Li Chi and his companions waited by the roadside for an entire morning without seeing any merchant caravan pass through. The border was still locked in bitter fighting, and this was simply no time for merchant convoys to be traveling. It was especially suspicious given that the New Year was just around the corner, yet the Xinzhou Liu Family was pressing Liu Shanshen — Liu Yingyuan’s father — to lead a merchant convoy out of the city. Nothing about it made sense.

Since no caravan appeared, they talked it over and agreed that Liu Shanshen had probably refused Liu Wenju’s demands. Regardless, a trip to Xinzhou City had become unavoidable.

Riding two large carts, the four of them traveled for a little over an hour before reaching the city gates of Xinzhou. Li Chi produced the waist token of Prince Yu’s estate, and the gate soldiers who had been strutting with arrogant airs immediately changed their tune.

Looking at Li Chi and his companions — travel-worn and dusty as they were — they seemed nothing like people from a prince’s estate. Yet the waist token was as genuine as genuine could be, and no matter how suspicious the soldiers were, they didn’t dare cause trouble.

Who would gamble on something like that?

If you gambled and guessed right, all you’d have is a few people arrested. If you guessed wrong, you’d bring disaster down on your own head.

Li Chi asked the officer in charge: “Do you know where the Liu Family of Xinzhou is located?”

The officer quickly pointed in a direction and said: “Follow the main street forward, pass two intersections, then turn left — the Liu Family’s estate isn’t far from there.”

Li Chi asked: “Did any Liu Family merchant convoy leave the city today?”

The officer answered: “No. With the north at war, what merchant convoy would dare conduct business at a time like this? And with the New Year almost here — aren’t they just asking for trouble?”

Li Chi gave a small sound of acknowledgment but offered no thanks.

Offering thanks wouldn’t fit the imperious bearing expected of someone from a prince’s estate.

What bearing should people from a prince’s estate have? Xiahou Zuo’s devil-may-care attitude probably didn’t even count. If you truly wanted to capture the essence of how people from a prince’s estate carried themselves, you’d have to look at the estate’s servants — they embodied it most vividly.

Li Chi felt he was currently projecting roughly three to five parts of that essence.

As they walked, Yu Jiuling said: “We can’t very well just march straight to the Liu Family’s door. We need some way to gather information first.”

Li Chi said: “As long as the person hasn’t left the city, things are still manageable. Liu Wenju may be bold, but he shouldn’t dare kill anyone inside his own home. Let’s find a place to stay first, and I’ll arrange some proper attire in a while.”

They didn’t go to an inn — that would cost money.

Instead, they went straight to the official post station. First, ordinary people had virtually no chance of staying there. Second, it was free.

Again relying on Prince Yu’s estate waist token, the post station staff rushed to receive them. Li Chi spun a lie — that they had been ambushed by bandits on the road and gotten covered in filth from the fighting, so they needed to stay at the post station, wash up and change clothes, and then investigate who in Xinzhou City was bold enough to rob people from Prince Yu’s estate.

The post station staff heard this and knew trouble was brewing. Quick-minded as they were, they tended to Li Chi and his companions with one hand while sending someone to report to the Xinzhou Prefecture Office with the other.

If people from Prince Yu’s estate were robbed outside Xinzhou City and the Prefecture officials pretended not to know, who could say what troubles might follow?

Serving important figures meant the subordinates always had to maintain one attitude: no matter how small a matter, never treat it as small.

Better to serve incorrectly than to not serve at all.

Li Chi gave the post station staff some silver, had his height and shoulder width measured, and asked them to go purchase a few new garments.

After bathing, the post station staff had already bought the clothes back. Most tailors in the city didn’t sell ready-made garments — the clothes on display were just samples, and it normally took three to five days to have anything made. But Li Chi and his companions had a different kind of status, which meant it had to be possible.

Li Chi had barely finished changing when the officials from the Xinzhou Prefecture arrived — and in impressive numbers. The Prefect, the Deputy Prefect, and the Chief Constable had all come, with a sizable retinue in tow.

Xinzhou was a small prefecture. The Prefect held a rank of Junior Fifth Grade, and the Deputy Prefect was a Senior Sixth Grade. These weren’t especially high positions, yet they were still the chief officials of an entire prefecture. Even so, when the Prefect laid eyes on Li Chi, he immediately broke into a broad, ingratiating smile.

Prefect Cui Hansheng came from a distinguished background. The Cui Family of Xinling had a formidable reputation — during the Zhou dynasty, they had for a long period of time wielded overwhelming influence at court.

But after the establishment of Dachu, the Cui Family had fallen into relative decline, and Cui Hansheng was not even from the Xinling main household, so he didn’t dare show the slightest disrespect toward a prince’s estate.

Li Chi clasped his hands in salute and bowed: “I greet you, Prefect.”

Cui Hansheng quickly reached out to support Li Chi, while Li Chi had already decided just how large a banner he intended to wave.

Cui Hansheng cautiously asked about Li Chi’s position in the estate, then carefully probed what had brought them to Xinzhou.

Li Chi said: “My surname is Li, given name Chi. I am sworn brother to Xiahou Zuo.”

He hadn’t even finished the sentence when a subtle change came over Cui Hansheng’s expression, and his manner became even more deferential.

“So you are General Xiahou’s sworn brother!”

Cui Hansheng quickly clasped his hands: “My deepest respects.”

Li Chi said: “Are you aware that Xiahou is currently leading troops at Daizhou Pass to resist the enemy?”

Cui Hansheng immediately replied: “I am, I am. Word arrived just a couple of days ago.”

Li Chi said: “The Prince only just received the news and was deeply alarmed. He is dispatching a large force to head for Daizhou Pass while sending us ahead to protect Xiahou. But as we were passing outside this very city, we were ambushed by a gang of assailants. Had we not been reasonably skilled in martial arts, we might well have perished at their hands.”

He paused briefly, then continued: “We killed several of the bandits. Their bodies were left in a grove about thirty li outside the city, covered with dry grass. You may now dispatch men to retrieve them. Perhaps their clothing can offer clues as to who they were—”

Yu Jiuling tugged at Li Chi and whispered in his ear: “What clothing? We stripped them bare.”

“Ah…”

Li Chi put on an expression of sudden remembrance and smiled: “Forgive my memory — we actually brought the bandits’ clothing with us. They also had a few things on their persons.”

Li Chi turned back to look at Yu Jiuling, who promptly produced the stripped clothing and the items taken from the bandits and handed them over to the officials.

Li Chi said: “Although we managed to kill some of the bandits, they did make off with quite a few of our belongings — including items the Prince sent us to deliver to General Xiahou, as well as a chest of silver…”

Upon hearing this, Cui Hansheng felt his head might split open.

If what Li Chi said was true, and this case was handled poorly, one word of displeasure from Prince Yu and his position as Xinzhou Prefect would be finished — and that was the optimistic outcome. At worst, he might be banished and conscripted into military service.

“Investigate!”

Cui Hansheng immediately declared: “A thorough investigation must be conducted. Li Gongzi, rest assured — I pledge to you here and now that I will give you an account, and give the Prince’s estate an account!”

Li Chi gave a sound of acknowledgment, feigned a moment of thought, and then said: “I seemed to hear, vaguely, that those men were originally intending to rob a merchant convoy belonging to your Xinzhou Liu Family, and mistook us for them. Hmm — with the New Year almost upon us, the Liu Family’s caravan is still setting out?”

Cui Hansheng felt a jolt of alarm in his chest.

He had always maintained an intimate relationship with Liu Wenju, who had given him many gifts over the years. If this case ended up implicating Liu Wenju, that might not be good for him.

Knowing Liu Wenju as well as he did, he shuddered to think what that man might have gotten up to.

Liu Wenju’s family had once fallen into ruin. He had received a relative’s financial support in Jizhou City to rebuild his fortune, and Cui Hansheng had been deeply involved in that process. Not long after Liu Wenju returned from Jizhou, he took more than half the silver Liu Shanshen had given him and offered it all to Cui Hansheng — and in return, Cui Hansheng granted him a favor: permission to open gambling houses in the city.

Xinzhou was a border city, frequented by merchant convoys and traders from the grasslands, so gambling business flourished naturally.

Over two or three years of accumulated growth, Liu Wenju had opened three more gambling halls and two brothels in Xinzhou City, built a tavern, and had nearly monopolized all trade between Xinzhou and the grassland merchants.

Within just a few years, Liu Wenju’s personal fortune had expanded rapidly — and so had his arrogance.

When Cui Hansheng heard Li Chi mention the Xinzhou Liu Family, he quickly said: “This is indeed a lead worth pursuing.”

He turned to the Xinzhou Chief Constable, Qi Dian: “Keep all the evidence Li Gongzi brought in safe custody and investigate carefully. And immediately dispatch men to bring back those bandits’ bodies.”

Qi Dian leaned close to examine the clothing — and a certain smell hit his nose.

Yu Jiuling said from the side: “There probably isn’t much evidence left on the bodies.”

Qi Dian replied: “Rest assured — I have spent many years solving cases, and no detail escapes my notice. The bodies are evidence too. I am certain something will be found.”

Yu Jiuling, picturing those men he had stripped nearly bare, let out a soft sigh: “Very well. I’ll leave it in the Chief Constable’s capable hands.”

Cui Hansheng exchanged a few more pleasantries, then invited Li Chi to dine at the Prefecture Office. Li Chi declined with a display of dissatisfaction, claiming he was too exhausted and would call on them the following day.

Cui Hansheng, seeing this, concluded that the man was furious — and understandably so. People from a prince’s estate getting robbed on the road — who wouldn’t be livid?

Once back in his cart, Cui Hansheng turned to Qi Dian and said: “Don’t rush out of the city. Go to the Liu household first and find out what Liu Wenju has been doing.”

Qi Dian frowned: “Doesn’t seem right — surely Liu Wenju’s own merchant convoy wasn’t robbed by his own people?”

Cui Hansheng snapped: “I told you to ask, so go ask!”

Qi Dian immediately nodded: “Yes, yes, yes — brother-in-law, whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do.”

Cui Hansheng heaved a sigh. This useless man — if not for the fact that he, Cui Hansheng, was the Xinzhou Prefect, could he ever have become Chief Constable?

He was silent for a moment, then said: “Liu Wenju is not a simple man. Don’t be too polite when you go. Just say there’s been a major problem, and let him know he should tell you everything he knows.”

Qi Dian said: “Understood, I’ll ask him straight out — did you do it, did you send men to rob your own merchant convoy? Good heavens, what kind of deranged act is that for a person to commit!”

Cui Hansheng looked at Qi Dian and heaved another heavy sigh.

—

At the post station.

Li Chi glanced at the station master with a smile that gave the man a start.

Li Chi asked: “Is the Liu Family of Xinzhou very prominent?”

The station master hurried to answer: “They are considered the largest business family in the city. Most of the gambling halls and brothels in the city belong to the Liu Family.”

Li Chi gave a soft sound of understanding, thinking to himself — a person who runs gambling halls and brothels, how could they possibly have clean hands?

After asking a few more questions about the Liu Family, he turned and walked back to his room. Smiling, he said: “Let’s divide tasks. The Liu Family’s biggest businesses are the brothels and the gambling halls. We’ll split into two groups — one group goes to the brothel, one to the gambling hall. We’ll scout out the situation first.”

Changmei the Daoist shifted awkwardly: “I’m not much good at gambling.”

Mister Yan narrowed his eyes and looked at him.

Changmei quickly explained: “I’m being serious.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Then how about this — Li Chi and I go to the gambling hall, and you and Mister Yan go to the brothel.”

Yan Qingzhi was taken aback: “Why must I go too?”

Changmei looked at him with a pitiful, pleading flutter of his eyes. Left with no choice, Yan Qingzhi said: “Fine, I’ll go… but I don’t have any money.”

Li Chi said: “We have two big chests of it on the cart…”

Yu Jiuling said: “When all is said and done, we have the second-in-command of Yanshan Camp to thank for donating these funds for our brothel-going endeavors.”

Changmei’s face flushed faintly, and Mister Yan turned to look out the window.

—