(2) The Whole Town Turns Out

Early that morning, the area outside the Wannian county yamen was already packed with people, the reason being that the magistrate had summoned Yu Shurong to appear in court for questioning that day. For one thing, this was a remarkable story in its own right—Yu Shurong was notorious throughout Chang'an for his willful, arrogant temperament, and here was Magistrate Cao actually daring to summon him for questioning? For another, Yu Shurong's extraordinarily fine features had young ladies of every household competing just for a glimpse of him—catching even a single look was worth the trouble—and whenever Yu Shurong passed by from a distance, a faint, elegant fragrance would drift past on the air, enough to set hearts fluttering. To lay eyes on Yu Shurong was a feast for sight and scent alike—who could resist loving him for it? If only he'd been a touch more approachable, he could easily have enjoyed the kind of adoration where fruit came raining down on his carriage every single day, without the slightest effort. But he happened to be such a difficult man to get close to, that the young ladies of the city could only admire him from afar, never daring to trifle with him up close.

The moment word spread that Yu Shurong would be appearing before the Wannian yamen that morning to answer questions, it became the talk of every street and alley almost instantly—some even speculated he wouldn't show up for questioning at all. And so, driven by all manner of different motives, people converged as if by unanimous agreement on the area outside the Wannian yamen, eager to witness the spectacle. The sight was unprecedented—the whole town had turned out, the streets packed so tightly that not even water could trickle through—and when Yu Shurong's carriage finally arrived, the yamen even had to send out its own runners just to clear a path for him, which was, in itself, an eye-opening sight for everyone present.

But what truly opened everyone's eyes further still didn't end there. When Yu Shurong stepped down from his carriage, two burly men followed close behind, carrying between them a sturdy nanmu-wood armchair, and trailed Yu Shurong all the way as he carried that chair straight into the courtroom itself. Yu Shurong showed not the slightest hesitation—once he'd dismissed the two men, he settled himself into the nanmu chair with total ease, leaning back against the backrest, propping his head up with one hand, his expression cold as frost, his eyes brimming with unmistakable contempt for the magistrate.

Seeing that Yu Shurong held no official rank or title whatsoever, and yet had neither knelt nor waited to be asked before seating himself, Cao Jibin felt his anger rising at once. But before he could even give voice to it, Yu Shurong beat him to the punch. "It's only that this whole business has kicked up quite a fuss, and given me a headache besides, so I came round to look into it out of concern for my neighbors. My own adoptive father has already scolded me for meddling recklessly in matters that aren't mine to meddle in—what more does Magistrate Cao want from me?"

Yu Shurong rolled his eyes and, with obvious displeasure, waved his jade fan and continued, "My adoptive father sent me here to give some face to our newly appointed magistrate, eager as he seems to make his mark—wouldn't want people saying we're difficult to deal with, after all. Whatever needs saying, I've said. I won't waste any more breath on it, and however many times the magistrate asks me again, my answer will be exactly the same—there's nothing further to add."

Hearing Yu Shurong's declaration, Cao Jibin found himself utterly unable to contain his fury; he raised the sounding block, ready to bring it down hard, when the county assistant and the registrar beside him both went pale with alarm and hastily moved to stop him. The county assistant spoke up first: "We heard Young Master Yu perfectly clearly... we thank the young master for his generosity in coming, and are grateful he troubled himself to make this journey."

What they feared wasn't that bringing down the sounding block might upset Yu Shurong—that was a small matter. What terrified them was the towering figure standing behind him, whose wrath would be a far greater catastrophe. Every word out of Yu Shurong's mouth carried the unmistakable implication that he'd come here "bearing his father's orders"—his very presence here was already an enormous concession of face, and it would be the height of folly to spurn such a gift. At this moment, whether Yu Shurong's attitude was good or bad, whether what he said was true or false, none of that was really the point—the point was knowing when to quit while ahead. Magistrate Cao had just been openly mocked with the phrase "eager to make his mark," and here he was, still too dense to sense the danger, leaving his subordinates practically sick with worry.

But Cao Jibin was an earnest, straightforward man by nature, and seeing Yu Shurong show such utter contempt for the dignity of the court, he felt he ought to reprimand him and put a stop to it—otherwise, what authority would the courtroom have left at all? Just as he was about to speak out and rebuke him, Yueying, who had met Magistrate Cao once before and now stood off to one side, quick of eye and hand, immediately cut off Cao Jibin's rebuke before it could begin: "Yueyue Manor's rescue operation for Fourth Sister Guo encountered fierce resistance, and it's true the confrontation between the two sides made quite a commotion; it's also true that Young Master Yu's own Zhuya Residence sits only two walls away from the secret chamber at Yun Xiang Garden. Both of these points are indeed factual. But whether what Young Master Yu says is the whole truth—that he came purely out of concern for his neighbors—or merely a convenient excuse, that we simply cannot say for certain."

Without any concrete evidence linking him to the kidnappers, summoning Yu Shurong to court so rashly had been a hasty move. Because Yueying had once escorted Madame Cao safely back to Cao Jibin, the magistrate already held him in some regard, and these words of his now made Cao Jibin realize, with a jolt, just how reckless his own decision had been. Yu Shurong was, by nature, arrogant and willful, utterly contemptuous of everyone around him—and his own decision here had clearly been nothing but shooting himself in the foot. Seeing with his own eyes how Yu Shurong had not only arrived late but now sat there ordering everyone about as he pleased, Cao Jibin finally understood that expecting Yu Shurong to behave like an ordinary, law-abiding citizen was simply chasing after the impossible—and trying to sort out right from wrong with a man like this now would be harder still. The capital was nothing like the south; as the saying goes, "beneath another man's eaves, one has no choice but to bow one's head." His realization, though late, wasn't too late even now, and he forced himself, with great effort, to swallow the anger burning within him.

"Then would Young Master Yu please take a look and confirm whether he recognizes the man and woman kneeling before the court?" Cao Jibin choked down his fury, and not only withheld any further reprimand, but adopted a considerably more courteous, conciliatory manner besides.

Yu Shurong couldn't even be bothered to lift his head; he merely glanced sideways, with obvious displeasure, at Madam Wu and Ada, kneeling in the courtroom. "Zhuya Residence and Yun Xiang Garden sit right next to each other, and I happen to be a regular guest at Yun Xiang Garden—how could I possibly not recognize its proprietress and her hired hands? What, does Magistrate Cao intend to convict me of some crime simply because I happen to know them?"

"Of course not." Seeing that look on Yu Shurong's face, Cao Jibin felt a sudden urge to slap him across the cheek, but he couldn't allow himself that—he could only continue to hold back his anger and, lifting the portrait that had been resting on the table before him, ask, "Since you're already familiar with Madam Wu and Ada, would this county trouble Young Master Yu to take a closer look and tell us whether he recognizes the man in this portrait? According to the testimony of these two, this man is connected to both of the kidnapping cases."

The instant Yu Shurong heard this, he shot up from his seat, pointing his jade fan at the portrait in fury. "Is Magistrate Cao truly determined to drag me into this affair by sheer force? That portrait has already been plastered across every corner of Chang'an—if I recognized the man, wouldn't I have come forward to report him long before now? And here you are, shooting arrows in the dark, going to every possible length just to smear my name?"

"Young Master Yu, please don't be angry, that isn't at all what the magistrate meant..." The county assistant beside him, thoroughly alarmed once more, hastily spoke up. "It's only that since Young Master Yu frequents Yun Xiang Garden so often, and lives right next door to it besides, the magistrate merely wanted to ask whether Young Master Yu has ever happened to see this man."

The county assistant's attempt to smooth things over succeeded, at least somewhat, in dispersing a portion of Yu Shurong's anger; he settled himself back into the nanmu chair and, after a moment, slowly spoke again.

"And so what if I have seen him? A passing glance, nothing more—how would I have any idea who he really is, or what murders and arson he might have committed?"

"This," Cao Jibin continued, seeing that the county assistant's more deferential handling of Yu Shurong seemed to be having some softening effect, and though he was loath to do it himself, he swallowed his pride as chief magistrate and, adopting a gentler tone, lifted once more the sketch from the county archives depicting the golden owl token said to be held by the master of Tianyin Pavilion, once bestowed by Emperor Xuanzong himself, "is said to be the golden owl token supposedly bestowed by Xuanzong upon the head of Tianyin Pavilion. According to the stable boy who tends the horses at Yun Xiang Garden, the wanted man bore this very object upon his person. Young Master Yu, being so well-traveled and knowledgeable, and with Commander Dou having served the Emperor within the palace for so many years besides—might Young Master Yu happen to recognize this object?"

"The magistrate is mistaken... Tianyin Pavilion vanished from court affairs a full thirty years ago. I am only twenty-four years old this year—how could I possibly know anything about Tianyin Pavilion?" And besides, whatever my adoptive father has seen and heard is entirely his own affair, not mine. If the magistrate wishes to inquire into such matters, why not go seek an audience with him directly, or better yet, summon the old gentleman here to answer for himself? I truly cannot fathom what the magistrate hopes to accomplish by fixating on me like this." Yu Shurong's face was etched with open disdain, and every word he spoke dripped with mockery.

Even though it seemed impossible that Yu Shurong could have absolutely no connection to this affair, what he said now left no room for rebuttal, and now he'd invoked Dou Wenchang's name to press down on him besides—Cao Jibin felt as though he'd been slapped across the face right there in public, his cheek burning with humiliation. And yet he hadn't come away entirely empty-handed, either. Yu Shurong clearly knew, without any doubt, that Tianyin Pavilion had vanished from court affairs a full thirty years earlier—and given his age, unless someone had specifically mentioned it to him, or he himself had taken particular note of the matter, or had even been personally involved in it somehow, how could he possibly have spoken of it so readily, with such precision? As the presiding magistrate, he himself hadn't even mentioned that Tianyin Pavilion had withdrawn from court affairs thirty years ago...

"Young Master Yu is only twenty-four years of age—how, then, do you happen to know that Tianyin Pavilion withdrew from court affairs thirty years ago?"

Cao Jibin had hoped this tactic of "turning his own spear against his shield" might force Yu Shurong to let something slip, but to his surprise, Yu Shurong merely twirled the jade fan in his hand at his leisure, and, without the slightest hurry, deflected the blow with effortless ease. "And how does Magistrate Cao himself happen to know about that so-called Silver Owl Token, or whatever it's called, from Tianyin Pavilion? Naturally, it's because a handful of major and minor unsolved cases throughout Chang'an's history have all been attributed to Tianyin Pavilion, which vanished long ago without a trace, and so records of it have simply been left sitting in the Wannian yamen's archives. If the magistrate can know of it, then surely I can know of it too—we've simply learned of it through different channels, that's all. Plenty of people throughout Chang'an know of it. My adoptive father knows of it too—does that mean everyone is a suspect?"

Cao Jibin found himself caught off guard, thoroughly staggered by this counterstroke from Yu Shurong. It was rare indeed to find an ordinary commoner in this courtroom capable of embarrassing the magistrate so thoroughly, showing such utter disregard for the presiding officer's authority. And yet what Yu Shurong said held together seamlessly, with no flaw to be found anywhere in it, while his repeated habit of invoking Dou Wenchang's name at every turn, for no apparent reason, left Cao Jibin unable to act freely, hemmed in on every side, and feeling profoundly powerless.

"If the magistrate would consider carefully—why is it that in both kidnapping cases, there was never any demand for ransom, nor any harm done to the victims? On the contrary, the captives were treated well, fed and cared for throughout. The true intentions behind whoever is orchestrating this are genuinely difficult to fathom."

The one speaking was Yueying, who had been standing quietly off to one side all this while. Seeing that Cao Jibin had run out of options, he bowed respectfully and offered his own analysis of the matter.

"And furthermore, are we even certain these are truly the work of Tianyin Pavilion? If they've already withdrawn from court affairs and even retreated deep into the martial world, why would they need to stir up trouble like this at all? Standing at court, they could have anything they wanted—money, power, the ability to command the wind and rain themselves—why on earth would they abandon all that, only to withdraw from the court and go about committing crimes like common bandits instead? None of it makes any logical sense."

Yueying's words struck Cao Jibin like a bolt of sudden clarity, and everything seemed to fall into place for him all at once. Of course! He had fixated his entire investigation on Tianyin Pavilion purely on the word of a stable boy at Yun Xiang Garden, but why would a Tianyin Pavilion that had voluntarily vanished from view for thirty years suddenly commit crime after crime like this? There was simply no reasonable motive for it at all. And as for a token that no one had ever actually seen with their own eyes—however it was drawn, who could possibly say whether it was genuine or false? If Tianyin Pavilion had truly been behind this string of crimes, so difficult to solve, then perhaps all those other unsolved cases over the years hadn't been Tianyin Pavilion's doing either...

But then, who could possibly be behind it all?

Cao Jibin fell into a long, thoughtful silence, only to hear Yu Shurong applauding him in approval. He rose to his feet and walked over toward Yueying. "You, sir, have a remarkably clear head, and your analysis is thoroughly sound—far more insightful than the man presiding over this court."

As he spoke, Yu Shurong began making his way toward the courtroom exit. Cao Jibin, unable to contain himself, shouted furiously, "This court's questioning is not yet finished—where does Young Master Yu think he's going?"

"Not yet finished?" Yu Shurong turned around, his face full of contempt. "How is the magistrate's questioning not yet finished? Didn't this gentleman here already explain everything with perfect clarity? And I've spoken with equal clarity myself. The magistrate is plainly just embarrassed and looking to save face now—I have no interest in indulging that any further."

"Yu—" Magistrate Cao, thoroughly enraged, hadn't even finished getting out the name "Shurong" before Yu Shurong cut him off. "Don't bother calling my name—it won't do you any good even if you do, since the magistrate has nothing further he can pry out of me anyway. You really ought to work on that temper of yours, or it won't be long before someone else is sitting in this Magistrate of Wannian's seat instead..."

Though Yu Shurong's tone carried no trace of anger as he said this, there was an unmistakable edge hidden beneath it, thick with both mockery and warning, and it left everyone throughout the yamen visibly rattled.

"Young Master Yu, allow me..." The county assistant, quick to react, immediately rose to his feet, ready to clear a path for Yu Shurong. Outside the yamen, the crowd stood packed in an impenetrable black mass; without someone to clear the way, this troublesome guest would never manage to leave at all.

"Young Master Yu's chair..." the county assistant reminded him carefully.

"If you find it an eyesore, have someone send it back to the Zhuya Residence—or if you'd rather keep it, that's fine too..." Yu Shurong set off again, but paused first to walk over to Yueying, murmuring under his breath, "Your manor's Manor Lord looks awfully familiar to me. Where might I have seen him before?"

Hearing this, Yueying felt a jolt of alarm within, though his expression betrayed nothing of it. "We have never met."

"Is that so?" Yu Shurong smiled in an odd, unreadable way, and added, "It seems you know a great deal about Tianyin Pavilion, sir. This Yueyue Manor of yours is proving rather interesting indeed..."

Hearing this, Yueying suddenly realized that his own analysis, offered to Cao Jibin just moments ago, hadn't been nearly careful enough—Yu Shurong was no one to be trifled with, and he'd clearly picked up on something from the way he'd spoken. Sensing at once that this boded ill, Yueying responded immediately: "Young Master Yu worries too much... Yueyue Manor has conducted business in Chang'an across two generations now. If we couldn't manage to know a thing or two about the goings-on of this city, great and small, how could we possibly have kept our footing here at all?"

"Is that so?" Seeing that Yueying remained entirely unruffled, his expression perfectly composed, Yu Shurong let a strange smile cross his face, then waved a hand and made his way out. That faint, lingering smile stirred a fresh wave of excitement among the young ladies gathered outside the courtroom, a commotion that didn't die down until Yu Shurong's carriage had vanished entirely from sight.