Cao Lie smiled and asked: “Since the agreement is already written out, you may now state your terms. What do you have in mind?”

Li Chi said: “My thoughts are simple. First — don’t spend my money. Second — make it as big as possible. Third — ideally share a little.”

Cao Lie: “There needs to be a theme.”

Li Chi thought for a moment: “Go ask Adviser Wu — this idea was his, and he has probably already made preparations.”

Cao Lie made a sound of acknowledgment, carefully put away the written agreement Li Chi had prepared, and gave the spot where he had tucked it away a rather petty, proprietary pat.

Watching Cao Lie about to leave, Li Chi called after him: “You already have a plan in mind for how to do this, don’t you?”

Cao Lie smiled: “There is less than a month until the Lantern Festival. My plan is to put the word out — any traveling merchants or traders willing to come do business in Yuzhou City will have their stall fees entirely waived. Only a management fee of five copper coins per day will be collected.”

Li Chi did the math. Even if the major streets of Yuzhou City were packed with people, this did not seem like a particularly large revenue.

If Cao Lie wanted to put on a good Lantern Festival, the expenses incurred would surely not be covered by such an income alone.

Li Chi felt certain Cao Lie had other ideas in mind, but said nothing.

The less he said, the more it proved his methods of making money were unconventional.

Yet Cao Lie wore an expression that said: ask all you like, I’m not telling you anything. This made Li Chi feel a particular itch, and there was nothing he could do about it — missing out on a chance to make money together was pure torment for Li Chi.

After leaving Prince Ning’s residence, Cao Lie went to the Office of the Military Commissioner and requested a meeting with Adviser Wu. Shortly after, he was seated in Adviser Wu’s study.

Adviser Wu ordered tea brought for Cao Lie and asked with a smile: “Young lord, you come on short notice — it must be about the Lantern Festival.”

Cao Lie said: “How did Adviser Wu know?”

Adviser Wu smiled: “After all, our lord is… ahem, quite an exceptionally resourceful man. In all of Yuzhou, the only one who can hold up under our lord’s maneuvering is you.”

Cao Lie also smiled: “This time I have no intention of being maneuvered. I have already made a three-point agreement with our lord.”

He explained the arrangement. Adviser Wu found it almost unbelievable — these were so lenient, they did not seem like terms our lord would set.

Cao Lie asked: “Adviser Wu, this garden lantern fair needs to have an angle to draw people in. Our lord told me to come and ask you.”

Adviser Wu said: “I’ve given it careful thought. If the angle is good and the word gets out, people will travel from all corners to Yuzhou City in a month’s time without number. The greatest attraction in this city of ours…”

He looked at Cao Lie. Cao Lie understood at once: “Is naturally our lord.”

Adviser Wu said: “We can’t always be the ones our lord maneuvers. We should maneuver him back from time to time — in any case, it’s all for the sake of our great cause. He won’t blame me for it.”

Cao Lie smiled: “And Adviser Wu’s idea is?”

Adviser Wu said: “Using our lord’s status as the human sovereign reincarnate as the angle — when spreading the word, we tell the people that at this lantern fair we will reveal the signs that appeared at the time the human sovereign was reborn into this world, along with the story of the human sovereign fighting the King of Hell, the human sovereign slaying Zhulong, the human sovereign capturing the great bandit…”

Cao Lie’s eyes lit up: “That’s something interesting. Has Adviser Wu brought this idea up with our lord?”

Adviser Wu let out a quiet sigh: “I mentioned it in passing. Our lord said one should not resort to superstition lightly.”

Cao Lie said: “Ah — that settles it. Let’s do it.”

Adviser Wu said: “Our lord’s meaning was — one should not resort to superstition lightly.”

Cao Lie said: “Our lord’s meaning was — if you’re going to resort to superstition, don’t do it lightly — do it big.”

Adviser Wu’s eyes lit up too.

It was Li Chi who had sent Cao Lie to find Adviser Wu, after all. Was there anything unclear about that?

A few days later, at noon.

When Li Chi was eating lunch together with Gao Xining and the others, Gao Xining was serving food into his bowl while saying: “Yesterday young lord Cao Lie came looking for me. He discussed a matter with me, and I agreed.”

Li Chi immediately felt a sense of foreboding and hurriedly asked: “What did he discuss with you?”

Gao Xining said: “He came to tell me that during the Lantern Festival, he wants to open the Tingwei Office for visitors — a fixed number of people can enter each day to look around. He said the people are most curious about the Tingwei Office, and many will surely want to come see it. People who want to come and visit would naturally have to pay a fee — and of the proceeds, he would take six and I would take four.”

Li Chi’s eyes went wide: “Such an unfair arrangement, and you agreed to it?”

Gao Xining said: “In order to make the people less afraid of the Tingwei Office, this was actually something I had wanted to do in the first place. Getting forty percent of the proceeds is fine by me.”

Li Chi asked: “Did he mention me at all when it came to the revenue split?”

Gao Xining shook her head: “Not at all.”

Li Chi: “…”

Gao Xining said: “Using this opportunity to let the people know that the Tingwei Office is not the old Investigation Bureau, but a place that upholds justice for the common people and deals with wrongdoers and evildoers — so I think this is well worth preparing for properly. I would have done it even without collecting money.”

Li Chi asked: “Has he set a ticket price yet?”

Gao Xining: “Not yet.”

Li Chi said: “That fellow — he’s found a way to make money out of the Tingwei Office itself!”

That afternoon, Li Chi went to the Military Commissioner’s office for a look around. Adviser Wu was soon to be reassigned as Qingzhou Military Commissioner, and Li Chi wanted to come and ask if there was anything Adviser Wu needed.

Just as he was about to enter the gate, he saw a group of cavalrymen approaching from across the way — several dozen of them. At their head was Xiahou Zuo.

The soldiers saw Li Chi and immediately dismounted to pay their respects.

Xiahou Zuo saluted first — as they were in a public setting, proper etiquette had to be observed.

The two walked side by side through the gate. Li Chi asked: “What brings you here?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Yesterday young lord Cao Lie came to find me. He discussed a matter with me and I agreed. He still needs Adviser Wu’s and Adviser Yan’s help, so I came to mention it.”

Li Chi: “What has he talked that fellow into now!”

Xiahou Zuo: “Why do you say ‘now’?”

Li Chi related the matter of the Tingwei Office. Xiahou Zuo smiled: “More or less the same sort of thing… Cao Lie found me and said he wanted to showcase the might of the Ning Army, so the people could have a look. I said they could not enter the military camp — Cao Lie said naturally not.”

Xiahou Zuo continued as they walked: “He plans to open the city walls. From the city walls, people can look down and overlook the drill grounds. He just wants me to lead the troops in normal formation drills on the grounds as usual. Formation drills are not a military secret — so I said fine. Of the earnings, he would give me three tenths.”

“Three tenths?!”

Li Chi said: “Seven for him and three for you — and you agreed to that?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “It’s just normal drills on the camp grounds anyway. Three tenths is reasonable.”

Li Chi: “Did he mention me when it came to the split?”

Xiahou Zuo: “Why would he mention you?”

Li Chi: “Hmph!”

The Tingwei Office with its plum garden — taking in ten thousand visitors a day would be no problem at all, and it still would not feel crowded.

Far larger than the plum garden was the city wall — a place the common people had never been permitted to climb. Now that it was to be opened, as long as the price was not too high, how many people would ascend the walls in a single day?

Combining these two ventures alone, earnings of over ten thousand taels a day would be effortless.

Yet Li Chi felt Cao Lie had surely thought of far more than this. Decorating Yuzhou City for the Lantern Festival alone could not be done for under a hundred thousand taels. Then there were the lanterns and colored banners to buy and make — another enormous expense.

That fellow Cao Lie must have far grander schemes in mind.

Once inside the office, Li Chi found Adviser Wu and Adviser Yan and could not wait: “What has Cao Lie asked of the two of you?”

Adviser Yan said: “How did you know, my lord, that he must have come to ask something of us?”

Li Chi said: “Does that even need asking…”

Adviser Yan said: “Cao Lie asked the office to allocate several large open plots in the city for him. He plans to do business on them, though he hasn’t said what business. He only said that if it works out, two tenths of each day’s earnings would go to the office’s accounts.”

Li Chi: “Two tenths and you’re willing?!”

Adviser Yan said: “The office gives unconditional support for the Lantern Festival — according to the arrangement with Cao Lie and the rules already set, we wouldn’t take a single copper coin.”

Li Chi tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, letting out a long sigh tinged with lamentation: “That fellow — he’s squeezing me dry.”

Several days later, Li Chi learned what Cao Lie’s purpose had been in claiming those open plots in the city.

Cao Lie had actually gone and found a number of storytellers. He gave each of them a different script and had them tell their stories accordingly.

Some were about Prince Ning slaying Zhulong; some about Prince Ning reborn as a celestial descending into the world with extraordinary signs; some about how Prince Ning met his consort; others about Prince Ning’s dominance at the Four-Page Academy, and on and on and on…

And naturally, listening to the stories required a small admission fee.

That evening, Li Chi arrived at Songhe Tower.

Cao Lie was having dinner. Seeing Li Chi come in, he smiled — he had guessed Li Chi would not be able to hold himself back.

Li Chi, rather pettily, ignored him and sat down to eat without a word.

Cao Lie said: “From today, come eat every single meal here — every day. You still won’t eat your way back to even, because all my ways of making money depend entirely on you.”

Li Chi made a sound through his nose: “Just tell me how much you’re sharing with me.”

Cao Lie said: “The items I’ve split with others — those can’t be split with you again. But the storytelling venue is not included in that, and that one only: since you’re the subject of the stories, all the revenues from it — one tenth is yours.”

He said this and then looked at Li Chi, bracing for the storm — since one tenth was truly not a lot.

“Done.”

Li Chi agreed without the slightest hesitation, resistance, or negotiation.

This actually made Cao Lie feel somewhat uneasy.

Cao Lie narrowed his eyes: “Do you have any other conditions?”

Li Chi shook his head, eating as he did: “None, none. The patron pays — that’s all that matters.”

Cao Lie was genuinely curious: “What exactly are you planning? This isn’t like you at all.”

Li Chi picked up his wine cup, took a sip, and let out a slow breath.

“Saving money,” he said. “Saving money to marry Gao the Eldest.”

Cao Lie froze. He had absolutely not expected this to be the reason.

Cao Lie asked: “Setting aside everything else — the silver you obtained from the lake island alone was well over ten million taels. Do you need to worry over such small change?”

Li Chi said: “That’s public funds. Marrying Gao the Eldest is my own private matter.”

Cao Lie said: “But didn’t those three elders say — that the wedding would wait until… until the enthronement, when there would be a state marriage?”

Li Chi said: “Yes… that would be the affairs of state.”

Cao Lie: “Then what do you need to save private money for?”

Li Chi said: “I want to hold the kind of wedding that ordinary people hold with her. The affairs of state are the affairs of state; our private matters are our private matters. The wedding at that time will be for others to see. What we want — is in that little courtyard in Jizhou City, simple, yet solemn, to hold a wedding for ourselves. My master and Director Gao sitting right there in that little courtyard, and me and Gao the Eldest kneeling before them, offering them tea.”

Li Chi looked at Cao Lie: “For that — I haven’t saved enough yet… Her phoenix coronet and wedding robes, her jewelry and ornaments — all of it must be the finest. So I need to save it up slowly, without diverting a single copper coin of public funds.”

Cao Lie was shaken to his core. He said immediately: “That won’t take much. Let me cover it.”

Li Chi shook his head: “No need. This wedding of mine… I’ll handle it myself.”

Cao Lie: “Then I’ll give you half the storytelling venue’s earnings.”

Li Chi: “That works.”

Cao Lie: “Hmph!”

Li Chi pulled out paper and brush from inside his robe: “Come on, write it down.”