Chapter 8

Wu Zhiyuan, magistrate of Xiagui County, Wang Yue, the county deputy, and Hao Jin, the county constable, all arrived within moments. The Sun Family Inn, an ordinary inn in the county town, had never hosted so many dignitaries. The bruises left on the innkeeper's face by the bailiffs had swollen into great lumps, but he hardly dared complain. He scurried about in a panic, wondering whether the sun had risen in the west today, and whether this meant fortune or disaster.

Yang Xingjian immediately sought Baozhu's instructions. The false father and daughter quietly compared their stories and quickly settled on answers to the coming questions. Old Yang was so nervous that his clothes were soaked through. The bailiffs' shoving had disheveled his hair and knocked his headcloth askew, leaving him thoroughly bedraggled. He simply changed into the dark green official robes in his luggage, combed his hair again, and composed himself. Then he ordered the innkeeper to bring a fine folding screen to conceal Baozhu, establishing the dignified air befitting an official's family, before formally opening the door to receive his visitors.

Wu Zhiyuan bowed in greeting and respectfully accepted Yang Xingjian's appointment certificate, examining it word by word with the county deputy.

Most of the bailiffs were illiterate and recognized only the Fish Tally and Fish Bag. This appointment booklet, however, bore the official seal of the Ministry of Personnel. Its contents were written on specially prepared Yellow Wisteria Paper treated with herbs to prevent insect damage, and it recorded the official's name, birthplace, and physical features. Everything matched.

The officials of Xiagui County inwardly lamented their bitter luck. They had encountered a bizarre case such as came once in a century: not only had the Military Governor's precious pearl gone missing, but they had also offended an adviser to a prince's household who carried a Silver Fish Bag above his rank. Even the Lotus Flower Temple had become a crime scene. Burning the finest incense to turn their fortunes around would surely do no good now.

Yesterday, Bao Lang's casual killing had frightened Wu Zhiyuan out of his wits. After returning to the private quarters of the County Yamen, half his face had gone numb, and whenever he tried to make an expression, his mouth and eye twisted crookedly. He could no longer spare a thought for that. Holding the appointment certificate in both hands, he returned it to Yang Xingjian, first apologizing as a subordinate official before asking, "Where are you bound, Registrar Yang? Why have you not brought even a single attendant?"

Yang Xingjian heaved a great sigh and said ruefully, "I was taking my family to Luoyang when we encountered bandits in Xinfeng County. The horses panicked and dragged away the cart carrying our luggage, and all my attendants were injured. I hurried on with my daughter, thinking we would be safer once we entered a town. Who could have imagined we would encounter this dreadful business... Ah, an unlucky year, and fortune against us."

Bandits were rampant these days, and displaced people were rising in unrest. Some even dared attack small parties of officials, a development that had already become a considerable headache.

Wu Zhiyuan made a show of sympathy, then returned to the crucial question. "May I ask, Registrar, how this Green-Clothed Slave became connected with you?"

Yang Xingjian said, "After the bandits attacked us, this man came to us of his own accord. He claimed to be a displaced man who had lost his land, with neither food nor clothing, and wished to sell himself into slavery. I was anxious to find someone to attend us, so I hired him to do odd jobs and lead the donkey on the road. He was diligent and attentive throughout the journey, with nothing unusual about him. That was why I was so surprised when he suddenly vanished without a sound a few days ago."

An idea stirred in Hao Jin's mind. After glancing at his superior's expression, the county constable said to Yang Xingjian, "You were caught in a criminal's scheme, Registrar. This Green-Clothed Slave must have belonged to the same gang as those bandits. First, he had them injure your attendants and seize your luggage, carts, and horses. Then he came forward himself, pretending to be a good man offering help. Once he had gained your trust and worked his way into your company, he could proceed to extortion and other crimes."

Yang Xingjian feigned astonishment. "Is that so? Truly hard to believe!"

A question suddenly came from behind the screen. "How do you know this Green-Clothed Slave is the suspect who stole the pearl and killed those people?"

Wu Zhiyuan and the others froze. The voice was sweet, clear, and lovely, like swallows chattering and orioles singing. It sounded like a young woman speaking the official dialect of Chang'an.

She had freely interrupted the officials' discussion of a serious case, yet Yang Xingjian took no offense. Instead, he introduced her in a gentle, indulgent tone. "This is my beloved daughter, Yang Fang Xie. She is exceptionally clever."

The young woman said, "You came to arrest someone with great fanfare in the course of your duties. That in itself is beyond reproach. But my father is an official of the imperial court and a trusted associate of Prince Shao. Without asking what had happened, you nearly beat him to death on the spot. We are entitled to know the particulars of this case."

The officials of Xiagui County heard the severity in her voice, without a trace of a young girl's timidity. She scolded them as though they were her wretched little grandsons, leaving them both astonished and embarrassed. Wu Zhiyuan coughed twice and said, "Today, someone sent a letter into the County Yamen by throwing a knife. It said that the killer and pearl thief was the Green-Clothed Slave at the Sun Family Inn."

The young woman behind the screen spoke again. "You cannot even verify the source, yet you accepted it as truth? If tomorrow a knife-borne letter names Zhang San and Li Si, and the day after names Wang Wu and Zhao Liu, will you arrest and interrogate every one of them? No wonder even your Prison Ward has run out of room."

Yang Xingjian beamed with pride, stroking his beard and nodding his agreement.

County Constable Hao Jin spoke up. "Young... Young Lady Yang, the person who sent the knife-borne letter was probably someone from the local Underworld. Reporting directly to the authorities would have been inconvenient for them, so they used this method to alert us. Their information comes from the world of wandering outlaws and martial men; perhaps they have special sources we do not know about."

"Oh," said the young woman behind the screen, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Probably, perhaps, we do not know... The ancients said that those who eat their sovereign's grain must faithfully serve his affairs and shoulder his worries. How dependable you all are."

Every official present held a rank, and they were all well advanced in years, with ample beards. Yet, sternly questioned by a young woman whose silhouette was all they could see, not one dared speak. Seeing that the wind had turned against them, Wu Zhiyuan exchanged a glance with the county deputy. Wang Yue, well versed in the law, asked Yang Xingjian humbly, "Since you employed this man as a servant, Registrar Yang, did you draw up a Market Contract?"

A Market Contract was a deed issued by the authorities to both parties in a transaction. Buying or selling slaves necessarily required this procedure. Without documentary proof, both parties were liable to punishment, and the transaction was invalid.

Yang Xingjian grew angry at this. "I had just been robbed by bandits, and most of my luggage and possessions were gone. How could I have had the time or inclination to deal with such formalities?"

Wang Yue said with a smile, "Without a Market Contract, this man cannot be considered your servant, Registrar. If you concealed a traveling companion's crimes..."

Yang Xingjian sneered. "So you mean to dump this black pot of blame onto my head! Why not search me now and see whether the stolen pearl is on my person? Go on!" He stood and spread his arms.

Wu Zhiyuan hastily said, "Registrar, what are you saying? When a wicked servant commits crimes outside the household, his master may be at fault for failing to notice, but he can hardly be held guilty of the same offenses."

Yang Xingjian sneered. "Then what do you propose, Magistrate Wu?"

Wu Zhiyuan thought that under ordinary circumstances, never mind the Green-Clothed Slave killing one or two people-even if he had knocked over Wu's ancestral tablets, Wu would not have fallen out with his master. But the Military Governor's precious pearl had been stolen, and despite keeping the town sealed until now, they still had not found the slightest trace. The responsibility weighed on him like ten thousand tons. Having finally seized upon this one lead today, he truly dared not let it go.

Bao Lang had killed someone before his eyes yesterday to slaughter a chicken as a warning to the monkeys, putting pressure on the local authorities to catch the culprit. How could he fail to understand? Of two evils, he had to choose the lesser. Compared with that terrifying man who chilled his heart and made his hair stand on end, he could only offend this capital official and take things one step at a time. So long as he could find the Military Governor's precious pearl and redeem his failure, he, Wu Zhiyuan, could readily kneel before Yang Xingjian and kowtow in apology afterward.

With that thought, Wu Zhiyuan made up his mind and said through gritted teeth, "My thought is that you and your daughter are far too inconvenienced, Registrar, lodging in this little inn without anyone to attend you. Since you cannot leave town for the moment, why not move into the County Yamen for a temporary stay? There are many empty rooms in my private residence, and the women of my household can keep Young Lady Yang company. The accommodations are much better than here in every respect."

Yang Xingjian started, raising his voice. "What? You mean to put us under house arrest? How dare you!"

Pulling up one corner of his mouth in a dry smile, Wu Zhiyuan said, "I would not dare. I was merely thinking that if that wicked servant is still hiding in town, he might return to trouble you at any time. With only your delicate daughter at your side and no one to protect you, would you not be fish and meat upon his chopping block? Or... ahem, could it be that you are waiting for him to return?"

These veiled insinuations made Yang Xingjian's beard tremble with rage. He was composing a thousand-word denunciation in his head when Wu Zhiyuan had already summoned the bailiffs into the room. Bowing and scraping with smiles plastered over their faces, they tidied the room and carried out what little luggage Yang Xingjian and his daughter had left. They even led away the donkey.

Then a lavishly decorated ox cart was summoned, and eight or nine broad-shouldered, thick-waisted, powerful serving women were sent to "persuade" the father and daughter into it, half supporting and half carrying them. They escorted the pair to Wu Zhiyuan's private residence at the County Yamen. Everything supplied to them met the very highest standards in Xiagui County.

On a tray lay a set of pale yellow resist-dyed gauze and silk robes and skirts. Inside a jewelry case were a gold hairpin adorned with a cluster of birds, a dangling hair ornament hung with agate beads, a pair each of gold and silver willow-leaf bracelets, and a ring-shaped jade pendant carved with scrolling foliage. The case glittered with gold. There were also rouge and lead powder, tea utensils, brushes and ink, refreshments, and every other daily necessity, all most thoughtfully provided.

The old woman who delivered these things wore a broad smile as she addressed Yang Xingjian and his daughter. "My master said that you were robbed by bandits on the road, Master Yang, and that the young lady lost all her clothes and jewelry. My mistress specially ordered this old servant to bring replacement clothing. Please make do with these, young lady."

Baozhu's face showed neither pleasure nor anger. She gave the things an indifferent glance, then turned her head away without a word.

The old woman was inwardly astonished. The girl wore her hair as an unmarried maiden and was dressed in the plainest cloth-and-silk northern-style clothes, with only a jade comb tucked into her hair. Yet the way she sat, oblivious to everyone around her, carried an air even nobler than that of the mistress of a household.

Under her mistress's instructions, the old woman had intended to sound the girl out under the guise of casual conversation, asking whether she was betrothed and what family her future husband belonged to. Yet merely standing before her made those idle questions catch in her throat, and she fell silent of her own accord. She thought that women from Chang'an truly possessed a different manner and bearing. Leaving looks aside, Magistrate Wu's daughter, though the same age, was still like a timid little rabbit.

Yang Xingjian and Baozhu had been forcibly "persuaded" by a group of serving women to stay temporarily in the County Yamen's private residence. They were guests in name, but in reality they were under house arrest. The father and daughter were lodged in a small two-story building called the Reflection Pavilion. The implication was already unmistakable: they were to reflect upon their failure to notice their servant's unchecked wrongdoing, and see whether they could help capture the Green-Clothed Slave and settle the case.

Having failed to protect his mistress, Yang Xingjian was despondent. Before Baozhu could reproach him, he unleashed a stream of scolding and drove out the servants who had brought the gifts.

Baozhu said slowly, "The clothes are for me. The jewelry is a bribe for you."

How could Yang Xingjian fail to understand? Putting himself in Wu Zhiyuan's place, he could also appreciate the man's predicament, caught between offending the Military Governor and offending him. Wu had even sent a case of gold and silver jewelry in an attempt to soothe his anger.

"Making us stay in the Reflection Pavilion is truly a slap in the face. I doubt Wu Zhiyuan has that much nerve. If he did, he should not have sent these things afterward to mend the pen once the sheep had escaped and apologize. Could it be that taking us hostage in the County Yamen was the idea of Military Governor Cui Keyong's people?"

Baozhu, however, was thinking about something else. The day before yesterday, the old man Liu Mao, who called himself the local Underworld's den master, had visited and asked Wei Xun to return the stolen treasure so that they could shake off suspicion and resume their lives. With the case still unsolved, they apparently could no longer restrain themselves and had directly reported Wei Xun to the authorities through a knife-borne letter. That was what had brought the two of them through today's dramatic twists and turns.

Whether Wei Xun had stolen that pearl or not, this black pot of blame was now firmly on his head.

After weighing the matter over and over for a long time, Yang Xingjian said with great awkwardness, "Prin... Fang, Fang Xie, you had better put on these clothes and jewels."

Interrupted in her thoughts, Baozhu paused. "Why?"

Yang Xingjian lowered his voice and said quietly, "Water that is too clear holds no fish. We are isolated and without help now. Only if we accept these bribes can Wu Zhiyuan feel at ease. If Cui Keyong's people try to make trouble, we can still quietly win Wu over. Otherwise, we will be standing against every one of them. Besides, it is human nature to flatter the high and trample the low. The more nobly you dress, the less they will dare act out of line."

With that hint from the seasoned, calculating adviser, Baozhu understood at once. Without further discussion, she went upstairs to change. The magistrate's wife had sent two maids to attend her, and Baozhu took the opportunity to have them dress her hair. Throughout the journey, her only companions had been Wei Xun and his fellow disciple, two men who knew nothing of women's personal grooming. She herself did not know how to arrange a coiffure and could almost have been called unkempt and ragged.

When her braids were undone, the Four-Foot-Long Hair Baozhu cherished and took such pride in cascaded down like a waterfall of the Milky Way. With a shake of her head, it gleamed as smooth as dark-cloud brocade. Both maids exclaimed that they had never seen such beautiful hair. She directed them to arrange it in a style fashionable among young women at court. Two spirals could not use up all her hair, so they added a pair of chignons at the back of her head.

"You smell so lovely, my lady. What fragrance is this?"

"Is the Double Spiral and Double Chignon fashionable in Chang'an now? Ah, without this much hair, you would have to add a great deal of false hair to manage it."

"Your complexion is so lovely that you need no rouge at all, and hardly any lead powder either. Truly, 'rouge and powder only sully your beauty.'"

"For the slanting rouge marks, shall we paint crescent moons or two claw marks..."

Yang Xingjian sat downstairs drinking tea, turning over ways to help the princess escape this vexing predicament. The women's ceaseless chatter upstairs drifted down in snatches. Somehow, his thoughts wandered, and he suddenly remembered his own daughter-the real Yang Fang Xie recorded in the household register.

When they had gone out together in those days, he had likewise sat waiting for her to finish dressing. A woman's toilette was complicated: arranging her hair, applying powder, drawing her brows, changing her clothes. An hour would vanish in an instant. When he waited and waited without her appearing, he had always grown impatient and repeatedly urged her to hurry. She had lacked the princess's noble bearing, but she had been just as bright and lovely, just as quick and articulate...

Now that child lay cold beneath the earth. No matter how long he sat here waiting patiently, he would never again see the moment when she emerged to show herself. The chime of jade pendants faded-where was she now? Beneath the moonlit night, her soul returned, remembering home. Listening again to a young woman chatter as she dressed, Yang Xingjian's eyes blurred with tears. A hot tide of unbearable aching welled up in his chest, his throat tightened and clogged, and he could no longer swallow even a mouthful of tea.