Gui Yuanshu said to Maijie: “If I’m right, your patron Lord Wang is already in their hands right now. If you go over there, you’re walking straight into their net.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Maijie said. “I asked what we should do.”

“Simple.”

“Then say it, Lord Gui.”

“Three hundred taels.”

Maijie stared. “You’re joking.”

“This is a matter of saving your life. You think that’s a small thing?”

“Three hundred taels,” Maijie said. “Not a coin more.”

“Done.”

Gui Yuanshu put out his hand. “Silver.”

Maijie’s eyes went wide. He looked at Gui Yuanshu slowly. “…Did I just walk into this?”

“That was entirely within the normal range of negotiation,” Gui Yuanshu said. “Don’t you dare weasel out of it.”

Maijie, to his credit, was not a man who dragged his feet. He produced three hundred taels and handed them over. “Now can you actually tell me what we’re doing?”

Gui Yuanshu pocketed the silver with great satisfaction, gave it a small pat, and smiled.

“They’ve taken control of the Prefect and called for you. The moment you step inside, they’ll seize you — no, they’ll kill you outright. But here’s something they won’t see coming: you could save them the trouble and kill yourself first. They’ll never expect that.”

Maijie stared at him. “Scare them — with my own *death.* Which would require my *life.* Lord Gui, can you be serious for one moment.”

Gui Yuanshu smiled. “Here’s what you actually do. Take all your men and go to the Prefecture right now. They haven’t dared come to the cells because they don’t know your strength. But as far as they’re concerned, you’re already a dead man. So you might as well just — do it.”

“Do what, exactly, when you say ‘just do it’?”

“I know you’ve already packed up everything of value,” Gui Yuanshu said, “and I know it’s not being kept down here.”

Maijie said nothing. Because that was exactly right.

“Burn the cells,” Gui Yuanshu continued. “Take every man you have, push out, and when you’re clear — burn the Prefecture too.”

Maijie looked at him. “Do you genuinely not care how large this gets?”

“The person who doesn’t want this to get large,” Gui Yuanshu said, “isn’t you or me. It’s the people from the Prince of Wu’s estate. They leave the city the morning after tomorrow. If something this big blows up now, they’ll be caught in the middle of it.”

“That’s burning the *Prefecture!*”

“Take it or leave it,” Gui Yuanshu said, and headed for the door.

Maijie followed, talking at his back. “If I actually burn the Prefecture, I have no standing left in this city. There’s nowhere to hide — the court will dig us out from under the ground.”

“That depends on how it gets reported,” Gui Yuanshu said. “The Prince of Wu’s people are tangled up in it. They’ll be trying to keep their own heads down.”

Maijie took a breath. Then: “Fine. Who in their right mind told me to get on your boat.”

He turned back to his men and raised his voice. “Burn the gambling house. Get out and burn the Prefecture. Then scatter — regroup at the City God Temple on the west side tonight.”

“Yes!”

Not a man among them questioned the order. Whatever Maijie said, they moved.

They upended the wine stores, splashed liquor across every surface, and set the cells ablaze. Within minutes, black smoke was billowing through the underground.

The group surged upward and out, charging through the Prefecture. The constables barely understood what was happening before they were shoved outside. Then a torch went in, and the great hall of the Daxing Prefecture began to burn.

It was the dry depths of the tenth month — crisp autumn air, no rain for days. The fire took hold eagerly.

The moment the hall went up, the compound behind it erupted in chaos. Cai Nan came running out of Wang Zhanjian’s study, took one look at the columns of smoke rising against the sky, and understood at once.

Someone sophisticated had done this. By escalating to this scale, they had left the Prince of Wu’s estate no clean way to stay involved. Even if the Emperor backed the Princess Consort completely — and he would — any further involvement now would require explanations for why the Daxing Prefecture had been burned to the ground.

Cai Nan looked back once at Wang Zhanjian, made a silent decision, and called out: “We’re pulling back.”

She had her people withdraw just as Zhao Luan arrived with reinforcements — but not the estate guard she had gone to request.

The Princess Consort had refused to authorize sending the estate’s own soldiers against the Daxing Prefecture. That would have been a public humiliation for the court, and no matter what was being left behind, it was not the way.

Cai Nan said to Zhao Luan: “Someone’s stirring this up deliberately — burned the Prefecture to make everything as complicated as possible. We need to report back to the Princess Consort first.”

With the Prefecture in flames and the estate’s people now visibly connected to it, the Princess Consort would be furious. Zhao Luan did not argue. She pulled her people back as well.

Gui Yuanshu, meanwhile, was standing in the crowd that had gathered to watch, and he permitted himself a quiet smile as the estate’s people retreated.

Maijie grabbed his arm. “What now?”

“We help put the fire out,” Gui Yuanshu said. “Hurry. We don’t want it spreading to the neighboring buildings. The Prefecture burning is one thing — burning the whole street is another.”

“You want me to go back in there and fight the fire I just started,” Maijie said, “and have the Prefect see my face and throttle me with his bare hands.”

“Prefect Wang,” Gui Yuanshu said, “won’t be in a position to see anyone.”

Maijie frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I took your silver and promised to keep you alive. That means I had to let someone else take your place.”

—

*Behind the Prefecture compound:*

Cai Nan’s team had only just withdrawn when Wang Zhanjian, who had been too frightened to move, finally steadied himself and stepped toward the door.

A figure in constable’s uniform came through first.

“What’s happening out there?”

Wang Zhanjian got a look at the constable’s face — and stopped. He did not know this man. There weren’t many constables left in the Daxing Prefecture; he knew all of them.

“Who are you?!”

The constable took a step forward, grabbed Wang Zhanjian by the mouth, and pushed him back inside.

“I looked into whether you deserved to die, Lord Wang. Turns out once isn’t enough to answer for all you’ve done to innocent people.”

One swift cut across the throat. The constable turned and shouted into the corridor: “Something’s happened! The Prefect has been attacked!”

The outer room had been covered by constables on duty, but they had gone to the cells to find Maijie and not yet returned.

The constable who had killed Wang Zhanjian shouted and raised the alarm — and in the commotion that followed, slipped out of the compound and disappeared.

—

*Not long after. Shiyuan Palace.*

Yu Wenli bowed his head. “Your Majesty, there is something troubling about this matter. The Prince of Wu’s estate — why would they attack a court official without provocation?”

The Emperor’s expression was strained. “I don’t believe it either. Imperial Aunt is about to leave Daxing City. Why would she bother killing a man who has nothing to do with her?”

“And yet,” Yu Wenli said, “it cannot be explained away. There are witnesses who place Cai Nan — the Princess Consort’s personal attendant — in Wang Zhanjian’s study. The moment she left, his body was found. His throat had been cut. A clean, single strike.”

“What about the people who burned the Prefecture?”

The Emperor turned to the Bingmasi commander, Jin Jieyin.

Jin Jieyin bowed. “We brought back several constables for questioning. They say the men who set the fires were from an underground gambling operation — apparently running a house in the Prefecture’s own cells, with Wang Zhanjian taking a cut.”

The Emperor’s voice sharpened. “Then he deserved what he got.”

“There is more,” Jin Jieyin continued. “Before Wang Zhanjian was killed, he dispatched several constables to escort three individuals safely out of the Prefecture compound. At that time, both Cai Nan and Zhao Luan were present in the compound — and both had spoken with those three people.”

“Who are these three? What are their backgrounds?”

“We have since detained them. Under questioning, we learned they are the staff of an inn here in the city.”

Jin Jieyin looked at the Emperor. “They confessed that the previous night, there was a murder at their inn — and then the inn was burned to the ground.”

The Emperor’s brow had been steadily deepening. “And how does any of this connect to Imperial Aunt?”

Jin Jieyin said: “They are outside the hall now, Your Majesty. Do you wish to question them yourself?”

“Bring them in.”

A few minutes later, the innkeeper and his two companions were brought before the Emperor, fell immediately to their knees, and confirmed, in trembling voices, everything they knew.

The Emperor looked to Yu Wenli when they had finished. “So. A steward was suddenly dismissed from the Prince of Wu’s estate and left with four others. Five of them together at that inn. Then in the night, people from the gambling house go to the inn to kill everyone — and burn it afterward.”

He looked at Yu Wenli. “So Imperial Aunt’s people went to Wang Zhanjian out of fear that this would become a public scandal?”

Yu Wenli shook his head. “Your Majesty, the pieces don’t fit.”

“Explain.”

“Even to hide a scandal, there would be no reason to kill a court official. And burning the Prefecture? That is simply not how the Princess Consort operates.”

He held the Emperor’s gaze. “That is the first problem. The second: those gambling-house people — why would they be bold enough to kill five people from the Prince of Wu’s estate? Even dismissed servants are still connected to the estate by reputation.”

“And third,” he continued, “people who act with that kind of recklessness are people who urgently need to conceal something.”

The Emperor listened, nodded slowly, and murmured: “But what is it they needed to hide?”

At that moment, the young eunuch Yuan Ying came in from outside and bowed. “Your Majesty. Lord-Heir Xia Houzhu requests an audience.”

The Emperor’s expression shifted. Xia Houzhu — and all of this happening now. Could there be a connection?

“Show him in.”

—

*Moments later, outside the hall:*

Li Chi stood waiting at the entrance to Shiyuan Palace while the summons was delivered inside.

The young eunuch Yuan Ying came back out, glanced at Li Chi, and lowered his voice. “My Lord, His Majesty’s mood is not well today. Please choose your words carefully.”

Li Chi bowed his head in thanks. “I’m grateful for the warning, Public.”

Yuan Ying: “Then please follow me, my Lord. But carefully — carefully.”

They entered the eastern study together. The Emperor looked at Li Chi without warmth. “What brings you here without notice?”

Li Chi said: “There is a matter I’ve been turning over, and I believe I must bring it to Your Majesty’s attention. Last night, a badly injured man appeared at Yibin Court asking for shelter. He said someone was trying to kill him.”

The Emperor’s frown deepened. “Who seeks refuge by running to you? If someone encounters danger in Daxing City, the proper course is to report to the authorities.”

Li Chi sighed. “I couldn’t quite understand it myself. The man was too gravely injured — he said only a few words before losing consciousness. He said he was a steward of the Prince’s estate. His name is Xu Ke.”

“A steward of the Prince’s estate?”

“The Prince of Wu’s estate,” Li Chi confirmed. “He said he had been hunted, that someone wanted to silence him.”

The Emperor’s eyes went wide.

—