In short order, a crisp clash rang out and the short blade broke apart. Hua Zhi seized the opening to kick her weapon away, then stepped in close with the dagger already lying across her throat.

Just as she was about to speak, she felt something odd beneath her palm — instinctively she pulled the dagger back, drove her knee forward and knocked the woman away, then immediately closed in again and dislocated her jaw. Not being especially practiced at the technique, the Zhu daughter’s face contorted in pain.

“Keep a close watch on her — don’t give her a chance to end her own life.” Hua Zhi’s breathing was slightly uneven, her shoulder throbbing. “Give her paper and brush and have her write.”

Bao Xia glanced at the Zhu daughter, who was now drooling uncontrollably, and her eyes flickered with an idea. “And the jaw — do we just leave it like that? If it stays too long, it may be very difficult to restore…”

“That is not my concern.” Hua Zhi gave Bao Xia an approving look. That had been a well-timed line of support. The woman had the will to die, and the first attempt was always made with everything she had. But if the first attempt failed, the resolve for a second might not be as firm. As long as she was alive, no woman could be indifferent to her own appearance.

For the Zhu daughter, this was invisible pressure of the most effective kind.

Liu Zheng signaled for his men to get the woman out of there quickly, then came forward to ask for forgiveness. “This subordinate failed to react in time — I beg Miss’s pardon.”

Hua Zhi responded with a mild acknowledgment. She understood perfectly well that Liu Zheng had not simply been slow to react — he had been testing the measure of her abilities. She had nothing to fear in that.

Wang Rong had by now come over. Not daring to come too close, she stopped three paces away. “Hua… Hua Zhi, I…”

Hua Zhi made no considerate move to finish her sentence for her, only watched her quietly.

Wang Rong lowered her head in embarrassment, pressing down everything that had risen in her heart, and when she raised it again, her expression had steadied. She dipped in a small bow. “I wonder if Miss Hua would be willing to tell me what is currently happening in the city — our family… are they safe?”

“The city is under lockdown. A citywide search is underway for Chaoli remnants. You — wait here.”

Hua Zhi’s gaze swept across the crowd. No one met her eyes. Just as everyone anticipated she would say something further, she turned and descended from the stands.

Some things were said once too many times. She had no obligation to reshape their sense of right and wrong.

Wang Rong wanted to press for more, and took a step forward in pursuit — but looking at this Hua Ling, no, this was not the Hua Ling who had played cards with them, losing money without a care. This was Hua Zhi — the eldest Miss of the Hua family. What grounds did she have to expect this person to tell her more? Just because they had played a few rounds of cards together? Did she dare claim even that much now?

She did not dare.

A bitterness settled in Wang Rong’s heart. She remembered what Jinyang had once been, and she knew full well that a city where everyone treated gambling as a serious pursuit was deeply wrong. But compared to the old days — when women had struggled at every turn just to leave the house — life now was far too good. She had not dared, and had not been willing, to look too closely.

She was terrified of being locked away again. Life confined within the inner courtyard, never stepping beyond the gate, had been suffocating. Especially now that she had tasted something so different.

Standing at the edge of the stands, Wang Rong watched Hua Zhi — flanked by soldiers in full armor who treated her with evident deference — and could not help but think: so a woman, if she became formidable enough, could command respect without needing any particular circumstance to shelter her?

On the way back, Hua Zhi tended to her wound once more. Her shoulder seemed to have swollen a little further.

“Miss, someone is approaching up ahead.” The carriage drew to a halt. Li He made his report.

Hua Zhi immediately straightened her clothing.

Then Bao Xia’s voice reached her: “Miss — it’s Jia Yang.”

Hua Zhi lifted the curtain and looked out. Riding toward her at full gallop — who else could it be but Jia Yang? When he was close enough, he reined in his horse sharply and vaulted off, cupping his fists to report: “Miss, Qi Qiu has been found.”

“Excellent.” Hua Zhi’s relief was evident. “Going by the information Zeng Xianglin left, Qi Qiu is also a Chaoli tribesperson — though I suspect he arrived later than the others. Where did you find him?”

“You may well have seen him before, Miss. He was dressed in garrison uniform, blending in among the soldiers surrounding the Zeng household.”

“…” That truly was a clever hiding spot. Who would ever think to look there? Had she not ordered them to surround without entering, those two ledgers might never have ended up in her hands.

Thinking of what Zeng Xianglin had written in his letter, Hua Zhi gave her instructions: “Move at once to apprehend the adviser at Lu Xinming’s side. Yu Mu took swift control — he should not have allowed anyone to leave the magistracy. That one is the last fugitive.”

“Yes.” Jia Yang sniffed and contracted his nose slightly — he could indeed smell the familiar scent of medicinal ointment, the kind they themselves always kept on hand. “Are you injured, Miss?”

Hua Zhi instinctively rubbed her shoulder. “One who had been hiding at the Yu household and not yet shown himself — I took a blow from him.”

Jia Yang, knowing well how heavy a Chaoli tribesperson’s fist could be, let some concern show on his face.

Hua Zhi smiled slightly. “Pain is unavoidable, but the bone is unharmed. Attend to the pressing matters first.”

“Yes.”

By now the sun had already tilted toward the west, and the warmth it cast on the skin was noticeably weaker than before. Hua Zhi only now realized that without noticing it, she had been out and about for the better part of the day. She had not eaten a single bite since morning — no wonder she was both hungry and thirsty.

She wondered vaguely whether anyone would think to send food to the men and women stranded at the racetrack. Though a day without eating would not kill anyone. Hua Zhi had a poor impression of Jinyang’s great families — if the Chaoli Tribe were the leeches draining Jinyang’s common people, then these families were the flies. The amount of blood they had drawn might have been smaller, but it did not change the fact that they had drawn their own people’s blood. In some ways, it was more unforgivable coming from one’s own than from outsiders.

The name of Jinyang’s little capital — who knew when it would again be deserved? A place is always easier to destroy than to build up — especially when what was being destroyed was the nature of its people.

Entering the city, the sound of carriage wheels rolling over the ground rang out unusually loud along the empty, deserted streets. Hua Zhi did not even need to look deliberately to know that behind every closed door, at least one pair of eyes was watching her. She could even imagine what they were thinking — that Jinyang was about to see a change of skies.

Jinyang was indeed due for a change of skies. Looking up at the sun half-swallowed behind layers of cloud, Hua Zhi withdrew back inside the carriage.

The carriage stopped at the gates of the magistracy. Stepping down, Hua Zhi saw that Liu Zheng had already gone ahead to speak with the elite soldiers guarding the building.

Shortly he returned. “Commissioner Yu left word — if you arrived, you were to come straight in.”

Inside the magistracy the atmosphere was even more tense than outside. Soldiers stood at intervals of ten paces, calling back and forth to one another from a distance, and not a single person moved about freely.

Hua Zhi found Yu Mu in the main hall — and with him, all of Jinyang’s officials, confined here and unable to leave. And at this moment, one man was being bound hand and foot by Jia Yang — without asking, Hua Zhi knew this must be the adviser.

Standing there, dark-faced, still wearing his official robes…

Yu Mu came forward to greet her with a cupped-fist bow: “Miss Hua.”

Hua Zhi was just about to speak when the standing figure spoke first. “Who is this person? How can a woman come here?”

Yu Mu did not spare him so much as a glance. He bent deeply at the waist and presented the Chief of the Seven Lodges Bureau’s seal token to Hua Zhi with both hands. “This subordinate is glad to have not failed in his duty. Every official in Jinyang is present here.”

Jia Yang also stepped forward to pay his respects. “Miss Hua, I report that the last Chaoli remnant has been apprehended. Please give your instructions on how to proceed.”

Hua Zhi’s gaze passed between the two of them. She accepted the seal token and received the protection both men had offered her.