*The Eastern Warm Chamber.*

Lu Chonglou stole a glance at Li Chi’s expression, then quickly lowered his head again.

The small movement did not escape Li Chi’s notice. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Just say whatever you want to say. We haven’t forbidden you to speak — you’ve been hemming and hawing until your face has gone strange.”

Li Chi pushed the plate of pastries on the table forward, gesturing that Lu Chonglou was welcome to eat while he talked.

Lu Chonglou rubbed his hands together and said in a small voice, “This subject has been wondering — whether this subject will still be alive by the time Your Majesty’s arrangements are all in order. After all, this subject must be the primary target right now. The danger… the danger is considerable.”

Li Chi smiled. “What do you want?”

Lu Chonglou slowly extended a hand out from his sleeve. “I would like to ask the Emperor… for a little money.”

Li Chi truly could not hold it back. He let out a sudden laugh.

“We have heard that your stipend goes almost entirely unspent — beyond buying books, you have hardly any expenditures to speak of.”

Li Chi looked at Lu Chonglou with some amusement. “You want to ask Us for silver. What for? And how much?”

Lu Chonglou gritted his teeth. “This subject is doing such dangerous work — shouldn’t I be paid more? Just… one thousand taels!”

Li Chi laughed. “Look at your petty ways. You’re sitting there grinding your teeth to say it, and what comes out is a thousand taels? The way you were steeling yourself just now, I thought you’d be asking for a few hundred thousand.”

Lu Chonglou hastily said, “That’s more than enough, more than enough — this subject has calculated it, and a thousand taels should cover it.”

Li Chi asked, “What exactly is it for?”

Lu Chonglou said, “This subject… this subject wants to marry Miss Zhao. The silver this subject has on hand isn’t quite enough. To take a wife properly, to do it through all the right channels — the betrothal gifts still need to be proper.”

Li Chi said, “You want to marry her this soon?”

Lu Chonglou said, “It’s just that… I really like her.”

Li Chi broke out laughing. “You are a senior official of the court, a second-rank post — if word got out that you didn’t have enough money to pay for your own wedding, people wouldn’t only laugh at you, they’d laugh at Us, they’d even laugh at Great Ning. If you’ve made up your mind, We’ll have the Ministry of Finance release the funds and the Ministry of Rites handle the arrangements.”

Lu Chonglou startled, then quickly said, “This subject dares not make such a spectacle of it. This subject was thinking — just invite a few good friends, and of course Your Majesty, to sit down for a meal together. Miss Zhao doesn’t want too much fuss either. She keeps saying she worries it might affect this subject’s reputation.”

Li Chi said, “What is there to worry about in a thing like that? The girl is someone you chose, you are someone she chose — it is mutual and willing. Let people say what they want. Truly, if one were to bring up past histories — We were once a traveling charlatan.”

He stood and stretched. “We’ll release three thousand taels from the Palace Treasury for you. Have the Ministry of Rites handle the wedding arrangements. Take a portion of the three thousand for her betrothal gifts; keep the rest for your household.”

Saying this, he unclipped the pouch hanging at his waist and tipped its contents out onto the table.

Lu Chonglou craned his neck to look. Perhaps ten-odd taels of silver, and the Emperor’s personal seal.

Not the Great Seal of Great Ning — the Emperor’s own private one.

Li Chi counted through the loose silver, picked out the two largest pieces, and held them out to Lu Chonglou. “We personally contribute ten taels in addition!”

Lu Chonglou sighed, then said very carefully, “Before this moment, this subject had thought… that this subject was quite poor…”

Li Chi shot him a look.

Then he started laughing. “One thing — remember this — after you are married, don’t hand all the household money over to your wife to manage.”

Li Chi said this and laughed again, then lowered his voice. “We are waiting for Cao Lie to return. Once Cao Lie is back, We will be somewhat better off.”

Lu Chonglou let out a small laugh.

The Emperor of all Great Ning, and his loose silver — counted out small piece by small piece — didn’t come to fifteen taels all together.

“Silver is hard to come by these days…”

Li Chi sighed. “Back when We were in Ji Prefecture — singing at teahouses, telling stories — wasn’t there money coming in by the fistful every day?”

He looked at Lu Chonglou. “If We were to slip out when We have a free moment and earn a bit of pocket money at a teahouse — that can’t be too difficult, can it?”

Lu Chonglou said, “Your Majesty… the damage to your reputation would be… severe.”

Li Chi made a small sound of agreement. Right, he thought — can’t have it known across all of Great Ning that he was afraid of his wife. Mm. Dignity mattered.

“Your Majesty…”

Lu Chonglou stared at the scattered coins on the table and could not bring himself to take them. After a long moment of hesitation he said, “Or… would this subject lend some to Your Majesty?”

Li Chi: “…”

Lu Chonglou said, “Your Majesty said you would release three thousand taels for this subject — this subject could lend Your Majesty five hundred. Your Majesty need only write this subject a note of debt…”

Hearing this, Li Chi’s eyes suddenly lit up — the gleam of a man who had spotted something extraordinary — as if his gaze were illuminating a whole new continent.

The moment Lu Chonglou saw the Emperor’s eyes go bright like that, he knew things were about to go wrong. Whenever the Emperor’s eyes started to shine, that meant the Emperor had caught the scent of money.

Li Chi leaned forward and murmured, “We were just saying We’d release three thousand taels from the Palace Treasury for you, weren’t We?”

Lu Chonglou said, “Yes… Your Majesty said so just now.”

Li Chi said, “Is that enough?”

Lu Chonglou said, “More than enough, more than enough.”

Li Chi said, “Good, good — as long as it’s enough. We wouldn’t want it said that after all that issuing of funds, the money still wasn’t enough — that would be just as bad for Our reputation.”

Lu Chonglou hurried to say, “Your Majesty, if the Ministry of Rites is handling the wedding, three thousand taels is frankly more than We’d ever spend—”

Li Chi raised his hand and rubbed his temple. “Is that so… Then how about this: We release three thousand to you, you take two thousand five hundred, and We keep back five hundred. This matter—”

Lu Chonglou raised his hand and swore solemnly, “This matter — Heaven knows, Earth knows, Your Majesty knows, and this subject knows. It goes no further than four ears. But… a note of debt?”

Li Chi burst out laughing. “We always knew you were the sensible one.”

Lu Chonglou said, “This subject just feels… watching Your Majesty scheme so hard over five hundred taels is… heartbreaking.”

Li Chi gave him a sideways look. “Five hundred taels? When did We last see a round hundred-tael piece?”

He returned to his seat, settled down, and said, “You just said, We were going to borrow from you, didn’t you say that?”

Lu Chonglou felt a jolt. Wait — hadn’t it been the Emperor offering to write a note of debt just a moment ago? Now somehow it had turned into *him* needing to write one to the Emperor?

From offering to lend the Emperor five hundred taels, to borrowing five hundred taels from the Emperor — one way or another, it seemed about a thousand taels had just vanished into thin air.

Seeing Lu Chonglou’s long-suffering expression, Li Chi laughed. “Who told you to bring up money in front of Us? We haven’t heard the word ‘silver’ in ages — the moment We hear it, Our hands get restless. If We can’t get our hands on some money, We feel like We’re the ones being robbed.”

Lu Chonglou said, “This subject has learned his lesson. If this subject ever again dares to mention silver in front of Your Majesty, this subject will go hang himself from the nearest tree in shame…”

Li Chi said, “Don’t do it inside Weiyang Palace — We’d have to charge you rent for the branch.”

Lu Chonglou let out a long, mournful sigh.

This plan — the entire plan — had from the beginning been Lu Chonglou’s idea. The memorial of five thousand characters had been real; Li Chi had read every word of it and could recite it from memory. So to have Lu Chonglou now claim he was merely taking the fall on the Emperor’s behalf was rather a bit much.

“Lu Chonglou.”

Li Chi looked at him and said, “You thought up so much of this for Us, yet We cannot give you the Chancellor’s seat in reward. We have felt indebted to you for that, in Our heart.”

Lu Chonglou bowed hastily. “What Your Majesty is planning is a matter of ten thousand years for the dynasty. This subject has only done a few small things in Your Majesty’s service. For Your Majesty to speak this way makes this subject feel deeply uneasy and at a loss…”

Li Chi asked, “How uneasy and at a loss?”

Lu Chonglou paused. The question seemed to be asking for a specific level of unease — something like, maximum unease?

Li Chi said, “Let’s put it in terms of silver — if We took another five hundred taels from you, would the unease go away? Would you feel settled? At peace?”

Lu Chonglou: “!!!”

Li Chi laughed and clapped Lu Chonglou on the shoulder. “Another five hundred out — wouldn’t your heart feel steadier? No more unease, no more being at a loss?”

—