Tang Enxuan’s gaze swept over everyone present, taking in the material of their hairpins, the price of their accessories, the wear on their clothes, the color of their skin...
After just a few glances, his eyes landed on the table in the northeast corner. He noted their attire and appearance and smiled faintly.
A few Night Guards stood up. "Greetings, Young Master."
Everyone else rose to their feet, some whispering to ask which "Young Master" it was.
When they heard it was Tang Enxuan, the people at the table of Li Gangfeng’s old friends in the northeast corner all sat back down, their faces cold.
"Li Qingxian?" Tang Enxuan smiled as he looked over.
Their eyes met.
The sun had set. The last rays of twilight filtered in, and the lanterns glowed a brilliant red.
"Li Qingxian greets the Assistant General." Li Qingxian gave a slight bow with his hands clasped, but instead of lowering his chin, he raised it. He strode to the main entrance of the house and stood on the steps, positioned between two black-lacquered pillars.
Hanging on the pillars was a pair of wooden couplets with gold characters on a black background.
One side read, "Righteousness through three years, a jade." The other, "A clear breeze across a hundred-mile creek."
The two of them stood facing each other, one at the main gate and the other at the door to the main house.
"I heard it was Brother Li’s sixteenth birthday, so I came especially to offer my congratulations."
Wei Yong, who was at the side, placed a red-ribboned black wooden box on the table and announced, "Half a longevity lock and a pair of Jade Ruyi."
The Old Night Guard recording the gifts froze for a moment, his writing brush poised in his hand. Along with everyone else, he turned to look at Li Qingxian.
"The Assistant General is too kind." Li Qingxian showed no reaction whatsoever.
"I came today, Brother Li, to discuss a business proposition," Tang Enxuan said, getting straight to the point.
"Must it be today? Can’t it wait until tomorrow?"
"Good business should be settled on a good day."
Li Qingxian said, "Then by all means, Assistant General, let’s talk."
"What, not going to invite me inside to talk?"
"Since it’s a good day and good business, why can’t we discuss it right here?"
"Are you sure?" Tang Enxuan narrowed his eyes slightly, the dim lantern light casting layered shadows across his brows.
"If you don’t wish to talk, Assistant General, then please, take a seat and join the feast. Brother Ye Han, thank you for your repeated assistance. Please, sit down," Li Qingxian said.
"You..." Ye Han saw Tang Enxuan turn to look at him and quickly widened his eyes, shaking his head.
Tang Enxuan smiled nonchalantly. Standing just inside the main gate, he surveyed the guests and snapped his fan shut.
Wei Yong secretly sent a voice transmission: "There are no Middle-Grade Officials. The highest rank is only a Seventh-Grade Official. We just need to be mindful of Zhu Zimo, a Seventh-Grade Official from the Imperial Censorate, and the steward from the Capital City Li Family. Other than them, no one here is of any consequence."
The corner of Tang Enxuan’s mouth curled up. "You like to talk in public, so we’ll talk in public. That twenty percent stake in your winery—I’m buying it. Also, I want the Qiankun Ring back for Ye Han."
"And what will you use to buy that twenty percent stake?" Li Qingxian asked.
"Your continued peace and safety." Tang Enxuan slowly lifted his chin.
"The Assistant General is truly a clever man, so well-spoken. If it were someone less articulate, they might have said, ’Forget saving face, I’m just going to take it by force’," Li Qingxian said.
Tang Enxuan chuckled. "Then I’ll add something more to the offer: your smooth ascent up the ranks."
A look of confusion crossed Li Qingxian’s face. "You can’t even get your own title of Crown Prince back. What makes you think you can help me achieve a smooth ascent?"
The crowd’s eyes darted around, and they inwardly clicked their tongues in amazement.
The smile on Tang Enxuan’s face slowly vanished. He said slowly, "I may not be able to help you achieve a smooth ascent, but I have ten thousand ways to make sure you never do."
"Tsk, tsk. As expected of Prince Yuann’s son, so domineering. To utter such malicious words in front of everyone... if your father heard this, I’m afraid he’d be fuming," Li Qingxian smiled.
"Assistant General Tang Enxuan? We’ll see you in the Imperial Censorate’s memorials tomorrow," a middle-aged man at Li Gangfeng’s friends’ table spoke nonchalantly. Li Qingxian recognized him as one of his father’s former subordinates, a man named Zhu Zimo. Li Gangfeng had said the man had the fair face of a scholar but a stern, unyielding character, a famously tough figure in the Imperial Censorate.
Tang Enxuan said, "I don’t recognize this Lord Imperial Censor. Since you’re so eager to file a memorial, you can’t let the bigger criminal get away. Li Qingxian, Yu Ping and Zheng Hui have both confessed. Do you really want me to say it out loud in front of everyone?"
Li Qingxian glanced outside the gate and saw several familiar faces standing there. There were people he’d met while dispelling Deceit at the Imperial Prison West Courtyard: the Imperial Prison Envoy Wu Zhao, and the Deputy Disciplinary Officers Sun Herr and Xu Jinxian.
There were also the people he had been brewing wine with for many days: the Disciplinary Officer of the Ministry of Works, Liu Muwa; Luo Jing from the Ministry of Revenue; and the eunuch Jing Guan from the Inner Treasury Bureau.
Behind the crowd, a young woman in a white dress with a bright blue sash around her waist was looking in. She had a refined and beautiful face, and her eyes sparkled.
Their eyes met, and they nodded gently to each other.
"May I ask the Assistant General, what exactly did Yu Ping and Zheng Hui confess to?" Li Qingxian asked.
Tang Enxuan reached into his Qi Fortune Silver Fish Pouch, pulled out a thick stack of written testimonies, and shook them with a rustling sound.
"That your Team A9 embezzled silver taels and preyed on merchants. I’ve already sent people to investigate, and those merchants have testified, proving that your Team A9 took their money but did nothing for them."
"And?" Li Qingxian asked, his face expressionless.
Tang Enxuan frowned. "Li Qingxian, are you really determined to tear all pretense of civility apart with me?"
"I’m just a lowly Ninth-Grade Official. How would I dare tear away all civility with the son of a Prince? If any civility is torn, it will be you doing the tearing," Li Qingxian said.
"Do you want these testimonies to land on the Guard Commander’s desk tomorrow?" Tang Enxuan said.
"And then?" Li Qingxian asked.
Everyone stared at Li Qingxian, utterly bewildered.
’This isn’t going how I imagined. It’s like he’s deliberately provoking and infuriating Tang Enxuan.’
Tang Enxuan glanced at the darkening sky, then at Li Qingxian’s calm face, which had remained unchanged from the start. He was finally losing his patience and was about to erupt, but the memory of his days under house arrest made him flick a sideways glance at Wei Yong.
Wei Yong’s scalp tingled. He looked at Ye Han, but Ye Han turned his head to look the other way.
As he hesitated, Tang Enxuan said, "Lord Wei, you’re a man of the Night Guard. In your opinion, how should the case of Yu Ping and Zheng Hui be judged?"
Wei Yong cursed Tang Enxuan in his heart for using him as a pawn. He clasped his fist to Li Qingxian and said, "Greetings, Lord Li. As for the judgment, it could be light or severe. A light sentence would be twenty strokes of the plank and release. A severe one would see Zheng Hui exiled three thousand li, his wife and children demoted to the servant class and sent to serve in the army. Yu Ping would also be exiled three thousand li, his parents’ business licenses revoked, and they would be forever banned from conducting business in Daqi. Of course, I am not the presiding official, so my word is not final."
Tang Enxuan shot a dissatisfied look at the fence-sitter Wei Yong. That last sentence was clearly an attempt to appease Li Qingxian.
"Then what about Li Qingxian, who took money, did nothing, and even caused someone to be injured and disabled?" Tang Enxuan asked again.
Wei Yong hesitated again.
A thought struck Ye Han, and he was about to speak. But remembering his previous encounters, he furtively scanned his surroundings. His peripheral vision caught sight of the area outside the main gate behind him, and his body suddenly went stiff.
’Why are there so many Middle-Grade Officials? And Fairy Qingcheng?’
Ye Han slowly turned back around. He silently took a step back, then silently sidestepped to the right, moving farther away. After a moment’s thought, he sidestepped again, ending up next to a stool, where he lowered his head in deep thought.
Li Qingxian vaguely recalled the incident: it was the time he had nearly been killed and Zheng Hui had been stabbed in the stomach. During the pursuit and capture, a bystander had been injured in the leg by the bandits. It had nothing to do with him, but he never expected to be falsely implicated like this.