“I’ll talk, I’ll talk…”

The young man nodded like a pecking chicken.

“Are there other styles of Manyu’s abacus beads?”

Xu Hexue picked up an abacus from the long table. The beads fell neatly, making a slight sound that drew the young man’s gaze.

“Yes, but they’ve only been changed once. It seems the beads were changed to the current style five years ago.” The young man answered truthfully.

“Why change them?”

Xu Hexue asked in a flat tone.

The young man was an apprentice at this money house. He had been here exactly five years but hadn’t yet properly handled those expensive abacuses with limited numbers on the table. He could only touch the worthless jujube wood abacuses. His back pressed against the wooden railing, he answered tremblingly, “I heard my master say that the old beads were somewhat heavy and inconvenient to manipulate. Our owner in Daizhou decided to replace them with new abacuses.”

“What else do you know? I mean, things related to abacuses.”

Ni Su walked to Xu Hexue’s side and asked.

The young man cautiously raised his head to look at her. Beneath the plain gauze veil was a face vaguely obscured, impossible to see clearly. Listening to the voice, however, it was an extremely young woman.

“What are you looking at?”

This calm yet sharp voice fell. The young man’s body immediately trembled. He quickly lowered his head, only daring to stare at those frost-white robes. “Abacuses, I, I’m thinking…”

“The more experienced masters are especially sensitive to the weight of beads. They, they care greatly about these things. If the weight of the beads isn’t suitable, it affects the speed of manipulating the abacus, which is why the owner changed to new ones. I also heard that the owner considers the abacus our livelihood tool. The owner spent gold and jade to craft these abacuses—first, to obtain an auspicious sign, and second, to reward the accounting masters. If they do their work well without errors and conscientiously train apprentices, when they eventually retire, they can receive an abacus.”

This was also why he was willing to apprentice at Manyu Money House for five years. Though he had no opportunity to do accounting, he was unwilling to leave. Although very few could actually obtain such an abacus, what if? The beads weren’t particularly useful, but the jade rings and gold foil on them—which weren’t valuable?

Ni Su thought for a moment and asked again, “So there’s no precedent here of giving someone just a single bead?”

“No.”

The young man shook his head. “Even worn-out abacuses must be properly stored here. In the past, some had larcenous thoughts and tried to steal them to exchange for money, but few succeeded, because although we keep the abacuses we use displayed on the tables, someone guards them every night.”

“Isn’t this sealed by the Yinye Bureau? We don’t have many people left here, so tonight only I’m inside the building… The rest are patrolling outside.”

Ni Su furrowed her brow. That old servant had been at the Wu residence for years, so he naturally couldn’t have the abacus skills of a money house master and had no opportunity to obtain such an abacus. Moreover, only that one bead was found at his home.

According to the neighbors, the old servant originally had a little grandson, but recently he hadn’t been seen. Could it be that someone threatened him using his little grandson? So he dared to risk harming his master Wu Dai?

Was that Manyu abacus bead given to him by that person? But if there was paper money, why leave an abacus bead as well?

“The old abacuses—do you know where they’re stored?”

Xu Hexue leaned down. The lamplight from the courtyard outside was dim. The young man only felt that the closer this person came, the more bone-chillingly cold he became. This coldness made the hair along his spine stand on end.

Being near this person was no different from being near the depths of winter.

“I, I know…” The young man’s lips trembled.

The people guarding the courtyard at the bottom of the atrium walked back and forth. Many couldn’t resist the long night and lazily yawned.

“Don’t know if our money house can be preserved…”

Someone started.

“Word outside says our owner is the culprit who harmed Wu Dai, the former Grand Preceptor. Based on a single abacus bead from who knows where, they sealed this place.”

Someone opened the conversation. “If you ask me, has stealing abacus beads from our money house been rare these years? Those caught are one thing, but who knows if there are fish that slipped through the net who weren’t caught. How can they convict our owner based on this?”

“Hasn’t he been convicted yet? We can still guard here tonight, which proves the Yinye Bureau doesn’t have more solid evidence, right? Besides, our owner hasn’t been without backing these years.”

The leader impatiently interrupted them. “Do your own jobs. Don’t you understand the principle of doing the bare minimum? Stop gossiping about the owner!”

While the guards below discussed, Ni Su and Xu Hexue had already followed the young man quietly to the third floor. The furnishings on the third floor were simple. At the end of the long corridor was a locked storeroom. The young man looked troubled. “I don’t have the key. The key is with our second steward. He’s currently at the Yinye Bureau and probably can’t get out for a while.”

Being a storeroom lock, it was naturally different from ordinary locks.

But in the next instant, the young man only felt a flash of cold light before his eyes. He didn’t even see the luminous dust falling with that sword shadow before seeing the lock crafted by skilled artisans drop.

The sword blade returned to the young man’s throat, while Ni Su caught the lock in time.

“Go in.”

Xu Hexue lightly lifted his chin.

The young man stood there dazed, pushed open the storeroom door, and moved inside with weak legs.

It was pitch black inside with no lamps lit, but the young man suddenly felt lamplight shining from behind him. He didn’t dare look back, only stiffening his body and pointing toward a cabinet door ahead. “In there.”

Being the place where abacuses were stored, the lock used was naturally more ingenious. Ni Su saw floating luminous dust, while the young man’s expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn’t noticed at all.

Ni Su lowered her eyelids, looking at the pale luminous shadow on the ground, quietly listening to the sound of the lock being opened—an ease beyond human capability.

But she knew that this ease of his was actually not easy at all.

The young man only thought the sword blade at his throat was a precious blade that could cut through iron like mud. He became even more afraid, his legs trembling constantly, making his movements to retrieve the abacus from the cabinet even more cautious.

“This, this is the previous style.”

The young man took out an abacus from within. It was indeed quite old—both the frame and crossbar had loosened. The beads strung on it were smooth and shiny, clearly touched over many years.

Xu Hexue glanced at it lightly but didn’t take it. His eyes lowered slightly, examining this person through his veil. “If you’re smart, you should understand that tonight’s events—you’d best act as if you know nothing. After all, without you, we wouldn’t have found this place.”

“I’ll remember, I’ll remember everything!”

How could the young man dare tell anyone about this? These words were undoubtedly warning him that even if he told the steward about these things, he was ultimately the one who led these two people here. Forget about those gold and jade abacuses—the steward would probably drag him to see the authorities.

Sensing the sword blade at his throat move slightly, sweat dripped from the young man’s forehead. He was about to stealthily breathe a sigh of relief when Xu Hexue turned his wrist and struck the back of his neck with the sword hilt.

The young man’s vision went dark as he fainted.

Xu Hexue caught the falling abacus in time, then gripped the loose wooden frame and dismantled one side, extracting a bead from within.

Ni Su’s gaze moved from the unconscious young man to Xu Hexue’s hand. She moved closer, carefully examining the bead in his hand under the lamplight.

Smooth and shiny, clearly well-used, the character marks on it had faded but could still be faintly identified as the two characters “Manyu.”

“It’s the same as that one.”

Ni Su said.

Xu Hexue’s slender yet strong fingers pinched the bead. After a long while he spoke: “It’s not right.”

“What’s not right?”

Ni Su was completely puzzled. “This wood material, jade ring, and character marks are clearly identical.”

But Xu Hexue looked toward the unconscious young man lying there. “Remember what he said? Manyu only changed the bead style once because the old beads were heavy, so they were replaced.”

Ni Su nodded.

“This one, though identical in appearance to the one we found at the old servant’s home, differs in weight.”

Xu Hexue said.

“Different in weight?”

Ni Su was astonished, then took the bead from his hand to weigh it. But she didn’t notice any difference, because when they were at the old servant’s home, she hadn’t paid attention to this detail of weight.

Xu Hexue took back the bead from her hand. His knuckles bent, and with force, the veins on the back of his hand and the sharpness of his bones became increasingly clear.

The bead shattered, revealing an iron disc beneath the jade ring.

Paper money shops were in the business of exchanging iron coins. How could Manyu’s owner, who inlaid abacuses with gold and jade, lack something like this for minting iron coins?

“So that’s why it was slightly heavier.”

Ni Su pinched the thin iron disc from his palm, suddenly understanding. “So the old servant’s bead was fake.”

“Which means the person behind the old servant very likely deliberately left such a thing. They harmed Wu Dai in order to make the Yinye Bureau notice Manyu Money House?”

Starting from Du Cong’s ledger, all these matters were intricately connected to one Manyu Money House.

“There’s another possibility.”

Xu Hexue picked up the lamp from the corner of the table. “Perhaps Wu Dai wasn’t harmed by anyone at all.”

“Rather, it was a scheme he arranged himself. It was Wu Dai who wanted the Yinye Bureau to investigate Manyu Money House.”

The dementia was real, the bead was fake. If Wu Dai was truly this ruthless to himself, he must have already entered a dead end but still hoped to use this matter to turn things around, or to drag others down with him.

“This… how is that possible?”

Ni Su was stunned. She was about to ask more when she saw Xu Hexue suddenly turn his head. He seemed to have heard some sound and immediately said to her: “Someone’s entering the building.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ni Su looked up to see pale light illuminating the railing outside the storeroom door, followed by an angry voice. “Where did Aping go? How is he not here? While I’ve been at the Yinye Bureau these days, is this how he’s been cleaning? Last time he broke my things—I told him to do more work, and this is how careless he is?”

“Steward, don’t be angry. He probably went to relieve himself. When he comes back, you can scold him then.” Another fawning voice sounded.

The noise of ascending the stairs was considerable. Hearing just the word “steward,” Xu Hexue knew it was the steward who had been taken to the Yinye Bureau for questioning.

“Ni Su, hide first.”

Xu Hexue instructed softly.

Ni Su nodded, looked around, and spotted a spacious cabinet in the corner. She simply lifted her skirt and hid herself inside. “What about him?”

Xu Hexue looked at the young man named Aping, first walking before her. As he leaned down, the veil of his hat stirred, revealing his pale chin. “Inside there, will you be afraid?”

Ni Su hugged her knees and shook her head, urging him, “Close it quickly.”

Xu Hexue closed the cabinet door. His gaze lowered, his fingers moved, and luminous dust wrapped around the damaged lock, falling into his hand. The sound of people ascending outside grew increasingly clear, yet he unhurriedly fastened the temporarily restored lock onto the cabinet door storing the abacuses, then transformed into pale mist, taking the unconscious young man and leaving silently.

The storeroom door suddenly closed. The lock Ni Su had placed on the ground hung intact on the copper clasp.

“They searched the storeroom too?”

The steward lifted his hem and ascended to the third floor. These days at the Yinye Bureau had left him both frightened and fearful, unable to hide his exhaustion.

“Yes, they took your key and searched inside and out.”

The middle-aged man who followed him upstairs replied, “They also looked at all the abacuses.”

“It’s all because of that abacus bead—what an undeserved disaster! I must go look!” The steward didn’t dare speak ill of the Yinye Bureau and could only shout in frustration, then handed him the key to open the storeroom door.

The man quickly acknowledged and took the key to open the door.

Xu Hexue dropped the man in a secluded spot in the back courtyard, then quickly returned, concealing his form and following behind these two.

“Besides the Yinye Bureau people coming to inspect, while you were away, no one entered. You just came out from the Yinye Bureau—why must you inventory now?”

The man asked as he pushed open the door.

“Who told our manager to be harmed? Didn’t he treat me and you well when he was alive?” The steward entered the storeroom, lifting his lamp forward and lighting the candlestick on the table as well.

“The manager naturally treated us well.”

The middle-aged man nodded. “But he just disappeared so confusingly.”

“Yes…” The steward counted the iron coins stored in the storeroom while sighing. “Normally, only the manager can keep the storeroom key, but that Lantern Festival night, he gave me the key. I asked if he was going back to Daizhou to see the owner. He said no. I was puzzled too—he didn’t look like he was going far again. He had no bundle with him. I only saw him tuck what seemed to be a book into his chest…”

“In the past when the manager went to Daizhou, he never gave you the key. Maybe he planned to retire and wanted you to try managing the storeroom first.”

The middle-aged man’s words made the steward feel comfortable, and the fear that had plagued him during his days at the Yinye Bureau diminished somewhat. He waved his hand. “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Inside the cabinet was pitch black. Ni Su could only hear the voices of these two people talking outside. Footsteps approached. Ni Su’s heart pounded as her hands clutching her knees gripped her skirt tightly.

“Steward, I’ll also open these cabinet doors and boxes for you to inspect.” The man smiled ingratiatingly, speaking as his hand reached for the cabinet’s copper clasp.

Ni Su held her breath.

A thin line of light leaked in. She saw the man’s coarse, darkened fingers outside.

Her heart tightened. Not knowing what to do, she felt a cool breeze brush her face, stirring the light hair by her ear. The extremely dim cabinet seemed to have become more cramped. Ni Su turned her face and met a pair of eyes.

At such close distance, Ni Su discovered even the creases of his double eyelids were beautiful.

Xu Hexue had already removed his veil, placing the lamp by his knee. Warm yellow light filled her vision.

The person outside suddenly cried out in pain, hastily withdrawing his fingers caught by the heavy cabinet door.

The scene was so comical that Ni Su almost couldn’t help laughing. An icy hand suddenly covered her mouth. She blinked, catching the faint scent of blood.

Unknowingly, the edge of his sleeve had been soaked with blood. The delicate jade-like wrist bone bore a vicious scrape, blood beads hanging from beneath his wrist, about to fall but not yet fallen.

“Enough, look what you can accomplish? That cabinet stores miscellaneous items—how could it hold iron coins? The one storing abacuses is locked!”

Outside came the steward’s irritated voice.

Immediately followed by the middle-aged man outside the cabinet door offering flattering apologies.

Xu Hexue listened silently to the two people talking outside. He was about to release his hand when she unexpectedly grasped his fingers. Such warm temperature pressing close made him tremble.

His fingertips still retained the sensation of her cheek. Because of her sudden action, he couldn’t help but curl his palm, turning his face to look at her.

She hadn’t removed her veil. At this moment, lifting one side of the light gauze, candlelight illuminated half her fair face—dark bright eyes, rosy lips.

A strand of fine hair fell by her cheek.

Xu Hexue realized she was examining his scrape and immediately tried to withdraw his hand, not wanting her to look closely, but her fingers tightly hooked his.

Heartbeats belonged only to those with flesh and blood bodies.

And he had none.

For the first time, Ni Su examined this closely the punishment inflicted upon him, like evidence of snow being stained.

If it were a human’s external injury, she had many ways to make it heal. But it wasn’t.

The breath she gently blew, like wind brushing his wrist, made Xu Hexue emit an extremely soft, brief sound, his heart and spirit trembling together.