Work Text:
Thud!
The flap above their heads shut tight, leaving Wu Chun Tian and his companion in almost complete darkness. He cursed under his breath, breathing in the dusty air of some underground cellar. This wasn’t the softest landing and he could already foresee bruises that would form.
‘’Ouch!” Zhou Tang Sui's voice pierced the air, along with a rattle of pots falling down.
In hindsight perhaps two scrawny young men following a man twice their size wasn’t the best idea. It was supposed to be just a short espionage and then report back to a guard from the Ministry of Justice. The 9th Prince did ask him to investigate, see if he can find some clues - and don’t do anything more. The portaits of possible suspects were already plastered all over the city.
But as with the most supposedly easy plans, things do get complicated when the suspect of serial killings in Chang’An tries to grab another victim. Probably - he couldn’t be sure. One thing leads to another - an unexpected scuffle, and here they are.
In his defense however - Wu Chun Tian thought - he did find a murderer that even the Emperor put a manhunt on in the court. So that counts for something. His hands were bound together behind his back. The knot however wasn’t the best made, he decided after wriggling his arms. With Zhou Tang Sui's help he will be able to set himself free.
‘’Untie me,’’ he said to his friend as he wiggled on the dusty floor. He heard Zhou Tang Sui grumbling under his breath a couple of times before his hands were free. This was not the first time both of them got their hands tied like this, although it may be concerning it happened again.
‘’Do you have a candle? I can’t see anything in here,” he asked, squinting his eyes through the darkness. He could vaguely see Zhou Tang Sui’s silhouette on the floor beside him, but nothing more.
A moment passed and soft orange light filled the small space. The cellar was cluttered with pots and some furniture.
‘’Huh?”
“Oh,” he blinked. ‘’What are you up to, Miss Fei?”
He was greeted with a somewhat confused gaze of a girl currently squinting from the sudden brightness. Fei Bai Bing, in all her noble - albeit dirty, and tired - glory. She let out a grunt and yanked at the ropes binding her hands above her head and to the pole holding the ceiling. The tense curl she was sitting in relaxed a bit when a flicker of recognition lighted her face.
Wu Chun Tian squatted down and pulled at the dirty gag from her mouth. Before long Zhou Tang Sui shook off his surprise and helped with the binding on her hands.
‘’Thank you,’’ she nodded and coughed. She was looking between the two of them.
To be fair, Wu Chun Tian was quite surprised to see Miss Fei here. Probably the last place he would expect to see a Marquis daughter in the middle of the night.
‘’Why are you here?” he prompted.
‘’I was out on a walk,’’ she said after a moment. ‘’You recently asked Xiao Lou Tai for information on the serial killer, right?”
‘’Yes, and thank you for the hints on his identity - but why were you looking for him?”
‘’I wasn’t. As I said, I was out on a walk in the city and saw a man of the matching description,’’ she explained. She messaged her bruised wrist. ‘’So I took a peak around the corner to see where he was heading and then turned around.”
‘’You were found out?” Zhou Tang Sui questioned.
She shrugged her arms, her movements still a bit stiff and said: ‘’probably. I finished my outing and I was going home before I was ambushed. Then I got dragged in there and left till the night.”
Wu Chun Tian squinted his eyes. It would mean that Miss Fei wasn’t at home for the afternoon and - more importantly past the curfew.
‘’How come Fei Family hasn't yet rang the alarms about their missing daughter?”
She regarded him and then smiled dryly, ‘’how could they? A young miss out in the night means death to her reputation.’’
Ah, right. He clicked his tongue - he was still getting used to nobility and the customs in the capital city. Even if he was there for more than a year, graduating from the Imperial College and joining the officialdom, some social nuances were still flying over his head. Or rather - perhaps it was his commoner family small-mindedness that found some of the social constructs terribly idiotic. Things to think about later, he reminded himself.
‘’Besides,’’ his musings were interrupted when Fei Bai Bing continued, “lately I’ve been staying over at the Pan or Li family.”
“And walking without a handmaid?” Zhou Tang Sui inquired.
A nod, ‘’she’s on a trip to home.”
Wu Chun Tian smiled, dusted his hands off. For one reason or another he found the whole situation rather amusing. ‘’Well then, the rescue in the form of Fei Xin storming into the cellar has been eliminated by willful Miss Fei.”
She gave him a look and if he knew her any better than two or three first-time meetings, he’d say an offended one.
Zhou Tang Sui gave out a groan and shook his head.
‘’How can you be so calm!” he bursted in whisper-like shout. Very typical of Zhou Tang Sui who’s losing his patience. ‘’I have survived Minli military camp, a battle in Yuxiu valley but it seems I will die by a maniac’s hand before finding my lost master!”
“Nah.”
“What did I do to deserve this?’’ he continued. ‘’And you have a gall to make jokes. Maybe the heavens will have some miracles left and make the killer just run away, but then we will still starve in this cellar.”
“Mhm.”
“What are you drawing in the dirt, listen to me when I speak to you.”
Wu Chun Tian looked to his side, where Zhou Tang Sui was sitting and glaring at him. It seems he was done. He sometimes felt bad that he was dragging his friend around and getting them into trouble. But then he remembered many interesting - to say the least - medical experiments he had to cover him for, and any guilt vanished.
‘’Map of Chang’An,’’ he answered.
The two of his companions leaned in to take a look at the lines he made in the dirt.
‘’I just want to say,’’ Fei Bai Bing quipped, adjusting the position of the candle to better light the so-called map in front of them. ‘’You two make an awful rescue squad.”
‘’Should've never left home,” Zhou Tang Sui muttered. He wasn't sure if he was chiding Miss Fei or telling that to himself.
He scoffed at both of them and clapped his hands,’’Anyways. Suffice to say our killer, Mr. Su Yang will be back, before he tries to make a run for it at the first light. To kill us, that is.”
Zhou Tang Sui sent him another look.
‘’I had hoped the Justice office might arrest him before.”
“To do that, they’d have to have vital information that we have,’’ Wu Chun Tian said. ‘’And most importantly - want to catch the killer.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, they would catch him. In three or four weeks, I think.”
As Zhou Tang Sui was processing the information, and sighing with a heavy heart, young miss Fei turned to Wu Chun Tian.
‘’Because of the unrest in the capital, this case was heard by the Emperor and especially assigned to the ministry of Justice,” she cocked her head, making a golden hairpin in her hair reflect the light of the candle. ‘’Current Minister of Justice is Yu Shimin.”
He caught her gaze, “indeed. He made quite a dramatic spectacle in the court last week promising the heavens that he will catch the killer.”
‘’I see,” she smiled. He will have to ask her one day just how much of internal and unspoken alliances she knows. Probably a lot. Probably more than he does.
‘’Let’s get it right, before I’m more confused,” Zhou Tang Sui waved his hand. “What vital information do we have?”
Wu Chun Tian looked at his friend, ‘’did you notice the cart parked outside this building? It looked quite new and the roughed up marks seemed intentional.”
Zhou Tang Sui raised his brew at him, probably trying to remember any carts. To be fair, Wu Chun Tian thought, they didn’t have that much time to look through the courtyard from the hiding place by the wall, and the cart was located by the entrance to the cellar. They were unlucky in getting noticed quite quickly by the man’s dog outside.
The cart looked new, he thought, continuing his drawing in the dirt. He wasn’t an expert on carts, suffice to say, but he also didn’t think that a man who on a daily basis worked as a bookstore clerk needed such a big cart. Not unless he wanted to run away, or - something more probable, the cart wasn’t even his. As he was mentally going through a list of the victims, all ten people, he could not find any connection. It wasn’t a perfectly planned crime, nor a crime of passion. Last week he even went as far as to check if the crimes were a copy-cats of some earlier cases, but this also turned out to be incorrect.
‘’The thing is,’’ he mused out loud, gaining the attention of his two companions. ‘’The crime scenes were cleaned up too nicely, too fast, and with no witnesses. No important clues left, nothing that could give any indication towards the killer. How can a person like this exist? The ministry released some random portraits. Only thanks to Xiao Lou Tai we know it is Mr. Su.”
He put his stick down, pointing at one of the gates, ‘’but we’re not so far from the Northern Gate.”
‘’You think he now wants to escape in his new cart because he was discovered by Xiao Lou Tai?” Zhou Tang Sui questioned.
‘’Northern Gate is usually used by grain merchants from Sui,’’ Fei Bai Bing piped in. She then made a gesture towards the map. Her fingers traced along the hastily scribbled streets, as she continued, ‘’it’s the quickest way to the market without the need to go through the crowded main lane. Clerks stationed at the gate are used to the caravans from Sui and don’t check it so diligently.’’
‘’That’s even more information than I have,’’ Wu Chun Tian said. ‘’Yes, it is so much easier to bring something to the city via the Northern Gate, unnoticed, than by the main gate.”
“So, what’s in the cart?” she asked, curiosity lighting up her eyes.
‘’I’m looking forward to seeing it, but we need to wait for our host to let us out.”
He was also very curious about it. Above all, he didn’t think Mr. Su is going to live for much longer, as there must be some important backer behind him. This much crime was noticed, but no clues? After the backer gets what he wants, he will leave Mr. Su to the wolves from the ministry of Justice. That was Wu Chun Tian’s conclusion.
“I don’t think you can talk us out of this one,” Zhou Tang Sui grumbled.
He waved him off, he started looking for something that could work as a weapon. He needed to find his sword - it should be somewhere in the courtyard in the grass. At least he hoped so.The 9th Prince won’t be happy if he tells him he lost another sword and he highly doubted he will be given a new one.
Now they just needed to wait.
Fei Bai Bing was staring between the two of them curiously.
‘’You know,’’ she started. ‘’I was dragged here by that man, but I’m not tall or strong enough to fight off a grown up man. Mr. Su is just a clerk, taller than most, but and as we concluded, his killing spree was most likely backed up. But between the two of you, it’s hard to believe you wouldn’t be able to fight him off.”
She smiled at them, soft orange hues of the candle flickering in her eyes.
‘’So, is it safe to assume,’’ she leaned in. ‘’that you got caught on purpose?”
Zhou Tang Sui gave out an offended huff.
‘’Young Miss Fei, this is ridiculous. Why in the world would we want to get caught by a murderer and potentially killed? Right?”
He turned back to look at Wu Chun Tian, seeking confirmation.
‘’Right…?”
‘’Oops,” Wu Chun Tian shrugged. Well, maybe he intentionally pushed Zhou Tang Sui and didn’t fight as much as he could’ve when Mr. Su caught them sneaking around. He might’ve thought they’d be able to find some additional clues if they got caught. Deeper he investigated the murders and no connection between them, he thought that this case reaches deeper than a simple act of killing. He was curious.
Would they be able to overpower him? Yes, most likely so. But he was quite sure that Mr. Su went away to inform his backers that he was busted, and Wu Chun Tian hoped to give him enough time to do so. People tend to get more nervous when they’re caught red handed. Mr. Su would have to find a way to dispose of them and make a run for it. He hoped people from Ministry of Justice that are involved in the crime would show up as well to make an arrest. Unfortunately, if he and Zhou Tang Sui got him, and dragged him to the prison as they technically should, then gates of the prison would close and they’d have no intel from inside. He thought that the cart would be unsalvageable, but he'd rather loose cart but find people moving it. So he gambled.
‘’Good catch, Miss Fei,” he concluded, somewhat impressed with Miss Fei and completely ignoring Zhou Tang Sui’s offended look.
‘’Thank you,” she smiled.
Thud!
‘’There he is,” he smirked, looking up to the latch. Mr. Su was back and ready to deal with them. He held his impromptu weapon in the form of a stronger stick in his hand. He threw another stick he found at his friend and said ‘’Zhou Tang Sui, stand on the other side of the latch.”
He noted Miss Fei moving back to relative safety.
After a few heartbeats the latch opened with a squeak of old hinges and some light poured inside. Wu Chun Tian moved to stay out of the light, when the man above started moving down the ladder. He held his stick tighter in his hand and then, when Mr. Su was in range - he whacked his legs.
The man with a yelp tumbled down remaining steps and soon enough was laying flat on the floor. Small part of Wu Chun Tian, who felt the bruise on his hips from being pushed inside the cellar tied down, was vindicated.
‘’Hello,’’ he greeted their host.
‘’How did you-” the man started questioning, before jumping to his feet. ‘’No matter, this ends now.”
Butcher knife in his hand flickered reflecting the light from the candle as Mr. Su jumped at Wu Chun Tian. His clothes were in disarray and he was clearly already fatigued from running.
Wu Chun Tian dodged the hit - while they weren't the most precise hits, he wasn’t sure how his stick would fare against a hit of a knife. And he’d rather not risk it.
‘’I am a doctor, but…” he heard muttering before Zhou Tang Sui smacked Mr. Su against his head with his stick. The man cursed as he stumbled on his feet.
Without wasting time, Wu Chun Tian jumped ahead and kicked him in the stomach. The man was clearly not a trained swordsman, as in response he could only flail about with the butcher knife. The frenzy however made it hard to move closer to him, and in the cluttered cellar with not much light, the maneuvers were limited.
Crack!
Zhou Tang Sui blocked the knife with his stick, but predictably it broke under the pressure. Wu Chun Tian grabbed the clerk’s robe and yanked him back, before he could do any more damage to his friend. He huffed in effort.
Mr. Su looked at him through blood-shot eyes, and threw his hand forward as both of them were stumbling in the opposite direction to Zhou Tang Sui.
Shit, he thought seeing the butcher’s knife flying in his direction.
A force pulled him back, just in time before the blade collided with his shoulder and chest. He was ready when the next hit came and caught Mr. Su’s arm with the knife. He felt Young Miss Fei hands still grabbing on his clothes from the back.
‘’Let go!” the book clerk shouted, trying to wrangle his hands out of Wu Chun Tian's grip.
‘’You first,” he spat, squeezing on his wrist, hoping he would let go of the knife under pressure. His throat was itching, probably due to the amount of dust that was kicked off in this scuffle.
Crack!
Clay pot filled with wine broke into pieces over the man's head, and strength in Mr. Su arm faltered. It was enough for Wu Chun Tian to push the knife out the man’s hands and push him to the ground. His flailing was stopped with Zhou Tang Sui helping him to overpower the clerk.
‘’Here,’’ Fei Bai Bing crouched beside them with ropes that were used to bind their hands.
He thanked her and got down to tie him down.
‘’Don’t you dare!’’ he spat and reached down to catch Mr. Su’s jaw. His eyes widened, when Wu Chun Tian, pulled apart his mouth.
You’re not going to kill yourself, he thought and glared down at the man. Two of his companions caught on and helped him hold the man down before he fished out a pill containing poison from his mouth. He scoffed as he wiped his fingers on Mr. Su’s clothes. He hid the pill inside his robe, and made sure the man didn't have any more of those tricks up his sleeve.
He coughed and gagged the clerk’s mouth with a piece of clothing.
‘’Don’t do anything stupid, please,” he said and stood up.
‘’I don’t think we have much time,” Fei Bai Bing said as she looked up at the latch, bringing their attention.
‘’A fire?” Wu Chun Tian asked no one in particular. He glared at the man on the floor and looked up. The cellar was getting filled with smoke and the room above was getting brighter by the second. He hoped he would have some time to interrogate the clerk, but it didn't seem to be possible anymore.
‘’Let’s go quickly,” Zhou Tang Sui said. ‘’He’s drowning in wine, it can turn bad, but we should be able to escape before he catches on fire.”
The three nodded to each other.
‘’You don’t want to live, but you will have to,” Wu Chun Tian said to Mr. Su, as he helped him up along with Zhou Tang Sui. Mr. Su was trashing about and glaring at them to no avail, ‘’Miss Fei, go first.”
He squinted through the smoke and pushed the girl to the ladder. She stumbled and without further ado wend up the steps, while the two held onto their prisoner.
‘’Quickly!” she shouted down from the opening.
‘’Trying,’’ he grumbled. Their unwilling prisoner was getting rowdy, probably thinking that he’d rather die here than get caught. Wu Chun Tian clicked his tongue and picked up his stick again. There goes nothing, he thought and hit the man in the back of his head. The body went limp in their grasp.
‘’I guess it is easier this way…” Zhou Tang Sui muttered.
Between the two of them and some additional help from Miss Fei from above, they were able to push Mr. Su unconscious body up. Wu Chun Tian wheezed when he reached the top, sweating due to exertion and hot air immediately hitting his face. He was not built for this, he thought mournfully.
The room above was slowly but surely getting engulfed in flames, but it would still take a moment before they would be in grave danger. Thankfully their scuffle downstairs didn’t take too much time. With Zhou Tang Sui’s help they made their way through the room and to the doors with Mr. Su body draped on their shoulders. Fei Bai Bing was dragging behind them, coughing, but still keeping close.
They finally pushed the doors and fell to the courtyard of Mr. Su’s home.
They moved as far away as possible, when the first shouts reached their ears. Wu Chun Tian looked ahead and saw night patrol officers rushing towards the house. He heard a cracking sound and some of the building crumbled under the flames. The fire squad would probably be informed soon. He threw his coat at Miss Fei as two men in reached them.
‘’What is happening, are you safe?” the first officer questioned. He couldn’t be much older than Wu Chun Tian, but definitely seemed frazzled. ‘’Fire squad is on their way.”
‘’We’re alright,’’ he answered. He fished out his token that dangled by his belt, thanking the heavens that he remembered to take it with him.
He showed it to the officers and continued. He took a look at the taller of the officers, ’’we have here a dangerous criminal, call the public security for backup.”
‘’Lord Minister,” the two men said in unison after checking his plaque. He thought that ministry of justice will most likely be already informed by Mr. Su himself, but he’d rather reveal himself as Lord Minister, than have to be questioned by low ranking officers about why in the middle of the fire he has a man bound, gagged and unconscious.
Fire squad was running in as the two men were ready to disperse with his orders.
He felt a small yank on his sleeve. He looked back and saw Miss Fei, crouching behind him under his cloak.
‘’Fei Jing Rui,’’ she spoke quietly enough that only he was able to hear.
Ah, yes.
‘’And call for me Fei Jing Rui from the Imperial Guards. He should be stationed by Zhuque Gate. Tell him he is immediately needed here.”
“Yes sir!”
The atmosphere in the courtyard was tense, but fortunately the fire squad had things under control. Wu Chun Tian could see their coordinated moves, so he did not feel inclined to be a nuisance in their work. He took a look at his companions as they waited for the officers.
Zhou Tang Sui was standing next to him, wiping sweat from his forehead, while Fei Bai Bing was still crouching, trying to look as small as possible. He couldn’t take a look at her face, as it was obscured by the robe. He reached out his hand down to help her up, thinking it would be safer for her to get away from the courtyard.
‘’Here,’’ he said.
She turned her face up, and he noticed her tense smile.
‘’This will be very hard,’’ she said. She reached her hand and clasped it hard.
‘’Are you alright?” Zhou Tang Sui asked, just as she slowly stood up.
‘’Not my ankle, no,’’ she said. ‘’I think I might've twisted it somewhere in the cellar.”
They both frowned at the revelation. The girl was standing unstable on her feet, and he could probably guess when exactly she twisted her ankle. She held onto his clothes for a little bit too long after she yanked him back in the scuffle.
He sighed and looked around.
‘’There’s a small temple, one street away. I can stay there and wait for Jing Rui,” she said, trying to stand on the hurt ankle. She didn’t give out any yelps of pain, but her face twisted with discomfort.
He looked down at his prisoner, he couldn't exactly leave him here. The problems were multiplying this night.
‘’You two go to the temple and I’ll see you there,” he decided. Zhou Tang Sui was the medic here, between two of them he is far more equipped to help with twisted ankles and he still needed to wrap things up here.
Fei Bai Bing tried to protest, but she gave in after taking a step or two and being unable to walk without help.
After that, he didn’t have much to do. The fire squad wrapped the operation up fast - they were truly lucky the water retention pond was nearby. He did take a look at the cart, but as he predicted the cart was completely burned down.
He did fight his sword, it was indeed lying down in the grass. No scolding from 9th Prince, at least not in this regard.
Soon enough public security guards run into the already crowded courtyard along with a few higher ranking officers from the Ministry of Justice. He gave them his report, or as much of what he wanted to tell them. He made sure to commit to memory all the officers that showed up here tonight. He looked down last time at Mr. Su, knowing that he will not survive the night, and then he instructed somebody to tell Fei Jingrui where to find them and took a stride towards the temple.
The streets were almost empty, it was still some time before people would start waking up. Although he could see some moving figures in the windows, the fire in the neighborhood didn’t make as much noise as one would expect.
He heard Zhou Tang Sui stern voice, just as he walked up the stairs of the temple.
‘’Now, please don’t move.”
“Wait, wait a moment,” Fei Bai Bing started moving away when the young man’s hands squeezed around above her ankle.
‘’No time to wait,’’he said.
‘’Still, wait!”
“Just trust him, he is a medic,” Wu Chun Tian piped in as he put his hands on her shoulders to keep her from moving. She looked back at him and gave out a weak glare.
‘’I am going to fix your ankle right now, so please stay still.”
“I am not ready.”
‘’Please remember to put something cold over your ankle when you’re home,’’ he stated. His voice was calm and his movements swift, so much as Fei Bai Bing in all her trials to get away, didn’t notice when he grabbed her foot with his other hand. With one yelp from an unwilling patient, the ankle was fixed.
‘’See, all good and done.”
“I feel like puking, thank you.”
Wu Chun Tian chuckled as he released her shoulders. He messaged the spot where Fei Bai Bing’s nails cut into skin on his hands, leaving pink marks.
Zhou Tang Sui continued with his doctor’s recommendations, however Wu Chun Tian wasn’t sure that Fei Bai Bing was registering much of it. When Fei Jing Rui gets there he should remind him, he thought. To be honest it would’ve been so much easier if they could just drop off Miss Fei at her home - either Fei, or Pan or Li, or call a carriage from her house. Unfortunately, that was out of the question. And he’d rather not be questioned by the Fei family as to why their daughter is accompanied by him and Zhou young master in the middle of the night and cause scandal. In this case, he will protect the reputation of willful young Miss Fei. For all of their sakes.
What a long night, he thought as he sat down on the stairs next to Miss Fei, currently getting her foot and ankle bandaged.
Well, there’s truth and the truth - he thought. Tomorrow in court, the ministry will report catching their murderer. They will inform the Emperor of a lunatic who fortunately got apprehended and Chang’An can sleep peacefully again.
He squinted his eyes at the coming down light from above the Northern Gate.
What is this crime linked with? Perhaps he should find a way into the Department of City Security. 9th Prince has been trying to fix it for years but it was a hard nut to crack. But maybe now with Pan Zhao back in the city - a true neutral party - he could get a recommendation and a token. He put a pin on that thought just as he saw a jogging figure in the distance.
‘’What happened?!” Fei Jing Rui's disheveled appearance was surprisingly a comforting sight. His nervous gaze moved past Wu Chun Tian and Zhou Tang Sui, to fall on his cousin. ‘’Are you hurt?”
Fei Bai Bing smiled as she saw the young man squatting before.
‘’I sprained my ankle.”
“At the hour of the Tiger?!”
“No, of the Pig, now I’ve been resting” she said and reached out her hands. “Carry me to the house?”
Fei Jing Rui gave out a long suffering sigh and turned his back.
‘’But seriously, what have you been doing? All three of you?”
He looked over them as he stood up with Fei Bai Bing on his back. Wu Chun Tian shrugged his arms before reminding his ex-Imperial College classmate about cold compresses for the ankle.
“Right, Miss Fei,’’ Zhou Tang Sui said, ‘’I’ll send over some ointment for swelling, I made fresh batches last week.”
“Ah, thank you.”
‘’You guys, you are still ignoring my question,” the young man pouted.
Wu Chun Tian shrugged again, ‘’What is there to say, your cousin sprained her ankle and Zhou Tang Sui fixed it. And now we all want to go home, right?”
“Fine, fine. Don’t tell me, keep your secrets from poor Jingrui who ran half a city,” he sulked. He squinted at them again. “Also… do you have anything to do with the fire?”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to have answers to,” Wu Chun Tian clapped his hands.
A sigh.
Well, whatever Miss Fei later tells her cousin was beyond him. As far as he was concerned, less Fei Jing Rui knew, less he could accidentally babble about later.
The duo didn’t stay long after, it was late - or rather very early, and with short shared goodbyes, Fei cousins moved through the streets back to the mansion.
Zhou Tang Sui sat back on the stairs and let out another groan, ‘’I am exhausted and half of this is your fault.”
Wu Chun Tian could only agree with his friend. He didn’t think he would even get a nap before having to haul his butt to the court, but he might have time for some breakfast.
If they go now, that is.