"HURRY! NO GOOD WILL COME IF YOU KEEP THE GRAND PRINCE WAITING AT THE ACCIDENT SITE!" the Grand Prince's guard hollered at the coachman steering the carriage.
The continuous clip-clop of the horse's hooves echoed against the slippery, rocky ground with ice sleet. An occasional snort or whinny became regular as the horse struggled to maintain its footing at the rapid pace.
Dust billowed up in clouds around the magistrate's carriage, coating the closed door and windows with a cover of grit.
The wooden carriage rattled and creaked as it went over each bump on the uneven terrain, jostling the two passengers inside, holding tight to the railings inside.
Ronghe, the magistrate of Bian, yawned but quickly withdrew his hand from his mouth to restrain the shoulder of his rising young servant boy, Ahan. He forced Ahan to sit, unwilling to let the skinny boy poke his head out of the carriage.
Ronghe could already see Ahan's balled up fists ready to wave at the shouter. Nothing good will come from confronting the Grand Prince's guard. Especially when Ahan is only twelve, a starving orphan he picked up in Bian when he first arrived.
Any rough turn could also fling Ahan's small skinny frame out of the window and onto the ground. A bump caused Ahan's head to hit the side wall, and the boy cursed aloud at the pain.
"Master, how can you let him…"
Ronghe shook his head at Ahan's protest and explained with patience, "He's only carrying orders of the Grand Prince. We are only subjects of the Emperor and anyone who is his representatives has to be obeyed."
Ahan sat back and sulked in silence. Who cares about some emperor sitting on a faraway throne? Or his representatives?
He just didn't understand why they had to wake up his master. His master's kindly face still looked pale from the seasonal cold, almost delicate. Ever since Ronghe took him in since the day he collapsed outside the magistrate's residence, Ahan never suffered hunger or a lack of winter clothing.
"Why're you staring at me?" Ronghe asked, unaware of Ahan's thoughts.
"Your face is still white."
"White?"
"White like the snow. I wished they gave you more time to get ready. We've not had breakfast yet," Ahan continued. "But…"
Ahan paused and pick up the bronze hand warmer he placed earlier on the floor. He had waited for it to heat, and now it was ready. Ahan rummaged through his bundle and pulled out a long piece of hemp cloth to wrap around the warmer.
While Ahan busied himself, Ronghe lifted the weighted curtain from the window, enough to leave a small gap to glimpse out of his carriage. The stark wintery landscape of Yandi greeted him and he sighed, only to have the warmer shoved into his hands.
Ahan grinned and gestured to the warmer. "Since you couldn't grab your fur cloak, I thought this might come in handy."
"Why don't you have it?"
Ahan raised his hand to stop Ronghe from giving him the warmer. "Careful now, you don't want it to spill on your outer-gown."
Ronghe shook his head with a chuckle and nodded. Spilling the coal onto his light coloured blue gown would make him unsuitable to present himself to the Grand Prince.
Satisfied with the response, Ahan peeped out of the curtain, watching the scenery go past with interest. Cold air rushed in, but not enough to chill the air within.
Ronghe leaned his head against the carriage wall and closed his eyes while holding the warmer on his lap with his hand. It will take a while to reach the forest near the Grand Prince's residence.
Images of a past replayed before him and his eyes snapped open again. The news he got from the Grand Prince's guard was that villagers found three bodies and a horse carriage which tumbled off the mountain side. Horse carriages were exclusively used by Imperial Court appointed officials, high-ranking military officers, noblemen, and the Imperial family.
Bian was in the middle of nowhere. The only Imperial Court appointed official here he was aware of was himself.
Clerks and scribes of the Bian Magistrate's Court were local Yandi officials posted on rotation. They didn't need to take the Imperial Examinations to get a position. A recommendation from the local school verifying their capability to read and write at a certain level suffice.
The qualified military officers didn't take horse carriages back and forth around the area unless they suffered illness or injury. Even if they did, most would choose to protect their masculine pride by choosing to ride on horses with the troops trailing behind.
He deduced the two likely involved — the Grand Prince and the imperial prince. Both are unmarried.
The thought of dealing with the two princes caused dread to creep in. Since his arrival in Bian, he only met the imperial prince Hushiyi in meetings with the other Yandi officials, but never the grand prince. Less is more.
Hushiyi used to be Ronghe's school mate at an exclusive special school in the Capital, Huangcheng city. Not the close sworn brother/friend type, but the respectable elder student whom the juniors could ask for advice. But Ronghe didn't meet the current grand prince of Yandi, other than the grand prince's infamous 'Killing Gods' reputation.
That school only accepted children of the imperial family, four aristocratic families and high-ranking officials. Ronghe hated the school because the teachers encouraged political scheming against each other. Practice, they said. For greater things to come.
He preferred to keep to himself in school back then. A low profile kept trouble away.
Against the greater things to come, Ronghe picked Bian in Yandi while the others snubbed their noses at that offered posting after they passed the first qualifying level of the imperial examination. They mocked him without mere but he knew any position in the Imperial Palace will invoke jealousy and resentment.
Ronghe only wanted to live in peace, away from the Imperial Court and the politically complex Huangcheng.
Rural and near the southern border of Dayan, he guessed nothing will happen in Bian. True enough, the cases he saw often involved petty crimes, quarrels between villages, business disputes, and the assault cases with alcohol involved. He mediated often amusing squabbles among peasant farmers.
His only annoyance in the remote town of Bian was the occasional old grannies or the hopeful rich merchant in town trying to marry their daughters off to him.
Not a knife in his back.
This is his first major case as a magistrate — three mangled bodies found next to a horse carriage which fell off the cliff. It was also his first time being summoned at the Grand Prince's command.
He pinched his forehead at the thought of being placed in charge of a politically charged case. Why would the Grand Prince summon if those damn bodies didn't belong to some prominent family and whose damn carriage was it?