When she reached the area beneath the stands, Hua Zhi slowed her steps and looked up. She recognized several faces among those gathered there — expressions of suspicion, wariness, and barely concealed hostility. In truth, the young men and women of Jinyang were more tightly knit than anywhere else, and more closed off to outsiders than even the capital.

She greeted none of them and continued on.

The room inside was poorly lit; even in the middle of the day, an oil lamp was needed. Standing at the doorway, Hua Zhi could make out two indistinct figures within.

The deputy commander explained: “These two are the inner and outer managers of the racetrack. The rest have been confined to another room.”

Hua Zhi gave a nod, then abruptly turned around and stepped back outside. “Bring one of them out.”

The deputy commander — still fairly young — shrugged, pointed at one of the figures, and gestured toward the door.

The man who was pointed to came out trembling. After being shut in the dark for so long, stepping out into the light was blinding — he immediately squeezed his eyes shut.

Li He was a perceptive one. Noticing that Bao Xia was just about to go fetch a chair for her mistress, he was already there before her, his long arms and legs carrying a chair over. She thanked him, took it, and set it down behind the mistress before helping her be seated.

Lu Peiyu watched this scene with an enigmatic curl of his lips. He wanted to see what abilities this woman — upon whom the Chief of the Seven Lodges Bureau had bestowed so much authority — actually possessed. He strolled over at a leisurely pace.

Hua Zhi looked at the man standing before her, his head bowed, his expression plainly taut with fear, and asked in a gentle tone, “Are you the inner manager or the outer manager of the racetrack?”

“In — in answer to Miss’s question, this one is the outer manager.”

“What do you do on a daily basis?”

“I — I lead the attendants in serving the guests who come to the racetrack. Miscellaneous matters also fall under this one’s purview.”

Hua Zhi gave a nod. “How long have you been here? Are you part of the Zeng household?”

“This one is a servant of the Zeng household. This one has been here since the racetrack first opened.”

“Do you know of the Seven Lodges Bureau?”

The servant stole a glance at the Miss, then buried his head low again. “This one… this one has heard of it.”

“Zeng Xiangyan’s eldest brother has been put to death. I am here on behalf of the Seven Lodges Bureau to ask you certain questions. You must answer truthfully.”

The servant’s legs gave way and he dropped to his knees. “This one — this one would not dare speak falsehoods.”

Having achieved her objective, Hua Zhi eased off the pressure and put her questions to him one after another: “Have tall and muscular, unfamiliar-looking people ever come here? Was there anything about Zeng Xianglin that struck you as strange? Has anything unusual ever occurred at the racetrack? And do you know through what channels the horses here were acquired?”

Lu Peiyu lowered his folded arms and stepped forward, ears sharpened.

The servant swallowed, visibly on edge, choosing his words with great care out of fear of saying something wrong. “Tall and muscular people — this one has seen them on many occasions. They would come to the racetrack on days when there were no races. Sometimes they would ride horses to compete among themselves; other times they would come to treat sick horses. They understood horses very well — any problem they could resolve. Because of them, not a single horse at this racetrack has ever died to this day. Oh — the horses were also delivered by them.”

Realizing he had gotten a bit too carried away, the small manager hunched his shoulders and continued: “Whenever they came, the eldest young master would accompany them personally and allow no one else near. On one occasion, a servant took it upon himself to step forward to offer tea, and the eldest young master struck him ten lashes on the spot — his face was badly scarred — and he was dismissed from the racetrack. Later… later this one made inquiries and learned that man had been sent off to a farm estate.”

The small manager raised the head he had kept bowed all along. “Truth be told, we servants all understood that the eldest young master was protecting us. Those people… were very fierce. This one witnessed with his own eyes that they had even raised a whip against the eldest young master himself. The eldest young master… treated us all very well.”

Hua Zhi sensed he had intended to say the eldest young master was a good man — but because she had invoked the Seven Lodges Bureau and spoken of Zeng Xianglin’s execution, he had changed what he was about to say.

Indeed — how could a master who shielded his servants be called otherwise?

“They came quite frequently?”

“Not particularly frequently. Once or twice a month.”

Hua Zhi pondered for a moment. “Try to calculate how many of them there were in total.”

“Sometimes the number of people who came was the same, other times it varied…”

“Give me a rough estimate.” Hua Zhi leaned slightly forward. “Think carefully. This is important.”

The manager nodded hastily and turned slightly aside, counting on his fingers.

Hua Zhi rose and walked toward the room. Only the other manager remained inside. She found a chair and sat down, stated her identity once again as she had before — applying sufficient psychological pressure — and then said: “What matters are you responsible for?”

“This one ventures to ask — is your surname Hua?”

Hua Zhi’s heart gave a small start. “Yes. I am Hua Zhi.”

“This one ventures to ask one more question — did you visit the Zeng household before coming here?”

Many thoughts flashed rapidly through Hua Zhi’s mind. She took out the two ledgers. “Is this what you want to ask — whether I obtained these?”

The manager dropped to his knees and bowed his head to Hua Zhi, then looked at the people standing behind her.

Hua Zhi turned around and saw that General Lu had also entered. “They can all be trusted.”

“This one means no disrespect. The eldest young master left instructions — if something went wrong at the racetrack and the one who came was a Miss surnamed Hua, this one was to speak freely and conceal nothing, and to give you this.”

The manager shuffled forward on his knees to the table in the middle of the room, turned the table onto its side, pressed down on one of the table legs, and pulled forcefully — drawing out a wooden plug about an inch thick. The inside was hollow. The manager reached in and felt around for a moment, then withdrew a rolled piece of paper. He held it up with both hands for Hua Zhi.

Hua Zhi received it in silence. Her understanding of just how fiercely Zeng Xianglin had protected his family deepened another layer. Regardless of what was recorded on this paper, every step in this chain had been perfectly connected — had she not gone in person to call on the Zeng household in order to shield them, she would never have received the two ledgers from the First Madam. And had she not obtained the two ledgers, this manager would never have produced this for her.

This was Zeng Xianglin’s most profound love for his family — and his fulfillment of the promise he had made to her.

The paper was two thin sheets. Hua Zhi smoothed out the corners and edges bit by bit. What met her eyes was a letter — a letter that nearly made her leap to her feet in shock.

“I am glad Miss Hua has seen this letter — it proves that the one I entrusted was worthy. When Miss Hua came to Jinyang last year, I had already surmised your identity. Yet a person who has crawled on his own for so long grows afraid to harbor any hope.

I wonder if Miss Hua has noticed that the Peng family has developed a little too smoothly — I laid a great deal of cover from behind so as not to arouse Zhu Ling’s suspicions. Miss Hua must remember to credit me for this and weigh it in the final reckoning, to win the Zeng family some chance of survival.

I have no regrets at this point, for from the very beginning I had no choice. I could not bring myself to disregard my family for the sake of a greater cause. To keep my family alive, I could only let myself die — and die disgracefully at that. You do not know how desperately I longed for this day to come. I was afraid that if I did not die soon, I would cause more people to perish. As for the trap I laid in the Yu household — I had also prepared myself to truly bring you and the Chief of the Seven Lodges Bureau down in one net. As it turned out, I lost. Losing is better than madness.

Over these years I have also uncovered certain things. Excluding those already killed at your hands, Jinyang still has thirty-seven Chaoli tribespeople remaining. Among the county magistrate’s staff, beyond Zhu Yan, a certain adviser at Lu Xinming’s side is also one of them. Additionally, I once chanced upon hearing them mention a person — his name is Ao, and they refer to him as the Strategist. It was his plan that made Jinyang what it is today. I believe he is someone you are searching for. I sincerely hope Daqing endures.“*

There were no final entreaties. No requests. The letter ended abruptly.