The Golden Hairpin Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2015 by Qinghan CeCe

  Translation copyright © 2018 by Alex Woodend

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Previously published as 《簪中录1》 by Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House in China in 2015. Translated from Mandarin by Alex Woodend. First published in English by AmazonCrossing in 2018.

  Published by AmazonCrossing, Seattle

  www.apub.com

  Amazon, the Amazon logo, and AmazonCrossing are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

  ISBN-13: 9781503952188

  ISBN-10: 1503952185

  Cover design by Shasti O’Leary Soudant

  CONTENTS

  One NOTORIETY

  Two OMNIPRESENT BODHI

  Three AS A EUNUCH

  Four EXQUISITE GLASS

  Five VELVET GOLD MINE

  Six CAGED BIRD

  Seven SCARLET DREAM

  Eight TILTED WORLD

  Nine AUTUMN DEW

  Ten THE SIX WOMEN OF YUNSHAO

  Eleven UNSEEN AND UNHEARD

  Twelve PARTITION SHADOWS

  Thirteen LONG, LONELY STREET

  Fourteen BRIGHT SKY, DARK CLOUDS

  Fifteen FALSE TRUTH

  Sixteen PERPLEXING SITUATION

  Seventeen WIND OVER THE WATER

  CHARACTER LIST

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

  One

  NOTORIETY

  Through the dark of night, a heavy rain poured down. The mountains and canyons, both near and far, lost their shapes and faded away. On the mountain road outside Changan City, blooming lilac flowers fell under the force of the pelting rain and scattered along the muddy road. In the depths of night, no one saw.

  Huang Zixia trudged along that dark road, holding a sky-blue oil-paper umbrella. The storm showers broke two of its ribs. She glanced up, tossed the umbrella on the road, and kept walking.

  The rain hitting her body was so cold, the night sky so dark. The whole world was dark except for a faint light ahead that flickered through the raindrops. A small pavilion stood by a curve in the road. The dynasty had set them up every five miles, and rest areas every ten. A group of people sat inside for shelter from the storm. Changan had a curfew in effect and would not open the city gates until six in the morning. Everyone was likely waiting for the gates to open.

  Huang Zixia walked toward the pavilion in her simple blue short-sleeved men’s shirt.

  “Hey, youngster, trying to make it into the city early too? Come dry out by the fire,” an old man called.

  In the firelight, Huang Zixia could make out the old man’s kind smile. She thanked him, wrung out her drenched shirt, and then sat a couple of feet away from him and helped feed the fire.

  The group watched her for a moment and then returned to their conversations. They gossiped about the strange things that had been happening in the empire, as if they’d seen it all themselves.

  “Did you all hear about that case in the capital?”

  “The Four Directions Case?” someone jumped in.

  “In the last three months, three people had been murdered in the capital. The murders took place in the north, south, and west. The only clues left were the words peace, bliss, and self written in blood.”

  “People in the east are panicking now because they think a murder will happen there next. I heard everyone able to leave has already left, and it’s almost deserted now.”

  Huang Zixia held a piece of firewood and gently stoked the flames.

  One middle-aged man was apparently a traveling storyteller. He held a wood block and spoke. “The empire’s in chaos now; all the provincial capitals are in turmoil. And not just the capitals. There was just a case of a whole family being murdered in Shu; did you hear about it? It was the family of Shu’s civil governor, Huang Min!”

  Huang Min.

  Huang Zixia trembled at hearing her father’s name. A spark flew back and hit her hand, causing a flash of pain.

  No one noticed.

  “Wasn’t Huang Min a minister on the capital’s Board of Punishments? Didn’t he solve several cases these last few years? He had a good reputation with the Chengdu magistrate, yes?”

  “They say Huang Min didn’t do it all himself. When Huang Min was on the Board of Punishments, a lot of people suspect his daughter broke many cases for him at the age of fourteen. The Emperor personally commended her―said if she were a man, she could be prime minister!”

  “Prime minister?” the storyteller said with a sneer. “Did you hear the rumor that when Huang Min’s daughter was born, the room filled with red light? People took it as a sign that she’d bring misfortune to her family. Now it’s really coming true.” The storyteller paused. “She’s the one responsible for killing that family!”

  Huang Zixia had forgotten about the pain on the back of her hand. She stared at the flames licking the dark.

  The old man couldn’t believe it. “You mean the Huang daughter destroyed her own house?”

  “Exactly!” the storyteller shouted.

  “Ridiculous—how could a daughter kill her loved ones?”

  “It’s certain! The court already issued an order. The Huang girl fled Shu, but if she’d been caught, they’d have hacked her to death without burial!”

  “If she did it, how savage. She must have no conscience!”

  The old man asked, “Such tragedy. Why?”

  “Why would the girl be so shortsighted? It must have been for passion.” The storyteller smacked his lips and pressed on. “It’s said that her husband had been arranged since childhood, but after she grew up, she found another sweetheart. So when her grandmother and uncle came to discuss her marriage, she personally served them poisoned sheep’s-hoof soup. Governor Huang; his wife; Huang Yan, her brother; and even her grandmother and uncle were all poisoned to death. Only she escaped, disappeared. Officers found out she went to the apothecary a few days earlier to buy arsenic—they’ve got written records—and they found the arsenic in her room. Her heart was taken, but her parents forced her to marry someone else, so she poisoned her family and ran off with her lover!”

  The crowd in the pavilion listened to this tragic tale with horror and amazement. Someone else asked, “How did she escape?”

  “After she poisoned her family, she arranged to meet her lover and run off. But he hated what she had done and alerted the authorities. We don’t know how she sensed something was off and managed to escape! There are wanted posters at all the provincial capital city gates. Justice has a long reach. I’d sure like to see the vicious woman arrested and cut into a thousand pieces!”

  He was full of indignation. The crowd listening seemed to feel the same.

  Hang Zixia held her knees as she listened to the crowd’s condemnation and suddenly felt exhausted. She put her head on her knees and stared in a daze at the beating flames. The clothes on her body were damp. The cold air was like an invisible needle piercing her skin, which kept her awake.

  The people around her kept gossiping about the capital. The Emperor built another new palace; Lady Zhao, concubine of the late Emperor, was personally sewing the curtain for the temple; and so many ladies wanted to marry the Prince of Kui Prefecture.

  “Speaking of which, i
sn’t the Prince of Kui going back to the capital today?”

  “Absolutely. He’s going for a feast to celebrate the new palace.”

  “Emperor Xian really favors him. No wonder Princess Qi Le wants to marry him so much. She’s tried several times, and now people just laugh at her.”

  “Prince Yi had just that one daughter; if he knew how pathetic she has acted, he’d turn in his grave.”

  Huang Zixia closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. She knew of the Prince of Kui and his legendary defeat of Pang Xun. In fact, his arrival was just what she was waiting for.

  The rain had stopped, and the sky began to slowly grow lighter. The soft sound of horse hooves came, almost inaudibly.

  Huang Zixia opened her eyes and quickly left the pavilion.

  The light of the dawn sun began to surface in the sky. A line of guards approached on the winding mountain road. Though their clothes showed signs of being rained on, they were alert, obviously well trained.

  In the middle were two flawless black horses slowly pulling a carriage. The carriage had a gold lacquer carving of a dragon and phoenix decorated with large clamshells and turquoise. Two small gold bells hung in the carriage’s eaves. As the carriage moved, they gently shook, letting out a crisp sound.

  Huang Zixia followed from a distance.

  Behind the team was a young soldier who looked uncomfortably from left to right. When he saw Huang Zixia tailing them, he turned and said, “Brother Lu, I don’t know if I ate something wrong, but I need to use the bathroom.”

  “What’s going on with you? We’re almost to the city; can’t you hold it?” The man next to him glared. “We’re under strict orders from the Prince. If you get caught, you know what the consequences are!”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll catch right up.” He clutched his stomach, turned his horse, and rushed into the dense forest.

  Huang Zixia took a few steps into the grass and waited for him there. He was already pulling off his palace guard uniform. He gave his helmet to her and said, “Ms. Huang, you know how to ride a horse, right?”

  Huang Zixia took his helmet and whispered, “Big Zhang, you’re taking such a risk to help me. I’m so grateful!”

  “What are you talking about? If it weren’t for you, my parents would be dead! If I didn’t help you, they’d kill me.” He patted his chest with pride. “And today’s just an accompaniment to the capital, not a military operation. If I get in trouble, it’s no big deal. Last time Liu said hi to someone on the job, he just got a beating. Say you’re my cousin, that you saw I was ill and had to come with me.”

  Huang Zixia nodded and quickly took off her coat and gave it to him, then put on his clothes. Even though they were a little too big, she looked all right.

  After quickly bidding goodbye to Big Zhang, Huang Zixia threw herself on the horse and rode out of the forest.

  There was a red glow on the horizon that was spreading brightly across the sky. Huang Zixia urged the horse on and finally got the city within her sights as she caught up to the palace guards.

  Changan’s Clear Virtue Gate had five tall entranceways. The middle three were closed. Only the outer two were open, but when the royal guard approached, one of the closed doors opened to let them in more discreetly.

  Huang Zixia took up the rear and followed the team into the city. As she entered the gates, she looked up and saw her arrest order poster.

  The poster showed a seventeen-year-old girl with eyes bright as a morning star and a face with the elegant shape of a peach petal. Her rosy lips turned in a playful arc, and there was humor in her gaze.

  Lines of text written next to the image read: Huang Zixia of Shu has been charged in a heinous multiple-murder case. The provincial capitals are hereby notified to capture her, dead or alive. Huang Zixia lowered her eyes, but only for a second.

  Half her face was covered by her helmet, so Brother Lu, who was next to her, couldn’t see her face as he rode his horse along Zhuque Street. “Good thing no one noticed your bathroom break,” he said.

  Huang Zixia nodded without saying anything.

  They passed the royal mansions in Yongjia Square and then went through the East City and north of Xingqing Palace. The Prince of Kui’s palace appeared in the distance.

  She’d made an agreement with Big Zhang to tie up the horse in the palace stables and slip away. When she got there, everyone was in the yard in front of the stables eating breakfast. No one would pay much attention to her. After she tied up the horse, she turned quickly to leave. Someone called, “Zhang Xingying, are you not going to eat?”

  Huang Zixia acted as if she hadn’t heard, closed the door, and slipped out.

  Behind her, Brother Lu called out, “Diarrhea again? Second time this morning.”

  Everyone laughed a little and forgot about her as they went back to their meal.

  Huang Zixia pulled down her helmet and went out the door.

  When she was at the last step, someone behind her said, “Hey, where are you going?”

  Huang Zixia wasn’t sure if he was calling her. She paused; then the man’s voice came clearly again. “Yes, you, the honor guard. We just got word that the new palace is shorthanded; you must go there with the Prince.”

  Huang Zixia’s heart stuttered. She couldn’t believe her luck.

  She heard him laugh as he said, “Don’t worry; you’ll get an extra three silvers. Hurry back and eat; we’ll leave soon.”

  Huang Zixia had no choice but to slowly turn around, bow her head in salute, and then walk along the wall back to the yard in front of the stables. There was no way she could eat breakfast with the others, but she couldn’t wait in the palace either. If anyone saw her face, all would be lost. Furthermore, she had to leave and find someone who could help her.

  She stood in the corner, eyes on the now-unloaded carriage. The yard was noisy with people eating, and behind them, others were busy feeding the horses. In the corner by the entrance where she stood, it was only she and the carriage.

  She stepped on the carriage’s ledge and carefully clung to the unlatched door to look—there was no one inside, only large seats and a fixed coffee table. The seats were covered with pads embellished with elaborate Kui Dragon brocades that matched the crimson peonies on the dark-purple Persian carpet below. It was luxurious, elegant, and obviously new, not something that someone would come and replace.

  Huang Zixia quickly took off her uniform and helmet behind the car and stuffed them in the corner with the stone lantern. Then she climbed into the carriage.

  There wasn’t much room inside, but there would be space underneath the seat where a storage cupboard usually lay. She opened the curtain under the seat and saw one.

  It had a sliding door carved with auspicious clouds. She opened it. To her surprise, there was nothing inside but some spices.

  She curled up in the cabinet and pulled the door closed. Nervous, she began to sweat. The door had many holes and gaps carved out, but, thanks to the curtain, she could make out the shapes outside while remaining hidden.

  Huang Zixia lay there quietly, not daring to breathe deeply. She could hear her own rapid heartbeat. What if she was brought inside the palace? Were the horses closely guarded? Would she be able to flee when the moment came?

  Before she could finish thinking, a sound came from outside. Saddling horses, adjusting uniforms, getting in formation. Then there was only the sense of the carriage moving slightly, the light sound of the door—someone had entered the carriage.

  Through the cracks in the cupboard door, she could only see the person’s feet. His or her black leather boots with a gold pattern didn’t make a sound on the thick carpet.

  Once the person was settled, the carriage quickly began moving.

  Trapped in the cabinet for a long time, shaking and shaking, she felt like a chick being stuffed back into its eggshell. Huang Zixia fought against the feeling of vertigo and desperately forced herself to slow her breathing to keep from being discovered.

 
Luckily, the horses rumbled over the sound of her heartbeat and breath.

  It was a long journey, but they finally left the city and headed toward the western suburbs. After traveling along a bumpy road, they reached a small bridge, and the Prince of Kui finally said, “Halt.”

  The carriage came to a gentle stop. Huang Zixia couldn’t see the Prince of Kui’s face from the cabinet, but she saw him pick up a wide glass bottle from the table, hold it out the window, and say, “Add some water.”

  There was a bright-red fish in the bottle, dragging its long, gossamer tail as it slowly swam. Against the light blue of the glass, the red fish became a wonderful lavender. Huang Zixia wondered why the powerful king would carry a bottle with a small red fish in it.

  She heard the water gurgle and the footsteps of the rushing guards. Soon the bottle was filled. The Prince of Kui took the bottle and gently placed it back on the table. The fish swam cheerfully.

  As Huang Zixia contemplated it, the carriage suddenly began moving again. Caught off guard, her forehead hit the door. She bit her lip, not allowing herself to cry out. Though she was sure she was quiet and that the sound of the wheels would shroud any noise, she was still nervous as she peeked out of the seams of the cabinet.

  Through the hanging tassels of the cracks in the door, she saw the passenger slowly reach for the green porcelain saucer on the table, lift the teapot, and pour himself some water.

  She observed his hand. Its joints were symmetrical and beautifully curved. They were pampered but strong. Huang Zixia had heard about the Prince of Kui. How he was strong and stern. He held the saucer with three fingers. The turquoise dish in his white hands looked like spring water next to pear flesh.

  Then he quickly kicked open the cabinet door and poured the saucer of water inside.

  Huang Zixia’s eyes were suddenly filled with it, and she let out a scream.

  He dropped the saucer, grabbed Huang Zixia’s shoulder, and pulled her out. He held her by the throat with his right hand and pinned her chest with his left foot.

  In a moment, Huang Zixia was as still as a dead fish.

  Huang Zixia looked up at him. She was dazed.