Zhong Li and Lu Wuxie arrived at the ice cellar, discovering it to be a cellar-type secret chamber. The door had a nose-ring, from which hung a lock. She recognized it as the double-eared bronze lock used by the Xie family from the Lin Kingdom.
Lu Wuxie walked to the lock and took out a small hairpin from his waist. In a moment, with a crisp snap, the lock sprang open.
Seeing this, Awang quickly shouted at his subordinates to pull the door open forcefully.
With a dull thud, a foul-smelling gas rushed towards them.
"Ugh!" Awang was the first to be affected. Before he could even catch his breath, the meal he had eaten at noon was all vomited out.
Closely following were a group of constables standing behind him.
Zhong Li and Lu Wuxie remained the most composed. They merely covered their mouths and noses, their expressions somewhat grim.
"Li'er, this smell isn't rot," Lu Wuxie said in a low voice.
Zhong Li nodded. The smell was familiar to everyone; it was the odor of an old rural latrine that had been left uncleared for years, with insects swarming all around.
"Let's wait until the air circulates before going in," she instructed the constables around her while putting on a mask, and then pulled the secret chamber door as wide as possible.
About an hour later, Zhong Li and Lu Wuxie, carrying oil lamps, entered again.
As they had expected, the vast room was in disarray. Except for the bed in the furthest corner and the space around it where one could stand, the rest was all contaminated with filth. The secret chamber was particularly cold, and several yellow liquids had frozen on the floor.
"Li'er, watch your step," Lu Wuxie warned, holding Zhong Li's hand as they navigated through the room like defusing a minefield.
Zhong Li first went to the wardrobe. Upon opening it, she found only three pieces of clothing: a thin inner garment, a thick cotton-padded coat, and the last one...
She picked it up and examined it closely in the light. It was a肚兜 (dùdōu), embroidered with a peony. Judging by the embroidery, it was Luo Xiu.
"Mo Cang, look at this."
Lu Wuxie leaned closer to Zhong Li. Upon seeing the item in her hand, he put on gloves and took it to examine.
After a while, Zhong Li asked, "How is it?"
"The material is the same as Tian Lianxue's clothing," he replied.
Zhong Li's expression turned serious. She walked to the bed and lifted the neatly folded quilt. When a blood-crusted bandage fell out from it, she knew she had found the right place.
"Mo Cang, there must be clues here!" she murmured, then turned to the only desk beside the bed and began rummaging through its drawers.
Seeing her certainty, Lu Wuxie also began searching. He first pulled out the boxes from under the bed. Finding nothing but miscellaneous items and filth inside, he then walked to the only brazier in the room, picked up the fire tongs, and began to poke around.
The brazier contained charcoal blocks that had not completely burned out. Perhaps it was too cold, as the charcoal blocks were as hard as ice, with a layer of frost on top.
Lu Wuxie tossed the charcoal blocks out. At the very bottom, he found something familiar: a piece of fine mutton-fat jade.
He remembered that it was an item he had given to Tian Lianxue a year ago to pry information from her.
After a moment of thought, he reached out and picked up the jade.
The jade was very cold, even comparable to the ice outside.
He felt the jade. When he noticed the back of the jade was not as smooth as he had imagined, he turned it over and saw a line of text, his handsome sword-like eyebrows furrowing.
"Any clues?" Lu Wuxie asked, walking to Zhong Li's side.
Despite the biting cold in the room, Zhong Li was already sweating profusely from her search.
She straightened up and shook her head, her face filled with disappointment.
"Let me try!" Lu Wuxie said.
Zhong Li glanced at him, her eyes falling on the mutton-fat jade in his hand, and moved aside from the desk.
Instead of rummaging through everything like her, Lu Wuxie directly lifted the right leg of the desk and tapped the floor tiles.
As an empty sound echoed in the secret chamber, both of them knew they had found the right place.
Lu Wuxie traced his fingers along the grout between the floor tiles. With a sound of a brick being moved, what was beneath the brick was revealed to them.
It was a booklet, about the size of a storybook. The cover simply bore three hastily written characters: Tian Lianxue.
Zhong Li picked it up and tucked it into her embrace.
Lu Wuxie replaced the brick in its original position and said, "It's too cold here. If we stay any longer, we might freeze. Let's go up first. Let Awang lead people in batches to thoroughly search this place. If I'm not mistaken, Tian Lianxue died here."
"Yes!" Zhong Li nodded, agreeing with Lu Wuxie's words, and followed him out of the secret chamber.
Breathing in the fresh air, they felt their spirits revive.
It was already dusk the next day.
The sunlight shone through the rockery and into the mouth of the ice cellar, with a gentle chill emanating from within. Those who didn't know might have mistaken it for a fairyland.
Zhong Li recovered for a while. Once her hands and feet slowly regained their feeling, she took out the small booklet from her embrace to examine it.
"Now I know where Tian Lianxue's chilblains came from."
She looked at the three elegant characters written on it, speaking with emotion.
Lu Wuxie sat with her in the pavilion, looking back at Awang, who was still busy. "Everyone has their own destiny," he said.
Zhong Li smiled and asked, "How did Mo Cang know this thing was under the floor tiles by the corner of the table?"
Lu Wuxie did not answer. Instead, he placed the mutton-fat jade from his sleeve in front of Zhong Li.
Zhong Li took it and read the line of small text on the back of the mutton-fat jade: "Young Master, I hope you are well." Afterwards, she remembered Lu Wuxie using Tian Lianxue's 肚兜 to prop up the corner of the table, and suddenly understood.
"They say the Young Master understands women's hearts. Seeing this now, it's true," she said, returning the jade to Lu Wuxie, teasing him casually.
Before Lu Wuxie could touch the jade, he heard her say this and chuckled, "I understand women's hearts? If I truly did, I wouldn't be so uncertain about Li'er."
After he spoke, he took out a small white cloth bag from his embrace and placed the jade inside. It was another piece of evidence.
Zhong Li faced the sunset, looking at the small booklet in her hand. She had expected the booklet to be densely filled with text, but instead, it turned out to be a picture book. The text in the book was minimal, mostly used for annotations, but she could still understand it clearly.
Awang was still busy. Many constables, fearing the cold, had begun to light fires on the spot for warmth.
As the moon began to shine brightly in the sky, Zhong Li finally moved her gaze away from the book.
Seeing that she had finished reading, Lu Wuxie asked, "How was it?"
Zhong Li's willow-like eyebrows furrowed. She wanted to say something, but found her throat choked with emotion.
She felt either pity or sorrow for Tian Lianxue.
"This is a story. Would Mo Cang be willing to listen?" she asked.
"As long as Li'er tells it, I will listen," Lu Wuxie replied, leaning on the table, looking at the lifelike, delicate face of the woman in the light.
Zhong Li smiled, looked at the moon hanging from the treetops, picked up a fire starter, lit the oil lamp in front of her, and began to narrate slowly.