The Golden Hairpin

When Huang Zixia returned to the prince’s manor; Li Shubai was having dinner alone in the dining hall. Seeing her coming, he immediately waved his hand to signal the servants to leave and then pointed to a chair next to him.

Huang Zixia knew what he meant, so she pulled the chair and sat down. Li Shubai handed her a pair of ivory chopsticks and pushed a small bowl to her.

She looked left and right; saw only the shadows moving around behind the semi-transparent flowers partition and there was no one else besides them, so she picked up a piece of golden flaky pastry; added some raw fish slices into her bowl and ate it.

Li Shubai started the conversation casually, “This morning at the temple; I heard that someone performed a very wonderful trick for you.”

It’s not something new to her that Prince Kui, Li Shubai has his own way to get what he wants to know, besides, this time he personally ordered his bodyguards to escort them; he naturally knew everything. 

After hearing his words, Huang Zixia was not surprised and just said, “Well, it’s quite exciting but I personally think the prince consort’s reaction was even more exciting.”

“Prince consort-to-be,” Li Shubai corrected her by adding the word to-be. 

Huang Zixia questioned him, “The marriage was bestowed by the emperor and she’s the empress’s cousin by patrilineal, is there any other reason that she won’t be?”

“No matter what the reason was, if she brings out the fake geng tie (birth chart); she is deceiving the emperor; she will end up with nothing but doom,” he changed the subject and asked, “Is she worried that her identity will be exposed?”

“It seems to be more than that; she had a secret of the past that she wanted to hide. The man who suddenly appeared had vaguely hinted at it but she was so scared that she couldn’t conceal it at all.”

“Have you noticed how that man appeared and disappeared?”

“I can’t tell at all. Moreover, I can’t figure out how he came in when the temple was heavily guarded and how he disappeared.” Huang Zixia furrowed her brows as she bit the ivory chopsticks, and she said, “After he disappeared, Wang Yun took the lead, and a group of people searched the temple for a long time, but there was no trace. As if, he turned into a bird and flew away over the wall.”

In his composed voice; he asked, “Have you read Huangfumin’s novel ⟪原化记⟫ before?”

Huang Zixia shook her head, “What’s that?”

“It’s a book which records an unusual skill called the ‘Jiaxing Rope Skill’. It was said that during the first year of Emperor Xuanzong’s reign; the prison wardens in Jiaxing County had a competition on performing acts of tricks, and the warden looked for people with special skills among the prisoners. A prisoner said he knew a trick with rope. So the warden took him to an open space and handed him a hundred-foot-long rope. He took it and threw the rope end into the sky; the rope extended straight into the air, as if someone was pulling it at the top.  When he was letting it go bit by bit; the rope was pulled further up and up into the sky until the rope end was no longer visible, then he climbed along the rope all the way up until he disappeared into the air; hence, he escaped.”

“No matter what point of view you look at it; no matter how you imagine it…” Huang Zixia pondered for a long time before saying, “This is not possible.”

“Why is it not possible? Isn’t there a lot of unimaginable things in the world?”, he faked a smile and said, “For example, it was said that my future consort will vanish in thin air.”

“If that’s the case, are you also taking that person’s words seriously?”

“I believe there must be a reason for it.” Li Shubai leaned back in his chair; tilted his head and stared thoughtfully at the slowly swaying flower at the window, and he suddenly asked, “Huang Zixia, where was your favorite place in Chang’an when you were young?”

“Ah?” Huang Zixia was caught off guard with his sudden question; she still had a mouthful of golden flaky pastry in her mouth; she stared at him wide-eyed; she gulped it down and said, “It should be… in the western city.”

“Hmm, the western city,” he murmured, “I liked it too when I was a child,” he paused for a momentarily before he continued, “Who wouldn’t like it? This is the busiest place in the capital city, or even in the whole world.”

***

The western city of Chang’an

Jewelry from Persia, spices from Tianzhu, exquisite horses from Dawan, tea leaves from Jiangnan, brocades from Shu, minks from Saibei…

Shops of all walks of life were bustling open; fish shops; stationary shops; wine shops; teahouses and so on. Merchants and passers-by rubbing shoulders; long stretches of food stalls at the streets; beautiful young girls selling flowers and courtesans with slender waists waving their silk handkerchief from above the restaurants; the atmosphere was extremely lively.

The western city of Chang’an, it’s so lively that even the dusk-to-dawn curfew couldn’t stop it. Since the early days of the Tang Dynasty; it has been developing and becoming more and more prosperous, and streets nearby the city have also been filled with singing and dancing every night.

In late spring and early summer, the sun shone on the locust trees and elm trees all over the street, and the first leaves were as green as jasper. Li Shubai and Huang Zixia walked under the shade of the trees one after the other. Li Shubai wasn’t wearing the official attire today; thus, Huang Zixia also changed out of the eunuch’s clothes and put on a men’s outfit; she looked like an underdeveloped boy.

They were walking leisurely in the western market and browsing the things in the shop. When Li Shubai was a child, he lived in the life of luxury; hence, he wasn’t interested at the poorly made things in the market, and for Huang Zixia; she was penniless because the prince hadn’t paid her a salary yet, so she couldn’t buy anything except looking at it.

When they reached the shop selling koi fish, Li Shubai bought a small bag of fish food, and then he saw a rather unique porcelain fish bowl in the shop; he looked thoughtfully at it for a long time. 

Huang Zixia, who couldn’t buy things by herself, naturally encouraged him, “It’s very beautiful, and the small fish can move a little more freely when placed in the porcelain bowl.”

He picked up the fish bowl and looked at it, then put it back again, and said, “If it was raised in a big one, let it roams freely and wildly, later on, it can’t adapt to the smaller one.”

Huang Zixia muttered to herself, “Couldn’t he let it relax just for one day?”

“It has ended up in this situation after all, is it still necessary to let it be happy merely for a few days?”

“…” Huang Zixia was speechless by his words; she couldn’t believe that he could be such a domineering man over a small matter of a little fish. 

The time was still early and the street performers hadn’t come out yet. Huang Zixia asked passers-by and knew that all shops and street vendors in the western market were open in the afternoon; however the street performers would only show up at the busiest hour. 

It was almost past the lunch hour, Li Shubai felt pitiful for Huang Zixia and took her to the western city’s most famous ‘Woven Silk’ restaurant; sat down in a private room and ordered a few dishes that had never been seen in the prince’s manor.

The restaurant looked quite elegant but there were many diners and it’s noisy; Li Shubai gave away a frowned expression before long he heard a resounding of a bright, penetrating drumming sound and the restaurant instantly fell silent.  

It turned out to be, there was a storyteller in the restaurant; he brought a drum and he drummed while singing the folklore song ‘The flower and butterfly’, then he put away the drum, cleared his throat and said, “Good day to all of you and today this lowly one is going to tell you about mysterious stories around the world.” 

As soon as his voice entered Huang Zixia’s ears, she immediately recognized him. He was the storyteller who was in the small pavilion outside Chang’an City. At that time, a group of people were sheltering from the rain. It was he who talked about her family’s case; he surely knew how to magnify a story, and besides that, he was good at adding lies as well. Obviously, these were the criteria of a storyteller that everyone loves the most.  

The man began his story, “The Great Daming Palace of the Chang’an City, it’s where the emperor sat on the dragon throne, many of his princes residing outside the palace and one of them was Prince Kui; whose birth name is Li Zi aka Li Shubai.”

Everyone was thrilled and someone from downstairs said, “My favorite one is the story of Prince Kui. Let’s start first with the story of Prince Kui leading six governors to fight against Pang Xun!”

“This valuable guest, wait; slow down and listen to me. The incident that I was about to say has a close connection to the incident where Prince Kui shot and killed Pang Xun among the thousands of troops!”

They were cheering boisterously outside while Li Shubai sat in a private room with the wooden carved partition separating them from the others, but he didn’t seem to care much; he ate slowly and looked at the passers-by outside the window in a calm expression.

Huang Zixia propped her chin on her hand and listened to the voice vibrating up from downstairs – “This was what happened; Prince Kui has been very busy recently. Oh, let me rephrase it, it’s what I heard that he has been in trouble.”

“Prince Kui has just solved the “Four Directions Case” in the capital city, and soon he will be marrying a consort too. It’s supposed to be a double happiness for him, so how could there be any trouble?” It was the same guest that countered with him a moment ago. 

The storyteller asked, “Have any of you heard about what happened yesterday afternoon? It’s about the future consort of the Prince of Kui; the girl from the royal Langya’s Wang family, and do you know that she went to Xianyou Temple yesterday to offer the incense?” 

The hall became noisy with incessant chatter, “I have heard about this a little bit. I heard that the young cousin of the empress’s family is extremely beautiful, she’s as gorgeous as heaven!”

“This time yesterday, when the chauffeur of Prince Kui’s carriage escorted her out of the city, I was also on the road side waiting; wanted to see this rumored demurred and dignified prince-consort-to-be, and who could have thought that the curtains of the carriage was tightly closed, not even a corner was lifted. Darn it, I’m seriously curious.” 

“I’ll say, she must’ve been a peerless beauty, otherwise how could she easily snatch Prince Kui away from Princess Qi Le and still being alive?”

“Sigh, that Princess Qi Le is now the most pitiful person in the capital city. As a woman; one mustn’t reveal her heart too much; otherwise if she can’t get the person she likes; she will become a laughing stock in others’ mouths.”

“Exactly, if it wasn’t because of this girl from the Wang family, in terms of Princess Qi Le’s family background and her beautiful looks, wouldn’t she be the perfect match for Prince Kui? She shut herself behind closed doors now; she must be cursing that Prince Consort Kui at home every day, Hahaha……”

There was a lot of discussion in the hall and the storyteller chuckled as he listened to them. When the voices of the crowd started to quieten down, he said, “To all of you, I’m sure you already know who’s that lucky girl of the Wang family soon to become the prince’s consort, and she was envied by many people in the capital; but, do you know that this marriage is also inevitable to formidable hurdles?”

Hearing this, everyone instantly fell silent. Shortly after, that storyteller eloquently narrated about the magic tricks that happened at Xianyou Temple yesterday; mixed with countless conjectures and fantasies; he even described what he saw and that strange man was one foot tall with big waist; green in colored with fangs and also a pair of wings on him. He also said the strange man wanted to abduct the prince consort and Wang Yun fought the strange man for three hundred rounds with a sword. However, the strange man was not Wang Yun’s match; he tried to run away; and he yelled at them, “Ten more days before the wedding, Prince of Kui, you’d better watch out!” It turned out that this strange man’s purpose was to challenge the imperial family and snatched away the prince consort on the wedding day. 

The storyteller got excited and more excited as he narrated; he slammed the wooden gavel on the table and his eyebrows danced brightly, “As soon as Wang Yun heard this; he was so angry and puffed out smoke from his nasal; he wielded the sword and slashed on him; with a clang, the strange man turned into a puff of green smoke and escaped. What was left behind was an arrow on the ground, engraved with four characters, “Prince Kui of the Tang Dynasty”, and it was exactly the prince’s arrow that he shot through the throat of Pang Xun and killed him!”

“Magnificent!” The audience roared and burst into thunderous applause when the storyteller ended his narration. The restaurant was surrounded with noise and a boisterous crowd; it’s only Huang Zixia who shook her head and said nothing, and Li Shubai nonchalantly asked, “Wasn’t that good?”

Huang Zixia shook her head and said, “I can’t figure it out; wasn’t he got wings? Why would he turn into green smoke instead of flaps his wings and fly away?”

“Wouldn’t you think in this way, it turns out to be more interesting?”

Huang Zixia remembered back then on that day at the small pavilion outside Chang’an City, the storyteller said that he was the reincarnation of the White Tiger Star (Chinese believes it as God of Killing), she finally calm down a bit and then asked Li Shubai, “Shouldn’t Your Highness reported this person to the city constable?”

“Wouldn’t it be good to add some fun into their life and make these ordinary people happy?” He remained expressionless as he spoke. 

He left her speechless; she looked away and listened carefully to the outside voice; the storyteller was already talking about the old case back then.

In the year 868 Tang Dynasty, Pang Xun of Guilin mutinied and led 200,000 soldiers to the imperial court demanding the title of a provincial governor. When the imperial court refused; he proclaimed himself as a king; went down to several states and massacred the governors and common people. At that time, the powers of the governors in each province were self-reliant; and the imperial court was unable to mobilize the troops of the provinces. In the midst of the military disaster, the Li and Tang royal families were helpless to do anything except for one person. It was Li Shubai who went to the provinces to raise troops and he raised 100,000 soldiers and horses; he lobbied the provincial governors at surrounding areas, and finally joint-hand with the six major governors. In the same year of September, they defeated the rebellious army and killed Pang Xun.

At that time in the war and among the rebellious army, Pang Xun was standing on the top of the city. It was Li Shubai who was holding a bow and shot him in the throat with an arrow. With that, the rebellious army collapsed, and the victorious troops cheered as Pang Xun fell straight from the tower to the ground; trampled into a pulp by the soldiers and horses below the city. Until today, that arrow which was covered with Pang Xun’s flesh and blood was preserved; it was kept in a crystal box and placed in the drum tower of Xuzhou to warn future generations.

It was also the same time that Li Shubai got the talisman with his birth date written on it. After many years, the teenage boy became the prince who has the power over the world, but he was trapped into that strange curse from then on, unable to escape.

A month ago, there were rumors that inside the drum tower of Xuzhou, the crystal box remained intact but the arrow disappeared. The Xuzhou state government searched all over the place for a long time but there was no trace. It turned out that it was discovered in Xianyou Temple which unexpectedly was the same day Wang Ruo went there to offer incense. And on top of that, the arrow was left behind in the Buddhist temple by a mysterious person.

“My honorable guests, isn’t this strange and mysterious? Isn’t this almost supernatural force and close to demons?”

When the storyteller slammed the wooden gavel on the table, it just like ignition sparks as soon as the gas turned on, and everyone immediately to looked at each other and began discussion, “Could it be that Pang Xun’s revengeful spirit returning on the occasion of Prince Kui’s marriage and take his revenge?”

“Come on, only the loyal ministers and filial sons have spirits. He is a rebel, what kind of grudge does he have?”

“Hey, Pang Xun killed people like hemp; maybe he was reincarnated from an evil ghost, why can’t he have a spirit?”

The discussion was very quickly turned into topics about the supernatural and spirits. Huang Zixia pressed her lips into a thin line; turned her head and gave a straight look at Li Shubai who sat opposite her.

Li Shubai didn’t raise his head, he just asked, “What do you want?”

“I was wondering… at that time when you were nineteen-years-old, what were you thinking when you shot the arrow at Pang Xun?” she looked at him with her chin on her palm.

He was totally calm, just like a windless lake without a single ripple, “You will be disappointed.”

“Maybe I won’t. Why don’t you give it a try?”

“At that time, I was thinking, if there is a sudden gust of wind and the arrow head misses the target; I’m afraid that I would lose my face.”

“…” Huang Zixia was speechless.

“There are certain things that you don’t need to know,” he said and pointed outside the window, “The street performers are already here, let’s go.”

Huang Zixia’s stomach just made a growling sound; she pouted her lips as she looked at the food in front of her that she hardly bites before she stood up and quickly followed behind him.