The manager of Xingchen Tower could still remember what had happened all those years ago — even though several years had passed. At the time, he had not yet been the manager of Xingchen Tower, but rather one of Cao Lie’s personal attendants, specifically the one who handled accounts — in simple terms, the one who settled bills on Cao Lie’s behalf.

The young Lord Marquis of those days had been far more imposing than the current one — yet also far more popular, for in those days the young Lord Marquis spent money as freely as water.

The story of how Xingchen Tower came to belong to the young Lord Marquis was, in truth, absurdly casual to the point of being hard to believe.

On that day, Cao Lie had drunk too much at Xingchen Tower and simply bought the place on a whim.

He enjoyed drinking at such establishments, but never engaged in any intimate conduct with the young women there.

He simply found that reclining on the laps of beautiful and gentle young women while drinking made the wine taste better, and that the delicate fragrances in women’s rooms made it easier for him to sleep.

This young Lord Marquis, who spent nearly every night at an entertainment establishment, would have been believed by almost no one if he said he had never truly touched any of the young women there.

After drinking too much that evening, one of the young women had sulked and said she no longer wished to remain at such an establishment — she would be content even as a maidservant for the young Lord Marquis.

But if Cao Lie had actually taken this young woman home, his father would have found out — and that alone would have been enough to drive him out of the family.

The Cao Family could not tolerate such things.

And had the wife of Prince Wu come to hear of it, she would have berated Cao Lie until he could barely hold his head up — she might even have invoked family discipline directly.

The wife of Prince Wu had to consider not only the Cao Family’s reputation, but Prince Wu’s reputation as well.

And so Cao Lie had summoned the owner of Xingchen Tower at the time, declared that the young woman was to be redeemed, and that she would continue living at Xingchen Tower — but as a free woman from that point forward.

The owner had no standing to refuse him and had immediately agreed.

But then the rest of the young women surrounded Cao Lie, each one pleading to be redeemed as well.

Cao Lie thought it over — he could not take a single one of them home, let alone all of them.

And so he casually asked: “How much for the whole place?”

The owner had been caught off guard, but dared not fail to name a price. Cao Lie waved his hand: “I’ll give you double. The place is mine from now on — and they are all free.”

Upon hearing this, the account-keeper went numb.

Yet the whole room full of young women erupted in cheers.

The original owner had intentionally inflated his price, hoping the young Lord Marquis would find it too expensive and drop the idea.

Yet Cao Lie had simply counted out double — and the original owner had no choice but to pocket an enormous profit with tears in his eyes.

Cao Lie had forgotten the whole affair by the time he sobered up, and of course did not particularly care either way.

To buy an entire establishment and pay double the price — that was merely pocket money for Cao Lie.

His father did eventually find out about the matter and had a stern conversation with Cao Lie.

His father told him: as your punishment, you are forbidden from visiting any such establishment for one month. And do you realize — with your spending habits, two-thirds of Yuzhou City’s establishments of this kind now belong to our family?

Business partners had been arriving with pained expressions to ask whether the Cao Family intended to monopolize this industry in Yuzhou City as well.

Cao Lie did observe his month-long ban — spending every day by the banks of Cuihu Lake outside the city, fishing.

Every time he went out, several hundred young women in the bloom of youth accompanied him. When word spread that the young Lord Marquis could no longer visit their establishments, the young women were heartbroken — and one by one they flocked to the countryside outside the city to keep him company.

Someone had once made a rough estimate: the number of young women in Yuzhou City who claimed to be the young Lord Marquis’s woman numbered at least a thousand.

Cao Lie, needless to say, had never paid any attention to this.

Songhe Tower.

The manager of Xingchen Tower entered through the rear door, exercising extreme caution along the way, terrified of being seen.

Upon entering, he was guided directly to the private courtyard behind Songhe Tower where Cao Lie spent most of his time.

His attachment to Songhe Tower was not a matter of particular preference — it was simply that the very first meal he had shared with that young woman had been here at Songhe Tower.

The set of dining utensils Cao Lie always used exclusively was the same set that young woman had once used.

That young woman had said she did not like being disturbed — and so he truly had never disturbed her, leaving her to remain in that secluded haven of hers, working on her craft every day.

Men — the more they cared, the more likely they were to make the wrong judgment. Had he gone to disturb her a few more times, perhaps she would not have continued living so removed from the world, spending her days at the forge.

The one who presided over Xingchen Tower was only the manager, for the owner was Cao Lie.

The manager was called Song Cimao, nearly fifty years old, steady and cautious in temperament.

Upon seeing Cao Lie, Song Cimao immediately bowed.

Cao Lie asked him directly: “A shop assistant from Yunbao Zhai went to Xingchen Tower. He stayed for just over half an hour — who did he see?”

Song Cimao answered at once: “There is a regular guest at our establishment who has been living there for several years now. To ensure comfortable accommodations, he even paid out of his own pocket to have a small private courtyard built on the vacant land behind the establishment.”

Cao Lie’s brow furrowed slightly: “Why did I not know of this?”

Song Cimao looked at Cao Lie, his expression carrying a subtle trace of grievance.

He had reported this long ago — but the young Lord Marquis had never been the least bit concerned about the establishment’s affairs. Ever since the young women there had grown a few years older, the young Lord Marquis had rarely visited anymore — utterly faithless.

The young Lord Marquis had even been known to say that he only liked the way they looked in their youth — that once they were even two or three years older, he no longer felt anything.

What he probably wanted to see, in truth, was only the way she had looked in her youth — yet he did not dare go and disturb her.

Cao Lie noticed Song Cimao’s expression and smiled slightly: “Tell me about this person.”

Song Cimao quickly continued: “He first came to stay at Xingchen Tower about three or four years ago. In order to learn more about him, I specifically instructed the young women to keep a close watch and find the right moment to ask questions.”

“And then something was actually discovered. The man’s surname is Yu, but his given name has never been spoken. Later on, one of the young women saw the writing on a jade pendant he frequently toyed with while he was drunk — after she described it to me, I concluded it was an item from the imperial palace.”

“In the room where he lives, there is a chest that no one is permitted to touch. One day when he had drunk too much, he took out an object to show off to the young women, saying that in the old days, if he’d had this, he could have walked anywhere he pleased without interference — not just in Yuzhou, even in Daxing City.”

Cao Lie asked: “What was it?”

Song Cimao replied: “A token of authority — but the young women did not recognize the engravings on it, and there was no writing.”

Cao Lie carefully thought it through — a token with only engravings and no writing, yet sufficient to let one walk anywhere unchallenged even in Daxing City.

After a moment, Cao Lie’s eyes brightened.

“Surname Yu, and a token bearing only engravings and no text.”

He looked at Yan Xiaoxiao: “Have you worked it out?”

Yan Xiaoxiao was already smiling — he had worked it out before Cao Lie had.

A palace jade pendant, plus a token with only engravings — only five individuals fit the description, two of whom could be immediately ruled out.

Below the Grand Eunuch Liu Chongxin, there had been three senior eunuchs — the Rites, the Seal, and the Brush. The authority tokens of these three bore the characters for cloud, rain, and wind, respectively.

Yan Xiaoxiao said: “The Seal Eunuch, Yu Ze’en. After Liu Chongxin was put to death and his clan exterminated, Yu Ze’en’s own household was also exterminated — but as a eunuch, his greatest fondness had been collecting adopted sons. It is said that Yu Ze’en took in a total of eighteen sworn sons, many of whom assisted him in his misdeeds. Of these eighteen sons, the Jishi Bureau ranks were considerable — six of them were chiliarchs, twelve were centurions.”

Everything Cao Lie had studied, Yan Xiaoxiao had studied as well — only Cao Lie tended to forget more.

As the sole heir who would one day inherit the full authority of the Cao Family, Cao Lie had been required from a very young age to learn an enormous amount.

This included a thorough knowledge of the court’s various officials — and naturally, the eunuchs within the palace as well, since during that era Liu Chongxin had been the most powerful figure in the land.

At the time, in order to mark the distinction between Liu Chongxin and those beneath him, the old Emperor had ordered nine tokens to be made.

The Emperor himself had one, engraved with the sun. Liu Chongxin’s bore the moon. The Rites, Seal, and Brush eunuchs held wind, cloud, and rain, respectively. The four Commanders of Heard Orders held mountain, river, lake, and sea.

Throughout all of history, the only man who delighted in calling himself the eldest brother of a band of eunuchs was the old Emperor — and he was quite proud of it.

“Hiding himself in a property belonging to the Cao Family, concealing the wealth of Yunbao Zhai right under the noses of the Cao Family.”

Cao Lie smiled faintly: “This Master Yu has considerable audacity.”

Yan Xiaoxiao asked: “Shall I go and investigate now?”

Cao Lie shook his head: “Wait for word from Prince Ning’s side first. Go in person to inform Prince Ning of this matter, then bring back his instructions.”

Yan Xiaoxiao nodded: “I will go at once.”

Cao Lie looked at Song Cimao and continued: “Does this man have any skilled fighters around him?”

Song Cimao answered: “None. He never leaves that small courtyard during the day — he seems to have no interest in anything outside. However long he has been there, that is how long it has been since he last stepped outside. The furthest he ever went was one night when he stepped out of the small courtyard for a short stroll before going back inside.”

“He has no one around him at all. In the beginning, since he had spent generously, I would still have someone check in on him during the day to ask if he needed anything. He drove them away with abuse — and after that, no one went near him again.”

“Once it gets dark, he opens the small courtyard. He doesn’t request any particular young women — whoever comes is fine, and whichever young woman wants to visit him may do so.”

Cao Lie sank into thought for a moment, then asked one more question: “What are his distinguishing features?”

Song Cimao replied: “He never smiles. His face is set in a permanent expression — not once in all this time has any of the young women seen him smile. And he never allows anyone to stay the night — once he is satisfied, he sends them away.”

Cao Lie nodded, then looked at Yan Xiaoxiao: “Why are you still here?”

Yan Xiaoxiao said: “I thought we were about to get to the interesting part — so I lingered a little longer.”

Cao Lie: “Get out…”

Yan Xiaoxiao went to see Li Chi. Cao Lie dismissed Song Cimao as well.

He sat alone in the small courtyard and carefully turned over in his mind everything he knew about the Jishi Bureau — that had once been the most terrifying colossus in all of Dachu.

After Liu Chongxin was put to death, the Jishi Bureau was like a great tree felled with all its monkeys scattering. Several of the senior eunuchs who had held power were killed one after another, and those monkeys scattered in every direction.

All four Commanders of Heard Orders had been stationed in the provinces. There was one in the north — Yanbei Cheng. There was reportedly one in Shu Prefecture, but he had by now almost certainly become Yang Xuanji’s man. There was one in Su Prefecture and one in Yong Prefecture. Now that Su Prefecture was under the great bandit Li Xiong’s control, that person was either dead or in hiding. As for the one in Yong Prefecture — bordering the Western Territories, harsh and desolate, barren and uninteresting — it was in fact the only large province that had not yet risen in revolt. So the Commander of Heard Orders in Yong Prefecture was presumably still living quite comfortably, on very friendly terms with the local tribal chieftains there.

The Rites Eunuch, Liang Jili, had been most passionate about collecting antiques and jades. After his collection was confiscated and redistributed to Prince Wu, Prince Wu had financed an army of sixty thousand new soldiers from the proceeds of selling those items.

The Seal Eunuch, Yu Ze’en, had been most passionate about collecting adopted sons — especially beautiful young men, the more attractive the better.

The Brush Eunuch, Wen Qiuteng, had been most passionate about being Liu Chongxin’s adopted son — and so he was the one executed immediately on the heels of Liu Chongxin’s death.

But Wen Qiuteng had held the greatest cache of material and the most extensive network of followers.

Cao Lie let out a long, slow breath.

For the realm to truly know peace — Tang Pidi leading armies to war on one front, and rooting out cancerous growths like the Jishi Bureau on another. The large ones had to be cut out, and the small ones had to be cut out as well.

Let it start here in Yuzhou City — cut deep, and cut hard.

And at the very moment that Song Cimao was departing through the rear courtyard of Songhe Tower, Liu Yangong — watching from a distance, perched in a tree — caught sight of him. A thin smile spread across his face.

“How naive.”

Liu Yangong let out a cold sound, dropped down from the tree, and slipped away quickly.