The sound of looms continued until midnight.

Finally, on the third day, a female Taoist called out softly while embroidering: “The beater won’t move!”

No matter how she pressed the pedals, the beater hung loosely in the air, unable to beat down rapidly with the rhythm of the pedals as before to tighten the woven threads.

After the first loom, there was quickly a second and third that stopped working. The female Taoists couldn’t help but cry out in alarm.

Baoshu had been working late into the night at White Horse Abbey, urging progress. She hurried over and tried the loom herself. The beater indeed wouldn’t move. She examined the loom up and down—everything seemed intact, and she couldn’t tell where the problem was.

Seeing her face turn pale, the female Taoists whispered: “Should we go ask Lady Qun?”

Baoshu reacted as if her tail had been stepped on: “Didn’t you hear His Highness’s decree last time? You would go ask someone who’s already been transferred out of the Garment Bureau?”

The female Taoists hastily begged for forgiveness.

“Why are you all looking at me?” Baoshu said. “If the beater can’t work automatically, then push it by hand. If we can’t finish embroidering this batch of patterns in time before the envoys leave, forget about receiving the previous rewards—we’ll likely be punished instead!”

Amid a flurry of anxious shuttle sounds, Baoshu’s heart pounded rapidly. She ordered someone to bring Qun Qing’s palace manual, which recorded how to make the looms.

Baoshu had studied mechanism arts when she was in Longxi. She dismantled a loom and checked it over and over against the diagrams. After a long while, she viciously smashed the lantern onto the dismantled loom.

The scattered pieces of wood quickly burned to char, and the suddenly rising firelight illuminated her ashen face.

A deep sense of panic surged in Baoshu’s heart. She looked at the stopped looms—every single component was present. What kind of trick had Qun Qing played that would cause problems to emerge right when the envoys were waiting?

The next morning, while Qun Qing was going through accounts in the Bedchamber Bureau’s accounting room, a timid female Taoist was led in by a young eunuch.

As soon as she entered, she said: “Chamberlain, the looms you brought to White Horse Abbey before have developed problems.”

Qun Qing listened coldly to her complete explanation, then said warmly: “I don’t know where the problem is either.”

“Then could you go take a look?” the young female Taoist pleaded. “If the looms can’t be repaired, we won’t be able to complete Lady Meng’s task on schedule.”

Qun Qing remained unmoved: “I’ve already been transferred to the Bedchamber Bureau. How could I overstep my bounds and meddle in the Garment Bureau’s affairs?”

The young female Taoist was momentarily choked up. Looking again at this woman’s cold and desolate expression, she was probably just as the young eunuchs of the Bedchamber Bureau had said when she entered—she had been “exiled” here by the Crown Prince, disheartened and unwilling to care about anything anymore.

Hearing her sob, Qun Qing said: “Lady Meng won’t punish you, because punishing you would be useless. If the beater must be pushed by hand, it will be much slower than the loom. By tonight she’ll know that no matter how hard you rush, you can’t produce the embroidery patterns. She’ll call another group from the Garment Bureau to help.”

After the young female Taoist left, Qun Qing packed up the chest and encountered a eunuch in a crimson robe stepping in from outside.

The man was startled by her suddenly sharp gaze, then remembered to bow: “Bedchamber Bureau Supervisor Liang Qiu pays respects to the Chamberlain. My apologies—this Bedchamber Bureau is the poorest and most exhausting place among the Six Bureaus. Usually only eunuchs rush about here. With such a young and pretty female chamberlain suddenly arriving, this servant thought His Highness would soften his heart and rescind the order in a couple days, which is why I’ve been negligent and haven’t come to brief the Chamberlain on her duties.”

The frosty look in Qun Qing’s eyes faded.

In her previous life, this Eunuch Liang had climbed up through flattery, served at Prince Yan’s side, and even convinced her to drink that cup of poisoned wine before meeting Lu Huating.

He was currently serving in the Bedchamber Bureau. Qun Qing didn’t plan to take revenge for this indirect involvement in her death, but she also didn’t want to let him advance so smoothly to Prince Yan’s side.

“No matter how fallen, the Bedchamber Bureau still has the Treasury Office beneath it, which has been quite wealthy. The treasury still contains bedding and treasures left by Emperor Huang. The Saint dislikes extravagance and left all those things in the treasury, so why do the account books show them decreasing?”

Eunuch Liang paused, then said quietly: “Chamberlain Qun doesn’t know—the young eunuchs of this Bedchamber Bureau are the hardest to manage. These people love to gamble, and inevitably some have sticky fingers. This servant has tried to catch them but really can’t.”

Qun Qing glanced at him and said: “The Jiangnan region suffers frequent floods. Recently Da Chen and Gaochang have negotiated peace and trade. Prince Yan definitely won’t want to use national treasury silver. Tribute gifts will very likely be drawn from the Treasury Office. I’ll trouble Eunuch Liang to inventory the treasury starting today and make preparations.”

With that, she walked out carrying a chest of account books.

Once Qun Qing’s figure crossed the threshold, the smile disappeared from Eunuch Liang’s face. The surrounding young eunuchs gathered around, discussing among themselves.

“Will she actually manage things or not?”

“I heard she came from being a palace maid in the Rear Palace. Prince Yan’s consort selected her into the Garment Bureau. I heard she was originally a female official under the Crown Prince, but now that the Crown Prince has lost power, she’s fallen to this place.”

“No wonder she just keeps checking the treasury account books. How would an embroiderer know how to do accounts? She’s just pretending. With so many account books, she definitely won’t be able to finish checking them even if she looks for seven days and seven nights.” With that, they all burst into laughter.

Inside the hall, Qun Qing sorted the account books. One year’s treasury accounts needed to be submitted to the Ministry of Rites for verification, and the Bedchamber Bureau inexplicably lost things every month. These accumulated losses had caused the previous chamberlain to be dismissed. Now only she remained as chamberlain to manage affairs.

Baoshu had used Li Xuan’s hand to demote Qun Qing to the Bedchamber Bureau, while also handing her this mess.

If she wanted to pass her days peacefully, she could just turn a blind eye. But Qun Qing still wanted to rise to the third rank, so she had no choice but to take action against this chronic illness in the Bedchamber Bureau.

On his first day serving at the Ministry of Rites, Lu Huating returned home close to midnight.

As soon as Lu Huating got off the carriage and pushed open the door, he saw Qun Qing standing on the steps, actually waiting for him with a lantern. He paused for a moment, then walked up to her: “Is there some problem with this residence?”

Qun Qing looked at his dark eyes, her expression innocent: “What problem could there be?”

Lu Huating glanced at the lantern in her hand and loosened his official robe collar with one hand. Qun Qing asked: “How was the situation with the envoys today?”

Lu Huating knew she had intelligence to gather and smiled: “My wife is so curious about me.”

“Previously it was always the Crown Prince at Jade Spring Palace negotiating with the envoys. Now that Li Xuan has been confined, suddenly switching to the newly appointed Minister of Rites to take over, the envoys probably guessed there were changes in the palace and seized the opportunity to make difficulties. Otherwise you wouldn’t have returned so late.”

Lu Huating said: “The envoys have already been persuaded by this humble one.”

Qun Qing asked: “How did you respond?”

Lu Huating glanced at her and said lightly: “This humble one sent Gaochang a great gift to express sincerity.”

“Gaochang is surrounded by sea on three sides, where wood rots easily. Rot-resistant hardwood purchased from other countries is worth a thousand gold, especially rosewood, which is even more precious than gold, silver, and jewels. I promised to give the envoys a batch of rosewood, and they agreed to continue negotiations with Prince Yan.”

Rosewood was indeed precious. Qun Qing couldn’t help asking: “The national treasury is empty. Where did you get rosewood?”

“Does my wife still remember Delin Hall?” Lu Huating said.

“I remember—its roof was set on fire by Li Pan’s medicinal puppet show.”

Lu Huating pulled open the door with one hand: “The Saint ordered Prince Yan’s mansion to restore and rebuild it. The ceiling beams and pillars of Delin Hall are rosewood, built during Emperor Huang’s reign. The Saint dislikes extravagance and has no custom of using rosewood, so this humble one ordered it rebuilt with ordinary wood and had the replaced rosewood taken to craftsmen for cutting.”

Qun Qing admired him in her heart. Lu Huating also saw the chests of account books in the residence—fully twelve chests, nearly filling their bedroom.

“Do you know what the people below are saying about you?” Lu Huating said. “My wife, there are arts to managing people. Don’t exhaust yourself.”

Based on his understanding of Qun Qing, this woman wasn’t skilled at reviewing accounts. He was quite curious how she would handle the Bedchamber Bureau’s affairs.

Qun Qing indeed couldn’t manage complex accounts. Even if she buried herself in the ledgers, it would take half a month to get started, and she might not organize everything clearly even then.

This method was too slow.

So she only organized the account books of items coming in and going out by month, randomly drew one book from each chest, and spread them under the lamplight. After years as a spy, she was always good at rapid memorization and finding patterns.

The various miscellaneous items lost during the twelve months arrayed themselves in Qun Qing’s mind. After reading twelve books, she roughly saw the pattern.

Lu Huating watched with interest from behind her and spoke for her: “Wooden pillows and mirror frames show the most losses—they must be purchased almost every month.”

Qun Qing’s thoughts raced, but she said without revealing anything: “Really? I didn’t notice. Then help me look at twelve more books and mark out what’s purchased most.”

Lu Huating’s dark eyes focused slightly, as if finding it hard to accept having to do such work after finishing his duties, but seeing her pale cheeks, he wordlessly pulled account books from the chests.

From the corner of her eye, Qun Qing glimpsed him rolling up his sleeves to record under the lamplight and said: “I’ve heard before that you were intelligent, but I never imagined you were so sensitive to numbers. Were you never defeated at number puzzles as a child?”

The pen tip scratched across paper. After a long while, Lu Huating smiled very faintly: “My wife is training a dog.”

Qun Qing fell silent.

After reading about three sets of twelve books, Qun Qing closed the ledgers: “No need to look further. The things missing from the Treasury Office are all bedding that Emperor Huang favored but left in the treasury, mostly made of rosewood. Because the Saint has no such preference and can’t tell the difference, it must be an inside thief who gradually stole the rosewood over the course of a year, sent it outside the palace to sell for money. The other missing items are just camouflage.”

Lu Huating listened quietly.

Qun Qing continued: “Every few months, a large shipment goes out. This person has stable channels outside the palace, and doesn’t sell to Chang’an people.”

Qun Qing originally hadn’t had many leads over these days, but after hearing about the envoys’ matter, she suddenly had an idea: “Rosewood isn’t scarce in the northern lands, so it’s not worth taking such risks for ordinary prices. Moreover, palace bedding all bears markings—commoners and merchants wouldn’t dare accept it. Unless this person is stealing palace rosewood to sell at high prices to Gaochang merchants.”

Lu Huating leaned back in his chair, looking at her: “What my wife says is reasonable, but the Bedchamber Bureau is united in their corruption. Without evidence, it will be difficult to apprehend anyone. It’s late today—let’s extinguish the lamp first.”

Qun Qing only said: “When you go tomorrow to deliver the rosewood to the Gaochang envoys, send a written order to the Bedchamber Bureau.”

The next day, the young eunuchs of the Bedchamber Bureau complained about the Ministry of Rites’ gift list.

“Why must gifts for the Gaochang envoys be drawn from the inner palace? The Bedchamber Bureau doesn’t have much to begin with. If we give everything to the envoys, what will the Saint and His Highness Prince Yan use?”

Though they complained, they didn’t dare act improperly. According to the gift list, they found items one by one from the treasury and placed them in the empty space beside Qun Qing’s desk.

Ruo Chan helped Qun Qing verify the items. In the box placed on top was an exquisitely crafted rosewood carved fan stand.

Eunuch Liang’s gaze repeatedly swept over them, containing dissatisfaction: “The Chamberlain should know that things in the treasury have already gone missing. Now we must also make withdrawals. Lu Shangshu is your husband—if you’ve done him a favor and these items don’t match up when the matter comes to light, the court will impeach Lu Shangshu in the future.”

Qun Qing said: “Lu Shangshu gave the order. What does it have to do with me? Since the official document bears the seal, following the Ministry of Rites’ instructions is my duty.”

Eunuch Liang turned to leave. Qun Qing called him back and showed him the roster. “I’ve been busy reconciling accounts these past days at the Bedchamber Bureau and still don’t know the people below. Please have Eunuch Liang call them in so I can make a roster, then wait for me at the door for instructions.”

Eunuch Liang glanced at her, nodded, and left.

Before long, the young eunuchs of the Bedchamber Bureau came in one by one, reported their names and positions to Qun Qing, then went out.

Inside the room, the window was slightly open. Papers fluttered slightly in the wind. Ruo Chan’s face suddenly turned pale: “Elder Sister, it’s gone.”

“What’s gone?”

She said quietly: “The rosewood fan stand the envoys wanted is gone.”

She opened the box—it was already completely empty.

“Just now people were coming and going, and even though this servant was watching, I couldn’t see clearly who it was.” Ruo Chan’s voice trembled. “You’re about to go to Jade Spring Palace. What do we do?”

Qun Qing quietly left her seat, stuffed the ink slab and ink stick from the desk into the box, weighed it, then closed the box lid: “Let’s go.”