The moonlight rippled like water, and the pitch-black night sky shed its deep color, becoming thin and translucent as a sheet of deep blue glass. Night cats in the streets and alleyways were meowing, forming a stark contrast with Lin Sui’an’s voice.

Hua Yihuan watched the young woman before him in silence. She recounted the case that had shaken the entire city of Yangdu and the Tang Kingdom a month ago with an expressionless face, as if she were merely an uninvolved witness. Only when she spoke the name Qi Yuansheng did emotion occasionally flicker in her eyes.

“Just before Qi Yuansheng died, he said that he and Dong Zhao were both insignificant worms, driven to a dead end, with no choice but to exchange blood for blood, life for life. But Hua Yitang said there must have been another way. Qi Yuansheng simply didn’t believe it.” Lin Sui’an paused at this point. “He didn’t disbelieve it — he didn’t dare believe it.”

Hua Yihuan was silent.

“One Qi Yuansheng was like this — what would ten be like? A hundred? What of ten million Qi Yuanshengs?” Lin Sui’an sighed and continued, “After Qi Yuansheng died, Hua Yitang sat alone in his room for three days. Perhaps it was then that he made his decision.”

“He simply didn’t want more Qi Yuanshengs to appear.” Lin Sui’an said quietly.

“Surely he doesn’t truly mean to ‘right the injustices of the realm’?” said Hua Yihuan. “Do you believe such childishly naive words, Lin Niangzi?”

As Hua Yihuan asked this, his gaze was fixed intently on Lin Sui’an’s expression, not missing a single flicker.

Although he was very reluctant to admit it, his worthless fourth brother, though unruly in every way, did have a certain ability to read people. He wanted to see how this young woman — whom his fourth brother held in such high regard — would answer.

But Lin Sui’an didn’t answer immediately. Instead she tilted her head back to look at the night sky. The moonlight flowed and shimmered in her pitch-black pupils, her expression carrying a touch of sadness and nostalgia, as if she were gazing through the distant heavens toward someplace even further away.

Suddenly, Lin Sui’an smiled, and said, “I don’t believe it.”

This answer was clearly not what Hua Yihuan had expected. The composed expression of the Hua Family’s head nearly crumbled.

“In this world, many things lie beyond human capacity. Unjust cases under heaven are beyond counting. Let alone one person — even with the help of ten million people, spending thousands of years, it could never be done.” Lin Sui’an smiled. “But dreams should still be had. What if, by some chance, one happens to come true?”

Hua Yihuan: “……”

What kind of answer was that?!

“Actually, whether I believe it doesn’t really matter. What matters is — do you, head of the Hua Family, believe in Hua Yitang?” Lin Sui’an asked in return.

Hua Yihuan’s expression darkened. “He’s a good-for-nothing wastrel. All he does is boast, insult people, eat, drink, and have fun. How am I supposed to believe he can become an official?”

Lin Sui’an shook her head. “Head of the Hua Family, why deceive yourself? Is he an ordinary wastrel? Everything he did during his three years of playing the wastrel — whether it was insulting people, getting into fights, cockfighting, or brawling in groups — was all to keep the Feng Clan in check. The White Beast had existed for many years, so why did the Feng Clan issue a ban three years ago, neither sooner nor later? It was precisely because Hua Yitang, Yangdu’s number one wastrel, burst onto the scene, broke apart the power structure of Feng Yuyi’s faction of wastrels, established a new wastrel order, and forced the Feng Clan to restrain themselves.”

Hua Yihuan’s expression grew even darker.

Lin Sui’an: “A golden-scaled fish is no ordinary creature of the pond. Head of the Hua Family, let him go and do what he must.”

Hua Yihuan fell silent again, his brow furrowed as deeply as bitter melon rind.

Lin Sui’an had talked herself dry and thirsty. She gulped down two large cups of cold boiled water, thinking that today she had truly done her utmost and performed beyond her usual standard. As for how much of it the head of the Hua Family could actually take to heart — that was down to Hua Yitang’s own fortune.

After a long while, Hua Yihuan finally spoke: “If I refuse, are you going to elope with Fourth Brother?”

“Pfft—” Lin Sui’an spat out a mouthful of water. “Cough cough cough! It’s a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! Hua Yitang only wants me to accompany him to the Eastern Capital to take the special imperial examination.”

Hua Yihuan’s expression grew even more solemn. “Has Lin Niangzi agreed?”

“I never go back on things I’ve promised to the head of the Hua Family,” Lin Sui’an glanced at the side room and lowered her voice. “From now on, I will have no further dealings with Hua Yitang whatsoever—”

“I’ll offer one thousand gold taels to hire Lin Niangzi as an escort to take Fourth Brother to the Eastern Capital.”

Lin Sui’an stood with her mouth half open, the enormous sum of one thousand gold taels having effectively knocked her remaining words clean back down her throat.

Brother, what are you doing? This very afternoon it was the script of “take a hundred million and leave my little brother alone,” and now just a few hours later it’s flipped to “take two hundred million and be hired as my little brother’s bodyguard”?

Seeing that Lin Sui’an wasn’t answering, Hua Yihuan added another line. “Add another thousand gold taels.”

“Deal!” Lin Sui’an agreed on the spot, weeping inwardly: It’s not that I have no backbone — it’s that the other side is offering far too much!

Hua Yihuan nodded, rose to his feet, and walked to the door of the side room. In a sharp voice he commanded, “Come out.”

Hua Yitang shuffled out from behind his fan, which he was using to cover half his face, with Ling Zhiyan following behind, looking thoroughly awkward.

Hua Yihuan: “Fourth Brother, is this truly your firm intention to go and sit the special examination?”

After asking for some time with no answer from Hua Yitang, he turned and looked — Hua Yitang was staring at Lin Sui’an and smiling, smiling with a particular warm, springtime radiance.

Lin Sui’an: “Ahem!”

Hua Yitang snapped back to attention, cleared his throat, and clasped his hands in a bow toward Hua Yihuan. “Yes.”

Hua Yihuan sighed. “Then prepare well.”

“Yes.”

“If you fail the examination it doesn’t matter either. Given our Hua Family’s social standing and resources, buying you an official post is no difficult matter.”

“Yes!”

“Come home with me.”

“Will do!”

Hua Yitang cheerfully bid farewell to Lin Sui’an and Ling Zhiyan, then trotted happily behind Hua Yihuan as they walked out the door. From afar, fragments of the brothers’ conversation drifted back.

Hua Yihuan: “The Ling Clan has maintained its position among the Five Surnames and Seven Lineages for hundreds of years without falling — they are no simple people. There’s a saying: you can know a person’s face but not their heart. Fourth Brother, just because that Ling Sixth Son has thick brows and big eyes and looks like a good man, don’t trust him so easily. Be careful not to be tricked.”

Hua Yitang: “Big Brother, what are you talking about? How could Ling Sixth Son possibly be better looking than me?”

Lin Sui’an shook her head in amusement and glanced at Ling Zhiyan. The Right Judicial Inspector’s eye corners were twitching violently, as if he wanted to let loose a torrent of colorful language, but constrained by a century-old noble family’s dignity, after a long moment he managed to squeeze out only one sentence: “I’m still a Right Judicial Inspector of the Court of Judicial Review — and the head of the Hua Family was talking about buying Fourth Young Master Hua an official post right in front of my face?”

Lin Sui’an: “That is indeed the Hua Family’s style.”

“By the way, Master Ling, you said earlier you had something to discuss with me — what was it?” Lin Sui’an asked.

Ling Zhiyan choked again, let out a long, mournful sigh: “Never mind, it’s nothing major. It can wait until Lin Niangzi reaches the Eastern Capital.”

“Aren’t you traveling with us?”

Ling Zhiyan smiled helplessly. “I need to return a few days ahead to help Fourth Young Master Hua submit his special examination recommendation letter.”

With that, Ling Zhiyan clasped his hands in farewell and took his leave. But for some reason, there was a distinctly melancholy air about his retreating figure.

Lin Sui’an thought about it briefly and suddenly understood.

Her commission for escorting Hua Yitang to the Eastern Capital was as high as two thousand gold taels, whereas Ling Zhiyan had risked a demotion to stand as Hua Yitang’s guarantor and received only one thousand gold taels. It seemed Ling Zhiyan felt he had gotten the short end of this deal, and was somewhat displeased.

Word spread quickly that Yangdu’s number one wastrel was heading to the Eastern Capital to sit the New Year’s special examination. The common people of Yangdu treated it as a joke to laugh at, but it caused a sensation in the wastrel social circles. The various big and small wastrels of Yangdu streamed in and out of the Hua residence like a revolving door to watch the spectacle, and the Hua Family gate was crowded with carriages and bustling with noise day after day.

Hua Yitang once again made full use of his subjective initiative as a wastrel, simply throwing the gates wide open to host an endless flowing banquet, warmly welcoming all guests. It was said the flowing banquet was the height of lavish extravagance, a culmination of the Tang Kingdom’s culinary achievements. Naturally, as Hua Yitang’s food-and-drink companions, the wastrels would not arrive empty-handed. Each one brought generous farewell gifts, and when added all together, the Hua Clan ended up turning a tidy profit on the whole affair.

The flowing banquet went on for a full three days. During this time, Lin Sui’an kept her distance and enjoyed the quiet, and on an auspicious day she specially went to visit Jin Ruo — having of course first informed Hua Yitang of her plans, so that troublemaker wouldn’t cry and throw a tantrum about it.

Jin Ruo’s home was in the Lingxi Ward on Qingxing Street, where apricot trees lined both sides of the road. It was said there was also an apricot garden somewhere in the ward, which explained why the entire street was full of stalls selling dried apricots and preserved fruit.

When Lin Sui’an knocked on Jin Ruo’s door carrying half a jin of dried apricots, Jin Ruo was quite disdainful.

“I’m long tired of dried apricots.”

Lin Sui’an: “These are for me to eat.”

“Why are you here?”

“Don’t you want Qian Jing?”

Far from showing any pleasure, Jin Ruo’s face filled with wariness instead, and he grudgingly invited Lin Sui’an inside. Jin Ruo’s home wasn’t large — even a touch smaller than the courtyard Lin Sui’an rented — and differed little from an ordinary commoner’s dwelling. If there was one distinctive feature, it was that the person cooking over the kitchen fire turned out to be the Pure Gate Elder Zhang Qi, a foreign man with Western features.

Zhang Qi was quite happy to see Lin Sui’an and warmly invited her to stay for lunch. The Pure Gate truly lived up to its reputation as a sect founded on street food stalls — their culinary skill was beyond question, no worse than the likes of Furong Tower. Lin Sui’an happily ate two large bowls, while Jin Ruo’s gaze toward her became something that could no longer be called friendly.

Jin Ruo: “You just came here to mooch a meal, didn’t you?”

Lin Sui’an: “Hua Yitang is going to the Eastern Capital to sit the special imperial examination.”

“The head of the Hua Family offered two thousand gold taels to hire you to protect him, and spent another thousand gold taels to bribe Ling Zhiyan into serving as his guarantor.”

Lin Sui’an was quite satisfied — talking to Jin Ruo was effortless. She could skip all the preamble and get straight to the point.

“I’ll offer three hundred gold taels to hire you to travel with us.”

“Th-th-th-three hundred gold taels?! Hire me?!” Jin Ruo’s voice shot up eight octaves, then immediately caught himself, realizing he’d lost composure, and gave a dry cough. “Y-you — who do you think you’re looking down on—”

Lin Sui’an: “Four hundred gold taels.”

Zhang Qi drew in a sharp breath. Jin Ruo began to stammer, “Four hundred… I-I-I-I-I am the esteemed junior sect master of the Pure Gate — how — how could I bow to a handful of rice—”

“Five hundred gold taels.”

Zhang Qi frantically telegraphed signals at Jin Ruo with his eyes.

Jin Ruo struggled desperately to maintain his composure. “This — this isn’t about money!”

Lin Sui’an: “I’ll teach you Ten Purity’s Collection along the way.”

Jin Ruo: “!!”

“Our previous agreement still holds. As long as you can beat me, Qian Jing is yours.”

Zhang Qi couldn’t sit still any longer. “Junior sect master, may I have a private word?”

A baffled-looking Jin Ruo was pulled away, the two of them whispering to each other inside the room without Lin Sui’an knowing what they said. She was completely unhurried — the price she’d offered was enticing enough, and she’d added the bait of Ten Purity’s Collection on top of that. She wasn’t afraid Jin Ruo wouldn’t be tempted.

Sure enough, within the time it took to drink a cup of tea, both men came back out, sat formally across from her, and began official negotiations.

Zhang Qi: “What Lin Niangzi wants to hire is the Pure Gate’s intelligence network, correct?”

Lin Sui’an: “Correct.”

“Let me be clear from the start — even if the junior sect master travels with you, any Pure Gate intelligence still comes at a per-item fee. One piece, one payment. No credit.”

“Of course.”

Let Hua Yitang pay for it anyway, Lin Sui’an thought.

Jin Ruo: “The techniques in Ten Purity’s Collection must be taught fully and without reservation!”

“No problem.”

Elder Zhang: “How do you intend to pay the five hundred gold taels?”

Lin Sui’an smiled. “When we depart tomorrow, please have Elder Zhang collect it at the Hua residence.”

Leaving Jin Ruo’s home, Lin Sui’an was in very good spirits, humming a tune as she walked home with her dried apricots. No wonder Hua Yihuan and Hua Yitang both enjoyed throwing money at people — the feeling was wonderful, especially when it was someone else’s money being thrown. Absolutely delightful.

In truth, Jin Ruo and the others had completely misunderstood. The fundamental reason Lin Sui’an wanted to hire Jin Ruo had nothing to do with the Pure Gate’s network — it was because Jin Ruo was an expert in trace analysis.

In just two months in this world, she had already been involved in two major cases. Especially after meeting Hua Yitang, the difficulty of the cases had increased geometrically. And then there was her infuriating golden ability — Lin Sui’an could only hope it was truly just coincidence, and not the “collateral damage to bystanders” effect of Hua Yitang’s protagonist’s aura.

There was one more pressing matter: the bloodthirsty killing instinct harbored within this body of hers. If it couldn’t be resolved soon, there was no telling what disaster might one day erupt. At present, Jin Ruo was the most tightly connected lead to “Ten Purity’s Collection” and “Qian Jing,” and she had to keep him close at hand for peace of mind. Moreover, teaching Jin Ruo Ten Purity’s Collection was also an opportunity — Jin Ruo shared the same sect lineage as her, making him the best sparring partner. Through continual trial and error training, she strove to bring the body’s muscle memory as swiftly as possible under conscious control, achieving the goal of “taming Qian Jing.”

The best part was that none of this had occurred to Jin Ruo and Zhang Qi — all of it was free of charge.

Lin Sui’an savored this thought contentedly, her steps growing more and more buoyant. The Chongyan Ward’s gate was now in sight. Once she was home and had taken a good nap, she’d pack her luggage in the afternoon—

“Lin Shui Yan!” A sudden explosive shout came from behind her. A fist radiating five-colored brilliance came howling through the air. Lin Sui’an instinctively tilted her head, shifted her footing, and shot out her right elbow, landing a solid blow on someone’s back.

The person stumbled back several steps, both fists clenched and raised before their chest, ten gemstone rings flashing brilliantly. It was none other than the Persian youth Yita, who could “blind a person’s eyes” with his jewelry.

Lin Sui’an clicked her tongue. She pressed her thumb across her cheekbone — fortunately, just a graze of the skin.

“Lin Shui Yan, three-five-seven-eight days are up, I have come,” Yita declared.

Lin Sui’an: “……”

Good heavens, you still remembered that?

Short Skit

Jin Ruo: Five hundred gold taels! In all my years I’ve never laid eyes on so much money!

Zhang Qi: As expected of the Hua Clan, who think nothing of spending a fortune for a beauty — even their beauty is this generous with money!