Playful Blackie

Zuo Xiuwen’s career rise also started exactly 18 years ago.

There was a category of court officials in this country that didn’t need to have elders in the family who were officials or hailed from influential families. As long as they were found to be exceptionally capable and contributed greatly to helping the emperor achieve something that had a great impact on the people or resolved issues that were very important to the people, they would be given a title. Their descendants would also be blessed - the emperor would offer a position to one of them.

They only had one chance at this. This descendant would be able to become an official without having to go through the imperial examinations. He would be given a small role in his hometown, so if he did not work hard, his future would still be bleak. The family had to think carefully and give this one chance to the son who could make the best use of this opportunity.

If the boy was decently smart, his family would be rich and powerful at least within his own state and they would live comfortably. If the boy was not too smart, wasn’t capable enough, had poor foresight or failed to gain good connections with other officials, he would meet a bad end and his family might be implicated as well. But if the boy was exceptionally smart, capable and worked hard, he might be able to rise to a much higher position in the future.

Zuo Xiuwen was one such case.

His grandfather had been an expert in waterways, and while he had not been great at politics, he had successfully sorted out the water routes in the middle region of the country and the government had given him the chance to pick a descendant to become an official without having to go through the usual process. Zuo Xiuwen’s grandfather did not care for such a position and his son was not too clever either. Only his grandson, Zuo Xiuwen, was intelligent and could think on his feet, so he was worth grooming.

That was how Zuo Xiuwen ended up becoming an official at a young age.

He spent a few years governing in an even smaller and secluded county along the border, but proved to be exceptionally capable and produced good results, so he was promoted accordingly. But he was unlucky. When he was supposed to be promoted and transferred, his superiors got into an argument and he was implicated for no good reason, so he had to make a long trip all the way to the capital to report everything, go to the clerical department to complete the procedures for the transfer himself, then head for his new position.

This little county in the southwest was simply too far from Bianliang. Zuo Xiuwen had a tough journey and fell sick along the way, so he travelled very slowly and ran out of money. He had no choice but to spend the night in an abandoned temple outside the capital city, and ended up getting caught by bandits.

This happened to be 18 years ago, the exact same night that chaos happened on Beiqing Mountain.

The bandits of Beiqing Mountain were the biggest threat based outside the capital at that time. The government wanted to get rid of them for a long time and that was the same night that they had planned to go in and attack the bandits. The army sent by the government had come very suddenly and in huge numbers. Zuo Xiuwen had used his wit and courage to kill off all the bandits with minimum damage to the troops. That was considered a huge contribution to the nation.

He had yet another feather in his cap and such an achievement had to be rewarded. The clerical department couldn’t just put a stamp on his documents, finish the procedures and send him back. They had to try and given him something a little more.

And during these two days, the Yu family took note of Zuo Xiuwen and gave their daughter to him in marriage.

The Yu family was a prominent one. Madam Yu’s father and grandfather were both court officials and held high positions. They couldn’t possibly allow their new, capable son-in-law to return to his small hometown. Instead, they made use of their connections and Zuo Xiuwen was able to stay on in Bianliang.

Zuo Xiuwen worked hard too. His father-in-law and brother-in-law had give him a good chance to do well, so he seized it and produced good results. He had climbed the career ladder steadily and got to where he was now.

You could say that if that incident in Beiqing Mountain did not happen, Zuo Xiuwen wouldn’t be here today.

Li Zhengzhi’s story was the complete opposite.

The man who led the troops that day was Li Zhengzhi. Beiqing Mountain’s terrain was very rough and hilly, so it was easier to hide than it was to attack. But the government had sent a lot of soldiers, so they would be able to outnumber the bandits easily and win that way. Li Zhengzhi did a lot in order to get the chance to lead this group, because he was certain he would get the credit.

But in the end, after all that trouble, the credit went to Zuo Xiuwen instead.

He had put in so much effort to make preparations, to pull every string he could and to lead the troops to the mountain, only for some guy to suddenly appear out of nowhere, give instructions and overshadow him. It was as though he had prepared a full meal for himself, but someone swooped in and took all the meat, leaving him with only the soup.

Of course Li Zhengzhi was furious. That was why the two never saw eye to eye after that.

Qi Yan stroked his chin and sighed. “No wonder… That’s why they are always at each other’s throats when they meet.”

Zhao Zhi said, “The records only include this battle. The mountain was set on fire, the bandits had a fallout, the army was huge. Nobody seemed to have noticed anything else unusual.”

“Perhaps it wasn’t that it hadn’t happened…” Song Caitang’s gaze flickered. “Just that it wasn’t recorded.”

Sometimes, what was unimportant to you could be something major to another person.

Different people had a different opinion on the same thing. It held a different meaning to different ones.

“So, Lin Feizhou definitely had some reason for approaching these two men!” Qi Yan clapped his hands together, “He wanted to know what happened back then, or perhaps it’s related to something else!”

Zhao Zhi gave him a “oh wow you’re finally smart enough to get it” look. “Li Zhengzhi’s family isn’t here because his wife has brought the children back to their hometown to pay respects to their ancestors and will only return this week. Lin Feizhou couldn’t get any good clues, so he had to approach the man himself.”

Running in Li Zhengzhi at the temple was definitely no accident.

Li Zhengzhi definitely knew something, or at least Lin Feizhou was sure that he knew something.

Song Caitang nodded. She agreed wholeheartedly.

Zuo Xiuwen’s family was home and his daughter was at a perfect age. If Lin Feizhou was going to get anything out of this family, he was going to do what he did best – swindle the young woman.

They could now see the tip of the iceberg that was what happened 18 years ago.

But nobody had details.

Song Caitang was a little worried. “Zuo Xiuwen’s hometown is all the way in that tiny county in the southwest of the country. It’s really far – would we be able to get anything in a short time?”

Zhao Zhi raised a finely trimmed brow and his lips curled upward slightly. “Miss Song, do you not understand the sort of information network that I have?”

He had asked a question, but it exuded dominance and confidence.

Song Caitang nearly rolled her eyes.

Yes, yes, you’re really impressive, okay?!

Lv Mingyue’s case was a little more difficult. There were no witnesses, so it was not possible to put a timeline together. It was in the middle of winter and nobody went out at night, so asking around yielded no results too. They decided to focus on the people connected to the cases.

They now had two murder cases and two deaths that were connected to what happened 18 years ago, so the people connected to the case remained the same.

That night, Zuo Xiuwen and Madam Yu were sleeping at home and bore witness for each other, so they had an alibi. Their daughter, Zuo Shanshan, had stayed home obediently too. Because she was both ill and moody, the servants made sure they watched over her through the night and they all said she never left the house.

But Li Maocai didn’t have an alibi. This man often used his knowledge of the confusing streets to shake off anybody following him too. He said that he was drunk that night, but nobody could prove it. When he was probed further, he started trembling and didn’t dare to speak.

Ji Yuanjia and Li Zhengzhi did not have good alibis either.

Ji Yuanjia had been resting in his study. He was in a bad mood and dismissed all the servants.

The night patrol guard said he saw Li Zhengzhi, but that didn’t mean much because the guard had noticed Li Zhengzhi wandering around his own house. Li Zhengzhi said that he had gotten up in the middle of the night and was a bit confused, so he ended up walking in the wrong direction and found himself in his main yard, which was next to his main gate.

All of them were very wary and they had their own secrets to hide, so they weren’t cooperative. There wasn’t enough evidence to arrest them either, so the three investigators had to continue piecing the details together themselves and attempt to find more clues.

Little bamboo containers sealed in wax were sent in one after another and the table was quickly filled with papers of all sizes. These contained information about the past. There was a lot to go through and some were incomplete, plus they weren’t sure which one would be related to the case. They had to look through everything carefully and pick out any possible clues.

There was a lot to do, so Song Caitang came to help every day.

Most of the time, Zhao Zhi accompanied her. But the case had to be constantly worked on and Zhao Zhi had other matters to attend to as well, so he would hurry out and hurry back sometimes. Each time, he would gaze differently at Song Caitang.

But Song Caitang was fully immersed in the case and didn’t notice anything. She only took a rest when she was really tired and that was when she would notice he was missing. But after sipping some tea and getting back to work, she would realize he was back again the next time she took a break.

She didn’t know when he left and when he returned, but she always felt… that he was always with her and never really left.

It gave her a lot of assurance.

As time went by and the amount of information increased, she sensed that they were getting close to the truth. If only she could move more quickly and get hold of more important clues! The case would be solved soon!

One day, while she was busy at work, she suddenly heard a loud and familiar neighing outside and couldn’t help but turn and look.

She got a shock when she looked out.

It was snowing.

She had no idea when it started snowing, but a thin layer had already accumulated on the ground. It was white, flawless and cold. It looked so clean and soft, and tempting to touch.

This was the first snow of the year.

Song Caitang walked out to the corridor without thinking and reached out to catch the small and delicate snowflakes, then watched them melt in her hand.

Some people felt that snow had no smell, but it did. It carried the purest and cleanest of smells in the world, which could make a person instantly calm down. When one looked at the white blanket over the ground, you would feel like you had also become a snowflake who could lie down without a worry in the world.

That’s why people liked snow so much.

She heard another neigh and her lips curled upward. She looked around and realized that Zhao Zhi wasn’t around, so she walked to the stables herself.

The neighing was coming from the black horse with strips of white above its hooves and a bolt of lightning on its forehead, as she had expected.

Blackie was very excited and it had already leaped out of the stable by itself. For some reason, even though its legs didn’t seem much longer than any ordinary horse, its ability to jump was shocking and the gate here couldn’t keep it in at all. As long as it wanted to, it could come out anytime it liked. It stayed inside only as a favor to silly people who thought they could contain it.

It ran around happily on the ground covered in snow, as though it was trying to leave its perfect hoof marks in the snow. It just kept going and refused to stop.

When it saw Song Caitang, it got even more excited. It galloped toward her and stared at her with its big, black, watery eyes, then licked her hand.

Song Caitang retracted her hand immediately. “Don’t do that, Blackie, my hands are so dirty…”

She had been flipping through papers all day and hadn’t washed her hands yet.

Oddly enough, when Zhao Zhi called it Blackie, it threw a tantrum and protested. But when Song Caitang called it that, it didn’t react badly and was still so excited to see her

After licking her hand, Blackie seemed to feel that wasn’t enough. It bent its head and pushed Song Caitang’s waist gently.

Song Caitang didn’t understand what it wanted, so it pushed her again, then turned its head to look at its own back.

“You want… me to ride you?”

Blackie snorted a few times excitedly. When Song Caitang still did not move, it jumped up and down a couple of times as though it was very anxious.

Song Caitang laughed. “Alright then.”

It took her some effort to get onto the horse.

Zhao Zhi had just started teaching her how to ride a horse two days ago, and it was the perfect activity to compliment her sedentary job of poring over papers. But she had only ridden a horse a few times and wasn’t used to it yet, so she accidentally pulled Blackie’s mane a little hard.

But Blackie didn’t mind at all. It swung its tail from side to side and waited for her to seat herself properly before letting out a loud neigh and running out.

It ran like a bolt of lightning. The wind whooshed past her.

It was going way too fast!!

Song Caitang could barely open her eyes because of the wind, but she was in a good mood. “Blackie, I don’t think you wanted me to ride you. You just wanted someone to accompany you on your wild run!”

Blackie gave a gleeful neigh as it continued galloping out of the yard, out of the gate and onto the streets.

A guard had just returned with Zhao Zhi when he saw the horse dash past with Song Caitang on it and his eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. He quickly ran to Zhao Zhi to report this matter, “My lord! Your horse has run out from the stables! Snowstep! Snowstep has gone running all over the snow with Miss Song on it!”

“Why are you so anxious,” Zhao Zhi slowly took off his coat. “Blackie knows what it’s doing.”

When he came through the gate earlier, he could see Song Caitang from his angle but she couldn’t see him.

She was wearing a pomegranate red dress and she looked striking against the snowy landscape and the black steed she was riding. He was stunned by her beauty for a moment, so he missed his chance to greet her, and also missed his chance to leap onto the horse as well.

His girl was simply too beautiful.

“Blackie wouldn’t bear to hurt her.”

Just like him.

But he did think it was better to go out and take a look.

He didn’t like having to worry about her.

Zhao Zhi stepped out of his room, then froze for a second before going back in again. He reemerged with a thick coat in hand.

It was made from white fox fur and was embroidered very subtly with silver thread. It was light and soft, yet thick and warm. The silvery shine of the fur looked like the moon, and it made the woman wearing it look elegant and pretty while ensuring she was warm.

He had just walked past the door and hadn’t stepped into the yard yet when he heard a voice.

“Cousin…”

A young woman stood at the gate, dressed in a mauve dress and a matching fur coat. Her clothes showed off her snatched waist, but her slightly worried brows and her pale skin were signs that she was a little sickly. She looked like a flower blooming in the wrong season, a lone lotus blooming in the middle of a snowy winter, so frail and so eye-catching.

This pitiful looking young woman was the same woman Song Caitang had caught a glimpse of the last time on the streets. Lu Yuxue.

She called out to him, her eyes twinkling like the stars as she carried a giant lunch box. She looked like she wasn’t strong enough to hold it anymore, but refused to put it down. She stubbornly wanted to hold onto it and give it to Zhao Zhi personally.

“Cousin, I brought your favorite food.”

Zhao Zhi walked toward her with the fox fur coat over his arm.

“You’re going out? I’ve come at the wrong time then…” Lu Yuxue’s gaze landed on the coat on his arm as he approached her.

That coat… was clearly for a woman.