the Hazy Hall alone, so everyone thought he died in the disaster last year, and his name has been removed from the palace roster.”
“I see. We will say Yang Chonggu didn’t die and returned to my palace.” He looked at Huang Zixia. “What do you think about this identity Jing Yi found?”
Huang Zixia stood there, full of emotion. She’d been on the run for months, covering thousands of miles to hide her identity. Who knew that in such a short time she could take on another?
She bowed to him and said, “Your servant Yang Chonggu thanks you, my Prince.”
After entering the Daming Palace gates, through the archways and high walls, they saw the towering Hanyuan Hall. There was a line of watchtowers on either side like phoenix wings enveloping those who entered. Behind Hanyuan was the gorgeous Zichen Hall with magnificent, intricate eaves.
Zichen Hall was a sanctuary. In recent years, the Emperor hadn’t summoned many ministers there. It was mostly for the Princes. Huang Zixia waited for a short time. Then the Emperor, wearing black and surrounded by eunuchs, entered. He was plump but not fat with a rounded chin and elongated features that gave him an amiable look.
Emperor Li Cui was thirty-nine years old, but since he took charge ten years ago, he’d been indulging himself instead of looking after the affairs of state. His reign was said to be
peaceful, with some reluctance, though people’s lives were pretty stable.
Huang Zixia thought he looked much gentler than his brother Shubai. Actually, all of his brothers looked less serious than he.
The Emperor sat and smiled. “Shubai, brother, there’s nothing you can’t do! I was thinking of asking you to help on this Four Directions Case, but before I had a chance, you already solved it.”
Li Shubai said, “I can’t take credit. It belongs to someone else.”
The Emperor’s eyes fell on Cui Chunzhan. Cui Chunzhan hurried to bow and said, “This case was broken single-handedly by the Prince of Kui. I’m at fault for not heeding him and focusing on the east. He went alone to the scene and captured the killer.”
Then the Emperor looked at Huang Zixia. “Brother, that eunuch behind you, have I seen him before?”
“This is the person who broke the case, my Emperor. I couldn’t take credit, so I brought him here.”
Everyone looked at Huang Zixia. Her handsome face with its hanging lashes was calm when she looked at the Emperor, which impressed everyone.
The Emperor smiled. “This sanctuary is usually just for my brothers. And now we’ve added another. Minister Cui is the Empress’s nephew; Minister Wang is Lady Cui’s uncle. You’re among friends, my little eunuch. What’s your name?”
“Your servant is called Yang Chonggu, my Emperor.” She bowed, holding her hands together in front of her.
Li Wen was young, and when he saw she was about his age, he asked, “You broke the case? I’m confused; should it not have been called the Four Directions Case? Why didn’t the last murder happen in the east?”
Huang Zixia looked up at the Emperor, and he nodded in approval. “That’s just what people came to believe because of the Bodhi ‘peace, bliss, self’ and the cases happening in the north, south, and west. But the killer had only borrowed the language, not the pattern. Actually, the third victim was in the southwest, not due west. After I realized that, I knew expecting him in the eastern quadrant was a mistake.”
Li Rui continued. “So I heard you first thought he’d strike in the southeast and then decided it would be in the northwest’s Puning Square. Why?”
“This case is quite complicated, starting from when Master Zhuang misread that sentence,” Huang Zixia said. “At Jianbi Palace, I heard the Princes discuss the details. At the puja ceremony, Master Zhuang eloquently read a thousand words. For the killer to know he misspoke, he had to either be Buddhist or very familiar with Buddhist scripture. With the curfew, you have to get lodging ahead of time. The first few murders occurred in places where there weren’t Buddhist temples. A monk would attract attention, so the killer was more than likely a layman. Furthermore, if he’d killed several people, he couldn’t be a true believer but was corrupted by superstition. All this led me to deduce that he wasn’t acting with the four directions in mind but was probably consulting a Tung Shing almanac or divination guide.”
She explained that when she looked at the almanac, she found that the locations and dates fit those the almanac said were auspicious. What the almanac depicted fit the killer’s movements. So she guessed that the murderer was moving based on the almanac rather than the four directions as everyone supposed.
She added that Li Shubai also figured this out when he saw her consulting the almanac. So in order to stop the attack on the pregnant woman in the northwest near Puning Square, all they had to do was sit and wait.
“I see!” Li Wen said. “So how did you know the killer would target that house? How did you know he was after a pregnant woman?”
“Because the first three victims were an old watchman, a blacksmith in his prime, and a child in the shelter who was weak and on the verge of death. Why would the killer want him?” She paused then went on. “Then I noticed that the blacksmith was killed near a drugstore—in other words, he was getting medical attention.”
Li Wen was thinking. Li Run, holding his glass, sighed. “The Buddhist teachings of life’s four sufferings: birth, age, sickness, and death.”
“Exactly. One old, one sick, one dying. The only one left was birth—and that pregnant woman the only one in northwest about to give birth. If the murderer wanted to strike that day, she was the only possible target.”
Cui Chunzhan sighed. “The Central Court and Board of Punishments questioned the killer, and he confessed. His family came upon disaster; in less than a month, he was left as the only survivor. Full of sorrow, he got involved with the beliefs of a sect from the Western Regions. It’s causing quite a stir there and somehow spread to the Central Plains. They have a teaching that disaster can be passed on to others. He fervently believed that killing those people would keep him safe from the four sufferings. Even though he’s imprisoned now, he says he’s following the Buddhist practice of delivering himself—totally unrepentant!”
The inner palace went silent. The Emperor waved and said, “No need to wait till the fall. He already confessed, and we have evidence, what else is there? Get the case sorted out before he makes more of a fuss.”
“It’s certainly a capital offense; what is Your Highness’s will?”
“Cut him in half.”
Thus, the murder case that captivated the capital for months came to an end. People thought of the horrible murders and saw the little sixteen- or seventeen-year-old eunuch who looked like a spring twig.
Li Rui smiled. “This little eunuch sure is clever. No wonder last time I asked Shubai, he nodded reluctantly.”
Li Shubai smiled. “Don’t be silly. I never said no.”
“Right, I can vouch for him,” Li Wen joined in.
The Emperor smiled at their banter. “Shubai, good things come in twos. Let’s celebrate with a feast. And on your special day, the Empress and I will visit your palace to congratulate you.” Li Shubai was supposed to soon pick a wife.
Everyone suddenly looked surprised. Li Wen asked first, “Shubai picked his mate? Who’s the lucky girl?”
The Emperor smiled. “She hasn’t been chosen yet, but soon we’ll make an announcement. You boys will be able to withstand the anticipation, right? Of course, Shubai’s Princess will be one of the greatest ladies in the world.”
They feasted until sundown.
Huang Zixia left the palace gates with the carriage. She heaved a sigh of relief when Li Shubai pulled the curtain and said, “Come up.”
She climbed into the car. His eyes scanned over her before looking out the window. She watched the ordinary street scene slowly passing outside the lattice window.
“So tell me about your family’s case,” he said.
Huang Zixia was startled. “My Prince really wants to know?”
“Do you think I would go back on my word?” he said aloofly.
Huang Zixia bit her lower lip. She hesitated and finally said, “I should start from the day before the murder. The weather was good. Our garden’s plum trees were blooming. Yu Xuan and I were picking the blossoms in the snow. It was an exceptionally beautiful winter.”
Li Shubai was still watching the street outside. “Who’s Yu Xuan?”
“He’s an orphan my father adopted after moving to Chengdu. He became a scholar at eighteen, and the government gave him a small house, but he often came to visit my parents.”
He turned and saw her face take on a look of longing.
He looked back out the window and calmly said, “Oh.”
She took a deep breath and continued to talk about the night, which was now several months in the past but still left a deep impression on her heart.
That morning, a light snow had fallen. Then the sun came out, and the red plum blossoms shone against the background of white, and the world was pure and bright as glass.
Huang Zixia clutched an armful of plum blossom to her breast and smiled at Yu Xuan. He said, “The day before yesterday, I saw some beautiful blue vases and thought they would fit well in your room, so I bought them, but today I forget to bring them with me. In the afternoon, I’ll have som
eone send them.”
She smiled and nodded. They held hands and looked at the beautiful scenery. But the beautiful winter day was ruined by two visitors.
The servant let Grandma and Uncle in. Huang Zixia handed her plum blossoms to Yu Xuan, then ran to hug Grandma. Her grandmother had always cared for her and spoiled her, so she loved her very much. Yu Xuan didn’t want to be a bother, so he said goodbye. Grandma smiled at him, but after he left, Huang Zixia heard her sigh.
She held her grandmother’s hand and was guided into Huang Zixia’s mother’s room. Her mother laughed and said, “Your grandmother and uncle came to discuss your marriage.”
Marriage. Huang Zixia let go of her grandmother’s hand and sat silently. Grandma patted her knee and smiled. “The Wang family is an aristocratic family. Wang Yun is their only child, and your father has met him. He believes Wang Yun is a handsome man with a strong character. It will certainly be a successful marriage for you.”
Mother looked sadly at Huang Zixia and whispered to Grandma, “Ma, you don’t understand; this girl thinks she is in love with someone else. Whenever I mention the Wang family, she gets upset.”
“She’s still a shy girl,” Grandma said with a laugh.
Huang Zixia sighed and was about to make an excuse when the ladies came and told them it was time for dinner. Everyone got up to go to the next room to eat. Her uncle Huang Jun laughed and said, “Zixia, soon you’ll be a family’s daughter-in-law, and you won’t be able to start dinner so late. You’ll have to get the rice ready for your mother-in-law.”
Father laughed. “The Wangs are an illustrious family. How could they make their daughter-in-law do housework? When Zixia’s married in the spring, she’ll feel right at home.”
Huang Zixia was stunned. She put down her bowl. “Spring?”
“Yes, Grandma and Uncle came to discuss marrying you off next spring. It so happens the Wangs were thinking the same thing,” Father said.
“So you’ve got it all decided, is that it?” Huang Zixia was trembling with anger. She stood. “Dad, Mom, I asked you a long time ago to withdraw the proposal from the Wang family, but you are still forcing me to marry him!”
