27. Whose mark is this?
Zihou, Yunchuan and Shuomo arrived back in the mansion in time for them to see Xie stumble and fall in the pavilion where Su was seated. Yan was already helping Xie, so the three arrivals only hastened their step, but didn't break out in a run. "Did you feel anything, brother Xie?" they heard Su ask as Yan held Xie's forearm. Rushuang and Fei Yuan had stepped out of the room where they had been working. "Are you alright dear?" Rushuang asked.
"Yes, I'm alright. I just stumbled over something." Xie looked behind him and checked the pavement, but he couldn't find anything over which he could have stumbled.
"I'm sorry, brother Xie, I made you stumble." Su showed a thin rope that had been stretched over part of the pavilion and Su could lift it so someone tripped over it. "I needed to test something. Did you feel anything brother Xie?" Su asked again. Xie shook his head: "What should I have felt, I tripped."
"Pain in your forearm. Did you feel Yan press a needle in your arm?" Su elaborated.
"No. I didn't. Did you press a needle in my arm?" Xie turned to Yan, who pointed to Xie's forearm. Xie looked down at his arm and sure enough there were four red dots, where a needle had pierced his skin. Surprised Xie looked up: "What's this?" Yan opened his hand showing the leather strip with four needles strapped around it.
"When I helped you up, I pushed the needles in you arm." Yan explained. Obviously still confused Xie asked why they'd done it.
"This shows that when someone is preoccupied, for example after he took a fall and someone helps him to his feet, they might not feel needles being pushed into their skin. As long as only the points of those needles are pressed into the skin." Su said.
"That's how the minister got those puncture marks, but apparently didn't know they were there." Rushuang understood. Su nodded: "Yes and I think it was the supervisor who did this. We know a carriage took the minister from the palace to the market, he had no other contacts. If someone had done this while he got into the carriage, he would have felt it. Fei Yuan felt the needles when Yan helped him up a ladder."
"Are you done with your experiment now?" Xie asked, rubbing his arm, Fei Yuan also did not look very happy.
"I'm sorry, I needed to see what would happen when you got punctured without your knowledge. I'm sorry." Su apologized again. Xie waved at Su, indicating it was alright. He then let Rushuang take his arm and apply some powder to his tiny wounds.
"It seems like you've got some new insights into the case." Shuomo stated. Su nodded and then told the others what she and Rushuang had discovered. The yellow powder on the clothing had been the same powder they had found on the medal. Rushuang had managed to eliminate several poisons from the list of possible poisons. "And we have good reason to believe the supervisor punctured the minister with something like this." Su showed the leather strap that Yan had used. "Several stall holders told Rushuang and Yunchuan that the supervisor often acted cruelly to those that did not follow his rules or had complained about the treatment given by the supervisor. I think I saw something like this in his office, next to a dagger."
"I'll ask our guard to arrest him." Shuomo said.
"But we don't know that he killed the minister." Su interrupted.
"Not for that, for the way he has been running the market. This needs to be investigated further, not by you though." He added quickly. "But it might give us an opportunity to question him more directly. And take a closer look at his office."
"Could the supervisor have poisoned him to death this way?" Yunchuan asked, taking a seat at the table. Fei Yuan poured tea for everyone.
"There are certainly poisons that could kill after they entered through a small wound, but they don't match the symptoms of the minister." Rushuang explained. "The symptoms that the minister had are most likely from a poison being ingested." Rushuang continued. "I need more time to find the poison."
"Alright. What about the medallion of Jiang Xiwu? Do you have any ideas why it was placed with the minister?" Shuomo asked Su.
"Not yet. I've asked Mingjing Office to send me the information on the theft. I've asked them to use one of our pigeons, so we can have the information as soon as possible." Su said to Yan, who nodded. In Qi mansion there were a few pigeons that would fly to Shuomo's mansion, allowing them to get information to Shuomo quickly. Likewise there were a few pigeons at Shuomo mansion that would fly to Qi mansion.
"Did you get the information from court?" Yan asked Shuomo, who quickly told them the emperor had summoned the trade minister that day to discuss the market supervisor and the trade agreement. According to the emperor they decided then that the trade minister would visit the market directly. "Nothing strange happened, as far as my father could remember. He had no illness after the tea and refreshments they'd had."
"And how about in court: does the trade minister have officials who oppose him?" Yan asked.
"Yes, those that prefer we'd go to war with Liang." Yan considered this, thinking back to the time Yunchuan had come to Liang for the first time. "Back then there was a minister of war… Nuo Ho? What happened with him? Is he still minister of war?" At this suggestion Shuomo seemed offended: "Of course not, when we returned. I immediately made sure he was taken our of court. After that the pro-war faction quietened down, but this last half year I've been hearing more and more reports that they are trying to shift the court to war, rather then trade. The worrisome signs that the trade agreement isn't being honored is their reason for pushing war."
"The troubling signs started three or four months ago in Liang, not half a year. What happened half a year ago here?"
"Nothing, I'm only relatively sure of the time because around the same time Yunchuan came to live with me here permanently. I had to be in court much more."
"Which made keeping an eye on me much harder." Yunchuan said, smiling sweetly at her brother. He replied with a grimace: "Well, I don't think the moving of a princess to another palace can be considered as a reason for a pro-war faction to become more active again." Xie commented. The others concurred. As the conversation surrounding the death of the trade minister seemed finished. Yunchuan said: "Zihou told me that Li Yu has been killed." All the mention of Zihou's personal name Yan looked at his friend, but saw no embarrassment or realization that Yunchuan had actually used his personal name. Shuomo sat up a little bit, looking at Yan and Su: "Really?"
"Yes, about three weeks ago. She was killed at the border. By the way: did you know that the collapsed smuggle border path has been opened up again?" Yan asked Shuomo.
"But the trade agreement clearly stated the path had to remain as it was. I believed the obstruction had not been removed, therefore it was still closed. Which is what we wanted." Shuomo's expression showed that he found this new information worrisome. "Wait, Li Yu was killed at the border, do you know who killed her?"
"No, the killer left n o trace, we think someone was supposed to help her cross the border, but that her or she killed her. We found her clothes in the smugglers cave. That is the only thing that made sense. We know she had help getting a place in the group from Beirong who came to Liang to make the trade agreement. Or it was a passerby, but she was found very near the smuggler's path, not a place where many came." Su explained, Yunchuan watched her brother closely, she knew from what he had told her, that he worried about the relationship between Beirong and Liang. Before anyone could continue the butler came to announce that dinner was ready. Swiftly everyone went to get refreshed and the group rejoined at the dinner table. "Yunchuan, could you tell the story of the Ghost Army again? I'm sure the others would like to hear it." Zihou suggested while everyone ate.
"A Ghost Army? We've heard rumors about a Ghost Army, when we were at the border." Fei Yuan said, after taking a quick bite continuing with: "But I have never before heard of it or read it in a book." With that little prompt Yunchuan told the story of the Ghost Army. "Does anyone know which army was supposed to be the army mentioned in the story?" Su asked.
"No, actually of a lot of our armies it is said they could be the Ghost Army."
"Is there supposed to be a way to identify this Ghost Army? Do they carry a mark?" Yan asked, Yunchuan shook her head: "Not as far as I know. It's just a story, it's not real." Su smiled: "Believe me. I know, but very often people will say that a ghost or a monster is what is causing misfortune. It helps to know the stories so we can see where the story covers the truth." She then told Yunchuan about several cases where a ghost or a monster was supposed to have been the culprit and after investigation the people behind had been discovered. It fascinated Yunchuan enormously and she asked Su a lot of questions about those cases. Happily Su explained and elaborated on the cases. The others listened. Rushuang and Xie sometimes supplied even more information or anecdotes. The joy with which Su told Yunchuan these stories warmed Yan's heart. Su had told him she love investigation and this conversation showed it. After dinner they retreated to one of the pavilions to enjoy the warm evening. Yan asked Fei Yuan to get something from his room and when Fei Yuan returned Yan showed the medallion to Shuomo: "Do you know this mark?" Shuomo quickly took the medallion from Yan and urgently asked: "Where did you find this?"
"So you know it? Is it a mark from one of your generals?" Yan asked, Shuomo looked up at Yan: "Where was this found?"
"In amongst clothing we believed belonged to Li Yu. Her name is on the other side." Yan said, pointing to the medallion. "Li Yu?" Shuomo quickly turned the medallion around to see the name: "So you found this near the border?"
"Yes, whose mark is this?" Yan was getting a bit impatient now. It was evident Shuomo knew more, but somehow he wasn't sharing it with them. Shuomo shook his head: "We're going on a trip tomorrow, you need to see something and then I'll explain. For now: know this mark should not be carried by anyone."
"Shuomo…" Yan tried once more, but Shuomo said: "No, tomorrow. It is a bit of a trip so I suggest we retire early." It was clear he wasn't going to say anything else so everyone rose and left to go to their room.