The banquet had stretched on for more than an hour, but even as it drew to a close, Huang Qingxing still hedged, saying he needed to go home and think it over — he dared not make a hasty decision and disappoint Grand Minister Pei’s good intentions.

After the gathering dispersed, Pei Shaojin came to see his elder brother back to the estate. Along the way, knowing that his elder brother harbored suspicions about Huang Qingxing, he asked, “Does Elder Brother think he’ll take the bait?”

After all, everyone knew that the Mint Bureau had been founded by Pei Shaohuai’s own hand — entering the Mint Bureau was the same as falling under Pei Shaohuai’s watchful eye.

In the gathering dark, the five-story Hexiang Restaurant blazed with light, making the surrounding taverns and stalls seem dim by comparison.

“There is a saying: ‘He who is in the midst of things is confused, while he who stands outside sees clearly.’ There is also another: ‘Watching others carry a load looks easy; only when you shoulder it yourself do you realize it might break your spine.'” Though slightly flushed with wine, Pei Shaohuai was perfectly lucid. He explained to Shaojin, “People call Cao Mengde the hero of a turbulent age; others praise him for competing for dominance over the Central Plains and unifying the north, saying he came only one final step short of proclaiming himself emperor, and feel regret on his behalf. What those people do not realize is that all those who have ever been said to be ‘only one step away’ — it was not that they did not want to take it, nor that they went slack at the final moment. It was that the world had shifted beneath them, and they had not the strength to take that last step.”

“And so what seems like an easy, natural final step is in fact the most critical, and the most difficult.” Pei Shaohuai concluded.

How heavy is the load, and whether one can carry it — only the one who shoulders it can know.

If it needed only one more measure of strength to lift it, and the Mint Bureau was right there before them — how could they resist being moved by it?

Shaojin grasped the point at once and asked, “Does Elder Brother believe the final step they’re missing is the ‘silver coins?'”

“If I’ve guessed correctly.” Pei Shaohuai gave a nod and said, “If Huang Qingxing is their chess piece, the opposing faction will without hesitation place that piece inside to probe further. If Huang Qingxing is innocent, then having an additional capable person in the Mint Bureau is no bad thing.”

But Pei Shaojin still did not quite follow. “And yet — they know it’s a trap, so they’ll naturally be on guard.” And being on guard means they won’t trust it fully.

“No matter. The opposing faction places a great deal of trust in their own schemes.”

The things Pei Shaohuai offered of his own accord, the opposing faction would naturally not trust — but information the opposing faction had gone to great lengths to uncover themselves, even if not fully believed, would be trusted to forty or fifty percent.

……

Just as Pei Shaohuai had anticipated, three days later Huang Qingxing sent a card requesting a meeting.

In a teahouse, Huang Qingxing said, “Since Grand Minister Pei has placed his trust in me and put forward this recommendation, I shall stop hedging and pretending to be above it all — I am willing to give it a try.”

He then said he wished to visit the Mint Bureau’s offices for a look.

Pei Shaohuai satisfied Huang Qingxing’s curiosity and accompanied him to the Mint Bureau.

Huang Qingxing made a circuit of the place and found it, if anything, no different from an ordinary government office — a courtyard, office rooms, official desks, and a mountain of account books. In the corridors, officials and clerks moved briskly back and forth, very busy.

But there was no silver coin to be seen anywhere, and certainly no trace of the minting process.

This was quite unlike what Huang Qingxing had imagined.

Pei Shaohuai noticed the deflated look on Huang Qingxing’s face and asked, “Does Grand Minister Huang have some concern?”

“Not at all, not at all.” Huang Qingxing quickly shook his head, rubbing the tip of his nose, and said with an embarrassed laugh, “I had imagined working beside a great smelting furnace, watching the silver coins come out one by one. Now I see that was a misunderstanding on my part — the minting workshop and the offices are not in the same place.”

Pei Shaohuai explained, “The Mint Bureau’s workshop is too large to be built inside the imperial city; it is built just outside the city walls, with soldiers from the Ministry of Military Affairs stationed to guard it. The office, on the other hand, handles record-keeping, calculates waste and attrition, monitors the circulation of silver coins back into the market, draws up the annual minting plan at the start of each year, and submits a year-end report of achievements — none of which is directly connected to the actual minting of coins, though the work requires frequent trips into the palace to make reports. The office is therefore kept within the city.”

He added, “However, since this is the Mint Bureau after all, one cannot entirely avoid visiting the workshop every so often. If Grand Minister Huang is curious about the great smelting furnace, there will certainly be opportunities.”

“I see,” said Huang Qingxing. “My thanks to Grand Minister Pei for clearing that up.”

The matter of Huang Qingxing’s provisional appointment as Director of Monetary Affairs at the Mint Bureau was thus settled.

……

For all the busyness of official affairs, Pei Shaohuai still made a point of frequently visiting his mentor’s household at the Xu estate.

Each visit could never last very long.

By now it was deep into spring, the warmth gradually returning — yet the mentor’s winter ailment showed no sign of improving. The Xu family was obliged to restrict Master Duan Xu from going out too often.

That day, Pei Shaohuai came by after the offices closed for the evening, and found himself being hurried along by the old mentor. Master Duan Xu lay propped on his side upon a couch, covered with a blanket, and said, “Now that the offices are closed, go home early and spend time with Zhengguan and Yunci. There’s no need to keep running here to see me — you’ve long known this is an old ailment of mine, and it can’t be cured. Come and look today, come and look tomorrow, and it’ll still be the same as the day before.”

Pei Shaohuai let the old mentor urge him on, while at the same time continuing to apply warm compresses to the mentor’s arm to loosen the joints and ease the circulation. He smiled and said, “The old mentor simply thinks your student has never grown up — that he can’t shake the old habit of coming to the schoolroom every day to see his teacher.”

“Have things at court been properly managed?”

“Settled long ago.” Pei Shaohuai told himself he had not let anything show — and the Xu family never discussed the situation at court with Master Duan.

After doing all of this, Pei Shaohuai chatted with the old mentor for a while, and stayed for half an hour before departing as dusk was settling.

After Pei Shaohuai left, Master Duan Xu’s expression grew grave. He called Xu Zhannian inside and said, “Ziheng, go and summon your grandfather.”

“Yes, Master — your student will go at once.” Xu Zhannian felt a start of worry — he feared the mentor had already perceived something.

Before long, Grand Secretary Xu came in, smiling genially. “Brother Duan has summoned me — could it be you’re thinking of going out again? Though I’m afraid I’m not the one with the final say — it’s what the Imperial Physician Wang says that counts.”

“It is these old bones of mine that are no longer of any use, and I must trouble Brother Xu to make this trip.” Master Duan said.

Xu Zhannian withdrew and closed the door behind him.

“Brother Xu, I ask you to tell me honestly — is the court unsettled of late? Is Boyuan caught up in the middle of it?” Master Duan asked with concern.

Xu Zhiyuan had come prepared, yet still hesitated for a moment — and it was precisely that moment that allowed Master Duan to perceive that something was amiss. He said, “Then I’ve guessed correctly.”

Grand Secretary Xu quickly offered reassurance: “The younger generation hid it from you precisely because they feared you would worry. Besides, ‘the gentleman keeps his instrument hidden within himself, waiting for the right moment to act.’ Boyuan is waiting for his opportunity. He is your finest student — you should trust his abilities.”

“I naturally trust his abilities,” said Master Duan. “Only… it is as it was when Brother Xu once rescued me on the mountain, and afterward took me into the Xu household, treating me with the same unchanging warmth for all these decades. Once a bond such as that is formed, it cannot be severed.”

The bony, emaciated hand trembled and was slow to move, yet still reached out to clasp Grand Secretary Xu’s wrist. “With this bond between master and student, how could I not worry about them?”

Grand Secretary Xu bowed his head in thought, then spoke gently to calm his old friend’s distress. “Brother Duan, do not agitate yourself — I will tell you everything.”

After explaining the general situation at court in brief, Grand Secretary Xu said, “Brother Duan should be able to hear from all of this that Boyuan’s every step has been taken with method and order. You can rest easy.”

Master Duan reflected for a long while, then said, “Please, Brother Xu, lead Qianli and Ziheng and the others in lending Boyuan a helping hand.” He analyzed it thus: “From ancient times to the present, however turbulent and treacherous the court may be, whatever schemes and stratagems may be in play, it has always come down to the few words ‘align the weak against the strong or divide and conquer’ — the weak uniting to resist the strong is ‘alignment,’ while the strong sowing discord to fracture the small is ‘division.’ At present, Da Qing is the strong power. If someone harbors treacherous ambitions, their only option is to employ the strategy of ‘alignment.'”

Master Duan continued: “Brother Xu has dealt with foreign envoys for many years, and Qianli and Ziheng have followed that same path and are its inheritors — there must be a way, through the foreign envoys, to learn something of what is afoot.”

More information would mean a better capacity to respond.

What appeared on the surface at court was internal turmoil — but foreign threats were already on their way.

Grand Secretary Xu said, “I understand.”

Only then did Master Duan release his grip and lower himself flat onto the couch. With equal measures of pride and worry, he murmured, “That child Boyuan — for this murky world to become clear and bright, could he alone possibly budge it?”

“Rest easy, Brother Duan,” said Grand Secretary Xu. “He is not the only one who wishes to change this world, and moreover, the steps Boyuan has taken are not too large.”

Only after this exchange did Master Duan’s lingering anxiety finally dissolve.

……

Now, on another front: Pei Shaohuai returned to the estate to find the sky had already turned fully dark.

He stepped down from the carriage; Chang Zhou led the horse off to the stables. Pei Shaohuai picked up his lantern and made his way through the narrow lane, heading toward the side gate and preparing to enter the estate.

A cold gust swept into the lane. The lantern swayed — and then, without warning, a voice drifted down from the top of the wall, unhurried and deeply aloof: “My Southern Embroidered Uniform Guard — has Grand Minister Pei found it of use?” The voice was very familiar.

Pei Shaohuai was startled. He raised the lantern and saw, perched on top of the high wall, a figure as motionless as a stone carving — arms folded across his chest, a Embroidered Spring Blade at his side.

Without even seeing the face, just from that bearing alone, it could only be Yan Chengzhao.

“Could you not give someone a greeting without being this eerie? You gave me quite a fright.”

Past the fright, Pei Shaohuai said with genuine pleasure, “How are you back? According to the confidential report sent back last month, Yan Chengzhao should still have been in the Two Lakes region, managing the upheaval among the various princes.”

Yan Chengzhao leapt down from the wall and replied, “Having been neighbors with Grand Minister Pei for three years, I’ve at least managed to pick up one or two things — enough to understand the opposing faction’s methods.” He too had seen through the opposing faction’s intent — a diversion to draw the tiger from the mountain.

And so Yan Chengzhao had slipped back in secret, leaving the Two Lakes matter temporarily in the hands of his deputy.

“Where are the County Mistress and the two children?”

“All settled in.” Yan Chengzhao replied, “Only Yi’er keeps talking about Little Nan and Little Feng.”

“Once this wave passes, all will be well,” said Pei Shaohuai.

The two men stood side by side and looked up. The bright moon hung in the sky; both their gazes held a trace of quiet melancholy.

Yan Chengzhao suddenly changed the subject and asked, “I heard from His Majesty that you were awarded the golden token of the Southern Embroidered Uniform Guard? It must be newly forged.”

Pei Shaohuai turned his head and asked, “How did you know it was newly made?”

“Because the old one is still on me.” Yan Chengzhao said. “May I have a look at yours?”

Pei Shaohuai graciously produced the golden token from inside his robe and handed it over. In the moonlight, Yan Chengzhao’s face seemed to turn “even colder.” It was only when Pei Shaohuai saw Yan Chengzhao take out his own old token and place the two side by side that he understood why Yan Chengzhao’s expression had turned so frigid. The larger golden token gleamed conspicuously in the moonlight.

Pei Shaohuai hastily “reclaimed” his token from Yan Chengzhao’s hands, smiled awkwardly, and said, “They look to be cast from the same mold — both equally large… equally large, the design very similar as well.”

Yan Chengzhao clasped his hands behind his back and tilted his face upward, sighing, “What a large and bright moon this is.”

“Now that Commissioner Yan has returned, there is just the matter to trouble Commissioner Yan with.” Pei Shaohuai then retrieved a few silver coins of varying sizes from inside his robe and held them out to Yan Chengzhao, saying, “Within a few months, a large batch of counterfeit silver coins may begin to circulate in the south. Ordinary people will be unable to tell the genuine from the false. I would ask Commissioner Yan to follow the trail of these counterfeit coins and locate the opposing faction’s stronghold.”

“Does Grand Minister Pei not have the golden token of the Southern Embroidered Uniform Guard?”

Pei Shaohuai quickly put on his most flattering smile. “What golden token could compare to Commissioner Yan’s personal word? Besides, who could match Commissioner Yan going himself in person?”