It was raining in Yuzhou as well.

Chen Qing shook off his rain cloak and stepped quickly inside. “My Lord, we have caught the tail end of Yuan Shifang.”

Gu Yanxi showed not the slightest surprise. He kept his head bowed and set his brush down in a measured stroke. A painting of a lady in elegant dress was taking shape on the paper. He lingered briefly at the area of the eyes before setting the brush aside, picked up the cloth beside him to wipe his hands clean, and then looked up at Chen Qing.

Chen Qing continued: “Yuan Shifang has been very cautious. He has not left the residence, and aside from receiving colleagues has met no outsiders at all. If our men had not been watching closely — keeping track of even how many maidservants Yuan Furen had by her side — we would never have noticed that when she went out and came back, there was one extra person in her retinue.”

“So the Seven Stars Cult Leader has entered the residence?”

“Yes. My Lord, shall we move?”

Gu Yanxi tapped the tabletop with a bent finger. “Where did she slip in?”

“Near a ritual site she once used to perform ceremonies. We have lost track of people there several times before, so everyone has been keeping a sharp eye on that location…” Chen Qing suddenly fell silent.

“She knows I am looking for her.”

Chen Qing’s expression turned very unpleasant. “My Lord means she deliberately showed us a gap — just to draw us out? But we act under official authority. Even if she draws us out, what can she do? Does she want to catch us all in one sweep?”

“What you already know, how could she not know as well? Knowing it and still doing it means she has something she wants to gain.” Gu Yanxi propped his cheek on one hand, the corners of his lips curving upward. “Let her have her way. Take a team personally — in my name.”

He had followed the Shizi for many years, and Chen Qing understood his master immediately. The Lord was using this matter to probe whether there was any connection to those several figures in the capital. The Seven Stars Bureau’s operations — especially those of its leader — were impossible for outsiders to learn of. Only those few people could obtain so much as a glimmer of information. If this were connected to those people as well…

Chen Qing shuddered. The blood from before had not yet been washed away. He hoped they would not be probing the Lord’s limits again with something like this.

The brush was set down and picked up once more. Gu Yanxi sat quietly for a moment before taking it back in hand, and with great care lowered it onto the eyes in the painting. When that defining stroke descended, the figure on the paper seemed to spring to life, as though vitality had entered her.

And yet Gu Yanxi was still deeply disappointed. No matter how many times he painted, he could never capture the spirit within Hua Zhi. Her eyes most of all — that quality of quietness combined with a kind of inner strength; no matter what he tried, he could not put it on paper.

But this was the best rendering he had managed so far. He could not bring himself to discard it after all. Gu Yanxi carefully hung it up to dry, and thought — more than anything, he wanted to see the real person.

Over on the other side, Chen Qing had put on his mask and led his men in a direct sweep of the Regional Governor’s residence. In the common world, no one knew what that mask signified. In official circles, there was no one who did not.

The moment Yuan Shifang laid eyes on that mask, his face twitched several times. But he was, after all, a governor who administered an entire region, and he did not let himself fall into disorder because of it. He rose, bowed with perfect correctness, and said: “This subordinate pays his respects to my Lord.”

Chen Qing held the air of the Shizi’s customary manner, keeping his voice cool. “Please do not stand on ceremony, Governor Yuan. The Seven Stars Bureau has orders to pursue a case — I ask that Governor Yuan step aside.”

“A moment.” Yuan Shifang had not anticipated the Seven Stars Bureau moving with such swift decisiveness; his response was half a beat slow. “Would it be possible to know which member of this subordinate’s household has committed an offence?”

“Governor Yuan need not be anxious — wait and see.” Chen Qing raised one hand. “Search.”

Yuan Shifang moved to obstruct them further, but was pressed back into his seat by Seven Stars Bureau men. He had something on his conscience, and dared neither to refrain from resisting — lest he expose himself — nor to resist so obviously as to raise suspicion. In the space of a lightning flash he weighed the matter, and let coldness settle over his face. “Though this subordinate holds only a humble position, I still wish to ask my Lord plainly — if the Seven Stars Bureau finds nothing in this residence, what then?”

Imagining the response the Shizi would have to those words, Chen Qing kept his voice level. “Whatever ought to follow, will follow.”

Yuan Shifang was furious but could do nothing. He could only pray that by now the other person had already left the residence, and above all that they had not…

“Leader, we have found her!”

Yuan Shifang spun around immediately — and truly saw the person being pushed inside by the Seven Stars Bureau’s men. His mind went entirely blank. How — how was this possible? How had she failed to escape?

“Seize her.”

But it was not the Seven Stars Cult Leader who was seized. It was Yuan Shifang.

Yuan Shifang naturally denied everything — he could not possibly admit to anything. “My Lord, this subordinate does not know who this person is, nor does this subordinate know why she should be in this subordinate’s residence. I ask my Lord to see clearly what is true!”

Chen Qing maintained the Shizi’s characteristic cool and said nothing, simply made several gestures. The Seven Stars Bureau’s people fanned out in all directions, taking control of the entire Regional Governor’s residence with maximum speed.

Yuan Shifang was thrown into the very cell in which he had once locked up others, without even a guard set at the door. Gu Yanxi rather hoped someone would come and attempt a jail break.

“My Lord, as you foresaw — the Seven Stars Cult Leader never left at all. It appears she was specifically waiting for us.”

“Not waiting for you — waiting for the Seven Stars Bureau’s leader.” Gu Yanxi turned the silver hairpin over in his hand, a considering look in his eyes. The elder brother’s right arm had already been severed, and he was now far away in the northern territories; this matter could have no connection to him. The others, each of the remaining few, all seemed to offer some possibility at first glance — but on careful reflection, none of them truly had one. However much their eyes gleamed with desire for that position, they would not dare to employ the same method again when the dust had not yet settled.

Or perhaps — this matter had nothing to do with the imperial palace at all?

If that were truly the case, then when had the Great Qing dynasty become such a sieve?

“Interrogate Yuan Shifang tonight.”

“Yes.”

Interrogation had traditionally been the domain of the three judicial offices. Chen Qing went out to make the arrangements and then came back. “And the Seven Stars Cult Leader — how shall she be handled?”

“Since she has been so kind as to bait the hook for us, naturally we ought to take the bait she offers.” Gu Yanxi paused abruptly. “Come closer.”

Chen Qing looked puzzled and stepped forward.

“Come right up to me.”

Chen Qing knew something was off, and stepped forward immediately.

Gu Yanxi leaned in and inhaled. He had clearly caught a scent just a moment ago — why did it vanish when he drew nearer?

“Go back to where you were standing before.”

The moment Chen Qing stepped back to his previous position, Gu Yanxi caught the faint trace of it again. So his sense of smell had not failed him.

“My Lord — is there something wrong with this subordinate?”

“Earlier, when you approached the Seven Stars Cult Leader — how close did you get?”

Chen Qing thought back. “This subordinate had her confined first in a side room. At that time she walked past me.”

If it had been Shao Yao passing by a person, she could have slipped several dozen varieties of lethal pills and powders onto them in an instant. Even if this person was somewhat less skilled than Shao Yao, sprinkling some powder or the like on Chen Qing as she passed would not have been difficult.

The corner of Gu Yanxi’s mouth curved very slightly upward. She knew to use this to test whether the person behind the mask had remained the same individual throughout — it seemed she did have some degree of familiarity with the Seven Stars Bureau’s leader. In that case: “From now on, whenever contact with her is necessary, let it be you who handles it. Be cautious — she has some means at her disposal.”

“Yes.” Ever since he had been personally tailing her and still managed to lose her, Chen Qing had known this woman had her abilities. He did not dare underestimate her even slightly.

Chen Qing suddenly thought of Hua Zhi, the First Young Miss of the Hua family. She too was a very capable young lady — and yet the feeling she gave off was so entirely different from that of the Seven Stars Cult Leader. One made a person instinctively wary at a glance; the other could make a person lower their guard. Truly, he still preferred — no, he was more willing to deal with the First Young Miss.