History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 68 Clues Hard to Find
March twenty-third.

Wei Yao arrived at Jinji Restaurant at the agreed time, while Wei Mao arrived even earlier, cleaning his mount "Wild Horse" at the entrance of the courtyard.

Wei Yao touched the wild horse's long face. Just as the wild horse nudged her palm with its nose, she dodged away to tease it.

Wei Mao watched with a smile, finding her every move and thought endearing. He then recounted the serious matter: "That early morning, Pan Xiaolang happened to moor his boat opposite the Changyi Pavilion, and he also happened to see the teacher being deliberately tripped by a passerby. The passerby's clothes were similar to those of the neighbors and vegetable farmers at the morning market, and he quickly left after tripping the teacher."

Wei Yao asked in confusion, "Where is Young Master Duan? Others didn't have time to catch the culprit, and Young Master Duan was supporting the teacher the whole time. He shouldn't be like this... Ah!"

She tried her best to recall Duan Dalang's conflicted expression outside the open-clothes pavilion, a mixture of pain, shame, and regret.

Adding to what Wei Mao said, she began to speculate: "Could it be that Young Master Duan was looking at something else at the time? The moment his father fell, Young Master Duan's eyes and mind were drawn to something else? Brother Mao, do you remember, the exact words he described to us that day were..."

“He was careless and lost focus!” Wei Mao and she repeated in unison.

Wei Yao continued her thoughts: "Although there are many people coming and going at the early market, if Pan Xiaolang could see this scene from the riverbank, then it's possible that no one else saw other clues in front of the Changyi Pavilion. If we can also find a witness and combine the two, even if we can't find the murderer, we can still deduce the whole story!"

Wei Mao tossed the horse brush to the servant, washed his hands, and handed her Xi Jiao's letter. "This letter was sent by Xi Jiao a few days ago. I don't know what he knows, but I hope what he knows is not what we already know."

Xi Jiao and Yuan Yu brought Du Tongding over, and from a distance they could see that there was a young woman named Wei Mao next to him.

When you need someone's help, you have to be humble. Wei Yao and Wei Mao bowed first, and Wei Mao said, "I have arranged the banquet. Please, gentlemen."

"no need."

A burly servant shoved Du Tongding forward.

Xi Jiao spat out only one word in disgust: "Speak!"

Now, Du Tongding no longer sought to continue his studies at the state academy; he only hoped to avoid imprisonment and to spare his family from trouble. He lowered his head, his face contorted with bitterness, and repeated, "I know a dancer from the Changyi Pavilion named Hu Niuba. At the end of February, someone..."

After Du Tongding finished speaking, Yuan Yu told Wei Mao and Wei Yao, "To be honest, at first I suspected someone, namely Du Ling, the new teacher of the Book of Poetry who is teaching you. His reputation in the state academy is declining, and even if he doesn't resign from his position as a lecturer, he will be dismissed."

Despite his young age, he was adept at reading people. Seeing that the two opposite him were neither surprised nor astonished, he understood: "You also suspected that Master Duan's death was suspicious? Suspected Du Ling? Alas, I've investigated. On the day Master Duan fell, Master Du was on his way to the state academy, and many people can testify to that. As for Du Tongding being given pearls by strangers, it was in the afternoon, a quiet time. I only asked a few people, and none of them knew where Du Ling was. Also, I've investigated the three pearls that this fellow embezzled; they are common and their origin is difficult to trace."

This means that Du Ling is still a suspect, but the person who tripped up Master Duan was definitely not Du Ling.

Wei Yao and the other woman expressed their gratitude to Yuan Yu.

Wei Mao asked Du Tongding, "You know Hu Niu Ba, have you heard her mention a young man surnamed Duan on Hexi Street?"

"No. Anyone who has no money is called a 'poor devil' by all sorts of nonsense."

The clues still don't connect! It's impossible to prove that Duan Dalang's carelessness and distraction at the time were related to Hu Niu Ba.

Wei Yao glanced at Wei Mao without making a sound, and the two bowed to Xi Jiao and Yuan Yu again in thanks. Wei Mao said, "My fellow disciples and I will sort out the clues a bit more, so we won't delay you two any longer. We will formally thank you another day."

Wei Mao led Wei Yao into the restaurant. He had already ordered all kinds of food and signaled to the servants that they could serve it.

After the two sat down facing each other, Wei Yao said, "We have another direction to investigate. The teacher's wife said that the ox that the teacher rode was sick, which is why the teacher had to walk to the school. The ox was provided by the school for the teacher to use for transportation, so it must be strong. How could it be that it could not pull the cart after only two days of illness? If we still can't find anything in this regard, we can only ask Duan Dalangjun in person."

"Well, I'll investigate. I'll send you a letter if I find anything; if I don't, it means we didn't find anything. Young Master Duan... let's talk about it after the festival." They all knew that asking Young Master Duan face-to-face probably wouldn't yield any results, because if Young Master Duan was certain about something, why didn't he report it to the police?

Outside the restaurant.

Yuan Yu informed Du Tongding, "Student Du may leave now."

"Huh? I'm not involved anymore?"

"Your conduct is morally flawed, but you haven't broken the law." However, you can forget about continuing your studies at the state academy afterward.

Du Tongding was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly: "Then, then I'm leaving, I'm really leaving." After a few steps, he turned from walking to running.

Yuan Yu then turned to Xi Jiao with shame: "I thought Brother Xi was really going to use the clues that guy gave me to temper Wei Mao's temper."

"I should have taught him a lesson; I'm regretting it now."

"Haha."

Xi Jiao came to Dongcheng to meet with Wei Mao because he had to practice the "Five Soldiers" dance at the nearby Youmei Garden that afternoon. The procession route for the Buddha statue festival had been finalized, and all the Buddha statues to be paraded were sent to Yongning Temple in advance. On the morning of April 8th, the procession would start from Yongning Temple and circle the main streets of the city. The location where Xi Jiao and the other imperial princes would perform was at the intersection of Youmei Garden and Jinji Restaurant.

Wei Yao and Wei Mao did not stay at the restaurant for long. Wei Yao had to return to Cui Academy, and Wei Mao had to return to Wei Academy to practice the "Five Weapons" dance.

In the midst of our busy lives, time keeps turning like an axis.

Wei Yao had not received any letters from Mao Tongmen and knew that there were no clues about the sick ox.

This time, she returned to the Wei Academy at the end of the month, and her companions, as if by unspoken agreement, all arrived early.

Taking advantage of the fact that there were no other students in the schoolhouse, Wei Mao seized the opportunity to say, "In the neighborhood where Master Duan lives, the livestock either cut their own fodder from wasteland or bought it from the fodder market. Master Duan's family only buys from the market. I also sent my servant Yan Qi to the market for two days. The fodder vendors are not fixed, and especially at the end of the day, a lot of fodder is sold cheaply, making it even more chaotic."

Wei Zhen was already disheartened: "They've deliberately planned this, with each step linked to the next, concealing one thing from another, so they won't leave any evidence for us to find out."

Wei Mao: "No, I came up with another idea yesterday. In the evening, I had my servant Yan San put on some old clothes, pretend to be drunk, and go to the Changyi Pavilion to ask the dancer Hu Niu Ba to accompany him. At that time, the servants chased Yan San away, and Yan San shouted, 'Duan Dalang from Liangxi Lane can find Hu Niu Ba, why can't I?'"

Wei Jing couldn't help but exclaim "Oh!" in admiration of his partner's move. He quickly asked, "And then?"

The servants sneered at Yan San for talking nonsense, and cursed, "That poor wretch can't even feed himself, yet he dares to dream of marrying Hu Meiniang."

Wei Zhen: "Is Hu Meiniang the same as Hu Niu Ba?"

Wei Mao: "In those places, the servants all call the female entertainers 'beautiful maids'."

Wei Yao nodded, pretending to understand the term "Meiniang" for the first time, and then said, "So we have another clue: Duan Dalangjun is fond of Hu Niu Ba, at least he showed this intention in the Changyi Pavilion, so the servants were able to find out."

The truth of the matter can now be pieced together.

(End of this chapter)