The reason Xuanwumen was so thick with distinguished people was not only its proximity to the Imperial City, but also the many moneylenders situated there. The people who came and went all carried large banknotes with them, and the place was steeped in wealth.

Chen Baoxiang moved through it feeling small and poor, lamenting inwardly that the fortune she had accumulated was still far, far short of what she needed.

“Which direction is the Xiaohui Moneylender?” she asked.

Wang Wu went to inquire and came back to point the way. “Over where the crowd is thickest.”

“It’s a fine neighborhood indeed — even a moneylender can draw a crowd this large — wait a moment?”

Chen Baoxiang squinted and stretched up on her toes. “Why does it look like there’s a fight up ahead?”

“In reply, my lord — they say it’s a money dispute. Seven or eight enforcers have surrounded a young girl.”

She had once been chased and beaten by enforcers with no one stepping in to help — but that was beside the point. This was a public road, and with so many bystanders, not one of them was going to intervene?

“Stand down!” She immediately brought her people forward.

The enforcers were a fierce-looking lot. They looked her up and down. Instead of retreating, they called out a challenge: “Which yamen are you from? You think you can interfere in our business!”

She produced the golden, gleaming authorization token of the Bureau of Industry.

The enforcer was utterly unintimidated. “Hmph. That yamen has no jurisdiction over us.”

With that, he raised his boot again to kick the child on the ground.

Chen Baoxiang swung her scabbard crosswise, landing it precisely in the path of his leg.

“What are you doing!”

— The enforcer wanted to shout exactly that, but before he could, the female official across from him had already shouted it — louder than he ever could have.

Chen Baoxiang clutched her blade protectively, eyes storming with anger. “This official is walking along on a perfectly peaceful road, and you kick me?”

“Someone come and seize him!”

“Yes, my lord!” The people behind her responded, and immediately moved forward.

The enforcer was dumbfounded, and hurriedly called out to the shopkeeper inside.

The shopkeeper came rushing out, took one look at Chen Baoxiang, and bowed with a smile. “My lord officer, you may not be aware — this scoundrel owes our moneylender money and refuses to pay, and then had the audacity to attempt to set fire to our premises. We haven’t beaten her to death already, which is quite generous of us.”

“Nonsense!” the girl on the ground spat. “You’re the ones who devour people without spitting out the bones, you demons!”

Chen Baoxiang pulled the girl up and pushed her behind her, then addressed the shopkeeper: “In that case, allow me to take her into custody.”

The shopkeeper hesitated slightly, watching her with a calculated smile. “Lord officer, this child speaks nothing but nonsense — you can’t take her word for anything. Our establishment has Commander Lu as guarantor. We run a most legitimate operation.”

“Commander Lu?” Chen Baoxiang narrowed her eyes. “Commander Lu Shouhuai?”

“The very same.”

She was silent for a moment, then smiled. “If Commander Lu is your guarantor, then this is simple. I’ll take her off your hands and deal with her for you.”

“Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you, my lord.” The shopkeeper assumed she was on the same side, and instantly relaxed, bowing as he allowed her to take the girl away.

The girl, her face caked with soot and grime, had been listening to their exchange and made to bolt — but Chen Baoxiang had already caught hold of her collar.

“Let go of me! You’re all corrupt officials! Let go!” The girl struggled and kicked.

Chen Baoxiang dragged her by the collar with an intimidating air toward a nearby alley, every movement suggesting she was about to make someone disappear permanently.

But once they turned into an alley with no one around, she nodded toward Zhao Huaizhu. “Keep the entrance sealed.”

“Understood.”

The girl, who had been kicking furiously, was deposited onto a pile of straw. Chen Baoxiang sat down on a dry water jar opposite her, crossed her legs, and asked, “You tried to set fire to their shop?”

The girl stared at her red-eyed and said nothing.

Chen Baoxiang gave a quiet, amused snort, reached into her sleeve, and produced a steamed meat bun, extending it toward the girl.

The pale bun wrapper was seeping with the fragrance of braised meat.

The girl’s eyes went wide. Without a word, she snatched it and began eating.

She seemed to have been hungry for a very long time. She ate without pausing for breath and within moments had choked herself — patting her own chest furiously.

Chen Baoxiang quickly held out her water flask.

The girl swallowed the water and the rest of the bun, then stared at her in stunned silence for a moment before suddenly starting to cry. “You’re not going to kill me?”

“Kill you for what? You don’t even have two taels of meat on your arms.” She shook her head. “I want to ask you why you tried to start a fire.”

“That — that moneylender takes advantage of people.” The girl sobbed loudly. “The year before last, there was a drought, and the harvest failed. That moneylender came to the villages offering loans — they said borrow eight thousand coins and repay four taels the following year. When the time came, they showed up with a changed contract demanding we repay forty taels.”

“We couldn’t repay it, so they took our field deeds as collateral, saying that once we had a harvest the following year we could redeem them. But last year, when the harvest finally came in and we managed to grow some grain, those heaven-cursed demons set fire to it at night and burned everything we had worked so hard to grow to ashes. And then the redemption price went from forty taels per acre to four hundred taels per acre.”

“Our family only borrowed eight thousand coins from them, and in the end we owe over a thousand taels in debt! They’re a black-hearted den of thieves that devours people, and the authorities just protect them. If you were me — wouldn’t you set fire to the place?”

The girl cried so hard she could barely catch her breath. Tears carved trail after trail down her soot-blackened face.

Chen Baoxiang found herself feeling unsettled listening to it. She produced a handkerchief and wiped the girl’s face as she asked, “Which village are you from?”

“Yanglin Village.”

“Yanglin Village?” Chen Baoxiang looked up, something catching her attention. “The Yanglin Village in An County?”

“Yes.”

Chen Baoxiang went still for a moment, then asked hesitantly, “Is there a family with the surname Ye in your village?”

The girl sniffled, looking at her with confusion. “My family is Ye. My grandmother was called Ye Qionglan. There used to be just the two of us left in the family, and now there’s only me.”

Ye Qionglan.

The older woman before her suddenly became agitated, grabbing her by the arm. “Your name is Han Xiao, isn’t it? Ye Han Xiao.”

Ye Han Xiao was startled. “How do you know that?”

Her lips trembled slightly. Chen Baoxiang took a deep breath and struggled to rein in her emotions. “I know you. I’ve known about you for a very long time — long, long ago.”

Ye Han Xiao stared at her in shock. “You knew our family when we were still prosperous?”

But that didn’t seem right either. “The crime our family committed was no small thing. Grandmother said that anyone with even a brush of connection to officialdom either distanced themselves from us completely, or turned around and kicked us while we were down. How could anyone still care about me?”

She looked at her with suspicion.

The older woman in front of her seemed to be about seventeen or eighteen — red lips, white teeth, dressed in a striking official’s robe. She clearly had money.

But she seemed deeply pained. Her head dropped gently onto the girl’s small shoulder, trembling slightly, and she did not lift it for a long while.

As though she were crying.

Ye Han Xiao was utterly bewildered.

She was only twelve years old. She did not understand why this older woman was crying — but considering that the woman had given her a bun just a little while ago, she straightened her shoulders and made the effort to bear up under the weight, doing her best to keep her from falling.