The poetry gathering invitation arrived in Li Yan’s hands at noon the following day.
She opened the envelope, glanced at it, and immediately frowned. “Why is it addressed to Mr. Shen?”
The salutation on the invitation read: “Sincerely inviting Mr. Shen Hanzhou,” with not a single mention of her.
Cao Qie wore an awkward expression. “Miss, the folks next door are playing the refined literati game. To get into the third floor, you have to showcase one of the four arts—music, chess, calligraphy, or painting—on the spot. Those aren’t exactly your strengths.” He turned and pointed toward Shen Hanzhou’s room upstairs. “He can handle it, so he’s the one to go.”
“Then what about me? If he’s inside and I’m outside, how am I supposed to investigate the case?”
“Tsk!” Cao Qie sighed. “Why are you being so literal about this, Miss? Nowadays, which young master goes to such places without bringing along some childhood sweetheart? If they just wanted to recite poetry or paint, why pick that specific venue?”
Li Yan was taken aback by his words. “Is there something more to it?”
“Even a peacock displaying its feathers knows where to do it,” Cao Qie said, pointing across the street. “Only a place of this caliber and prestige can highlight the dignity of the lady by his side.”
She understood—Cao Qie intended for her to play the role of the accompanying “flower.”
“Thank goodness you’re not asking me to go as a maid.”
“Taking a maid to such a high-class Qulou for a poetry gathering would be like writing ‘favoring concubines over the wife’ on your face. No young master in their right mind would do that—it’s pure foolishness and a disgrace to the family.”
Just as Cao Qie finished speaking, a group of officials passed by the entrance of Haixi Lou.
The leader held up a poster with a twisted whip design, beating a gong and loudly announcing a reward for information.
Li Yan waited until they were ten meters away and the gong sounds faded before lowering her voice to continue. “Earlier, the prefectural office mentioned that Jingcha had come to Qingzhou. Have you heard any rumors about it these past few days?”
“I did hear some guests mention it… They said the prefect waited at the post station for three days but never saw Jingcha himself. Instead, he only met two assistant officials who had hurriedly followed the Duchayuan’s Jingcha, who had already set off, and rushed anxiously to Qingzhou. They’re now settled at the official post station.”
Li Yan nodded. “No wonder the investigation these past couple of days seems more serious.” She nodded thoughtfully. “Keep an eye on those two. Make sure they don’t cross paths with Shen Hanzhou.”
Having served in the same court and both being from Chang’an, it was highly likely they had met before. If they recognized Shen Hanzhou, it would be disastrous.
Cao Qie understood and nodded. “Don’t worry, Miss.”
Although the pace of the investigation had only picked up after Jingcha arrived in Qingzhou, Li Yan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
Why had no one noticed the missing button?
Such an important piece of evidence, yet the prefectural office remained as still as stagnant water, with not a single ripple of activity so far.
Even if Yun Chuan’s investigative skills were lacking, losing something shouldn’t require such immense effort to notice, should it?
Lost in thought, she pushed open the door to Shen Hanzhou’s room and called out, “Accountant Shen, you’ll need to come out with me this afternoon to this poetry gathering. I need you dressed to look like the ‘richest man in Qingzhou.’”
Inside the room, Shen Hanzhou didn’t look up. He held a brush in one hand, copying something. Beside him, Yu Bei, who had been perched on the windowsill playing with a small bamboo pole, was startled by Li Yan’s sudden entrance.
Li Yan pointed behind her. “Go close the door.”
He hurriedly climbed down from the windowsill, bowed in acknowledgment, and hopped over to shut the door.
Shen Hanzhou still didn’t look up, merely dipping his brush in ink. Behind the curling wisps of incense smoke from the burner, he said calmly, “Sit down. Wait for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.”
Li Yan saw how serious he was and felt a surge of curiosity.
She tilted her head, clasped her hands behind her back, and slowly walked to the side of the desk.
"What are you copying?"
The elegant, neat handwriting on the rice paper was completely different from Shen Hanzhou's usual script.
He was imitating someone else's handwriting.
Li Yan was somewhat astonished. She leaned in closer and finally saw what he was writing, her shock deepening. "You've taken the case file…"
Her words trailed off.
Only then did she understand why Yu Bei was in Shen Hanzhou's room. She looked up in surprise, meeting Yu Bei's visibly guilty gaze.
"You… you stole the real case file?" she exclaimed in disbelief.
Before Yu Bei could explain, Shen Hanzhou interjected, "Borrowed."
"Borrowed?"
Who "borrows" something by breaking the seal, removing the inner pages, and then imitating the handwriting to alter the contents?
Li Yan picked up the parts he had already copied and skimmed through them.
"Considering you erased the mention of the frog fasteners, I'll let it slide."
As she spoke, she couldn't help but marvel inwardly.
Shen Hanzhou truly lived up to his reputation as a high-ranking official of the third rank.
Even with amnesia, even starting from scratch as a bandit, he could still be this meticulous. His adaptability was truly remarkable.
Looking at these pages of imitated handwriting, each stroke was controlled with such skill that it could only be described as genius. Li Yan picked up the original document and held it against the light, overlapping it with the copy. The unaltered characters matched perfectly.
"Someone like you would be beaten to death in the bandit world," she remarked with a sigh. "Writing exactly the same makes it too easy to forge accounts."
Shen Hanzhou paused, frowning. "Forging accounts doesn't require this much effort."
His tone softened as he continued copying, earnestly advising Li Yan, "Although I know you have compelling reasons to get involved in this case, I still think it would be best for you to withdraw as soon as possible."
"Since I lost my memory, Qingzhou's Prefect Lin Jian'an has been acting very strangely. Cases like the Chen family's missing chickens causing grievances, or the Liu family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law accusing each other of theft—he couldn't resolve any of them, repeatedly coming to the manor instead." Shen Hanzhou shook his head. "It's too odd."
On this point, Li Yan shared his view.
While everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and no one is perfect, Prefect Lin Jian'an had already served in Qingzhou for six years. During those six years, the people lived in peace, and commerce flourished.
This was enough to show that he was indeed skilled in governing the prefecture, capable of smoothing out conflicts between lawful and unlawful factions.
Yet, after meeting Li Yan, such a man suddenly seemed incapable of handling anything, even allowing her to learn the details of a case serious enough to attract the attention of the Jingcha. No matter how one looked at it, there had to be more to the story.
"I fear he may be trying to use this case to deliberately draw the Jingcha's attention," Shen Hanzhou said softly. "This case meets all the conditions for a case within a case. It involves bandits, is widely circulated among the people, and is linked to a violent incident in Liuhe Xian. If the Liuhe case truly has hidden circumstances, there must be involvement from the local magistrate or officials…"
Li Yan interrupted him, "Then this headless corpse with whip marks becomes the most compelling evidence to pin all the blame on the bandits."
She sat down on a nearby armchair. "Is that what you meant?"
Shen Hanzhou didn't answer, his gaze fixed on Li Yan's face.
"I actually think there's another possibility." Li Yan raised a finger and waved it a few times. "Lin Jian'an, who straddles both the black and white worlds, if he actively investigates cases involving bandits and provokes retaliation, it's the common people who will suffer. But if he doesn't investigate… he probably isn't that kind of person either."
"I think he wants to use this matter to pass this thankless task to that suddenly appointed Jingcha official. From Lin Jian'an's perspective, wanting to solve the case but unable to directly participate means he can only let a third party handle it. Even if it's the Jingcha, they wouldn't bring a team of constables down for inspection—the actual investigation still has to fall on someone's shoulders."
Li Yan pointed at herself: "And I happen to be that perfect third party."