Poetry Chants, Saber Howls – Chapter 32
by Little PandaUnfathomable Hearts, Each Suspicious of the Other; Hoping to Restore What Was, New Waves Rise Instead (Part 4)
The visitor’s name was Yu Kaiji, an officer of the Iron Eagle Guard holding the rank of Sijie1.
Though she had no idea that Xie Yuanjue and Ling Suihan were staying here, tracing Chang Ping’s address had proven easy enough. And so she had come to Wuri Ward early in the morning, found Chang Ping first, and had her lead the way to the two women.
Ling Suihan was in a sour mood and had been about to sneer, “Don’t tell me you’ve come to arrest us” — then she remembered that even after Hu Zhenchuan had wrongly accused Xie Yuanjue of being Peng Lie’s accomplice the day before, this officer’s manner had remained scrupulously fair. She swallowed the remark at once and thanked her instead.
Yu Kaiji gave a faint smile tinged with helplessness and shook her head. “General Hu’s conduct yesterday was indeed improper. Those of us who wield great power in office must tread all the more carefully in our daily conduct — how could we afford to act so rashly? Please don’t take it to heart, either of you. I’ve come today to brief Lady Xie on how the investigation is progressing.”
“But the case is still unsolved, and the one who broke into the prison hasn’t been caught. Surely such leads count as confidential — I’m nothing but an ordinary commoner. Are you really at liberty to share this with me?” There was a probing note in Xie Yuanjue’s voice. She couldn’t fathom why the officer would volunteer information to her unprompted, and couldn’t help wondering: could she have learned her true identity from somewhere?
“Normally, no. However…” Yu Kaiji paused. “The one who took Peng Lie possessed lightness skill of extraordinary caliber. We were caught completely off guard — all we saw was a shadow flash past, and nothing else registered. But afterward we canvassed the surrounding wards and questioned a great many residents, and among them happened to be several jianghu martial artists with sharp eyes. Yesterday at noon they were resting at a tea stall, looking up at the birds in flight, when they suddenly spotted a masked figure some distance away who seemed to be carrying a man on her back, pausing on the eaves of a rooftop. It was precisely because the masked figure stopped that the martial artists got a clear look at what she wore on her face: a golden mask.”
“The Golden Phoenix?” Ling Suihan and Xie Yuanjue blurted in unison.
“A golden mask is hardly a rarity — anyone can wear one. But according to those martial artists, just as they were rising to go make the figure’s acquaintance, she rose on the wind and vanished in the space of an instant. Lightness skill of that caliber, paired with a golden mask — the odds are nine in ten that it was Yan Rushun.”
“But from what I’ve heard, this person is a righteous thief who has only ever stolen the spoils of other thieves,” said Ling Suihan. “How could she be Peng Lie’s accomplice?”
“There’s no way to know yet. Either she broke Peng Lie out for some purpose of her own, or her past deeds were all so much fishing for fame, and in truth she counts many thieves among her close friends. With this lead, Lady Xie’s name ought to have been cleared. But… but General Hu says that even if Yan Rushun is the one who broke into the prison, that doesn’t mean you, Lady Xie, had nothing to do with Peng Lie or Yan Rushun. As I read him, if we never manage to track Yan Rushun down, he will most likely come looking to make trouble for you again.”
That final warning was the very reason she had come to see Xie Yuanjue today.
By the time everyone had heard her out, Xie Yuanjue still hadn’t reacted at all — it was Ling Suihan whose temper flared first. “A fresh lead has surfaced, and instead of throwing everything into hunting Yan Rushun down, he clings stubbornly to his own opinion and insists on hounding Xie Yuanjue. What on earth does he keep in that head of his?”
“It isn’t muddled thinking.” Xie Yuanjue seemed entirely unbothered by it, fearless besides. “If I’m not mistaken, he intends to pin this matter on me deliberately.”
“Have you offended him before?” Ling Suihan asked, puzzled.
“Before yesterday, I had never met him in my life.”
This was the one thing Xie Yuanjue still could not work out: why would Hu Zhenchuan go out of his way to make an enemy of her? She had followed her master’s parting admonition to keep worldly affairs at arm’s length, yet now the affairs had come looking for her, and there was no longer any room to turn a blind eye. She was still turning it over in her mind when she heard Yin Teng give a soft laugh at her side.
Compared with her hideous face, Yin Teng’s voice was unexpectedly pleasing — like a clear stream flowing gently by, carrying a touch of coolness. Everyone turned to look at her as one, and she spoke at an unhurried pace:
“Peng Lie was broken out of the Iron Eagle Guard’s own custody. If the man is found in the end, well and good; if not, the guard’s officers and men will certainly be held to account. To escape punishment, he must catch the jailbreaker, and quickly. But that Golden Phoenix’s lightness skill is sublime — she comes without a shadow and leaves without a trace. Finding her will likely be harder than climbing to heaven. You, Lady Xie, are a different matter. You may move in jianghu circles, but you have no name in the martial world, nothing to mark you as some supreme master. Dealing with you would be effortless. If Peng Lie and Yan Rushun vanish for good, then you become the perfect scapegoat. You all think him a fool — he’s clever as anything.”
Hearing this, Xie Yuanjue felt a flicker of bewilderment.
Clever and quick-witted though she was, she had grown up hidden away in a valley and had seen little of the world; it had never occurred to her that human hearts could be so devious. She took Yin Teng’s words half-believing and half-doubting.
Yan Rushun stood to one side, arms folded, head lowered, watching the ants on the ground — and her expression abruptly changed yet again.
When Yu Kaiji first said the jailbreaker was most likely the Golden Phoenix, she had remained perfectly composed; when Yu Kaiji went on to suggest that the Golden Phoenix’s past acts of chivalry might have been mere fishing for fame, she still gave nothing away; only at the instant Yin Teng finished speaking did her brow knot itself deep in spite of her.
“Whatever General Hu’s thinking, he will most likely come for you again,” said Yu Kaiji. “You would do well to prepare yourself in advance.”
With that, she took her leave.
Under the Golden Crow, Wuri Ward sank into stillness, and the few people remaining where they stood were each lost in their own thoughts. After a long moment, Chang Ping was the first to lose patience. “Lady Xie, you… what are you going to do?”
“Nothing to prepare,” Xie Yuanjue said indifferently. “If he wants to come for me, let him.”
“But… all right. Do you still need me to take you to see more houses today, then?”
“No need,” said Ling Suihan. “Renting a house is a bother. We should find an inn to settle into first.”
Xie Yuanjue gave her a baffled look. She did indeed have exactly that in mind — but since when did she need Ling Suihan answering on her behalf? And when, exactly, had the two of them become a “we”?
“Shall I take you to find an inn, then?” asked Chang Ping.
“Most of the merchants in Chang’an know one another,” said Ling Suihan. “If word gets passed around about the Iron Eagle Guard coming for Lady Xie and me yesterday, the innkeepers elsewhere may well have heard of it too. The moment they see you traveling in our company, they’ll guess we’re yesterday’s ‘suspects’ and refuse us a room all the same.”
It sounded reasonable enough. Chang Ping blinked. “Then what are you planning to…”
“Go tend to your own affairs. If we need you, we’ll come find you.” Having said this much, Ling Suihan moved to bid Chang Ping farewell — then abruptly remembered that the reason Chang Ping had violated the curfew last night was, in the end, for her sake and Xie Yuanjue’s. Unwilling to owe anyone a favor, she fished a string of cash from her robes and held it out. Under Chang Ping’s suspicious gaze, she said, “For the money you gave those Golden Feather Guards.”
Chang Ping understood at once. No daughter of a wealthy household, she knew exactly what money was worth, and the bribe she had been forced to hand the Golden Feather Guards the night before had genuinely pained her for a long while. She was hardly about to put on airs of noble detachment now; she accepted the string of cash without a moment’s hesitation. Then Ling Suihan went on:
“You also told them that my body is crippled, that there was no way I could knock a grown man to the ground. I know you meant well, but if anything like this happens again, there’s no need for it. Why should I deny what I myself have done? A person learns a skill precisely in order to use it. Nothing disgusts me more than playing the weakling.”
In truth, Ling Suihan had wanted to voice this displeasure the night before, but the moment had been ill-suited to it, and with Yin Teng and Chongming both of unknown origin, she had hesitated a long while and ultimately swallowed it. Now, however, she was parting from Chang Ping with no knowing whether they would ever meet again, and words long bottled up would not stay down.
And because of Yin Teng, that last line of Ling Suihan’s carried a faint edge of veiled reproach — scolding one person while aiming at another.
She had meant, only moments ago, to demand to Yin Teng’s face why she had gone through Xie Yuanjue’s bundle — but then Yu Kaiji had appeared out of nowhere, and the lead she brought had killed the thought. If the one who broke Peng Lie out of prison truly was the Golden Phoenix of rumor, Yan Rushun, then once she captured the two of them and delivered them to justice, her request to enter the Iron Eagle Guard would meet with no objection this time around.
That much should not be hard to manage. As for who Yan Rushun really was, and where she was hiding with Peng Lie — Ling Suihan already had the faintest beginnings of a guess.
To avoid stirring up needless complications, she had no choice but to let Yin Teng off for now. And her anger at Yin Teng — an anger even she herself was unaware of — had been carried into the words she spoke to Chang Ping, making her tone sound far from courteous.
Chang Ping went still at the words, opening her mouth to protest — then stopped short with them on her tongue. Ling Suihan despised playing the weakling, but she was one of the “weak” — where would she find the means to contend with the “strong”? And so she never did anything to offend anyone — even her hatreds she could set aside. It was the same now: she bowed her head and let every grievance sink into silence. Then, all at once, a cold laugh sounded beside her.
“Oh, of course. You’re a jianghu master with a peerless saber — how could some worthless dandy ever be a match for you? And those court troops, I’m sure you don’t spare them a glance either. Ordinary people can’t be as strong as you, so naturally it’s her fault. Ordinary people are afraid in their hearts, dare not cross the court’s soldiers, and can only protect themselves in the very ways you look down on — so naturally it’s still her fault.”
This time it was Ling Suihan’s turn to freeze. She turned to look at Yin Teng, brow furrowing, expression shifting faintly.
Yin Teng still wore that same face.
Skin dark and wrinkled, features twisted and bunched together — but her bearing was utterly changed from before, her amber eyes glinting with a measure of icy chill. In any case, what she wanted was not to be found on Xie Yuanjue; she would not be staying beside these people any longer, and there was no further need to play the frail young woman.
“And you? You simply stand too high to see where her difficulties lie. What fault is that of yours?” She smiled faintly and bowed to everyone present. “Everyone — I still have kin to search for. Farewell.”
With that she truly did turn and go, and before long had left Wuri Lane behind.
Now that she finally had a lead on Peng Lie’s whereabouts, the most pressing matter was to learn everything she could about Yan Rushun; only then could she set about finding the man. It was early spring, and rows of flowering trees along the roadside were putting out tender buds, but she had no heart for the sight. She was still weighing her next concrete move when a chill spring breeze brushed her cheek — and her mind suddenly lit up:
—Come to think of it, hadn’t she just happened to lay eyes on a supreme master of the lightness skill?
Inside Wuri Lane, at the gate of the dilapidated estate, only Ling Suihan and Xie Yuanjue remained.
Ling Suihan stood rooted to the spot, lost in thought, until Xie Yuanjue called her name. She came back to herself, glanced left and right, and asked, “Where’s Chongming?”
“She went back into the courtyard.”
“Her lightness skill truly is remarkable.”
“That’s because you were thinking about something just now and weren’t paying her any attention. Still — her lightness skill does far outstrip ours.”
“In a little while I want to take a look inside her room. Help me draw her away.”
The request came rather out of nowhere, but Xie Yuanjue caught her meaning. “You suspect Chongming is…”
“Don’t forget — last night, at first, she didn’t want us setting foot in this house at all.” Seeing hesitation on Xie Yuanjue’s face, Ling Suihan went on, “I know you have no taste for these matters, but you’ve been dragged into this one all the same. If it isn’t resolved soon, I suspect you’ll have far more trouble on your hands later.”
It was the last sentence that moved Xie Yuanjue. She pondered a moment, then nodded.
And at that very moment, Ling Suihan was abruptly startled all over again.
—Yan Rushun’s lightness skill was too great. If she confronted her outright, the woman might well flee with Peng Lie, and her trail would be lost for good.
—And yet, having Xie Yuanjue lure her away… how was that any different from what Yin Teng had done this morning? She herself had ample justification, of course. But then — didn’t Yin Teng?
It seemed she had no standing to blame her at all.
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