The official post station. Deep night.

Gao Xining carried a bowl of freshly brewed soup and set it beside Li Chi. She glanced at him — he was deep in thought — and her heart ached a little.

After setting the bowl down, she walked softly around behind him and began gently kneading his shoulders to help him relax.

Li Chi raised his hand and took hold of hers, turning to give her a small smile.

“Still not going to rest?” Gao Xining asked.

Li Chi shook his head. “A little longer. I’m waiting for Ninth Sister to come back.”

“Are you certain Ninth Sister won’t be seen through?” Gao Xining asked. “Disguising herself as a Court of Judicial Review officer and going to arrest people at the Heroes’ Assembly camp?”

“If someone were going to investigate this matter,” Li Chi said, “based on what I know of Gui Yuanshu, he would go to the Finance Ministry’s silver vault first — not the Heroes’ Assembly camp.”

Gao Xining thought it over, but couldn’t quite grasp the crux of his reasoning.

She was a perceptive girl, but that didn’t mean she could instantly see to the heart of every person and every situation. Everyone grows without stopping — some faster, some slower — and she was no different.

The reason she couldn’t see the crux of it was simply that she didn’t truly know Gui Yuanshu or Jiang Qianneng.

Li Chi smiled and explained. “Deep down, people always have those they hold closer and those they hold at a distance — and sometimes it’s an instinctive reaction they don’t even notice themselves.”

“For example?” Gao Xining asked.

“For example,” Li Chi answered, “take this missing treasury silver. Even if Gui Yuanshu knows full well that Jiang Qianneng didn’t die and is hiding somewhere in the Court of Judicial Review — he still wants to prove his friend’s innocence.”

Li Chi took a sip of water and rose to stretch his legs, speaking as he paced. “Gui Yuanshu doesn’t want his friend to carry an unjust name. The Emperor has already branded Jiang Qianneng a criminal, but that doesn’t stop Gui Yuanshu from believing the man was wronged. He doesn’t want any more filth piled onto Jiang Qianneng’s head. A man like him will do everything in his power to help his friends.”

Gao Xining understood. “So Gui Yuanshu will definitely go to the silver vault first. As long as the vault turns up irregularities — as long as it’s proven the silver didn’t go missing from the Ministry of War — then none of it has anything to do with Jiang Qianneng.”

Li Chi nodded. “What Gui Yuanshu fears is that certain people will use the opportunity to pin the vault affair on Jiang Qianneng, letting the others escape blame. He doesn’t want those others to escape blame — so he’ll keep his eyes locked firmly on the vault.”

“And to get to the bottom of whether the vault really has problems,” Gao Xining continued, “Gui Yuanshu would have to bring all the people he recalled back in to conduct a full count. Three or five men couldn’t possibly tally a treasury vault.”

“Our people spotted the chief of the Palace Guard, Hui Chunqiu, leaving the Shiyuan Palace together with Gui Yuanshu,” Li Chi said. “That tells us the Emperor himself suspects something is wrong with the vault — he sent Hui Chunqiu along to back Gui Yuanshu up.”

He looked over at Gao Xining. “Gui Yuanshu holds the imperial blade the Emperor granted him, so getting into the vault won’t be too difficult for him. But someone must keep watch over the Court of Judicial Review officials conducting the audit — that watcher is Hui Chunqiu, a man who has to both support Gui Yuanshu and keep an eye on him. He is the Emperor’s eyes.”

Li Chi smiled. “Since the Emperor suspects there’s something wrong with the vault, I’ll help him give the vault a thorough turning-over. After all, this matter is something I had a hand in.”

Gao Xining understood completely now.

She smiled. “So Yu Jiuling leading people disguised as Court of Judicial Review officers won’t arouse any suspicion at the Heroes’ Assembly camp.”

Li Chi gave a quiet sound of agreement. “It’s just that our friend Gui will have to suffer another small grievance.”

Gao Xining shook her head with a smile. “You really are genuinely wicked.”

“I think so too,” Li Chi said cheerfully.

By now it was deep into the night — and this particular night was fated to be one where many people couldn’t sleep at all.

The treasury guards, for instance. The Finance Ministry officials. Gui Yuanshu and Hui Chunqiu. And Dachu’s Emperor himself.

Just past the second watch of the night, the head eunuch Zhen Xiaodao came in from outside and lowered his voice to rouse the Emperor, who had only just lain down.

In truth, the Emperor hadn’t been able to sleep at all — he simply had a headache and had closed his eyes hoping to rest for a while.

“What happened?” the Emperor asked.

Zhen Xiaodao’s expression was uncommonly grim. He replied in a hushed voice: “Your Majesty — Lord Gui and Lord Hui have found a problem at the silver vault. A very serious problem.”

The Emperor sat bolt upright. He rose too quickly, and his headache flared with sudden violence.

Shortly after, the Imperial Study.

Gui Yuanshu was on one knee reporting, and he alone had hurried back to Shiyuan Palace to brief the Emperor on the situation. Hui Chunqiu had remained at the Finance Ministry’s silver vault to stand watch, and a detachment of Palace Guards had been dispatched there through the night.

Every official of the Finance Ministry — including the general and soldiers guarding the vault — had been placed under house arrest within the ministry’s offices. No one was permitted to leave, and anyone who attempted to do so without permission would be struck down on the spot.

“How serious is it?” the Emperor asked, rubbing his temples.

Gui Yuanshu bowed low. “Your Majesty… very serious. The vault… is empty.”

A loud ringing erupted inside the Emperor’s head. His vision went dark for a moment, and his hand instinctively gripped the edge of the desk — the only thing that kept him from falling.

“Empty?” he murmured, repeating the word to himself.

“What has been confirmed so far,” Gui Yuanshu said, “is that the vault was emptied not long after Your Majesty ordered the disbursement of one hundred thousand taels to construct the arena platform.”

He lifted his head and looked at the Emperor, then gave him a full and faithful account of what had been confirmed.

Not long ago, Prime Minister Yao Zhidong and Finance Minister Zheng Tuohai had both arrived at the vault at the same time and demanded a full count of the silver.

After the count at that time, it was confirmed that the vault still held two million eight hundred thousand taels. For an entire nation, having only that much silver on hand was already a frightening state of affairs.

If those two hundred-odd million taels were used to outfit Dachu’s regular garrison troops, full battle dress, armor, and weapons for each soldier would cost at least fifty or sixty taels apiece — and that wasn’t counting anything else.

Two hundred-plus million taels. Enough, at most, to equip fifty thousand new garrison soldiers.

And that was only equipment. It didn’t cover mobilization — and the logistical cost of moving a great army was staggering.

On that very day, Prime Minister Yao Zhidong and Finance Minister Zheng Tuohai had secretly transferred all two million eight hundred thousand taels out, claiming the silver would be away for roughly ten days and would be returned in full, safely, within that time.

The vault guards, naturally, did not dare to obstruct them. After all, their own livelihoods and lives were bound up with the Finance Minister’s — they knew perfectly well how much silver the Finance Minister had moved out of the vault over the years. When the powerful eat the meat, those below get to sip the broth. They had all taken their share. They were all accomplices. Who among them dared to block it, or even ask questions?

By the time the Emperor heard this much, his face had gone white as paper.

“Where did they take the silver?”

Gui Yuanshu bowed. “Your servant resorted to the use of punishment. The general guarding the vault, Ding Sheng, confessed to some of it — though in truth he didn’t know a great deal.”

“He only knew that the Prime Minister and the criminal Zheng Tuohai appeared to be operating, or to have ties with, an underground money house.”

“The silver taken from the vault this time was also connected to that underground money house. Ding Sheng had overheard fragments of a conversation between the Prime Minister and Zheng Tuohai.”

“The general gist was this: the underground money house had a large transaction underway that required a great deal of hard silver to circulate. They wanted to borrow the treasury silver — for only about ten days. After the ten days, the silver would be returned, and the money house would give both the Prime Minister and Zheng Tuohai a generous gift in thanks. As for how much that gift would be, Ding Sheng did not know.”

The Emperor steadied himself against the desk and stood. His eyes had gone red as he roared: “Go and bring Yao Zhidong to us!”

One hour later, Yao Zhidong had been stripped of his official robes and had his court hat removed. He was kneeling there, trembling violently.

“Your Majesty… this matter, this matter — your servant was truly confused for a moment, Your Majesty. Your servant never imagined it would come to this. It is all Zheng Tuohai’s fault — this entire affair was handled by him alone.”

He was kowtowing and pleading all at once.

The Emperor was already shaking with rage.

“You only dare to push everything onto Zheng Tuohai because he is dead. Do you think that will make us spare you? Two million eight hundred thousand taels of treasury silver — what was returned was nothing but rocks! Rocks!”

The Emperor’s voice cracked as if it might shatter. The redness in his eyes deepened.

“Keep talking!”

The Emperor’s shout made Yao Zhidong flinch violently. Stuttering and stumbling, he told the story.

He said that roughly ten days ago, Zheng Tuohai had come to him suddenly and told him there was an opportunity to make a fortune.

Zheng Tuohai had a connection with an underground money house — the silver he had embezzled from the treasury over the years was all deposited there.

The money house had told him they were conducting a major transaction involving tens of millions in capital, and their reserves were running a little short. They proposed borrowing two million eight hundred thousand taels from the national treasury. In exchange, they would pay each of them a dividend equal to one tenth of that amount — meaning once the silver was returned, each man would receive two hundred and eighty thousand taels.

For a prime minister and a finance minister, this was easy enough to arrange. What was more, the vault guards had long since been in league with them.

The money house promised that the silver would be returned within ten days at most, five days at minimum.

A few days’ wait, and each man would receive two hundred and eighty thousand taels. For Yao Zhidong and Zheng Tuohai, it was no different from walking out the door and stumbling upon chests upon chests of silver.

Two hundred and eighty thousand taels — it wasn’t that they had never seen that kind of money. What drew them in was how effortlessly it could be taken.

And within a few days, the money house did indeed return the full amount, and also delivered the agreed dividends to both men’s homes.

Out of laziness. Out of complacency. Out of sheer carelessness. And, it must be said, out of a certain nagging unease.

When the treasury silver was returned, they didn’t even inspect it — they had it deposited straight back into the vault.

So neither the vault guards nor Yao Zhidong and Zheng Tuohai ever knew that every single chest of those two million eight hundred thousand taels had been tampered with. Only the top layer was silver. Beneath it, all the way down, was nothing but rocks.

Not long before, Jiang Qianneng had sent men to the vault to withdraw four hundred thousand taels to distribute to the Heroes’ Assembly participants — and that was when they discovered the silver had been swapped.

If the vault guards, or any Finance Ministry official — even a single one among them — had carefully inspected the returned silver, this would never have happened.

But whether or not they conducted a count, the problem would have surfaced eventually. It was only a matter of time.

And in any case, they hadn’t checked at all. Going by the standard of one ten-thousand taels per chest, they had simply loaded forty chests and handed them to Jiang Qianneng’s men.

It was only when the silver-turned-to-rocks was abruptly discovered that Yao Zhidong realized a catastrophic problem had arisen.

Yet by that moment, there was nothing he could do. He had racked his brains for over a day trying to find a solution, and had nearly driven himself to despair with worry.

First, he ordered the general guarding the vault, Ding Sheng, to refuse entry to everyone. Then he ran off to scrape together funds — though to come up with two million eight hundred thousand taels on the spot was far beyond him. Moreover, the silver he had embezzled over the years was all sitting in that same underground money house.

He thought he still had a little time — if Gui Yuanshu went to investigate the Ministry of War first, he could at least cobble together something, however little it might be.

He never imagined that after leaving Shiyuan Palace, Gui Yuanshu had gone directly to the vault to investigate.

Yao Zhidong tried to push all blame onto Zheng Tuohai — but how could blame like this ever be fully transferred?

The sitting Prime Minister and the Finance Minister had conspired together to steal treasury silver on such an enormous scale. Even if the Emperor had gone mad, he could not possibly protect Yao Zhidong now.

“Yao Zhidong…”

The Emperor’s blood-red eyes fixed on the man kneeling before him. He spoke through his teeth: “How could we possibly forgive you?”

At that same moment. The official post station.

Yu Jiuling slipped inside, glanced around in all directions to confirm no one had followed him, then strode quickly to Li Chi’s quarters and knocked on the door.

“Chief, it’s done.”

—