(2) A New Official Takes Office

One morning, Zhang Benyi, one of the physicians on duty at Mochou Hall, tore down a posted notice bearing a portrait of the Cui family's carriage and walked into the Wannian County office, where he told Magistrate Cao Jibin that on the very day Young Master Cui had disappeared, he himself had been at the Four Seas Inn treating an important guest staying there, and on his way back to Mochou Hall, he had happened to cross paths with the Cui household's carriage. Since every time the Cui family summoned him for a house call they always sent that very carriage to fetch him, he could recognize it at a single glance. And so he had yielded the road, letting the Cui carriage pass first—only, upon reaching Pingkang Ward, the carriage had suddenly turned left, racing off toward Pingkang Ward instead of continuing on toward the Cui residence. He had seen it with perfect clarity at the time, and he was absolutely certain he hadn't been mistaken—the hour had been the hour of Wei.

Zhang Benyi's information landed like a stone dropped into a still pond, sending ripples spreading out at once—in an instant, Pingkang Ward became a crucial lead. Young Master Cui, it seemed, had not gone straight home after bidding his friend farewell after all, but had first gone to Pingkang Ward. All three young men from both cases had vanished in Pingkang Ward, which clearly meant something significant was going on there—except Pingkang Ward had already been searched once before, without any results at all. So where exactly had they missed something?

Cao Jibin, still unfamiliar with the layout of Chang'an, wondered privately just what oversight he might have made before. Pingkang Ward was a place where every sort of person mingled together—distinguished officials and nobles, scholars come to sit for the imperial examinations, and every stripe of ordinary folk besides. Whenever the results of the examinations were posted, the newly minted scholars would always make a point of visiting Pingkang Ward first, to see a little of the world and flaunt their newfound success. Pingkang Ward's reputation stretched far and wide across Chang'an—what self-proclaimed romantic gentleman of the Tang could possibly resist its pull? But it was precisely because of this that searching it properly proved so difficult—sweeping every last nook and cranny of the place was simply not realistic. County Sheriff Lu He finally admitted that during the previous search, two particular establishments had only been given the most token, perfunctory once-over, on account of certain "important persons" being present, whom no one had dared act rashly around.

At Huashui Pavilion that day, Minister Li had been entertaining a whole retinue of fellow officials, enjoying the latest choreographed song and dance performance; amid the flow of wine cups and the flush of good spirits, every one of them had bristled with displeasure at the Wannian County office's search operation, with Minister Li himself, the ranking figure present, going so far as to slam his hand on the table and curse aloud—how dare a mere insignificant Magistrate of Wannian act so presumptuously in the presence of a first-rank official such as himself? The county office's own runners, each sharper and more street-smart than the last, well understood the wisdom of keeping their own skins intact—several previous Magistrates of Wannian had already been ruined or demoted at the hands of powerful, well-connected figures above them, and these mere archers and constables could hardly afford to weather such storms themselves. And so they had simply gone through the motions, taking a cursory glance before withdrawing entirely.

Yun Xiang Garden, meanwhile, home to the so-called "Jade-Faced Rakshasa" Yu Shurong, proved even more terrifying to the archers involved. "Jade-Faced Rakshasa" was a nickname others had given him behind his back—he was the adopted son of Dou Wenchang, the Protector-in-Chief overseeing the Left Wing of the Shence Army, and though blessed with a striking, handsome face, he was, by nature, dissolute and unrestrained, erratic in his conduct and famously difficult to predict. He favored the wide-sleeved, cross-collared long robes of pale blue, his garments trailing behind him with an ethereal, otherworldly grace as he walked, entirely unlike the crisp, tailored look of the round-collared, narrow-sleeved robes so fashionable among men of his generation. With his fair, delicate complexion, as though carved from the finest jade, he could have passed, standing there, for a statue of Guanyin herself—wherever he went, women of every rank and station found themselves helplessly drawn to stare, quite against their own will. Pingkang Ward was one of his favorite haunts, and every house of pleasure there did everything in its power to win his favor—should Yu Shurong ever grace a particular establishment with his presence and become its honored guest, that alone counted as the highest honor Pingkang Ward had to offer.

Precisely because of the Emperor's own special fondness for Dou Wenchang, Dou Wenchang, in turn, indulged his adopted son's every excess out in the world—so long as no one actually died, he was free to do as he pleased. Even if word of his antics ever reached the Emperor's ears, it amounted to little more than a token scolding at most, given that Dou Wenchang had served as the Emperor's own close personal attendant since His Majesty's days as crown prince. During the Jingyuan Mutiny, Dou Wenchang had remained steadfastly loyal, following the Emperor's side throughout the crisis, even leading troops in a counterattack against Zhu Ci's forces, ultimately helping to repel the enemy successfully—one might well say he had shared the Emperor's burdens and eased his troubles, guarding him with unwavering loyalty, and Emperor Dezong had come to trust him all the more deeply for it. Upon returning to the capital, Dezong had transferred real command of both wings of the Shence Army into the hands of eunuchs like Dou Wenchang—one overseeing the Left Wing of the Shence Army, the other the Right Wing—and from that point on, the eunuchs' influence only grew ever more entrenched, eventually coming to hold sway over even matters as weighty as the succession and deposition of emperors and crown princes themselves.

Yu Shurong had been living his dissolute, carefree life across Chang'an for quite some time now—it wasn't as though this were anything new. In earlier years, the spoiled, pampered sons of the capital's elite had looked down on him, unwilling to associate with the mere adopted son of a eunuch. It was only once Dou Wenchang rose to become Protector-in-Chief overseeing the Left Wing of the Shence Army that Yu Shurong's fortunes turned overnight; suddenly no shortage of people wanted to curry favor with him and win some advantage from the association, and that same crowd of spoiled young men who once wanted nothing to do with him now found themselves scrambling, without any clear path in, to get on his good side—regretting, all at once, their earlier disdain, though by then such regret served no practical purpose whatsoever.

Beyond all that, Yu Shurong's moods proved wildly unpredictable, and displeasing him invariably meant trouble for whoever had caused it—he showed no deference even to men of high rank and generous fortune, and so, throughout the capital, officials and commoners alike lived in genuine fear of Yu Shurong, privately calling him the "Jade-Faced Rakshasa" behind his back; only the women of every household still found themselves helplessly drawn to his stunning, almost legendary beauty. Given all this, the archers assigned to search his premises could hardly summon the nerve to conduct any thorough search at all. The county sheriff, no fool himself, understood perfectly well that Yu Shurong was a far more dangerous man to provoke than even a first-rank official—and so he too had simply withdrawn respectfully, as though he'd never set foot there in the first place.

Hearing all this, Cao Jibin felt his anger flaring up at once. He had long since heard that the capital was full of hidden tigers and crouching dragons, but only now did he see, firsthand, just how true that saying really was. Who among these men didn't have elderly parents and young children depending on them at home? Who among them would truly risk their own head charging headlong into such danger? With every faction in Chang'an locked in constant, veiled struggle against one another, what hope did a mere insignificant Magistrate of Wannian like himself really have of turning the world upside down?

Though he sighed inwardly over the crushing weight of responsibility placed on someone of his modest rank, and how precariously he had to tread amid the tangled, chaotic power struggles of Chang'an, Cao Jibin steeled himself and pressed forward regardless. According to reports, Huashui Pavilion that day had been thick with court officials, with the Vice Director of the Secretariat and the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial both among the guests, every one of them on close personal terms with Minister Li, all gathered there together for a shared evening of pleasure. The notion that they might have conspired to hide their own sons at Huashui Pavilion, unbeknownst to their own fathers present in that very room, seemed vanishingly unlikely. Yun Xiang Garden, by contrast, appeared far more suspicious—knowing full well that the county sheriff and his archers wouldn't dare cross him, Yu Shurong hiding people there so openly would amount to a direct, brazen provocation aimed squarely at him as Magistrate; given Yu Shurong's well-known habits and temperament, this possibility seemed exceedingly likely indeed. But since it hadn't been searched at the time, searching it now risked having already missed the ideal window entirely—there was no telling where the young men might have been moved to by now.

Regardless, the whole of Pingkang Ward would need to be searched all over again—Yun Xiang Garden most of all.

Yun Xiang Garden earned its name as a "garden" chiefly for its expansive grounds, lush with greenery throughout, complete with a small arched bridge over flowing water, and elegant pavilions and towers scattered about, where the singing girls and dancing girls could recite poetry, play the zither, sing, and dance out in the open air—especially lovely on a warm day in spring. Cao Jibin personally led his men back to Yun Xiang Garden once more, separating the proprietress, Madam Wu, and everyone else there for individual questioning. Madam Wu's eyes kept darting about, her manner betraying a guilty conscience, her answers evasive and equivocal, denying flatly and repeatedly that any unrelated person had ever set foot in Yun Xiang Garden. The young stable boy who tended the horses, still quite young himself—perhaps twelve or thirteen—had little in the way of guile, but a remarkably sharp eye; he could recall, without fail, the horse and carriage belonging to any distinguished guest who had ever visited Yun Xiang Garden, never once mistaken. He told them that, before the archers had ever arrived, he had seen the carriages belonging to the households of the Vice Director of the Secretariat and the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial pull up outside the stables; a stranger he'd never seen before, leading three subordinates, had brought the two young men and their attendants down from their carriages right at the gate and hurried them into Lanqui Court, where they had then remained, without ever once leaving, for a full three days straight. It was only when that same mysterious stranger later returned, leading Young Master Cui and his own attendant to Lanqui Court as well, that everyone finally departed Yun Xiang Garden together, following the stranger out.

The stable boy had no idea who this mysterious figure actually was. At the time, Young Master Yu had been out in the garden itself, thoroughly enjoying a drinking game with the others, and the stranger had never once crossed paths with him, deliberately avoiding the crowd and slipping silently straight from the stables into Lanqui Court unnoticed. The stable boy, having nothing better to do most of the time, liked to perch himself up on the wall by the stables, watching everything from his high vantage point, which let him keep the entire grounds of Yun Xiang Garden in view at once; whenever any distinguished guest wished to leave, he could immediately lead the horse or carriage out of the stables in time for them to mount up or climb aboard. The stable boy spoke without the slightest hesitation, his expression entirely ordinary throughout, giving no impression at all that he might be lying.

If that were true, then who exactly was this mysterious stranger? Could it really be that this whole affair had nothing to do with Yu Shurong after all? And why had Madam Wu spoken so evasively—what exactly was she trying to hide? And where had this mysterious stranger taken the three young men? This fresh search of Yun Xiang Garden, which he had assumed would turn up nothing but cold, long-vanished trails, had instead, unexpectedly, unearthed even more questions than before—one question tangled into the next, an impossibly knotted mess that left everyone's heads spinning.

Cao Jibin, with no better option, brought in a sketch artist to draw the mysterious stranger's likeness according to the stable boy's description; once the boy confirmed the portrait was accurate, the sharp-eyed County Sheriff Lu He noticed something odd—a peculiar token hanging from the man's ornamented belt. He asked the stable boy whether he'd gotten a clear look at exactly what that token looked like. The boy nodded, then shook his head, saying he could only tell it was some kind of round golden object, carved with what might have been a hawk or perhaps some other bird of prey—he hadn't managed to make out the details clearly enough.

The stable boy's account left Cao Jibin and his subordinates exchanging uneasy glances. The reason was this: after taking office, Cao Jibin had gone through a full decade's worth of case files and records, and had found that several of his predecessors as Magistrate of Wannian had each left behind a handful of unsolved cases—likely one of the very reasons those men had ultimately lost their positions. In a number of those old cases, witnesses had reported spotting that very same token, and so a sketch of it had likewise been preserved in the archives.

Lu He felt a distinct sense of foreboding stir within him—every case in the past that had ever touched on this particular token had, without exception, ended up unsolved. It seemed Magistrate Cao, too, was about to face a formidable trial of his own.

"Do you know anything about the origins of this token?" Cao Jibin's brow furrowed. He sensed that whoever had come bearing it meant no good at all, and his heart grew heavier still.

"Reporting to the Magistrate: it's difficult to say for certain. There's been considerable debate and disagreement over it, with no firm conclusion ever reached. Some say it's the Golden Owl Token of Tianyin Pavilion, but no one at the county office has ever actually laid eyes on a genuine Golden Owl Token, so that's really nothing more than speculation—no one dares state it as fact. And that's precisely the problem: there's simply no way to even begin investigating from there. Tianyin Pavilion vanished from the imperial court some thirty years ago now, and no one knows where it went. There are occasional rumors circulating in the martial world that Tianyin Pavilion went underground and now earns hefty fees trading in information, but that, too, remains nothing more than rumor, never confirmed."