“Hmph, do you think everyone will appreciate your kindness?” What was meant as words of comfort turned into sharp barbs the moment they left her lips.
Zhao Huairen stopped in her tracks and lowered her gaze to look at her.
“What’s wrong? I’m just speaking the truth!” Murong Yan turned her head away.
“I don’t need her appreciation.” Her eyes fell on Murong Yan’s fingertips as Zhao Huairen said softly, “Lady Murong, can you let go now?”
Murong Yan pursed her lips, her withdrawn fingers clenching into fists inside her sleeve. Unwillingly, she said, “Why didn’t you just tell her that to get a better price for that painting, you even schemed against me?”
“I didn’t…” A hint of helplessness appeared in her eyes as Zhao Huairen slightly averted her gaze. “I still have official duties to attend to. If there’s anything you like today, put it on my tab.”
“The entire Myriad Treasures Pavilion is mine—why would I care about that?”
Zhao Huairen didn’t engage with her words and strode toward the first floor.
Staring at Zhao Huairen’s departing back, Murong Yan stomped her foot on the floorboards in frustration and muttered insincerely, “All you do is use me. I’ve seen through it now—everyone in your eyes is just a pawn.”
Qin An had already reached the stairwell corner but turned back upon hearing this, her hand tightening on the sword at her waist.
“Tch, what message did he ask you to deliver?” Murong Yan asked with a pout.
Qin An shook her head. “The Heir Apparent didn’t send me back.”
“Then—”
“The Heir Apparent only learned of Ning’an Princess’s visit to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion at the hour of Shen. As for Anbei General selling the painting today…” Qin An paused for a moment before continuing, “On her way back to the capital, Anbei General distributed silver to help many Xuzhou refugees.”
Compared to the so-called “borrowing flowers to offer Buddha,” Zhao Huairen’s actions today were more fittingly described as returning wealth to its rightful owner.
“Then why didn’t he just tell me directly?”
The moment she asked this, Murong Yan had a fleeting illusion: the distance between her and Zhao Huaijin seemed to be growing ever farther.
Qin An said no more.
She bowed to Murong Yan before hurrying to catch up with Zhao Huairen.
–
Before her lay the dreamlike revelry of luxury and debauchery; behind her, the dim, murky swamp. Standing between the two, Zhao Huairen said, “You talked too much again.”
“This subordinate knows her mistake,” Qin An replied, lowering her head.
“Don’t do such pointless things in the future. I don’t need it.” With that, Zhao Huairen stepped toward the auction platform.
Zhao Huairen’s appearance was like a signal. The pre-arranged personnel swiftly apprehended everyone connected to Xu Yan. The atmosphere of wanton indulgence froze in an instant, filling the Myriad Treasures Pavilion with a chilling murderous aura.
Qin An gripped the Dali Temple token and leaped onto the central auction platform. “Dali Temple is handling a case. All unrelated personnel, stand back immediately.”
The cold sheath of a blade pressed against Xu Yan’s neck, forcing him down from the second floor. Zhuyu gave Zhao Huairen a slight nod.
It wasn’t just Xu Yan—even the buyers who had purchased his items that night were taken down by the guards. The meticulously laid trap was like a fine-meshed net, scooping up every fish entangled in this case.
“Let me go! Do you know who I am?” Xu Yan struggled desperately.
Xu Yan shouted nonstop, but Zhuyu didn’t spare him a single extra glance. She wrenched his arm behind his back and dragged him before Zhao Huairen.
Sensing the pressure on his neck ease, Xu Yan thought she was letting him go and hurriedly pleaded, “This heroine, if you help me today…”
With a slight twist of her wrist, Zhuyu yanked him back and kicked the back of his knee.
With a thud, he knelt before everyone. Twisting his head to glare at Zhuyu, Xu Yan’s eyes blazed with fury. “Fine, you better not regret this!”
“If you have time for that, you should worry about yourself first.”
Hearing the voice, Xu Yan jerked his head up.
She was clearly looking at him, but her eyes held no warmth at all—as if she were staring at a corpse.
“Who are you?”
“Master Xu’s ears must not be working well.” Zhao Huairen glanced sideways at the auction platform and said indifferently, “Dali Temple Vice Minister, Zhao Huaijin.”
“You’re from Dali Temple? No, how could Dali Temple…”
Earlier in the private room, he had been going over the accounts perfectly when a woman in blue burst in. Seeing her striking beauty, he assumed she was a gift from his underlings and paid her no mind.
But in an instant—
The beauty had become a female asura.
Xu Yan, who had rolled in gambling dens for years, knew that if he truly entered Dali Temple’s prison, he wouldn’t die but would shed a layer of skin. Stiffening his neck, he demanded, “May I ask what crime this commoner has committed? Even Dali Temple can’t arrest people without cause.”
Zhao Huairen’s features were too refined, lacking the ferocity of a stern official and carrying instead the scholarly handsomeness of a civil servant. She looked easy to talk to.
Seeing her fall silent, Xu Yan signaled with his eyes, and the shills hidden among the guests chimed in:
“Master Xu is right!”
“Under the watchful eyes of so many, is Dali Temple going to flout the Great Yong Code of Law?”
Zhao Huairen’s sword-like brows arched slightly as she slowly approached Xu Yan.
She held no weapon, yet each step she took inexplicably pressed down on him like a suffocating weight.
“Dali Temple is acting on imperial orders to thoroughly investigate the Xuzhou Disaster Relief Silver Case. The silver these people used to pay has unclear origins and is linked to Xuzhou’s relief funds.” Her clear, icy voice swept over the onlookers. “Today’s matter has nothing to do with the rest of you, but if anyone is complicit, Dali Temple will investigate each one without mercy.”
The guests fell deathly silent, not daring to speak. Zhao Huairen raised her hand slightly, and two guards immediately stepped forward to seize Xu Yan.
“I was just here at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion to sell things. How is the unclear origin of their silver my problem?” Though he felt confident, Xu Yan’s voice trembled. “Even… even Dali Temple has no right to arrest me.”
“The ledger,” Zhao Huairen said.
Zhuyu pulled a ledger from her sleeve. Qin An quickly reviewed it before presenting it to Zhao Huairen with both hands. “Reporting to the Heir Apparent, the amounts recorded match the reports from our scouts.”
Xu Yan stared at the ledger in Zhao Huairen’s hands, his face draining from pale to ashen: His uncle was always cautious, and the paper used for this ledger dissolved in water. If he hadn’t let his guard down around the woman behind him…
“It’s just one ledger— that proves nothing! Is there a law in Great Yong saying commoners can’t keep accounts?” Xu Yan swallowed hard.
“Do you think everyone else is a fool?” Qin An sneered, deliberately raising her voice. “A pair of Red Gold Filigree Bracelets, three thousand taels of silver; two pairs of Jadeite Glass Bangles, two thousand eight hundred taels; Lotus White Jade Cups, one thousand five hundred taels…”
The shady dealings buried amid the lengthy auction were laid bare by Qin An. The onlookers quickly caught on:
“The brand-new Red Gold Filigree Bracelets from Yuezhen Tower cost only three hundred taels each.”
“Come to think of it, I have two identical sets of those Lotus White Jade Cups—I bought them for just fifty taels.”
“These treasures of yours aren’t rare items. Why would they pay several times the market price to bid them up?” Qin An asked with a raised brow.
“You should ask them!” The relatives of those minor officials were all in his grasp. As long as he denied everything, Dali Temple could do nothing to him.
“That makes sense.” Zhao Huairen nodded.
Thinking dawn had broken, Xu Yan prepared to press his advantage—
“Then we’ll trouble Master Xu to come with Dali Temple as a witness. Once they sign and confess, you can leave freely.”
What kind of place was Dali Temple’s prison?
If he went in, could he come out in one piece?
