Chapter 31: Feathered Satin Qilin

She subconsciously raised her hand to hold her left shoulder, and managed to calm her voice: "I don't know, no way..."

Fortunately, the lights were dim in the dark night, so Aunt Xuanji didn't notice her expression. She just flipped through the clothes suspiciously and said, "I see the pattern on this cloak is similar to the one the county lady brought back earlier. Isn't that one from the Prince of Linhuai?"

The cloak she was talking about was naturally the one that Prince Linhuai wrapped around his wife's wet body on the night Qiandeng fell into the pond in danger.

Having said this, Xuanji came back to her senses and fixed her gaze on Qiandeng, her eyes full of shock and disbelief: "County Master, you..."

Her county lady ran away in such a chaotic situation and returned late at night, and she actually came back wearing the clothes of Prince Linhuai.

Qiandeng felt a burning sensation somewhere in her heart. Hastily turning her face away, avoiding Aunt Xuanji's gaze, she reluctantly explained, "My clothes were torn when I went to visit the Crown Prince, so I temporarily borrowed some from the Shuofang Army. I... don't know whose they belonged to."

Seeing her expression, Aunt Xuanji knew it was best not to ask about such matters. As she held the clothes in silence, she suddenly remembered something and turned back to call Liuli outside: "Did you put that cloak out to dry this afternoon? Did you put it away?"

"Oh, we were worried about the county lady and forgot to accept it!" Liuli hurriedly walked back, and Aunt Xuanji quickly followed.

Qiandeng breathed a sigh of relief, but when she looked up, she saw Cui Fufeng leaning against the wall under the eaves opposite, looking at her with an ambiguous expression.

The dim light cast a halo on his pale face, and his expression as he looked at her showed dazed surprise.

"The county lady went to the Shuofang Army camp? How is the crown prince now?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Cui. Prince Linhuai has escorted His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to Daming Palace. I believe Chang'an will be restored to peace tonight."

Qian Deng didn't want to think about the awkwardness and chaos in the dark room, so he just quickly recounted the battle situation and told him about the string pad.

Cui Fufeng frowned in thought: "If among the ten people, the other sharpshooter besides Nan Yu is him, then the murderer of Lady Qi is indeed possible..."

"But my mother had no grudge against him. She had no unusual opinion of him during the selection process. It's impossible for them to have met before." Qian Deng's hand tightly grasped the bow, his eyes filled with resentment. "Why did he kill my mother and Uncle Fu? What's his reason, and where's the evidence?"

Cui Fufeng raised his hand to take away the bow that she had nearly broken, and said calmly, "Under normal circumstances, we could have captured him and interrogated him thoroughly. But now the army is raging, and we are afraid to act rashly. Furthermore, the court is in chaos, and the court has disappeared. Without all the evidence, we are afraid it will be difficult to convict him."

Qian Deng gritted his teeth and said, "I will get the evidence...definitely."

"Yes, I believe it." Cui Fufeng said without hesitation, "But I also hope that you can remain calm, plan carefully before taking action, and make the final decision in one fell swoop."

To prevent any changes at this critical moment, Qiandeng promised Cui Fufeng not to act rashly. She carried the solitary lantern and walked towards the backyard.

Xuanji and Liuli were gathering clothes under the courtyard wall, pulling at a dark blue feather satin cloak, about to fold it. (Note: There are two views on feather satin: one holds that the ancient thick twill wool fabric was called feather satin; the other holds that it is a shortened form of feather satin, woven from feathers and hair. The second view is adopted here.)

Thousands of lanterns were lit up to reveal the dense peacock blue down feathers on the dark blue cloak, arranged neatly one by one, clustered into a unicorn flower. Under the lantern light, the azure glow was faint and the luster flowed, making it obvious at first glance that it was definitely not an ordinary object.

Sure enough, it was the same style as the robe she wore tonight.

The feather satin cloak was thickly and densely woven. Xuanji and Liuli stretched it flat and folded it in half, but the night wind was so strong that it blew up like a sail. The two of them were unable to hold back the strong and swollen wind, and they and their cloaks were blown back and almost hit the courtyard wall.

Qiandeng stepped forward to help hold a corner of the cloak, and Xuanji hurried to Liuli's side and folded the cloak diagonally to avoid the night wind.

Liuli nearly sprained her ankle and couldn't help but rub her ankle and complain, "Oh, this dress is too thick and heavy."

Xuanji said, "How heavy can a cloak be, no matter how thick it is? It's because it's woven too densely, and the wind inside blows it up. Imagine the sails on the sea can propel a large ship at great speeds, so it can easily blow away one or two of us!"

As she chattered on, her palms gently combed the cloak along the texture of the down feathers to make it smooth.

Qiandeng looked at the cloak, and was stunned for a moment because of Xuanji's words.

"The weave is too dense...it will drive away one or two people..."

She murmured this sentence over and over again, always feeling that something in her heart was about to come out, but she couldn't grasp the specific content.

That confused and eager search made her whole body freeze, and she stood in the darkness for a long time without being able to move.

Liuli was helping Xuanji with the texture of her cloak, and curiously asked, "Aunt, why do all military commanders wear cloaks? They look impressive, but they're hard to wash and maintain. On the battlefield, they're easily covered in blood and mud. A cloak covered in blood and mud is incredibly scary..."

Although Xuanji was knowledgeable, she was, after all, a female historian in the inner palace, and didn't know much about this matter, so she hesitated and thought for a moment.

Qian Deng knew this and said, "This is because the cloak can save lives on the battlefield."

Her grandfather had always doted on her, and when she was little, he loved to hold her in his arms and cuddle her in the military camp. But she disliked the tattered, bloody cloaks worn by her grandfather and father, and always refused to let them hold her.

"Don't despise Deng Deng, it's a lifesaver on the battlefield." Grandfather said to her, counting on her fingers. "The texture of cloth and armor is different, so if an arrow is shot at you, it will be blocked by the cloth, and its accuracy and speed will change, greatly reducing the damage caused. Even if you're unlucky and the arrow still penetrates the armor, what should you do? An arrow wrapped in the cloak will be much easier to deal with when it is dug out of the flesh than one that was shot naked, right..."

The grandmother beside them quickly picked up Qian Deng and said angrily, "You old man are such a scoundrel! You told the little kid about archery and digging meat, and scared Deng Deng. What if he has nightmares tonight?"

Grandfather smiled and pinched Qiandeng's cheek, teasing her, "Don't be afraid of nightmares, Grandfather will sleep with you. The emperor praised Grandfather as the fierce tiger of Beiting, who can swallow up all of Dengdeng's nightmares with a roar!"

Now, she is haunted by nightmares every night, but there is no family member who can help her withstand it all. She is left alone, unarmed, standing in the endless darkness, trekking alone in search of her enemies and the truth.

"Things that are dense and flat can hold very heavy objects. Not to mention human effort, even large ships and carts can be pushed forward..."

The elusive things in her heart seemed to gradually emerge from the darkness and become clearer in her murmurs.

As if urged by an invisible force, she clutched the lantern tightly, turned around, and walked quickly towards the warehouse.

It was late, but there were still sounds in the warehouse.

Daimao, A Zhong and Uncle An, the best carpenter in the village, were cutting wooden boards in the warehouse to make a thin coffin for Uncle Fu.

She wanted to comfort the brother and sister, but she had also suddenly lost a loved one and didn't know what to do. She just silently held Daimao's hand and then went to look at the large roll of bamboo mat in the warehouse.

Uncle An helped her unfold the bamboo mat. Seeing the dried grass leaves between the bamboo strips, he raised his hand and patted them in surprise: "Where did this grass leaf come from?"

Qiandeng pulled at the leaves and asked softly, "Maybe they've been drying things on the grass. Isn't there a large open space by the pond?"

Uncle An shook his head and said, "That won't work. The grass leaves will hold moisture, which will evaporate through the mat. No matter how long you put something on it to dry, it won't dry out. Who would dry wheat on grass?"

Qian Deng asked again: "When was this mat last used?"

"The last time we did it was in May or June, after we dried the wheat. This year, the wheat is growing really well," Uncle An said with a sigh. "But I'm afraid the rice and millet harvest will be poor this year. The rice and millet harvest came in just as the rebel army was wreaking havoc. With the horses grazing in our fields, we'll probably only get 30% to 40% of what we usually get."

"It's not easy to survive in such a situation. It's a blessing that everyone in the manor is still safe." Qian Deng said, asking him to unfold the mat completely, and then press the pine wood with the indentation on the mat for careful comparison.

Daimao wiped away her tears and asked, "County Lady, what's wrong with this mat and this wood?"

"I want to see how the thief escaped that night." Qian Deng's voice was very low, but very firm.

Daimao opened her eyes wide in shock, even forgetting to shed tears: "County Master, are you saying that the murderer is related to this?"

Qiandeng raised his hand and made a gesture of silence in front of his lips, asking Uncle An to put the things away again, and then signaled them to return to normal.