Through the Wards (13)

Under the moonlit sky, one sat and one stood, facing each other for a long while.

Now, of these two, it was hard to say whether Bai Yousi possessed a mind as clear as ice and snow, but considering her birth into the highest aristocracy and her conduct thus far, she plainly had a brain.

As for Zhang Xing, he had become a major influencer on a certain Q&A site at a young age back in that other world. Naturally, he was first-rate at armchair strategy and online political commentary; making up stories to pit men against women and practicing workplace psychological manipulation were right at his fingertips... Add nine years of compulsory education, and while he might lack a grand vision, he could always cobble together a few petty tricks. He could just about count as half a clever man.

These two clever people faced each other in silence, their contest seemingly at a deadlock.

To put it plainly, flaws in his story or no flaws, Inspector Bai-Bai Yousi-was Zhang Xing's greatest support in Luoyang.

First, there was their relationship as superior and subordinate: a bond existed between them, after all. Second, having traveled together, Zhang Xing could more or less tell that Bai Yousi had a clear sense of right and wrong. And although what he had just done amounted to settling grudges to his heart's content, he had not neglected those words: strike down the powerful and aid the weak.

Even Qin Bao had believed back then that Bai Yousi could be relied upon.

But that did not mean Zhang Xing had to openly admit to Bai Yousi that he had killed people.

The reason could not have been simpler. She was an inspector, and Zhang Xing could not be sure whether this female inspector believed in procedural justice or substantive justice.

What if she insisted on enforcing the law with the immovability of a mountain?

Thus, he needed to seek her help while firmly refusing to admit that he was a murderer. It was a question of keeping the initiative.

Of course, that a rendition of "Quiet Night Thoughts" had aroused such intense suspicion in her really had been an accident... Who knew how long this inspector had been standing on the roof?

Even so, Zhang Xing believed that Bai Yousi could understand his string of remarks and hints. If she truly was someone with a conscience and a sense of right and wrong, as her conduct suggested, she would be willing to take a little trouble.

And if she was not, then he had been blind.

"Zhang Xing." After a while, Bai Yousi spoke softly, finally breaking the silence.

"I'm here." Zhang Xing bowed slightly in response.

"I heard from Inspector Chai that before the crime, you tried asking Madam Feng for her maid Xiao Yu, and she put you off a little?" Bai Yousi looked thoughtful. "Could that be why you killed the couple?"

"Madam Feng said at the time that she would have Feng Zongqi give me an answer first thing the next morning." Zhang Xing answered swiftly, leaving no opening. "Even if I were to resent them for that, surely I should have waited until Feng Zongqi refused me... Please stop arbitrarily deciding that other people are murderers, Inspector Bai. It is beneath the dignity of a Vermilion-Sash Inspector."

"Then forget it." Bai Yousi smiled. "But if I really intended to intervene in this case, would you have anything to say?"

"Everything I know and don't know, everything I can and cannot say, I've already told Inspector Chai and Qin Erlang." Zhang Xing cupped his hands again. "If you ask me now, Inspector, I can only repeat myself. I believe this must be connected to the Green Fish Gang affair. And if you examine its suspicious points closely, they may not necessarily lie with the Green Fish Gang. Our side suffered casualties too."

Bai Yousi nodded, looking as though she might summon her qi, leap up, and vanish into the night at any moment.

That was what Zhang Xing was expecting too.

"Speaking of which, you've been in the Eastern Capital for over half a month now. Have the ailments in your leg and your head both healed?" Unexpectedly, Bai Yousi not only stayed, but suddenly raised some wholly unanticipated subjects.

"My leg healed long ago, and I opened my fifth orthodox meridian last night. But my head still doesn't remember those things." Zhang Xing, who had handled everything well so far, really was caught somewhat off guard.

"In your words, you're like an infant?"

"Yes."

"Then, through an infant's eyes, what do you think of this Eastern Capital?" Bai Yousi laid her sword across her knees.

Zhang Xing fell silent for a moment, then answered honestly. "I can more or less guess what you mean, Inspector. You want to ask what I think of the Eastern Capital's political atmosphere and the city's stability after spending some time as one of the Street-Cleaning Tigers. But in fact, thinking things over these past days, I keep feeling that this thing called true qi has far too great an influence... It makes it hard to pay much attention to anything else."

"That is the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, the very foundation of the universe." Naturally, Bai Yousi found his words rather outlandish. "Of course it influences everything: astronomy and geography, human affairs and customs, military and political traditions. Nothing lies outside it."

"What I mean is, even at the meridian-opening stage, qi lets one person do the work of many when farming or building houses. It's extraordinarily useful. Yet most of it is used for fighting and killing."

Zhang Xing shook his head as he replied.

"In the end, true qi and cultivation have almost become synonymous with sects, gangs, armies, weapons, and even slaughter. Here in the Eastern Capital, I distinctly feel that wherever cultivators appear, lives are lost at the drop of a hat, and people are forever fighting and killing... That isn't what the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi ought to do. It ought to benefit people."

"You are entirely right." Beneath the moon, Bai Yousi's thoughts began to drift, and her voice grew distant too. "Lord White Emperor said back then that the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi should serve soldiers and civilians alike, just as cast iron can be made into plowshares or swords. But the truth is that there is never much iron in the world. Before it can serve the people, it must first serve the army. Once peace reigns beneath heaven, swords can be cast into plowshares... Yet somehow, the world never enjoys a secure peace, so more of it keeps becoming swords, and less becomes plowshares."

"And one especially strange point is that, according to what you said before, the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi actually has an inverse relationship with peace. It seems to become abundant only in an age of great strife, when everyone's heads are broken and bloodied. Let things grow even a little peaceful, and it becomes scarce instead." Zhang Xing continued voicing his puzzlement. "That really is difficult to understand."

"I do have a few guesses about that. It may not be as you say." Bai Yousi smiled slightly. "But that subject is rather too vast. Once your cultivation advances, you'll gradually understand... Speaking only of stability, what exactly do you think of the Eastern Capital? There are only the two of us here. Just speak honestly."

"It's strange," Zhang Xing replied after serious thought. "Suppose the Eastern Capital is a kettle. Right now, it looks very tranquil, the sort of feeling where clouds are in the blue sky and water is in the kettle: everyone has their place, without the slightest disorder. Yet living inside it, you feel dark clouds gathering thickly and hidden currents surging... Killing breaks out constantly in the streets. The clever people in the middle have long been trying to jump out, sparing neither money nor influence. Those at the top are gathering all their strength for a fight. And that's without mentioning what we both know: counting the days, in half a month at the earliest, a month at the latest, news of the great defeat in Dongyi will sweep into the Eastern Capital."

"It cannot be delayed any longer," Bai Yousi said, shaking her head. "Dongyi's envoys seeking peace are almost here. Besides, you escaped back from the north, but the two fleets in the south returned intact, bringing twenty or thirty thousand routed troops with them. They are now around Xuzhou... The Upper Five Armies are not among them, though."

"That's what strikes me as especially strange..." Zhang Xing gave a quiet sigh too. "By all rights, anyone ought to feel that this kettle of water should never have started boiling."

Bai Yousi raised her eyebrows slightly. "How so? Why do you think this kettle of water shouldn't be boiling?"

"What else can I say? The late emperor swallowed Eastern Qi, subdued Southern Chen, and brought the Northern Wasteland to heel. The remnants of the Wu Clan, the Demon Race's two islands, and Dongyi's fifty prefectures all came to court to offer congratulations. For a moment, it seemed the whole world might be unified and heaven and earth brought to peace. By rights, then, the realm ought to be moving toward stability. Even this Eastern Capital City was only built twenty years ago, and Dongyi is taking the initiative to seek peace despite winning two complete victories... In other words, this kettle has only just been filled." Zhang Xing answered earnestly. "May I ask you, Inspector, how can a kettle of freshly poured water already be about to boil? How can anyone believe it is about to boil? Yet somehow, you really do feel the water growing hot."

"Yes. That is what leaves everyone in the world bewildered and suspicious." Bai Yousi grew reflective, a rare occurrence. "Never mind the late emperor-even the first ten years of His Majesty's reign were flowers laid upon brocade, oil cooking over a blazing fire. The finances improved by the day, and the state's authority grew stronger by the day... So it isn't just you who doesn't understand. I truly don't understand either. With such an advantageous situation in hand, why did both expeditions against Dongyi end in such disastrous defeats? Why did the rebel Yang Shen rebel? How did things come to this? Who lit this fire beneath the kettle? And where did the firewood come from?"

Zhang Xing answered with silence.

"Never mind. I was supposed to be questioning you, and here I am with just as many reflections of my own." Coming back to herself where she sat, Bai Yousi smiled at him. "Still, you've been in the capital for only a little over half a month. You've merely read a few books, opened one meridian, and spent a dozen-odd days with the Street-Cleaning Tigers, yet you already have these views, insights, and questions. It really is startling. You are genuinely talented."

Zhang Xing was silent for a moment, but beneath the moon, he finally asked, "Inspector Bai, I don't quite understand. Does this count as testing me? If I have some insight and some use, you'll take the trouble to clear me of suspicion? Otherwise, you'll leave me alone?"

"No." Bai Yousi straightened the sword in her hands, her smile deepening. "A test is certainly a test, but it has nothing to do with this case or your involvement in it. Since I have come, I will naturally get to the bottom of what is right and wrong... Because you are one of my people, after all. If you really killed innocent women and children, I should be the one to skewer you with my sword and hang you up. If you really have been bullied and wronged, I should likewise be the one to stand up for you... Everyone in the Jing'an Directorate knows this rule of mine."

Zhang Xing's heart settled firmly into place. At the same time, he suddenly understood why Inspector Chai had reacted that way during the day upon hearing that Bai Yousi had arranged his work.

Bai Yousi looked him over, then continued reassuring him. "Zhang Xing, rest easy... I am strong, and you are weak. I am above, and you are below... In this world, saying that the strong can always shelter the weak, or those above can always shelter those below, would be nonsense. But here with me, I can at least attend to the rights and wrongs before my eyes and protect this little patch of ground. So long as your heart is clear, I will never let you become a carp suffocating inside the kettle, unable even to leap out."

As she spoke, Bai Yousi finally put away her sword and rose. Turning around, she looked back with another smile. "I'm leaving. Have you any naturally inspired literary gems to give me?"

A slight impulse stirred in Zhang Xing's heart, and he almost opened his mouth to speak. In the end, however, he merely gave a wry smile. "You're joking, Inspector Bai... Also, next time you come looking for me, just call me up. There's no need to stand on the roof for so long."

Bai Yousi nodded. The next moment, with no more than a light leap, she abruptly vanished beneath the moon.