Through the Wards (12)

But that night, after reading most of the first volume, Zhang Xing soon repented.

Yes, Bai Yousi had been absolutely right. Qin Erlang had not been talking nonsense, and neither had the Red Sash he met today. Biography of Li Yue truly was a classic. In fact, by Zhang Xing's reckoning, it fully deserved to be called a masterpiece for the ages in this world-the author used delicate, coolheaded strokes, yet strokes rich with feeling beneath that coolness, to depict in detail a historical episode seven hundred years after the White Emperor's Position Attainment, during the late stages of the wars of annexation between states, when all beneath heaven was in turmoil. It made for utterly spellbinding reading.

As everyone knew, Lord White Emperor's achievements overshadowed the world. He established laws, developed arms, advanced medicine, promoted education, and set the land in order, allowing the Human Race to occupy the fertile heartlands and bringing the Wu Clan and Demon Race close to extinction. Yet because his cultivation was too powerful, his achievements too weighty, and his slaughter too great, before he could unite the lands within the four seas, he attained the supreme position and took his place as the Western White Emperor.

This not only left the Human Race with grave internal troubles, but also left the Wu Clan and Demon Race a sliver of breathing room, one in the southeast and the other in the northwest.

Li Yue was the female sovereign of the Eastern Chu State, which had the most Demon Race blood among the states of that time and was also said to possess the most orthodox Demon Race heritage.

She was also the "Phoenix" in the first volume, The Wandering Dragon Sees the Phoenix.

As for the wandering dragon, he was no romantic rake, but Qian Yi, the famous slave chancellor of Eastern Chu history.

Qian Yi hailed from Heshuo and was of mixed Human Race and Wu Clan ancestry. His early experiences could no longer be verified. All that was known was that he had acquired five cartloads' worth of learning at an early age, and that, while traveling among the states at around thirty, he was captured by bandits and sold into slavery. After passing through several hands, he was sold to the Southern Chu court for five sheepskins to work as a rammed-earth construction slave. Soon afterward, his ability to paint brought about his fated meeting with the female sovereign Li Yue, who had hastily ascended the throne after both her parents died in battle.

What followed needed little explanation. With the help of this wise and erudite slave, the naive, proud young sovereign began political, religious, military, cultural, economic, and legal reforms with the resolve of a warrior severing his own wrist. She adopted almost wholesale the practices of Lord White Emperor, the enemy who had sought to exterminate her race, and even developed and improved them further.

Working seamlessly together, the two struck at the hereditary bloodline aristocracy, encouraged farming and warfare, and won the people's trust, rapidly reversing Eastern Chu's fortunes. Meanwhile, a strange affection blending comradeship and love arose between the female sovereign and the slave.

Of course, Zhang Xing had only read most of the first volume, with the great majority of the later story still unread, but that did not prevent the book from already rising to a place of supreme esteem in his heart.

After all, the book did not merely recount history. It also touched upon knowledge of politics, religion, economics, culture, military affairs, art, and other fields in that turbulent era. It even covered the development of different schools of true qi, regional marriage customs, and introductions to local delicacies.

Many of its characters were also portrayed with flesh and blood, vividly alive. Leaving aside the female sovereign and slave chancellor, the many formidable rulers, mediocre rulers, generals, and disputants of the various states had also left a deep impression on Zhang Xing.

The lives and interactions of the maids, guards, and nobles in the Eastern Chu palace even reminded a certain someone of Dream of the Red Chamber.

There were also large quantities of poetry, proverbs, and classical prose.

For Zhang Xing, who was simply eating through his provisions and waiting to die, this set of books was a delicacy beyond compare... One could even say that, to some extent, it had become the best evidence that this world truly existed, and that everyone in it was a living being of flesh and blood.

It was rather like how, despite a certain someone being a major influencer on Bianhu, if you told him to make something up, gave him eighty years, and brought in another eighty major influencers to help, he still could not invent a Dream of the Red Chamber.

After reading most of the volume in one sitting, Zhang Xing was unbearably sleepy. Since he also had to answer roll call tomorrow, he finally went to sleep fully clothed with the door open. In the middle of the night, he dreamed that he had transmigrated into the book and was helping its leading lady, Li Yue, implement her reforms. But he stole Qian Yi's thunder and was treated like Shang Yang by Southern Chu's great Demon Race nobles, who tore him apart with chariots. At last, he woke with a violent start.

At that moment, the moonlight was no different from the previous night, its flowing radiance spilling into the room like frost.

Zhang Xing sat up groggily in bed, his head filled with the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the White Emperor and Black Emperor, the Wu Clan and Demon Race, Shang Yang and Qian Yi. Two worlds, along with past events both real and fictional, were tangled into a muddle. Only after a long while did his mind slowly clear.

Yet the clearer his mind became, the more readily the moment stirred sorrow in his heart-Zhang Xing raised his head and saw that great bright moon shining overhead, no different from the one back home, then lowered his head to see pure moonlight covering the ground. For once, a trace of homesickness welled up in him again.

Then, almost instinctively, he recited that poem:

"Before my bed, the bright moonlight; I wonder if it's frost upon the ground.

I lift my head to gaze upon the moon, then bow my head and think of home."

After reciting the poem, Zhang Xing sighed, turned over, and was about to go back to sleep.

Just then, a somewhat familiar female voice suddenly came from the rooftop. "Zhang Xing, I never knew a soldier from the Central Rampart Army could have such literary talent."

Zhang Xing paused, then answered calmly. "Literary beauty is born of nature. When feeling happens to stir, anyone may readily gather it up... Since you're here, Inspector Bai, why imitate a thief and play the gentleman on the rafters? Shabby and small as this courtyard is, surely it has room for an inspector?"

The words had barely left his mouth when Bai Yousi dropped out of thin air. With a single turn, she settled unhurriedly into a courtyard chair, then got straight to the point as Zhang Xing rose and came outside to greet her:

"Did you kill Feng Yong and his wife?"

Zhang Xing's expression did not change. He countered with his head held high, "Why would you ask that, Inspector? I thought you'd come out of concern for a colleague, to see how I was doing."

"What nonsense are you talking?" Bai Yousi sat with her sword in her arms and answered with a smile. "After Qin Bao brought you those books, he spent several nights in succession lingering outside Chengfu Gate, which just happens to face the tavern where the crime occurred... Surely you deliberately left me such an obvious opening because you knew Feng Yong was a Principal Seventh Rank company commander and you couldn't cover it up yourself? Stop taking advantage of Qin Erlang's honest nature."

Zhang Xing shook his head and answered solemnly. "You're overthinking things, Inspector. If you have no evidence, please don't make reckless accusations."

"Speaking of evidence..." Bai Yousi continued with a cold smile. "I had none before, but haven't I just acquired some? Let's leave aside the fact that you're capable of killing. The killer last night also left four short, imposing lines of verse on the wall. According to Inspector Chai, they showed great poetic feeling and talent, and could be called literary beauty born of nature... Tell me, Zhang Xing, where does the Eastern Capital get so much literary beauty born of nature for people to gather up? And only a night and two ward walls apart?"

Zhang Xing nodded and gave a slight salute with cupped hands, not the least bit flustered. "Since you've gone this far, Inspector, might you allow me to defend myself?"

"Go on." Bai Yousi tilted her head in her seat and answered teasingly.

"I have only one question for you, Inspector." Zhang Xing faced her calmly. "Why would I kill Feng Zongqi and his wife? Even if you're framing me, you should find me a motive, shouldn't you? Am I some homicidal maniac who particularly enjoys taking enormous risks to kill people, and innocent women and children at that?!"

Bai Yousi was slightly taken aback and, for a long while, said nothing.